Remaking the Urban Environment

Washington State - Eastside Greater Seattle Area

Submitted by charlesadam on September 28, 2010 - 11:18pm

I'm in the mood for change, a change from within, it has come and the feeling is like love, love for a future of sustainability

Can Urban Farms Save Cities in Decline?

Submitted by Leila Conners on August 8, 2010 - 2:11pm

Burnt out buildings with garden

We are finishing our film, Urban Roots, about the urban farming revolution in Detroit, and we are discussing the role that small, individually-owned urban farms have in "saving a city." We've run into some opinions that say that the thought that urban farms could save a city is somewhat naive, that, in fact what is needed are large-scale efforts to turn a city around.  "Scale" is needed, and "big profits."  The problem with this thinking I think is that it is stuck in the same mindset as the thinking that created the problem in the first place.  And the problem of saving a city is found in diagnosing the problem correctly. 

The problem of cities like Detroit is that the effort to preserve and grow big entities like corporations requires actions like what we witnessed - moving manufacturing overseas because labor was cheaper, cutting costs where-ever possible to bolster the bottom line and profits. Cutting costs and making profits, growing companies fast and big are what is heralded to be the goal and these things are rewarded by the stock market and by our culture in general.  Now, we are not against profits, but what is not helpful is to run a company, city or country with the bottom line/profits only in mind.  What is left out is the human element, the vitality of a company and a city and a country is the well-being of the people, the humans that live and work in it.  The mindset of our companies and country has so shifted to devalue the human element and value profit and size that we have run the very thing that makes the whole thing work - people - away. Look at Detroit, half the population has left, neighborhoods are empty, weeds grow in the playgrounds, schools have collapsed.  The mindset has killed off the community, has driven the people away. 

Now, out of this situation the remaining people have a choice and some of them have said they want to empower themselves by growing their own food and in some cases selling it to others. These farms are an acre or under, not thousands of acres.  How they benefit the city is that the empower a community, they give people ownership in their lives and each other, it gives them an income stream that cannot be taken away.  Some say scale is needed, but that brings in the same old mindset, put thousands of acres under cultivation under one group and the individual is yet again at the mercy of decisions beyond their control. And if the scale is too large, then yet again, the only way to sustain the size will be to minimize the human element and increase through non-human efficiencies like chemicals, and low wages.  How can small farms save a city?  They can do it one neighborhood at a time, slowly and hopefully with the help of city regulators who so often seek a quick fix and so often end up right where they started or oftentimes they end of worse off. Small farms bring in a new mindset, one of cooperation, barter, community, well-being, slowness but happiness perhaps.  It remains to be seen, we will be watching and we are open to the discussion!

GREENBUILD 2009 International Conference and Expo

Submitted by AZ_Sun on November 11, 2009 - 10:18am

 

Greenbuild 2009 International Conference and Expo is being held in Phoenix, Arizona from November 11th - 13th.

Former Vice President Al Gore will be the opening Keynote speaker tonight, November 11th at the Greenbuild conference. You can watch his speech and other keynote speakers live or as archived video later here at GreenbuildExpo.org.

Mr

Submitted by Frans Wilson on June 13, 2009 - 11:50pm

Humans ! We have based all of life’s values around big bright lights and neon colors. These lights fuse or dim, the colors fade and we have nothing to show in only a few years. This is called none sustainable development.

Then we expect nature to deal with all the problems we created. Nature could, on condition we keep a human-organic balance. Unfortunately, this is not part of bright lights and we do not have the capacity to  think that far.

www.supazorb.net have found the missing link, to deal with many problems in one, created by man.

Donate Your Old Jeans and Do the Planet Good

Submitted by AZ_Sun on April 28, 2009 - 11:29am

Help NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS Magazine set a Guinness World Record™ by donating your old jeans and other denim to help create the world's largest collection of clothes to recycle.

What Will Be Done With All This Denim?
All the denim will be donated to Cotton From Blue to Green.®.  This denim drive recycles jeans into UltraTouch™ Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation, which is used to help build houses in places that have been damaged by hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. Your jeans will help set a record, keep clothes out of landfills, and build houses for families to live in!

It’s a Fact
It takes about 500 pairs of jeans to recycle enough denim to insulate one average-size U.S. house.

