Sustainable // Current TV

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Eco-bricks

Ever thought about building your own house, or putting up a garden wall with just the... more

worldwrite
added this
1 month ago
|
2 comments

Organizers want concert goers to enjoy the ‘Sweetlife’

What’s big, “green,” tastes delicious and comes with a sound track... more

greekmaria
added this
1 month ago
|
0 comments

10 Tips for Sustainable, Healthy Living this Spring

- Save energy by living, cleaning, and traveling green this Spring! Peruse these... more

joeeddy
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast Day 8

Reusable shopping bags are one of the best ways to save valuable landfill space.

Jacqueline_Schriewer_Rizk
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Italian engineer invents floating solar panels

Rays of the winter sun bounce off gleaming mirrors on the tiny lake of Colignola in... more

JanforGore
added this
3 months ago
|
20 comments

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Hoe

This simple make-it-at-home hoe is a powerful device that enables you to plough vast... more

worldwrite
added this
4 months ago
|
1 comment

Will Allen: voting with our farms and forks against climate catastrophe

In the wake of the failed climate talks in Durban, South Africa; a record-breaking 5.9% increase in greenhouse gas pollution in 2010; and recent, extremely alarming reports by scientists of plumes of methane gas gushing up from the thawing sea beds of the Siberian Arctic, we find ourselves standing at the end of the road. 1

If we allow the infamous "one percent" to continue with business as usual, we will soon be arriving at civilization's last stop, climate hell. If we allow the U.S. and global fossil fuel/military industrial/corporate agribusiness economy to keep turning up the planet's delicately balanced thermostat, raising average global temperatures by two degrees Celsius or more, we will soon pass the point of no return, detonating runaway global warming. Among the catastrophic consequences of runaway global warming will be the release of a significant portion of the 1.7 trillion tons of deadly methane now sequestered in the shallow Arctic seabeds and permafrost (equivalent to twice the amount of total greenhouse gas pollution currently in the atmosphere). As the International Energy Agency warned on November 9, the world is accelerating toward irreversible climate change. We will lose the chance to avert catastrophic warming if we don't take bold action in the next five years to sharply reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; drastically increase energy efficiency in the food, transportation, utilities, and housing sectors; and safely sequester billions of tons of greenhouse gases in our soils, plants, and forests through organic soil management and permaculture practices. In other words we have approximately 1800 days left to avert catastrophe.

One of our major tasks as farmers or food consumers is to educate the public to the heretofore-undisclosed fact that the world's energy and chemical- intensive industrial food system is the major cause of global warming. That is the central message of this rather detailed essay. We go into depth and explain the details of this deadly state of affairs, because our fate and the fate of the human species depends upon rapidly changing what we farm and what we eat. The good news is that we can stop and reverse this suicidal food and farming system by taking decisive action, not only in the political policy realm and through our growing street protests and occupations; but also by voting with our farms, gardens, and forks for an organic, sustainable, and re-localized food and farming system. This new agro-ecological system will drastically reduce GHG emissions, and at the same time naturally sequester billions of tons of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases, in our soils, plants, and trees. But the hour is late. We must jumpstart this great transition immediately.

Millions of Americans are still in denial about global warming or else waiting vainly for Washington to pass laws and regulations to alleviate the problem. Many of those aware of the crisis are calling for cap and trade, or a carbon tax, or a ban on coal and tar sands, or stronger emissions standards, and energy efficiency. A large part of the agenda for reversing global warming involves reducing fossil fuels use by 90% over the next 40 years. But with non-stop advertising from the polluters and a do-nothing, indentured congress, that gets millions from the fossil fuel industry, the likelihood of federal legislation, at least in the near future, to solve the problem appears remote. Only persistent campaigning and the encircling of the White House by 15,000 demonstrators finally got the President's attention about the dangers of the Keystone tar sands pipeline.

Of course we must stop the coal industry, natural gas fracking, the nuclear industry, and the tar sands juggernaught. We must unite a critical mass of the 99% to cut Wall Street and the corporate elite down to size and implement a 21st century New Deal that not only brings about full employment and economic justice, but also environmental and climate sustainability. But there's something else we can do, immediately, and it's as close as our back yard, our farm field, or the knife and fork in our hands.

The failed climate conferences in Kyoto, Copenhagen, Cancun, and Durban have concentrated most of their energy and effort on fossil fuel emissions, but very little on emissions from industrial agriculture, and the demonstrated ability of organic food and farming to cool the planet and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases. Recent research and reports, however, conclude that factory farming in the U.S. is responsible for more GHG emissions than the entire transportation and industrial sector combined; including cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, trains, boats, and factories.

The main climate and health issues with the U.S. industrial farming system are:

a) Enormous quantities of greenhouse gasses emitted from fertilizers, animals, animal feed production, animal processing, and the shipping, cooling, and freezing of all food products;

b) Huge subsidies to the wealthiest, chemical and energy-intensive farmers for growing unhealthy food;

c) Too much emphasis on meat production and other harmful, fatty foods.

