Hey folks. So truth be told, I like asking questions, but tomorrow Jill Buck, founder of the Go Green Initiative (a program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation) will be asking me the questions during her live radio show, “Go Green Radio”. (That would be Thursday, October 20th, at 9am-10am PST)
We’ll be chatting about the role of the media in the sustainability movement, going green (it is the name of her show and all), and what goes on behind the scenes of Current Green.
You can do something CARAZY and actually call in at 866-472-5788 and ask a question if you so desire, and/or you can listen live at the Voice of America.
Meanwhile…I’ll be memorizing my answers…. In all seriousness, hope you can join, it would be fun to have your voices and your thoughts in the conversation!
It’s a crisis in story telling. Most main stream media sources are not effectively communicating the importance or relevance of the Copenhagen Climate Talks. It might also be a crisis in marketing: since the general terms being used to describe the most important climate talks in history (to date) are being referred to as Copenhagen (makes me think of beer and vacation) and cop15 (makes me think of… well…nothing).
But do not fear!! The internet video is here!!!
I have two favorites at the moment that I want to share. I think this one (just released by Do The Green Thing) does a great job of giving explainer about what is going to happen at Copenhagen climate talks:
Then there is this video. Frankly, it didn’t do much for me, but it touches on one the most important issues that is under communicated: By the time Copenhagen rolls around, the negotiators will already have their marching orders. If you want to enjoy any idea of hope of influencing the potential outcome of the talks…NOW IS THE TIME.
And then there is this video produced by tcktcktck. It’s got star power and drama and makes me think back to Live Aid when I was a sweet young teen and believed anything was possible…that we actually can change the momentum of the way things are headed and save the problems of the planet. I enjoy living in that moment: I hope you do too and enjoy this video.
When you first hop on Twitter, it can feel like a wild world of the west. People are shooting information from every direction, and it’s hard to know when to duck and when to catch. Twilight Earth was one of the first accounts I learned to trust and follow, and I still remember the giddy feeling I had when they first RT’ed us (it was like being asked to dance at the prom). So needless to say, we consider it a great honor to be one of the featured video providers in their new Sustainable Video TV News initiative. The videos will feature information on green living and will come from a variety of sources, including our good friends at elephant journal.
I was actually in a local bookstore a couple of weeks ago and I noticed the Twilight movie and book shrine they had set up. (The popular teen vampire movie) It was incredible. They had books, magazine, t-shirts, ball caps and everywhere I looked, all I saw was TWILIGHT. They even had posters on the wall behind the checkouts.
The next day, the author of the vampire book sent a Tweet out on Twitter, thanking me for being a fan. Of course I tweeted back that @TwilightEarth has nothing to do with her franchise and that we have been around since long before the movie even came out. We are about the environment and people.
Twilight Earth stands for a brighter future. Video, movies and new social media are just a few ways to help bring about that brighter future. That’s how I came up with the idea for TwilighTV.
We’ve always been about collaborating with other great websites and writers, and this is one of the reasons for our success. Current TV is one our favorite sources for video news and we thought this would be a natural fit.
Adam isn’t one to lounge about, and recently announced the launch of Simple Earth Media:
What makes Simple Earth Media different from other environmental blog networks is that each one of the channels are already established and have their own social media followers. As an example, Twilight Earth has over 20,000 Twitter followers, but as a group, Simple Earth Media can claim almost 50,000, making it one of the single largest environmental forces for change on Twitter.
Combined with Facebook pages, StumbleUpon accounts, freelance Digg experts and almost a dozen of the Internets best environmental writers and experts, Simple Earth Media is ready to take New Media to the next level through writing, podcasting and even videocasting. We are ready to make a difference as a combined force for good.
The Green Festival is here! The Green festival is here! (Picture thousands of people jumping for joy in San Francisco and not a red coat in sight.) It’s affordable, informative, and filled to the brim with inspired people (seriously, it’s crowded) talking about the new green economy. When I first moved here my friend Greg said to me, “I don’t know Leah, I don’t think it’s your thing. It’s really crowed and it’s all about buying.” Little did he know that it is designed to “showcase organizations and businesses, programs and products that restore the planet and all that inhabit it.”
Green Festival is the largest sustainability event in the world and continues to grow year after year. Click here to learn more.
Green Festival is the only green event that screens exhibitors for their commitment to sustainability, ecological balance and social justice using Green America’s green business standards. Click here to learn more.
Green Festival offsets 100% of its electricity emissions with clean, renewable energy. Click here to learn more.
Green Festival walks its talk: each year it gets closer to being a zero-waste event. Click here to learn more.
Green Festival TV is busy uploading their videos with thought leaders on Current Green as we speak (yay). Check out a few of the videos they shared with us today~
Lester Brown: President of the Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 3.0
Amy Goodman: acclaimed journalist and host of Democracy Now!
