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related tags:
tagged w/ 350.org
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The New Fracking Battleground: Trenton, Nov. 21st
There's a new battlefront in the fracking fight: the Delaware River Basin, which provides water to five percent of the country's population. And anti-fracking dreamboat Mark Ruffalo is asking for help in fighting against fracking there.
You don’t have to take Ruffalo’s word for it -- you probably want to fight fracking anyway. When 350.org asked supporters what they should fight for while Obama sits on the Keystone XL decision, twice as many people voted to fight oil and gas fracking than for any other cause.There's a new battlefront in the fracking fight: the Delaware River Basin, which... more-
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A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never.
Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that (which, together, comprised the most active April for tornadoes in U.S. history). No, that doesn’t mean a thing.
It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events. It is not advisable to try to connect them in your mind with, say, the fires burning across Texas — fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires have in previous years. Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they’ve ever been — the drought is worse than that of the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if they’re somehow connected.
If you did wonder, you see, you would also have to wonder about whether this year’s record snowfalls and rainfalls across the Midwest — resulting in record flooding along the Mississippi — could somehow be related. And then you might find your thoughts wandering to, oh, global warming, and to the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet, since warm air holds more water vapor than cold air.
-Continued-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhCY-3XnqS0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-link-between-climate-change-and-joplin-tornadoes-never/2011/05/23/AFrVC49G_story.html
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An op-ed by Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, narrated and illustrated by Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia.comCaution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of... more-
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Bill McKibben Talks 10/10/10
In this week’s webisode, author and Climate Expert Bill McKibben tells us about his 10/10/10 day of action, which he calls “the most widespread day of civic engagement on any issue at any time in the planet’s history.”In this week’s webisode, author and Climate Expert Bill McKibben tells us about... more-
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350 Day Of Global Action on Sunday
Check out this video about the global climate change action taking place on Sunday all over the world.Check out this video about the global climate change action taking place on Sunday all... more-
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Weekly Mulch: Want to Combat Climate Change? Ignore Congress.
by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
Congress comes back into session next week, but environmentalists and climate change activists have given up on the legislature. Instead, activists are planning to spur popular concern about these issues, until calls for change are so loud that Congress must listen.
Today, climate change reformer Bill McKibben will ask President Obama to reinstall a solar panel that first graced the White House roof during the Carter presidency. In the months to come, advocates hope to lead more radical direct actions that force more Americans to confront the issues at hand—and hopefully pressure change from the bottom up.
For the past two years, Congress has flirted with action on climate change, only to shy away time and time again. Environmental groups have spent record sums on courting lawmakers to no avail. McKibben and other environmental advocates are now convinced that they must bypass elected representatives and instead work to convince constituents that the country must do something to address global warming.
Direct action
McKibben, the environmental author who now leads an international climate campaign called 350.0rg, along with Phil Radford and Becky Tarbotton, both heads of environmental groups, wrote to potential allies against the energy industry in Yes! Magazine.
“We’re not going to beat them by asking nicely,” the three wrote. “We’re going to have to build a movement, a movement much bigger than anything we’ve built before, a movement that can push back against the financial power of Big Oil and Big Coal. That movement is our only real hope, and we need your help to plot its future.”
These three leaders see a greater role for direct action in pushing America to scale down its energy use, move towards renewable energy, and abandon its dirty energy habits. As civil rights and suffrage advocates suggest, to move the populace, ”to effectively communicate both to the general public and to our leaders the urgency of the crisis,” climate activists must “put our bodies on the line.”
Those for who have suggestions on how to move forward can contact these leaders at climate.ideas@gmail.com. They hope to draw on submitted ideas for actions in the spring.
Clean Energy Victory Bonds
Those less inclined to take to the streets still have options for supporting clean energy. The Nation’s Peter Rothberg suggests supporting the idea of Clean Energy Victory Bonds (CEVB), as conceived by the group Green America. This idea requires Congress to pass legislation, but “it seems like a no-brainer,” Rothberg writes.
“According to Green America, CEVBs would benefit the economy, the environment, and investors, by uniting individuals, communities, and companies to help finance the rapid deployment of renewable energy projects and energy efficiency upgrades,” he says. Other benefits: it’s a safe and potentially flexible investment, and the bonds could help create 1.7 million jobs.
