BEST ARTICLE EVER!

Click the title to read the article.

I feel much better about not being able to be a vegetarian. :)


The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes. Love,TreeHugger

Environmental Paradox

Click the title for a link to a really interesting article.

But, here's a video!




The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes. Love,TreeHugger

Olympics!

Just like most people in the beautiful country of Canada, I'm so into Canadian pride and the Olympics right now, it's not even cool.
Currently, I'm watching Canada beat the Swiss in hockey.
But this is not why I'm posting. I'm here to tell you about the greenest and brownest things about Vancouver, thanks to Grist.

Since I always say, bad news first, let's start with the brownest things about Vancouver, home of the Olympic games 2010!

Firstly, poverty and homelessness: Downtown Eastside, just blocks away from several Olympic venues, is marked by chronic poverty, open-air drug use, mental illness, and prostitution. It's been called the world slum in an affluent city in the world.

Secondly, affordability: According to a recent study, Vancouver has the least affordable housing market among 272 major cities in developed countries around the world. The Olympics have only worsened the shortage of affordable housing.


Thirdly, crime: The region's drug trade has lead to gang wars, with increasingly brazen attacks in 2009, including 60 homicides in the area.

Lastly, sprawl: Suburbs of Vancouver have followed typical sprawl patterns: public transit cannot keep up with the outward growth, since BC tilts its transportation funding towards roads. However, the city proper has handled growth relatively well.

Now, onto the greenest things. :)

Firstly, it has an ambitious leader: Mayor Gregor Robertson. He has staked his legacy on a plan to make Vancouver the most climate-friendly city in the world. This involves increasing building energy standards and getting residents to drive less. It already has the lowest per-capita emissions of any major city in North America.

Secondly, downtown density. The city's high population density is most apparent downtown. Three years ago, leaders led a citywide EcoDensity discussion to show how efficient land use improves quality of life.

Thirdly, mass transit: Vancouver has no highways downtown, but instead light rail, buses and ferries. There's also a new rapid rail line linking downtown to the airport, added in time for the Olympics.

Fourthly, low-carbon energy: Vancouver gets much of its electricity from convenient hydropower dams in the mountains. This keeps the city's carbon emissions low, despite the fact that hydropower dams cause significant environmental damage on their own.

Fifth, beauty: Vancouver has the good fortune of the constant reminder of what is worth protecting and what is worth saving. Just outside the city is the Strait of Georgia and the Mountains. This beauty inspires, beautifies the city and gives a constant reminder of the beauty of the environment.

Finally, the flashy new centerpiece: the Olympic Village. The new Olympic Village at Southest False Creek draws together green-building innovations, experiments in neighbourhood design and a blocky structure that looks more like Amsterdam architecture. It draws lots of Olympic-related media coverage, but its cost and shrinking affordable-housing goals are a negative.

Overall, Vancouver will have the same advantages and challenges it had before the Olympics. However, it will still be a city worth watching for anyone interested in figuring out ecologically sustainable urbanism. To read the full article, click the title.

For some more interesting articles from Grist, see below.

Rather Interesting Ask Umbra Articles about Recycling Lightbulbs & Political Activism

The Weird Weather and its Relation to Global Warming

The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger

Long Overdue

It's been much too long. But I've decided to post. Straight, and to the point.

There's a great article from Grist about how personal actions can make a difference.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-01-how-personal-actions-can-kick-start-a-sustainability-revolution

Also, The Cove has been nominated for a Grammy, so please, spread the word and sign the petition. http://savejapandolphins.org/takeaction.php

There's a horrible story about a baby elephant named "Baby Barack", who has contracted the herpes virus while travelling and performing with Ringling Bros. PETA's on the case and they have a petition here: https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2861

That's it for now.
I'll try to post more over the next couple of days.

The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger

PS: Check out the videos page for a video I posted over the weekend.

Earth Days

Hey.
I've been working on posting some blogs recently, but I want to post a few mega-blogs so those will be coming!
I'm currently waiting for my delicious vegan fries to be ready, so I thought I'd write a blog about the new documentary, Earth Days.

It's about the revolution of environmental activism, starting in the 1970s. The movie "gives an absorbing overview of how the green movement got started, and why it ended up where it is today." So, it basically shows how the green movement got started, who developped and influenced it, different struggles and challenges that the environmentalists have overcome and finally, where it is today and what challenges we need to overcome.

I haven't seen the movie but I definitely will try.
I'm just going to insert some quotes from the article that I read.

"Earth Days chronicles how groundbreaking, controversial writings like Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book The Population Bomb, which inspired Stephanie Mills’ famous commencement address “The Future Is a Cruel Hoax,” put environmental issues in the mainstream public’s consciousness."

"But Earth Days’ portrayal of the past left me with a dark view of the future. It gave me the sense that because the leaders of previous generations wimped out, the planet’s been desecrated past the point of salvation. As mentioned in the film, we’re going the way of the Maya, the ancient Egyptians, and other civilizations that taxed their resources to the point of societal collapse—except this time, ours is a global civilization that’s killing itself, and taking the whole world with it."



The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger

Phone Book, Dirty Energy, Climate Activism, PACT, etc.

*The following are all articles from Grist.

