My esteemed colleague Sandra Gibbons, Professor of Biology, introduced me to the wonderful Peace coffee. My husband loves their coffee, and he knows coffee. I only drink coffee on Fridays and look forward to my Peace treat. And I really like their logo since I studied sea turtles in grad school. But what I like the most about this superior tasting coffee is that they are committed to sustainability more than any other coffee company I know. Their motto is: “A cultural, social and consumable revolution with grounds firmly fixed in. A farmer friendly fair trade reality.” They even try to deliver their beans by bicycle to towns. AND…yes there is more…it is very inexpensive, especially considering it is organic, fair trade, etc. If you purchase 10 pounds at once you get a 15% discount. AND…I know it keeps getting better…if you take the survey indicated on this web page, http://www.peacecoffee.com/pcs/index.html, right now (not sure when this opportunity will expire so take it soon), you get an additional 20% off. The 10 pound discount CAN be combined with the survey discount. We just purchased 10 pounds of organic fair trade espresso for $75 (including the shipping fee). So, get your coffee, get your buzz, and support a company that is super committed to sustainability.
Mother Jones has a short article on their site that lists 10 “green” iphone apps. I know that not everyone has an iphone, but this is an example of how having information in hand, at the point of need, helps us to make informed decisions. These apps are a way to conjure up immediate info to use. Now, we may have to explore where the apps get their info, but, you know, it is good that someone is working to do this.
Click here to visit this site: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/01/econundrum-10-eco-apps-your-iphone
John Wood Community College, in Quincy, IL, recently announced a new Sustainable Local Foods Farming Program. The program provides courses and hands-on training in sustainable fruit and vegetable production, entrepreneurship, and marketing. Students gain the practical skills and knowledge needed to be successful agricultural entrepreneurs in this emerging industry. Hands-on courses are taught at JWCC’s demonstration market garden, located on the Quincy campus. I would love to see something like this hit MVCC! For more information: http://www.jwcc.edu/instruct/agriculture/LocalFoodsFarming/default.asp
Just to follow up on our earlier posts about the climate talks at Copenhagen, I wanted to share the link (see below) to a story from the PBS Newshour. Here is a piece of the transcript:
VINUTA GOPAL, Greenpeace India: The world leaders have failed the planet, and now it’s up to people to come together, because we need a deal that is real.
RAY SUAREZ (Newshour corespondent): That deal, of course, is the 12-paragraph nonbinding Copenhagen accord announced after two weeks of grueling negotiations and last-minute dealings. One hundred and ninety-three participant nations formally called for billions in aid to help poor nations cope with climate change, but set no firm targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.The U.N.’s climate chief, Yvo de Boer:
YVO DE BOER, executive secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: An impressive accord, but not an accord that is legally binding, not an accord that, at this moment, pins down industrialized countries to individual targets.
RAY SUAREZ: At heart, the accord represented just how far President Obama and the leaders of China, Brazil, India, and South Africa were willing to go. At a snowed-in White House Saturday after his return, the president had a more upbeat assessment.
U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For the first time in history, all of the major — the world’s major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change. After extremely difficult and complex negotiations, this important breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come.
RAY SUAREZ: European leaders were notably absent from President Obama’s last-minute meetings. Today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded the entire process be reformed. He said, “Never again should we let a global deal be held to ransom by only a handful of countries.”On a different note, the British climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, singled out developing nations.
ED MILIBAND, secretary of state for energy and climate change, United Kingdom: Because there was point-blank refusal from many of those countries to have legally binding targets. I think it shows in a sense how far we do have to go to tackle the problem collectively.
RAY SUAREZ: China came under criticism for refusing to agree to legally binding and verifiable actions.
Watch the video and the read the transcripts of this story here: A Look at Climate Change After Copenhagen
Argonne National Laboratory is a cutting-edge research center that is right in our backyard, near Lemont. It conducts a range of experiments for the Department of Energy. One of the challenges that many organizations (such as Moraine Valley and Argonne) face is being Green-friendly while still maintaining the cutting-edge equipment and technology. Well, Argonne is one of the examples that shows how technology infrastructure can be maintained, while still being Green. Here is an article from their news blog:
Argonne microscopy facility combines cutting-edge science, green architecture.
