Green Options

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A new project sponsored by the Better World Foundation called On Day One is designed to help you do just that. Recently, I was able to ask Mark Leon Goldberg and Travis Moore a few questions about this exciting new project, as well as the Better World Foundation’s UN-themed blog called UN Dispatch.

Tim Hurst: What is the Better World Foundation and how did you get involved with the organization?

Mark Leon Goldberg: I should say at the outset that I am not a spokesperson for the Better World Campaign (BWC). I am a consultant to the BWC, which is a sister organization to the United Nations Foundation. But a good description of UNF can be found here. And BWC here.

I am well qualified to speak about how I got involved with them. From 2004 to 2006 I was a writer for the American Prospect magazine, a political monthly here in DC. At the prospect, I wrote about international affairs, specifically the United Nations and other institutions like the International Criminal Court. I’ve been fascinated with these subjects and have followed these issues closely for a long time. As my stint at the prospect was coming to a close, the United Nations Foundation contacted me and asked if I would help them write UN Dispatch, their new blog about the United Nations and international affairs. I readily accepted.

TH: Perhaps you could explain more about what your mission is at On Day One and the UN Dispatch blog. Who is your target audience?

The target audiences of UN Dispatch and On Day One are slightly different, though there is probably much overlap. UN Dispatch was started to fill what was a void in commentary about the United Nations. In general, when blogs mentioned the UN, the commentary tended to be fairly misinformed. UN Dispatch was founded to try and correct some of the misinformation out there about the UN. Our audience tends to be drawn from the advocacy, think tank, international organization and philanthropic communities.

We are very much part of the on-going foreign policy debate that is forever raging in the political blogosphere. We tend to be slightly wonky, but strive to be accessible to a wider audience. We also aggregate global news in a daily round-up we call “Morning Coffee.”

On Day One is slightly different. For a good description of On Day One’s history, goals and audience I will turn this over to On Day One’s leader, Travis Moore of the Better World Campaign.

We wouldn’t be talking about it if it were not for the fact that a senior member of the Green Party of the United States once equated the agitation for same-sex marriage in the United States to an hollow supremacist (pardon) Supreme Court ruling in 1857 that upheld that the black man was mere property and had not rights as the white man.

Those were the days when morals as they were then known were riding high and there was not much of the politically-correct language pretense we see in the world today. The H-word is gone, now there is same-sex relationships; the N-word is gone too, now there are proud African-Americans forever patriotic to the beloved country - which is a good thing for all humanity.

In 2004, David Cobb, the Green Party presidential candidate for that year’s election said this in reaction to an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court to void same-sex marriage licenses issued by Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco:

Join Chic for a Cause : Stop the Spray ~ Our Body, Our Decision   

What? A fashion fundraiser to grow awareness about opposing the harmful effects of the aerial spraying of pesticides. When? May 30, 2008 Where? Muse Studios, 224 6th St. San Francisco, CA 94103 Time? 6-9 pm Admission? $10 Why? To stop the “Light Brown Apple Moth program” which is really a toxin dump on California! 

Last fall a pesticide was dumped on Californians that included ingredients that are carcinogens, mutagens as well as other toxic chemicals in microcapsules that reach deep lung tissue. Soon after spraying in 2007, 600 plus reports of illness were recorded such as respiratory distress, nausea and vomiting, as well as serious skin irritations. Now the spray is back and we need to take a stand! Sign the petition, participate in events if possible, and please help educate others.

Kwabena Mensa, a small holder cocoa farmer in rural Ghana, readily testifies that the seasons have changed, and he no longer plants his crop in mid-year as he used to more than ten years ago.

He has also noticed that the weather is a little changed lately and harvesting is now delayed by a couple of months or so. Although he knows this can be attributed to climate change, he does not wholly understand why that is so.

Small holder farmers in Africa are already experiencing the impact of climate change. Weather patterns are changing, extreme weather events becoming more common, and ancient calendars for planting, weeding and harvesting are no longer valid. The threat of food shortages, crop failures, and growing deserts are real and immediate.

British prime minister, Gordon Brown’s credentials as a climate change advocate seemed to get a meditated jerk last week as he went all gaga about a new online climate change tracking tool powered by Google Earth, in a collaboration between Google Earth and the UK government.

