Here’s a rather scathing PSA from Plane Stupid. (Note, if you get squeamish at the thought of seeing polar bear deaths depicted in a fairly gruesome—and slightly absurd—manner, or if you yourself are a polar bear, you might think twice about watching.)

http://www.vimeo.com/7702530

Wow. Granted, each flight doesn’t literally kill a polar bear. This isn’t some sick inversion of the ringing bells that beget angel wings from It’s a Wonderful Life. But it does hammer home the increasingly…

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It’s been a bummer of a week for climate news. The Senate bill continues to languish behind health care and there have been some disconcerting rumbles that it might now be back-burnered even longer as an increasingly spineless nervous Senate focuses on jobs and deficit. And out of Singapore on Sunday we hear that Copenhagen definitely won’t produce a legally-binding agreement, but will rather be the first piece of a “one-agreement, two-step” process, the controversial (and dangerous (pdf),…

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Even if you flew to Copenhagen, they probably wouldn’t let you in to the conference. But don’t despair: You don’t have to be a delegate to help stave off catastrophe.

Keep track of the treaty: Negotiators are working on a draft treaty—raising objections, making changes, and shaping the fate of the world. Keep track of it at 350.org/treaty-tracker.

Get to know the negotiators: Find out who will represent your country in Copenhagen and what they think. Adoptanegotiator.org has  “trackers”…

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That which is unsustainable cannot go on. Unsustainable things that are propped up too long snap and collapse suddenly. Our way of life is unsustainable. The sooner we transform our economy into one that can generate sustainable prosperity, the better off we’ll be, and with every passing day, the risks of catastrophe grow larger and more certain. We need change now.

These shouldn’t be radical statements; they’re all demonstrably true. Yet they cleave right down the middle…

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The conference is still a few months away, but we asked several activists to predict what they will be talking about after the conference wraps up. Here is what they think they’re going to be saying next January:

Richard Graves, founder of Fired Up Media, blogger for the TckTckTck campaign, and editor of ItsGettingHotinHere.org:

What surprised me was the startling diversity of groups, beyond environmentalists, that got involved—from youth groups to union leaders to the Dalai…

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What’s on the table at Copenhagen?

End Goal

The long-term goals of preserving a habitable planet will effectively be boiled down to a single number: the target concentration of CO² in the atmosphere, measured in parts per million. For the past few years, conventional wisdom has called for a target of 450 ppm. But the most recent science points to something more conservative: A 350 ppm ceiling is required if, as the NASA climatologist Jim Hansen puts…

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As Morgan noted this morning, word from the APEC meetings in Singapore was that the world will have to wait until sometime next year for a legally-binding international agreement on climate change. Instead, COP15 will serve as just the first part of a “one agreement, two step” process that’ll supposedly be resolved in 2010. And just like that, hopes and expectations for next month’s meetings in Copenhagen have been deflated. And everyone who has been…

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The Copenhagen Climate Treaty is a proposal for what an ideal vision of a COP15 agreement might look like. The treaty was drafted by Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, IndyACT (the league of independent activists), Germanwatch, the David Suzuki Foundation, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, and experts from around the world. The prospective document was distributed to negotiators from the 192 attending nations with the hope that it would influence what happens at the conference.…

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When the United Nations holds its international get-togethers, countries are traditionally sorted into five regional groups: African states, Asian states, Eastern European states, Latin American and Caribbean states, and Western European and other states (incidentally probably the only time the United States gets listed as “other”).

In theory, these groupings give smaller countries a chance to speak as part of a louder, unified voice. In practice, though, the groupings have far less of an impact on negotiations than…

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Copenhagen, ho!

There’s a famous Danish proverb that roughly translates to, “He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.” So, lest you get caught in a cycle of fear and shame in anticipation of the world’s convergence on Copenhagen, we offer this primer on all things COP15—and all things Copenhagen.

Point of Clarification: The COP in COP15 doesn’t stand for Copenhagen. It stands for Conference of the Parties, and it’s the 15th such event.…

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It’s been a bummer of a week for climate news. The Senate bill continues to languish behind health care and there have been some disconcerting rumbles that it might now be back-burnered even longer as an increasingly spineless nervous Senate focuses on jobs and deficit. And out of Singapore on Sunday we hear that Copenhagen definitely won’t produce a legally-binding agreement, but will rather be the first piece of a “one-agreement, two-step” process, the controversial (and dangerous (pdf),…

Read & Discuss

As Morgan noted this morning, word from the APEC meetings in Singapore was that the world will have to wait until sometime next year for a legally-binding international agreement on climate change. Instead, COP15 will serve as just the first part of a “one agreement, two step” process that’ll supposedly be resolved in 2010. And just like that, hopes and expectations for next month’s meetings in Copenhagen have been deflated. And everyone who has been…

Read & Discuss

We’ve mentioned before that climate change and our dependence on foreign oil represent a couple of the gravest fundamental threats to our national security. So—in honor of Veterans Day—here’s a video of some of our men and women in uniform touring the country in support of clean energy:

These vets of Operation Free took to two buses (yes, they were biodiesel), and rolled across the country talking to the public, political leaders, and fellow veterans about the…

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Almir Surui, the chief of an indigenous tribe in the Amazon rainforest, has—you guessed it—teamed up with Google. He’s using Google Earth to document and map illegal deforestation in real time, making it a lot harder for the government to ignore.

Recently, it seems like the “environmental movement,” or whatever you want to call it, has focused more on carbon and clean energy technology than good old Save-the-whales-style conservation. But we should still save the…

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Buildings are actually responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than cars. But simply weatherizing houses and businesses can reduce their environmental impact and lower energy bills—while creating new jobs in the process. Everyone wins.

