General commentary: What's on your mind?
What are your concerns, stories, information, and questions regarding climate change?
sustainability
People in any community on Earth are invited to join this "blog-alogue" on issues of global sustainability. Whether giving light to practical tips to achieve a carbon neutral lifestyle or watchdog commentary on legislators who "get it" (as well as those who don't), this blog is a search for truth on the big issue of climate change.
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October 30, 2006
Link: Go on a low-carbon diet!
Slate, the online magazine, issued a challenge to its readers to decrease their carbon emissions by 20 percent.
We at the Voice have been evaluating our emissions and building a plan for going carbon neutral. (We'll start with 20% reduction, but our ultimate goal goes beyond that.) A business like ours faces considerable challenges. Paper is a problematic commodity, from the destruction of carbon-eating trees to the emissions associated in production. Since we don't run the plant where the Voice is printed, many environmental considerations seem to be out of our hands.
We recently published an article about a local, small printer, EcoPrint, who went carbon neutral. Unfortunately, he does not run newsprint. But his success does inspire us.
We plan to unveil our plan before the new year and share our triumphs and challenges as we work toward our goal.
Along with our business goal of reducing or eliminating our carbon footprint, we will take the Slate challenge in our personal lives.
To find out more, visit The Slate Green Challenge: Your eight-week carbon diet
Link: "The thirteenth tipping point"
Quote:
An article in the November 2006 issue of Mother Jones looks at the likelihood of global catastrophe and human potential for adapting quickly.
"A 2005 study by Anthony Leiserowitz, published in Risk Analysis, found that while most Americans are moderately concerned about global warming, the majority—68 percent—believe the greatest threats are to people far away or to nonhuman nature. Only 13 percent perceive any real risk to themselves, their families, or their communities. As Leiserowitz points out, this perception is critical, since Americans constitute only 5 percent of the global population yet produce nearly 25 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions. As long as this dangerous and delusional misconception prevails, the chances of preventing Schellnhuber's 12 points from tipping are virtually nil.
snip
"The truth is, we can change, and change fast, even in the absence of perfect knowledge. Like cockroaches, our hallmark is adaptability. Long ago, we looked out from the trees and saw the savannas. Beyond the savannas we glimpsed other frontiers. History proves that when we behold a better world, we move toward it, leaving behind what no longer works."
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/11/13th_tipping_point.html
October 11, 2006
New green building in Takoma, DC
"In a bid to change the dynamic of their business, brothers Chris and Ethan Landis sought out a prime location to move their residential remodeling company and put energy efficient construction into practice, in an environmentally conscious neighborhood."
Click to read the entire article: Energy conservation is theme of new green building from the October 2006 Voice.