Posted in news, stories on October 31st, 2009 by brooke
The winners of the Brower Youth Awards have been announced. This programme, established by Earth Island Institute in 2000, rewards “six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy.” This year, two of these six winners received awards for their work in the area of food sustainability.
Hai Vo, a student at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), received his award for co-founding the project the Real Food Challenge (RFC). Now spread to many schools throughout the Sates, the Challenge is working to bring real, healthy and fair food to campuses across the country.
Diana Lopez also received an award for the Roots of Change community garden, which she helped co-launch in the Eastside of San Antonio, Texas. Working within a low income-community, this project brings fresh, organic food as well as a strong sense of community to people who need it the most.
As these two award winners show, taking action is about perseverance, dedication, and passion. I hope these stories can inspire others to do the same!
“Sourcemap is an open source project about where things come from. [It] is a platform for researching, optimizing and sharing the supply chains behind a number of everyday products… You can simulate the impact of manufacturing, transporting, using and throwing away products using our Life-Cycle Assessment calculator. This web-based tool uses linked data from geological and geographic resources. Each ‘Sourcemap’ can be used to help market socially- and environmentally- conscious products and to buy carbon offsets.”
Posted in resources on October 22nd, 2009 by brooke
I found a great list on the ‘Green Eco Voice‘ blog of ways to ‘help save the planet’. Though perhaps framed a little ideologically (the sort of overarching idea of ‘saving the planet’ is a bit overused and worn out, but the intentions are good), I thought it summed it up pretty well. Also, the article emphasized the importance of a few key things: working together and learning. Take a look.
Here are a few key ways we can help become part of the solution:
Stop Hydrocarbon: Walk, ride a bike or take public transport. Encourage and create low-impact public transportation.
Grow & Eat Local: Dine on what’s sustainable. Preserve local agricultural land and start a backyard or community garden.
Slow Consumption: Shop second hand. Recycle everything. Make global responsibility your fashion statement.
Build Community: We cannot solve the global ecological challenge individually, but we can in our neighborhoods and communities. Grow compassion.
Be Courageous: Challenge conventional thinking. When one person stands up then others are inspired to stand up also.
Research: Become proactive by educating yourself on ecological responsibility. Become curious about how society works and how nature works.
Use your skills: “Become the Change you Want to See in the World” Lead by example. Use your skills, knowledge, and passions.
Protect Nature: Ecology of our planet demands attention now. Many animals are on the verge of extinction. Become supportive and discover how to learn from nature.
I can think of a few more to add to this myself (see my previous post for some ideas). What about you? What’s missing from this list?
I was just recently asked about living ‘green’ on a budget. Or, “more specifically, how to live modestly with rising costs for food, clothing, etc.” I guess it’s a good question, since it really got me thinking!
What’s interesting about this question to begin with is that it indicates the bizarre mentality around ‘green’ living. That is, that it’s expensive.
People tend be weary of the current environmental direction because it’s perceived as being costly. However, when you compare the short and long term costs of ‘business as usual’ versus ‘action to curb climate change’, the long term costs of the former are way more. To me, the longer-term savings of living ‘green’ in the financial, personal and environmental senses are undeniable.
While it does seem hard to live green on a budget if you’re thinking that you need to retrofit your house or buy a hybrid car. However, if you don’t have the money to begin with, those are out of the question. If you are looking for immediate savings with environmental benefit, it’s totally possible, and simple.
Living green to me means so many things. Invest in your local economy; encourage green, sustainable, ethical businesses; minimize unnecessary consumption of goods that have a limited life span (look up planned obsolescence); consume less goods generally; purchase used goods when possible; avoid creating excess waste; cut down on energy use and switch over to renewable energies; eat less meat and eat locally grown food; walk, bus or bike more; etc. etc.
To put it bluntly, the key factor here seems to be about buying and producing less crap.
All of these things also involve saving money and spending money wisely. There are so many things that facilitate this, like thrift stores, health food and bulk stores, eco-quartiers, websites like craigslist.org, public transit, etc.
These resources exist, you just have to know they are there. In places that aren’t as eco-minded as parts of Montreal are, maybe these resources are harder to find. In such cases, people must be innovative and create them together, or demand them from the local government. (I see a future blog post here… hmm.)
There are also tonnes of little ways to be eco-friendly around your home, work and school that involve simply being creative and resourceful. This includes things like reusing your plastic bags, having shorter showers, not leaving your fridge empty, printing less documents, turning unused lights and appliances off completely, etc. I could go on and on (I guess that’ll be another blog post too)!
But really, if you are smart enough to recognize that things need to change, you are certainly smart enough to figure out what you can do. And don’t just think about it. Do it. Your wallet, your health, your community and your earth will thank you.
As a cyclist in the city of Montreal, I’m a keen advocate for better, more bike-friendly traffic laws. Often as I bike home from work, I find myself grumbling at the level of disrespect for cyclists, especially coming from many car drivers out there. As a result, many cyclists have a high level of spite for cars and car-focused traffic laws. This car-versus-bike stigma, I believe, is likely one of the causes for many accidents in our city.
Also a factor is the number of both speedsters and amateurs out there. By speedsters I generally mean the overconfident and reckless type who think they have such amazing driving or cycling skills that they don’t need to obey the law, who tailgate, speed, run red lights and stop signs and generally annoy the hell out of everyone else. By amateurs I mean inconsistent and nervous drivers and cyclists who drive to slowly, stop or slow down frequently and irrationally, and tend to be also annoying for everyone else.
