Yes, you got that right mate!

We’re back with a whole new team this term for Global Debates, organised by The People Speak. With the hight standards set by our predecesors, this team must do as well as them will do our best while having loads of fun while we’re at it.

So much have been done already. So you people will hear soon about the Service Projects that we’ve worked on. Keep stalking this page alright to find out.

The topic for this year’s (2009/2010) Global Debates is “When it can not do both, the UN should prioritize poverty reduction over combating climate change.”

Basically this year its…..

POVERTY VS CLIMATE CHANGE

The others will starting posting up stuff soon to educate you masses about issues pertaining to this topic. Oh, and we’ll be introducing the new team in the “Green Team” page. Until then, here’s a little sneaky peaky of what we’re done so far =D

Just 6 days.

Are we interested?

Due to the range of self interest groups there are a number of alternative interpretations of the scientific evidence. During the last few days we have seen the results of the Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad and Tobago – a wholehearted yes to global action on issues to do with climate change. Of course the commonweath of countries include many small island states who are immediately in danger due to a rise in sea levels. Some active polluters would also like to put a different spin on science,suggesting that temperatures are actually going down and the fuss is just political not scientific. Our job is to cut through the obvious bias and find out as much as we can before coming to some conclusions.

Commonwealth nations representing one-third of the world’s population threw their weight on Saturday behind accelerating efforts to clinch an “operationally binding” U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen next month.

Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad and Tobago used their summit to bolster a diplomatic offensive seeking wide consensus on how to fight global warmingbefore December 7-18 U.N. climate talks in the Danish capital.

“The clock is ticking to Copenhagen … we believe that the political goodwill and resolve exists to secure a comprehensive agreement at Copenhagen,” Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a news conference in Port of Spain.

The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration pledged the group’s backing for Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in his efforts to secure wide attendance and commitment from world leaders at the Copenhagen climate talks.

“We pledge our continued support to the leaders-driven process … to deliver a comprehensive, substantial and operationally binding agreement in Copenhagen leading towards a full legally binding outcome no later than 2010,” the Port of Spain declaration said.

Tackling the thorny issue of funding for poor nations’ efforts to fight climate change and global warming, developed countries in the Commonwealth led by Britain backed an initiative to establish a Copenhagen Launch Fund, starting in 2010 and building to $10 billion (6 billion pounds) annually by 2012.

Reflecting debate that has dogged the road to Copenhagen, developing states said much more money needed to be committed by rich nations to help poorer countries counter global warming and adapt to the pollution-reducing requirements of a climate deal.

Will Cop15  be a case of missed opportunities by leaders who should know better?

Get daily updates from earthwire e.g.

Climate pledges ‘not enough for deal’, says EU
EurActiv | 30 Nov 2009
Pledges made so far by governments to cut greenhouse gases are not enough for an effective pact to fight climate change, European Commission President Jos’ Manuel Barroso said on Sunday (29 November).
EU Emission Trading Scheme | Climate ChangeSouth Africa: Zuma Calls for Binding Emission Reduction Targets
AllAfrica.com | 30 Nov 2009
President Jacob Zuma has during a bilateral meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for world leaders to commit to legally binding emission reduction targets at the upcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen.
Climate Change and Development | Climate Change Impacts | Climate Change

Did the Kyoto protocol make a difference?

The debate is hotting up…

Check the youtube channel on Cop15

and the youth climate debate

Perhaps we need to keep an open mind and start learning more about what the issues are for us personally, for our local environment,for our country and last but not least, the planet and all those who will need to live on the planet for the foreseeable future.

Rodrigues -Indian Ocean

While working on Rodrigues island (Mauritius) I was discussing with some young people about their hopes and fears for the future. We were doing this as part of a larger research study where several countries were sharing ideas about what concerned young people about their future and what action should be taken. Out of all the places only primary school students from Rodrigues said they were concerned about rising sea levels. Of course they were the only ones who lived near sea level and who lived on an island small enough to be totally engulfed by an increase in seal level.