Along with several other environmental news outlets, the <a href=”http://www.mnn.com/eco-glossary/copenhagen-climate-talks”> Mother Nature Network</a> updated the world about a staged walk-out at the Copenhagen Climate talks this morning. The Group of 77, a group of mostly developing countries, walked out of the talks to protest the progress thus far. From discussions last week, this group feels as though they are getting the short end of the stick.According to the G-77, the trend in discussions looked like the developed countries wanted to abandon the Kyoto Protocol, something from which majority of the G-77are exempt,and work on an entirely new treaty.
Excerpt—
“They [the G-77] want developed nations to commit to cuts beyond Kyoto’s 2012 expiration date, with any new treaty serving as a complement to Kyoto. “The killing of the Kyoto Protocol, I can say, will mean the killing of Africa,” says a member of Mali’s delegation. “Before accepting that, we should all die first.” Danish officials hosting the conference temporarily suspended all formal talks until they can work out an agreement to bring back the African-led G-77.”
Read <a href=”http://www.mnn.com/eco-glossary/copenhagen-climate-talks”> this short article</a> to learn more. Mother Nature Network has several short, to the point articles covering the day to day of these talks.
What are your thoughts? Are the 77 overreacting or are the justified? Personally, I think it’s hard to judge their emotions and understand their plight, since I am not living it day in and out. But, I think it’s important that as they develop they consider smart, sustainable and green growth vs. conventional industrial growth like that of the West. Overall, I am still holding on to hope that they all come to a solid consensus by the end of this week and we can start moving a true, global effort towards positive change.
I read an interesting piece in the Washington Post over the weekend by Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Tidwell’s piece is interesting in light of the EPA’s recent action concerning CO2 (EPA: Greenhouse Gases Endanger Human Health from the AP via ABC News) . Tidwell’s basic argument is that most American’s are pretending to go “green” by washing their clothes in cold water and buying issues of magazines that are on “green” topics, but that we are not really changing the way we live. He argues that we pretend to be green rather than actually making significant changes. Here is a link to his article and a small quote: To Really Save the Planet, Stop Going Green
Green gestures we have in abundance in America. Green political action, not so much. And the gestures (”Look honey, another Vanity Fair Green Issue!”) lure us into believing that broad change is happening when the data shows that it isn’t. Despite all our talk about washing clothes in cold water, we aren’t making much of a difference.
For eight years, George W. Bush promoted voluntary action as the nation’s primary response to global warming — and for eight years, aggregate greenhouse gas emissions remained unchanged. Even today, only 10 percent of our household light bulbs are compact fluorescents. Hybrids account for only 2.5 percent of U.S. auto sales. One can almost imagine the big energy companies secretly applauding each time we distract ourselves from the big picture with a hectoring list of “5 Easy Ways to Green Your Office.”
As America joins the rest of the world in finally fighting global warming, we need to bring our battle plan up to scale. If you believe that astronauts have been to the moon and that the world is not flat, then you probably believe the satellite photos showing the Greenland ice sheet in full-on meltdown. Much of Manhattan and the Eastern Shore of Maryland may join the Atlantic Ocean in our lifetimes. Entire Pacific island nations will disappear. Hurricanes will bring untold destruction. Rising sea levels and crippling droughts will decimate crops and cause widespread famine. People will go hungry, and people will die.
Morally, this is sort of a big deal. It would be wrong to let all this happen when we have the power to prevent the worst of it by adopting clean-energy policies.(Mike Tidwell, Washington Post, December 6, 2009)
One of the things that Tidwell points out is that Obama would really need Congress to act in order to take significant action. He doesn’t seem to think that this will happen. However, this EPA ruling (EPA: Greenhouse Gases Endanger Human Health from the AP via ABC News) may be the sort of regulatory muscle Obama needs. As Obama head to Europe for the climate summit, it will be interesting to watch how this plays out.
On Campus Sustainability Day, Moraine Valley students, staff, and faculty took the photo below as part of call to action to move toward 350 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. We are already above this level. By taking this photo, the Moraine Valley community joined thousands of people from around the world who are working to bring more attention to the need for a sustainable future. You can learn more at 350.org.
Over the Thanksgiving break, I heard this report on Chicago Public Radio’s 848 program:Could Solar Power Re-enrgize Far South Side?Here is the description of this report:
- On the Far South Side of Chicago, a vacant industrial site is being transformed into a state-of-the-art energy project. When it’s done, it will be the biggest urban solar power plant in the country. Backers think it could be the start of a solar boom – pumping new life into a lot of beat-up neighborhoods. But some hard-nosed accounting – both by the company and by the community – will have to come first.
Since Moraine Valley is just down the street (sorta) from Pullman, I wanted to share.
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