Posts Tagged 2011

The 99% Say Enough is Enough

We know the facts, but seeing them together is staggering: unemployment is firmly mired in the double digits and efforts to bring it down isn’t creating jobs; students leaving college, if they can even afford to go, have debts that would have seemed unimaginable just 15 years ago and when they don’t see any openings in their field they head straight for a McJob or the unemployment line; the climate crisis remains unaddressed by global leaders and the US Congress and President Obama contemplates whether or not to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline; we are heading into the 10th year of war spending (at $3 billion a week!); corporations fought hard to win Citizens United and the ‘right’ to spend unlimited funds to get candidates into office; wealthy men (sometimes brothers) encourage corrupt Governors to end worker protections; and banks and Wall Street continue getting huge bonuses and bail-outs. We know something isn’t working. Enough is enough.

We are 99% of the population and 1% is controlling the show! Enough is enough.

For years, solidarity was presumed to be a one-way street – North Americans supporting liberation struggles around the world – but this year support to those standing up is global and circular. In Cairo, young people, armed with the courage of their convictions, overthrew the Egyptian government and launched the Arab Spring in Tahrir Square, Egypt.  The power of their non-violent resistance, their ability to stay when it seemed impossible, is the inspiration we must take forward to say enough is enough.

The 99% Say Enough is Enough via Kirsten Moller – Global Exchange

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Bon Ami Shares "How to Use the Bon Ami Cleaning Cake!"

How to Use the Bon Ami Cleaning Cake! from Bon Ami on Vimeo.

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Get Ready For Festival 2011 [VIDEO]

Get Ready For Festival 2011 [VIDEO] via the Cool Vegetarian

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EARTH DAY SF: CO-CREATING SOLUTIONS NOW

Celebrate Earth Day at the Civic Center Plaza, Downtown San Francisco  •  April 23, 2011  •  10 am to 6 pm

SAN FRANCISCO Celebrate Earth Day in San Francisco this year at the Civic Center Plaza, April 23rd from 10am-6pm. This diverse and enriching event is designed to bring together leading members of the green business and sustainability activist movement with the public to co-create a vision of how communities address a current multitude of environmental issues. This robust new educational, multi-cultural, entertaining and family-focused event targets pressing environmental issues while promoting and offering solution oriented community action.
Keynotes include Chaske Spencer [star of the hit movie “Twilight;” Founder of Be the Shift campaign and United Global Shift organization], Kevin Danaher [Green Festivals and Global Exchange], Cecil Williams, Starhawk, Ocean Robbins, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Stacy Malkan, Vinit Allen, Dolores Huerta, Richard Heinberg and more will guide, inspire and enlighten.

Enjoy live music by Sila Afro-Funk, Sun Ra, Barry “The Fish” Melton, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers with members of ALO & The Mother Hips, Ashel Eldridge, Scott Huckabay, Afrolicious, Joanne Rand, Alex Arndt, DJ Jimmy Love and more.

Participants will enjoy a wide variety of musicians, performers, expert speakers & activists on three stages and in the speaker’s tent.  Visit exhibits, explore hands-on activities, workshops and solution-based talks in the Permaculture Zone, Alternative Energy Zone and Holistic Wellness Zone.  Kids’ activities include a playground on-site, face painting, educational games and art from the Sustainable Living Roadshow featured in the Youth and Kids Zone.

Raw Bay Area and Best of Raw present a full-day Sustainable Feast Raw Gourmet Food Prep Demo Series in the Holistic Wellness Zone.  Massage therapists, Green Film, organic beer and wine tasting, cutting edge eco fashion shows, alternative vehicle showcase and many more highlights complete this diverse cultural extravaganza.

Join leading members of the business and indigenous communities, artists and artisans, civic community leaders, local “eco-green” politicians, traditional ceremony keepers, workshop leaders, eco-green & youth activists and environmental & social justice organizations in a holiday to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment. The event will be opened and closed with traditional ceremony to honor all life and planet we all share.

The founders of Earth Day SF are Green Zone Productions , One World-One Voice and Empowerment Works, the Presenting Sponsor is Santa Cruz Organic and the event is produced in cooperation with the National Organization for Women, Living Mandala, Solar Living Institute, Raw Bay Area, Visionary Culture, Sustainable Living Roadshow, and with the support of Harmony Festival, Global Exchange, Green Festivals, Earth Island Institute, 350.org, Green Kids, Teens Turning Green, Grind for the Green / Green For All, Hope and Beyond and more.

This Earth Day is occurring on the heels of some major climate events, toxic threats, species extinctions and  just a few days after the one year mark of the BP oil spill. Much progress has been made and much more remains to be done. Together, we can and must co-create solutions to these issues as stewards of our planet.


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President Obama's Motorcade Tonight Will Make History

NRDC Obtains Carbon Offsets to Highlight Need for Clean Energy Agenda

WASHINGTON D.C. – January 25, 2011 Tonight will be rich in symbolism, as Democrats and Republicans mingle among the seats in the House chamber during President Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.

In another symbolic gesture, NRDC has ensured that not one gram of carbon dioxide pollution will remain in the atmosphere as a result of the president’s motorcades tonight between the White House and the Capitol.

That’s because NRDC has purchased “offsets” to make the round-trip carbon neutral — a first for a State of the Union presidential motorcade.

“Offsetting the president’s motorcades is meant to put on tonight’s agenda an awareness of the need to move America more vigorously toward a clean-energy economy, and that personal actions matter,”  said Peter Lehner, executive director of NRDC.

“The president will tell us that nothing is more urgent than reviving our economy. We can put millions of Americans back to work by investing in renewable fuels and greater energy efficiency.  A clean-energy agenda will boost our economy and strengthen safeguards that protect our health, our waters, our lands and the air we breathe.”

To ensure a carbon-neutral motorcade, NRDC has purchased renewable energy carbon offsets through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.  The Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit foundationspecializes in carbon “offsets,” which are credits that anyone can buy to compensate for or lessen their carbon dioxide pollution imprint. The credits fund projects that create a reduction of, or capture, carbon dioxide pollution somewhere else.

“This is no substitute for reducing the emission of carbon dioxide pollution,” Lehner said. “But offsets can raise awareness and show that we all should act to do what is possible.”

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2011/110125.asp

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About NRDC

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Livingston, Montana, and Beijing. Visit www.nrdc.org

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Ford introduces electric Focus, to go on sale by the end of this year

“DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Friday that an electric version of its Ford Focus sedan will go on sale in North America by the end of this year.

Ford introduced the electric Focus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The car is expected to go up to 100 miles on an electric charge.

The automaker says the Focus can be fully charged in three to four hours using a 240-volt outlet. That’s half the time it takes to charge the Nissan Leaf, a competitor that went on sale last month.”

Ford introduces electric Focus, to go on sale by the end of this year via Dee-Ann Durbin LA Times

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Alternative mobility tops list of 2011 green trends

Alternative mobility tops list of 2011 green trends via LA Times GreenSpace

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