Ten years later,and more news is coming out about Pacific islanders and Maldive inhabitants anxiously watching their coasts disappear and desperately asking the world’ s polluters to give them a break.

6 days to get accustomed to some of the climate change jargon before the talking begins again. Whatever the reality of the situation , to do nothing should not be an option for any of us. We can learn more , understand more,ask difficult questions and perhaps take some action. During the next two weeks I will try like many others to ensure that more information is available.

Lets start with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

[UNEP's Work > Science > Climate Change Science Compendium ]

Climate Change Science Compendium

UNEP’s Climate Change Science Compendium is an annual snapshot of how the science has been evolving since the publication of the IPCC’s landmark fourth assessment.

One of the many sobering conclusions is that:

“ The growth in carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industry has exceeded even the most fossil-fuel intensive scenario developed by the IPCC at the end of the 1990s. Global emissions were growing by 1.1 percent each year from 1990-1999 and this accelerated to 3.5 percent per year from 2000-2007.”

Click on the images below to read the chapters’ abstracts or click here to download the full report.

earth systems

earths ecosystems

earth's ice

earth's oceans

eco management

Transfer of climate technologies

This report contains ideas and proposals on the elements contained in paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan, focusing on technology. It was originally submitted by UNEP to the UNFCCC in December 2008 as an input to the deliberations of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) under the title “Thoughts Concerning Technical Assistance and Capacity Building to Support the Transfer of Climate Technologies: Possible activities and their potential impact.

Indigenous voices speak:

And what about “the Truth about Climate Change”:

and some animation…

From the COP 15 website:

Some predictions from the Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark

Predicting the consequences of global warming is one of the really difficult tasks for the world’s climate researchers. Firstly, because the natural processes that cause precipitation, storms, increases in sea level and other expected effects of global warming are dependent on many different factors. Secondly, because it is difficult to predict the size of the emissions of greenhouse gases in the coming decades, as this is determined to a great extent by political decisions and technological breakthroughs.

Many of the effects of global warming have been well-documented, and observations from real life are very much consistent with earlier predictions. It is the precise extent that is difficult to predict. Among the effects that can be predicted are:

More droughts and more flooding:

When the weather gets warmer, evaporation from both land and sea increases. This can cause drought in areas of the world where the increased evaporation is not compensated for by more precipitation. The extra water vapor in the atmosphere has to fall again as extra precipitation, which can cause flooding other places in the world.

Less ice and snow:

Glaciers are shrinking rapidly at present. The trend is for the ice to melt faster than estimated in the IPCC’s latest report. In areas that are dependent on melt water from mountain areas, this can cause drought and a lack of drinking water. According to the IPCC, up to a sixth of the world’s population lives in areas that will be affected by this.

More extreme weather incidents:

The warmer climate will most probably cause more heatwaves, more cases of heavy rainfall and also possibly an increase in the number and/or severity of storms.

Rising sea level:

The sea level rises for two reasons. Partly because of the melting ice and snow, and partly because of the thermal expansion of the sea. Thermal expansion takes a long time, but even an increase in temperature of two degrees Celsius is expected, in due time, to cause a rise in the water level of almost a metre.

In order to get an idea of the extent of the consequences, researchers typically work with scenarios that show various possible developments. Other scenarios are being described by people such as economists and planners:

Ranging from business as usual to “a real deal”, Björn Stigson, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, sees six very different possible outcomes of the UN conference on climate change to be held in Copenhagen this December.

Mr. Stigson’s views, first presented earlier this summer, are highlighted as an expert group under the US National Academies of Sciences releases a new video on the process ahead. His six scenarios are:

1. “A real deal”: the US and China provide the driver for a new, ambitious and comprehensive agreement.

2. “Business as usual”: the various countries follow current national targets.

3. A limited deal: headed by for example the Group of Eight (G8) a deal outside the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is found.