Created in partnership with Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy, strong enough to lift people out of poverty. For more information on programs near you, visit www.greenforall.org.

…
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The United States will come under some serious heat this month, but the climate drama won’t be taking place at United Nations talks.

With more than a month to go before the Copenhagen climate talks, the press are practically tripping themselves to write off the talks as a failure. Now, I’m not here to blow sunshine and tell you that all’s going great here in Barcelona, and that we’re well on our way to a fair, ambitious, and binding…

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From Alaska to western Australia — and everywhere in-between — climate change is affecting communities and mental health. I’m a co-founder of the Resilient People + Climate Change Conference, which is “quite possibly the first trans-disciplinary conference to link mental health with climate change.” We delved into the psychological and social impacts of climate change, drawing on insight from leading experts in environmental philosophy, psychology, ecological health, public health, mental health, Native Alaskan traditional culture, and…

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The global grassroots climate movement is finally here, and huge.

Climate activists have been waiting two long decades to see what a global climate movement would look like. As of last Saturday, we know. And as movement mentor and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben wrote in an email after watching photos of grassroots actions around the world projecting from the giant, iconic screens of Times Square, “it looked diverse and creative and beautiful.”

Diverse? There were events on every continent…

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Sounds like Sam Savage’s book, The Flaw of Averages, is worth a read. First of all, the title is awesome, and second, it contains this quotable quote: “Plans based on average assumptions are wrong on average.”

Original article: Why You Should Worry About Climate Change Even If You Don’t Think It Is Going To Happen « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and Policy

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The federal government has doled out $4 billion dollars over the past few months to companies promising to build out a Smart

Original article: Massive Funding to Lift Smart Grid Companies, Look for It Next Month – NYTimes.com

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Even if you flew to Copenhagen, they probably wouldn’t let you in to the conference. But don’t despair: You don’t have to be a delegate to help stave off catastrophe.

Keep track of the treaty: Negotiators are working on a draft treaty—raising objections, making changes, and shaping the fate of the world. Keep track of it at 350.org/treaty-tracker.

Get to know the negotiators: Find out who will represent your country in Copenhagen and what they think. Adoptanegotiator.org has  “trackers”…

Read & Discuss

That which is unsustainable cannot go on. Unsustainable things that are propped up too long snap and collapse suddenly. Our way of life is unsustainable. The sooner we transform our economy into one that can generate sustainable prosperity, the better off we’ll be, and with every passing day, the risks of catastrophe grow larger and more certain. We need change now.

These shouldn’t be radical statements; they’re all demonstrably true. Yet they cleave right down the middle…

Read & Discuss

The conference is still a few months away, but we asked several activists to predict what they will be talking about after the conference wraps up. Here is what they think they’re going to be saying next January:

Richard Graves, founder of Fired Up Media, blogger for the TckTckTck campaign, and editor of ItsGettingHotinHere.org:

What surprised me was the startling diversity of groups, beyond environmentalists, that got involved—from youth groups to union leaders to the Dalai…

Read & Discuss

What’s on the table at Copenhagen?

End Goal

The long-term goals of preserving a habitable planet will effectively be boiled down to a single number: the target concentration of CO² in the atmosphere, measured in parts per million. For the past few years, conventional wisdom has called for a target of 450 ppm. But the most recent science points to something more conservative: A 350 ppm ceiling is required if, as the NASA climatologist Jim Hansen puts…

Read & Discuss

The Copenhagen Climate Treaty is a proposal for what an ideal vision of a COP15 agreement might look like. The treaty was drafted by Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, IndyACT (the league of independent activists), Germanwatch, the David Suzuki Foundation, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, and experts from around the world. The prospective document was distributed to negotiators from the 192 attending nations with the hope that it would influence what happens at the conference.…

Read & Discuss

When the United Nations holds its international get-togethers, countries are traditionally sorted into five regional groups: African states, Asian states, Eastern European states, Latin American and Caribbean states, and Western European and other states (incidentally probably the only time the United States gets listed as “other”).

In theory, these groupings give smaller countries a chance to speak as part of a louder, unified voice. In practice, though, the groupings have far less of an impact on negotiations than…

Read & Discuss

Copenhagen, ho!

There’s a famous Danish proverb that roughly translates to, “He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.” So, lest you get caught in a cycle of fear and shame in anticipation of the world’s convergence on Copenhagen, we offer this primer on all things COP15—and all things Copenhagen.

Point of Clarification: The COP in COP15 doesn’t stand for Copenhagen. It stands for Conference of the Parties, and it’s the 15th such event.…

Read & Discuss

Doing Justice to Climate Activism

Michael Wolkind is the lawyer who defended the Greenpeace activists for disrupting operations at a British coal power plant.

In October, 2007, six Greenpeace activists climbed the chimney at the Kingsnorth power station, a coal and oil plant, in Kent, England. The dramatic 650-foot ascent was followed by a frightening rappel down the side to paint a political message.

They did it as a protest against a dirty plant and a shocking government…

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Since writing what’s generally regarded as the first book about climate change for the general public, 1989’s The End of Nature, Bill McKibben’s star has been continually rising. Unfortunately, so have atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. That’s why McKibben’s website 350.org—an international initiative spreading the word about the critical need to reduce global carbon levels to 350 parts per million—continues to make noise, urging politicians to commit to swift and sweeping carbon legislation. With your help, that…

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Buildings are actually responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than cars. But simply weatherizing houses and businesses can reduce their environmental impact and lower energy bills—while creating new jobs in the process. Everyone wins.

Created in partnership with Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy, strong enough to lift people out of poverty. For more information on programs near you, visit www.greenforall.org.

…
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We caught up with Bruce Sterling at the World Changing offices in Seattle. This is what he had to say. An original GOOD Video..
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