- This amazingly clever and well-done campaign is worth seeing how to adapt it to your city. At a talk last night by the head of our city’s Solid Waste, Regina Wheeler explained Santa Fe’s goal of zero waste and said how difficult it was to do the “Reduce” part of the famous “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”- ie. getting people to stop consuming so much. Having highly visible goals and an aggressive inclusive campaign are a good start! Watch the inspiring, well-done video. - Editor

Vancouver’s Innovative Talk Green to Us Campaign
Vancouver has adopted a set of bold and inspiring goals for the long term. They will require harnessing our city’s greatest resources—people, businesses, organizations, schools, and institutions. We won’t get to perfection by 2020, but we’ll start on the path to global green leadership.
We invite you to be a part of this historic transformation. Help us find the solutions to creating a prosperous and sustainable economy, a healthier planet, and happier people. What would you do to make Vancouver the greenest city in the world? Among all of the great green ideas out there, which would you pursue first? Help us prioritize between blue-sky visions and immediate opportunities. Give us your pet ideas and your audacious possibilities. Please provide your input and vote on the ideas that you think will work best before October 7, 2010. 
http://www.talkgreentous.ca/about.php
http://www.talkgreentous.ca/index.php

Green Economy
Climate Leadership
Green Buildings
Green Transportation
Zero Waste
Access to Nature
Lighter Footprint
Clean Water
Clean Air
Local Food
http://www.talkgreentous.ca/goals.php0

QUOTE
“Making Vancouver the greenest city in the world will
require harnessing the city’s greatest resources—its
people, businesses, NGOs, schools, and institutions.
All hands on deck are needed to help achieve the
transformation into a one-planet city.

By sparking a global competition for the title of
Greenest City, we hope to inspire not only Vancouverites
but also the citizens and governments of cities
around the world to join our efforts.”
http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity/PDF/Vancouver2020-ABrightGreenFuture.pdf

- Determining the amount of greenhouse gases in products to allow for comparison is not so easy. This example shows that it took a year and $100,000 to do one type of product, so imagine how hard it will be to do this with all boxes, bags, and tins of foods in a grocery store. - Editor
Is Your Product Good for the Climate? Here’s How to Prove It
BSF manufactures a variety of window films, which are retrofitted to the inside of glass surfaces, allow sunlight to penetrate windows while reducing solar heat gain. BSF recently completed a climate declaration — the greenhouse gas emission portion of an environmental product declaration (EPD), a lifecycle assessment of a product’s environmental performance. The climate declaration analyzed film, finding that, when installed, the films prevented more GHGs from entering the atmosphere over time than was expended in their manufacture, shipping, installation and expected end of life disposal and recycling.  The cost to produce the climate declaration was just over $100,000. The document took a year of work to assemble, requiring a cradle-to-grave lifecycle analysis. One motive for BSF’s climate declaration came from the company’s customer base: queries, lots of them. “Our sales team was reporting increasing questions from our international customer base,” Fremont says. “Customers wanted to know if our product was really carbon neutral or carbon negative.” These questions have been raised around the globe.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS212248723520100824

What Is A Climate Declaration

An increasing attention on climate change has driven the demand for new ways to provide information on products and services climate impact. Purchasers and consumers are asking for information to make climate conscious purchase decision.
Climate declarations are based on quality secured scientific methods. They provide a holistic approach on products and services climate impact and can be used by purchasers and consumers who want to take climate considerations in their purchases.
http://www.climatedec.com/  

- I went to the cohousing conference Sustainability through Community (www.cohousing.org/2010/overview) in Boulder this past weekend since my work and heart are in sustainability, and I live in cohousing. It was gratifying to hear the plenary speakers have a clear view of just how much and how fast we need to change to save our planet. The new element was how to relate this urgency to cohousing. When people visit our Commons cohousing, they ohh and ahh over its lovely landscaping and how adorable it is that the kids are constantly having a blast. Yet, the potential is far deeper. We who live here know the value of sharing resources such as tools and Common House, but now we must probe deeper into “Waking Up from the American Dream.”

