Canada issues an Canadian Index of Wellbeing

The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is the signature product of the Institute of Wellbeing. The CIW is a new way of measuring wellbeing that goes beyond narrow economic measures like GDP. It will provide unique insights into the quality of life of Canadians – overall, and in specific areas that matter: our standard of [...]

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Urban agriculture and food sovereignty in Cuba

The following is the text of a talk given by Jorge Soberon, Cuba’s Consul General in Toronto, Canada, to a meeting of food sovereignty sponsored by the Venezuela We Are With You Coalition (CVEC).
["Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a [...]

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350 – An international day of climate action on October 24

Just a reminder – for more information go to the 350 website AND also:

Click here to send an e-mail to your friends about the video using your default e-mail program.

Spread this link around however you can—through instant message, your e-mail signature, etc.: http://www.350.org/video

Share it on Facebook by clicking here, or on [...]

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Books: Alanna Hartzok – The Earth Belongs To Everyone

Alanna Hartzok, a U.S. environmental and economic reformer, has put articles and essays of more than 20 years into a book called The Earth Belongs To Everyone, which also discussed the idea of the citizens’ dividend, and green economics.

She described how corporate-led globalisation was and is pushing people off their lands, patenting seeds for private [...]

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Opting out of the corporate food chain

This looks like a good book to read: Food, Inc., available now from PublicAffairs and Amazon. The following excerpt is part of one of the  contributions to the book, titled “Declare Your Independence” by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm fame.
Perhaps the most empowering concept in any paradigm-challenging movement is simply opting out. The opt-out strategy [...]

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Penguins and Seals Rejoice – South Africa Approves Marine Sanctuary!

Penguins, albatrosses, killer whales and of course people can all jump for joy at the latest news from the Republic of South Africa! The country is set to establish one of the world’s largest Marine Protected Areas (MPA) around its Prince Edward Islands. This inspiring achievement will help reduce the ecological impacts of fisheries, particularly [...]

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The fallacy of locally grown produce

Good thinking. It burns much more fuel when farmers individually go to a farmer’s market or supply a local store than having one large truck doing the same job but going from farm to farm to collect the produce.  Sure, it takes something away from the romantic idea of local markets and producing food locally, [...]

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Microfinance in California

I thought microfinance is is a tool available only in so-called third-world countries, but it seems I was wrong. An organisation called Opportunity Fund organised a (unsurprisingly) sold-out conference for May 28 at Stanford University, called Microfinance California. Here’s what Opportunity Fund founder and CEO, Eric Weaver, has to say:
As the federal government shells out [...]

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Elephant Evacuation: 70 Elephants could be Shot – Please help to save Them

UPDATE: before supporting this IFAW project, go to my latest post on the controversy surrounding it.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has launched an urgent funding drive to save a large herd of elephants – adults and babies – that face the firing line in the southeast African country of Malawi.
The elephants – in [...]

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Taiwan’s Solar Stadium runs 100% on self-generated energy and supplies neighbourhood

Here’s an example town planners and developers all over the world can learn from – and will be forced to over the years as the planet heats up: Taiwan’s Solar Stadium is 100% self-powered by solar energy, and during off-peak times supplies 80% of the energy needed by its neighbourhood. Inhabitat reports:

Taiwan recently finished construction [...]

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Waste management venture generates energy from gasification of municipal waste

A US waste management company has teamed up with a gasification technology upstart to generate energy, according to the CNet Green Tech post below. Gasification is different from incineration used by some waste management facilities: it does not burn municipal waste feedstock but treats it with high temperatures and pressure until it breaks down into [...]

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Are consumers worldwide really focusing more on sustainability?

Maybe, although right now it seems primarily because they don’t have enough spending money, at least according to the AFP release below:
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The world’s consumers are paying more attention to their impact on the environment, encouraged in part by the economic crisis and the need to save on energy costs, according to [...]

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FedEx experiments with eco-friendly Urban-Cabs as delivery vehicles

PRESS RELEASE
FedEx Express and Urban-Cab Join Forces for Ecological Deliveries
Another Step For More Environmentally-Friendly Town-Centre Express Deliveries
PARIS, April 21st, 2009 – FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, and Urban-Cab, Paris leader in 100% ecological passenger transportation, have announced their program for efficient and environmentally-friendly parcel [...]

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10 tips to fight global warming

There are plenty of lists around with ideas about greening your life and that of the planet. Generally they always contains useful tips, and this one found on Celsias is no exception (Celsias, as the name suggests, is concerned about global warming. It updates lists of people’s anti-global-warming actions and projects, advertises green jobs and [...]

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Target Australia will stop using plastic bags

Some good news for a change: the large  retailer Target will ban plastic bags in its stores from next month, the Sydney Morning Herald reports:
THE retail giant Target has confirmed it will ban plastic bags in its 283 Australian stores next month. It will be the first large retailer to break ranks and ban bags [...]

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Latest survey: what consumer goods Americans can live without

Source: Free exchange
An interesting addition to my post on Is Obama serious about saving the planet? The Pew Institute just released a survey titled Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn (this survey just looks at the US population).
Of course, luxury and necessity are very relative terms, and the current economic disaster reflects that [...]

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Greenpeace targets and collaborates with corporations to combat global warming

RealAudioMP3
Except of speech by Gerd Leipold, international director of Greenpeace, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus
Greenpeace is best known as a direct action environmental organization that sends rubber rafts full of activists to confront whaling ships [isiria: sadly, not anymore - has the lives of whales become irrelevant to Greenpeace philosophy?], tries to shut down [...]

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Is there a positive biofuel application for the poor?

I have to admit: I hadn’t thought about it even though it could be an obvious solution: the generation of energy through biofuel micro-generators in poverty stricken regions of the globe. This could be viable especially where excess material is available that could be used for biofuel production without damaging the environment (such non-recyclable residuals [...]

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Drive-in movie theatre powered by wind energy

I have say, I’ve never been to a drive-in. They’re not as popular anymore of course as they probably were in the 1950s and 60s, and they generally probably show movies I wouldn’t wanna watch anyway – they’re certainly not a place for arthouse flics. And also, the whole concept relies on the use of [...]

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Wanna have a green kitchen? Start with these 10 items

Blisstree does not only have a nice name, but also quite a few good ideas – like these ones below for a green kitchen. I was happy to realise that we can cover 50% of the list, but at the same time it also raises my guilt in some quarters .

Decent vegetarian cookbook: [...]

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