EarthAction

Guatemala Communities Hit Hard by Tropical Storm Agatha

From Cultural Survival:

Cultural Survival's Community Radio Project director Mark Camp reports from Guatemala that Tropical Storm Agatha  devastated many of the communities that we are working with there. After more than three feet of rain fell, mudslides and flooding now have killed 123 people, and the death toll is expected to rise. Community radio stations did what they always do, worked to serve the community by  putting out calls for blankets, plastic sheeting, drinking water, clothing and food to distribute to makeshift shelters. Read more.   

Save the Alaskan Old Growth Rain Forests!

From the National Geographic:

"A strange, soft storm of white flakes is floating out of the summer sky, drifting past tall mountainside evergreens onto the nets of golden lichens hung from their boughs, onto the bushes colored by salmonberries and blueberries, onto the bear-tracked shores. This is not an unseasonal snow squall, not a flurry of wind-borne seeds. It's a fall of molted feathers from bald eagles converging on the waterways by the hundreds, bright heads and tails gleaming like beacons all along the dark woodland slopes. A high tide of flesh surges inland from the sea: Every river, every stream, quivers with salmon thrashing upcurrent to spawn like rapids running in reverse. If any more flowing juices and beating hearts crowded in here, the place might start moving around on its own."

So begins a lyrical, moving piece about Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which contains one of the world's largest rain forests not located in the tropics. The Tongass is an old growth forest, making it an extremely valuable carbon sink, according to this study. However, the Tongass is in grave danger of being destroyed by subsidized logging.

Take action to save this beautiful national treasure! Tell the Bush administration to protect this lovely piece of nature.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Neil Clement, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

10 Reasons Why Offshore Drilling is a Bad Idea

From Greenpeace:

10. Offshore oil drilling won't impact gas prices today, and it won't have a significant impact on gas prices in the future.
9. This is nothing more than a money grab by the oil companies - who are already making record-breaking profits.
8. We burn 25% of the world's oil here in the U.S., but we have only 3% of the world's oil reserves. So even if all offshore oil magically came to market today, the vast majority of our oil would continue to be imported, and we wouldn't see price relief at the pump.
7. The current moratorium was put in place decades ago to protect us from the danger of oil spills along our coastlines and beaches.
6.  Burning fossil fuels like oil causes global warming, which causes stronger hurricanes, which will threaten the very offshore drilling rigs being proposed, which will contribute to even more global warming.
5. To avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we need to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy within the next 10 years. The billions of dollars that would be spent on offshore oil drilling just postpones the inevitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
4. Oil exploration requires massive seismic testing - which threatens whales and dolphins.
3. Oil prices are set on the global oil market, so American oil is no cheaper than Saudi oil. We won't get a discount for oil drilled in the U.S.
2. We can't solve the world's energy problems with the same drilling that created them.
1. Renewable energy is available now, so it's time to walk away from fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.

Tell Congress to say no to offshore drilling!

(Image courtesy of Greenpeace.)

Biofuels are Bad

When I attended the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference back in March, I found myself perturbed by the schedule of events for the high-level "Ministerial" conference attendees. They had the option at any time to attend either a biofuel-related panel, a wind/solar/geothermal panel, or... Another biofuel panel. Having already learned about the high costs of creating biofuel, I found it puzzling that leaders from around the world were obviously being encouraged to embrace biofuels.

The Guardian just released a report that should convince even the most diehard biofuel fans that their devotion is misled:

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.

Read the rest of the article.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Darwin Bell, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Bush OKs 30 Million Acre Polar Bear Habitat Sale to Big Oil – TAKE ACTION!

Although the oil industry has not demonstrated a successful way to clean up an oil spill on ice, the Bush administration has approved the sale of 20 million acres of prime polar bear habitat, which will be opened up to oil drilling. Instead of encouraging renewable energy generation, the administration is taking a step in the wrong direction. Do not let them!

TAKE ACTION! Write to your representative to have them support legislation put forward to save this precious habitat. Click on this link to make a difference.

(Polar bear photo courtesy of Flickr user ironmanix, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Save the Patagonian Forests and Rivers

The Patagonian forests and rivers are in jeopardy! Eliodoro Matte, the Chief Executive of the Matte group companies is promotong the HydroAysen Project in Chile. The HydroAysen project consists of clearing a path of the Patagonian forest between the Aysen dams and Santiago. To set up these power lines, protected areas like national parks would be distrupted and an estimated 35,000 acres of forest could be destroyed if this plan is set in motion.

Rivers are in trouble because there is a large group of national and international corporations that are planning to build 5 dams on the Baker and Pescua Rivers. The dams would create electricity that would be sent to Santaigo via the power lines. The distance between Santiago and the dams is 1,500 miles.

There are quite of few people in the local areas who are displeased with the suggested project.

Environmentalists, Fishermen's Unions, the Salmon-Industry, and a few local governments are protesting the project, but they need help. Global Response, an activist non profit organization is promoting an international letter writing campaign that is encouraging people around the world to write hand written letters to Chief Executive Eliodoro Matte their concerns about the proposed HydroAysen Project and the detrimental effects of such a project. A personal letter carries a more significant impact than a digital letter, so a writing template of what to include in the letter is on Global Responses website under their current campaign.