Easy to ignore climate change
At this point, the push for direct action almost seems like a more sensible investment of political energy, at least. Climate change has dropped in importance for most Americans, so it’s easy for Congress to ignore the problem. As Kevin Drum explains for Mother Jones, “The high-water mark for public opinion on climate change was in 2005 or so, and we’ve been losing ground ever since. Until we get it back, Congress is going to continue to do nothing.”
It appears that, without broad popular pressure for some sort of action, Congress feels comfortable leaving aside even policy proposals that the majority of Americans support. One of the sticking points of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) energy bill has been a renewable energy standard (RES), a requirement that the country will increase the percentage of its power generated from clean energy sources within a certain time frame.
R-e-s-p-e-c-t
The idea is popular, as David Roberts writes at Grist, citing a Pew/National Journal poll showing that 78 percent of all respondents and 70% of Republicans favored an RES.
“Not many policies get this kind of bipartisan support these days,” Roberts writes. “People are fond of saying energy should be a bipartisan issue and surely reasonable people can agree, etc. Well, here it is, happening.”
What’s more, an RES would go a long way towards spurring private sector investment in clean energy. Lew Hay, the CEO of NextEra, a major clean energy company, has said that an RES would spur his company to invest billions of additional dollars in wind and solar development.
East vs. Midwest
Passing an RES would also mean pushing the renewable energy industry to hash out a viable infrastructure for a clean energy future.
“As the nation looks to move to a renewable energy standard, a lot of that really comes down to how to meet the energy needs of the East coast,” Jamie Karnik, the communications manager at a wind advocacy group, told The Washington Independent’s Andrew Restuccia. “Certainly people who are building wind in the Midwest, have their eye on the eastern market.”
The problem is, Restuccia reports, that entrepreneurs on the East Coast want a chance to develop off-shore wind farms. Ultimately, the country will need new electric lines to transport energy created from clean sources, but right now, competition among clean energy manufacturers could delay the construction of those lines.
Maybe climate change activists can come up with some ideas to push the clean energy industry along faster, too.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger Congress comes back into session next... more-
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Coping with Copenhagen: We are not waiting for a document, we are the document.
In the closing hours of 2009, people from around the world gathered to witness and attempt to influence the activities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol.
Current Green called into Copenhagen each day to get the perspective of activists, policy experts, and environmental enthusiasts.
We circled 'round and asked the people we interviewed to check back in with us and give us their 20/20 perspective on their experience. Our first entry comes from Kevin Buckland, the art ambassador for 350.org, Kevin was featured in a crowd pleasing segment that featured...dancing penguins.
Kevin's update:
In the cold memory of Copenhagen there is a story the delegates never saw. They missed the story that is writing itself in the arms and eyes of those who shall inherit this earth. And they are not meek. The future is not being written for them, but by them – and they are not waiting for permission because they are not asking permission. You do not need permission to survive.
As the lines of the illiterate UN documents sprawls across the pages of years, as the UN debates, as the oceans warm, as nothing changes the changing – there is no need to wait for permission, because there is no question to be asked. For no question can be asked aloud without the same carbon and oxygen breathe that answers itself. You do not ask about survival, you survive. We survive.
In Copenhagen the past attempted to create the future, but this is not the way things work. The past does not create the future; the future becomes the past –stories get written backwards, and retrospectively. For all their planning and pouring over the careful words that led to a long declaration of nothing, the delegations missed the future slowly claiming the present.
As the delegates rang for room service – the future was sweeping the years from abandoned factory floors. The dust lay deep, but many hands cleaned the many windows and let in the light air of change. They cleaned the floors where thousands of unknown but caring bodies would come to sleep; bodies that had hitched through winter days, slept on trains, piled into cars and across illegal borders. They came because they knew they had to, because the future is in motion, like a flock of birds it steers the wind.
As the delegates’ carbon planes landed and oil limousines idled outside airports, the future walked their backpacks and bodies the last few kilometers to a place where they had been told they could sleep: for the promise of a roof to house their dreams of change.
If the delegates had to clean the floors they slept on – if they had to sweep up the broken glass and cover the broken windows with broken cabinets – would they have come to repair this world?
