Thursday, September 24, 2009
Newsletter: It is time to Rethink how we act, travel and consume!
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Water for Schools campaign
Charity:Water is launching Water for Schools, a student-led campaign to raise awareness and funds for water projects at schools in developing nations. A campaign seeking the passion and talent of young students to...
Read entire article |
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Seal the Deal now!!
Six powerful voices. Four stunning continents. One compelling message. Seal the Deal campaign just launched its new video, featuring six personalities: Philippe Cousteau, Don Cheadle, Wangari Maathai...
Watch video and read article |
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009
It’s time to rethink our approach to garbage
By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola
In Mexico City, politicians recently banned the ubiquitous plastic bags that citizens use for everything from groceries to soft drinks. But that will only go part way to reducing the 12,000 tonnes of garbage the city produces every day.
Only six per cent of Mexico City’s garbage gets recycled now, but the government has an ambitious plan to recycle, compost, or burn for energy 85 per cent of it by 2013.
Mexico City’s waste-management situation illustrates the importance of the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. And
we should add another R: rethink!. People in Canada are getting better at this, but we can do more.
We recycle just over 20 per cent of our garbage. And, according to Stats Canada, each of us produced an average of 837 kilograms of non-hazardous solid waste in 2006. That’s a lot of garbage going to the landfill, and it’s a lot of resources and energy being wasted. Some European countries, such as Austria and Switzerland, are now recycling more than half their wastes,
so there’s a lot of room for improvement.
After all, whatever we throw away represents a waste of resources and money – not to mention time.
Beyond the waste problem itself, landfills produce about one quarter of Canada’s methane emissions – and methane is a greenhouse gas more powerful than carbon dioxide. Some cities are now capturing that methane to burn for energy rather than allowing it to escape into the atmosphere.
Reducing the amount of trash we create in the first place is the best place to start tackling our waste-management problems. Not only does it mean we send less waste to the landfill, it also means we use fewer resources and less energy – as it takes energy to produce and transport packaging and disposable items.
Every day, more people, stores, and cities are finding ways to cut down on use of disposable plastic bags, but we still create a lot of unnecessary packaging and products. Planned obsolescence – the absurd practice of producing goods that won’t last so that the consumer cycle can continue – is still very much with us. We can all avoid buying products that are over-packaged or that are “disposable” – and encourage producers to be more responsible. When we consumers take the time to let stores, businesses, and governments know that we want less packaging and that we want goods that last, we will make a difference. Our changing attitude about plastic bags is a perfect example.
Reusing offers opportunities to get creative. People have always re-tailored clothes to give them new life. Think of the other ways you can use products that no longer function in their intended role. But reusing is an area where some difficulties arise, especially on a larger scale. Reusing waste by converting it to energy is a growing trend. The most common method is burning the garbage and using the heat to produce energy. Although the technology is improving, it still has its problems; burning waste creates emissions, for one. Other methods are also being explored, including breaking down the waste with microorganisms to produce methane and carbon dioxide for biogas.
Recycling is one of the first things that come to mind when we think of waste reduction. Most of us urban Canadians dutifully take our paper, plastic, and bottles and cans to the blue box recycling bins. Again, if we use fewer products that must be thrown away, we’ll have less stuff to recycle and send to landfills. But we should all be aware that our efforts to recycle are not in vain. If we work to ensure that our communities, schools, and workplaces have good recycling and composting programs and that producers and retailers take responsibility for their products, and if we all improve our own efforts to recycle, we will reduce our need for landfills.
Individual action is important, but legislated solutions are also effective.
In Switzerland, people buy stickers that they have to attach to garbage before it is picked up. The more garbage you put out, the more you have to pay. Switzerland now has the highest rate of recycling in the world!
We can all do our part as citizens, but as can be seen in Mexico City and Switzerland, a push by governments can go a long way to creating the kind of large-scale change needed to get our waste-management problem under control.
Take David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.
Let’s Talk Coffee
On a scale of 1 to 10 for how much I love coffee, with ten being ‘love’, I’m sitting comfortably at 11.
I crave my morning cup, and I think some of my coworkers would say I’m pretty militant about having it.
But this blog is about simple green tips, so shouldn’t I be talking about the virtues of using a reusable mug?
While it is incredibly important to reduce our reliance on disposables, there are a few more things you can do before treating yourself to a ‘green’ cup of coffee.
1. Only buy organic, fair trade coffee beans (and look for shade-grown)
Taste test the difference; organic, fair trade coffee just tastes better. But aside from that, commercial growing practices use tonnes of pesticides on crops and pay hardworking labourers in developing countries peanuts.
