Archive for Al Gore
Season’s greetings and welcome back for another edition of our weekly green news highlights. This week: should graffiti be illegal if it aligns art with nature? Which countries are leading the fight against climate change? And will video games be revolutionized to include thought-provoking and educational material on environmental issues?
Wunderbaum in Brooklyn, NY Image Credit: Mossitka
Urban Times asked – Green Graffiti: Is it illegal? Edina Tokodi is the founder of NYC’s Mossitka, “a collective of eco-minded street artists dedicated to green guerilla tactics and inspired public art. Mossitka’s installations, animated and playfully, call to mind a more familiar, environmentally friendly state breaking down cold urban norms.” Stunning moss designs are easily noticed on the streets of Brooklyn beautifully blending art with nature in urban neighbourhoods. Todoki explains: “I think that our distance from nature is already a cliché. City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery. As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life.” Traditional graffiti has been condemned for devaluing urban landscapes, but ‘green’ graffiti actually “forges a strong connection between the urban neighbourhood and nature. It does not deface public property, and therefore, should not be classified as illegal art in any shape or form.” It’s sustainable art. You can see more of Mossitka’s work here.
Which countries fail the most at climate leadership? According to the most recent Climate Change Performance Index released December 6, 2011, Europeans dominate the fight against climate change with Sweden, the U.K., and Germany topping the list. No country on the list was awarded a ranking of 1st 2nd or 3rd with the label that no one is doing enough to combat climate change. The US and Canada didn’t even rank in the top 50, at 52nd and 54th respectively. Denmark had demonstrated the most improvement and Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Estonia had the worst CO2 emissions.
This is how the Climate Change Performance Index works:
“On the basis of standardized criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries that are, together, responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. 80 percent of the evaluation is based on objective indicators of emissions trend and emissions level (50 percent for emissions trend, 30 percent for emissions level). 20 percent of the index results are built upon national and international climate policy assessments by more than 200 experts from the respective countries.”
One Day, Video Games Will Beat Climate Change. Why not use video games to educate kids on climate change? Soho House NYC recently played host to ‘Gaming for Good’ run by design blog leaders PSFK. PSFK and Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project collaborated on a contest to solicit gaming concepts from designers around the world. The designers’ challenge was to create a game that still engaged players while concurrently battling the climate crisis. PSFK recently published a report called ‘The Future of Gaming’ which concluded “brands, non-profits and communities can leverage to build engagement and motivate their target audience towards achieving a desired goal or outcome.” In other words, video games can be used for good and it doesn’t have to mean it’s a boring educational program.
Stay tuned for more green news.
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Tags: Al Gore, Al Gore Climate Reality Project, climate, Climate Change, Climate Change Performance Index, climate crisis, Climate Reality Project, co2 emissions, eco-friendly video games, eco-minded, Edina Tokodi, emissions, environmental issues, environmentally friendly, Gaming for Good, green art, green graffiti, green guerilla, green guerilla tactics, Make-it-Yourself toxin-free Green Cleaning kits, Mossitka, organic fashions, planet forward, PSFK, reusable bags, reusable bottles, reusable shopping bags, reusable stainless steel bottles, reusable water bottles, stainless steel bottles, stainless steel thermal travel mugs, sustainable art, Sustainable Practice, sustainable product, video games, waste-free lunch bagsWelcome back for another edition of green news weekly featuring a few interesting stories from around the globe impacting the environment. The highlights include: NBC Green Week is on the air; higher American recycling rates will equal more local jobs; and American Idol season 10 contestants participate in a PSA for the Plastic Pollution Coalition not appreciated by their sponsor. Just click on the links to learn more.
On Sunday, November 13, 2011, NBC Green Week kicked off as part of NBC’s Green is Universal initiative. “Each month, NBCUniversal reaches over 100 million consumers via our 40 on-air, online and mobile platforms. With a portfolio that includes iconic mainstays like the TODAY show, Nightly News with Brian Williams, NBC Sports and newer brands like Oxygen and iVillage, environmental programming takes on many shades of green throughout the year. Twice annually—November’s Green Week and April’s Earth Week—NBCUniversal dedicates a week of programming across all its brands to inform and educate audiences about environmental topics.” This week NBC programming is also “bringing humor to the environmental movement through great comedy pieces in many of its shows. Catch a laugh with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s Eco-Jam and The Recharger superhero skits, Al Gore’s appearances on 30 Rock and The Office’s one-and-only Dwight Schrute as the recycling-promoting Recyclops.”
On Tuesday, November 15, 2011 it was ‘America Recycles Day.’ Adrian Martinez from the NRDC (National Resources Defence Council) attended a press conference and reported some exciting news: ‘Recycling equals jobs.’ This was based on a report ‘More Jobs, Less Pollution’ which “was prepared by the BlueGreen Alliance, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, NRDC, Service Employees International Union, Recycling Works! and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) by the Tellus Institute.”
The More Jobs, Less Pollution report showed that most of American municipal solid waste can be recycled, reused or composted and currently only 33% is diverted from landfills. By implementing a national recycling and composting strategy committed to 75% waste diversion by 2030, 1.5 million local jobs would be created while saving water and energy, reducing pollution and combating climate change. A national recycling rate of 75% “will also significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions–recycling 75 percent of our waste is equivalent to shutting down 72 coal fired power plants or taking 50 million cars off the road.“
Sponsors can get in the way of an important environmental message. Forbes reported ‘Under Pressure from Sponsor, American Idol Pulls Plug on Plastic PSA’ which Treehugger also picked up on with ‘Coca-Cola Wins Again: American Idol Abandons REFUSE Plastic Message After Pressure From Sponsor’. The contestants from Season 10 of the 2011 edition of American Idol all donated their time for a Public Service Announcement promoting the REFUSE disposable plastic campaign through the Plastic Pollution Coalition. “Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists in some form,” says Lauren Alaina, the runner-up from Idol’s tenth season. Ms. Alaina further urges people to, “refuse single-use and disposable plastics,” an ethos emphatically reiterated by Haley Reinhart, who goes on to say, “Single-use plastics and disposable plastics are the main source of plastic pollution.”
