climate change

Dear Future Generations: Sorry

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This Earth Day, activist and spoken word artist Prince Ea launched his newest online video entitled “Dear Future Generations: Sorry” to motivate young citizens to take immediate action to stop climate change by protecting threatened forests through the Stand for Trees campaign.

“Climate change is an emergency situation of the highest degree and all of us share the responsibility to do something about it,” said Prince Ea.

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Last month, Prince Ea traveled to Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to witness firsthand the horrors of tropical deforestation. He also visited pioneering forest conservation projects developed by Wildlife Works that demonstrate a successful new way to stop deforestation by rewarding forest communities who conserve their forests.

The Wildlife Works projects that Prince Ea visited in Kenya and the DRC represent two of twelve forest conservation projects participating in the new Stand for Trees campaign, an online initiative created by environmental NGO Code REDD that enables the general public to take direct action to combat climate change through crowd-funding the protection of threatened forests.

“Climate change is an emergency situation of the highest degree and all of us share the responsibility to do something about it,” said Prince Ea.

Climate scientists have warned that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 17 billion tonnes annually by 2020 to avoid increasing disastrous effects of climate change. The destruction of forests currently contributes more than 7 billion tonnes of emissions.

“I made this video to inform my generation that there is something we can do right now to take back our future; that is to take a Stand for Trees,” said Prince Ea.

Local chiefs and thousands of community members enthusiastically welcomed Prince Ea to the Congo Basin Forest, which made national news in the DRC.

“The Stand for Trees campaign was designed to put the power to save forests in the hands of the people to whom the future matters most: young people,” explained Mike Korchinsky, founder of Code REDD and founder and president of Wildlife Works.

Prince Ea’s “Dear Future Generations: Sorry”debuted on April 20th via social media and garnered 25 million views on Facebook in the first 36 hours of its release.

To learn more please visit StandforTrees.org.

Inspired by the Mars One mission, Citizens’ Climate Lobby is recruiting change agents who will commit to staying on Earth to make it liveable for human beings and other species:

With your help, our global community will legislate the right policies to accelerate the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution.

Climate Science 101

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In this video Bill Nye, the Science Guy, explains the fundamentals of climate science, which have been understood by scientists for decades. Just like the tobacco lobby did with the clear evidence linking smoking with health effects, the petroleum industry has been trying to cast doubt on the science of climate change. The tobacco lobby managed to delay government action for the sake of public health on their industry for 3 decades – how long will the petroleum lobby be successful in their campaign? If they manage to delay action for 3 decades, we will have lost the window to take effective action on climate change. It’s time to stop the debate and the denial, and move on to solutions. Take the time today to write or phone at least one (more is better!) of your elected officials to let them know you’re concerned about climate change, and you want them to take action.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/28991442]

More links:

Parliament of Canada – contact info for Senators and MPs

Best Ontario Election website

Climate Reality Project.org

Why We Resist The Truth About Climate Change

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While I’m away on a canoe trip this week, I will be posting articles from the 350orbust archives. This was first published in June, 2010.

Via “Nothing New Under The Sun“:

“Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. When the facts are distressing it is easier to reframe or ignore them. Around the world only a few have truly faced up to the facts about global warming. Apart from the climate ‘sceptics’, most people do not disbelieve what the climate scientists have been saying about the calamities expected to befall us. But accepting intellectually is not the same as accepting emotionally the possibility that the world as we know it is heading for a horrible end. It’s the same with our own deaths; we all ‘accept’ that we will die, but it is only when death is imminent that we confront the true meaning of our mortality.”

– Clive Hamilton, Requiem for a Species: why we resist the truth about climate change (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2010), viii.

These are the opening words of Hamilton’s new book. In case you hadn’t picked it up from the title, it’s no exercise in optimism. Hamilton believes that we have largely missed our opportunity to respond in time to climate change and now all we can do is minimise the damage and salvage what we can. However, reaching that conclusion involves a willingness to face the full scale of the threat rather than watering it down through a variety of coping mechanisms. (To read the rest of Byron Smith’s article, go to Nothing New Under The Sun.)

Another reason it is difficult for those of us in North America to face the truth about climate change is that our system is working desperately to save the old way.  Big Oil and Gas want to keep us either in denial or overwhelmed by this issue. The result of both is the same –  inaction. That’s why ads like the following from Natural Resource Defense Council are important. They start to lift the veil of denial and addiction we are struggling under:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJZbsRYQpY&feature=player_embedded]

To take action on climate change, go to my “Action not Apathy” page for some steps to take.  Even baby steps in the right direction are better than continuing down the wrong path.

