EarthAction

What a Wonderful World

What a wonderful world we live in.

The BBC's David Attenborough narrates the popular song, What a Wonderful World. 

 

This week at EarthAction we are buzzing about desertification, stopping the sale of ivory and poaching of Africa's elephants, and fighting against logging in the Prey Lang forest.

Every once and a while, however, it is important to reflect on the beauty and wonder that is our planet and remember why it is that we are inspired to take meaningful action to protect our home each and every day. 

Desertification Webinar Reminder: February 28th 8:00 AM NY Time

This is a reminder that you are invited  to participate in a Virtual World Community Forum on Desertification and Citizen Action -- Saving the Life-Giving Soils of the World, that will take place from Tuesday, February 28, 2012 to Tuesday, March 6, 2012.

Webinar

The Forum will kick off with an Introductory Webinar on Desertification, led by Lois Barber of EarthAction, and Yukie Hori of the UNCCD.

To participate in this webinar, please use the link and password listed below. Click on the link at 8:00 AM NY time on February 28th. No pre-registration is required.

Webinar Link: https://globalcitizensinitiative.webex.com/globalcitizensinitiative/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=668455270

Webinar Password: gcitizen

To access the webinar in your time zone, see the times below:

8am (New York, Quito, Toronto)
1pm (Bamako, Dakar, London)
4pm (Doha, Nairobi, Minsk)
9pm (Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Perth)


Forum

After the webinar, the forum will continue with a series of online discussions led by experts in the field.

To participate in this free forum, please use the following steps:
1. log-on to The Global Citizens' Initiative Website: www.theglobalcitizensinitiative.org
2. click on Desertification Forum Signup
3. click on World Community Forum
4. click on Current Forum

Once you have registered for the forum, you will be able to post your own messages and comments that relate to the different topics that will be covered. You will also have access to related webinars, video presentations, and documents that will be provided to all participants.

Please note that this forum is moderated, so your post may not appear immediately.

World Community Forum Agenda:

Day 1: (28 February, 8am NYT) Introductory Webinar on Desertification

Lois Barber, EarthAction
Yukie Hori, UN Convention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD)

Placing the issue at stake: Savingthe Life-Giving Soils of the World

Day 2: (29 February) Online discussion

Sergio Zelaya, UNCCD

Desertification, food security and waterscarcity

Day 3 (1 March) Online discussion

Fidaa Haddad, International Union  forConservation of Nature

Desertification and gender

Day 4 (2 March) Online discussion

Marcos Montoiro, UNCCD

Desertification and citizens action

Day 5 (6 March, 8am NYT) Closing Webinar on Desertification

Ron Israel,  The Global CitizensForum
Lois Barber, EarthAction
Yukie Hori, UNCCD
Marcos Montoiro, UNCCD

To access the Closing Webinar, please use the link and password below:

Webinar Link: https://globalcitizensinitiative.webex.com/globalcitizensinitiative/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=664703118

Webinar Password: gcitizen 

We sincerely hope you will participate in the Forum on Desertification & Citizen Action -- Saving the Life-Giving Soils of the World. You have much to contribute and learn from this event.

If you have any questions, please contact editor@gcitizen.org

Ron Israel, The Global Citizens' Initiative
Lois Barber, EarthAction
Yukie Hori, UNCCD secretariat

Click here for more details.

Petrocentrism

"Now is the time to make the hard choices and deal with this disease head on and put our future economic prosperity in the capable hands of middle America rather than Big Oil." -- Mr. Steven Anderson, retired general officer of 31 years

What disease does Mr. Anderson claim is facing American citizens today? Petrocentrism- our oil-addicted economy which keeps us dependent on foreign oil and engaged in fuel-based military conquests. Watch the video below to hear his argument, as a self-declared political conservative and retired military general, against the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Anderson argues that the pipeline is only addressing a symptom of our disease- the source of our oil. Instead, he explains, we need to be focusing on developing alternative energy technologies to forever end our dependence on foreign and dirty oil. 

He reminds us that over 1,000 troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan fulfilling fuel missions, a fact he claims should outrage any United States citizen. 

How can we ensure the pipeline can be settled once and for all?

