Sustainability

United Nations Adopts Legally Binding Treaty To Protect High Seas

June 21, 2023 People's Dispatch. Create! Ocean, Sustainability, Treaty, United Nations

After years of discussions, the UN finally adopted the “Treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction” during the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) that was held in New York on Monday, June 19. The legally binding treaty will govern the use of high seas, or seas beyond the territorial control of countries, with the objective of protecting its ecosystems from pollution, over-fishing and over-exploitation. The treaty will form a part of the UN Convention on the Law of Sea, adopted in 1994, and will be open for signing by member states from September 20 during the annual UN General Assembly meeting at New York.

Is Kelp The Next Ocean Hero?

June 11, 2023 Tara Lohan, Resilience. Educate! Biodiversity, Kelp, Oceans, Sustainability

New research shows we’ve long underestimated the environmental benefits from kelp forests. Now these important ecosystems are threatened. Floridians are bracing for an unwanted visitor this summer: sargassum. A 5,000-mile-long island of this rootless seaweed is floating around the Atlantic, and large swathes of it are expected to wash ashore in Florida and other states in the coming months. Smaller amounts have already arrived, and the rotting clumps of algae on the beach release hydrogen sulfide, giving off the smell of rotten eggs. A large landfall will be a health hazard — and a deterrent for tourists and nesting sea turtles alike.

DeSmog Launches Industrial Aquaculture Project

June 8, 2023 Hazel Healy, DeSmog. Educate! Environment, Fish, Sustainability, World Oceans Day

At first glance, fish might seem like a climate-friendly alternative to meat for a world that needs to shift away from carbon-intensive cattle. At least the seafood farming (or ‘aquaculture’) industry would have you see it that way. Right now the market for farmed fish like salmon is booming. In fact it’s the fastest-growing food sector in the world. This is thanks in no small part to excellent marketing that brands this fish as the ‘chicken of the sea’: low-carbon, easy to cook and sustainable. But there’s a hitch with this ‘sustainable protein’ spin. Like other intensive farming sectors, aquaculture has been dogged by controversy, and accused of varied ecological and social harms including animal welfare concerns, pollution and highly complex, extractive supply chains, which source the feed that farmed fish rely on.

The London Transition Gathering: Four Days Of Transition Delights

May 24, 2023 Rob Hopkins, Resilience. Create! Community, London, Sustainability, Transition Town

Our four day immersion in London Transition activities started on Thursday evening at the Doreen Bazell Hall, a Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) Hall on the Goldington Estate in Camden, to visit one of the weekly meetings of Camden Think and Do, an initiative created between Camden Council and Transition Kentish Town. Think and Do happens here every Thursday, offering a free lunch as well as workshops on a range of things, from repairing clothes, to energy efficiency advice, to advice about the cost of living and benefits, and much more besides. We spent the afternoon with the community members there, meeting Maria and Tuli who coordinate the Think and Do sessions, and Halima who runs Sharing Space Eats from there, a social enterprise providing catering to local businesses.

Picture The Future: The Shift

April 15, 2023 Anita Roy, Resilience. Create! Permaculture, Sustainability, Transition Town, United Kingdom (UK)

If you are interested in learning about permaculture, about green energy, about ecology and the environment, the range of courses out there can be a little overwhelming. From the flexible, free and online variety to the two or three year long, in-person degree courses offered by many institutes of higher education. For example, the BA (Hons) Sustainable Futures: Arts, Ecology and Systems Change degree at the Black Mountains college in Wales. In 2010, two women, Sarah Pugh and Laura Corfield co-founded Shift Bristol, fired up by the idea that what people needed in order to make that shift – to a more sustainable, eco-friendly, viable and happy existence – was some hands-on training.

Focus On What’s Strong, Not What’s Wrong

April 13, 2023 Eric Ortiz, SW Connector Organize! community building, Development, Minnesota, Sustainability

Everyone has a gift. That gift is a talent or passion. But not everyone gets to use their gift, talent or passion. Sometimes, people are not invited to share their gifts. We see this a lot. There is a problem. It could be big or small. Some people or groups are labeled as the source of the problem. They are called a nuisance, incorrigible, incurable or worse. They get cast aside, then forgotten. And the problem never gets solved. That doesn't mean the problem no longer exists. It just means "it's not our problem anymore." We may choose not to see it, but it's still a problem. This way of thinking is how we get unsolved problems and why we have the same longstanding issues that don't change.

Tired Of Being Told To ‘Adapt,’ An Indigenous Community Wrote Its Own Climate Action Plan

February 21, 2023 Carly Graf, Next City. Create! climate crisis, Indigenous Peoples, Montana, Sustainability

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes live among some of the most spectacular landscapes in the country. Their home, the Flathead Reservation, covers 1.2 million acres dotted with soaring mountains, sweeping valleys, and lush forests. Flathead River bisects the land and drains into Flathead Lake, the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River. Long before anyone called this place northwest Montana or considered it a tourist destination, it sustained the tribes and they sustained it. “We have a proven track record of sustainability,” says Shelly Fyant, former chair of the CSKT Tribal Council. “We can trace it back 14,000 years.”

Webinar: Making Money Work For The Common Good

February 17, 2023 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Popular Resistance. Create! Banking, Money, Peace, Sustainability

For over three centuries, banks have been consolidating their power by extracting interest from people, businesses, governments and the planet. This power helps to explain why politicians and governments bend to their will. Mainstream economists treat money as a neutral medium of exchange and never consider its origin and purpose. Is it meant to serve the people, or to serve the interests of the monied elite alone? Exploring that question helps explain why there’s always plenty of money for military research and development and none for protecting pollinators…and always enough to finance luxury condos instead of affordable dwellings.

