Otis Elementary School, Alameda California. Inside the multipurpose building kids have painted on two contiguous walls. The mural represents Alameda (the island city) but it could represent any other city, instead of the San Francisco Bay, it could be any bay or any lake. What’s striking about this mural is the overall theme, what everyone can or should do to keep their surrounding clean and sustainable. How did these kids picture their environment? Green and blue. Continue Reading »

Dear Marc

I just read your post on Copenhagen – where I actually am at the moment – at COP15. I thought I’d inform you about an environmental social media campaign called ‘I do 30’. The campaign encourages people across the world to turn down the temperature on their laundry to 30 degrees in order to save CO2. These days during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) we are letting all of our ‘I do 30’ fans who can’t make it to the conference have a voice of their own. We move around the streets of Copenhagen with a speech bubble, hoping the ‘I do 30’ statements will reach the leaders of the world.

Put aside the latest diversions – ya know the climate deniers’ rants, the emails leak, the dummy rhetoric that we can’t take action in time of a major recession – and let ask bluntly the hardball question: Can these world leaders agree on the necessity to reduce CO2 emissions and by how much?

I am skeptical about their ability to agree. And given the ongoing burst of protests going on, I am not the only one. It’s a complicated Noire story that David Corn calls adequately “Double Jeopardy at Copenhagen”. I feel it is a triple one.

China, Russia, India and the US on one side … or the countries that are not required by the Kyoto Protocol’s obligations but are big CO2 polluters and are to resist any obligation that can slow down their development.

The signatories that have engaged into reducing their CO2 emissions, most notably the EU, that now would like other nations to accept some obligations – especially the ones above.

The small nations that are already suffering from the effects of climate change, most African and Pacific nations, Latin America’s socialist governments, … who have been asking for compensations from the countries that are the largest CO2 emitters.

So it is left to the people to force them to agree …

Other websites to visit:

Climate L (you can access the IISD web site from there)

Seal the Deal

Environment Defense Fund’s Copenhagen web site

If junk food is synonymous for unhealthy food, microwavable popcorn flavored with artificial butter might be topping the list. Two years ago manufacturers of such delicacy made the decision to ban diacetyl from the artificial butter. Well two years later, it appears that the diacetyl substitute might be even more toxic. Despite the disturbing fact that flavor manufacturers and food companies have replaced one toxic artificial flavor with another one and claiming it was safe and natural, the even more disturbing reality is that no one is doing anything to stop this. True, diacetyl is a natural byproduct of fermentation that gives butter its irresistible flavor (that warm baguette with melting butter on it), but part of an artificial butter flavoring formula heated at a high level and it comes a recipe for toxic exposure. But I’ll stop there and encourage you to read Andrew Schneider’s article. What he unveils is another scary failure to protect consumers and workers’ health.