I know it seems ridiculous, but a light went off in my head about the connection between the modern day Vampire character (you know the one, the guy vamp that falls in love with a mortal, and then changes his ways so he can be with her) and the sustainability movement.
Ever wanted to know which lobby group is doing the most to sabotage effective action on climate change? Well…ATTAC Denmark, Corporate Europe Observatory, Focus on the Global South, Friends of the Earth International and Spinwatch have created a campaign to make it known to the world, and they’ve even decided to make learning fun via their Angry Mermaid Contest. You have until December 13 to vote, when their winners will be placed on the world’s biggest losers reality show (just kidding..but you do need to cast your vote by December 13th if you want to play).
From the creators of the Angry Mermaid campaign:
Crucial UN climate talks take place in Copenhagen this December. While people, organizations and social movements around the world are calling for strong action to prevent climate change and ensure climate justice, big business has been lobbying to block effective action to tackle the problem, while also seeking to benefit from it. Lobbying is defined as attempting to influence the decision-making process.
The Angry Mermaid Award has been set up to recognize the perverse role of corporate lobbyists, and highlight those business groups and companies that have made the greatest effort to sabotage the climate talks, and other climate measures, while promoting, often profitable, false solutions.
It was another hard decision, but we decided to go with: “Nautica? C’mon, I specifically asked for North Face!” – by BYoung
Runner up is: “This jacket with my color fur? What a fashion faux paw!” – by keithjoforever.
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.
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.
Today we are starting a new segment: Green Captions! Here’s how it works: every week we will throw up a weird, random, crazy, and/or interesting photo that has appeared on Current Green and it is YOUR job to think of a creative, fun and hilarious caption. This week’s photo is brought to us by abhishek25:
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)
On December 7, 2009, the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy will gather delegates from all over the world to meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, (aka COP15). The goal of the event is to result in an “ambitious global agreement” that will include every country of the world. The event is complex, at times confusing, so we figured the least we could do is provide a 360 degree perspective of the conference via leading up to the event.
Joshua Wiese, program director of Adopt a Negotiator, webcams in from England to provide updates on the climate talks that have taken place in preparation for Copenhagen. As acting director of The Adopt a Negotiator project, Joshua coordinates a group of 12 dynamic young people from around the world as they track their climate negotiator throughout the process leading up to this December’s COP15. Here is what they’ve been up to.
The latest update from Bangkok – what’s new?
An update on some of the good news out of Bangkok, and, of course, some of the bad, as we get closer and closer to Copenhagen:
Lastly, Joshua talks to us about what YOU can do to pressure our world leaders to act on climate change in Copenhagen:
Joshua and his envoy are off to Barcelona for the next round of climate talks, there are five sessions left before the World’s leaders meet in Copenhagen for climate negotiations. To track Joshua, and his envy, you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and of course at Adopt a Negotiator webbsite.
Honestly, I wanted to to nothing more than put in my winter garden this weekend, but atlas, the largest climate event in history was taking place, so I hopped on my bike and coerced a friend to take the biodiesel ferry with me across the bay so we could take part in the 350 event in San Francisco.
OK, so here’s the dealio: It was an amazing event that ignited the imaginations of people around the world to get involved with climate change. When ever you are feeling lo, head on over to the 350.org flickr site and bask in the inspiration.
The strength of 350 is a clear, focused, informed message that spoke to people who might not self identify as activists.
The message: There is a problem: we have too much CO2 in the air to live in a healthy way on the planet.
A solution: Send a message to our negotiators at Copenhagen to take decisive action.
The variety of people who showed up at the SF event was a testament to their ability to bring together people across platforms who are interested in protecting the environment. Code pink was there, Green Peace was there, dogs who eat vegan were there, polar bears where there.
Umbra of Grist caught up with founder of Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org at the NYC event in Times Square.
What I found at the event in San Francisco was the mixing of old world of activism that points and yells at the problem and says, “broken!” and the new world activism that only has time to say, “here is a solution.” The speakers were there to keep us entertained and informed while we formed a big 350 (I was in the 3). But honestly, I couldn’t hear most of them. It’s not that they weren’t speaking loud enough. They were, after all, yelling. They were yelling at me. I don’t like being yelled at. There is a reason why activists yell, for many years they had to because no one was listening. They had to do radical things to capture the attention of the media and the public.
