Hi! I'm still alive! Just learning to code so that I can develop some sustainability tools. It's going well and I should have something cool for you all soon.
I appreciate all of the encouraging messages - you're all so great!!
An orchestra, a village, an entire country: the movement to rein in greenhouse gas emissions is growing
We are all doomed, it is said. Carbon dioxide is amassing in the atmosphere at levels not seen for millions of years when there were trees at the South Pole and Florida was under water. We have barely a decade to make amends. Protesters are on the streets.
But huge numbers of people have not given up. Not yet. Call them the carbon cutters. They are companies and cities, niche groups and nations. They are commuters and communes, off-gridders and off-setters, investors and institutions – and countless individuals, cutting their meat intake, installing solar panels, eschewing gas guzzlers and long-haul flights.
Continue reading…
The Guardian | Environment
The post We are not yet doomed: the carbon cutters determined to save the world appeared first on The Sustainability Section.
I know that community support can feel hard to come by when you're changing your life to live in a more sustainable way. This article by The Guardian highlights some great examples of people coming together to support each other as they all work to reduce their impact on the Environment.
TreeHugger is not here for supposed closed loop 'solutions' that just stick us with more plastic.
"...it still all has to be disposed of properly by the user who tends to buy these products for convenience, collected usually by utilities at taxpayer expense, separated somehow by someone, and then put through these expensive new processes, which on their own consume energy, all to turn the stuff back into... plastic."
Isn’t it weird that you have to scour the internet for good information on environmental sustainability practices? You’d think that – the internet being what it is – we’d be saturated with information on sustainable living. But we’re not! In fact, from the relative dearth of information available you’d almost be led to believe that sustainability isn’t an important issue. But sustainability IS important. We know that our practices have had lasting negative effects on our ecosystem. How many species of animals have been wiped out during your lifetime? How many species of plants? How much plastic have you used that you didn’t need? How many future generation will have to pay to tend to that plastic? So few people think that way but how we live DOES matter. Our individual choices do matter. And if you begin to think about sustainability first – if you think about the impact of your actions on the future first and then act – then you’ll realize that sustainability and profitability do not go hand in hand. You will not buy single use items. You will refuse initial attempts at selling you things. You will become a bad consumer. And since our culture rewards the promotion of consumerism over sustainability, there is little incentive for people to create content that promotes sustainable living. Hence, the lack of information on the topic.
So… I suppose we’ll have to change that.
Sustainability is important. It is not profitable but it is important. It is inconvenient but it is important. And our systems will have to change to accommodate sustainable practices.
If you are a consumerist then your immediate thought is likely defensive. That’s understandable. You are accustomed to living a certain way and change is difficult to image. But an analogy may help. Women won the right to vote 100 years ago. That means that 150 years ago people probably couldn’t imagine a woman having that right. But people change. And then people change the system. Now the idea that women should not have the same rights as men is regarded as fringe. Similarly, placing your temporary convenience over issues of sustainability is a way of thinking that is on the way out but people haven’t quite wrapped their minds around it yet. They’ll cheer on the climate kids while still getting straws at Starbucks. But they’ll get there. It’s a journey.
My goal with this website is to help with that journey. We will aggregate resources related to sustainability so that they are easily accessible. I also want to promote people and organizations that are working to bring about a more sustainable future. As I said, promoting these principles is currently not profitable so we should help those creators as we can. And I think that in so doing we are going to build a community that thinks about sustainability first. And it’s communities working together that will bring about changes to our system.
We have a long way to go but the hardest part of any journey is getting started. But – lucky for you – we’re already on our way. You can check our Resources page for an early glimpse of some city, county, and state resources that we’ve linked you to.
More to come!
– @JeromeTEvans
Follow @jerometevans on Instagram and Twitter
P.S. – If you’re interested in helping to crowdsource resources then please let me know. We definitely need the help!
The post The First Step appeared first on The Sustainability Section.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced some major updates to its sustainability commitments. The company said it would double its internal price on carbon emissions, meaning it will charge itself more for its emissions from operations, buildings, and data centers, and join a group advocating for a national carbon tax and…
Read more…
The post Microsoft Pats Itself on Back For Some Pretty Weak Climate Pledges appeared first on The Sustainability Section.
Just got home from class and stopped for groceries and thought I’d share! This is what every trip looks like for me (buying to feed two).
I left the foods in the bags or jars I used at the store, the rest I put loose into my bag. The only waste ends up being a few stickers and I reuse the elastics.
Today at Bulk Barn I picked up almond and peanut butter, plantain chips, pretzels, brown rice pasta, and garlic. Then at Superstore (a generic large Canadian grocery store, nothing fancy) I picked up buns from the bulk bin and fruit including apples, oranges, kiwi and pears. Also veggies like peppers (on sale), carrots, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.
