Ford, GM, and Nissan profiting from indigenous land theft, slave labor, and deforestation
Posted on Thursday, 24 May
from Deep Green Resistance News Service
(via thegreenphilosopher)
Just Remember to Smile: Homeless women in LA need your help, Tumblr!
Posted on Tuesday, 15 May
Please signal boost this!
My dear friend Audrey works at the Downtown Women’s Center. They provide a day shelter and residence to homeless women all over Los Angeles. They also serve hot meals, offer vocational and…
(via thepinktutu)
Getting Around: 'EcoMobility Gaining Ground, Step by Step'
Posted on Thursday, 10 May
From Inter Press Service:
Berlin is a big capital city of a country famed for making excellent automobiles, but it can no longer afford roads and is now moving people by transit, bike and especially through walking.
Berlin is not alone. Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Bogotá, New York City and other major cities simply cannot afford the cost, the pollution, the noise and the congestion of more cars. They are embracing a new concept called EcoMobility - mobility without private cars.
…EcoMobility is defined as moving people and goods in urban areas using combinations of walking, cycling (including electric bikes) and wheeling (roller blades), public transport, and light electric vehicles.
The concept is being widely embraced by cities looking for affordable and effective forms of sustainable transport.“Cities should focus more on moving people rather than moving vehicles,” said Stephen Yarwood, mayor of Adelaide, Australia.
The fact is, cars are not very good at moving people. A standard 3.5-meter-wide city street has a maximum capacity of 2,000 people in cars per hour. The same road can carry 14,000 cyclists or 19,000 pedestrians each hour.
Light rail in the same space can move 22,000 people, and a double lane of bus rapid transit will move 43,000 people, said Manfred Breithaupt, director of the GIZ Sustainable Urban Transport Project, a German NGO.
The transportation sector is one of biggest contributors of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, responsible for 25 to 30 percent of the emissions causing climate change.Check out the rest of the article here.
(Infographic credit: City of Münster via Lunchover IP)
Posted on Thursday, 10 May
Join actress Gillian Anderson and stand with the people of Brazil for a zero deforestation law to Save the Amazon!
“My name is Gillian Anderson, and not only am I beautiful beyond words, talented beyond measure, and classy as fuck, I am also charitable, giving, kind, and an environmental and social justice activist.
In other words, I am a perfect human being. I stand with Brazilians for a zero deforestation law, and so should you if you ever wish to come close to reaching my level of perfection.”
Or at least that’s what I heard.
(via dontgiveuponamiracle)
![unconsumption:
Repair Cafes: An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time
There’s so much to love about an effort that involves volunteers — helping each other while strengthening a sense of community — and encourages people to repair items they already own. (All key aspects of Unconsumption, as many of you are aware.)
Our friends at Do The Green Thing recently wrote about Repair Cafes. (Green Thing’s post is here.) After reading the Green Thing post, I made myself a note to research the cafe project, and am pleased to see The New York Times covering it today:
At Amsterdam’s first Repair Cafe, an event originally held in a theater’s foyer, then in a rented room in a former hotel and now in a community center a couple of times a month, people can bring in whatever they want to have repaired, at no cost, by volunteers who just like to fix things.
Conceived of as a way to help people reduce waste, the Repair Cafe concept has taken off since its debut two and a half years ago. The Repair Cafe Foundation has raised about $525,000 through a grant from the Dutch government, support from foundations and small donations, all of which pay for staffing, marketing and even a Repair Cafe bus.
Thirty groups have started Repair Cafes across the Netherlands, where neighbors pool their skills and labor for a few hours a month to mend holey clothing and revivify old coffee makers, broken lamps, vacuum cleaners and toasters, as well as at least one electric organ, a washing machine and an orange juice press.
“In Europe, we throw out so many things,” said Martine Postma, a former journalist who came up with the concept after the birth of her second child led her to think more about the environment. “It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do.
“I had the feeling I wanted to do something, not just write about it,” she said. But she was troubled by the question: “How do you try to do this as a normal person in your daily life?”
Inspired by a design exhibit about the creative, cultural and economic benefits of repairing and recycling, she decided that helping people fix things was a practical way to prevent unnecessary waste.
