| s'il on a un rêve il y a une chance... |
[Oct. 23rd, 2007|11:48 am] |
…the greatest story yet to be told!
Remember the early Greenhouse days when a story about climate change (Cch) was a rarity in the news-mainstreams (and of course, the rare event would always include the obligatory quote- unquote “Greenhouse Effect” as if it wasn’t a proven hundred year-old scientific fact)? My, how far we’ve come in even just one decade, these days you can’t shake a stick without hitting a climatologist, climate journalist, skeptic, activist, government pundit or vlogger in the daily news troughs. And it’s not just because of Alfred Nobel's latest choice, or the end-of-the-year “Wacky Weather” reports. The story about Cch has broke in the MSM news. The trickle is now a steady stream, which sadly, will only well-up more and more-- as this story refuses to go away. Climate is going to grow to the biggest story of the 21st century (and the story has sharp fangs and talons). You can even see various networks and newswires quote science bodies who say that we may only have 10 years left. And recently we’ve witnesses everyone from morning news teams to Martha Stewart embracing sustainable solutions on the air.
So at least the dialog has started. And recently, an interesting trend has appeared; the addition of the word adaptation into the mix --that we can adapt to Cch as well as reduce our greenhouse gas emission. It is often used by groups who don’t necessarily like the idea of mitigating greenhouse gasses, so I wonder just how much thought they’ve actually put into the concept of adapting to Cch. But nonetheless, I agree. Both being important (adapting, and mitigating CO2 emissions), if we could only solve one problem at a time, focusing on adaptation to Cch is probably our best bet right now.
But what the heck does adaptation mean, anyway?
Do the pundits and government agents mean that we will adapt our lifestyles, technologies and microclimates to deal with a no longer stable climate? ( click here there's more... ) |
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| There's talk on the streets it sounds so familar... Great Expectations everybody's watching you! |
[Feb. 5th, 2007|05:10 pm] |
There's a new kid in town....
There's a new blog! Just went public today called GreenOptions and it would be really nice if y'all went over there and gave 'em a gander.... to be honest my friend Michael has been sending me snippets of this site-- and background for a few weeks now and it is something. It will grow into something extra special over the weeks, months and years to come... so get used to it!
It has some serious B & C-Listers from the green blogsphere writing and creatin it! Including Jeff Sustainablog, Shea MuseingsofanEcoEnterpreneur, GroovyGreen Michael, EcoGeek Philip, EcoRazzi/GreenerMiami Rebeca, and a host of others.. so perhaps they are aiming to break into Treehugger/WorldChanging/Grist Territory? Will have to wait and see.....
( Read more... ) |
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| and more and more... |
[Jul. 30th, 2006|04:01 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | climate adaptation, climatemodification, dinosaur fuels, evolution, extreme weather, food, greenfuture, i want one!!!, living machines, my happy place, prts | ] |
global warming is an existential threat that should affect our approach to just about every issue. To take it seriously, we would have to change the way we think about transportation, agriculture, development, water resources, natural disasters, foreign relations and more.
-in today's San Jose Mercury News "High energy prices compelling Americans to care about climate" |
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| Adapt or Die.. thats what evolutions is all about..... |
[Jun. 1st, 2006|06:35 am] |
US News started talking about something I think is really important. The next battle in the climate-change wars: preparing for and adapting to a warmer climate.
They write: "Even if people everywhere unplugged their appliances, left their cars home, and shuttered their factories today, enough fossil fuel emissions are already in the atmosphere to heat up the planet an additional 1 degree Fahrenheit this century, experts say. In reality, however, emissions are increasing--and scenarios put the likely temperature increases at 2.5 to 8 degrees over the same span. While politicians wrangle over mitigation, i.e., cutting emissions of gases like carbon dioxide and methane, some environmentalists and policymakers are increasingly focusing on the controversial concept of adaptation--preparing for changes increasingly seen as inevitable. Adaptation has long been the third rail of green politics for fear it would pull the focus away from fixing the problem. For many, however, the next debate in the climate-change debate is not why the planet is warming, or if we can stop it. It is this: How do we live with it?" [and in interesting note: our hominoid ancestors evolved every time there was a climate change... it's our cue to get bigger brains, stand upright... and now we need it more than ever]
so: bring on the agribots! bring on the living machines! seed banks!! While it is possible to stop & reverse what has been building since the industrial devolution, it won't happen if we dont have bellies full to actually scrub the CO2, and to deal with ocean circulations, and geoengineering and all the other neato fixes.... |
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| WalMart looks at urban multilevel design, including housing |
[May. 22nd, 2006|12:30 pm] |
and we know it will be energy efficient ...but now, from Greenclips: ..."As the company tries to penetrate urban areas that have lofty land prices and entrenched antidevelopment movements, it's increasingly building up, not out. Wal-Mart now operates roughly 20 multilevel stores, many of them in buildings vacated by other retailers. Over the next five years, the company plans to open another 50 to 60 on lots one-third the size of its traditional 25-acre swaths. "Historically, if a site didn't fit our size, if it didn't fit our parking ratio -- 1,000 spaces and a 195,000-square-foot supercenter -- we would walk away and chase other opportunities," said Rob Bray, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of real-estate construction and design. "Today, we say, 'How?'" ..and we know how-- they're all up in it about the green = green these days... OK, that pic might be a stretch, it's doubtful that they're going to jump outta the gate wih Emilio Ambasz, but then again, if you saw the pics of what they pushed (sadly, unsuccsessfully) to get into Vancouver BC, it's not that far off... |
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| Garden In A City; th 'first' urban garden show |
[May. 13th, 2006|01:17 pm] |
Billed as the nation's first urban garden show, it features displays, workshops and practical "grow-too" information for city residents interested in greening up their yards, decks, parkways, balconies, windows and rooftops. "It's the first show in the nation designed to show our residents practical ideas for planting small gardens," Mayor Daley said by way of introducing the event. (and if you are a regular HUGGer you know that there's going to be a few debuts there, like GeenGrids new modular sytems...) |
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| now Wired jumps the green shark! |
[Apr. 28th, 2006|07:05 pm] |
It's not the first time for them, though....
