Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for 'green' diaries and series. Below the fold: news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup Check out the eKos Library for previously listed diaries, and remember to follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight views are those of guest editor boatsie, so they don't necessarily represent those of eKos.
Ergo, welcome aboard the first flight of the blue earthship!
The up and down town. 1 "Sono meno di sette, ma non sono finite. Ho creato un passaggio obbligato per i ciclisti mettendomi nel mezzo dell'isoletta felice. Ho lasciato i colori anche se l'attrazione per il bianco e nero è forte. Ma c'è quel giallo lì. Photo By NuageDeNuit
Every once in a while, something comes along that is clearly a next step.
The idea seems to answer some collective question hanging out in the culture.
It becomes an underground buzz, and within a period of time it becomes part of our cultural vernacular.
The Blue Movement is such an idea.
In a time not too far off from now, it will have spread like wildfire.
The fact is that the green movement has been appropriated by the elites. If activism wishes to maintain its edge of resistance, it must turn blue ... The green movement failed because of its overemphasis on a secularized, materialist conception of activism. It tried to change the world without confronting the multi-billion dollar advertising industry that skews our desire and distorts our imagination. It is time to shift the green movement toward blue, to throw ourselves into the work of building an insurrection of the mental environment. Ending consumerism, and having the courage to clean up our mental environment by taking control of our public spaces, is the only way to avert imminent catastrophe. From Green to Blue, Our failure at Copenhagen represents a turning point for activism. Micah White, Adbusters
All about Blue
"And the First Reason is this, That we may work in righteousness, and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All, both Rich and Poor, That every one that is born in the Land, may be fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth, according to the Reason that rules in the Creation. Not Inclosing any part into any particular hand, but all as one man, working together and feeding together as Sons of one Father, members of one Family; not one Lording over another, but all looking upon each other as equals in the Creation;" from The True Levellers' Standard Advanced (Printed in the Yeer, MDCXLIX)
The Bottom Billion
He has always concerned himself as much with moral as material problems. In his most famous book, Poverty and Famines — inspired by the Bengal famine of 1943, which he witnessed as a boy — he asked how people could starve when food was available. The answer was that the poor simply lacked the capability to buy it. On these and other issues, the argumentative Indian has persuaded. His notion of measuring human development is now central to the work of the U.N. and the World Bank. As a result, Sen's influence extends all the way down to what another great economist has called "the bottom billion." ... on Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to work on welfare economics and one of The 2010 TIME 100
The Blue Revolution
As climate change worsens, and fresh water availability grows more erratic, the food security of small-scale farmers throughout Africa will increasingly depend on their water management abilities. Luckily, the tools for improving water management already exist. But, as a recent report from the Rockefeller Foundation notes, the key to getting these tools to the people who need them the most will be making sure that the funding, donor, and policy-making community understands what they are and why they need more support.
Blue Zones
Sardinian sheepherders, Japanese grandmothers and Seventh-Day Adventists in Los Angeles don't seem to have that much in common. But within these groups there are some of the longest-lived people in the world.
Author Dan Buettner has scoured the Earth — not for the fabled Fountain of Youth — but for the key to a happy old age. He spent five years visiting areas of the world where people tend to live longer, healthier lives, areas he calls "Blue Zones." Buettner talks about these hot spots and how he found them in a new book titled The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest.
"Okinawans sat on the floor; Sardinians lived in vertical houses; the Costa Ricans had gardens. So they were doing little things all day long that added up significantly over the years and the decades," Buettner says.
Water is Life: Pass it on. Blue Planet Run
Bluejean Genies: 7 Ways to Recycle Denim
Cool Butt: Cool butt. In the past few days all across the Netherlands people are suffering from Skate Fever. Due to the not cold winters they have not been able to do their favorite pasttime in the winter, skating on the canals and ponds that are everywhere ... Photo taken on the Gouwsea between Marken and and Volendam. The sun light against it on natural ice brighten this blue jeans cloqué. Probably a girl learning to skate by trial and error. Having a rest on the ice and got stucked - and almost frozen by the cold temperature. Almost a perfect blue print ;-) Photo and content by Ben
Used, abused, shredded, and worn down to the threads, our favorite jeans have stuck around longer than most significant others. Is it any wonder, then, that we’re loathe give our bootcuts the boot even when they’re one pant leg away from Do Not Resuscitate? Take heart, your dungarees are in a better place. From cozy wall insulation to custom-made ottomans, denim’s afterlife is just as true blue. View the slideshow.