These New York City Apartments Are Affordable — And Sustainable

February 10, 2023 Maria Gallucci, Canary Media. Create! Energy, Housing, New York (NY), New York City (NYC), Sustainability

New York City, New York - Ultra-efficient high-rises and net-zero neighborhoods now in development could offer a blueprint for cities grappling with rising carbon emissions and dwindling affordable housing. In East New York, a residential area in the outer reaches of Brooklyn, a 14-story apartment building rises from the site of a demolished water pumping facility. With airtight insulation and advanced ventilation, the new brick-clad complex is designed to use as little energy as possible. Rooftop solar panels and electric appliances limit the need to burn gas for heating and cooking, reducing indoor air pollution and planet-warming emissions. The 275 apartments at Chestnut Commons are some of the most energy-efficient units in New York City. Just as crucially, the climate-friendly building is reserved for low-income households, in a neighborhood where more than one-third of residents live below the poverty line.

Socialism Is Not A Utopian Ideal, But An Achievable Necessity

January 6, 2023 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Capitalism, Socialism, Sustainability, Transformation

In May 2021, the executive director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the UN high representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, wrote an article urging governments to cut excessive military spending in favour of increasing spending on social and economic development. Their wise words were not heard at all. To cut money for war and to increase money for social development, they wrote, is ‘not a utopian ideal, but an achievable necessity’. That phrase – not a utopian ideal, but an achievable necessity – is essential. It describes the project of socialism almost perfectly. Our institute has been at work for over five years, driven precisely by this idea that it is possible to transform the world to meet the needs of humanity while living within nature’s limits.

West Opposes Rest Of World In UN Votes For Fairer Economic System, Equality

December 23, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Resistance Report Palestinians, Sustainability, United Nations, US Imperialism

Most countries on Earth voted at the United Nations General Assembly to support a call for a new international economic order that is based on sovereign equality and cooperation, that rejects unilateral sanctions and advocates for debt relief for the Global South. The only countries that opposed this widely popular proposal were the West and its allies. The United States and its proxies were also the lone votes against common-sensical resolutions promoting sustainable development, biological diversity, and basic civil rights for Palestinians. Almost the entire world supported these proposals. Washington showed itself to be a rogue state on the international stage, voting against practically every resolution, even on uncontroversial issues where the rest of the planet is in agreement.

Leading ‘Sustainable’ Investment Funds Backing Fossil Fuels, Research Finds

December 5, 2022 Christopher Deane, DeSmog. Educate! greenwashing, Sustainability, United Kingdom (UK), Wall Street

Major investment funds available to UK consumers are marketing themselves as “sustainable” and “ethical” while financing fossil fuel companies, research has found. Numerous asset managers are using “green” terms in their branding despite investing in oil giants, with the worst performer being a fund managed by BlackRock, a report by the Ethical Consumer magazine shows. The news comes amid growing scrutiny of “greenwashing” in the investment world, with the Financial Conduct Authority currently consulting on new rules to tackle the issue and HSBC recently having a series of adverts banned for misleading customers about the bank’s environmental efforts. Edward Lander, the report’s lead author, said: “We are in an absurd situation in which asset managers can label funds as “sustainable” while still investing in the world’s largest fossil fuel companies."

Agribusiness To Dominate ‘Not Inclusive’ COP27 Talks

November 14, 2022 Paula Andrés, Euractiv. Educate! Big Ag, COP27, Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

Farming initiatives at COP27 will be dominated by agri-business players and will lack farmers’ voices, sustainable campaigners and small-holders organisations have warned ahead of the global summit’s day devoted to agriculture. For the first time, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered in these days in Egypt will address food systems and agriculture. A dedicated Agriculture and Food Pavillion at the COP27 premises has been set by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the global partnership Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the philanthropic organisation Rockefeller Foundation.

A Guide To Decolonize Language In Conservation

October 12, 2022 Survival International. Strategize! Conservation, Decolonization, Sustainability, World Wildlife Foundation

Scientific evidence shows that Indigenous people understand and manage their environment better than anyone else: 80% of Earth’s biodiversity can be found in Indigenous territories. The best way to protect biodiversity is therefore to respect the land rights of Indigenous peoples – the best conservationists. Nevertheless, the mainstream conservation model today is still, just as in colonial times, “Fortress Conservation”: a model that creates militarized Protected Areas accessible only to the wealthy on the lands of Indigenous peoples. This “conservation” is destroying the land and lives of Indigenous peoples. But this is where most of the Western funding for nature protection is going. Why? Because the myths that sustain this model of conservation are reproduced in school texts, media, wildlife documentaries, NGO adverts, etc.

Five Of The World’s Coolest EcoVillages

September 8, 2022 Linnea Harris, EcoWatch. Create! Cooperation, Ecovillages, Housing, Sustainability

Ecovillages are intentional communities designed to be environmentally, socially, and/or economically sustainable. The concept gained popularity in the 1960s and 70s when communes became more widespread, although many traditional, rural communities have long engaged in these practices. Following the publication of the landmark study “Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities” by Robert and Diane Gilman in 1991, the first ecovillage conference took place in Findhorn, Scotland (where there is now a thriving ecovillage). Now, more than 400 such communities exist all across the globe.

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