Leonardo DiCaprio Joins Divestment Call as Fossil Fuels Could Lose Billions in Investment

Divest from Fossil Fuels

A new report finds that over the past year, the amount of money committed to be pulled from companies that produce coal, oil, and natural gas has grown fifty-fold. Over the past year, investors holding $2.6 trillion in assets have pledged to divest from companies that produce coal, oil, and natural gas, according to a report issued Tuesday. The study was issued by the group Divest-Invest, which calls on institutional and private investors to hold themselves accountable for the environmental impacts of their investments. “One year ago today, exactly, we announced that the total [divestment] at that point was $52 billion, and committed to tripling that amount before the U.N. Climate Conference in Paris in December of this year,” said Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, at a press conference Tuesday in New York. “That means we’ve seen a fiftyfold increase in the total combined assets of those committed to divestment from fossil fuels, and with it, we’ve seen a growing number of commitments to invest in climate solutions,” Dorsey said. The report comes as Pope Francis landed in the United States, where he is expected to press again for immediate and decisive action on climate change. […]

Continue reading...

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 […]

Continue reading...

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 […]

Continue reading...

Changing the Climate of Climate Talk

Climate Change Marchers

During a poetry reading in Missoula, MT, a Vietnam combat veteran reminded his audience that he and other veterans returned not to waves of gratitude, but to a line of protesters calling for peace. He spoke of being a child during the war as he introduced his poem, “I Think I Died In Vietnam.” By its nature, standing a line is combative. Any statement for something is also a statement against something. On the heels now of the largest climate march to date, 310,000 people gathered in the streets of New York City September 21, 2014, we begin a wave of actions with the potential to change the global course from disaster to harmony. Unless all of us work together, this wave will not continue to flow and disharmony will reveal itself as the prevailing chord. As I think of this Vietnam veteran and my own father who served as a surgeon in that war, I, too, consider men who have spent the majority of their lives building businesses in an air of cut-throat competition, my son’s paternal grandfather included. I want compassion for all of them. Man, each in his own way, has slaved to provide for many while protecting those […]

Continue reading...

The Route of the Whale: Award-Winning Multimedia Project Protects Whales

Route Of The Whales

The great whales are indicators species that have a lot to say about marine and coastal biodiversity, according to Lisa Bassett, author and professor at the University of Oregon School of Communication and Journalism. Today, seven out of 13 species of great whales are listed as endangered or vulnerable because of commercial whaling (despite an international moratorium); ship strikes; oil and gas exploration; military sonar vessels; pollution; disease, and climate change,” Bassett reminds us. As a professor of journalism, Bassett knew that by documenting an environmental problem, you can become part of the solution. This was the concept behind a four-week study abroad program offered by the University of Oregon (OU), entitled Nature & Culture: Multimedia Storytelling in Uruguay. This astonishing and exciting program focuses on the environment, traditional cultures, sustainability and conservation. The flagship program occurred in 2013, when Bassett led a group of UO students to Uruguay to create a multimedia project entitled The Route of the Whale. The project explored the route from its beginning in the hillside town of Piriapolis to the Brazilian border at Chuy. The students investigated environmental issues and solutions to those issues, in marine biology, conservation and sustainability. They did their work both in the classroom and in […]

Continue reading...

Earth Mammas: 9 Mothers Making the Planet Greener

Earth Mammas

Being an environmentalist doesn’t have to mean sacrificing dreams of having a family. In fact, as the five women on this list prove, being a mother can make us even more committed to keeping the planet clean and green. And while some environmentalists point to overpopulation as the leading cause of global warming, there’s more evidence showing that our mismanagement of resources is more to blame than the number of people on the planet.

Continue reading...

Julia Roberson Is Out to Save Our Oysters But She’s No Marine Biologist

Julia Roberson in the field. © Source: Paul Fetters/Ocean Conservancy

It’s a cloudy, gray day along the coast of Virginia, and several people wearing waders are knee-deep in the tide. They peer down at the oyster bed below, while one crew member pokes around with a long That’s actually a GoPro in the water, and the woman running the show isn’t a marine biologist, but a communications guru with the blue-tinted horn-rimmed glasses to match. It so happens that Julia Roberson, with her bleached-blonde, Bieber-swept hair and Southern twang, is conservationists’ secret weapon against ocean acidification. Roberson, 35, is perhaps an unlikely savior of the seas. Yes, she now directs the acidification program at the Ocean Conservancy, a leading environmental nonprofit in D.C., but her CV is pure PR, leaping from an early career in glossy magazines to a key player in an emerging national debate about the health of our seas. Observers say she’s succeeding where so many scientists and activists have failed: taking what is often seen from the public’s perspective as an environmental problem and reframing it as a people problem. In Roberson’s rendering, ocean acidification isn’t about climate change, or ocean health, or even about those bivalves in the seabed. Instead, it’s about farmers, jobs and […]

Continue reading...

Japan Says It Has a Right to Hunt Whales

Japan's Minke Whale

Despite an international court ruling against the hunt, Japan may be gearing up to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean later in the year. A Japan whaling official told reporters on Monday that his country has the right to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean during the coming Antarctic summer, despite an international court ruling against it and no clear permission from the International Whaling Commission.

Continue reading...

Geography Of Hope: Women and the Land

Geography of Hope Conference 2015

The Geography Of Hope Conference is an exceptional biennial literary festival, held every other year in the northern California coastal village of Point Reyes Station, California, is a gathering featuring writers, artists and activists who use their craft to convey the urgency of environmental issues facing the world today. This year’s theme is titled “Women And The Land.”

Continue reading...

10 Environmental Victories of 2012

For me, the holidays are a time to reflect on what we’ve achieved over the past year and look ahead to the challenges and possibilities the New Year holds in store. 2012 was a quite a year. Besides the obvious big story – the reelection of President Obama – here’s a list of my ten favorite stories of the year.

Continue reading...