The past sat at long tables, claiming each day another day of the present to past. Consuming time until it became their own; while their eyes in Peru watched the dry corn leaves brown, their hands in Bangladesh pulled again at the mud, and their feet in Kenya had to walk away; they all breathed in, and that silence resonated loudly throughout the conference center. They breathed out and formed a song that they sang in the streets of Copenhagen, that tells of a story writing itself in brooms and wood-ovens and paint. This is not the story of the UN document – that is a story that doesn’t say anything. It is the story being told in the empty spaces between the lines of their text.
As the delegates were served their foreign fruits and cheeses – fresh from Peru with pesticides from America and picked by barely paid hands, as they cut another slice—all over the city the future was searching - jumping into dumpsters and finding so much fruit it took three trips on the bicycle just to bring it all back.
As the delegates handed their bank card to the waitress, vast and free communal kitchens served long lines waiting in the cold. Who would hold a full plate and sit on the floor of the large hall, and eat with a metal fork the stew and kernels of sharing, where all eat the same and there are more people than plates.
As the delegates signed-off and put their computers to sleep, the future sang and painted shields long into the night – warmed well by so many hearts and a woodstove they had made from the old oil drums of an unimaginably wasteful world.
As the future stood, arms linked and singing within sight of the Convention Center, their songs drifted in to fill the spaces between the lines of the UN document. As the future was beaten by police, as the future was put into cages…
The future is free, because they are the ones who decided to create change. They were not paid like the police to stand in their lines and protect something, they were not chauffeured from dinner to the hotel. They were moving themselves, and moving history. The past cannot hold back the future with their brackets and clauses, because the future is not a question. The future is writing itself already. We are not waiting for a document, we are the document.
Related content:
Kids vs Global Warming: Alex Loors gives the low down from Copenhagen
Youth stage sit in inside the Bella Center: Kimia Ghomeshi calls in from Copenhagen
Photojounalist Kris Krug on documenting the Copenhagen protestsIn the closing hours of 2009, people from around the world gathered to witness and... more-
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Breaking: Youth stage sit-in inside the Bella Center: Protestors outside experience violent interactions with police
Protesters inside the Bella center are staging a sit in and are live-blogging at It's Getting Hot in Here.
There latest entry read:
Young people from all over the world are staging a sit-in at Bella Center until we get a Fair, Ambitious, and Binding climate treaty and reading the names of all 11 million signers of the TckTckTck petition. Sen. Kerry just shook each of their hands. Some were just dragged away.
Protestors outside are experiencing violent interactions with the police:
Press Release from the organizers of the action:
(Copenhagen – Denmark) – At 5:00 p.m., more than 50 international youth staged a sit in at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to demand that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty. While sitting in a main corridor of the conference centre, the youth read off the names of 11 million of the world's citizens who support the need for a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement to come out of Copenhagen.
“We're not leaving until we get a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty,” said Ann Wang, a youth delegate from China. “We need such a treaty to help ensure the survival of millions of the world's most vulnerable citizens whose lives and cultures are threatened by the effects of climate change.”
“As heads of state and world leaders arrive here in Copenhagen, we want them to know that we're going to be watching and acting to ensure they deliver us a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal,” said Germany's Julia Grauvogel.
These young people were not alone in their demands. “We are supported by 11 million citizens of this planet who want their leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty,” said Josh Solnick of the United Kingdom.
While sitting in solidarity, separate groups of youth simultaneously read off names from the list of 11 million people who signed an online petition demanding a that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal in Copenhagen.Protesters inside the Bella center are staging a sit in and are live-blogging at... more-
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Supermodels strip tease for climate change
Sex sells...but will it get people to contact their political leaders in the name of climate change?
That's what 22 year old model Cameron Russell was aiming for when she produced the video below of models stripping in the name of climate change. Cameron explains,
We were so inspired by the pictures we saw coming in from around the world on 350.org , that we wanted to help. We figured we'd try to get the point across the best way we know how--with clothes, or really, with the lack of clothes.
Who ever said that 350 parts per million is our “natural state”? After all, the past million years or so has CO2 levels see-sawed between about 180 and 285 parts per million. The 350 is a ‘best estimate’, best calculation as to the safe level of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere for a prosperous human civilization.
Right now, humanity is adding enough Co2 into the carbon cycle (mainly, but not solely, from burning fossil fuels) to add about 2 ppm per year. We need to drive down our emissions that drive increased CO2 levels and then continue the process so that we are actually reducing CO2 levels.