This is a perfect project for those who would like to do action against these industrialists, and also would be a great school project for students. Take action to fight for the world's Rainforests!

URL to Take Action:
GlobalResponse.org

(Photo of Windy Patagonia is courtesy of Flickr user zamario, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

The Best Way to Doze off to Sleep...

If you're a regular internet peruser, then you have most likely heard of the very popular website www.worldchanging.com.  They have an engaging daily blog with constantly interesting posts about the tools, models, and ideas for shaping our world for the future.   

The Worldchanging team recently published a book, called Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century that attempts to combine a number of resources and ideas about what a sustainable future can look like.  The book, like the site, is divided into seven main sections: Stuff, Shelter, Cities, Community, Business, Politics, and Planet.  The book is quite a read, (six hundred pages!) but the content is organized in such a way that is very easy to browse through the short chapters and read whatever tickles your fancy in the moment.  For instance, in one night I might read the chapter on "Educating Girls and Empowering Women" (from the Community section,) "The Hidden Vitality of Slums" (from Cities,) and "Craft it Yourself" (from the Stuff section.)  I have been finding this book to be pretty inspiring nightly reading.  I'm loving learning about the countless positive, innovative ideas and actions that people are thinking of and practicing.   I end up nodding off to sleep, dreaming of a better world.

What other books are people reading out there that offer inspiring solutions?  Feel free to leave book recommendations in the comments- I know I'm always looking for seriously good reading.

(Image from Worldchanging.)

60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).   The declaration consists of 30 articles that specify the rights the General Assembly agreed are Human Rights guaranteed to all people.   If, like me, you have only heard repeated references to the Declaration of Human Rights but haven't read it for yourself, now is a great time to click on over to the UN page where they have it translated in many different languages.  (The Guinness Book of Records places the UDHR as the most translated document in the world!)

In honor of the document's 60th Anniversary, UBUNTU (World Forum of Civil Society Networks) has written a statement emphasizing that all Human Rights are "universal, indivisible, and interdependent."  They further call for:

1. The Human Right to Peace.

2. The Human Right to Development (including food, water, the satisfaction of basic needs) 

3. The Human Right to the Environment.  (acknowledging that "current production and consumption models are unsustainable")

EarthAction was one of the first 50 signatories on the UBUNTU document, alongside other supporters such as Noam Chomsky and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).  You can click here to read the statement in full and to sign your name.  It's a great opportunity to evaluate how we are protecting those rights that are expressed in the original Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and what steps need to be taken for a sustainable future.

(Image is of Eleanoor Roosevelt reading a Spanish translation of the UDHR, author unknown)

Website Lets YOU Predict the Economic Impacts of Reducing US Carbon Emissions

Check out this interactive new website developed by my friend Robert Repetto.

As Congress prepares to debate new legislation to address the threat of climate change, opponents again claim that the costs of adopting the leading proposals would be ruinous to the U.S. economy. The world's leading economists who have studied the issue say that's wrong. And you can find out for yourself.

Yale's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies has recently posted a new website developed by economics professor Robert Repetto. In a way that anybody can easily understand, it synthesizes the results of thousands of policy simulations from 25 economic models being used to predict the economic impacts of reducing U.S. carbon emissions. To try this new website, just click on www.climate.yale.edu/seeforyourself.

     This website identifies the seven key assumptions accounting for most of the differences in the models' predictions. You can make your own assumptions about the key factors that will influence the costs of stopping climate change and see the results.

Focus Hampshire: Climate, Social Justice, and the Person

On Friday night, Hampshire College hosted a Focus the Nation teach-in with nine different faculty panelists.  As the juicy title (Climate, Social Justice, and the Person) suggests, the panelists spoke about climate change within the context of very different disciplines- we had an economist, a computer science professor, and a professor of Asian studies, just to name a few of those who spoke.  One of the main goals of Focus the Nation is to show how climate change is not just an "environmental" issue that concerns scientists and tree huggers (obviously!) 

Here are a few things that were brought up that really got me thinking:
-Gender issues in climate change.  (Women can be affected very differently then men.  For example, in Bangladesh when the 2007 cyclone hit, more women were killed because they weren't in public spaces to be warned about the natural disaster.)
-The idea of rationing.  Professor Stan Warner talked about rationing post WWI style.  Will we only be allowed two plane trips a year? etc.
-Holding drivers accountable through taxing-type systems.   (Live near a reliable bus system?  You'll be "taxed" much more to drive.  Live in a rural town and need to drive to the supermarket?  You'll be "taxed" much less.  Taxed is in quotations because it may not be an official "tax" but some sort of similar system.)
-Religion's potential role in the movement.  (How can religious leaders inspire people to evaluate their relationship with the earth and how to care for it, and inspire this compassion in all people, religious and non?)

It was a great night with well over seventy five students (that was the number we had food for, and we ran out pretty quick.)  Professor Stephanie Levin commented that when she was in school, this is exactly what students were doing to learn more about how to stop the Vietnam war- inviting faculty from all different areas, and engaging in community discussion. 

As students, we know and respect the power of community dialogue.  It's about raising awareness and motivating to action.  We're in it for the long haul.   

PS
You can also check out a neat Hampshire video bit about the event.