Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
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Tonight's editor: speck
David v. Goliath By Antonis Liokouras
Tonight's Editor's Choice is Ubiquitous A's Keith Olbermann Appreciative of Supporters, Stands Firm Against MSNBC's Inconsistent Enforcement. KO goes nose to nose with 'da man' and emerges victorious. Take that! Something to celebrate and also a 'ground shaking' example of - as KO himself dubs it - "the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small."
So now. We've got Keith back. Let's not loose momentum. Rather, let's focus this energy and passion on saving Planet Earth! Let the games begin!
Welcome to The First Ever 'Global Hug' Eco-Shorts Festival Earthship, showcasing a small selection of educational, clever and/or entertaining climate clips, woven in between a few news bytes, photos, and features.
Post Carbon Institute's Richard Heinberg kicks off tonight's program with 300 YEARS OF FOSSIL FUELED GROWTH IN 5 MINUTES
"Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries.," says Heinberg. "Now that we're reaching the end of oil and coal supplies, we're in for an exciting ride. While there's a damned good chance we'll fall off a cliff, there's still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future."
THE ULTIMATE ROLLER COASTER RIDE: A Brief History of Fossil Fuels by Richard Heinberg
A good read ....
... over at Tcktcktck Kelly Rigg discusses how the press has fallen woefully short in reporting on climate and environmental issues, and is now totally missing the gun on the new climate change convergence as well as the "massive changes" in global strategies for energy investment. The journalists who will be remembered for their work in ten or 20 years, she believes, will be those who write under the dictates of the Hippocratic oath: DO NO HARM!
More and more, we're seeing references to a "new industrial revolution" - it's the new zeitgeist: get with the program or get left behind. As China's climate negotiator put it, "Countries with low-carbon industries will have a developmental advantage. Some people believe this is a global competition as significant as the space race in the cold war. "
(snip)
...Journalists have a duty to educate, to get to the truth of the matter by digging deep into the best available facts, science, and expertise. There are, of course other codes of journalistic practice such as the need to provide "balanced" reporting. But genuinely balanced reporting should be done in service to the truth, not as a spurious attempt to provide "another side"to the story, when in fact none exists.
Now's a good time to start following the news and doing your homework in p preparation for November 28-Dec. 10 COP16, so follow tcktcktck on twitter and bookmark COP16's official site, where you can access all the documents starting with Kyoto Protocol and stay up to date with the conference.
Adaptation Apartheid
One Planet, One Chance. A photo essay which depicts the extreme and disproportionate danger LDCs face in their inability to resiliently adapt to future climate shocks.
Feeding the monks. Burma by Fredcan
"Destruction of your neighbour is destruction of yourself. Don’t remain at a distance [from each other]. Meet. Listen. Develop a spirit of dialogue. Create a sense of caring for the wellbeing of others." Dalai Lama
Generosity: "Be ye daysprings of generosity, dawning-points of the mysteries of existence, sites where inspiration alighteth, rising-places of splendours, souls that are sustained by the Holy Spirit, enamoured of the Lord, detached from all save Him, holy above the characteristics of humankind, clothed in the attributes of the angels of heaven, that ye may win for yourselves the highest bestowal of all, in this new time, this wondrous age."(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 242)
A Short Video Climate Primer
Holstee. Design with a Conscience
Holstee, dedicated to "design with a conscience" considers every design on the impact it will have on "all people, our planet and the product's quality. 10% of all Holstee revenue is used to empower entrepreneurs in the developing world through micro lending."
Six months ago, the founders created their first partnership with Conserve India and began working with them to create wallets constructed by Delhhi's most impoverished people -- ragpickers.
"Traditionally, ragpickers resort to collecting anything they find on the street to sell, in hopes of being able to provide the most basic necessities for their families. However, the income from this is so low, it means their children need to work, rather than attend school- thus perpetuating the revolving door of poverty. Conserve India seeks to put an end to this by bringing better organization and direction to their collection, and in doing so the ability to pay fair wages (>3x their normal income). This means all those employed by Conserve earn enough to not have to face the decision between sending their children to school or require them to work."
WarrenS made a New Year's Resolution to write a letter advocating climate action every day. The result is over three 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. Be sure to steal his stuffand visit his blog.
Month 11, Day 8: High Noon!
"The Cleveland Plain Dealer runs an McClatchy article about climate scientists preparing to enter the media circus. "
"This group feels strongly that science and politics can’t be divorced and that we need to take bold measures to not only communicate science but also to aggressively engage the denialists and politicians who attack climate science and its scientists," said Scott Mandia, professor of physical sciences at Suffolk County Community College in New York.
"We are taking the fight to them because we are . . . tired of taking the hits. The notion that truth will prevail is not working. The truth has been out there for the past two decades, and nothing has changed."