Phone Book:
Nobody really uses a phone book, and realistically, when said waste of paper is received, most people do not recycle it. "WhitePages, an online directory service, recently released the results of a survey it conducted indicating that only 15.9 percent of U.S. adults recycle their old or unwanted phone books, and that U.S. citizens are largely unaware of the environmental impact of printing and delivering so many phone books (five million trees cut down every year!)." WhitePages is sponsporing a “Ban the Phone Book” initiative that will hopefully encourage an "opt-in" program. This will allow citizens to only receive a phonebook if requested. 81% of respondents in the survey supported this idea. Some states have "opt-out" programs, which allows residents to indicate that they don't want a phonebook. Cincinnati Bell started an opt-in program, and Florida AT&T plans to test an opt-in program this fall.
Grist suggests lobbying your local government to achieve an opt-in or out program, while RECYCLING your old phone books.

PACT: Saving the world with your underwear
PACT, a sustainable apparel brand, has teamed up with Yves Behar and is launching three collections of premium organic cotton underwear for men and women. The making of these underwear has been "thought out with sustainability and social responsibility in mind". Each underewear collection is aligned with an organization that creates social and environmental solutions, such as 826 National, ForestEthics and Oceana. 10% of each sale is given to support these organizations. Behar said, "Our vision is to unite fashion and design with doing good in an authentic way, building a company that truly embodies 21st century needs, showing a new way for businesses to operate in the future.” To read more about the design and sustainability, click the title of the article. Be assured that the supply chain is certified to the highest possible environmental and social standards, and the packaging is compostable and reusable.

Coal Colouring Book:
Recently, the coal-industry group, Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy, released a colouring book for children entitled "Eyes for Frosty." Grist obviously thinks little of this colouring book as "they [snowmen] won't be around for long if the coal industry succeeds in stomping all over climate change legislation." Grist believes the book to be wonderfully crappy in regards to plot, character development and drawings. The book educates childrens and families about the history of coal, how it's mined, and how "important" coal is. To view the drawings and story, click the title. Also, at the bottom is a link to REAL climate art.

10 Green Royals:
This article by Grist features the 10 most green members of royalty.
The first is Prince Charles of England, who has an across-the-board interest in environmental issues. The Prince's Rainforests Project has advocated for tropical rainforest preservation and brought attention to the rapid depletion of global fish stocks. He also converted the Home Farm from conventional to organic food production and started Duchy Originals to sell organic and sustainably produced goods.

The second is Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan, who has earned a long list of awards and honours for her efforts to bring environmental issues into the limelight. She was the first woman in Jordan to earn navy diving certification and saw firsthand the human damage on the delicate coral reefs of the Red Sea. She then formed the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society and the Royal Botanic Garden, which focus on conserving the marine and native plants of Jordan.

Third is Prince Albert II of Monaco, who implements sustainable practices in his own country and urges others to do likewise. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation declares that sustainability and protecting the environment are challenges that require urgent and concrete action. Prince Albert wrote a foreword to the Monaco Declaration on ocean acidification, urging political leaders to take action. He also promoted energy efficiency as a way to combat climate change.

To read the rest of the articles and more details about these royal members, please click the title.

Two other articles that I've read, but are simply too long and detailed to summarize are
The Fallacy of Climate Activism, and Immersion in Nature Makes Us Nicer.

Grist has also been talking about the new Disney's Friends for Change song, Send it On, featuring the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.


The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger

May.

I decided to take a break from all my work and actually check my email.
I've been reading through some PETA Prime articles that I've been behind on and I found one with some truly inspirational words.

How do you want the world to be? Are you willing to do something about it? My vision is that all living beings will be recognized and honored for their contribution. That is the context for my life. How can our vision be expressed in the world? By the decisions we make and the actions that we take every day... This is one way to express what is important. Your vision can be expressed in many ways.

I thought it was inspirational at least. The article is about people who help in any way, and how we can help make a chance. http://prime.peta.org/2009/05/how-to-change-the-world?=cppenews509

There's also a few other articles that are worth reading:
http://prime.peta.org/2009/05/a-greener-garden-for-you-and-your-dog?=cppenews509
http://prime.peta.org/2009/05/animal-rights-vs-conservation?=cppenews509
http://living.peta.org/2009/instead-of-this-buy-this
http://living.peta.org/2009/five-minute-showers-to-save-time-and-the-planet
http://living.peta.org/2009/five-great-things-about-slow-cookers (Cause I love slow cookers)
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-05-review-eco-label-shampoos

Also, I thought I should inform you about a contest hosted by WWF's Earth Hour. If you send in a picture of yourself using a reusable bag, you can win a prize. (Don't quote me on it) http://wwf.ca/takeaction/shareit/?homepage

For those of you in Toronto, there's a discussion on Thursday May 14th hosted by IFAW with Senator Mac Harb and IFAW's Sheryl Fink.
The Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=84996104082
When: Thursday, May 14, 7-9 p.m.
Where: J.J.R. MacLeod Auditorium, University of Toronto, One Kings College Cir., Toronto

The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger

PS: Did everybody hear about the victory for seals? The European Union has boycotted seal products from Canada. :) Woop woop.

PPS: If you didn't hear about it, sign up for some e-newsletters! It was in WWF, IFAW, PETA, and so many others! I read the same thing about eighteen times!