Friday, November 27, 2009

Copenhagen Comic

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Eat, Drink, and Save the World!

SLOW FOODS THANKSGIVING 2009

Slow Foods and Buy Nothing Day have intersected and culminated in Mauri Parks and Miriam Easley's Social Media project for Using the Social Web for Social Change. We are two 2010 BGI graduate C7 hopefuls that are great friends, Islandwood roommates, and budding change agents who want to influence our sphere of influence and encourage you to practice your sustainability leadership skills within your own sphere of influence this holiday season. Pay it forward sustainability style. Thanksgiving is a harvest of food and blessings. Let's celebrate that together!

Instructions:
Eat, drink, and Save the world! No action is too big or small, Yes we can!
EAT & DRINK locally; engage in meaningful conversation among friends on Buy Nothing Day November 27th otherwise known as "Black Friday"
No matter how you get involved let us know your plans
Leave a comment on Mauri Parks or Miriam Easley's blogspot hip hop namaste or greengov


Action Ideas:
Engage in a national twitter online live feed on Friday BND hosted by Adbusters #BND09
Engage a perfect stranger with the a provocative question around consumerism, sustainability, and climate change and post the question in your social media network
Send us your photos
Send us a video log
Post your own blog and link to our blog or eat, drink, and save the world website
Pledge to do your own event

Stay tuned. Tomorrow the website will be unveiled. Keep checking in on our blogs for more information.

Ride the swell of a collective consumer consciousness social media project. Love and gratitude.

Mauri and Miriam


Please respond off the channel here:

mauriparksbgi@gmail.com
easleyme@gmail.com

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Copenhagen Climate Summit is bringing to light the comparisons of China's GHG emissions vs. the U.S.'s GHG emissions. There is now a website dedicated solely to China, their emissions, and their impact on climate change. This brings the question: Does the U.S. have such a website?
Regardless (not the topic of this post, just something it brought to mind), there is a fountain of information there. Legal Planet brought this up in one of their blog posts. One of the things they brought up was looking at both U.S. and China's transportation and manufacturing contributors.
China looks like they've surpassed the U.S. in GHG emissions but who's to blame? Is it China for following our lead in development strategy? Or is it the U.S.'s obsession with cheap, plastic, lead filled toys? Whatever the case, it's clear that China and the U.S. need to work together to set an example for GHG reduction to the rest of the world.

Copenhagen Climate Summit Breakdown

The Climate Summit is coming up soon. It starts on December 7 and will go until December 18. As a full time sustainable MBA student as well as being employed full time, I have a difficult time keeping up with all of the things going on the world right now: health care reform, the economic slump (is it really on an upturn?), climate change; this is just to name a few things. I would personally like to have cheat sheets to all of these things that I could trust. The breakdown of who, what, why, where, and how is incredibly useful to me. So, I broke down the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference for myself and for my readers.

When: December 7 - December 18
Where: Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark
Who:
Over 5,000 delegates from the UNFCCC participating countries plus over 10,000 officials, members of the media, advisers, and activists.
Why: I mean, come on...I think we all know at this point that something drastic in climate change policy needs to occur here. Also, some of the provisions in the Kyoto Protocol will begin expiring in 2012 and on top of that, they don't really go to the extremes needed for the required results.
How: 11 days of talks, they've gotta be able to figure out something! You can get involved by staying informed; signing petitions like the one at Seal The Deal, Greenpeace, or Friends of the Earth; or add a personal message through Friends of the Earth Climate Capsule.
What:
Topics of discussion
  • The importance of developed countries taking the lead on climate change policy and GHG reductions. The European Union are proposing to reduce their GHG by 30% of 1990 levels by 2020.
  • Developing countries should, together reduce their emissions 15-30%.
  • The Kyoto Protocol doesn't cover international flight and shipping; the new agreement needs to.
  • How will countries adapt to the inevitable pressures of climate change?
  • Research and development is necessary for forward momentum. The potential for change with green technologies are tremendous.
  • A reformation of Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism.
  • Building a carbon market.
  • Developed countries' role in supporting developing countries.
What might happen from these talks:
  • The U.S. and China step up and push for a comprehensive and aggressive agreement.
  • The current targets are agreed upon and no stepping up occurs.
  • A limited deal of mixed targets occurs.
  • The Kyoto Protocol is extended.
  • The talks are prolonged into 2010.
  • They all puff up their chests, talk about this amazing agreement that just happened, and then do nothing.

So, this is my own personal breakdown of what I understand to be happening. It's a huge deal, a fate-of-the-world big deal. It's important that the United States show up in full support of creating and meeting ambitious goals with this agreement.

There was a lot of information out there about COP-15 so, please, if something has been misrepresented or if there's a gap that needs to be filled, comment on this post and I will incorporate it into the main post (with credit to you and a link to your blog).