While the Netherlands puts less than 3 percent of its municipal waste into landfills, there is still room for improvement, according to Joop Atsma, the state secretary for infrastructure and the environment.
“The Repair Cafe is an effective way to raise awareness that discarded objects are indeed still of value,” Mr. Atsma wrote in an e-mail.
More: Amsterdam Tries to Change Culture With ‘Repair Cafes’ - NYTimes.com
[Thanks to Estelle H. for helping to ensure we saw the NYT story!]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3rfvjJq401qzv12bo1_400.jpg)
Posted on Wednesday, 9 May
Repair Cafes: An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time
There’s so much to love about an effort that involves volunteers — helping each other while strengthening a sense of community — and encourages people to repair items they already own. (All key aspects of Unconsumption, as many of you are aware.)
Our friends at Do The Green Thing recently wrote about Repair Cafes. (Green Thing’s post is here.) After reading the Green Thing post, I made myself a note to research the cafe project, and am pleased to see The New York Times covering it today:
At Amsterdam’s first Repair Cafe, an event originally held in a theater’s foyer, then in a rented room in a former hotel and now in a community center a couple of times a month, people can bring in whatever they want to have repaired, at no cost, by volunteers who just like to fix things.
Conceived of as a way to help people reduce waste, the Repair Cafe concept has taken off since its debut two and a half years ago. The Repair Cafe Foundation has raised about $525,000 through a grant from the Dutch government, support from foundations and small donations, all of which pay for staffing, marketing and even a Repair Cafe bus.
Thirty groups have started Repair Cafes across the Netherlands, where neighbors pool their skills and labor for a few hours a month to mend holey clothing and revivify old coffee makers, broken lamps, vacuum cleaners and toasters, as well as at least one electric organ, a washing machine and an orange juice press.
“In Europe, we throw out so many things,” said Martine Postma, a former journalist who came up with the concept after the birth of her second child led her to think more about the environment. “It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do.
“I had the feeling I wanted to do something, not just write about it,” she said. But she was troubled by the question: “How do you try to do this as a normal person in your daily life?”
Inspired by a design exhibit about the creative, cultural and economic benefits of repairing and recycling, she decided that helping people fix things was a practical way to prevent unnecessary waste.
While the Netherlands puts less than 3 percent of its municipal waste into landfills, there is still room for improvement, according to Joop Atsma, the state secretary for infrastructure and the environment.
“The Repair Cafe is an effective way to raise awareness that discarded objects are indeed still of value,” Mr. Atsma wrote in an e-mail.
More: Amsterdam Tries to Change Culture With ‘Repair Cafes’ - NYTimes.com
[Thanks to Estelle H. for helping to ensure we saw the NYT story!]
Posted on Monday, 7 May
Accompanying a growing awareness of the wastefulness underlying the modern global economy, a new approach to art has flourished in recent years, one dealing with the repurposing and utilization of materials discarded or viewed as useless. Written by street art commentator Tristan Manco, the new book “Raw + Material = Art” delves into these techniques and philosophies by exploring the works of 38 artists using low-tech, low-cost media and methods. The selected artists provoke thought on both subject and medium, and continue to push what’s possible by working at “the raw edge of contemporary art.”
(via Raw Material = Art)
Posted on Monday, 7 May
(via thisdayisbananass)
Posted on Thursday, 26 April
Burger King promises to use free-range eggs and pork
Global fast food chain Burger King will soon be serving up morsels from free-range eggs and pigs.
Sustainable Food: 'To Reduce Global Warming, Address Meat Consumption'
Posted on Monday, 23 April
From Climate Central:
Dramatically reducing emissions of one of the key contributors to global warming – nitrous oxide – will require farmers to change their ways of growing food, and citizens in the developed world to slash their yearly meat consumption, according to a new study published Friday.