For more tips visit
www.simplegreenaction.ca
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Timberland Earthkeeper Hero: Cate Trotter is Discovering the Sexy Side of Sustainability
Timberland Earthkeeper Hero
Cate Trotter (a.k.a. the “Green Insider”), a 27-year-old environmental
sustainability trend spotter and "greentrepreneur”- green business expert, together with TrendsUpdates - will judge the submissions. Cate, a green trend spotting pro, is sharing stories about her journey through London while she discovers emerging trends from its green scene including environmentally sustainable break-throughs, eco-architectural feats, ethical fashion trends,
green technology innovations, and Gen Y eco-conscious culture spanning from art to nightlife.
Timberland, in partnership with
Changents.com and the support of
TrendsUpdates, is sponsoring the “Spot Green” contest created to find the coolest green projects and trends inspiring eco-friendly lifestyles in communities across the globe. Trend spotters can submit a photo, video or brief description of the eco-craze or green project in their hometown at
SpotGreenContest.com. The top three Green Trend Spotters will win a pair of Timberland Earthkeeper boots and featured in a video on Changents.com and TrendsUpdates.com
So far, Cate’s made some cool progress. She took a well-known creative agency and mobile phone brand on a tour of London's greenest communities, helping them understand new approaches to energy saving in an innovative light. She conducted an in-depth tour of Sanford, Britain's first street to have energy saving features on every house, cutting carbon by 60% already - the same as the government's target for 2050. What’s more, she showed the associates of a government department around a cutting-edge green office, showing them new, but tangible ways they could personally reduce their impact at work. Judi Leon, Head of Sustainable Operations, said "It motivated our overseas colleagues to think more laterally about what more they can do to green their Embassies.”
Watch Cate's
first video
Help Cate discover green trends in your town!
Water for Schools campaign
By Joanie Bergeron Poudrier Charity:Water is launching
Water for Schools, a student-led campaign to raise awareness and funds for water projects at schools in developing nations.
Water for Schools is a campaign
seeking the passion and talent of young students to raise awareness and funds to build comprehensive water projects at schools in the developing world. Students, teachers, group leaders and coaches from elementary grades to universities are joining together to tackle this global problem with simple solutions.
How does it work?
The Water for Schools campaign
aims to raise $2 million within the first year,
giving 100 schools in developing countries clean, safe water. A school water project costs $20,000 and incorporates sanitation facilities for the students. The organization is challenging each school to set a fundraising goal of $5,000, teaming up with three other schools to fund a complete water project for a school in need. Each group that meets its $5,000 target will be recognized on a plaque at the water point. Schools can sign up to participate in either our fall or spring semester-long campaigns. Our hope is that the Water for Schools campaign will become an annual tradition.
Ready to get involved? Visit
www.charitywater.org
Charity: water is a nonprofit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We give 100% of the money raised to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.
Just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 years.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Are you ready to Seal the Deal ?!!
Six powerful voices. Four stunning continents. One compelling message.
The Seal the Deal campaign just launched its new video, featuring six personalities:
Philippe Cousteau (Environmentalist),
Don Cheadle (Actor),
Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize Winner),
Mohamed Nasheed (President of the Maldives),
Midori (UN Messenger of Peace) and
Saba Douglas-Hamilton (Conservationist).
Let's make 2009 the year the world finds an answer to climate change.
The numbers don’t sound big, but their effects could be cataclysmic.
A 2°C rise above pre-industrial levels would see 20-40% of the Amazon die off within 100 years. A 3°C rise would see 75% of the forest destroyed by drought over the following century, while a 4°C rise would kill 85%. (Nature Geoscience).
However – there is good news. The worst of global warming can still be avoided if Greenhouse gases levels are cut substantially.
Watch the video campaign now!
The United Nations has launched “Seal the Deal” campaign that encourages users to sign an online, global petition which will be presented by civil society to governments of the world.
The petition will serve as a reminder that our leaders must negotiate a fair, balanced and effective agreement in Copenhagen, and that they must seal a deal to power green growth, protect our planet and build a more sustainable, prosperous global economy that will benefit all nations and people.
Did you know?
*
A one-meter rise in the sea level worldwide
could displace around 100 million people in Asia, mostly eastern China, Bangladesh and Vietnam;
14 million in Europe; and
eight million each in Africa and South America. UNEP Year Book, 2009
*Organic pollutants are being carried back into the environment from melting glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of North America. UNEP Year Book, 2009
*The Greenland ice sheet, which could raise sea levels by six metres if it melted away, is currently losing more than 100 cubic km a year-faster than can be explained by natural melting. UNEP Year Book, 2009
*
Transport accounts for over 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005 there were an estimated 650 million vehicles on the road with that number expected to double by 2030. UNEP Year Book, 2009
Visit
www.sealthedeal2009.org
Thursday, September 17, 2009
It’s time for a new economic paradigm
By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola
I’ve heard economists boast that their discipline is based on a fundamental human impulse: selfishness. They claim that we act first out of self-interest. I can agree, depending on how we define self. To some, “self” extends beyond the individual person to include immediate family. Others might include community, an ecosystem, or all other species.