4. A mere prolonging of the present agreement, the Kyoto Protocol.

5. A stretching of the Copenhagen conference (COP15) into 2010.

6. “Window dressing”: a grand declaration but no real deal.

As the only non-American, Björn Stigson is a member of the expert group “America’s Climate Choices” under the US National Academies of Sciences.

APC

GreeningIT – APC on ICTs, Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability

As a network promoting local community sustainable development, promoting the development and use of ICTs has been always closely linked with issues related to environmental sustainability. APC members have been implementing projects ranging from monitoring environmental degradation, to natural disaster and accident reporting, to the use of ICTs in managing energy resources more efficiently to research on low-power computing, alternative energy sources and e-waste management in developing countries. In 2008 these efforts led to a new APC-wide GreeningIT initiative that aims to address two critical challenges: How national ICT policy environments address ICTs, environmental sustainability and climate change; and How ICTs can be used more sustainably by ICTD practitioners, civil society organisations and service providers?

-by Derek Gideon

Photo Credit- Zachary Ruchman, The Daily Princetonian

This has been my profile pic on Facebook for a month. I’ve also just made it my desktop background. It’s become my climate change talisman- all I need to do is see it, and the darkness and gloom that have been climate change news lately seem to brighten a little. To provide a much-belated recap, people came to over 4,000 events in over 180 countries for 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action. The world’s first truly global day of grassroots action called for stabilization atmospheric carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million, increasingly recognized as the maximum safe limit.

 At Princeton’s event, the Princeton Climate Festival, over one hundred students came out in the pouring rain for this photo. SURGE was one of several Princeton environmental groups there. We collected ten letters opposing a proposed coal plant in Linden, New Jersey, and forty letters calling on senators to strengthen the climate bill. Nice work, everyone!

You can see more photos from around the world on the Day of Action here.

And check out this video:

Let’s remember, something with a name as big as global warming requires global action. This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful we’re not alone.

The car I learned to fly in. Had it for about 2 years. It wasn’t even all primered up for a month before somebody hit me comin out of a gas station. The front subframe got bent some, an it had alooooooot of rust. To much I mean alot alot. I bought a whole nose to replace mine, but it wasn’t worth fixin.

Oh yeah I had a 78′ Nova & a 85 300ZX somewhere in that timeline too.

You’ve seen the news,watched the most recent documentaries and know that the earth is in a downward spiral. So what do you do with all those negative feelings you have deep in your gut? Put it to good use and throw your weight behind some of these environmental campaigns that are already doing well and every extra bit of support will help them reach critical mass! If you have a campaign you’d like to see added to this list, leave a comment and I’ll add it!

A Young Girl Helping at the Save Our States Park Event

Environmental Campaigns

• http://www.350.org/ – 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand. The number 350–as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350 is more than a number–it’s a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.
• http://www.1010uk.org/ – 10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.
• http://www.rainforestsos.org/ – The Prince’s Rainforest – An oldy but a goody. Save the Rainforest.
• http://www.theecologist.org/take_action/campaigns/285917/help_protect_our_honeybees.html – You like food, don’t you? Honeybees still need help!
• http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Campaigns – Find more campaigns over at the green wiki.

Other Active Thing to Participate in Today

• http://www.wiserearth.org – Wiser Earth is a place where you can search in your area for movements you would like to join. It’s also a bit like an environmental facebook.
• http://www.ourmedia.org/ – Our Media has over 150,000 members is seeking to use social media to advocate for the causes that improve people’s lives.
• http://www.fundforthepublicinterest.org/jobs/citizen-outreach-staff – Work for the Fund for the Public Interest and get paid to make a difference for the grass root causes that need more skilled talent.
• http://www.theecologist.org/take_action/campaigns/270487/universities_going_green.html – Universities Going Green – Help push yours in the right direction!
• http://www.theecologist.org/take_action/campaigns/308457/better_than_shopping_five_things_to_do_instead.html – http://www.theecologist.org/take_action/campaigns/321769/how_efficient_are_your_home_appliances.html – Do your own part at home to green up your life.

