Sustainability

EU Approves Law To Ban Greenwashing On Product Labels

January 19, 2024 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Create! European Union (EU), greenwashing, Labeling, Sustainability

The European Parliament has voted to adopt a law regulating sustainability claims on product labels. The law will prohibit retailers from making general environmental claims and sustainability claims without evidence. The law bans the use of terms including “eco,” “biodegradable,” “environmentally friendly,” “natural” and “climate neutral” without evidence. The EU will now require sustainability labels to be linked to official certifications or those established by public authorities, such as the the EU Ecolabel, the European Environmental Bureau reported. Further, the law addresses carbon offsetting, banning labels from noting that products have a “neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment” because of companies’ participation in carbon offsetting programs.

Upcycling 101: Everything You Need To Know

January 11, 2024 LibLeonard, EcoWatch. Create! Circular Economy, Recycling, Sustainability, Upcycling

Many of us are familiar with the phrase, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” in terms of sustainability, but it’s become apparent that “Reduce, Reuse, and Repurpose” might be a smarter avenue in terms of reducing waste streams. Right now globally, 2.12 billion tons of waste is dumped annually. Many industries, particularly textiles, contribute not only to microplastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but also poisonous gases in the atmosphere. Doubling down on not always purchasing new things helps to reduce waste and conserve valuable resources. Upcycling is the process of using items that might be discarded to create a new use for them, often one with higher value.

Stitching A Co-Operative Future In Victoria, BC

January 5, 2024 Each For All, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! British Columbia, Canada, Cooperatives, Sustainability

In the heart of Victoria, British Columbia, a remarkable transformation story has been threaded by The Make House. What started as a 10-year-old sole proprietorship blossomed into a worker co-operative in December 2022. Host Robin Puga had an enlightening conversation with Tanya King, Studio Manager and Board Vice-President, unraveling the journey behind this creative pivot. he Make House began as a sole proprietorship. Faced with the prospect of the owner selling the business, the staff team decided to reimagine the future of The Make House. The decision to shift to a worker co-operative model was fueled by a desire to deepen their community roots and engage in democratic decision-making

Sustainable Food Systems Need Intergenerational Cooperation

January 2, 2024 KatrĪNa Idū, Resilience. Strategize! Food and Agriculture, Multigenerational, Sustainability

“There is a growing fear of insecurity about food in our societies. We fear losing control of what we will be able to eat in the future. But we also see many local initiatives across Europe working on new food systems. However, to be honest, real change is coming too slowly. One important reason seems to be an absence of exchange, understanding and trust between generations. Elders tend to hold on to their habits, the younger generation wants to try out and take risks. We need to overcome that gap in order to move on to common action on our farming and food systems of the future. We work for a new intergenerational agreement. Food must come back to the centre of our lives”, says Katrina Idu (age 33), President of Forum Synergies, a partner organisation of ARC2020.

The Lower Sioux Need Homes, So They’re Building Them From Hemp

December 24, 2023 Judith Matloff, Next City. Create! green housing, Hempcrete, Indigenous People, Native Americans, Sustainability

For now, it’s only a gaping hole in the ground, 100-by-100 feet, surrounded by farm machinery and bales of hemp on a sandy patch of earth on the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in southwestern Minnesota. But when construction is complete next April, the Lower Sioux — also known as part of the Mdewakanton Band of Dakota — will have a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing campus that will allow them to pioneer a green experiment, the first of its kind in the United States. They will have an integrated vertical operation to grow hemp, process it into insulation called hempcrete, and then build healthy homes with it. Right now, no one in the U.S. does all three.

Band Walks 870 Miles On Tour To Promote More Sustainability

November 9, 2023 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Create! Music, Music industry, Sustainability, United Kingdom (UK), Wales

Filkin’s Drift, a band of two based in Birmingham, UK, have been highlighting sustainability in their latest tour by walking about 870 miles along the coast of Wales. Musicians Seth Bye and Chris Roberts walked between stops for their 60-day tour, carrying the instruments they needed and just enough clothing to walk and perform each day. Bye and Roberts each carried a 33-pound bag on their journey, the BBC reported. “We’re not at all suggesting that everyone should give up driving and walk to all their gigs because it has completely taken over our lives, but things like choosing more sustainable routes (should be considered),” Roberts said, as reported by the BBC.

How San Diego Built A Surveillance Apparatus

October 11, 2023 Jesse Marx, In These Times. Resist! California, Mass Surveillance, Police, San Diego, Surveillance, Sustainability

San Diego. California - It sounded smart on paper. In 2016, the San Diego City Council created a new infrastructure project related to its environmental initiatives: Thousands of streetlights would be retrofitted with energy-efficient LEDs. Plus, remote-controlled sensors would produce publicly accessible data on weather, traffic and parking. Considering the energy savings, the $30 million partnership with General Electric would pay for itself. Win-win. But today, the project is an example of how not to create “smart” city utilities. Those sensors included integrated cameras, and no councilmember formally opposed the potential surveillance issues. Most San Diego residents only learned they were filmed indiscriminately thanks to media reports — in 2019.