Business As Usual Is Over: Value Change Required For Survival

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Today’s blog posting was initially posted on 350orbust on June 30, 2010:

Chief Oren Lyons said, when speaking about Climate Change at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN Headquarters in 2007:

We’re talking about change. People have to change. Directions have to change. Values have to change. There is no mercy in nature; nature has none. It has only law, only rule. You don’t abide the rule, you suffer the result…it’s what you do, and how you live. Business as usual is over…Value change for survival. You’re either going to change your values, or you’re not going to survive. You’re going to abide that law or suffer the consequences…Business as usual is over. Carbon is over. Oil is over. We better find something else. We better find some equity. We’re not going to have the luxury of spending $200 billion in a war. You’re not going to have the time or the money. because you’re going to be paying for the environment, for damages coming. You want to talk about the economy, you’re going to wreck the economies of the world…Change or else…Tell your leaders to get off their ass, let’s get on with life.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiRFAvxu3k]

Chief Lyons is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is  Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy). Chief Lyon has been active in international indigenous rights and sovereignty issues for over three decades at the United Nations and other forums. He is the publisher of “Daybreak”, a national Native American news magazine.

More links:

Earthkeeper Heroes

Departing Auditor General Sheila Fraser Weighs In On Need to Address Climate Change

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Climate quote of the day, from Canada’s Auditor General Sheila Fraser:

“Canada needs a national, long-term, climate-change strategy — one that will allow us to mitigate and adapt to changes, to cover the costs and to engage Canadians in adjusting both their attitudes and their activities.”

Ms. Fraser was found to be the third “most trusted Canadian” in a Readers Digest poll published this month, behind environmentalist David Suzuki and building contractor Mike Holmes. Her 10 year term is ending on May 30th. She didn’t mince words in a farewell speech this week, and made particularly pointed remarks about two national policy areas: Climate change and First Nations.

More links:

Retiring AG Sheila Fraser Says Climate Change, First Nations Must Be Dealt With

It’s Time For A Coalition of the Willing To Tackle Climate Change

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The animated film, “The Coalition of the Willing” is an appropriate follow-up to this Tuesday’s post on Paul Hawken’s message of a huge, unprecedented global movement for democracy and human rights gathering steam right now.  The movie is a collaborative effort by a group of creative minds who are passionate about empowering people to make changes in our world that governments can’t or won’t. Their website states:

‘Coalition of The Willing’ is a film that discusses how we can use new internet technologies to leverage the powers of activists, experts, and ordinary citizens in collaborative ventures to combat climate change. Through analyses of swarm activity and social revolution, ‘Coalition of the Willing’ makes a compelling case for the new online activism and explains how to bring the fight against global warming to the people.

First, a short excerpt featuring open sourcing on the net as the way of the future:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IL0R5ulrbw]

And here’s the full 15 minute video:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/12772935]

More links:

Coalition of the Willing

Philosophy For Change. WordPress.com

Message from Africa: Whatever Happens, Don’t Ever Give Up

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The following is an edited repost from last November:

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind made it to Amazon’s top 10 Best Books of 2009, as well as Publisher Weekly’s Best Book of the Year.  It tells about how Kamkwamba, “a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers” built a windmill about of bicycle parts and other scrap pieces when he was 14, after being forced to drop out of school because of a severe drought in Malawi. He built his windmill to pump water and generate electricity for his home. Now every home in Wimbe, Kamkwamba’s hometown, has a solar panel and a battery to store power. His message to  “all the people out there – to the Africans, and to poor people” is to never give up.

“Trust yourself, and believe.  Whatever happens, don’t ever give up.” Here is Mr. Kamkwamba speaking at last year’s TED conference:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjU5hu2fag]

The situation that we are in is too important to get sidetracked by anti-science deniers and others without the ability to imagine a different, better world. Let’s take Mr. Kamkwamba’s words to heart, and keep up the good fight for real action on global warming. Go to 350.org or my Action, Not Apathy page for ideas on where to start.

If you live in Ontario, and you are reading this before August 25, 2010, please go to the Toronto Environmental Alliance’s website and send the provincial government that the message that you support wind power. The government is considering a 5km exclusion zone for off-shore wind power, which would kill any attempt to install wind turbines in Lake Ontario. The province is open for comments until Aug 24 – click here to tell the province you, like  William Kamkwamba, support wind power! (Thanks to Cheryl McNamara at Carbon Slim for that link)

Unpredictable Weather Patterns From Climate Change Will Hit Consumers’ Pocketbooks

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A follow-up to yesterday’s posting on climate change-related food shortages is this recent article from the Edmonton Journal, Climactic shock to wheat markets signals new era of agriculture: Food systems in transition as consumers face recalibration of supply, demand:

Russia’s decision to stop all grain exports due to extreme heat and unpredictable weather patterns will eventually hit consumers’ pocket books — it is just a matter of time.

There and elsewhere, agriculture is increasingly wilting under the wrath of climate change.

Drought in the Black Sea region and floods in Western Canada are having a big impact on grain prices. Climactic shocks send markets and speculators alike into flurries of activity, and threaten to launch food prices skyward.

Most would agree that, when a storm descends, it’s often best to wait it out until the sun returns. But make no mistake — these sudden market swings signal the start of a new era…

Click here to read the full article.