Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ category

Kyoto Protocol: An Anti-Climate-Tic Ending

October 19th, 2009

titlephoto As 2012 draws closer and closer, so too does the end of the prestigious Kyoto protocol.

The Kyoto protocol is a global initiative aimed at stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Which as most would agree is a great thing.

Although according to NPR, drafting a new agreement in the near future seems unlikely. The reason for this is strong opposition from the United States Congress. Although President Clinton signed the original pact, the U.S. refused to ratify the original agreement and is slowing the creation of a new draft because the original pact did not require any action from developing countries like China, which is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter.

Both the Bush and the Obama administration felt that this was a fatal flaw in the protocol. There has been little progress but not for lack of effort. In an interview between NPR and European Commission Vice President, Margot Wallstrom, she said that it has been very difficult negotiating a treaty that the U.S would agree to and that all parties involved would rather be on track to a solution.

Hopefully these issues will be worked through in December when world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss next steps.

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Posted in Advocacy, Carbon, Climate Change, Uncategorized

Tags: climate climate initiative EU green greenhouse gas Kyoto obama

The Death of the Traditional Burial System

September 21st, 2009

The only guarantees in life are death and taxes. Of the two, only one has direct ecological consequences: death. Over 150,000 people die e SextonBeetle_wide ach day, and there is only so much available space the world has to offer in which to bury them. So what’s the most environmentally friend thing to do with a dead body? Or as the great Shakespeare would say: to casket or not to casket?

There are several options: burying, cremation, freezing, “beetleization” etc., the list goes on. Most of you, I assume, have heard of the first three options, but unless you studied ecology at the University of Vermont, or google Bernd Heinrich obsessively, you are probably asking what beetleization is.

There is a breed of beetle called the sexton, or burying beetle. It’s a little critter, about the size of a bumble bee, and it can (and will, with the help of a mate) take that much bigger and very dead shrew and get it very quickly underground.

Heinrich explains how these beetles (they work in mom and pop teams) manage to find, lug and inter corpses many times their weight and size. Burial beetles are, says Professor Heinrich (who for years taught at the University of Vermont), “the undertakers of the small animals in the forest.”

So, with a few more beetles, it is possible to save some money on a mortician and a casket, and let nature run its course.

Using Old Soap To Save Lives

August 11th, 2009

224390719132dbe154f7 When you stay at a hotel, are you “that person” who makes sure to stash all the leftover toiletries in your already bulging suitcase? Soap, shampoo, or the thinnest toilet paper on the planet, it doesn’t matter. You’ll find a use for it.

The Clean the World Foundation has found a use for it, and unless you’re Mother Teresa, it’s probably for a better cause. Through the collection, recycling and distribution of soap and shampoo products discarded by hotels every day, Clean the World is dedicated to preventing millions of deaths caused by acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease by donating the unused bars of soaps to third world countries.

Acute respiratory illness is the number three killer worldwide. Diarrheal illness is the number five killer worldwide. The illnesses kill five million children every year.

While soap is a basic necessity in the United States, it’s too expensive for the impoverished in the third world. A left-over hotel bar can last a week for one family.

So instead of looting the bathroom from top to bottom on checkout day, first check to see if your hotel participates in this program. For more details on the foundation go to: http://www.cleantheworld.org.

A Trip to Oregon Gives Iraq New Priorities

August 11th, 2009

green1 Iraq may have obligations that are more pressing than green building — but that has not stopped 19 of the country’s academics from touring Oregon for two weeks of seminars on the subject.

“There is a great interest in bringing sustainable concepts into our daily lives,” said Dalshad Ismael, director of engineering projects at the Kurdish Ministry of Higher Education, during a session on buildings of the future at a Portland community center this week.

“People may not understand it as such,” he added, “but they know we must protect what resources we have.”

Several participants said that the concept of sustainability is not new to Iraq, but years of warfare have meant that it is rarely put into practice.

The meetings could lead to what the visiting academics hope will be their country’s first major sustainability effort.

The trip was funded by the Michael Scott Mater Foundation, with assistance from Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University as well as support from the United States Department of State. The 19 professors, lecturers and deans come mainly from schools of engineering in Iraq.

Major League Baseball Goes Green

June 29th, 2009

MEN-JJ09-gazette-mlb-recycle Going green is the new big trend and Major League Baseball (MLB) is aiming to hit a home run with a recent partnership between MLB and the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Washington Nationals new baseball stadium, built by the District of Columbia, is the first big-league ballpark to meet standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. It will have energy-efficient lighting, ultra low-flow lavatory faucets, low-flush toilets, recycling bins, a green roof, bike racks and preferential parking for high-mileage cars.

The Cleveland Indians installed solar panels last summer at their ballpark and the Boston Red Sox quickly followed suit at Fenway Park. The Oakland A’s now sell beer in cups made entirely of biodegradable corn starch, while the Seattle Mariners recycle food waste as well as paper and plastic containers. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates’ scouts drive flex-fuel cars.

“By getting America’s pastime to embrace environmentalism, we can move beyond the debates about left, right and politics,” says Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a longtime Mets fan and manager of his son’s little league team. Hershkowitz is especially hopeful that baseball’s green drive will influence fans too. “There’s nothing comparable to the brand loyalty that professional sports teams generate.”