Sign 350.org's petition to STOP the pipeline, or get information to call your senator to urge them to keep the US off a dirty fossil fuel! 

And for a more detailed look, read up on the February 7th Energy Commerce Committee meeting to see how YOUR senators feel about the pipeline. 

Join the conversation on EarthAction's Facebook!

 

 

 

You're Invited to a Free World Forum on Desertification & Citizen Action

Invitation to Participate in a Free Virtual World Community Forum on 

Desertification & Citizen Action: Saving the Life-Giving Soils of the World 

Tuesday, 28 February—Tuesday, 6 March 2012 

First Session: Tuesday, 28 February 

8am (New York, Quito, Toronto) 
1pm (Bamako, Dakar, London) 
4pm (Doha, Nairobi, Minsk) 
9pm (Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Perth) 

****Pre-registration Needed**** 


You are invited to participate in a Virtual World Community Forum on Desertification and Citizen Action—Saving the Life-Giving Soils of the World that will take place Tuesday, February 28 through Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The Forum is being co-sponsored by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), EarthAction, and The Global Citizens Initiative (TGCI). The Forum is being made available at no cost to participants. 

Desertification is the loss of topsoil and soil fertility in the drylands of the world. These regions cover 41% of the Earth’s land surface, are inhabited by over 2 billion people, and provide 30% of the world’s cultivated plants. The delicate soils in these drylands are becoming so degraded they can no longer support life, causing malnutrition, poverty, economic failure, forced migration, conflict and extinction of species. 

This free Virtual World Community Forum is intended to raise awareness about the ways in which desertification is affecting our quality of life, and to enable people and organizations from around the world to share experiences and lessons learned in fighting and reversing desertification. The Forum is intended to lead to the production of a Primer on Desertification and Citizen Action which will be widely distributed to governments, NGOs, business organizations, and religious groups engaged in efforts to halt and reverse the spread of desertification. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The World Community Forum Agenda: 

Day One—Tuesday, 28 February 8:00 am New York time (see times for other places above.) The Forum will start with a one-hour online webinar beginning with a 15-minute kick-off interview with Luc Gnacadja, the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, followed by a 20-minute webinar presentation by Yukie Hori of the UNCCD secretariat with questions and answers. Following the webinar, participants will have an opportunity to post and exchange experiences and lessons learned about desertification in a global online forum that will continue for seven days. 

Days Two to Six—Wednesday, 29 February to Monday, 5 March: Each day an expert on desertification will initiate and guide an online examination of a specific topic related to desertification. These will include: the impact of desertification on water and food security, gender, children, migration, etc., and effective citizen action to combat desertification. For each topic, participants will have an opportunity to post and exchange experiences and lessons learned regarding that topic in a global online forum that will continue through Day Six of the Forum. 

Day Seven—Tuesday, 6 March, 8:00 am New York time: On the final day of the Forum, a panel composed of the experts from the previous days’ topics will engage in a 60-minute webinar to summarize the important ideas, experiences, and lessons learned from the discussions during the week. Questions and answers will follow. Participants will have an opportunity to post their concluding observations and remarks throughout the day. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

To participate in this free forum, please use the following steps: 

1) log-on to The Global Citizens' Initiative (TGCI) website: theglobalcitizensinitiative.org; this will take you to the TGCI Landing Page 

2) click-on Desertification Forum Signup; this will take you to a short registration form 

3) complete the registration form and click Submit­; this will take you back to the TGCI Home Page 

4) click-on World Community Forum 

5) click-on Current Forum 

Once you are registered for the Forum you will be able to post your own messages and comments that relate to the different topics that will be covered. You also will have access to related webinars, video presentations, and documents that will be provided to all participants. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

We sincerely hope you will participate in the Forum on Desertification & Citizen Action—Saving the Life-Giving Soils of the World. You have much to contribute and learn from this event. 

If you have any questions please contact editor@gcitizen.org 


Ron Israel, Global Citizens Initiative 
Lois Barber, EarthAction 
Yukie Hori, UNCCD secretariat

Click here to see and share our email invitation.

Where have all the honey bees gone?