The study by Eric Davidson, the director of the Woods Hole Research Center on Cape Cod, Mass., lays out actions that would be required in order to adhere to emissions scenarios developed by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Specifically, meeting the strictest emissions reduction scenario would mean that, in the developed world, the average person would need to cut their meat consumption in half by the year 2050. This would help ensure there would be enough food to feed the planet’s rising population, with nearly 9 billion people expected to call Earth home by 2050, up from about 7 billion today. Red meat consumption is growing in the developing world and is still on the increase in developed countries, trends that pose formidable obstacles to those seeking to reign in nitrous oxide emissions.
…
A decline in meat consumption would have two main benefits, Davidson said. It would reduce the demand for nitrogen-based fertilizers, and cut down on manure production and use.
As for whether a 50 percent reduction in average per capita meat consumption is at all feasible by 2050, Davidson pointed to the relatively rapid changes in cigarette smoking habits seen during the past 50 years.
“If you had asked me 30 years ago if smoking would be banned in bars I would have laughed and said that would be impossible in my lifetime, and yet it has come true,” Davidson said in a press release.
“I don’t have an expertise to say how likely it is that people will change habits,” he said in a phone interview, emphasizing that he is not advocating vegetarianism, but rather is pointing out that in order to reach certain emissions reduction goals, cutting meat consumption in the developed world has to be considered as a sensible option.
The study notes that if people were to take an intermediate step and switch some meat consumption from red meat to pork, poultry or shellfish, they would help reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
Check out the rest of the article here. For some low carbon food ideas check out Anna Lappe’s article, ‘Seven Principles of a Climate-Friendly Diet’ and the Center for Food Safety’s ‘Cool Foods Campaign’.
(Photo credit: Climate Central)
Posted on Monday, 23 April
Gisele Bundchen has proven she is more than just a pretty face. This supermodel founded The Clean Water Project, which focuses on the preservation of water quality. She also created her own eco-friendly skincare line, Sejaa, and it is free of chemicals and synthetic preservatives. Sejaa containers are made with recyclable plastics and manufacturing is done with renewable electricity. She also recently built a green home.
Posted on Thursday, 19 April
Daily Eco Tip #4 — Refuse plastic.
Our friends at The People’s Movement is going to do their part by refusing plastic, especially on Earth Day April 22nd.
Underpaid Genius: The BP Gulf Oil Spill, Two Years Later
Posted on Thursday, 19 April
Two years have passed since BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform explosion killed 11 and released 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. And, what have our lawmakers done to minimize the likelihood of another catastrophe? Nothing.
The Big Spill, Two Years Later - NYTimes.com
Congress’s response to the spill has been truly pathetic. It has not passed a single bill to prevent another catastrophe, according to a report issued Tuesday by former members of a presidential commission that investigated the spill. Congress has failed even to codify the Interior Department’s sound regulatory reforms, which could be undone by a future administration.
I wish I were surprised, but I’m not.
Related articles
- Judge extends deadline for BP oil spill settlement (newsok.com)
- Oil Spill Commission Action Group Gives Congress Low Grades For Regulatory Reform On Drilling (huffingtonpost.com)
- Nagging and Lagging Problems with Off Shore Drilling Safety (recoverydiva.com)
(via thegreenurbanist)
Posted on Wednesday, 18 April
BP Plc (BP.L) said on Wednesday it reached definitive agreements with well over 100,000 private plaintiffs to resolve claims for economic, property and medical damages resulting from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The London-based oil company said it still believes the cost of the settlement will be $7.8 billion, to be paid from a $20 billion trust it had previously set aside.
This coming Friday is the two-year anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and triggered the largest offshore oil spill, after BP’s Macondo well ruptured.
“BP made a commitment to help economic and environmental restoration efforts in the Gulf Coast,” Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in a statement. “This settlement provides the framework for us to continue delivering on that promise, offering those affected full and fair compensation, without waiting for the outcome of a lengthy trial process.”
According to settlement papers, about 109,000 condominium owners, hotel and resort operators, restaurateurs, shrimpers and others may be eligible to recover on economic and property claims. About 16,000 plaintiffs may recover for medical claims.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs may be awarded as much as $600 million to cover fees and costs. This sum is separate from any amounts paid to spill victims, settlement papers show.
READ MORE: BP, private plaintiffs settle over Gulf oil spill
(via climateadaptation)
