12th Annual Boston GreenFest

Click on an image to the right to learn more. MARK YOUR CALENDARS & PLAN FOR Boston GreenFest - Augusut 16-18, 2019 - Greenway - FREE! Boston GreenFest is organized by the Foundation for a Green Future.

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Bogd Khan Mountain, Mongolia by Deglee Degi

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Come learn more about Forests at our 11th Annual Boston GreenFest this summer!  August 3-5, 2018.

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Check out the Plug-in House at Boston City Hall Plaza - thinking about a tiny house?  Here’s a chance to visualize what it means to downsize!

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Join us in rethinking the future at Boston GreenFest in 3 weeks!

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Trees are such a stabilizing force in our environment.

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Mothers may nurture, but fathers lend support.  HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Thanks, dads, for all you do to make the world a special place in your children’s eyes.

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An Inside Look at Iceland:  Dreamland or Alcoa-land?

by Sofia Regalado, Boston GreenFest Team Journailst & Photographer

With an ever-changing scenery, a one hour drive through Iceland could easily turn out into a sample tour of every terrain on Earth. It only takes 820 miles to drive around the entire country’s coastline and yet along every bend lurks a dramatic new landscape waiting to reveal itself. From active volcanoes and steaming geysers, to endless fields of lupine to Europe’s largest glaciers, it is no secret that Iceland is a unique pocket of ecological treasures. 

Like many other countries however, its fruitful natural resources are vulnerable to a capitalist ecology that threatens to exploit them for corporate gain. Dreamland, a documentary based on the book Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation, exposes the often shadowed downfalls of Iceland’s hydro-electric and geothermal power plants. In a quest to attract foreign aluminum companies and bring the economy back to life after the 2008 crisis, the Icelandic government has promised “the cheapest energy in the world”. Yet this economic ideal has led to grave environmental consequences for the Icelandic landscape. Dreamland reveals how Alcoa, the world’s largest aluminum producer, has used Iceland’s eastern geothermal and hydroelectric areas to build smelters and left a trail of spoiled nature in its wake. 

This highly visually impacting film has not only tested Icelandic people’s loyalty to their land, it has also forced the nation to come face to face with the consequences of economic growth and to question its morality. Environmentalism aside, it's particularly hard for a nation whose culture is so inextricably intertwined with its natural landscape not to react to the sight of its mountains being blown up into smithereens and to hear the melodies of its rivers silenced. It is equally unsettling to see vast terrains of unspoiled nature interrupted by industrial power plants and construction next to vital rivers.

 According to the film, the Alcoa aluminum plant in Iceland uses as much electricity as a city of one million citizens. Iceland’s population is only 330,850. The economic upturn of this energy usage however, is that the three smelters based on the island, including Alcoa, contributed to 38 percent of the economy’s total exports in 2015. The government thus argues that the economic benefits, including the production of jobs, far outweigh the environmental costs. With the publication of Dreamland however, the nation’s eyes were opened to the extent to which companies are taking over the land and resources region after region. As a result, it has sparked public debate about respecting Iceland’s thresholds and the consequences of producing beyond the national product. 

Instead of merely revealing the dark side of green energy however, this issue should be food for thought on other matters. The aluminum industry in Iceland is an issue that clearly portrays the clash between environmental devotion and economic gain. More importantly however, it confronts the global issue of political transparency when it comes to governing the natural world and fighting against corporate greed. Aluminum smelting in Iceland is just one of many examples where international corporations offer loans to smaller economies in countries rich in resources to build infrastructure and then ultimately end up moving in and buying all the land and its resources despite government promises to the people to protect natural heritage. Additionally, it is an issue that poses relevant questions that apply to the environmental  worldwide; who is ultimately responsible for the land and what moral obligations do the people have to fight against environmentally detrimental opportunities for economic growth?

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Happy World Oceans Day!   We are blessed with beautiful oceans. We must take care of them.  They are absorbing more than their share of CO2.  Either we stop breathing out or we change our ways!

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Thank you to our vets for protecting us and defending our country.  Your service is truly appreciated.

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Lavender captured by Fannie Jowski Photography

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Lavender has a mystical magical quality that makes life special!

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To all mothers, including Mother Earth, enjoy a special day of love & peace, and know you are treasured.

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Climate Rally on Boston Common today (4-29-17).  Great turnout and energy!

(Photos:  Top by M. Anang and bottom by K. Weber)

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Abby is excited about 10th Annual Boston GreenFest!  She is helping the Entertainment Team bring performers to our many stages.  (Photo is of last year’s Metro Main Stage with Tiz Kompa, courtesy of Olga Chernyatyeva)

My Internship 

By Abigail Robinson

Since 2008, Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. has been expanding its reach across the city as well as nationally and globally. The founder, Dr. Karen Weber, started the organization to share her desire for a green future. She values uniting the community with nature and all the plant life that grows in our city. In 1997, Dr. Weber received her doctorate in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University. Working several years with the Oceanographic Research Center of Abidjan, she was able to expand her knowledge on marine life and maritime fisheries management in West Africa.  Her years of fieldwork in villages throughout Côte d’Ivoire instilled in her a passion for strengthening communities.  The outcome of these experiences led Dr. Karen Weber to co-found Foundation for a Green Future, Inc.

Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. is a nonprofit organization promoting environmental justice and awareness. Its mission is to educate and empower people to help preserve the world’s resources. The organization runs an annual multicultural eco-celebration at Boston City Hall Plaza in August. This event includes art, music, food, films, fashion shows, fitness, innovation, robotics, and exhibits which highlight the many ways people can live more sustainably.  While performers draw in the festival-goers, the exhibitors and guest speakers help inform the community about conserving earth’s resources.

In order to carry off an event of such a large scale, the Foundation collaborates with a number of partners including: Greater Four Corners Action Coalition, Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc., Isaac’s Moving and Storage, Sierra Club Massachusetts, the Environment Department of the City of Boston, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the South Asian Arts and Cultural Council.

As an intern working at Boston GreenFest with a team of 50 others, I am fortunate to be an integral part of the Entertainment Team. My job is to review potential artists for  Boston GreenFest and help figure out which stages they should perform on. I also assist with some of the graphic design and promotional materials.  I never realized how much goes into coordinating an event like this and how time-consuming artist selection can be.  I can’t wait to see how all my hard work will pay off come August 11th!

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How do minerals get their colour?

Anyone who has spent time looking at gem or mineral specimens knows that they can take on a seemingly endless array of colours. A mineral’s chemical composition, the atoms that make up its internal crystal structure, is the primary determination of its colour. Certain elements will absorb specific wavelengths of light from the visible spectrum. The remaining wavelengths of light that are not absorbed are reflected back to our eyes, becoming what we perceive as the colour of the mineral. The majority of colour-causing elements are in the transition metals group: Fe, Mn, Co, Ti, V, Hg, Ni, Cu are common colouring agents.

Keep reading

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Protecting the colors of our world!

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Ester Boserup (1910-1999) made an enormous contribution to environmental thinking.  She is to be honored as a scientist, an economist, and as a woman.  Her theory ran counter to that of Malthus.  She believed that humanity would always find a solution to provide food in spite of the odds or increasing population.  Thank you, Ester!

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Happy International Women’s Day!  Women care for our children, care for our families and care for our planet.  Be sure to honor them today, and every day!

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So cool! 🐬🐬 📷: Explorist #Dolphins #Animals #ScienceAlert http://ift.tt/2iza2Gh

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We have so much to learn!