So what next, pole dancing for climate change ? (I'm imaging polar bears in bikini's. Is that sick and wrong?)
Related content:
Like this video? You might like these other 60 second PSA's made in the name of climate change
Why I'm not an activist but say "yes" to 350.org
The Fun Theory: Inspire behavior change with laughter not with facts?
The climate event that might just save the world: 350 (video interview with founders and activists)
Sex sells...but will it get people to contact their political leaders in the name of... more-
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Why I'm not an activist: and finding the "YES!" in 350.org
Honestly, I wanted to to nothing more than put in my winter garden this weekend, but atlas, the largest climate event in history was taking place, so I hopped on my bike and coerced a friend to take the biodiesel ferry with me across the bay so we could take part in the 350 event in San Francisco.
OK, so here's the dealio: It was an amazing event that ignited the imaginations of people around the world to get involved with climate change. When ever you are feeling lo, head on over to the 350.org flickr site and bask in the inspiration.
The strength of 350 is a clear, focused, informed message that spoke to people who might not self identify as activists.
The message: There is a problem: we have too much CO2 in the air to live in a healthy way on the planet.
A solution: Send a message to our negotiators at Copenhagen to take decisive action.
The variety of people who showed up at the SF event was a testament to their ability to bring together people across platforms who are interested in protecting the environment. Code pink was there, Green Peace was there, dogs who eat vegan were there, polar bears where there.
Umbra of Grist caught up with founder of Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org at the NYC event in Times Square.
What I found at the event in San Francisco was the mixing of old world of activism that points and yells at the problem and says, "broken!" and the new world activism that only has time to say, "here is a solution." The speakers were there to keep us entertained and informed while we formed a big 350 (I was in the 3). But honestly, I couldn't hear most of them. It's not that they weren't speaking loud enough. They were, after all, yelling. They were yelling at me. I don't like being yelled at. There is a reason why activists yell, for many years they had to because no one was listening. They had to do radical things to capture the attention of the media and the public.
Now I should confess that I don't like the word activist. Its a bit like "feminist" somewhere in the mix of life, the media, and society the term took on a "dirty" and negative association.
And while some of my dearest friends and people I deeply respect self identify as activists, and while many of my dearest friends even associate me as an activist (I show all the tell tale signs: I have gone to marches, I've contacted my political leaders, I over share on facebook about environmental news) when I try on the identity, it feels more like rusty stifling armor than a well fit glove.
Here is when I dropped the identity forever: When living in Virginia a few years back I drove up to New York City to attend what was at that point the largest protest on the planet against the Iraq war. It was an an amazing event. There were so many of us marching that the police took down the barricades. It was...peaceful, and there were people of every race and age present.
The next day I looked in the newspapers and nothing was there. A two line report in the back page of the New York Times reporting that some hoodlums had jumped on cars. All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And I couldn't put my finger on it.
That's when I found the following quote by Mother Teresa:
I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.
What she said resonated. I haven't attended anti-rally as a participant since. (I have attended in the role of the media, because I believe they are important stories to tell.) But I wanted my personal participation, my voice, and energy to go toward events and organizations that are focused on finding the solutions.
With that said, I attended the 350 rally as a participant because I heard a "yes" in their message. Yes to a clear goal. Yes to our political leaders making decisions that will create policy that will think seven generation ahead..and yes to that it will take creativity and fun to engage the world in this issue.
The interview with 350 I posted on Current provoked an interesting discussion and criticism about 350 not gathering people to take more concrete action, and Janforgore questioned why didn't they surround 350 power plants. I think you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. 350 had a mission: raise public awareness, show political leaders that people around the world are engaged with the issue and will support them. Mission accomplished. What you choose to do at that pool of information is up to you.
Meanwhile, here is an excerpt from a sample speech that the 350 organizers gave to their organizers around the world to read:
We rally around the number 350 because it is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, and so 350 defines what is necessary for the earth to continue as we have known it. We have relied upon the patterns of rainfall and ice and sea level that have marked this world for the ten thousand years of human civilization. If these patterns shift dramatically, the first victims will be the people living closest to the edge--people who have already begun to suffer from drought, from flood, from the spread of disease. We will not stand by and let that happen.
