Atlanta Conference Aims to Increase Participation in the ‘Green’ Movement
Posted by Sonja Ebron
The green movement is taking on more color as professionals from coast to coast prepare to convene at a first-of-its-kind conference in Atlanta, September. 23-26. Top African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American professionals from around the country in the academic, government, business, recreation and nonprofit sectors will share their expertise at the event: Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great American Outdoors.
The conference will encourage participation in the “green” economy and showcase people of color engaged in sports, such as mountain climbing, skiing, sailing and scuba diving. It also will highlight the efforts of Americans of diverse ethnic and cultural heritage to protect the environment and the scenic treasures in the nation’s public parks, forests and wildlife refuges.
Audrey and Frank Peterman, conference organizers and long-time outdoor enthusiasts, have been promoting America’s natural beauty to communities of color for the past 14 years. When the Petermans took a cross-country trip in 1995 and discovered the Badlands, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks, they saw very few other Black people in the parks. Inspired to alter that picture, they launched a campaign to publicize the parks to Americans of color.
Social Networks for Green People
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Social networks are popping up everywhere, Facebook-like platforms that let users upload pictures and profile information and connect with other users on a regular basis. There are social networks for everyone from knitters to hikers. Now a few green networks are helping people learn to live more sustainably together. Take a peek at these:
- 2People is focused on democratic action to find and promote solutions to climate change.
- Carbonrally lets you join or form a team and compete to save energy.
- Celsias lets you join projects and actions around the world and keep up with what others are doing on those projects.
- CoolTribe is a great site for connecting with environmentalists of all stripes doing work all over the world.
- GreenWala is the place to find and share great low-tech ways to replace bad habits and lower energy consumption.
- MakeMeSustainable is a joint carbon calculator that lets you suggest energy-saving actions to members of your group and get good suggestions in return.
- WiserEarth is for businesses, nonprofits and regular people who want to combine their efforts on many global projects.
There are tons more, but it’s great to see people connecting on ways to treat the earth better.
Blacks Must Lead On Climate Change
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Black people in the U.S. have a lot to lose from the twin crises of energy decline and climate change. These are global catastrophes that will soon cause massive changes in our lives. We can expect everything from utilities to common household goods to become much more expensive, and new regulations will make everyday activities more difficult. Increases in epidemics and natural disasters will make health insurance and mobility far more important. Our tough economic circumstances and lower access to information will make it harder to adapt to these changes.
Must See: The Story of Stuff
Posted by Sonja Ebron
I’ve always felt that power and natural gas utilities provide more than kilowatts and therms. They provide light, heat, hot water and data transmission (electronics). Likewise, energy is larger than utilities and gasoline. It’s the basis of our whole consumption society, driving everything from fast food to home construction. If you really want to understand how your use of everyday “stuff” affects the energy and environmental chain, take a peek at The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. It’s 20 minutes long, the most entertaining and informative discussion of these issues I’ve seen, and well worth the time!
We Have To Make Other Arrangements
Posted by Sonja Ebron
James Howard Kunstler is a pessimist on the effects of peak oil, no doubt about it. But he’s mostly right about the changes needed to survive the next few decades. For many years, Kunstler has served as the leading doomsday forecaster on the American economy and way of life, due to our unwillingness - perhaps inability - to grapple with the facts of declining access to cheap oil. He is certainly not alone in predicting the current crisis and the economic sand castles we’ve built on cheap energy, but his straight talk has only recently been welcome in mainstream media.