Green Videos & Green News: Environment Videos // Current

^#1

Branson warns that oil crunch is coming within five years

Sir Richard Branson and fellow leading businessmen will warn ministers this week that the world is running out of oil and faces an... more

Vierotchka
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52 comments

1 day ago

^#2

Audi's anti environment SuperBowl ad: Thanks for nothing.

And so the green movement is being marketed to men.

Or so Audi pretends in their Superbowl ad for their TDI Diesel (which can be converted to a biodiesel if you have a station in your home town).

Ya know, I like that Audi makes TDI’s. I do.

I hate this ad.

While on the surface it almost looks like a PSA that educates about the basic environmental practices in re: to plastics, battery recycling, composting, styrofoam and water usage; after viewing it I walked away with the odd association of feeling constricted and constrained by doing all of those small daily practices for the environment. What’s up with police state over monitoring my every move? (At least I would have gotten a laugh if they had broken in on a sex seen for some un-green sex practices…that’s SuperBowl Sunday appropriate, no?)

Frankly, I walked away with an anti-green feeling and irritation towards anyone between me and my ability to do the basic little things I enjoy in life (like eating, and grocery shopping, and hot-tubbing). Look Audi, go ahead and make your cars, but don’t go and F up all the work that so many environmental organizations have been developing to promote and educate that small changes in every day life can be easy to do and can make a difference.

The need for liberation and freedom imprinted in men’s DNA (this we have been taught via car commercials) was finally accomplished by breaking out of the line and driving the open road in Audi’s “green” car. Awesome. So this wasn’t about being green, this was just about a need for speed, and escape from the entrapment of family (perhaps I’m being harsh, perhaps this is really a pro-marriage ad….maybe the real underlying message is If you only had a woman to deal with all of those domestic chores you wouldn’t get stuck in silly entrapments, hence you would ultimately have more opportunity to roam the open road…)

Bah. Enough over analyzing. It’s kind of sad that I feel the need to dig deep into this ad to find some underlying messaging. But I offer this act of mindsturbation as a favor to Audi; otherwise all that would be left to say is, 'hey look, there goes Audi greenwashing' (c’mon guys, driving a car is just plain wasteful and harmful to the environment). So do us a favor, stick to selling your cars via the messaging about freedom and liberation that comes with having a car. Leave the environmental messaging to people who..well…care.

Believe me, we’ll respect you for it in the morning.And so the green movement is being marketed to men. Or so Audi pretends in their Superbowl ad for their TDI Diesel (which can... more

leahl
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32 comments

24 hours ago

^#3

Scientists Photoshop (badly) climate sceptics in leaked emails

The Guardian uses the word Photoshop, but it looks more like it's made in MS Paint (probably best that they didn't spend... more

Mcellie
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4 comments

10 hours ago

^#4

Dubai: World's tallest tower closed to public a month after opening

The world's tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists... more

xiola
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28 comments

1 day ago

^#5

Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00314/splash_314948s.jpg (In the photo: Stephen McIntyre, who runs... more

Vierotchka
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5 comments

1 day ago

^#6

Thought Provoking Recycling Facts

These recycling facts have been compiled from various sources including the National Recycling Coalition, the Environmental... more

antoine_99
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2 comments

11 hours ago

^#7

Island To Have 42 Tons of Rat Poison Dumped On It To Protect Its Wildlife?!?

Lord Howe Island, 800 miles off the coast of Sydney and considered by many to be one of the most beautiful places in the world,... more

atomiclegion
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14 comments

1 day ago

^#8

Neozoon Restores Unwanted Fur Coats To Their Former Animalistic Glory (Well, Sort Of...)

The street art troupe known as Neozoon manages to beautify urban areas with fur-trimmed likenesses of the wild creatures that were... more

sfinfgeld2
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0 comments

20 hours ago

^#9

From Freeway To Farm In San Francisco

A new organic farm is coming to San Francisco; in the middle of the city and on top of a freeway.

theauthor
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1 comment

8 hours ago

^#10

Let Them Eat Recycled Cake! (The Second Time's The Charm ;)

When you find yourself staring down a big old pile of cake, acknowledging the fact that resistance is futile, there are multiple... more

sfinfgeld2
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0 comments

19 hours ago

^#11

Ocean Pollutants May Be Cause of Increasing Cancers of Ocean Mammals

At a recent sea life gala in Anchorage, Alaska, Jean Michel-Cousteau, the ocean conservationist and son of well-known ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, reignited the issue of ocean pollutants causing cancer among beluga whales. The problem was first reported on in the 1980s when scientists discovered that the beluga whale population in the St. Lawrence rivers and runoffs in Canada were declining at an alarming rate due to what scientists speculated to be caused by pollution.

According to a 1988 article from The New York Times, “pollution from industrial activity along the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries, including the Great Lakes, is causing disease, premature death and a declining birth rate among the white beluga whales.”

Scientists had thoroughly investigated the beluga whale population in the St. Lawrence area, but today, the beluga whale population is at an all time low again and they still suffer from toxins and the onset of cancers. A New York Times national briefing reported in January that “the number of beluga whales in Cook Inlet is again declining.” According to the article, the beluga whales were put on the Endangered Species Act in 2009 because of the possibility of extinction, but that “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report shows the numbers have slipped again to 321 animals, down from an estimated 375 in 2007 and 2008.”

Similar pollutions among other various ocean mammals have been discovered in recent years as well. In Norway, for example, whale meat was found to contain dangerously high levels of toxins. CNN reported that a “study by the International Whaling Commission determined levels of contamination among some marine mammals are so high that the animals would be classified as hazardous waste sites if they were on land.”