The second thing I'd like to say today is that you're part of something that matters. The climate crisis is such a huge issue that it's always hard to see what difference any of us can make--especially when our foes include some of the most powerful entities on earth. We can't match them in money, but they can't match us in numbers, in spirit, in dedication. And we have a secret weapon, which is the power that comes from scientific observation. Today we are taking that number 350 and making it the centerpiece of the debate over climate. We are reminding the world's leaders that they can give all the speeches they want, but that won't change the way that physics and chemistry operate. We are standing up for scientific reality, and in so doing reframing this debate in a way that will echo through the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen and beyond.
And the last thing I would like to say today is more personal: it's a great privilege to be able to get out of bed in the morning and think to yourself, "There's nothing more important than this that I could be doing today." Take a moment to think about the amazing fact that across the globe today, people are doing just what you're doing, hoping just what you're hoping, believing just what you're believing--and together we are making these deeds, hopes, and beliefs add up to something truly transformational.
Related content:
350: Will THIS event event save the world?
The fresh face of the modern day farmer (video)
The no bulls**t report from Bangkok about the climate talks (video)
Hilarity continues in the name of climate change: hello survivaball
Honestly, I wanted to to nothing more than put in my winter garden this weekend, but... more-
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Green News Alert: Inspiration, Information, and Hilarity
I received an email this morning from my dear friend Julie that ended with, "I want to know who has the hope, the plan, the way out. If there is one. What is it?"
It's the question on the tip of many of our tongues these days. So in honor of Julie, a little round up of news that promises to inform, inspire, and make you laugh out loud at least once.
A video interview with the founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, and the organizers behind what is going to be the largest (and by far the most colorful) climate event in history this weekend: (awesome pictures from around the world)
If you want to skip my commentary and just cut to the video:
If you are needing a sobering dose of wisdom from an elder: you may want to see Alaska Elder Sarah James' talk from this past weekend at Bioneers.
If you haven't seen the Yes Men's latest storm on Washington, you are missing out. Mostly because there is a man dressed in a huge white survavball who rolls down the capitol steps howling as he goes (Iaugh out loud funny).
If you are looking for another way into understanding Copenhagen, then allow me to introduce you to the guys who are affectionately called "climate stawkers"
Now if you are needing to rekindle the fire in your belly, enjoy meeting these 15-22 year old youth who were awarded the Brower Youth Award for climate activism last night
Enjoy, and by all means, tell us what inspires you~I received an email this morning from my dear friend Julie that ended with, "I... more-
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So...Will THIS event save the world? 350.org makes change 1 degree at a time
It's the question of the hour, right? Can we save the world from the destruction that the scientists are predicting?
350.org has coordinated the largest climate event in history to demonstrate that people around the world want to live in a safe and clean environment. But it's not your grandma's brand of protest. Actually...there will be no protest. No picketing. No parades. No police barricades. Just millions of people from around the world making images of 350.
When 350.org founder Bill McKibben says he is, "...tired of losing and it's fun to take the bad guys down a peg or two..." he wasn't kidding. McKibben skyped in to speak with Current Green from his home in Vermont while 350.org staffer May Boeve and climate activist/bike rider Adam Taylor of Ride 350 came in to our online studio to discuss what went into organizing what is predicted to be the largest climate event in history.
If 350.org has anything to do it with it, yes we can save the world from the predicted effects of climate change. The organization was made for the sole purpose of insuring that everyone knows the following fact:
350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.
The bad news: we have already surpassed 350.
The good news: People around the world are organizing to put pressure on their climate negotiators who are preparing their stance for Copenhagen.
The current stats on the event (which get larger by the minute): 162 countries are signed up to participate (including Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, Honduras...) and more than 3,700 actions/events.
Are you participating? Show us your pictures! Tell us your story!
Related links:
Save the planet with pranks, tutus, and acts of civil disobedience (video)
The no bull shit youth report from Bangkok (video)
The 350 group on Current
How to green your campus (video)It's the question of the hour, right? Can we save the world from the destruction... more-
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Twittering for climate change? 1sky, 1 tweet, #ecomonday, #climatetuesday
So you are on twitter. And you tweet for climate change. On Monday you #ecomonday all your fav a la fav green tweeters, on #ClimateTuesday you invite your friends and supporters to get involved in a 350.org's event.