Kids thriving in cohousing

 
The first speaker was David Wann (http://www.davewann.com/), who gave an articulate explanation of voluntary simplicity, begging us not to “Drop the Egg that Belongs to the Future.” He’s coming out with a book in January- The New Normal: Agenda for a Healthy Planet, but his other books are excellent, too. For cohousing, his vision is to have cohousing become political- as examples of a more sustainable lifestyle, we need members on City Councils, we need to be activists, “converting shame to pride.” The psychological and social aspects of shared living can replace the emptiness of the mainstream American lifestyle that relies on consumption rather than social connectedness. Get him to come speak at your conferences- you won’t regret it.

Conference Chart- the US has 2% of the world’s oil resources, yet we use 25% of the oil.
Do we want to continue this? Think of the dolphins and turtles that are dying. 

Two and a half days of speakers and sessions revealed so much. How to reduce energy- new cohousing is creating net zero energy buildings- no need to wait for 2030! Older ones can use DER- Deep Energy Retrofits. One cohousing estimates that their energy savings have saved $720,000 in energy bills! One family used only 1 tank of gas in an entire year in part because the resources they needed were right there!  How to reduce waste- composting, fun clothing swaps, shared resources, permanent give-away bins, etc. How to eat locally- community gardens, a CSA on your own land, strong ties with coops and nearby CSA’s, a formal commitment to eat organically, and more. You have never wanted to plant potatoes? Well, when your community is having a “Cinco de Mayo” potato planting party, with chips, salsa, beer and music- you won’t want to miss the fun party!  And get the job done amidst laughter and camaraderie!

There is no doubt that cohousing has the potential to become powerful incubators of “The New Normal” where less is more, used is great, sharing is better than possessing, growing food, seeing solar panels and clothes lines are the norm, eating with your friends regularly means walking a few yards, having no more babysitting worries- and more! Even outside of cohousing, we all need to replace our unprecedented material expectations with healthy psychological bonds.  - Editor

- While many cohousing projects are deeply committed to solar power, our cohousing still retains an old restriction on the visibility of solar panels. We have them but a few of us are not proud of them- yet.  In California, it is against the law to prohibit solar panels based on “esthetics.” Everywhere needs this law. Solar IS the “New Normal.” One way to help create this is to get solar panels on the White House. Sign the petition!- Editor

Solar on the White House Campaign Heats Up

It’s happening. The effort to get solar back on the White House is getting national attention. We were so jazzed up by the effort, we reached out to the Globama to help drive traffic to the petition. Now, many other organizations are on board, including the Solar Energy Industries Association. The effort needs more grassroots support and national attention before anything happens. To sign the petition and raise more awareness-It’s happening. The effort to get solar back on the White House is getting national attention. We were so jazzed up by the effort, we reached out to the Globama to help drive traffic to the petition. Now, many other organizations are on board, including the Solar Energy Industries Association. The effort needs more grassroots support and national attention before anything happens. To sign the petition and raise more awarenesshttp://www.solaronthewhitehouse.com/
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/05/solar-on-the-white-house-campaign-heats-up

- The Gulf devastation going on right now is causing deep anguish in many of us. A speaker on the radio yesterday said that he was seeing people in Florida actually getting sick because they knew they were watching the death of the ecosystem they loved so deeply. It helps your soul to take action. This Saturday, you can visibly support NO offshore drilling and YES to clean energy. - Editor

 

Hands Across the Sands
Hands Across the Sand is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about protection of our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fishing industry.  Let us share our knowledge, energies and passion for protecting all of the above from the devastating effects of oil drilling.
A Message To The World
Hands Across the Sand is now international. Any person in any country may plan events on this website. This is a peaceful gathering of the people of the world. Planning an event is as simple as this:
 Go to your beach (or city) on June 26 at 11 AM in your time zone.
 Form lines in the sand and at 12:00, join hands.
The image is powerful, the message is simple.  NO to Offshore Oil Drilling, YES to Clean Energy.
http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/