Start Your Own

For those of you that have the perserverance and determination to make a difference, this website provides a handbook on how to handle all the tasks involved in setting up your own grassroots movement and making it work.

• http://vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/ – how to build grassroots movements guide very nice if none in your area!

Online Petitions

Another great way to throw your support behind good causes is to head on over to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/ (a sister site of care2.com) and sign petitions that you believe in.  Here are some of the most recent and popular ones that probably strike a chord with you.

• Stop Overfishing – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/511498402
• Farmed Fishing, Bad Fishing – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/674505931
• Polar Bears – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/438855048
• Stop Mountaintop Removal Pollution – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/674401908
• Remind Obama About His Promise – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/843501195

Gotta love the Kiwi shot at the end.

Go NZ!

In Singapore, Nov. 14 2009.

President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month, agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific “politically binding” agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future.

“There was an assessment by the leaders that it is unrealistic to expect a full internationally, legally binding agreement could be negotiated between now and Copenhagen, which starts in 22 days,” said Michael Froman, the deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. “I don’t think the negotiations have proceeded in such a way that any of the leaders thought it was likely that we were going to achieve a final agreement in Copenhagen, and yet thought that it was important that Copenhagen be an important step forward, including with operational impact.”

- New York Times

Kinda makes you sad, to think we’re putting away such pressing issues. I guess world leaders were not expecting such pressures from the public. It makes me think that maybe 350’s timing wasn’t the best. Maybe it should have been done earlier?

I guess it all comes down to the fact that if the US won’t commit on target because of congress inability to set binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions (run by special interests of coal and oil business), other countries are less likely to move forward in their own commitments.

Among the chief barriers to a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen was Congress’s inability to enact climate and energy legislation that sets binding targets on greenhouse gases in the United States. Without such a commitment, other nations are loath to make their own pledges.

Solomon Islands Calling for Survival

Still, considering island nations that live literally at water level and risk terrible floods in the future because of climate change, makes you think… Is this something that we can really go “Nahhh, we can’t make it for Copenhagen, it’s just too unrealistic. Let’s put it off to next year”?

I guess it makes sense to pull down public expectations if you know you can’t live up to them. It’d be easier for influential countries like the US to “show the right example” if they can get a climate bill to pass at congress before jumping abiding to a new international climate treaty.

That doesn’t mean that Copenhagen becomes useless though.

Critics say it could drain the pressure from the United States and China to agree to legally binding action any time soon. But Obama administration officials and many environmentalists say it could do the opposite, sending dominoes tumbling in Washington and around the world toward an agreement.

Here’s their logic: The House has already passed a climate bill. Scaled-back action in Copenhagen could help push a Senate bill over the top by securing pledges for emissions reductions from China and India, and thereby reassuring moderate Rust Belt Democrats. Moreover, by coming to some sort of agreement in Copenhagen, negotiators could continue building momentum toward a final agreement, rather than deflating the ongoing talks.

- Los Angeles Times

Let’s hope for the best.

… and keep asking for 350.

This blog post goes for 60’s! Earlier I showed you some trailers from Mustang movies. I have also posted a lot of Mustang music videos. But now you can see the first steps of a Mustang in advertisement industry. There are more commercials of course and my blog is unlimited, but I really appreciate your time and trying to select the best ones:

First Mustang Commercial (1964) Ford Motor Company introduced the Mustang on April 16, 1964 with a commercial, shot at the New York World’s Fair.

This is my favorite from the 60’s, 1965 Ford Mustang Commercial

Stereo-sonic tape system in Mustang 1966

This commercial shows Ford Mustang full-line for 1967, featuring the new cabriolet and hardtop models.

Mustang makes it happen in 1968 commercial

According to this 1969 commercial Ford is the way you swing!