No, it's true, a few years back Bruce Stirling and his Veridian Posse took over the magazine for an issue and even back in 2001 for their Design issue, they looked at green design (and of course at Sterling and the Veridians). So it's just another green themed magazine somewhere between Elle and Vanity Fair (and that Al Gore piece in VF was great, but) but this one will be full of goodies. Here's just two samples.
[Wired] |
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| Cryptic Moth In Flight |
[Apr. 24th, 2006|04:35 am] |
...from wedding dresses made with plastic bags,
to the best and worst that plastic has to offer...
OK I know I've told you about my buddy Ian before. Not only have I been proud as punch by his antics over the years (way back a million years ago we had a production company together, but that's a different story). But I am now going to put on my cheerleader costume and bring it on for him, as his latest really deserves some rah-rah rahing! Yes, this is the dood i hinted about a while back in a post here when he left Discovery Channel's Daily Planet. But his new journey is going to be even more amazing! He's now traveling around the world with a very talented editor, shooting & chopping videos to assemble the Mother of all Plastic Documentaries! He's got quite an agenda here, not to protest and just show you the bad, but the good, why we needed plastic, and then of course the hundreds of eco solutions that there are for plastics.
And of course, for your reading pleasure, he's even started a blog, charting the journey ....
So hats off to Ian and Gad, I am going to write up about them whenever something really stands out, but be sure to check out the blog and cheer them on. In uphill eco battles, allies always make it seem easier to cross the line... Plus he writes really well and has a great sense of humor, so laugh, cry and check out the Cryptic Moth in Flight
...and just in case you were wondering, this is a cryptic moth:
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| lets show the WalM a little love, please? |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|02:34 pm] |
Poor Lee Scott.... no matter what the guy does, there's always someone ready to bite at his ankles and call him a Bentonvill thug. And I think he needs a hug.
I've said it before and I will say it again (probably many many more times) but what Scott and WalMart are doing is going to be the biggest thing to ever happen in the marketing of sustainability. Just as he, virtually overnight, got crowned the king of the organic-cotton yoga pants, now he's continuing his battle. And what is the battle? Mr. Scott feels that everyone ought to have access to organic food. Not just the wealthy. And he feels that he has enough power and scale to actually make that happen.
So of course everyone now comes out of the woodwork to say that it is a bad deal for everyone (including the planet? Please...) Even this weeks Business Week has found some organic farmer to interview. The guy is not happy. He has heard all the rumours, and on top of it, he's worried that Walmart will ruin his profit margin. The farmer, by the way, sells to WholeFoods. This is snobbery at it's worse. To begin with, China has new organic standards (that are as good or better than QAI's crap) and can produce more organic produce than all the hippies in California. And the WM does a LOT of business there alreay, right? So they may not want to own every family farm left in America, ya know?
On top of which Mr. Scott is entireley correct! The prices are outlandish for organic food right now and if you happen to be poor you are S.O.L. My last grocery order at WholePaycheque bareley covered anything (and i was raw, so i was buying none of the fancypants Organic Burrito stuffs at all, still two bags were like $75). Now, WFM is the worst offender, tbh, because a similar order from my local coop would have been about $20 lighter (and since i like buying whole foods, i mean real whole foods, like seeds for sprouting and all.... i can actually add that WholeFoods sells less actual whole food than any of the coops i can go to which are smaller but still rock).