Here’s How You Can Get Involved!
1. Get a parent’s permission and select as many denim jeans as you like. (Any denim clothing is OK.)
2. The denim must be used.
3. The denim can be any brand.
4. The denim can be any color or size but must have been worn by a human (no doll clothes!).
5. Please print out this form and include it with each package!
6. Send as many jeans or denim items as you wish to:

NG Kids / Set a Guinness World Record
P.O. Box 98001
Washington, D.C. 20090-8001

For shipments that cannot be delivered to a P.O. box:
NG Kids / Set a Guinness World Record
1145 17th St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Jeans must be received by June 30, 2009!        



If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area instead of shipping material yourself, you can bring all your denim to a.k.a. Green before June 15th! They will bag everything up & truck one-huge shipment to the main denim drive in Washington DC.

My 11th Hour Earth Day Experience

Submitted by AZ_Sun on April 23, 2009 - 10:19am

Yesterday was Earth Day and I had no plans to do anything special. But my day turned out to be very extra special because I am happy to report that I was one of the highest bidders in the Global Green USA eBay Auction. I will soon be the proud owner of The 11th Hour Poster and DVD signed by Leonardo DiCaprio.

I must have had beginner's luck, or the stars were just aligned in my favor yesterday, because I have never been involved in any auction with eBay or have been part of any other online auction. I placed only one bid, on just one item early yesterday, and I won.

I am actually shocked that I was the highest bidder. I really thought someone would swoop in during the last few hours and out bid me like was done on so many of the other items. Compared to what the other items sold for, I feel I got the autographed 11th Hour poster & DVD for a real bargain price.

Since I got such a low bargain price, can someone please tell me what I can donate to Global Green in order to have Leo personally deliver the poster & dvd to me at my home? Can I create my own Meet & Greet Leo Experience Package?  Of course I would want it be a very eco-friendly experience package.  

Seriously, I was thrilled to be part of this one-of-a-kind non-profit green charity auction to help raise funds for Global Green's National Green Schools and Climate Solutions initiatives. It was wonderful to see how many items Leonardo generously offered up for the auction, and how successful the auction was in raising needed funds in these tough economic times. This auction was also instrumental in raising awareness for the need to take action on climate change.

I will post a picture of my new autographed 11th Hour poster once I get it framed and put up on my wall in my home office.

I am sending all my gratitude and appreciation to Leonardo and everyone at Global Green...because of all of you; I had a very extra special Earth Day.

THANK YOU!  

                           

 

DC Legislative Bill - Cleaning River and Consumer Awareness

Submitted by brie on February 12, 2009 - 7:55am

DC 11th Hour Action
DC LEGISLATIVE BILL DETAILS:
Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009

Talking Points

The legislation puts a new focus on reducing the amount of trash that enters the Anacostia River and creates a new fund dedicated to the cleanup and restoration of the Anacostia River. The legislation represents a unique attempt – as best we can tell, the first of its kind in the nation – to work with business and environmental leaders to develop a shared strategy to reduce the amount of trash in the Anacostia River. In addition, this initiative creates a partnership with Maryland to create a shared stewardship for the health of the entire Anacostia watershed.

Regarding Trash in the Anacostia River

  • 20,000 tons of trash enters the Anacostia River each year.
  • According to a recent report by the DC Dept. of the Environment, plastic bags, bottles, cans, snack wrappers and Styrofoam make up 85% of the trash in the Anacostia River.
  • In the river’s tributaries, such as Watts Branch, nearly 50% of the trash is plastic bags.
  • According to the report, placing a small fee on “free” bags could eliminate up to 47% of the trash in the tributaries and 21% from the river’s main stem.
  • DC WASA removes 477 tons of trash from the Anacostia River each year; Anacostia Watershed Society volunteers have pulled another 536 tons of trash out of the River.

The Cost of Taking No Action

  • EPA is establishing a new Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of allowable trash in the Anacostia River and violations are likely to occur with each rainfall event, potentially costing the District millions of dollars annually.
  • Each “free” bag that becomes litter already costs District residents:
    • District agencies already spend millions on trash rather than people.
    • DC WASA spends millions on Anacostia River trash removal, passed on to District rate payers in their monthly water bill.
  • Continued pollution of the Anacostia River is dangerous and creates a potential risk to wildlife and marine life.