Now, no matter the case, anyone who does something illegal or irrational, whether a driver, a cyclist, or even a pedestrian, tends to be considered a nuisance for those around them. What ends up happening is that these actually few number of people causing alarm come to represent the whole driving or cycling population, as stereotypes do (clearly, I succumb to making these stereotypes too, as the above paragraph makes clear). How often do I hear people complaining about “those damn cyclists, always biking the wrong way down one-way street, wearing all black with no lights at all.” Clearly not every single cyclist does this. Same with drivers, who “are always running reds, cutting cyclists off, and opening their doors without looking.” Again, not every driver is this irresponsible. But everyone is looking for someone else to blame.
Blame aside, it’s obvious to me that there needs to be more respect on both sides for both sides (and, yes, throw pedestrians in there too, I can’t forget about those, but that’s a slightly different discussion, in my opinion). Likewise, traffic laws must recognize that drivers and cyclists are not the same, and should not be expected to comply to the same set of rules.
The following is a fantastic video about the “Idaho stop law”, one that recognizes the futility in forcing cyclists to stop at stop signs in the way cars do. It, in fact, makes cyclists obey stop signs the way a driver would approach a yield sign – with caution, but without unnecessary stops. This is a very logical decision, as this is what most cyclist do anyhow. The amount of energy it would take for a cyclist to actually travel somewhere while stopping completely at every stop sign would make cycling immensely inefficient.
On top having awesome animation, this video is just plain logical. Take a look:
In a recent article in Slate Magazine, a number of really interesting arguments are put forward from varying perspectives on the approach to traffic legislation in regards to cyclists and drivers. Of note is the argument by those called ‘vehicularists’, a group who think cyclists should be treated as cars, without sympathy or disrespect. While I’m not in full accord with this thinking, some statistics have shown that segregating cars and cyclists, on bike paths for example, actually is a sign of disrespect for cyclist and in fact increases the occasion of accidents. I can understand this, especially in a city like Montreal where there is not as grand of a cycling culture as there is in, say, Copenhagen (my favorite example of a bike-friendly city). In a combined intersection of car lanes and bike paths, cars often forget that the cyclists are there and make quick turns into bike traffic. A number of other interesting historical elements and legislative examples make this article a very good one. You should take a read.
Either way, however, I still believe that cars and bikes are not the same, and should not be treated so. I have been a driver, I understand the immense amount of power in such a large vehicle, compared to a bicycle. I do not for one second think that cyclists are equal to drivers in dangerous situations as, clearly, a cyclist is much more vulnerable. Likewise, a bicycle is much smaller and can maneuver much better in tight situations.
Cyclists need to be given the protection of pedestrians and the respect of cars. By this mean they should be allowed to take over a lane in dangerous conditions to avoid being driven off the road, should be required to stop at heavy traffic intersections and heavily fined for speeding through said intersections (not to mention speeding at all), should not weave through traffic, cut of pedestrians and ride on busy sidewalks, nor be relegated to only bike lanes. However, cyclists should have the right to make rolling stops in empty intersections, should not necessarily be fined for biking slowly on low-traffic sidewalks or cautiously going against traffic on a one-way street when there is no traffic, and approached with caution by drivers, as cyclists are as vulnerable and susceptible to grave injury as are pedestrians.
The common element between cyclists, drivers and pedestrians is that we are all just trying to get somewhere in our own way. If we recognize the need for and benefit of a multi-faceted system, one that enables and facilitates a safe and respectful travel environment for all players, we can all join together to make it work.
And, last but not least, cyclist should be given thanks. Thanks, that is, for reducing the number of cars on the roads, cutting down on traffic jams, and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Cyclists are healthier people, and by being so are making our air cleaner for all. This cannot and should not be ignored!
A system that encourages alternative modes of transportation (bikes, buses, walking, trains, subways, etc.) is an intelligent one – one that shows compassion for those who cannot afford a car, and one that demonstrates an understanding of our duty as people to respect and protect our current natural environment so that there is one for future generations to come.
A recent article I saw online called ‘Growing Greener Greens‘ talks about scientists enhancing the nutritional value of otherwise nutrient-lacking greens in order to make people healthier, through ‘conventional breeding techniques’ and new types of fertilizer.
At a first glance, it sounds alright. However, I’ve just come to realize just how incredibly horrible chemical fertilizer is.
Nitrogen fertilizers are used to increase crop yields, but end up in waterways and oceans, depleting oxygen and inhibiting the growth of life! This type of fertilizer is also made from fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource.
During the ‘Green Revolution’, post WWII, there was a significant increase in the American use of chemical fertilizers, as they were using the leftover chemicals from the war. Is our food is grown using chemicals originally developed to kill people? I’ll have to check that out another time… gross.
Anyhow, all these chemical fertilizers are being used to replace natural ones, ones that have been removed from the farm scene in the shift towards mono-cultures and specialized farming. Farm animals, be it cows, pigs, goats, or whatever, make the best fertilizer. Now we put our cows in big manure-filled pens where they are forced to eat corn (which is not at all good for them), and we then dump their manure into little ponds because it’s too toxic to use as fertilizer. Then it ends up contaminating our waterways. Strange, this idea of progress.
It seems to me like our quest for efficiency through specialization has blinded us to the efficiency that nature has figured out through the complex interrelatedness of life over billions of years. We’re so obsessed with our new technologies, convinced that we could do it better than nature, but nature’s got it figured out, my friends.
So, in our quest to feed the starving world, why are we spending so much time and energy making ‘better’ food? We should be fixing this messed up system that encourages over-production and plummeting prices, lower-quality food due to depleted soil quality, and excess consumption by already over-fed people.
There is enough food to go around, it’s just all controlled by those who already have too much. Food system FAIL.
Found this great little video on http://current.com about just how popular bikes are in Copenhagen, Denmark. What I want to know is just how much respect cyclists get in cities like these, where to an outsider it appears that biking is an accepted and welcomed part of society. I honestly wish there was a much greater respect for this very respectful mode of transportation and exercise in this city.