Will You Go 350 With Bill McKibben?

Thanks to Meryn Stol for pointing me to Grist and 350. Building upon his earlier Step it Up initiative, Bill McKibben is asking us all to participate in his new 350 international grassroots climate campaign. For those of you wondering, 350 is the absolute limit we should not go past, in terms of CO2 parts per million. We are already at 385 parts per million . . .

Seems like fun and easy. I urge you to bring the 350 initiative into your community. You can make it as big, or as small, as you want.

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Al Gore’s New Presentation is Dynamite

Al Gore premiered his brand-new slide show at the TED Conference earlier this year. The video just came out on YouTube. I could not contain my excitement as I listened to the whole 30′ of what I think is Al Gore’s best presentation to date. Passionate, inspiring, and loaded with crucial facts, not just about the global warming emergency, but also the state of the crowds.

Imagine ‘Planet Save Parties‘ all over the world showing this video. What do you think of the idea? I am going to approach the Al Gore people and see if I can get the video.

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Citizens Uniting For Solutions In Al Gore’s “we” Campaign

What interests me most about Al Gore‘s new “we” campaign, is the movement it aims to create with citizens. Finally, there is a place from where to channel global actions from the bottom up. The site taps into the power of petitioning the powers in charge, similar to what the Swiss did a few months ago

There are currently four main initiatives that citizens can participate in:

Sign the petition for a global treaty on climate change

Tell your friends about our latest video

Urge the Press to Ask About Global Warming

Ask lenders to consider climate impact when funding new coal plants

I urge you to become a part of the “we” movement. If you are a blogger, maybe you can write a post about it, or copy this one? If you are a reader of blogs, maybe you can click on one of the four links above and do your share as a citizen? No matter what, this is too good of an initiative to be ignored.

May the “we” movement spread and ignite the people at the top!

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Having Fun With Green Activism

Who said environmental activism has to be serious? I just got this mail from Ryan Watkins-Hughes:

I just stumbled across your idea for Greendropping. Very clever. Below is information about an upcoming shopdropping project I’m doing. Please feel free to pass along to people you think would be interested. Thanks.

RWH
http://www.shopdropping.net
http://www.watkinshughes.com

———————————-
SHOPDROPPING.NET is now calling on artists, designers, media makers, and creative folks to purchase greeting cards and alter them in any way they see fit. Any form of commercial card, from wedding to graduation to birthday to bereavement, is eligible. But clever and witty will be given preference over easy and distasteful.

Please submit JPEG reproductions of the altered greeting cards to submissions@shopdropping.net with GREETINGS as the subject line.

All files must be sized to 1024 x 768 at 72 dpi. Each altered card must include the text “www.shopdropping.net” somewhere in the new design. It can be discreet, on the back of the card, and unobtrusive but it must be present.When submitting the cover and inside of the same card please indicate this clearly in the file titles (for example “cover.jpg”, “page2.jpg”).

The deadline for submissions is April 1st 2008.

Once all of the digital reproductions have been submitted, selected artists will be given the address of a fellow participant to swap cards with. The cards will then be shopdropped back into circulation and the digital reproductions will be featured on SHOPDROPPING.NET. Please do not submit digital files if you do not intend to follow through with the act of shopdropping a fellow participant’s work. The digital reproductions are a means to select and document the artworks, but do not replace the act of shopdropping the originals into unsuspecting stores.

I am on my way to the stationary store . . . Will you join me? Of course my card is going to have some green subversive message embedded into it. I urge you to do the same.

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Greendropping on Mommy Blogs

First day of greendropping in all the mommy sites. ok, there was also one dad site. I was surprised how easy it was to relate to the different posts. It helped that I was amongst my peers, and I could totally empathize, regardless of the content. A mom is a mom, is a mom.

Here are some of the comments I made, with a bit of context:

on emomsathome‘s post on ‘Monday motivation, mom gets it done‘, about fitting in a day’s work:

Your post raises the question of, what does being efficient means as a mom?

There are many ways to evaluate, from how much work you are able to accomplish, to how much happiness you are able to create for your family. Both are important.

My own bias as a mom and green blogger is to emphasize the need for moms to come to terms with the biggest challenge facing our children’s not so distant future. I am referring to global warming. No, I am not paranoid, just realistic.

The good news is there is a lot we can do to make a difference. Most important is to set the example and inspire our kids to become responsible green citizens. By driving less, and walking and biking more for instance.

on Parenthacks‘s post on ‘Reduce mess by putting ketchup under the hot dog’:

Love your link for recycling old mustard and ketchup bottles!

I wish you had a category for green hacking. I see global warming as the main threat to our children’s future. The more I read about it, the scarier and more urgent the problem seems to become.

Here is my green hack for the day: walk and bike with your kids, whenever possible. It’s good for them, for you, and the planet. Plus, it will save you gas money.

on 5 minutes for mom‘s post on ‘Project Runway Winner’:

I too am a huge Project Runway fan. And I won’t tell who won . . .