WarrenS made a New Year's Resolution to write a letter advocating climate action every day. The result is over two hundred letters to congresspeople, newspapers, President Obama, and more. Warren has even had letters published in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Learn Warren's letter writing technique here. And be sure to steal his stuff!
From his blog:
Month 8, Day 25: Hey, Exxon! I’m Talkin’ to YOU!
Abandoning world peace for the moment, I return to admonishing our Corporate Overlords. This one went to the NYT in response to a very good (read: very depressing) op-ed by Thomas Homer-Dixon.
The corporate sector’s inability to acknowledge the urgency of addressing the climate crisis may well doom them in the long term. While strong climate legislation may bring a dip in quarterly profits for a few of the world’s largest companies, failure will ensure that the only corporate entities remaining will be those whose profitability springs from worldwide disasters and misery. Any business serving healthy humans and healthy societies is destined to fare poorly in a world buffeted by unpredictable weather catastrophes.
Conservative politicians and their media enablers have expended extraordinary amounts of energy in obscuring the simple facts of global climate change. A social movement this dedicated to ignoring reality does not bode well for the rest of the world. It’s a pity we can’t run generators on obfuscation, misdirection and mendacity.
WarrenS
"... the Na'vi's blue skin also allowed him to comment on race. "[I was thinking], 'What are the differences that we can deal with, without it becoming a barrier?' Skin color is great, and it's also great thematically, because skin color is obviously such a big issue on our planet," he explained with a grin, looking at his actors and teasing Worthington. "All the warm tones — from pallid Canadian pink, to beautiful warm browns and, well, pallid Australian pink — were all taken.
"So, we were down to blue and green basically — and green had been taken by all those Martian movies with the little green men," he remembered of his reasoning. "So, we have big blue women, not little green men." Link
"I think children have a connection to nature that's so deep when they're born, and they're closer in a way than we are as adults," she said.
"It's the message of the movie: Open your eyes. You're never too young to open your eyes and go, 'What is this world? What can I do? What do I like to do? What can I give that will improve the world and make me happy?' I think that serving and being useful is the most satisfying thing, and there are so many ways to do it." Sigourney Weaver
Stop by today's Ecoadvocates where guest editor Jill Richardson educates us on toxics in our everyday environment and Aji continues Action Alerts for the ongoing Kos' Help Pakistan campaign.
AND Don't forget to Recommend the BP Mothership
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If you would like to make an announcement for an upcoming diary or event, please e-mail us at eKos350atgmaildotcom. Please send us formatted HTML!
(All times Eastern!)
eKos diaries from Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
蓝 / 藍 ou xanh dương ou 青 ou bleu earthship | eKos | 10:14:08 PM | Earthship, blue revolution, climate change, ekos |
Plan Z for climate change | DarkSyde | 10:06:04 PM | climate change, eKos |
EcoAdvocates: Our Toxic Lives | Jill Richardson | 8:02:03 PM | Recommended, EcoAdvocates, PBDEs, Nanosilver, Triclosan, Triclocarban |
TLC | A Siegel | 7:55:34 PM | energy, ekos |
"Coldest winter I ever spent" | LaughingPlanet | 1:43:23 PM | Recommended, SF, San Francisco, climate change, ekos |
Great Lakes Oil Disaster Waiting To Happen? Again? | Detroit Mark | 1:37:15 PM | enbridge energy partners, oil disaster, michigan, candice miller, detroit river michigan water |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 92 | Gulf Watchers | 6:02:02 AM | Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
eKos diaries from Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
Updated: NEW Study indicates Microbes ARE rapidly consuming the Gulf Oil | jamess | 10:56:28 PM | Recommended, BP, Gulf Coast, Microbes, Underwater Plumes |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 91 | Gulf Watchers | 6:00:02 AM | Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
BP and the Coast Guard; "Move along here... Nothing to See" | Flint | 12:10:01 AM | bp, gulf of mexico, oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, eKos |
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