Meet William McDonough: author of the “bible” of the sustainability movement
Van Jones: author, activist and founder of Green For Al
This week’s photo was sent to us by Ted Rheingold, founder of Dogster. We can’t stop laughing about this one:
You know the drill, think of a creative, fun and hilarious caption to accompany this dog in a coat, and we will pick the one we like the most on Friday.
So, leave your ideas in the comments sections and we will choose a winner by the end of the week! Have fun!
(and of course…submit a photo for next week). The prize? No prize! Just the thrill of the game (oh, and you know we’ll feature the caption we fall in love with on the Green Page)
Earlier this week we posted our first ever segment of Green Captions.
We got such a huge response! Thank you, all of you, for submitting such great captions! It was very hard to narrow it down, but we came to a consensus the one we liked the best.
And the winner is: “Don’t look to your left, but I think we might be standing in a field of beehives.” - by John Lesier
The Runner-up: “My god, bee sweaters? That’s sooooo 2008.” - by Mud Baron
Every friday we’ll announce the next weeks “Name this Picture”! We have already picked it out and can’t wait to throw it up on the blog to see what you all come up with! And remember, if you see a photo you’d like to see in this contest, send us a link in the comments section and you just might see it on our blog in the coming weeks.
Little known fact is that Amanda Rose (aka @amanda) was doing her masters thesis on Twitter when she started Twestival water.
I’ve been in awe of what she managed to accomplish with the organization she founded, Twestival. We just met at [re]think Hawaii conference, a high tech conference with an eye on sustainability. In case you were asleep at your computer screen and didn’t catch Twestival, it’s volunteer organizers put together “tweet ups” that raise money for charities. They’ve raised….drum roll…three quarters of a million dollars and donated 100% of the profits.
Here’s Amanda chatting about Twestival, using tech for good, and answering Twilight Earth’s question about how to get involved in local events:
In case you missed their first event, check out this video on Charity Water:
I don’t know about you: but the situation of Copenhagen blows my mind on a daily basis. The fact that it is very possibly one of the most significant decision making processes of this time re climate change policy, and the majority of people I know do not know it’s significance, or the impact of the decisions making process. It’s not their fault. It’s a failure of media makers.
So what are we doing? For starters we are working on a series called 360 Degrees of Copenhagen, to show the various perspectives in order to gain a better understanding of the relevance of the climate talks.
But for now, I am posing the question to you: can you explain Copenhagen in plain English? Do you have a blog post, a quick phrase that you use to tell your friends and family the relevance of the Copenhagen climate talks? And why people should care? Leave a comment, and we’ll compile share.
I like to tell my friends if they were going to pick one particular moment in history to engage their political leaders on climate change: THIS is that moment.
Meanwhile~tcktcktck is rocking the world via their dedication to communicating the urgency of the moment:
The final round of climate talks in Barcelona began today, and the activism has begun.
The TckTckTck campaign woke up negotiators in Barcelona with alarms clocks this morning, while Greenpeace climbers dropped yet another banner, this time from Barcelona’s famous cathedral, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, calling on world leaders to
step up their political action on climate change.
From Greenpeace:
The 26 activists are currently in the process of hanging a 600 sq m banner saying “World
leaders: make the climate call.”
Barcelona is host this week to the final round of climate talks before
December’s Copenhagen UN climate summit – this week the stage must be
set for the world to agree a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal.
“A good deal for the climate is still possible. All that is missing is
political will, not least from the US, which under President Obama has
fallen far behind the rest of the world, and is threatening to undermine
a planet-saving agreement in Copenhagen,” said Damon Moglen of
Greenpeace US.
“Negotiators at these talks can only get so far without strong direction
from their heads of state. This is the week for global leaders to make
the climate call.”
A recent Greenpeace analysis of the pending US climate legislation (1)
shows that the bills have been compromised by loopholes and handouts to
the fossil fuel industry and undermine President Obama’s pledge to lead
the world in a solution to the climate crisis.
“Frankly, it’s an embarrassment that President Obama has allowed oil and
coal companies to set the terms of the US response to climate change. If
America is to kick its addiction to fossil fuels and join the
international community in averting a climate catastrophe, President
Obama must put forward commitments in line with climate science and not
bow to political expediency.”
There is now decisive movement from the developing world. Brazil,
China, India Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea are preparing
to announce strong quantifiable plans involving serious cuts in emissions.
“The time for finger-pointing is over,” said Ailun Yang of Greenpeace
China. “It is clear that right now developing countries are making a
much greater effort to solve this problem – while industrialised
countries seem to be spending more time in downplaying the possibilities
of a good deal than they are in trying to get one.”
“The lives of hundreds of millions are on the line, along with the fate
of countless species, if the climate crisis is not solved now. Knowing
who is to blame will be of little consolation to future generations.”
When you first hop on Twitter, it can feel like a wild world of the west. People are shooting information from every direction, and it’s hard to know when to duck and when to catch. 
The final round of climate talks in Barcelona began today, and the activism has begun.
