the eco advocate

This video is fantastic. So, I’m sharing it for you!

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve posted on my blog, The Eco Advocate, and have since posted so many ideas, frustrations and inspirations on Facebook that I’ve pretty much turned it into a blog… But Facebook really doesn’t do it justice, so with all these things going around in my brain, I’m about to explode.

‘I need a blog!!!’ I was thinking. But, wait. I have one! Silly me.

Time to remember my login and start typing again. Even if it’s just for me. : ) If anyone out there is reading this, hope you like it!

Some things I’ve been sharing on Facebook lately:

Windowfarms let you grow fresh vegetables at home by taking advantage of natural light and climate control indoors. (Via windowfarms.org / Kickstart)

Brand New Windowfarms- Vertical Food Gardens
Grow fresh food in your windows even during the winter without dirt!
via Kickstarter

This file photo released by Greenpeace shows the boat Arctic Sunrise reaching 'the ice bridge' in the Robeson channel, near the border between Greenland and Canada on September 14, 2009. Research published in a top scientific journal says Arctic sea ice has declined more in the last half-century than it has any time over the last 1,450 years. (AFP PHOTO/HANDOUT/GREENPEACE/NICK COBBING (Via Huffington Post)

Arctic Sea Ice Decline Greatest, Longest In 1,450 Years: Study
“No matter how good we are, no matter how much we respect women, the biases the women in our lives struggle against are the same biases fueling our success.”
via The Huffington Post

15 Food Companies that Serve You ‘Wood’
Not sure if this applies in Canada, but at least in the US, there’s a lot more in your food than you’d like to know. Like tree fibers. Yum…
via Food Freedom

The EU has provisionally imposed penalties severe enough to make it difficult for Canada to sell tar sands oil in Europe, but Britain is working to undermine that stance. Photograph: Jeff Mcintosh/AP (Via The Guardian)

Britain’s promotion of Canada’s tar sands oil is idiotic
Now that the US has temporarily declined the Keystone pipeline, Canada pressures the UK to import our oil – and for some idiotic reason they seem to be bowing to that pressure. I think Harper’s a bully. Not cool.
via The Guardian

James Schwartz/CC BY 2.0 (Via Tree Hugger)

Re:Cycling- Bike Activists Use Trash To Prove That Bike Lanes Work
Sadly, it sometimes takes a tragedy for real change to happen…
via TreeHugger

Ok, that didn’t really count as a real post but I’ll soon get back into the swing of things, I promise!!! Stay tuned.

There’s a great campaign in the UK to get people, businesses, schools and organizations to reduce emissions by 10% in the year 2010. It’s reasonable, it’s possible and it’s a good first step!

Oops! Missing link! Visit The Guardian’s 10:10 campaign page instead

About 10:10

10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.

WHY BOTHER?
Why bother jumping out of the way of a speeding car?

Cutting 10% in one year is a bold target, but for most of us it’s an achievable one, and is in line with what scientists say we need over the next 18 months. We now know for certain that unless we act quickly to reduce our use of dirty fossil fuels, humanity will face terrible problems in the years to come. Politicians have so far failed to do what needs to be done, so it’s time for ordinary people to step in and show that we’re ready to defend our children’s futures. It’s now or never for the climate.

By signing up to a 10% target we’re not just supporting 10:10 – we’re making it happen. In our homes, in our workplaces, our schools and our hospitals, our galleries and football clubs and universities, we’ll be backing each other up as we take the first steps on the road to becoming a zero-carbon society. It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of a huge problem like climate change, but by uniting everyone behind immediate, effective and achievable action, 10:10 enables all of us to make a meaningful difference.

10:10 is the perfect opportunity to discover what’s possible when we work together. Let’s get started.

Although I’m not in the UK, there’s absolutely no reason not to go along with this plan. Climate change is world-wide, and so should be our action!

For more info, visit: www.1010uk.org

A few of the many related links (if you have more, let me know!):

www.350.org

www.climateactionnetwork.ca

www.globalclimatecampaign.org

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk

www.myfootprint.org

It’s been a pretty busy past few weeks, and it’s only going to get crazier as Christmas approaches. All the same, I look forward to spending time with my friends and family, eating good food, sharing good laughs and all that seasonal celebration-type stuff. What’s really hard about this time of year though is the amount time people spend driving around in order to dish out outrageous amounts of money out on gifts that are horrible for our earth, and our wallets!!

I know we’re all under pressure to get ‘just the right thing’ for that special someone (or maybe your mom or dad or son or daughter), with advertisements bombarding us constantly about all the best deals in town. I find it’s good to avoid the overwhelming shopaholic, consumerist babble, just to help you keep your wits. But how can you make Christmas sustainable?

There are tonnes of resources out there for sure. ‘Green’ is in, so ‘green’ gifts can be found! However, is that enough? Is there another way of giving that doesn’t involve buying something??

This year, the City of Montreal has launched a campaign that encourages Montrealers to think differently: “Pour Noël, faites un cadeau à l’environnement: consommez autrement!” or “For Christmas, give a gift to the environment: consume differently!” is the slogan. The second tagline translates to something like “Reduce at the source, it’s good for our planet and for our wallets.”

With a list of good suggestions for how to do this, you can’t go wrong. If you give it a try, you almost can sing it along to the tune of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’…

For Christmas, give a gift to the environment:

1. Consume differently
2. Give a night on the town
3. An ‘Aaaaaaah’ spa night
4. A quality gift made locally
5. Rechargeable gifts
6. The gift of time off for busy parents
7. Offer home-baked goods
8. A donation to a non-profit
9. Take public transit while shopping
10. Use reusable wrapping
11. Send an eCard
12. Trees grown locally … then recycled

Besides being fun and creative, the campaign, I think, is a very good idea. Check it out: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/consommezautrement

This mini-documentary about sustainable living in Montreal, Quebec, was directed and produced by Adam Bemma. Adam was kind enough to interview me as a feature part of the documentary. I feel bad that my last name is so long!! Anyhow, enjoy ::

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!

Source: www.organicnation.tv