As a mom and green blogger, I just wish green things got as much attention as Project Runway. Not as exciting, but so critical for the future or our children. Not a day goes by without more news about the urgency of taking action. The health and future of our children is at risk. As moms, there is so much we can do to. First, by setting the example and greening our lives as much as possible. Walking, biking, using public transportation instead of driving. Just as an example.

We are stewards of the Earth.

on Scribbit‘s post on ‘Sprouting Egg Heads’, featuring creative way to turn Easter Eggs into miniature gardening pots for herbs:

Love the idea. Nothing wasted, plus you are teaching the kids about gardening, healthy eating, and also indirectly about green living.

As a mom, and green blogger, I feel we have so much responsibility towards our children, to prepare them for the environmental challenges ahead.

Thank you!

on bitch PhD‘s post on ‘Consumer Sunday’, about her urges to buy a car and get a new appartment in Chicago:

Boy, can I relate to you! I lived in Chicago for ten years while my daughters were little, and I do remember those times of standing on the L Platform, freezing winds piercing through my never warm enough clothes. I did not own a car either and often wished I did.

This being said, times have changed and with the planet heating up faster by the day, I could never get myself to buy a car if I lived again in a big city like Chicago. My green conscience won’t let me. Months of blogging away about all that global warming shit have killed all my consuming urges. Actually, I have nearly stopped driving my car.

I am glad you are mentioning the environment. As moms, there is so much we can do to help prepare our children for the environmental challenges ahead. What scares me most is how close we are to hitting the wall. We do have the power though to set the example, and make choices for our family that will make a difference.

If you get a car, at least, try to get one of those fuel efficient ones, and limit your outings to those days when it is minus thirty with windshield . . .

on Fussy‘s post on ‘Six Things I am All About This Week‘, about trivial things she liked:

Loved the Pepsi Commercial, and the Band-Aid touch . . .

May I add a #7?

How about something green, like taking a long walk with family for some CO2 free action?

Sorry, but I am a green mommy blogger, and I can’t help but drop green stuff whenever I can.

on Design Mom‘s post on ‘Baileys‘, a supplier of household items:

Wow! I loved the Eco-Household stuff. It reminded me of my grandmother’s farm back in France.

Lately though, I am on a no buy kick, and find great joy in making do with whatever I already have around the house. As a ‘born again green mom’ I find it incredibly satisfying to create aesthetically pleasing solutions out of ‘nothing’.

Small drops . . . Day after day, from me, from some of you. Let’s see what happens.

PS- I made up a icon for the project. Please feel free to use it on your site, or anytime you greendrop.

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The Green Drop Project

First, was Nadine‘s comment a few weeks ago:

‘oh, and blog away especially outside of the green media, seep slowly into the reticent consumer driven world.‘

followed by my discovery of Ryan Watkins-Hughes, and his ‘shopdropping‘ practice:

‘SHOPDROP: To covertly place merchandise on display in a store. A form of “culture jamming” s. reverse shoplift, droplift.

and then Kyle‘s powerful image:

‘The cup of change is being filled drop by drop in the dark. We hear each drop, and we are impatient because we hear the drops but don’t see how full the cup is. At some point it will overflow.’

Three seeds that did not go to waste. Some recent discussions on La Marguerite, have convinced me of the value of a blogging initiative aimed at strategically chosen populations outside of the green blogosphere. The three seeds have germinated and given rise to ‘The Green Drop Project‘.

‘To ‘greendrop’: to ‘drop’ relevant ‘green’ comments in mainstream, non green blogs, from a predetermined list of targeted blogs. The blogs will be highly trafficked blogs in areas determined to be most amenable to climate fight conversion. The initial focus will be on parenting, religious, and business blogs.’

Tomorrow, I will start greendropping in parenting blogs, and reporting daily on my blogging expeditions. The following is a list of all the parenting blogs with a Technorati authority of 500 or higher, that I will be visiting:

http://www.5minutesformom.com/
http://scribbit.blogspot.com/
http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/
http://www.parenthacks.com/
http://fussy.org/
http://www.designmom.com/
http://www.emomsathome.com/blog/
http://eddiejohn66.blogspot.com/

I invite you to join me and report on your expeditions. When you do, may I suggest that you mention the Green Drop Project, in addition to your name and blog URL? This way, we will be able to track the project as it spreads.

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Swiss Citizens Are Taking the Climate Fight To the Streets

The Swiss are proving that a few hundred thousand citizens, is all it takes to get authorities moving on the climate fight:

A people’s initiative calling for the government to slash greenhouse gases by 30 per cent by 2020 is set to come to a nationwide vote.

Pressure is mounting on the authorities to do more to fight global warming in Switzerland, especially after the government’s latest package of measures met with a mixed response.

Green groups and centre-left parties handed in their initiative to the Federal Chancellery in the capital, Bern, on Friday.

They managed to collect more than 150,000 signatures in just a year. To force a vote, 100,000 signatures have to be collected in 18 months under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy.

For Thomas Vellacott, president of the initiative, the popularity of the proposal – people were reported to have queued up to sign it – showed how important the environment was to the Swiss.

“We know that people are getting fed up with a situation where everyone’s talking about doing something about climate change but no one’s actually doing anything,” he told swissinfo. “People are ready to see some action.”