I list ecosystem and other species deliberately because we have become a narcissistic, self-indulgent species.
We believe we are at the centre of the world, and everything around us is an “opportunity” or “resource” to exploit. Our needs or demands trump all other possibilities. This is an anthropocentric view of life.
Thus, when faced with a choice of logging or conserving a forest, we focus on the potential economic benefits of logging or not logging. When the economy experiences a downturn, we demand that nature pay for it. We relax pollution standards, increase logging or fishing above sustainable levels, or (as the federal government has decreed) lift the requirement of environmental assessments for new projects.
A fundamentally different perspective on our place in the world is called “biocentrism”. In this view, life’s diversity encompasses all and we humans are a part of it, ultimately deriving everything we need from it. Viewed this way, our well-being, indeed our survival, depends on the health and well-being of the natural world. I believe this view better reflects reality.
The most pernicious aspect of our anthropocentrism has been to elevate economics to the highest priority.
We act as if the economy is some kind of natural force that we must all placate or serve in every way possible. But wait! Some things, like gravity, the speed of light, entropy, and the first and second laws of thermodynamics, are forces of nature. There’s nothing we can do about them except live within the boundaries they delimit.
But the economy, the market, currency – we created these entities, and if they don’t work, we should look beyond trying to get them back up and running the way they were. We should fix them or toss them out and replace them.
When economists and politicians met in Bretton Woods, Maine, in 1944, they faced a world where war had devastated countrysides, cities, and economies. So they tried to devise solutions. They pegged currency to the American greenback and looked to the (terrible) twins, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to get economies going again.
The postwar era saw amazing recovery in Europe and Japan, as well as a roaring U.S. economy based on supplying a cornucopia of consumer goods. But the economic system we’ve created is fundamentally flawed because it is disconnected from the biosphere in which we live. We cannot afford to ignore these flaws any longer.
Flaw 1: Beyond its obvious value as the source of raw materials like fish, lumber, and food, nature performs all kinds of “services” that allow us to survive and flourish. Nature creates topsoil, the thin skin that supports all agriculture. Nature removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and returns oxygen. Nature takes nitrogen from the air and fixes it to enrich soil. Nature filters water as it percolates through soil. Nature transforms sunlight into molecules that we need for energy in our bodies. Nature degrades the carcasses of dead plants and animals and disperses the atoms and molecules back into the biosphere. Nature pollinates flowering plants.
I could go on, but I think you catch my drift. We cannot duplicate what nature does around the clock, but we dismiss those services as “externalities” in our economy.
Flaw 2: To compound the problem, economists believe that because there are no limits to human creativity, there need be no limits to the economy. But the economy depends on having healthy people, and health depends on nature’s services, which are ignored in economic calculations. Our home is the biosphere, the thin layer of air, water, and land where all life exists. And that’s it; it can’t grow. We are witnessing the collision of the economic imperative to grow indefinitely with the finite services that nature performs. It’s time to get our perspective and priorities right. Biocentrism is a good place to start.
It’s time for a Bretton Woods II.
Take David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge and learn more at
www.davidsuzuki.org
Apple goes solar?
Apple launches the iPod Touch and iPhone solar skin!
Gadget mogul Apple is showing its eco-consciousness by integrating to its vast variety of skins, the solar skin.
This skin will enables you to recharge your iPod or iPhone Touch with solar energy.
The use of this skin is very simple, simply put the skin's panel cell toward the sun during 2 hours and it will recharge your gadget automatically. Awesome!
Source: Treehugger.com
Wal-Mart and its Cradle to Cradle ambitions
In the next 5 years, Wal-Mart plans to give each of its retail products a sustainability rating. The retailer mogul promised to create a
universal, industry-wide sustainable product directory.
«
The ambitious plan, unveiled by chief executive Mike Duke to 1,500 suppliers in July, aims to establish a sustainability rating system for each item on Wal-Mart's shelves. This will help shoppers understand the social and environmental impact of products. It should also drive innovation among suppliers.»
How will Wal-Mart accomplish this goal?
By asking its worldwide suppliers to answer a short survey to see what sustainability policies, procedures and targets they have in place.