I don't mean to bash wholefoods too much, I like that they have made it fun and fashionable to eat organic (and their $80/shares are pretty strong) but i was doing business with them a few years ago and we were a new territory and I saw how they scope out and who they thought was their competitioin, and it was never grandma's hippie organic shop, it was always the most expensive most comfortable more expendable-cash stores around... so um, let them go after the wealthiest top 10% of the pop... and for the rest of us, I say; meet me in a walmart in the organic produce isle, we'll drink fresh smoothies and raise a gladd to good 'ol Lee Scott! |
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| living fresh on the Disco channel |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|02:00 am] |
How have I missed this show? I want to see it!!
That's Sara Snow. She's the host of Living Fresh, a show on the Discovery channel. I'm just blown away (yes I know i have previously made predictions that we are going to see a plethora of green prgraming on TV, "green TV Networks" and that everybody's grandma is going to do a green eco podcast... but still i'm impresed and inspired! Here's how they say it in their PR:
"Americans are living healthy lives. They eat organic food, drive hybrid cars and wear recycled fibers. ( Read more... ) |
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| ...I almost wanna go back to school!!! |
[Feb. 18th, 2006|11:07 am] |
A new advanced degree program that puts a green spin on architectural design will be offered at Yale University next fall. The four-year joint degree program will focus on sustainable and restorative environmental design, which seeks to minimize adverse effects on the natural environment and human health and enhance the beneficial contact between people and nature in buildings. “Much of current design and development, especially in urban areas, has fostered environmental degradation, excessive waste, pollution and unsustainable resource use, while at the same time separating, if not alienating, people from the natural environment,” said Stephen Kellert, the Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology at the environment school. Students in the 126-credit program will take 90 course credits at the architecture school and 36 credits at the environment school, and upon graduation will receive master's degrees in architecture and environmental management.
“Schools of the environment are recognizing that they must also strive to be schools of sustainable development, and schools of architecture are recognizing that they need to address the biological and biophilic dimension of sustainable design,” said Kellert. “Consequently, students of the environment and of architecture are increasingly seeking to integrate and combine the knowledge and skills of these currently separate and independent disciplines, so that they may someday shape built environments that will sustain people and the planet. Can I get an amen?" (OK, he didn't say that last part).
I never really thought of The Yayo as cutting edge eco, but I have high hopes... Sure they don't have an Ambasz or a Yeang on the Archi faculty, but it's Yale, they can hire.... Besides they do have Gustav "Gus" Speth as the dean of the eco school(!)
That is pretty heavy. I gotta say, I've had the pleasure of being in Mr. Speth's company (with his pal, Maurice Strong, I mean those two are amazing!) and he is a unique person in this field! You don't even need to take a course just being near him you get it by osmosis! From 1993 to 1999, "Dean Speth" served as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Prior to that, he was founder and president of WRI the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and senior attorney and cofounder, Natural Resources Defense Council. With Gus in on it, I have high hopes for the school of architecture's new Green Building progarm at Yale! Yay! |
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| EcoKids.... a nice new read! |
[Jan. 24th, 2006|06:51 am] |
 >
"In Eco-Kids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth," author Dan Chiras focuses on touching the hearts and minds of our youth, for the future of the world depends on what they feel, think, and believe. Most importantly he has given parents the tools by which they can raise children who truly care for the Earth. It's a must read---long overdue."
-- Dennis Weaver, actor, founder of Institute of Ecolonomics
EcoKids, Written by Sustainable Design Consultant Chiras, addresses this gap by presenting a coherent plan that will help parents foster love for nature, teach children the importance of environmental protection, and promote environmental values and inspire action - actions that will last a lifetime. A hopeful and inspiring guide for parents, topics covered include ways to:
* avoid gloom and doom in favor of positive solutions
* foster love and empathy for nature
* develop environmental values
* put values into action
* help children discover the roots of problems and be part of lasting solutions
* walk the talk
* counter the consumer culture, starting in your own home and community
* generate hope and combat apathy.
Each chapter includes an inspiring case study of a child who's making a difference, short pieces that highlight serious problems such as global warming, along with positive solutions that can be read aloud to children, and activities for children. A resource guide lists helpful books, articles, videos, and organizations.....
[buy one or order a bunch for all the kids] |
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[Jan. 19th, 2006|03:35 pm] |
Michael Reynolds and Gang take reuse to the nth
Ok, so this may be old hat to many of you-- but to some of you, this may come as one more inspiring evidence of our evolution, and people turning a negative into a positive! So lets go. No doubt you're aware that there are around 4 billion used tires in North American Dumps, we throw out close to 300 million a year, and Europe isn't that far behind. From the micro swamp breeding grounds for west nile and (increasingly) malaria, to the horrendous tire fires, this is a huge problem that won't go away on its own. But here's Michael Reynolds to show us how problems are sometimes solutions in waiting....
( prepare to be dazzled.... ) |
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