Call it green spin or not but apart from giving all the applauds to the geeks at Google Earth, he said this about the new tool designed to let users view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, and 3D buildings, or take a journey across the globe:

“I think this will be a huge tool for making everybody aware of the huge climate changes of our time.” Well expressed for now, at least. I can imagine the hushed silence before the clapping in that room that day.

“Climate Change In Our World”, or so the tool is called, is where you get to see and hear the stories of people, living in some of the world’s poorest countries, who are already being affected by changing weather patterns.

Our communities are concerned about the price of gas. Everywhere I go people are talking about how gas prices are effecting their finances and businesses. MarketWatch reports that this Memorial Day weekend some motorists will choose to stay home, or at least closer to home, because of the price of gas. There is much discussion about why the prices continue to climb. Is the world’s oil supply running low? Should [...]

I had the pleasure of attending Carrot Mob’s first event in San Francisco a few months ago. They’ve got a unique approach to incentivizing local businesses to go green. Watch their video and check out Paul Smith’s post about Carrot Mob on Triple Pundit.

Pop Quiz: The following are statements made by each of the current presidential candidates–Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama. Try to match the comment with the candidate. For answers, see the end of this posting.

1) “My friends, I am most proud of the change that I brought about in Iraq that saved Americans’ lives.”1

2) “Change is just a word without the strength and experience to make it happen. And I know some people think you have to choose between change and experience. Well with me, you don’t have to choose.”2

3) “…the ways of Washington must change. The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we’ve changed this country before. … This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.”3

No matter how difficult this little quiz was for you, I hope my general point is fairly clear. It seems that nowadays, if someone has any aspiration for any political position, from commander-in-chief to bridge-club president, then that person must be seen as the “candidate for change.” (If somehow President Bush were allowed to run for a third term, would he too try to sell himself as the “candidate for change”?)

And it is not just politics. Even environmentalism and other areas of social activism are simply electrified with the energy of “change.”

Again and again, we see or hear Mahatma Gandhi’s monumental statement, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” If he were alive today and we gave him a nickel for every time someone used this phrase, the poor man would have a terrible time maintaining his vow of poverty!

So we are told we must be the change by making changes in our lives; we are asked to take part in activities that are making change; we support organizations that are working for change; we get inspired and fired up by promises of real change soon to come; we hear about all the changes that have been and will be made by this, that, or another….

At this point, you will have to forgive me if I say that I am simply sick of change.

I have learned from our readers that there are two sources for green motivation in families: the parents or the children. Eco moms and eco dads obviously pass on their green values to their children, but sometimes it is the children themselves that inspire a family to go green. I was one such child growing up that converted to vegetarianism (I did not get my family to do the same), and made my parents aware of environmental issues. My influence was not seen immediately, but I look at my dad’s avid recycling and my sister’s organic food choices and can’t help but think that my green values may have rubbed off on them. Now, there is a book to help children turn their parents green.

How to Turn Your Parents Green, by James Russell and illustrated by Oivind Hovland, is a humorous book for kids ages 8-80 (you are never too old to turn your parents green). This book helps alleviate eco-anxiety by empowering children. “The premise for the book is that grown-ups (the Groans) are responsible for causing global warming, but it’s you (the kids) who will have to deal with the consequences.” The tips in the book are what you would expect, such as eating organically, riding your bike, and turning off light bulbs; but the format is unique in suggesting how children can approach their parents. One suggestions is presenting your parents with a list of poisons in the household, such as cleaners, then giving them a month to switch to natural products. There’s even a section on how to turn your teachers green!

Photo Credits: deborah sherman photography

The Cafe Racer Truck Runs on 100% Recycled Coffee Grounds

A commenter on Ben’s wood-powered truck post pointed us to a similar car hack. The truck above is also powered by a wood gas generator, except this one runs on coffee grounds. The Cafe Racer is a 1975 GMC pickup that essentially burns up used coffee to create a combustible gas. The gas is filtered on its way to the engine and, Viola, a caffeine-powered truck.

I just stumbled across this video of the well-known author, activist, and environmental scholar Bill McKibben explaining that, while he has been actively supporting Barrack Obama as part of “environmentalists for Obama,” he thinks the most important task at hand is to elect a Democrat to the White House.

McKibben is a champion of the environmental movement and he made it clear that policy action on climate change will require broad-based and sustained political support for it. (Running time 4 mins.)