What is it:

Colony Collapse Disorder is the name given to a phenomenon first noticed by large-scale bee keepers in 2006 and 2007 that is estimated to have impacted one third of all honey bee colonies in the United States. 

Hives that suffer from CCD incur a loss of the majority of their adult worker-bee population and are characterized by a hive empty of bees yet full of honey, bee young and even the queen bee.The bees from these colonies appear healthy until, one day, bee keepers find a hive with no adult worker bees. No dead bees are found near the hive nor are there any signs as to where the bees disappear to, all that is known is that they leave behind what looks to be an otherwise healthy hive.

What Causes it?

 The causes of Colony Collapse disorder are debated, with no entirely conclusive study yet to be conducted. Some proposed causes include:

• poisoning from pollinating pesticide treated crops
• poor nutrition from altered foraging patterns/lack of diversified food sources
• increased presence of the honey bee pest varroa mites
• new viruses targeting bee immune systems

Most scientists and bee keepers argue that CCD may be the result of increased stress due to many of the above listed factors. However, all agree that threats to the honey bee population are threats to our global food system as we know it.

Why is it important:
Bees aren’t just busy pollinating flowers, they are the unsung heroes in food systems across the globe, pollinating many crops for human consumption. In the United States our industrial food system is supported by a network of bee keepers who truck bees up and down highways pollinating everything from Maine blueberries to Florida oranges and California almonds. Without them, food supplies world wide are in danger of collapsing.
And CCD isn’t just happening to bees in the United States, honey bees in The UK have been reportedly suffering from CCD and in 2011 the United Nations issued a statement declaring CCD a global concern reaching from US beekeepers to Chinese beekeepers.

What can we do:

• Urge secretary Tom Vilsack of the US Department of Agriculture to continue to fund research to combat CCD using this online messaging system from the National Resources Defense Council. (Tip- customize the message, tell Tom Vilsack why this issue is important to you, for maximum impact!)
• Read these tips from the NRDC on how to make a bee-friendly garden and which pesticides are commonly known to impact bee health. Inform other gardeners and farmers in your community of the pesticides on the list!
• Learn to keep bees (even in the city) to add to a growing number of small scale bee keepers invested in healthy honey bees across the globe!
• Read about what the EPA is doing to protect honey bees in the United States.

Written by EarthAction Intern Walker Dunn
Sources and Further Information:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees.asp
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in720

Image Source through Creative Commons Liscensing

Middle Photo by: Dan Solely (c) turtlephoto.org 

Pay-as-you-go Business Innovation Makes Renewable Energy Accessible

Written and Researched by EarthAction Intern Larry O'Connor

The Economist magazine recently published an article about a company that has developed an interesting way to profit from providing electricity to poor, sunny regions around the world. The company is based out of London and called Eight19, which refers how long it takes sunlight to reach the earth - 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

The Economist article focuses on Eight19’s “Pay as you go” solar program, where a family will be able to pay an upfront deposit of $10 US to purchase a solar cell and battery that have the ability to light two small rooms for 7 hours per day while charging one cell phone. The users then must purchase "scratch cards" using their cell phones to receive a reference number that will activate the devices. The "scratch cards" and reference numbers are sent via text message. Users can purchase any amount that they can pay for: a day, a week, or a month. These small purchases work toward paying off the cost of the device. After purchasing approximately eighty dollars’ worth of scratch cards, the customer will have paid off the entire cost of the battery and will have complete ownership of the unit.

Customers can then use their $80 US investment on a down payment to move up the "Indigo Energy Escalator" to obtain a larger solar battery unit, or they can just keep their solar unit and not spend any money on electricity. This energy escalator has four different levels, ranging from 3 to 80 watt capacity. The 80 watt solar cell generates light for a phone, four rooms, a radio, a TV, and a sewing machine.

 

This process was recently tested on a few hundred Kenyan families. Over the next two months Eight19 plans to release 4,000 solar kits in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. Many people in this region already have light and some electricity fueled by paraffin - a harmful waxy substance that comes from hydrocarbons used for lighting candles (pictured aboved). The most important aspect in this process is that these incremental payments are similar to what potential customers currently pay for paraffin to light lamps and the cost of charging a cell phone at a store.

Potential Implications of “Pay as you go solar”