Once they receive the results, they will ask a consortium of universities to create a sustainability index. In conjonction with suppliers, retailers, NGOs and government the group will build up a global database of information on the lifecycle of products – from cradle to cradle. This folder will then be used to create the index.
Once the index is finalized, Wal-Mart will create a simple and easy to understand sustainability rating
for each product in its store, so consumers can make wiser and greener decisions while shopping.
Source: Ethical Corporation
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Introduction to 2009 Earthkeeper Hero Christopher Swain
Christopher Swain, on Earth Day 2009,
dove into the frigid and dirty Atlantic ocean, beginning a 1,000 mile,
2-year swim from New England to Washington D.C. — an eco-expedition designed to find alternatives to the “unhelpful human activities” (as Christopher likes to say) destroying our ocean habitats as a result of water pollution.
The public can follow Christopher’s swim, communicate with him, and
experience first hand what he sees while freestyling through water contaminated with algae blooms, oil slicks, trash, heavy metals, toxic chemicals, sewage and nuclear waste... not to mention container ships, rip tides, rain, snow, lightning, high winds and tiger sharks.
Watch Chris' introduction video now!
Read Chris' article: Swimming for a Healthy World- 2,000+ Mile Swim From Boston to D.C.
Keep in touch with Chris and follow his journey.
Learn more about
2009 Earthkeeper Heroes.
Stay tuned for more videos of Chris and his fellow 09 Earthkeeper Heroes!!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Newsletter: Japan, Africa and India: all trying to improve their inhabitants’ quality of life
Alternative Channel now on Twitter
Follow our every moves!
Alternative Channel is on Facebook
Join our group!
To
subscribe to this newsletter, please contact
Joanie Bergeron Poudrier.
CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING TO BECOME CREDIBLE AND EFFECTIVE
A PARTA SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS INC. AND ETHIQUETTE INC. JOINT VENTURE
CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING TO BECOME CREDIBLE AND EFFECTIVE
Montreal, September 10th 2009 - PARTA Sustainable Solutions Inc., TSX Venture Exchange ’PAS’ (‘PARTA’), and Montreal-based ethiquette Inc. unveil their joint venture to market a new sustainable reporting product dubbed the
‘Engaged Reporting Program 2.0’. This service is designed to enhance the credibility and relevance of annual Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports from leading Canadian corporations.
By performing a third party review of report claims, opening key issues to the public online and using innovative social media tools to allow feedback, this Program, according to its proponents, will enable a real and lasting dialogue between a company and its stakeholders. The end goal of the Program, aside from saving considerable printing and distribution costs, will be to maximize public engagement with the company’s concrete steps towards sustainability.
“With this ‘Web 2.0’ approach to annual reporting, we are proposing nothing less than the shift from a traditional static mode, which consisted of printing reports once a year and selectively distributing them,
to an active and engaged process, which brings the recipients into a much more intimate relationship with the organization’s achievements year-round,” explains Mr. Paul Allard, CEO of PARTA.
Tom Liacas, Co-Director of ethiquette Inc. intends to: “… bring annual reports to life by having our analysts rate and interpret the company’s actions for the stakeholders’ benefit. By doing so, we can clearly identify sustainability and CSR initiatives that are concrete and noteworthy, thus eliminating what has come to be called ‘greenwashing’. With a third party review and presentation of highlights, readers of the report will be much better equipped to interact with the content.”
In this venture, PARTA will build on its experience as a producer and manager of sustainability-themed media (Alternative Channel, GreenPod, China-Europa, Rethos, etc.) ethiquetteTM , whose analysts have a deep understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable practices in the marketplace, will use its experience to review and contextualize the strategies and accomplishments presented in corporate reports.
About PARTA Sustainable Solutions Inc. www.partaworld.com PARTA sustainable solutions Inc. develops and implements technology solutions and services to enable companies to establish a real sustainable development oriented dialogue between its internal and external stakeholders. To achieve this, PARTA benefits, at the international level, from a recognized expertise in communication, training and new media.
About ETHIQUETTE INC. www.ethiquette.biz ethiquette™ is an information service on leading sustainable practices in the marketplace. The company’s analysts have exceptional track records and deep knowledge of CSR and sustainability issues. ethiquette™ has reviewed the performance of over 250 businesses in various sectors, many of them offering consumer products. Its reports have reached many thousands of consumers, journalists and sustainability professionals through their critically-acclaimed websites:
www.ethiquette.ca and
www.ethipedia.net
For more info, please contact:
Paul Allard, Chairman of the Board, PARTA Sustainable Solutions Inc
(514) 277-1201 ext 35 -
paul.allard@partaworld.com
REthink. REplenish. REcommit : Going Green Film Festival 2010
The first edition of the
Going Green Film Festival :
REthink. REplenish. REcommit is currently taking submissions for its March 2010 event in Los Angeles. This is the
only festival of its kind to focus exclusively on green filmmaking, from production to content!
