ABC news’ Brian Hartman has reported what many have been wishfully waiting to hear for months: the Obamas will soon plant an organic vegetable garden on the White House South grounds.
Following a 60 Minutes interview with Chez Panisse chef, renowned slow foodist and activist for improved national eating habits in the US, Alice Waters, on Sunday March 15th, wherein she called with continued clarion for an organic garden at the White House, First lady Michelle Obama talked of her plans for the garden in an interview for Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine that will feature in its April issue.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women, the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) and Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) have released three new case studies and a video on the impacts of monoculture tree plantations on women in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Brazil.
These tree plantations provide rubber for car and bus tires, palm oil for processed foods and pulp for toilet paper - all items being used in the west. They are also destroying local communities according to WRM and FoEI.
In the case of Nigeria, in 2007, the French tire maker Michelin came in to the Iguóbazuwa Forest Reserve, a biologically diverse region supplying food for around 20,000 people. Michelin bulldozed the forest and local farm lands to convert them into rubber plantations. Women living there lost their subsistence farms and the local forest which provided medicinal herbs and plants.
Following last week’s post on contamination of the water supply for the city of Yancheng, China, state-run media Xinhua News has released an update on the news item.
According to a government circular cited in the Xinhua article, seven officials responsible for water supervision have been punished and two have been removed from office for lacking oversight. The Mayor of the city has pledged to close over 10% of the city’s 317 chemical plants, on account of their proximity to a water source.
No additional information was released on whether any residents experienced poisoning as a result of the incident, or if there was any damage to the nearby wetland reserve.
For those who take little solace in yet another case of environmental negligence or political misconduct in China that results in a score of officials being excused from their jobs (in lieu of a hyperlink, try a google search for “Chinese official sacked”), there is a silver lining yet. The city has offered residents a month of free water to compensate for the inconveniene experienced by the temporary shut off. Pack your bags and head to Yancheng!
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is getting behind the symbolic call for global action against climate change that is Earth Hour. From 8:30-9:30 p.m. (local time) on Saturday, March 28, major swaths of urbanized Earth will go dark in the name of unity.
All anyone has to do is sit, relax, socialize. Maybe in the dark, maybe by candle light. Whatever. It’s a World Wildlife Fund-led global party that may just offer city-dwellers the stars above, a rarely viewable pleasure for sure.
The ‘Ecovillage’ movement is not new, but, along with many other green ideas, it is growing steadily these days.
Ecovillages come in different varieties, but they hold a few basic characteristics in common. They try to combine great ecological sensibility and responsibility with innovative social environments that are supportive and fair. Different communities use or establish different systems of governance, but they tend to stand apart from the larger societies in some clear ways, whether it be their own system of rules or laws or just a very clearly defined sense of community.
Many such societies also address spirituality or religion to some degree or another, but it is not the case in all places. Ecovillages vary from one to another and it is up to the people who live there (and especially founding members) to bring different issues and ideas to the forefront of their community. Read the rest of this entry »
During the moments I take to write this blog entry, Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and an international beacon for the poor and the do-gooding prosperous alike, is finding his final resting place at Koinonia Farm in Georgia. He died earlier this week at 74.
Millard Fuller impacted my life profoundly — lastingly — as he did countless others.
Eleven years ago, as a college student, a young American from the Midwest, I traveled to Honduras on a Habitat for Humanity International building opportunity. It was my first experience outside of my home country. It shed light on worldly truths I had never before been able to so accurately imagine. Read the rest of this entry »
GreenTalk Radio host Sean Daily talks with Jules Dervaes of Path to Freedom. Path to Freedom is a grassroots, family operated, viable urban homesteading project established to promote a simpler and more fulfilling lifestyle and reduce one family’s “footprint” on the earth’s dwindling resources.It was established in 2001 in Pasadena, California by Jules Dervaes.
Over 2,500 miles west of Washington D.C. this week in sunny Carlsbad, California, the new Obama presidency commemorates a different type of inauguration, compliments of Legoland. The Master Model Designers behind Miniland U.S.A. – the section of this theme park that depicts Lego versions of various American landmarks – dressed up the model of the steps of the U.S. Capitol for our historic 56th Presidential inauguration.
Mini versions of everyone from the Obama family to Oprah Winfrey and the San Francisco Boys Chorus can be spotted in this creative Lego masterpiece.
As my family and I continued our California journey this week, escaping winter on our Wisconsin farm, spotting the mini-figure, four-inch version of Obama first brought a smile. Creative and colorful, you’re immediately drawn into analyzing the realistic detail of this endeavor.
But scratch the plastic surface. For me, this Lego depiction took on deeper meaning, a metaphor to inspiring the challenging days ahead. Harkening to Obama’s inspiring speech yesterday, if the new President and his administration truly seek change, particularly positive help for our planet, there are lessons to be learned from this Lego display:
1. Twist the Expected
Sure you expect to see Legos at Legoland. That’s the lure that kept our seven-year old son salivating up to the park gate. But Obama taking the presidential oath of office, constructed out of Legos? Read the rest of this entry »
Making green the new business as usual is catching on fast. Smart business leaders are looking for ways to cut costs and reduce their environmental impact — but they may not know exactly how to do it.
Environmental Defense Fund has just launched the Innovation Exchange, a first-of-its-kind online resource that allows businesses to quickly identify steps they can take, from greening their fleets to reducing paper use.
The new EDF site provides companies with recommendations, case studies, publications and tools to make changes that are good for the environment and the bottom line, for example:
“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” (Romans I: 20)
“Have you not seen how God sets forth a parable? A good word is like a good tree whose roots are firm and whose branches reach heaven. It gives its fruit during every season, by leaves of its Lord. And God sets forth parables to people that they may remember.” (Al-Qur’an I4: 24-25)
As you likely know, people of faith and environmentalists don’t always see eye-to-eye. The narratives of faith and the green movement can seem to diverge pretty widely at points, and members of both sides have often viewed the other with suspicion and distrust. In recent years, though, we’ve seen efforts by both groups to “reach across the aisle,” and the development of concepts like “creation care,” which attempt to bridge religious beliefs with environmental concerns.
In November, the Sierra Club joined the conversation with its publication of Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation. Bringing together clergy, lay people, and thinkers on the topics of religion/spirituality and the environment, Holy Ground is an anthology of meditations (essays just doesn’t seem to work) on the role of caring for the Earth while remaining faithful to the tenants of one’s faith.
Since July 2003, sustainablog has been providing information on environmental and economic sustainability, green and sustainable business, and environmental politics. The blog regularly features environmental leaders, experts in alternative energy and green technology, and real people trying to lighten their environmental footprints.