And I couldn’t hold this to the next entry, I love it, so funny! It’s from 2005, sorry

Since October 24, when you helped lead thousands of events around the world calling for climate action, we’ve seen new political momentum behind the climate solutions that science demands.  After meeting with dozens of delegates during the last round of UN climate negotations in Barcelona, I can tell you first-hand that your local climate leadership is making a real difference–and helping clear the political space for national leaders to take ever-bolder stances on the climate crisis.

Earlier this week, President Nasheed–the leader of a low-lying nation faced with the very real threat of imminent extinction due to rising seas–delivered a powerful speech at the opening of the “Climate Vulnerable Forum.”

Click here to read more from 350.org

Independent retailers are disappearing by the hundreds. Look at your own community. How many mom & pop shops have had to shut their doors this past year? These shops are often the specialty shops. The shops with unique products, exceptional service and roots that go deep into the community. They are the companies that sponsor the community sports teams and come out to support local charity groups. Where would our communities be without the small independent retailer?

Most of us think we can’t do much to save them. After all, we are all tightening our belts and feeling the pinch. Right? Wrong! I just heard about a campaign that is gaining popularity in Canada and the US called “The 3/50 Project”. It encourages employed people to select 3 small businesses and spend a total of $50 at them each month. This initiative was started by retail consultant Cinda Baxter of Minneapolis and is a strategy to empower shoppers (that’s you and me) and revive communities suffering from the recession.

Based on her website, www.the350project.net, for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores about $68 returns to the community in taxes, payroll and other expenditures. It can mean the difference between a dying and a thriving local retail community!

I live in a small town with some great independent retailers. In fact, I moved here because of those small boutiques and restaurants. I plan on doing my part in keeping them alive… starting with my Christmas shopping! Ho! Ho! Ho!

- Cheryl Cardon

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CircusStrategic
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/488044
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/facebook-circuscommunications
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CircusStrategic

Check out our group’s guerrilla theater team performance on October 16th in the IMU food court as part of the Bloomington 350 Week of Actions on Climate Change!

Project Survival Media is alive and working globally to bring the survival tactics and sustainable practices of real people to the UN conference in Copenhagen. Right now all over the world, teams are filming different groups of people for their own documentaries.

Luke Estrella at the UN Plaza Farmers Market

Here in the Bay Area, California, after wwoofing for two months in Willits, I have been given the opportunity to lead the Northwestern project.

Today I went to the U.N. Plaza Farmers Market on my way around the city to see the prevalence of organic farm choices for the mainstream San Franciscan public. This market is not known for its sustainability, but for it’s prices and accessability.

There were a few organic farm choices, but I did have the opportunity to talk to one young organic farmer, Luke Estrella from Bounty of the Valley, Salinas Valley. Bounty of the Valley is a 50 acre human powered farm, full of young farmers who are learning how to grow their own food.

I asked him what he thought about the next generation of farmers, since in this area there seems to be a growing trend of young farmers. Farmers used to be an average of 60 years old, but people in their 20’s have, for the first time in years, started to pick up the old pitchfork.

“[young farmers] have a lot of new ideas to bring to the table, young farmers will bring about the change we need for sustainable action.”

He also warned against green washing on the organic front, and how current policy may encourage this.

“There are 500 acre certified organic plots that have organic soil and seeds, but they have a machine that does everything. These are also the farms that have the money to pay for being certified [organic]. These farms are unsustainable by design.”

He elaborated on a machine that many large scale farmers contract out to plant, till, and harvest. Many of these farmers do not touch soil and are not acquainted with their own land, although their products are touted as sustainable.

But, what may be organic isn’t necessarily sustainable. It is important that we not only push for policies that help organic farmers, but that we pay close attention to new policies, and make sure that they are also helping local and sustainable farmers, which organic is only one factor in.

We also need to make this clear to the UN delegation. We are young, ready for change, and unwilling to adapt to old standards.