#MyClimateMoment – Getting Personal With Climate Change

#MyClimateMoment

Lots of us have had a moment—a revelation, observation, or interaction—when climate change became more than a concept. What’s yours? By Liz Pleasant The other night, I was sitting in bed scrolling through Twitter when I saw the headline: “Report: Global temperature hike already halfway to ‘two degree warming’ limit.” I clicked it. The writer of the article, Brandon Miller, explained why many scientists agree that two degrees of warming is the cutoff point for “controllable” climate change, and how new reports show we’re already halfway there. On top of that, we just experienced the warmest October since observations began in 1879, and October was the sixth consecutive month to break a global temperature record. Seven of the 10 warmest months ever recorded happened in 2015. Talking about climate change isn’t new for me. I work at YES! Magazine, where we cover climate issues all the time. I read pitches on sea-level rise and sort through headlines on droughts, storms, and a fragile food system pretty much every day. But for some reason, this report really stuck with me. It scared me. I was still thinking about it the next morning while discussing coverage of the Paris climate talks with other […]

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Gender Gap Reprieve for Women Patrons of a Brooklyn Bar

Women enjoy drinks at 77% in honor of the gender pay gap.

How much should a woman pay for her drinks at a bar? Whatever the menu price is, right? Well, not at this venue. The Way Station, a bar in the Prospects Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, had another idea this past summer. In order to address the glaring gender pay gap in which women in the U.S. earn about 77 to 78 cents to every dollar a man earns, The Way Station charged women just 77 percent of their bar tab on July 7th (7/7). Talk about ladies’ night. I have three sisters. The majority of my staff and friends are women. I thought this would be a great way to even the playing field even if it was for one night only.” –Andy Heidel, owner of The Way Station Heidel’s goal, he said, was to get people talking about the issue, which appeared to happen on the discounted ladies night held earlier this month. “This is much bigger than I expected,” Heidel told the Guardian while taking a break outside from a packed standing-room-only bar. And according to the Guardian, once Heidel realized he would have to turn people away, he asked a neighboring bar to join the cause. “I wanted […]

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Would This Neighborhood Exchange Box Work on Your Block?

Neighborhood Exchange Box

If someone were to set up a telephone booth sized box on your street filled with unwanted items — such as books, toys and small knick knacks, perhaps — and then topped it off with a “Free” sign, what do you think would happen? If Switzerland is any indication, passersby turned salvagers and recyclers would appear out of nowhere, sifting their way through other people’s unwanted discards, thinking up ways to put their newfound discoveries to good (re)use. Some would even add their own unwanted items to the box. Neighborhood exchange boxes have helped Geneva, Switzerland reuse 32 tons of goods thus far thanks to a program called BOÎTES D’ÉCHANGE ENTRE VOISINS–a box for exchange between neighbors. But can it work in other cities? Started in 2011, people leave items that they do not want, and take items that they do want. It’s that simple. Or is it? The environmental benefits of increasing reuse are obvious, but from the project creator’s perspective, there’s more to the Neighbourhood Exchange Box program than just going green. It’s also part urban art and part social experiment, providers of unusual opportunities to create social and cultural links between people in a neighborhood. The program […]

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13 Inspiring Green Women of Instagram

If you think Instagram is merely frivolous selfies and food porn, you’d only be mostly correct. The rest, however, offers some good news for the picture-based mobile app: It’s also a hotbed for powerful green women bringing about change through something as simple as a photograph. Well, lots of gorgeous photographs, actually. We live in a visual world, and as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps more so today than at any other time in history.  These green women of Instagram will not only inspire you with gorgeous pictures, but with hope for a richer, kinder, and more sustainable world. Chef Alice Waters is renowned for her commitment to local and delicious food along with her learning gardens school programs. And she’s on Instagram! Food porn, garnde porn, inspiration and more! @alicelouisewaters Academy award winner Charlize Theron is an advocate for international health issues as well as sustainability through the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. @charlizeafrica National Geographic photographer Rena Effendi says she’s infiltrating Instagram with “profoundly uncute pictures”—but don’t mistake that for uninspired. She delivers candid images of the world. @renaeffendiphoto There’s nothing more eco than vegan food and there’s no one more valued […]

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The Most Amazing Fact!