QUOTE
“Forget the politicians––they all think short term.
 But there is something I have found that works. Identify an issue with a campaign that has emotional appeal. Advocate a specific policy. Get letters, petitions, and faxes.  With thousands of signatures, the politicians will join the parade. No- they will try to lead the parade.
I did this three times with success.  To push for the Antarctic treaty; to end French nuclear testing in the Pacific; and to promote a new legal concept at the U.N., ‘The Rights of Future Generations.’
We must appeal to the public directly with a powerful message and tie it to a specific action or change in policy.
I think this is the only way.”
 
Jacques-Yves Cousteau

http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/10/jacques-cousteau-ocean-acidification-warming/#more-26671

Food - While the local and sustainable food movement is making progress globally, this remarkable example is worth reading every single word! Setting the goal of 2018 to be food independent is astonishing, but even more astonishing is that this town may actually do it! They may not have the water limits of many areas that will need to add major water conservation, as well. - Editor

Incredible Edible (Is Incredible!)
The residents of Todmorden in England are working together to fast-track the creation of a local food system—the town wants to declare food independence by 2018. Considering that only two years into the project, a third more of the residents were tending their own vegetable gardens and 15 times as many townspeople were keeping backyard chickens (part of the Every Egg Matters campaign), the town will probably meet its goals.

The brainchild of Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible started very small, with a few herb gardens and tree plantings. Warhurst and her volunteers allowed the program to expand organically, and Warhurst said focusing on making the initiative as inclusive as possible is how her vision differs from that of the Transition Town movement: “We are working with people who would find transition towns hard to identify with. Our project is all about finding the lowest common denominator, which is food, and then speaking in a language that everyone can understand. This is all about action.”

The group seems to have found a winning formula because now most of the town’s major institutions are involved: The local council okayed the planting of 500 fruit trees near local recreation fields. The major housing authority started giving its tenants seed packets and gardening courses. Local schools have switched over to only using local produce in cafeterias, and each school has some sort of garden—at this writing, Incredible Edible was attempting to secure funding to build an aquaponics center at Todmorden High School  (see drawing).
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

Energy - Such a victory for what is right- city-owned power! Even $46 million spent on a massive PR campaign failed to sway the people! Let’s get more “homemade fliers and videos and small protests.” Get active in safe and renewable energy for your city- it’s possible! - Editor
Activists for City- Owned Power Win
Public anger at PG&E- particularly among its 15 million customers- may be at an all-time high. California voters rejected Proposition 16 by a 5 point margin, despite the fact that PG&E spent $46 million on a statewide advertising blitz while opponents raised less than $90,000. Proposition 16 called for two-thirds majority support from voters before local governments could form or expand municipal utilities. Critics said the company was trying to sabotage communities eager to procure greater portions of their power supply from renewable energy sources like wind and solar. California’s municipal power agencies, including those in Santa Clara, Palo Alto, and Alameda, opposed Proposition 16 but were prohibited by law from campaigning against it. That left the work to a ragtag group of activists who spread the word via homemade fliers and videos and small protests.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15266026?nclick_check=1

- Three motivators for joining the sustainability movement- guilt/ reality check, peer pressure, and worry about the future. The more we build local systems of sustainability, the more we can be one of the monkeys leading to that 100th monkey when, finally, everybody joins in. We must also contribute to the big picture for large changes, while insisting that blowing up mountains for coal, poisoning the land for fracking natural gas, spreading radioactive nuclear materials across the land, and of course, puncturing the earth’s crust a mile below the sea’s surface are NOT “CLEAN.”

While we wait for the giants to battle it out, locavores recognize the order of importance- water, food, waste, and energy, as these are primary and essential elements for both adaptation and mitigation of our major world problems. Now- this very instant- is the time to get rolling! It doesn’t take a genius to see that big political changes are not occurring fast enough and that our plans must include adaptation to climate change, Peak Oil, Peak Fish, Peak Soils, and more. - Editor