But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one
Continue readingTag: Sustainability
openalex: Green Urban Innovation: Solarize Portland and the Power of Communities
I was in New York earlier this month to present at the Association of American Geographers big annual conference. As well as an excellent stroll along the High Line (thanks Gena!), I got to talk about Solarize Portland — one of my favourite examples of how people can reshape their
Continue reading350 or bust: Healing Ourselves, Healing The World
I recently read the following quote: “life is a series of events that we’re not quite ready for”. Life is difficult; sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning can be a challenge. Tune into the news anytime of the day or night, and it’s clear that our world
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“We can sum it up in one sentence: Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific conquests…….Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we
Continue readingopenalex: Farming in the City: Make environmental legislation flexible!
Cities are blanketed by a mesh of rules. Some of them are well known and clearly signaled (think traffic lights). Others only become visible when you start asking questions about your city. “Why aren’t there trees on my street?” “How come there aren’t any corner stores in my neighbourhood?” On
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“Guard your light and protect it. Move it forward into the world and be fully confident that if we connect light to light to light, and join the lights together of the one billion young people in our world today, we will be enough to set our whole planet aglow.”
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
This ad is for a newly launched cell phone of NTT Docomo, the largest cell phone service provider in Japan. The shell of the new phone is wood from domestic woods that are produced in a sustainable way. Apparently this was made without CG or cuts, and it took four
Continue readingopenalex: Chicago Kills Coal
Great news out of Chicago yesterday. After a two-and-a-half year campaign, a well networked citizens campaign has managed to secure the closure of two outdated and heavily polluting coal-fired power plants. The Fisk and Crawford power plants are located in residential neighbourhoods on Chicago’s Southwest Side. They are relics from
Continue reading350 or bust: Going Local: A Powerful Strategy To Repair Our Fractured World, Our Ecosystems & Ourselves.
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people
Continue reading350 or bust: Spoil: The Great Bear Rainforest Under Threat From Enbridge Pipeline
My weekend in Winnipeg ended with an evening at the Park Theatre listening to Nathan Cullen, an NDP Member of Parliament who is running for the leadership of his party. He and the other leadership candidates were in Winnipeg for an afternoon debate. Mr. Cullen painted a vivid picture of
Continue reading350 or bust: Anti-science Lobby Group Funded By Polluters Writes “Global Warming Curriculum” For Schools
The Heartland Institute’s President and CEO just admitted that Heartland is writing a “global warming curriculum” that would say climate science isn’t settled. Heartland would like to create the appearance of a scientific debate where there is none by having our teachers claim we just don’t know if humans are
Continue reading350 or bust: TED Talk Thursday: The Future Of Clean, Efficient Energy Is Here Now
This TED Talk features Justin Tipping-Hall, CEO of Nanoholdings, talking about the extraordinary work being done on nanotechnology that’s focused on creating alternative solutions for how we generate, transmit, store and use energy. Tipping-Hall asks us to question our idea of “normal”, and suggests this can lead to huge breakthroughs.
Continue reading350 or bust: Oilman’s Son At Enbridge Pipeline Hearing: It’s Time To Chose A New Path
The son of an oilman shares a powerful story at Enbridge Pipeline hearings, about an experience at an oil refinery on a different continent. He shares insights about tankers, pipelines, and lives affected. Insightful analysis of how oil executives (and politicians) blatantly ignore the known impacts of the fossil fuel
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
When asked at colleges if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed
Continue reading350 or bust: Chasing Water: Examining The Human Toll On A River
Chasing Water, follows photojournalist Peter McBride and writer John Waterman (great name, I know!) as they set out to document the flow of the Colorado River from source to sea. A Colorado native, McBride hails from a ranching family that depends on the Colorado for irrigation, and this is the
Continue reading350 or bust: Living On Thin Ice: Climate Change Impacts In Sierra Nevada
On Thursday, January 5, 2012, the Sierra Nevada Alliance led a 14-person expedition to the Sierra Nevada high country in Northern California. What is revealed is alarming: * Alarming, yes, but not surprising considering this: * Wondering what to do? Check out my Action not Apathy page, or go to
Continue reading350 or bust: Northern Gateway Pipeline: Just Say No To Enbridge
How far are we willing to go to continue our toxic addiction to oil? Why can’t we just love it and leave it? It’s been a hell of a ride these past few centuries, but it’s time for humanity to wake up out of our oily nightmare and move on.
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act. ~Paul Hawken
Continue reading350 or bust: Harper Government Does Not Have The Right To Declare Canada Open For Business
From the Union of B.C. Chiefs, Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, Canada – February 8, 2012: Close to 100 Chiefs and representatives from Indigenous Nations in BC along with 400 Chiefs from across Canada attended the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa on January 24 2012. The Crown-First Nations Gathering was an opportunity
Continue reading350 or bust: NASA Video Debunks Climate Deniers in 26 Seconds
As obvious as tumor on a smoker’s chest x-ray, this 26-second video of the 131 years of temperature data demonstrates the consequences of our addiction to burning fossil fuels. It shows what climate scientists have been warning our governments about for years – climate change is real, it’s happening now,
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