How the Initiative Works

  • The legislation will place a small 5-cent fee on all single-use plastic and paper carryout bags from Retail Food Establishment license holders (which includes grocery stores, food vendors, convenience stores, drug stores, and others) and Class A and B liquor stores.
  • The legislation requires that these plastic and paper carryout bags be recyclable.

Community Education and Outreach

  • The legislation delays implementation for 6 months to a year, requiring the city to conduct an intensive public information campaign and outreach that includes providing reusable carryout bags to residents for free or low-cost, and work with service providers to distribute multiple reusable bags to seniors and low-income households.  

How the Fee Would be Used

  • The 5-cent fee will be divided between the business and a newly created Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Fund.
  • Businesses will retain either 1 or 2 cents of the fee, depending whether they offer customers a carryout bag credit program for reusable bags.
  • The remaining amount of the fee will be deposited into the Fund to target environmental cleanup, reclamation, and restoration efforts on the Anacostia River, as well as continue a public education campaign and provide free reusable bags to DC residents, in particular the elderly and low income residents.

Where Has This Been Tried Before

  • Other cities are moving in this direction. New York, Seattle, and many European nations have already required, or plan to require, a small charge for plastic and paper bags. These initiatives have dramatically cut down on these single-use bags – by as much as 90% in some places.
  • In addition, many businesses are already taking similar steps on their own in addition to selling low-cost durable, reusable bags. Discount food stores like ALDI and Save-A-Lot, and even IKEA, charge customers a nominal fee for every bag – greatly reducing the number of plastic and paper bags used and encouraging customers to bring reusable bags.

A website, www.TrashFreeAnacostia.com, has been set up to support the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Initiative and to be a resource for information about the effort to reduce the amount of bags that enter the River.

Climate Change: The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future

Submitted by AZ_Sun on October 19, 2008 - 12:19pm

American Museum of Natural History
Climate Change: The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future

On Display October 18, 2008 – August 16, 200

If you live in the New York area or are planning a visit to New York City over the next 10 months, you may want to check out a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History on climate change.

Climate Change: The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future, will examine one of the most pressing scientific issues of our time—the massive, human-induced warming of Earth, a phenomenon that could lead to drought, rising sea levels, heavy storms, and other events with potentially dire impacts on the health of society and the natural world. This exhibition will explore the science, history, and impact of climate change, and illuminate ways in which individuals, communities and nations can reduce their carbon footprints.

"Evidence has been accumulating for some time that Earth is warming due to human activity," said Museum President Ellen V. Futter, "but we are only just beginning to come to terms with the breadth of the consequences of this phenomenon, and to learn what we can do to mitigate them. The fact is," Ms. Futter continued, "we do have options; but implementing solutions will require individual, national, and global action. Climate Change will examine both the consequences of global warming and possible solutions to this critical problem."

Climate Change will give visitors a scientific context to help make sense of today's most urgent headlines on global warming. More importantly, the exhibition will inspire visitors to participate in the world-changing discussion on how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The central part of the exhibition will explore the effects of climate change on several separate but interrelated areas: Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and polar ice sheets. Scientists have documented a dramatic increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the past 150 years—especially CO2 (carbon dioxide)—caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other changes in land use. Climate Change will use realistic dioramas, hands-on activity stations, and dynamic animations to understand the climate's response to the build-up of greenhouse gases and explore the repercussions for today's world and future generations.

One activity allows visitors to investigate raising the sea levels on a dynamic scale, model of Lower Manhattan to graphically illustrate the flooding that would be caused by the melting of ice sheets and warming of oceans. The movements of clouds, ocean currents and seasonal ice that reveal how climate works will be internally projected on digital video globes throughout the exhibition. A ghostly coral reef—a victim of "coral bleaching"—will show how increased CO2 in the oceans and higher water temperatures are killing corals and the communities that they anchor. And a six-foot-tall model that represents one ton of coal will provide a startling visual reminder of each visitor's own carbon footprint: Scientists estimate that every person in the world burns, on average, the equivalent of three tons of coal every year. The exhibition will also explore the options for future energy sources—including coal-burning combined with a CO2 capture and sequestration, solar power, nuclear energy, and wind power.