But then comes Wednesday....and Thursday...and you've already RT @current_green a few times today and you're looking for something else to do. So the logical next step is to engage in 1Sky.org's 1Climate, 1Tweet campaign who is asking for your help with the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009.
Here's how 1sky says it works:
1. Fill out the contest form below with your information.
2. Create a tweet on Twitter that you think best describes the demand for strong climate legislation. It can be anything: a haiku, statement, rally cry, or whatever you can say best in 140 characters -- but, you must use the #1Climate hash tag in your tweet.
3. Ask your friends to re-tweet (or "RT") your post. Three of our five finalists will be chosen by how many times your statement is retweeted (RT'd), and two will be chosen at random.
Of the five finalists, the tweet that receives the most retweets will be the contest winner. The winning tweet will be used by 1Sky and across the Twittverse as a call to action to support bold climate legislation.
The top five finalists will be sent prize packages with contributions from our friends at Age of Stupid, No Impact Project, and more. See our contest rules for details.
Deadline to enter is Friday, October 23rd at 6pm EST. Finalists will be announced on Monday, October 26th.
So you are on twitter. And you tweet for climate change. On Monday you #ecomonday all... more-
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The earth is our host and we are one helluva mega coven of vampires
As I packed in preparation to visit my family this summer, I fantasized about what awaited me: long days nothing to do but stare at the water, swim, and read my book from start to finish, with no interruptions.
I settled on Adam Werbach’s recently published book, “Strategy for Sustainability.” Adam’s book proved to be more inspiring than the title suggested, and I appreciated his linguistic prowess in between stats, facts, and bullet points while discussing a new corporate paradigm for sustainability. So I was content until I made one fatal flaw, I watched the movie Twilight. I instantly borrowed the second book in the series, and my obligatory moments of reading turned into rapid-fire-steal-every-moment-I-can-away-from-the-family-I-traveled-across-the-country-to-visit so-I-can-find-out-what’s-going-to-happen-next.
Truth be told, I’m a sucker for vampire stories. So when my mother inquired about my fascination, I was a tad shocked by what flew from my mouth: Not an explanation that the stories are...well…hot, but rather a tirade on and how the modern day vampire story is just a metaphor for the sustainability challenges of our time. Who knew?
There is a theme that runs through all of the modern day vampire stories: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and True Blood all revolve around a central character who is inherently torn to fight their true nature: which is to kill in order to survive. The modern day vampire stories all have central characters who have found a new way to survive in the world, a way which is different than their predecessors’.
1. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the vampire Angel buys blood from the hospital and keeps it in his fridge (and then protects Buffy the vampire slayer and kills bad vampires).
2. In the Twilight series, the Cullen family turns “vegetarian” (i.e. they only eat animals and not people).
3. In True Blood, the vampires eat True Blood, a blood substitute developed in Japan.
Yet at the end of the day, they are all still life sucking murderers fighting that bad part of themselves that’s very nature is designed to kill bodies and destroy souls.
The stories get exciting when the main heartthrob is tortured by the fear that the nature of what he is will kill the thing he loves most. In Buffy, Angel loves Buffy, in Twilight, Edward loves Bella, and in True Blood, Bill loves Sookie. As much as these male vamps desire their female morsels…I mean, mortals… if they give in to their truest desire…which is to suck their blood…they will either destroy them by killing them, or destroy their truest essence by killing their soul and transforming them into a vampire.
I think I love this story because in so many ways (not to be melodramatic or anything), I live this story. Every day I fight my impulses in the name of saving the planet as we know it. The story of the times we live in is that the nature of our culture and society is to consume past the point of sustainability; yet if we continue to give in to our desire to consume, we will either destroy or transform the world we live into something that lacks the soul that we fell in love with in the first place.
As we feed our desires for food, travel, beautiful clothes, big houses, fast cars, the latest technology, we create more. The more we create, the more we consume. The more we consume, the more we kill.
And we are killing off the things I love most. The oceans are filling with plastic debris at an alarming rate and changing the food chain cycles of the ocean. Samples from the ocean are coming up with more plastic particles than plankton.
TED Talks - Charles Moore: Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
We are wiping our asses with virgin forests.
We are in the midst of the 6th mass extinction (the first mass extinction caused by humankind).
So it’s a hell of a lot more fun to read the Twilight series than one more article about dolphin slaughter, polar bears drowning, local rivers filled with dead fish, virgin forests decapitated, or sharks on the verge of extinction.