Films are being considered for
three main categories in the festival:
*GREEN PRODUCTION, where a film’s production worked to lessen the carbon footprint left on the planet (with sufficient documentation of this process);
*OUR PLANET, where the film’s topic covers third world issues, ecology, nature or the environment; and
*HYBRID/ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION, where the film features a hybrid vehicle, bicycle, electric scooter or public transportation.
You think your film is Green enough? Submit it for a chance to win a hybrid!
Wait, there’s more!
A portion of the submission fees collected from every filmmaker will go toward Renewable Energy Credits, supplementing those purchased by sponsors.
Finally a great film fest with great intentions!
For more info visit
www.goinggreenfilmfestival.com
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
New video from Freeplay Foundation: Mama Lucy on solar powered radio
Mama Lucy Odipo, founder and headmistress of the
Little Bees School in Starehe township,
in Kenya, speaks to CEO of Freeplay Foundation Kristine Pearson about the blessing of solar power as she does not have electricity and cannot afford to buy batteries.
Mama Lucy, a local heroine, looks after 20 orphans in makeshift housing. An additional 180 children attend primary school in community build classrooms.
The Lifeline radio will give children sustainable access to the primary school national curriculum, which the Kenya Institute of Education broadcasts via radio.
Watch Mama Lucy on solar video now!
For more information on the Lifeline radio visit
www.freeplayfoundation.org
TIMBERLAND INTRODUCES ‘09 EARTHKEEPER HEROES
Partnership With Changents.com Enables a New Generation of Environmental Activists
The Timberland Company is investing its clout and ingenuity to help elevate undiscovered, independent activists—
Earthkeeper Heroes—to become catalysts of sustainable environmental movements around the world. In partnership with
Changents.com, Timberland is creating a unique engagement engine to help eco-change agents get their big break on the global environmental scene.
Timberland launched its
Earthkeepers Movement in the summer of 2008 in an effort to engage 1 million consumers across the globe to support environmental stewardship. The Earthkeeper Heroes program combines the evolving stories of dynamic environmental heroes with an interactive social media experience. The result is a platform that connects this generation's most exciting agents of environmental change with people around the world who can help them.
The 2009 Earthkeeper Heroes include
a photoactivist, a green "trendspotter," a long distance swimmer, community-greening social entrepreneurs and a pair of eco-designers —each channelling their personal passion for the planet to create positive impact, from the New England coast to the streets of New York to the urban forests of London. Timberland’s objective is to “break” these individuals onto the global environmental scene through social media and other consumer touch-points, including live events and in-store engagement opportunities.
The Earthkeeper Heroes are using blogs, photo galleries, tweets, videos, podcasts and other social media tools at Changents.com/Earthkeepers to share their environmental stories 24/7 from the trenches to assemble worldwide support. Timberland and Changents invite the public to follow their stories online, interact directly with these emerging change agents and become their "Backers" - online teammates whose actions, big and small, help move an Earthkeeper Hero's mission forward.
As part of the campaign,
people around the world can show their support for a Earthkeeper Timberland Hero by downloading or “grabbing” a Hero’s widget and placing it on their Facebook profile, MySpace page or personal website and rallying their friends to do the same. The widgets are mini-story feeds about what’s happening on the Hero’s mission—users can read Hero story updates, view new pictures and videos, and become part of their mission to make a positive impact on the environment.
If 100,000 people install an Earthkeeper Heroes widget by November 1, 2009, Timberland will unveil a publicity stunt to help the winning Hero with the most supporters get on national TV to share their story as a champion for the environment.
The inspiration for the Earthkeepers program stems from Timberland's environmentally and socially responsible operations and philosophy. Timberland is committed to becoming a carbon neutral company by cutting back emissions, using renewable energy sources and supporting environmental projects exploring alternative energy. Timberland continues to look closely at ways to reduce the environmental impact of its products, reduce waste and recycle. What's more,
Timberland will green 300 communities by 2010 and plant more than 100,000 trees this year -- on track to a goal of 1 million new trees by 2010.
*Alternative Channel in partnership with Changents will soon post on its website weekly videos and stories from this year's Earthkeeper Heroes. Stay tuned!
Photo: A 2009 Earthkeeper Hero who swam 1000+mile for a healthy world...Stay tuned on Alternative Channel TV to learn more about this Hero!