The Most Astounding Fact - Orion Nebula

This month we had a most amazing moon didn’t we? A Super Moon combined with a Lunar Eclipse. When I actually take time out of my busy life to stop, breathe, and look up in the night sky, I am always in awe. I feel small and big at the same time. Small compared to the vast universe we live in — like a speck of consciousness in grand scheme of things. Yet, inside that speck of me, is the entire universe. Literally. It’s mind blowing when you think about it. Now if you really believed that…that you have within you the same stuff stars are made of, and if you found a way to tap into that light…that greatness, then what can you not accomplish? I mean really? This, to me, is the most amazing fact. So grab a cup of tea, and watch this three and a half minute video by Neil deGrasse Tyson. It will help you connect to the truth of you. And if you need a little help in realizing that, I invite you to check out my Women As Game Changers Coaching that is designed to call forth women in powerful ways to awaken […]

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Enough of Us vs. Them

belief-disbelief

Hello Open Minded One That Can See the Forest for the Trees, There is nothing more disruptive to the progress of the green movement than separating the so-called good guys (environmentalists, activists, green businesses, etc.) from the bad guys (corporations, capitalists, conservatives, etc.). After over a decade of being entrenched in green marketing and environmental work, I have seen enough barbs thrown at “them” – and where did that get us? As polarized as our government, that’s where. I must confess I too took shots in the early days. But like a one-night stand, it feels good in the moment, but leaves you empty in the morning. The truth is we’re all in this together. We all breathe the same air. We all want our children to be happy and healthy. Why can’t we start there? Why can’t we come from the premise that we are one human family? Sounds too lofty? Not really… The last few years, I have had the unique experience of consulting with a corporation some love to hate. What I found out is there are deeply devoted people inside working hard for the environment in every way they can. Go figure? Nelson Mandela once said, “If […]

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HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts

516 ARTS: HABITAT

516 ARTS in Albuquerque, NM, is organizing a collaborative season of public programming in the fall of 2015 that explores climate change through the arts to create a platform for education and dialogue. The public programs for HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts will include: a series of exhibitions at 516 ARTS; the popular Downtown Block Party; special events with guest speakers; film screenings; and youth programs. Climate change is an urgent issue of both global and local concern. The Southwest can be considered one of the most “climate-challenged” regions of North America, with rising annual temperature averages, declining water supplies, and reduced agricultural yields. In New Mexico we’ve already seen destabilized and unpredictable weather patterns, water sources going dry, forests not recovering from fire, loss of urban trees, and crop failures. Public programs for HABITAT strive to raise awareness about these issues by taking an innovative approach to engaging with social and environmental change, and by bringing the community together to focus on sustainability. 516 ARTS will present a series of speakers to address the issues around climate change from both the science and art perspectives.  Speakers include renowned artist Mel Chin, who is currently working on a project about […]

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Going Green: More Than Shopping at Whole Foods and Driving a Prius?

We Stock The Hood Wi Good

As environmentalism goes mainstream, corporations are marketing the word “green” as a panacea for the world’s climate crisis. Today the word describes a set of prescribed, mostly consumerist actions: buy local, organic and fresh; go vegan; eat in season; skip the elevator, take the stairs. “Green” has come to mean shopping at Whole Foods and possessing a Prius.

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Atomic Moms, Radium Girls, and Hiroshima Maidens: Part 4

Setsuko Enya, Hiroshima survivors

As survivors of Hiroshima start to age, they keep their stories alive through passing them down to younger generations. Nearly 70 years after the Aug. 6, 1945 bombing, even the youngest atomic bomb survivors are elderly. Many aging atomic bomb survivors are leaving their legacy with their families, community and any outsiders willing to listen, with hope that their stories will prevent future use of nuclear weapons.

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Atomic Moms, Radium Girls, and Hiroshima Maidens: Part 3

Hiroshima Maidens about to board plane

Here is a little-known piece of history about Hiroshima: the story of how twenty-five young Japanese women, crippled and disfigured by the effects of the atomic blast, banded together to fight against their despair. They were brought to the United States in 1955 for plastic surgery – lodged in American homes and operated on at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital – in a remarkable humanitarian effort that is itself an epic.

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