Science Daily also reported that orcas and killer whales around the world, especially in Canada, where a recent study was conducted, may face major health issues and endangerment over the next several years due to contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Scientists have speculated that due to chemical and other pollution runoffs, there is a list of at least ten ocean mammals that are at an increasing risk for developing pollution-related illnesses including cancers. The list includes the following:

Sea Lions
Polar Bears
Bottlenose dolphins
Beluga Whales
Orca
Risso’s dolphins
Harbor Seals
Common dolphins
Gray Seal
Mediterranean monk seals

While there are several grassroots organizations working on a small scale to reduce the number of pollutants in the ocean, the issue remains that a large-scale movement must be initiated. Some, including Cousteau, are attempting to bring attention to the issue in hopes that by highlighting the problem, a solution can be found. “The message is the fact that we are using the ocean as a garbage can by dumping things we don’t see — such as chemicals and heavy metals — into the environment,” reported Cousteau in a recent Q&A with Time magazine.At a recent sea life gala in Anchorage, Alaska, Jean Michel-Cousteau, the ocean conservationist and son of well-known ocean... more

jefftego
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0 comments

10 hours ago

^#12

New features on Sustainable Agriculture/Water Is Life Groups

A short video to update on what is going on in the Sustainable Agriculture and Water Is Life Groups. Our Member of the Month Club... more

JanforGore
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0 comments

5 hours ago

^#13

In low lying Bangladesh, the sea takes a human toll

Danish photographer and filmmaker Jonathan Bjerg Moller recently spent nine months in Bangladesh, chronicling the lives of the... more

JanforGore
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0 comments

4 hours ago

^#14

‘The Cove’ Breaks Into Japan

The filmmakers behind “The Cove” have been open about their goal: not to win an Oscar – though they... more

jefftego
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0 comments

10 hours ago

^#15

"HOLLYWEED" FINISHED

BEST I CAN DO......SO FAR

hunzedog
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12 comments

1 day ago

^#16

Saltbush Country - Australia - Facing Water Crisis

Australians are used to the fact that the Great Outback is not more than barely-populated arid grassland and desert that has... more

Facing_Water_Crisis
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1 comment

11 hours ago

^#17

on tour: Fossil Faux Studios

While visiting San Francisco back in December we stopped by Fossil Faux Studios to meet with founder Marcia Stuermer to talk about... more

threadpost
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0 comments

7 hours ago

^#18

Wild tigers in China declining - habitat destruction, poaching to blame

China has an estimated 50 or fewer tigers left living in the wild, but efforts to stabilize one population in the bleak northeast... more

eva2
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0 comments

19 hours ago

^#19

Stella McCartney Rallying Behind Food, Inc.’s Message Of Conscious Consumerism

Despite being the daughter of a Beatle, she has earned her own place in the spotlight as a staunch advocate for animal rights and... more

sfinfgeld2
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0 comments

7 hours ago

^#20

Attacking the king of the ocean: The sharks that can't fight back

On my first open water dive in Hawaii I swam near a shark. Even though it demonstrated nothing but shy and skiddish behavior I couldn’t get that d#!# Jaws theme music out of my head. And for good reason, when most people hear the word shark, they think about the Great White shark, the king of the oceans, the top predator on the planet.

While attending the Ocean Film Festival this weekend I watched Requiem (while the film was too long and required patience to endure inexperienced filmmaking), it was worth it to see the awesome underwater footage as the filmmaker followed an underwater photographer from Hawaii as she familiarized herself with with the beauty, power and skills of one of the most infamous classification of sharks – the REQUIEM Family.

The film was filled with plenty of staggering facts such as three sharks are killed every second, 1 million are killed a year, and a myriad of fun comparison stats that compared shark attacks to the regular hazards on living on land such as in 1991 there were 1,300 deaths by bicycles and 4 deaths by sharks. The most staggering information was that many sharks are caught only to have their fins removed and then thrown back in the water and that while there is 350 or so species of sharks, 79 are imperiled.

Why should we care about these giants in the ocean that most of us will never come in contact with? Well…because they are what is considered a “keystone species“, in other words, they have a major influence on their entire environment. At the sustainable seafood pannel the following example was provided to illustrate the role and influence of sharks in the ecosystem: when the sharks disappear, there is an abundance of weak and diseased fish, which then influences the rate of the algae, which in turn influences the amount of oxygen in the water, which then influences the ability for all species in the area to survive. So in other words, if you want to keep eating your salmon and halibut, you might want to consider making sure that we don’t kill off all of the sharks.

How can you engage?

1. Learn more at wildaid, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Adopt A Shark, or the Shark Foundation.

2. Help get the information out to countries who are affected by the actions of their government but might not have access to the information (hello Twitter. We got a small thrill when one of our tweets about sea horse annihilation was translated and retweeted in Japanese, given that at the sustainable seafood panel one of the speakers stated that they did not have an education system in place to inform the Japanese population about the effects of the Japanese government policies).

3. Contact your local seafood restaurants and educate them about the dangers of shark fin soup. I felt a little nieve and shocked to find out that they serve shark fin soup right here in San Francisco (and if you want to get really crazy, start a campaign that educates the consumers at the restaurant about the dangers of shark fin soup).

Number of sharks that died while you read this post: approx 120

If you want to see more shark videos: check the blog post: http://blogs.current.com/green/2010/02/08/attacking-the-king-of-the-ocean-the-sharks-that-cant-fight-back-video/On my first open water dive in Hawaii I swam near a shark. Even though it demonstrated nothing but shy and skiddish behavior I... more

leahl
added this

7 comments

1 day ago

Green Videos & Green News: Environment Videos 32491 items | updated 18 minutes ago

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