Transforming Suburbia

October 6, 2023 Jan Spencer, Resilience. Create! Permaculture, Suburbia, Sustainability, Transformation

From the street, anyone would notice something different about these two properties in the middle of this bi focal suburban block in Eugene, Oregon. The houses on one side of the street date from the mid 50’s, the other side, larger and two stories, have replaced a wholesale nursery over the past 15 years. The two quarter acre properties of interest here, are green all the way to the street with food producing trees, brambles, vines. One place, notably, does not have a driveway. My property is a permaculture landmark in the Pacific Northwest. Literally, thousands of people have visited over the years to see what a nothing special suburban property can become.

Towards An Indigenous Economics

September 19, 2023 Herbert Girardet, Resilience. Create! Economics, Forest Dwellers, Indigenous Communities, Sustainability

With a profound sustainability crisis facing humanity, it may be useful to try and glimpse what a sustainable relationship between people and planet might actually look like. This essay explores how cultures and their host environments mesh together in pre-industrial societies. It seeks to show how cultural beliefs and practices reflect and reinforce the environmental adaptations of seven different community settings – the Mbuti forest people in central Africa, the Kayapó people in the Brazilian Amazon, the Nuer cattle herders in South Sudan, the Chagga agro-foresters on Mount Kilimanjaro, Asian peasant farmers, and European small-scale urban systems.

Six Of Nine Planetary Boundaries Have Now Been Exceeded

September 16, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, Extreme weather, Human Rights, Sustainability

A new study by an international team of 29 scientists from eight countries provides the third update to the planetary boundaries framework. The update shows how human activities are increasingly impacting our planet, thus augmenting the risk of triggering drastic changes in Earth’s overall conditions. The nine planetary boundaries represent the limits within which humans can continue to thrive and develop. “The planetary boundaries framework draws upon Earth system science,” the study said. “It identifies nine processes that are critical for maintaining the stability and resilience of Earth system as a whole. All are presently heavily perturbed by human activities.

The Beauty, Challenges, And Potential Of Living In Ecocommunity

September 14, 2023 Erik Assadourian, Resilience. Create! Community, Ecocommunity, Environment, Sustainability

In 2007, while studying sustainable communities for a chapter on the subject for State of the World 2008, I had the chance to visit several ecovillages. But none stood out like the Los Angeles Eco-Village. Surrounded by car-centric city sprawl, it was a tiny little oasis of green—literally and figuratively, with it being populated by many environmental activists. It was inspiring to meet them and learn about their efforts, and I daydreamed about what would happen if there was a little urban ecovillage in every city incubating citywide change, catalyzing human-centric infrastructure changes, teaching permaculture techniques, and so on.

A World On The Edge Of Collapse?

August 18, 2023 Michael Klare, Tom Dispatch. Educate! climate crisis, Extinction, oligarchy, Sustainability

In his 2005 bestseller Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, geographer Jared Diamond focused on past civilizations that confronted severe climate shocks, either adapting and surviving or failing to adapt and disintegrating. Among those were the Puebloan culture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, the ancient Mayan civilization of Mesoamerica, and the Viking settlers of Greenland. Such societies, having achieved great success, imploded when their governing elites failed to adopt new survival mechanisms to face radically changing climate conditions.

East Cleveland Residents Are Building A Closed Loop Economy

August 14, 2023 Emily Nonko, Next City. Create! Cleveland, Closed Loop, Community Ownership, Food and Agriculture, Local Economy, Sustainability

Meet Wake Robin Fermented Foods, a small company based in the city of East Cleveland, Ohio, focused on local sustainability. About 90% of its vegetables are sourced from farms in Northeast Ohio; all vegetable waste goes to compost; paper, cardboard and metal is reused or recycled; fermented products are packaged in reusable glass jars. Wake Robin would be impressive if it stood on its own, but it’s part of a larger vision to establish a closed loop, community-owned supply chain in the three square miles comprising East Cleveland. The organization leading the work is called Loiter.

Venezuela Proposes Joint Task Force For Amazon Rainforest Recovery

August 9, 2023 Janna Corredor, Orinoco Tribune. Create! Amazon Rainforest, climate crisis, Restoration, Sustainability, Venezuela

Venezuela has proposed actions that unite economic and sustainable development to restore the vital regeneration of the Amazon rainforest, to be accomplished with the support and union of all South American countries, according to vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, speaking at the Fourth Amazon Summit 2023, taking place in the city of Belém, Brazil. “We are called to coordination and union,” Rodríguez stated this Tuesday, August 8, during a presentation at the summit. “Surely, unity is the work that binds us for vital regeneration.

World Needs A New Development Theory That Does Not Trap The Poor In Poverty

July 14, 2023 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Development, Poverty, Sustainability, Transformation, United Nations

In June, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network published its Sustainable Development Report 2023, which tracks the progress of the 193 member states towards attaining the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ‘From 2015 to 2019’, the network wrote, ‘the world made some progress on the SDGs, although this was already vastly insufficient to achieve the goals. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and other simultaneous crises, SDG progress has stalled globally’. This development agenda was adopted in 2015, with targets intended to be met by 2030.

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