"Poor bastards. I’m going to send them all some letters of support; they’ll need all the help they can get."
It is terrific news that climatologists are preparing to challenge climate-change denialists. With the GOP takeover of the House, we can look forward to a long two years of anti-science theatrics, like Representative Darryl Issa’s promised hearings on the "climategate" non-scandal. Climate denialism is a linchpin of Republican ideology; these politicians insist (despite mountains of evidence and an overwhelming scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic global warming) that the problem either: A – doesn’t exist, B – exists but isn’t caused by humans, C – was fabricated by Al Gore and an international conspiracy of climate experts, or D – is too expensive to address. Each of these positions has been debunked many times over, but the minds of GOP politicians are, alas, closed to persuasion. I hope that the members of the proposed "climate rapid response team" are ready for the most exasperating and baffling arguments they’ll ever experience.
Warren Senders
Burning Man Map. 2009. By Alan Grinberg
Think about it ...
If you love the environment, and have a couple hours to spare... consider becoming an eKos editor!! Let's COME TOGETHER, FOLKS!
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HOT OFF THE PRESSES! Just as we prepare to publish, WarrenS sends a news item: According to the NYT, global policy makers are considering applying the 1987 Montreal Protocol to address climate crisis. At its 22nd meeting today in Bangkok, negotiators took under consideration expanind the ozone treaty to apply to "phase out the production and use of the industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs The chemicals have thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.
"Eliminating HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the single biggest chunk of climate protection we can get in the next few years," said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a nongovernment organization based in Washington.
(snip)
One advantage to using the Montreal protocol as a vehicle, supporters say, is that negotiations over the treaty have been utterly unlike the contentious United Nations climate talks that foundered in Copenhagen last year. Negotiators say that without legislative action on curbing greenhouse gases by the United States, little progress will be made when countries gather in Cancún, Mexico, late this month for another round of climate talks. Link
(All times Eastern!)
eKos diaries from Monday, November 08, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
Gulf Watchers Monday Finale or beginning of Fireworks BP Catastrophe AUV #422 | shanesnana | 11/8/2010 09:19:12 | Gulf Watchers, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Macondo |
In 1956 Physicist Said CO2 Causes Climate Change | Steven D | 11/8/2010 09:33:09 | eKos, Republicans, Gilbert Plass, Carbon Emissions, Global Warming |
The Green Gold of Africa | NourishingthePlanet | 11/8/2010 10:05:54 | ekos, Nourishing the Planet, State of the World, Indigenous Vegetables, Marama |
Climate Scientists fight back! | tomasyn | 11/8/2010 10:29:26 | ekos, climate change, science, Republicans |
Climate scientists to fight climate zombies | DWG | 11/8/2010 10:52:15 | climate change, climage change denial, climate zombies, American Geophysical Union, John Abraham |
Yes We Can Can-cún: Opening Salvo of 700 Climate Scientists | boatsie | 11/8/2010 12:18:41 | COP16, UNFCCC, Klimaforum10, ekos, climate deniers |
Science Tidbits | possum | 11/8/2010 15:29:40 | Teaching, Learning, Science, eKos |
EcoJustice: Voices from the Grassroots | soothsayer99 | 11/8/2010 18:02:33 | EcoJustice, Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, environmental racism, ekos, environmental justice |
Macca'a Meatless Monday...some California grass | beach babe in fl | 11/8/2010 18:09:23 | Recommended, eKos, climate change, meat production, resource depletion |
eKos diaries from Sunday, November 07, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Carl Sagan Day 2010 edition) | Neon Vincent | 11/7/2010 01:15:06 | Overnight News Digest, OND, science, space, environment |
Gulf Watchers Sunday - BP Fails Big (Again) But Probation May Be Lifted - BP Catastrophe AUV #421 | Yasuragi | 11/7/2010 08:00:26 | Gulf Watchers, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Macondo |
Dawn Chorus: Lovely weather for ducks | lineatus | 11/7/2010 09:11:42 | birds, birding, dawn chorus, ducks, eKos |
NY to gain high-speed rail cash at OH, WI expense | Daniel Case | 11/7/2010 12:05:42 | high-speed rail, Andrew Cuomo, John Kasich, Scott Walker, eKos |
A More Ancient World: Great Barrier Reef Part 2 | matching mole | 11/7/2010 19:19:21 | A More Ancient World, Great Barrier Reef, coral, animals, ecology |
Finally: Scientists to fight Climate Deniers | bluicebank | 11/7/2010 20:30:19 | global warming, climate, science, republicans, deniers |
1 Billion Hungry Mobilizes (Q&A) | NourishingthePlanet | 11/7/2010 22:56:43 | Africa, Agriculture, Hunger, Policy, Women |