Saturday, November 21, 2009

In Response to Psychological Sustainability

Last week I commented on the Army's lack of psychological support for their Soldiers and Families. The Army is aware of the lack and are taking steps to fill it. Listen to this report from NPR about the Army Comprehensive Fitness Program.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Green Office Guide

Check out Sustainable Industries Green Office Guide for tips on how to make your office a more sustainable place!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Japan, U.S. Forge Consensus on Climate, Cleantech

"The United States and Japan will work with each other to develop renewable energy technologies and other cleantech, as well as set an example for emissions cutting, after a mutual pledge from President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama." Full article.

The U.S. and Japan are working together to help each other cut their GHG emissions 80% by 2050. They hope to set an example to reach a global emission reduction of 50% by 2025. They will do this with the development of carbon capture and sequestration technologies. Unfortunately, they also plan to develop nuclear technologies as well. Two steps forward, one step back.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Psychological Sustainability

Last week 13 people were killed and 30 wounded by a military psychiatrist at Fort Hood.













I was unsure on whether or not I would address this in my blog. It's a sensitive and tragic topic and I wish to do it tastefully. To begin with, my sincere and deep sympathy goes out to the families that have lost loved ones. I can only imagine the pain that is being felt. Many Soldiers and Families consider their military installation Home; a connection needed for those who are always moving. The Soldiers and Families deal with constant stress and worry while the Soldiers are deployed and it seems so unfair that they now will have the same stress at Home. Home is supposed to be a safe haven.

While my blog title, GreenGov, implies that I will speak about environmental issues, I'm really inquiring about sustainability issues. This is such an issue.

I would primarily like to address in this post the responsibility of the government to take care of their Soldiers mental and emotional well being. After all, sustainability cannot be addressed when basic needs are not being met.

More and more evidence is accumulating that suggests that the Fort Hood gunman was linked to Al-Quaida. This is not a case of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) gone too far. For me though, it brings to light the need for a psychological screening process for all Soldiers. The current screening process that Soldiers go through concerns me. It's very easy to play the system and get through the screening with a "pass". Just tell them what they want to hear. This screening does not happen to all Soldiers and when it does, it only happens upon redeployment. They are encouraged to seek help if needed and to keep an eye out for psychological warning signs in their buddies. But going for help is seen as a sign of weakness and is often avoided. Also, they are often encouraged to seek help from their chaplain, not a trained psychiatrist. I believe that this is a huge gap in the military system and it's the government's responsibility to ensure that this gap is closed. Suicide and violence rates have accelerated in the last few years and while surface level actions are being taken (i.e. PowerPoint presentations and video on not being suicidal and helping your friends not be suicidal) there is no real system set in place to offer the psychological support that these Soldiers need.

There is a need for a system to be put in place that helps our Soldiers reintegrate into their lives at home. This system should be comprehensive, including regular therapy sessions, stress management classes, and family therapy sessions to help them reconnect with their home lives. In addition, group sessions should occur; we can't even imagine the horrors that they have seen during their deployments and it's important for some, to seek solace among others who have shared experiences. Perhaps if these communication lines are open, warning signs can be spotted earlier to either help those that can still be helped and to take the necessary actions needed to defuse others.

My husband recently became a civilian after being in the Army. During the six years of his enlistment as a medic and after two deployments to Iraq, he never had psychological screening. I'm thankful that he has a strong mind and hasn't had issues but not everyone deals with emotional stress as well.

There does not seem to be an end in sight for deployments and our Soldiers and their families are getting tired. There needs to be a support structure to ensure the psychological sustainability of our Soldiers.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water = EPA Vs. FDA

A plastic water bottle with a picture of a serene glacier landscape is a commonly observed phenomena now. No one drinks tap water now and we're scared away from it by by bottled water companies. So what is really the difference? One of the big interests for me were the different regulations imposed on them. The EPA and the FDA are very different organizations with different priorities.

I did a bit of research, finding articles about the taste tests (people couldn't really tell the difference, especially when it came to high end brands vs. low end brands) but that wasn't really the information I was digging for. I wanted to know what regulations were in place, what levels of contaminant were acceptable, what tests are done and how often.

I came across a study done by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). It compared bottled water, carbonated water, city water (using surface water) and small town water (using well water). To keep it simple I'll focus on bottled water and city water.

In the spirit of transparancy, I had a bias against the FDA going into this. Their support of giant agribusiness, their choice to ignore CFO's as a place to start in the fight against H1N1 (and other potential diseases or bacteria), and their loose regulations on pharmaceuticals (to name a few items) has not made me a fan. I'm not suggesting that the EPA is without their flaws, however.

My findings were a bit more disturbing than previously thought.



It seems to me that tap water is regulated more than bottled water. I looked for studies testing both tap and bottled water for contaminants but did not find the research. I'm sure it's out there and will be sure to follow up if I find it.

My conclusion: get yourself a stainless steel water bottle, a filter for your tap and leave the BPA infested bottled water alone. Why spend the extra money?

Get Involved!

While the government has a responsibility in sustainability, we as American citizens have a responsibility to voice our concerns and opinions to our representatives. For easy-to-access contact information for your area go to Congress.org.