Despite these serious problems, the U.S. government and big agriculture aggressively promote our factory farming system to developing countries as a solution to their hunger problems.
More at the linkIn the wake of the failed climate talks in Durban, South Africa; a record-breaking... more

JanforGore
added this
5 months ago
|
14 comments

The View On The Streets: ethical shopping & fair trade

In the run-up to Christmas, many charities are encouraging us to shop ethically. By... more

worldwrite
added this
6 months ago
|
4 comments

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Wind Up

The wind up is a small gadget with big uses. This seemingly normal handle is a device... more

worldwrite
added this
6 months ago
|
4 comments

From Edison’s Trunk, Direct Current Gets Another Look

Thomas Edison’s direct current technology is gaining popularity as engineers are... more

covelogibbs
added this
6 months ago
|
1 comment

Dharavi: Reaching for the sky

Welcome to Dharavi where residents are reaching for the sky. They want Dharavi to... more

worldwrite
added this
7 months ago
|
3 comments

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Feed the world with one pot

A pot that will grow food for your family and the entire world from the comfort of... more

worldwrite
added this
7 months ago
|
2 comments

Pioneering Thames Hub in bid to rejuvenate UK's outdated infrastructure network

Concept designs have been released for a groundbreaking new infrastructure system... more

worrg
added this
7 months ago
|
0 comments

Schatz Fuel Cell Finds Home in Persian Gulf

Schatz Energy Research Center engineers prepare a fuel cell test station for the... more

covelogibbs
added this
7 months ago
|
0 comments

Saving US grasslands: holistic method to turn back the clock on desertification

Three years ago, the grasslands of Mike Livingston's Colorado ranch were drying out.

For a rancher whose livelihood depended on those diminishing grasslands, it was an oncoming economic and ecological disaster in slow motion. For the wider world, it was one more example of how prairies and savannas from Alberta to Africa are inexorably being swallowed by growing global wastelands.

Desertification caused by climate change and human activity now threatens the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide, according to the United Nations. Globally, 52 percent of land used to grow food has been affected either moderately or severely.

But on that patch of Colorado prairie, something different happened: The grass came back. Today, "the grass has covered the sand," says Mr. Livingston. A dozen or more sandy, wind-blown basins have become lush and green.

What made the difference was a simple idea with tremendous global consequences. In short, Livingston tried to turn the clock back on his land by moving his cattle around the land in a way that mimics the movement of buffalo centuries before. The idea is called Holistic Management, and users say it is a powerful tool to undo the damage that humans have inflicted on grasslands worldwide.

"Human beings are a desert-making species," says Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. But Holistic Management "is a game changer."

Developed by an African rancher, Allan Savory, over several decades and established on his Zimbabwe ranch in 1992, the Holistic Management model is now making inroads in the United States. Backers say it has the potential to revitalize broad swaths of the American West. To do so, however, would require a change in decades-old ranching practices, which means that the revolution, for now, is starting small.

The idea behind Holistic Management is that grasslands were healthier before modern ranching began. The reason: As huge herds of herbivores roamed the landscape, they revitalized it, nibbling plants to stimulate root growth, trampling the ground in ways that broke apart caked earth to allow seeds to germinate and water to seep in, and fertilizing the ground with their dung.

As grasslands have been fenced off, however, herbivores have become sedentary, and these processes have been impeded. Holistic Management (HM) involves using livestock as though they were the grazing mammals of old, herding them across property according to a planned schedule. The approach is now being applied to more than 40 million acres around the world – about the size of the state of Wisconsin. In the US, interest has grown since Mr. Savory won the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Prize, which rewards "a strategy that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems," according to the website.

More at the linkThree years ago, the grasslands of Mike Livingston's Colorado ranch were drying... more

JanforGore
added this
7 months ago
|
0 comments

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Banana leaf Tampon

The banana leaf tampon is all the rage for menstruating women from Sweden to Singapore... more

worldwrite
added this
8 months ago
|
2 comments

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Tippy Tap

A breakthrough in low cost water technology, the tippy tap is a simple device for hand... more

worldwrite
added this
9 months ago
|
0 comments

Earth-A-Wear with Pamela Peeters VCAM

Eco, Fashion and Technology meet when environmental economist Pamela Peeters uses the... more

pamelapeeters
added this
9 months ago
|
0 comments

“Hair Glasses”: Eyeglasses Made Of Human Hair

Graduates from Royal College of Art have discovered a way to turn hair cuttings, that... more

Apocalipstick
added this
11 months ago
|
0 comments

Green Business Starts in the Middle of the Recession

Take a look at a pretty amazing story from one eco-friendly business...... more

emilyrwolfe
added this
11 months ago
|
0 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Sustainable

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved