Sustainability

Ten Tips To Make Every Day Earth Day

April 23, 2017 Lloyd Alter, www.treehugger.com Create! Earth Day, Food and Agriculture, Sustainability, Transportation

By Lloyd Alter for Tree Hugger. Readers of a certain age will remember Pogo, the political satire strip that was probably the Doonesbury of the sixties. Walt Kelly did this great poster for the first Earth Day and really, nothing has changed. So many email pitches for green products, infographics and listicles (articles made of lists) come to me at TreeHugger. It is astounding, how many of them there are, and how trivial they can be. One that got me particularly cranked suggested that we could make a big difference in the state of the world by turning our TV brightness settings down and making the video game console go to sleep. A few years back, one of my sustainable design students asked what she could do to go green that did not involve buying replacement windows, electric cars or bamboo socks; Here is an Earth Day roundup of them, an update of an earlier version, listing the things that anyone can do.

Climate Change: No One Is Exempt

April 10, 2017 Sarah “Steve” Mosko, www.sarahmosko.wordpress.com Educate! Climate Change, Global Warming, Sustainability

By Sarah “Steve” Mosko for Boogie Green - Luckier Americans are insulated from many everyday worries, like struggling to pay the rent or mortgage on time. Some even enjoy life in gated communities, fine dining and first-class travel. But, just as money is no guarantee of happiness, neither is it assurance of protection against all of the frightening impacts of unchecked global warming. 2016 was the third straight year that the Earth’s temperature was the hottest on record. Contrary to what one might hear in politicized discourse, climate scientists are nearly unanimous in concluding climate change is happening and is the result of burning fossil fuels for energy. The United Nations and scientific organizations worldwide warn that effects of climate change are already being felt...

Cuba’s Sustainable Agro-Ecological Model Could Save The World

November 1, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Create! Agroecology, Cuba, Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

By Staff of Tele Sur - On World Food Day, teleSUR spoke to Professor Raj Patel, an award-winning writer and defender of food security and sustainable models of agriculture. In Cuba, where the external conditions—the U.S. blockade and the collapse of the USSR—along with internal socialist planning, have compelled Cuban farmers to adopt an independent model of agriculture to feed the population, without importing expensive chemicals, the model that has developed is a world leader in sustainability.

Habitat III: Stronger Urban Future Based On Right To The City

October 30, 2016 Mike Herd, www.theguardian.com Create! Cities, climate crisis, Governance, Sustainability

By Mike Herd for The Guardian. All the major global challenges – climate change, the economy, inequality, the very future of democracy – will be solved in cities. If nations want to succeed with their policies, we must be counted as serious actors on the global stage. I believe national governments are hostages to the momentum of the previous century – but that’s not the real world any more. We live in a world that functions by networking, by faster and more agile contact between cities. Of course, the perfect city does not exist; the democratic city is in permanent conflict and permanent construction. The point is to be really open; to keep innovating, listening to citizens and watching what is done in other cities to make constant improvements. Cities are able to make politics more cooperative, and not so competitive.

East Pittsburgh Creates Path For Sustainable Economic & Green Community

August 25, 2016 Pamela Boyce Simms, www.geo.coop Create! Economics, Pittsburgh, Sustainability

By Pamela Boyce Simms for Grassroots Economic Organizing - The cast of characters assembled on vacant lots in Larimer, an East Pittsburgh neighborhood. A fiery community champion, the barons of the local political machine, real estate wizards behind the curtain, well-meaning outsider technical allies, residents (some savvy, others, unfortunate sheep), and a homegrown wolf on the prowl among them, were all there. The players who animate urban revitalization, renewal, or gentrification, by any name, are familiar.

Biodiversity Below Safe Levels Across More Than Half Of World

July 24, 2016 Adam Vaughn, www.theguardian.com Educate! Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

By Adam Vaughn for The Guardian. The variety of animals and plants has fallen to dangerous levels across more than half of the world’s landmass due to humanity destroying habitats to use as farmland, scientists have estimated. The unchecked loss of biodiversity is akin to playing ecological roulette and will set back efforts to bring people out of poverty in the long term, they warned. Analysing 1.8m records from 39,123 sites across Earth, the international study found that a measure of the intactness of biodiversity at sites has fallen below a safety limit across 58.1% of the world’s land. Under a proposal put forward by experts last year, a site losing more than 10% of its biodiversity is considered to have passed a precautionary threshold, beyond which the ecosystem’s ability to function could be compromised.

Demand Sustainably Produced Cut Flowers

July 15, 2016 Sarah “Steve” Mosko, www.sarahmosko.wordpress.com Create! Environment, Sustainability

By Sarah “Steve” Mosko for Boogie Green - Flowers add color and gaiety to any special occasion and are a time-honored way to say thank you or beautify living spaces. However, cut flowers have become a multi-billion dollar global trade industry with a not so pretty underbelly rooted in where and how they are grown. Historically in the U.S., flowers were first grown in greenhouses in Eastern states and later in Western and Southern states when commercial air transportation made preserving freshness possible. In the 1970’s, the U.S. grew more cut flowers than it imported, only a small fraction originated in Colombia.