Forbes also reported “One of the show’s sponsors was very angry at seeing the piece and demanded that the show have it removed,” says Plastic Pollution Coalition executive director Daniella Russo. “When I asked if the sponsor in question was Coca-Cola, they said, ‘You didn’t hear it from us.’ But even before all of this we were told that the PSA could only launch after the American Idol concert tour because Coca-Cola was a sponsor and might get upset.” Coca-Cola doesn’t offer sustainable bottles for their beverages relying on plastics as a vessel for their popular drinks. Treehugger also reported this week on November 10, 2011 in a similar (unpleasant) story: Grand Canyon Abandons Bottled Water Ban, After Meetings With Coca-Cola.
And that’s a few tidbits from this past week in the green news.
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Planet Forward is an online retailer of ethically-made, earth-friendly products designed for everyday use with a distinctly urban feel. Products include reusable stainless steel bottles, stainless steel thermal travel mugs, waste-free lunch bags, reusable shopping bags, Make-it-Yourself toxin-free Green Cleaning kits, organic fashions and other accessories. SALE 50% OFF ALL PRODUCTS – SHOP NOW !
Tags: 30 Rock, Al Gore, America Recycles Day, American Idol, American Idols, BlueGreen Alliance, Bottled Water, Climate Change, coca cola, combat climate change, compost, disposable plastics, divert waste, Dwight Schrute, GAIA, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Grand Canyon, green news, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas emissions, Haley Reinhart, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, iVillage, Jimmy Fallon, landfills, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Lauren Alaina, Make-it-Yourself toxin-free Green Cleaning kits, National Resources Defence Council, NBC, NBC Green, NBC Green is Universal, NBC Green Week, NBC Sports, NBCUniversal, Nightly News with Brian Williams, NRDC, organic fashions, Oxygen, planet forward, Plastic Pollution Coalition, pollution, recycle, Recycling, Recycling Works, reduce pollution, reusable shopping bags, reusable stainless steel bottles, reusable water bottles, reuse, Service Employees International Union, Single-use plastics, stainless steel thermal travel mugs, stainless steel water bottles, sustainable bottles, Tellus Institute, The Office, Today Show, ude reusable stainless steel bottles, waste diversion, waste reduction, waste-free lunch bagsWelcome back for another edition of green news of the week featuring a few interesting stories impacting the environment across the globe. This weeks’ highlights: Google’s energy impact, Al Gore’s Climate Crisis Reality Project, Empire State Building retrofits earn LEED-Gold certification, Tokelau Pacific islands execute sustainable solutions with solar and coconut renewable energy alternatives, CDP reports on large corporation low carbon progress, and how wind turbines work. Click on the link to read the full article.
The Story Behind Google’s Huge Appetite for Energy. Believe it or not, Google does a lot to offset their significant energy consumption. Gmail is apparently 80 times less carbon-intensive than other email services, because of the efficiencies at Google’s data centers. According to the big picture definition at Google Green: “At Google, we’ve worked hard to minimize the environmental impact of our services. In fact, to provide you with Google products for a month, our servers use less energy per user than leaving a light on for 3 hours. If you add in our renewable energy and offsets, our footprint is zero. And we continue to find new ways to reduce our impact even further.”
Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. “24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1 Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, representing every time zone around the globe. Each hour people living with the reality of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods, droughts and storms — and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate. We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.” Starts at 8pm EST on September 14, 2011 and continuing for 24 hours – you can watch it online here.
Empire State Building’s Green Transformation Earns LEED-Gold. Built 80 years ago, the legendary Empire State Building has implemented a green retrofit and refurbishing earning them LEED-Gold certification on Tuesday from the U.S. Green Building council. They expect to reduce energy costs by $4.4 million annually and cut carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years.
Pacific Islands to be Powered 100% by Coconuts, Sun. The tiny South Pacific islands of Tokelau are scheduled to become 100% sustainably powered with renewable energy. 93% of the island’s energy requirements will be derived from solar powered installations and the balance will come from something they have in abundance, coconut oil from coconuts. Experts estimate that 600 meters of solar panels in combination with a few hundred coconuts will supply sufficient clean energy to power the island.
CDP Global 500 Report 2011. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) endeavoured to collect information from the Global 500 companies, requesting that they measure and report what climate change means for their business. With the mission of ‘accelerating low carbon growth’, the results are revealing with over 74% of the Global 500 committing to emission reduction targets.
What is a Wind Turbine and How Does it Work? This article does a great job of explaining wind turbines and how they work. The kinetic power of the wind provides a clean, renewable energy alternative to fossil fuels.
Check in next week for more green news stories from around the world.
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Planet Forward is an online retailer of ethically-made, earth-friendly products designed for everyday use with a distinctly urban feel. Products include reusable stainless steel bottles, stainless steel thermal travel mugs, waste-free lunch bags, reusable shopping bags, Make-it-Yourself toxin-free Green Cleaning kits, organic fashions and other accessories. SALE 50% OFF ALL PRODUCTS – SHOP NOW!