Whatever you call it, global warming or climate change, the question remains, how will we fight our internal nature? I just learned that my diet creates a larger carbon footprint than my travel. If I didn’t know better, I’d say our modern society is breeding one helluva mega coven of vampires.
But are we dealing with a case of nature vs. nurture? Are we true vampires? Vampires are turned into soulless blood sucking beings against their will. Is our society and capitalistic systems constructed in such a way that forces us into being something our original nature never intended us to be? It is easy to point to the majority of aboriginal and native tribal life styles, from which we all originate, as being more aligned with living sustainable living practices: aka insuring that the planet would be able to continue to feed and house future generations.
But I am horrified when I examine the impact of just the first few hours of my day. I wake on my eco-friendly mattress but the wood my bed is made from probably comes from the South America. My night clothes, a gift, were made in China and have the sweat of child labor and and the weight of a heavy carbon foot print on them. I reach for water from a glass from Pier One imports (I contacted them via twitter inquiring about how their productions cycle: the informed the glasses I own were hand made in China, but when I asked about their carbon offset program: no answer). I get dressed with clothes that are mostly from consignment stores, so at least I am reusing, but am still knowledgeable that the garment industry has a complex supply chain that has a significant carbon footprint. I walk though the house, aside from the most recent layer of non toxic paint I put on myself, it is mostly made with toxic processes.
I drink water from the tap, which comes from the Hetch Hetchy damn and reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The damn that buried the Hetch Hetchy Valley was once described as "a wonderfully exact counterpart" of Yosemite Valley, and therefore "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." So this is what I think of when I water my garden. I take great pleasure in the orchids that we have (instead of cut flowers) that are more than likely flown in from Hawaii, make a shake that includes organic bananas (at least I’m not poising the workers that harvest them) and then I hop on my bike which was manufactured in Taiwan, and casual car pool to work. I then get a cup of peets coffee, which while sustainably harvested, but still comes from half way around the world, and the I…well, you get the point.
Nearly everything I touch feels like it has a destructive element to it, either it was made via unfair labor, used the land through unsustainable practices, has a mammoth carbon footprint, or is dangerous to throw away. It makes me feel like… a monster. A vampire monster to be exact, sucking the life and soul out of this planet just in order to sustain my own life.
Perhaps I can find hope in learning a few lessons from the champions of the vampire world. You know the ones, the vampires who overcame their nature to kill and who use their super powers to protect what they cherish and hold dear to them (see how reading Twilight has become an important part of my research for this blog post?).
There are several key lessons I take from the vampire stories that may be the key to saving the world as we know it:
Lesson 1: Vampires have had time to learn from their mistakes, and act on what they learn. With time on their side, the vampires’ ability to live forever provides plenty of time to ponder and learn from their mistakes. They have to do what we do not: live with the consequences of their actions for eternity. Every champion character is able to fight his true nature because the price they would pay if they gave in to it their desires is too high.
Lesson 2: The vampires who are creating a whole new way of life are “younger” vampires. They are usually the 100-500 year-old vampires that make major changes (with a few exceptions of course). It would seem that it is easier to develop new habits when you haven’t had the old habits for thousands of years. The new environmental organizations popping up are showing great promise, addressing the climate crisis with unprecedented energy and unique collaborations. 350.org, The Energy Action Coalition and 1Sky are just a few of the inspired groups that have recently emerged.
Lesson 3: At the end of the day, the vampires decided to change their “true nature” so they can live with the people they love, rather than live a lonely and isolated life. Lets get real, we all need motivation, and love is a great motivator. The modern day vampire show doesn’t show us much about how the vampires transitioned from being evil blood sucking murderers to developing the will power and self control it takes to become the “good vampire,” but it does show us that not wanting to kill what you love most is a great motivator to stay "clean."
If I were to activate a super power it would be to learn from and act on the mistakes of our the past generations at hyper speed. Can Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, can Jack jump over the coal powered smoke stack?
When given the chance to choose, the mass majority of people on the planet choose to consume everything that is available to them. It is a conscious choice to want less. But now we are having to develop a new skill: saying no in the face of plenty.
So I’ll leave you with some good news: Air pollution is decreasing, there is an army of people dedicating their lives to saving the planet, and there is more information available that points to the problems and the solutions than ever before.