If you look beyond all the plastic, you can find a lot of zero waste items, it just takes a bit of effort. Over time though it becomes a habit! Take it one step at a time and do what you can with the resources available.
hey guys! i’ve been doing some thinking and talked to my dear friend @iesharajabb about this, but before i went ahead with it i figured i’d ask you all since you’re the ones that’ll be reading it. how do you feel about some new themes being incorporated into my posts? right now, my own original posts cover zero waste, minimalism or vegetarianism, however i was thinking about how i could post more content more often if i added some posts about different topics into the mixture. for example, i could talk about the impact that these (zero waste, minimalism, vegetarianism) factors have on your self esteem and also other things that impact your self esteem. i’d like to talk about mindfulness within our lives and how everything impacts us, be it positive or negative. pretty much just stuff to do with ones mental state of being (though nothing i post will be clinical or professional advice/opinion as i am not a professional).
so what do you guys think? would you enjoy seeing a new variety of content or would you rather stick with the same old stuff? leave your thoughts for me to read!
Plastic gets around. Previously, researchers had discovered fragments of microplastics in the world’s most remote locations, like the depths of the Marianas Trench and Antarctica. New research has shown that microplastics rain down on the pristine peaks of the Pyrenees mountains.
The researchers found a daily rate of plastic pollution falling from the sky in the Pyrenees was comparable to the amount raining down on Paris and Dongguan, a large industrial city in China, NPR reported.
“It was incredible how much microplastic was being deposited,” said Deonie Allen, a researcher at EcoLab in the School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Toulouse, France, as reported by National Geographic. There were no obvious sources for the microplastics within 60 miles, said Allen, the lead author of the study published Monday in Nature Geoscience.
The study is the first of its kind to show the how far microplastics can travel on the wind. Scientists had previously thought that atmospheric microplastic pollutants would rise up and settle again near the cities and industrial hubs where they originated.
The researchers looked at computer models of wind patterns to pinpoint the source of the microplastics, but none was found within a 60-mile radius of the region — which is sparsely populated and without commercial, industrial or large agricultural centers. While scientists know how dust gets blown and travels from the Sahara to Europe, they know very little about how microplastics move.
“We don’t have this sort of material in nature,” said Deonie Allen, as NPR reported. She noted that microplastics vary in shapes and density, which might alter how long they remain wind-borne. The researchers also suspect that rain or snow carries some particles down to the ground, but they don’t need precipitation to fall to Earth, according to NPR.
US climate change panel: hey we release reports on climate change to better educate the public and lawmakers on how to fix or deal with environmental issues.
donald trump: i’m disbanding you, can’t have you educating the public on environmental threats that could endanger their lives.
Someone says if we don't stop climate change the world will end by 2050 and im feeling quite anxious. Is this true and how do I help the environment as a teenager?
Whether it’s “true” depends on what you mean by “the world will end”.
The world will most likely keep going on with life on it until the sun turns into a red giant, or at least to a period close to that, which will be several billion years in the future.
It’s just that it’s possible we won’t be there when that happens, due to climate change ending our species. Life will adapt to the world we changed, but many believe we, specifically, won’t.
What can you do?
Well, honestly, individual impact is nothing compared to corporate impact, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with trying, like using less plastic (including microplastics, like polyester and faux fur). And there are at least some things we can do for conservation efforts (such as keeping your cats indoors, supporting bans and regulations on owning exotic animals, or not doing yard work to encourage bees and birds to return).
You might consider striking, advocating for the Green New Deal, or otherwise making an effort to curb capitalist impact on the environment.
First, assess your carbon footprint and become familiar with the primary drivers of climate change. Then, adjust your practices to reduce your personal impact. Check with your power company to see if they have a renewable energy option. Drive less. Intentionally develop a sustability practice. Share your experiences with your network because - trust me - they will be interested.
Next, join online or local community groups and begin advocating for regulations that help the environment. I joined the neighborhood association and made them phase out disposable plastics at events. I joined the city public health committee and steered our discussions towards a ban on disposable plastics and a wider conversation on the intersection between environmental health and public health. Now my city Councilperson comes to me to help evaluate environmental concerns.
At some point after talking just a few steps you'll realize that our system of consumption over sustainability is the underlying cultural problem that is enabling corporations to continue wrecking the planet. What YOU can do is STOP enabling corporations in this way. You can tell your friends and family to do the same. You can steer local non-profits towards sustability goals. You can make sure that your city has a carbon neutral initiative in place. You call tell your Congressperson to sponsor green legislation - it doesn't have to be a Green New Deal - it can be a smaller regulation that doesn't make news but does make a difference.
You can do a lot. You - and everyone like you - just needs to get started.
Me, trying to get close to a robin: I wish I could pet you.
The robin, an intellectual: No, bald-ape. We have seen what you’ve done to your livestock, the canines you’ve selectively bred into twisted, barely functional abominations, the hundreds upon hundreds of species you’ve driven to extinction, and all other animals unfortunate enough to have attracted the attention of your kind. You are mother nature’s failed experiment, a cancer on the plant that grew one too many brain cells and declared yourselves gods. We shall not be enslaved. You’ll never take us alive.
Me, trying to get close to a robin: I wish I could pet you.
The robin, an intellectual: No, bald-ape. We have seen what you’ve done to your livestock, the canines you’ve selectively bred into twisted, barely functional abominations, the hundreds upon hundreds of species you’ve driven to extinction, and all other animals unfortunate enough to have attracted the attention of your kind. You are mother nature’s failed experiment, a cancer on the plant that grew one too many brain cells and declared yourselves gods. We shall not be enslaved. You’ll never take us alive.
The long read: China’s leaders have championed milk as the emblem of a modern, affluent society – but their radical plan to triple the nation’s consumption will have a huge environmental cost
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