Now I should confess that I don’t like the word activist. Its a bit like “feminist” somewhere in the mix of life, the media, and society the term took on a “dirty” and negative association.
And while some of my dearest friends and people I deeply respect self identify as activists, and while many of my dearest friends even associate me as an activist (I show all the tell tale signs: I have gone to marches, I’ve contacted my political leaders, I over share on facebook about environmental news) when I try on the identity, it feels more like rusty stifling armor than a well fit glove.
Here is when I dropped the identity forever: When living in Virginia a few years back I drove up to New York City to attend what was at that point the largest protest on the planet against the Iraq war. It was an an amazing event. There were so many of us marching that the police took down the barricades. It was…peaceful, and there were people of every race and age present.
The next day I looked in the newspapers and nothing was there. A two line report in the back page of the New York Times reporting that some hoodlums had jumped on cars. All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And I couldn’t put my finger on it.
That’s when I found the following quote by Mother Teresa:
I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.
What she said resonated. I haven’t attended anti-rally as a participant since. (I have attended in the role of the media, because I believe they are important stories to tell.) But I wanted my personal participation, my voice, and energy to go toward events and organizations that are focused on finding the solutions.
With that said, I attended the 350 rally as a participant because I heard a “yes” in their message. Yes to a clear goal. Yes to our political leaders making decisions that will create policy that will think seven generation ahead..and yes to that it will take creativity and fun to engage the world in this issue.
The interview with 350 I posted on Current provoked an interesting discussion and criticism about 350 not gathering people to take more concrete action, and Janforgore questioned why didn’t they surround 350 power plants. I think you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. 350 had a mission: raise public awareness, show political leaders that people around the world are engaged with the issue and will support them. Mission accomplished. What you choose to do at that pool of information is up to you.
Meanwhile, here is an excerpt from a sample speech that the 350 organizers gave to their organizers around the world to read:
We rally around the number 350 because it is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, and so 350 defines what is necessary for the earth to continue as we have known it. We have relied upon the patterns of rainfall and ice and sea level that have marked this world for the ten thousand years of human civilization. If these patterns shift dramatically, the first victims will be the people living closest to the edge–people who have already begun to suffer from drought, from flood, from the spread of disease. We will not stand by and let that happen.
The second thing I’d like to say today is that you’re part of something that matters. The climate crisis is such a huge issue that it’s always hard to see what difference any of us can make–especially when our foes include some of the most powerful entities on earth. We can’t match them in money, but they can’t match us in numbers, in spirit, in dedication. And we have a secret weapon, which is the power that comes from scientific observation. Today we are taking that number 350 and making it the centerpiece of the debate over climate. We are reminding the world’s leaders that they can give all the speeches they want, but that won’t change the way that physics and chemistry operate. We are standing up for scientific reality, and in so doing reframing this debate in a way that will echo through the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen and beyond.
And the last thing I would like to say today is more personal: it’s a great privilege to be able to get out of bed in the morning and think to yourself, “There’s nothing more important than this that I could be doing today.” Take a moment to think about the amazing fact that across the globe today, people are doing just what you’re doing, hoping just what you’re hoping, believing just what you’re believing–and together we are making these deeds, hopes, and beliefs add up to something truly transformational.
There were several articles posted on Current yesterday about Pew’s Shocking new poll about American’s belief in global warming.
The timing of the report was interesting given that it was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. At the end of the day, it makes me feel sorry for our political leaders who are forever trapped between the information and the political will of an under educated country. The situation that this article sheds light on continues my week long ponder about the difference between management and leadership.
Grist reporters Dave Roberts and John Hiskes followed up with a break down of the stats and discuss the difference between opinion and fact:
The poll found that only 57 percent of respondents believe that “the earth is getting warmer,” compared with 71 percent in April 2008. Pew has asked similar sets of questions six times since June 2006 and has never found such a dramatic rise in skepticism.
Those who believe warming is caused by human activity (burning fossil fuels) wavered between 41 and 50 percent in the first five polls. This fall, the figure dropped to 36 percent.
Those who consider global warming a “very serious problem” ranged between 41 and 47 percent in the first five polls. This fall, the figure fell to 35 percent.