Climate Change does more than examine a complex and immediate problem—it lays the groundwork for potential solutions, from the personal to the national and global, and shows how these are within our grasp. The exhibition will empower and encourage visitors of all ages to help address the climate change problem by reducing energy consumption in their daily lives, whether by buying energy-efficient appliances, growing their own food, switching to compact fluorescent bulbs, or choosing to walk or take mass transit to get to work or school. Please visit the American Museum of Natural History web site for more information and details.

Source: City Pass

ASU College Student Starts GreenSummit

Submitted by AZ_Sun on September 4, 2008 - 11:27am

When Chris Samila an Arizona State University student took a trip to Costa Rica to see the Arenal Volcano, he noticed that many homes in Costa Rica used compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

Instantly, a light went on in his head.

“In the middle of the jungle, they're using CFLs. Why not here?” he asked himself.

Samila, a senior in ASU's School of Global Studies, also began to realize that he and his generation would be the ones most affected by the depletion of the world's resources.

“I really did not realize the global scope of the issue until I began studying here,” Samila says. “The school also opened my eyes to the global economic potential of making America a strong leader in sustainable technology.

All of those thoughts coalesced, with help from the School of Global Studies Student Association and other organizations, to produce the Green Summit, a one-day sustainability event that took place on ASU’s Tempe campus in April 2007.

When he organized last year's first GreenSummit, Chris Samila never imagined that anyone but students would come, and perhaps residents of Tempe and Phoenix.

But they did come, and the summit was so successful that Samila has planned a second summit, set for September 5-6, 2008 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

And it will become a nationwide event, Samila says. He already is planning to hold a GreenSummit in Atlanta next year, and he has his sights set on other cities in the United States.

It's one of the most affordable conferences in America given the wide range of sustainability topics and number of presenters.

“The goal of the summit goes beyond conserving paper,” Samila says. “It is designed to be a catalyst for change.”

The GreenSummit will have a number of components this year. There will be a two-day conference for both professionals and consumers, offering more than 100 educational sessions, and an exhibition hall with more than 120 exhibitors with cutting-edge green products and services.

There also will be networking events, a green industry career fair and green building tours around the Valley.

Samila expects more than 10,000 people to attend, including a delegation from Eastern Europe that the U.S. Department of Commerce is bringing to showcase American innovations and ideas revolving around sustainability.

“This year, we have organized the Green Innovations Expo into 10 categories to help manage the expansive and complex idea of sustainability,” says Samila.

“These categories help define the diverse variety of ideas, products and research in order to highlight how sustainability affects your personal and professional life.”

The categories include Green Building Design, Green Chemistry Materials, Business Products and Services, Renewable Energy, Transportation, Greener Computing, Fashion, and Beauty among others.

Samila says people often ask him how he has the time to produce such a large conference, in record speed, while he is still an undergraduate student.

“My answer is that I'm a ‘permanent senior’ at the moment. I hope this will be a permanent career for me.”

2008 GreenSummit Expo and Conference

The Natural Resources Defense Council's online magazine Onearth featured Chris Samila in an article called, "Most Likely to Succeed" which you can read HERE.

Environmental Educational Tool for Teachers and Students.

Submitted by mhaney on August 6, 2008 - 8:59pm

 We have have over 1000 Environmental based Experiments, labs and lesson plans 

for Teachers/Home Schoolers and their students. Search topics like Global Warming (of course), climate change, air pollution, science, ocean etc..

*The site is fun and easy to use

*You do not have to hassle with any login procedure

*Grade ranges are from K-12

*The site is 110% kid safe 

www.greenplanetsearch.com is also: 

*An environmental search engine with over 3000 sites indexed and adding more green sites daily (we are an actual search engine, this is not another Google custom search)

* Original Environment related News Aricles

*Green Website Awards for sites that deliver great content in a unique qnd captivating way

*Submit your Green Website feature

Below is a screenshot of our home page showing  the ECO LESSON PLAN ENGINE on the top of the page.

Directions for LESSON PLANS, go to www.greenplanetsearch.com on the top of the page it will say ECO SEARCH ENGINE.

On the right of that you will see the black which states "switch to eco lesson plans" Click It, then you will see it change to the ECO LESSON PLANS, type in your search and learn!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

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