The initiative calls for carbon dioxide emissions to be cut 30 per cent below 1990 levels.

“We’re saying that we want it to be achieved in Switzerland, so we don’t want it to be achieved by buying cheap credits abroad when we know that four out of ten are actually insufficient or nothing happens,” explained Vellacott.

The committee, which includes the non-governmental organisations WWF Switzerland and Greenpeace, as well as the Social Democratic and Green parties, also want to push for action concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Now, all we need, is to change the laws to turn the United States into a direct democracy. In the mean time, we can always sign petitions and take the matter to the streets.

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They Are Trying To Preserve God’s Creation

Many of the discussions on this blog deal with the question of, how to evangelize the crowds and get them mobilized in the climate fight. It may be, that part of the solution lies in the unlikely realm of organized religion. ‘Renewal‘, a new documentary by Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller, depicts a convincing picture of the rise in environmentalist activism among religious communities of different faiths throughout America. From The Boston Globe:

The congregations include evangelical Christians in Kentucky and Muslims in Chicago, Connecticut Jews and Mississippi Baptists. All are striving to preserve what they see as God’s creation, and all are increasingly working together as conscious stewards of the earth. Says one of the committed, “What gives me hope on this is that I’ve never seen a wider coalition.”

The film, accordingly, is earnest, idealistic, and fired with the righteous potential of making a difference. And maybe it’s right to: When New Mexico Catholics and Native Americans joined forces recently to protest development that was siphoning water from farms, the results were a very pretty community celebration – and pro-environment resolutions passed by the local planning commission.

“Renewal” is really eight short documentaries stitched into a 90-minute whole, each focusing on a local action spearheaded by a different religious organization. Catholics and evangelicals in Appalachia raise awareness of the coal-mining practice known as “mountaintop removal” by flying over in helicopters and videotaping the devastation.

‘A Crime Against Creation‘ is only one of eight trailers, and also my favorite. I encourage you to watch all eight. I found it uplifting to see all these communities place some of their religious fervor into the climate fight. Faith can move mountains. Maybe now, it can protect them from being destroyed.

Thanks Kyle for the link.

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‘Yes, We Can’ . . . Two Environmental Lessons from the Brits

Things are shaking on the other side of the ocean.

First, is Do the Green Thing‘s latest monthly challenge. This time it is, ‘Do February’s Green Thing. Turn your heating down a bit or off for a bit and use your body warmth.‘ Check it out, it is hilarious, and a brilliant example of what humor can do to help people change their behaviors:

And thanks Cowrin, over at Suitably Despairing, for reminding me of what great things, Do The Green Thing has set out to accomplish. I was so inspired that I immediately sent a Be My Body-Warming Valentine to Prad. Never mind that I am a week early. I just couldn’t wait.

Second, is the Carbon Fast initiative started by the Episcopalian Church, in the context of Lent. I have to thank Lynn, from Organic Mania, for the tip:

The Church of England is urging people to cut down on carbon, rather than chocolate, for Lent this year.

Two senior bishops within the church are joining with development agency Tearfund in calling for a cut in personal carbon use for each of the 40 days of Lent, which begins tomorrow.

The Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who is also vice-president of Tearfund, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, have launched the “carbon fast” in response to what they say is an “urgent need” to reduce carbon emissions, and to protect poor communities around the world that are “already suffering from the ravages of climate change”.

The 40-day plan lists simple energy-saving actions that can lead towards a lighter carbon footprint, including snubbing plastic bags, giving the dishwasher a day off, insulating the hot-water tank and checking the house for drafts.

Participants are asked to begin the carbon fast by removing one light bulb from a prominent place in the home and live without it for 40 days, as a constant visual reminder during Lent of the need to cut energy. On the final day of the fast, people are encouraged to replace the missing bulb with an energy-saving bulb.

Jones said: “Traditionally people have given up things for Lent. This year we are inviting people to join us in a carbon fast. It is the poor who are already suffering the effects of climate change. To carry on regardless of their plight is to fly in the face of Christian teaching.

“The tragedy is that those with the power to do something about it are least affected, whilst those who are most affected are powerless to bring about change,” he added. “There’s a moral imperative on those of us who emit more than our fair share of carbon to rein in our consumption.”

Will we listen to the Brits, and with them, remember that ‘Yes, We Can‘? We can change, and start taking action on behalf of our planet.

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Don’t Worry, Act Green

No Impact Man nailed it this morning in his post on individual action. The important thing is not to worry about the outcome. Instead one should act, because one feels moved to do so. When considering environmental activism, I realize what stops me most often, are some thoughts I have about what the results might be, should be, probably won’t be. By now, I am familiar with all of them:

• ‘This is such a small thing, why bother?’
• ‘I want to put my energy in a bigger initiative that will reach many people’
• ‘Other people are better at this than I am, let them do it’
• ‘I am not quite ready yet, maybe next year’
• ‘I am going to put in all that effort, and for what results?’
• ‘What difference can I make, I am just such a small drop?’
• ‘There are already enough activists doing this.’
• ‘I have never done this before.’
• etc . . .
  

You add your own thoughts, now!

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