The shift was most pronounced among political independents. In that group, those who believe there is solid evidence for climate change fell from 75 percent in the April 2008 poll to 53 percent (that’s 22 points). Democrats who believe there is solid evidence for climate change dropped from 83 percent in the last poll to 75 percent. Republicans slipped from 49 percent to 35 percent.
Other recent polls haven’t found the rise in skepticism that Pew documents. An August Zogby poll found a majority of Americans wanted additional or continued action from Congress on climate change. A July poll from WorldPublicOpinion.org found Americans lagging other countries in demanding a climate plan, yet still asking their government to do more. For a bit of context on what scientists think, yesterday 18 leading scientific organizations sent a letter to U.S. senators reminding them of the scientific consensus that climate change is happening, that it is caused by human activities, and that its effects will be severe.
It should be noted, of course, that 57% ain’t bad, given the public’s generally low level of scientific knowledge. About 79% of people know the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa, while 80% believe prayer accelerates healing. Some 75% believe in angels but just 39% believe in evolution. Public opinion on matters of science is of great interest for a great many reasons, but it is a poor guide for public policy. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard on how we might best respond to what’s happening, but what’s happening is happening and we can’t change it by not acknowledging it. As Bill McKibben is fond of saying, nature doesn’t negotiate.
I think my grand parents would role over in their graves at this idea. I imagine this would be cause for the puritans to go on a witch hunt, and I don’t want to imagine what the people of the “greatest generation” would say to this.
But could it be true? It would seem that the question of the hour is:
Is the way to inspire, inform, and…change people’s behaviors…through fun?
Pete Cashmore explained a few details about the experiments funtheory.com is performing to show that you might be able to cut to the chase, cut out denial, and inspire people to change their bad behaviors.
Does turning a set of subway stairs into a real-life piano encourage people to use them (answer: yes, 66% more). Another experiment asks whether making a trash can sound like a 50ft-deep well will make people pick up their trash. An upcoming experiment, meanwhile, will turn a bottle recycling center into an arcade game.
So how does this relate to climate change? It’s hard not to notice that fun captures people’s imaginations. Take 350.org’s ability to inspire people from around the world to do crazy things like dance to Michael Jackson’s thriller and hold press conferences underwater to influence the climate negotiators of Copenhagen.
Is the answer to climate change to inspire people’s wildest imaginations and sense of play over scaring them to death with information and facts? Is that the way to develop more collaborative and innovative ideas that will transcend our illogical ways of consumption and pollution?
I was struck by something, and it’s hard to explain exactly; the other night I was at an event and was standing between 2 dear friends. To my left was an amazing activist working with one of the most successful organizations in thee country, she looked pale, down trodden, exhausted, and worried. To my right was a friend who worked with one of the most innovative media companies that successfully delivers messages about climate change that tend to go viral (i.e. people like their videos). She was bright eyed, her face was flushed, and she had a sense of calm about her. Now I know it is dangerous to compare people, but the moment wasn’t lost on me. It made me think about what, where, and how we put our energy into the predicament we are in.
Here is another random story that made me stop in my tracks: I was at lunch with a green blogger. We were deciding on an appetizer to share. I make it a point to keep me political ideas to myself unless people want to hear them, so it wasn’t until he asked why I don’t eat shrimp that I expained that shrimp are caught via trawling nets that unnessarily kill huge numbers of marine fish and mammals. He went on to order lunch with shrimp in it. I was fascinated. Mostly about what that experience has to teach us about how most of us manage and act on information.
Random tangent, but true none the less. Is their a moral to the story? To be continued.
Meanwhile..I’ll just weed my way through making sense of the facts…creatively.
On December 7, 2009, the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy will gather delegates from all over the world to meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, (aka COP15). The goal of the event is to result in an “ambitious global agreement” that will include every country of the world. The event is complex, at times confusing, so we figured the least we could do is provide a 360 degree perspective of the conference via leading up to the event.
Honestly, I wanted to to nothing more than put in my winter garden this weekend, but atlas, the largest climate event in history was taking place, so I hopped on my bike and coerced a friend to take the biodiesel ferry with me across the bay so we could take part in the 
change. When ever you are feeling lo, head on over to the 
There were several articles posted on Current yesterday about Pew’s 