So remember the millennial mantra: More is killing us: less will sustain us.
And remember the vampires: if they made conscious decisions to find new alternatives to sucking blood and killing the things they desire, than so can we.
Related links:
Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Vampires (video)
Toxic bananas (video)Gavin Newsom Talks About San Francisco's Leadership in the Sustainability Movement (video)
Sustainable Agriculture
Burning Man Green Man (video)
Joe takes on Green Fest (video)As I packed in preparation to visit my family this summer, I fantasized about what... more-
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Callling in from Copenhagen: Rapping and dancing penguins
Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 15) to get the daily low down from people attending the conference. Each morning we will host live Skype calls with people at their various locations. The following is a segment from November 11th's raw and uncut live interview was with 350.org's art ambassador Kevin Buckland, Mike Rimoin, Josh Solnick and the dancing and rapping penguins. They'll be returning next week to have a more serious conversation about the role of art in social actions.Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United Nations... more-
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Vermont 350 Dance Party
On October 24, 2009 the Vermont 350 dance party with Barefoot Truth and Spiritual Rez was among over 5000 events in 181 countries worldwide that helped celebrate the first International Day of Climate Action. Kathryn Blume organized the event at Higher Ground music club and invited retn.org and cctv.org to cable and webcast the show across Vermont and beyond so that others could stage similar dance parties. For more information 350.org and vt350dance.com.
Shot and Edited by Adam Walker, Walker Run Productions
Music by Spiritual Rez and Barefoot TruthOn October 24, 2009 the Vermont 350 dance party with Barefoot Truth and Spiritual Rez... more-
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350 Thrill the World Thriller Record at Orlando Brewing
The Orlando Brewing "Thrill the World" dancers danced in front of the number "350" written with chalk on the ground outside the organic brewery based in Orlando, Florida. "350," a number which represents what scientists say is the maximum allowable amount of CO2 in PPM has now been exceeded, and is currently about 390 PPM.
Exceeding 350 PPM means we are more likely to hit a catastrophic tipping point, according to many experts. 350.org wants to help make the world aware and pressure world leaders to ensure Copenhagen addresses climate change and greenhouse gases this December 2009.
Eco Factory offered 350 beers to the first 350 people to show up at 3:50 PM at Orlando Brewing. Everyone had a great time.
The Thrill the World event is a world record breaking attempt to have the most dancers dancing simultaneously around the world.The Orlando Brewing "Thrill the World" dancers danced in front of the number... more-
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Models Strip for Co2 Reduction
We need to get the CO2 levels to 350 right away! The video speaks for itself, enjoy.-
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350.org
1) 'World's most widespread day of political action' last Saturday, with 5245 actions in 181 countries
2) Saturation press coverage, that has helped drive the 350 number home. At one point this weekend, we were the top story (simultaneously) on CNN, The New York Times, Le Monde, Google News, and on and on all around the world. Millions of people now know that scientists say that 350 parts per million carbon dioxide is the most that we can safely have in the atmosphere.
3) 19,000 photos, and many hours of video, documenting the day's actions.
4) The first delivery of batches of those photos, to the Secretary General of the UN.1) 'World's most widespread day of political action' last Saturday,... more-
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Al Jazeera English - Europe - Activists demand climate action
Thousands of people have gathered for protests in more than 180 countries, calling for international action to curb the emissions causing global warming.
The International Day of Climate Action focused on the number 350, referring to 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere which some scientists say must not be exceeded to avoid runaway global warming.
The thousands of small-scale events, staged 50 days before a UN summit on climate change, began with a gathering on the steps on the Sydney Opera House, before spreading across the globe.Thousands of people have gathered for protests in more than 180 countries, calling for... more-
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International day of action heralds the emergence of a global grassroots climate movement
The 350.org international day of climate action this Saturday, was the second in a series of ground-breaking, record smashing days of citizen action around the world on climate change. It is simply amazing that the day of action was only one part of a drumbeat of worldwide and local climate events that have been building towards an enormous outpouring of climate action and activism at the Copenhagen climate talks.
This December 12th, a huge and growing global movement made up of ordinary citizens in almost every country in the world and international civil society will send a resounding message to the world leaders and negotiators in Copenhagen that the public is ready for them to sign a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty.The 350.org international day of climate action this Saturday, was the second in a... more-
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