The Edible “U” Campus Gardens

June 26, 2016 Sarah Lappe, www.utahstories.com Create! Education, Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

By Sarah Lappe for Utah Stories. Salt Lake City, UT - Just beyond of the University of Utah’s President’s Circle, tucked between buildings and walkways, you will find one of the Edible Campus Gardens. This beautiful garden has long brown garden beds speckled with a variety of young, green plants. As you walk between the beds, you will find kale, onions, garlic, and tomatoes, and for a moment you forget you are on an urban campus. There are two garden locations on campus. The first and oldest garden is located at the Sill Center for undergraduate research, which was started in 1996 by Professor Fred Montague, who is also known for his handwritten and drawn book entitled, Gardening: An Ecological Approach. The second and larger garden site is located just east of Pioneer Memorial Theatre and was established in 2002.

116 Organizations Creating A Sustainable Global Food System

December 26, 2015 Staff, www.ecowatch.com Create! Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

By Staff of Food Tank - Each year, Food Tank highlights organizations that help create a more sustainable global food system. They protect biodiversity, produce valuable agricultural research, fight hunger and much more. This year, Food Tank featured 116 organizations that made vital improvements to our food system in 2015. Here are the 116 sustainable organizations to watch in 2016: 1. 4-H: 4-H is a youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System of land-grant universities in the U.S. Based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, 4-H encourages youth to pursue their own projects, with help from volunteers and mentors.

From ‘Sustainable’ To ‘Regenerative’—The Future Of Food

October 29, 2015 André Leu and Ronnie Cummins, www.organicconsumers.org Create! Food and Agriculture, Sustainability

By André Leu and Ronnie Cummins for Organic Consumers Association - This week (October 26, 2015), the paywalled site PoliticoPro reported that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture wants “farmers and agricultural interests to come up with a single definition of sustainability in order to avoid confusing the public with various meanings of the term in food and production methods.” We agree with Secretary Tom Vilsack that the word “sustainability” is meaningless to consumers and the public. It’s overused, misused and it has been shamelessly co-opted by corporations for the purpose of greenwashing.

Over 220 Nonviolent Actions Planned For Nonviolence Week

August 30, 2015 Staff, www.paceebene.org Resist! climate crisis, Nonviolence, Peace, Poverty, Sustainability

By Staff of Campaign Nonviolence - Campaign Nonviolence is a long-term movement to mainstream nonviolence and build a culture of peace in three interrelated ways: practicing nonviolence toward ourselves, toward all others, and toward the world by working to abolish war, end poverty, reverse the climate crisis, and challenge all violence. In cities and towns in all 50 states, Campaign Nonviolence will march against violence and for a world of peace, justice and sustainability. During Campaign Nonviolence Week, we will connect the dots between war, poverty, climate change, and all forms of violence —and join forces to work for a culture of peace.

Wine ‘Goliath’ Bullies ‘David’ Egg Seller

August 9, 2015 Shepherd Bliss, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Big Ag, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Local Economy, Sustainability

By Shepherd Bliss. Sonoma County, CA - It’s a classic Goliath vs. David story, with Sonoma County’s powerful wine industry as Goliath. Their high-paid lobbyists and marketers re-branded this region from our cherished, natural “Redwood Empire” to their commercial “Wine Country.” Goliath hoards more than its fair share of water, agricultural land, and road space. These wine barons run a Wine Empire that colonizes food farms and usurps natural resources. Wise Acre is a local David. Most wineries here are owned by large corporate investors from Wall Street and outside the US. “The Myth of the Family Winery: Global Corporations Behind California Wine,” published by the Marin Institute, documents this. A few alcohol companies own most of the wine production here.

Mapping the Portlandia Fossil Fuel Corridor

July 15, 2015 Jonah Majure, www.portlandrisingtide.org Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Oil & Gas, Sustainability

By Jonah Majure in Portland Rising Tide - It seems like just about every week Portland is receiving some sort of new award or recognition for sustainability. We certainly built up a legacy of ecological awareness early-on. Tom McCall, our republican governor in the 60’s and 70’s, advocated for protecting the Commons and cleaning up our watersheds and airsheds. Portland was also ahead of other cities in the West in its commitment to smart urban planning and transportation justice. It only makes sense that Portland is ground zero for the climate fight, but maybe not for the reasons one would think. While we’ve been told by City Hall and the media that we’ve already won the struggle for a greener future here in Portland, the reality is even more twisted and dangerous than the fossil fuel metropolises of Calgary or Houston.

Farming For A Sustainable Community: A Training Manual

June 25, 2015 American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org Create! Farming, Sustainability

"Farming for a Sustainable Community: A Training Manual" documents the knowledge of Don Bustos, lifelong New Mexican farmer and director of AFSC's New Mexico program, and the farmer-to-farmer training program developed by AFSC to pass down the knowledge he and his ancestors have known for generations. The manual presents models for land selection, soil preparation, crop planning, cultivation, handling, marketing and season extension with point-by-point instruction, case studies, illustrations, and descriptions. This knowledge is shared free of charge. Please credit AFSC when referencing the manual.

And The World’s Most Sustainable City Is…

March 5, 2015 Roman Kilisek, www.theenergycollective.com Educate! Environment, Sustainability, Urban

A city is more that just a place where people live and work. And as more of the world’s population gravitates toward city living, these urban centers must cater to their population’s myriad needs with sustainable solutions like never before. Recently, ARCADIS came out with a highly informative report entitled “Sustainable Cities Index 2015 – Balancing the economic, social and environmental needs of the world’s leading cities.” The researchers proclaimed “A city is much more than just a place for people to live and do business. Cities are areas of emotional attachment, each with their own distinct personality, traditions and attraction factor.”

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »

Daily movement news and resources