Citizens of the world gathered in Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change. Photo: The City Project

Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, called for the summit soon after the United Nations’ Climate Summit in Copenhagen last December, when it became clear that a binding treaty with decisive action was not forthcoming.

Many believe that the major carbon polluters of the world prevented a strong agreement and that the voices of both civil society and nations of the global south were sidelined or silenced.

They determined that a process outside the United Nations framework was needed.

Billed as an ‘alternate climate conference,’ the WPCCC has brought together delegates from more than 50 world governments, including the presidents of Ecuador, Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Venezuela; government officials from Europe, Asia, and Africa; and members of indigenous communities, grassroots environmental organizations, and concerned citizens with a mission to focus on practical solutions for communities affected by climate change.

According to Joshua Kahn Russell, grassroots action manager at Rainforest Action Network, the Cochabamba conference “represent[s] communities most directly affected by climate change. They will be outlining a people’s platform, looking at the practical things they can implement now. Cochabamba is going to be historic.”

Nearly 200 self-organized events were registered by different networks on every aspect of climate change policy. You can see the program here.

For the big picture, keep your eye on the following:

OneClimate has been streaming live as well as hosting an interactive exchange.

Climate Bloggers:

Global Justice Ecology Project’s Climate Connections Blog

JusticenEcology’s Posterous (Diana Pei Wu and Kari Fulton, et al)

Evelyn Rangel-Medina of Ella Baker Center

Check the Weather (Kari Fulton)

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

World People’s Conference on Climate Change

Carwil James’ Blog, Carwil Without Borders

Bolivia Rising Blog

Twitterati:

@boliviaun, @oneclimate, @climatejustice1, @ggjalliance, @evy_medicina, @wpccc, @dianapeiwu, @cmpcc, @cmpcc_bo

Hashtags to follow: #cochabamba, #wpccc, #cmpcc, #climatejustice, #climate

Community Connection:

Learn more about Global Environmental Issues by visiting our focus page on the topic.

Photo: unusual image

I recently received an email forward with a video clip featuring a prominent meteorologist refuting man-made global warming. John Coleman introduces himself as “founder of the Weather Channel, original weatherman on Good Morning America and a TV meteorologist for 55 years.” He makes himself sound pretty qualified.

Coleman claims that he loves the earth and wants to protect it, yet spends the next 8 minutes refuting the idea of man-made global warming.

In his video, Coleman shows impressive charts and graphs that point to the planet’s natural cycles of cooling and warming. He says these have existed throughout all of the earth’s history and are independent of human activity. Coleman’s assertions seem believable until you consider that some of his logic is clearly faulty.

Coleman says carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas that is an essential part of our lives. We breathe it out. Plants need it. It’s a part of our atmosphere.

But he never says it’s possible to have too much, to upset the balance. Kudzu, for example, is a naturally occurring plant that, on its own merits, is not bad. But outside of its natural habitat, where it’s allowed to grow unimpeded, it becomes a problem.

Coleman also uses the quiet 2009 hurricane season as evidence that there is no such thing as global warming. He’s apparently forgotten his own argument that the earth goes through naturally occurring cycles; this past season was quiet because of an El Niño whose wind sheer prevented strong storms from developing.

I tend to agree with Brave New Traveler Editor Ian MacKenzie’s statement that “the resounding consensus among the world’s scientists fingering humanity as the cause was reason enough.” But I find it hard to argue with people who, like Coleman, refute climate change with “science” (apart from his other, dubious claims).

So I’ve stopped trying.

Coleman says the hypothesis of human-caused global warming has been disproved and that we should stop talking about it.

Fine.

Let’s talk about all the other things that are happening, irrefutably, at the hands of the human race.

“I think we can go right ahead with our very good lifestyle, our modern society,” Coleman says, as pictures of cars and electronics appear on the screen next to him. “We can even power Las Vegas and continue with life…. Our earth is going to be just fine with the burning of fossil fuels as long as they last. We can have a modern, fossil fuel-powered civilization and not worry about the climate of planet earth.”

Actually, he’s wrong. Climate change may or may not be occurring, and it may or may not be our fault. Either way, we face other serious, man-made environmental problems, some of which are related to rising levels of carbon dioxide caused by human activity.

A recent study showed the world’s oceans, which absorb carbon dioxide, are becoming more acidic as a result of increased emissions. And this makes them less effective at continuing to absorb CO2.

This means more emissions are staying in the atmosphere and contributing to air pollution. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution contributes to 2.4 million deaths each year, as well as asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. Not to mention the decreased visibility that comes with smog that lowers our quality of life.

I guess John Coleman chooses to ignore the fact that powering Las Vegas contributes to a visibility-reducing haze over the Grand Canyon and water shortages.

I also take issue with Coleman’s nonchalance towards the use of fossil fuels. He may not think they contribute to global warming, but our current usage means we’re dealing with the geopolitical implications of energy dependence. Even if we extract more oil from domestic sources, doing so can physically damage habitats through drilling or through accidental spills. Plus, the world is catching on to the fact that cities with viable alternatives to car driving are more livable.

Our “very good lifestyle” has wreaked havoc on ecosystems around the world. We’re faced with issues such as mountaintop removal, trash accumulation in the North Pacific Gyre, dead zones created in our oceans from concentrations of farming chemicals, species struggling to survive because of habitat loss from development.

And Coleman thinks we should just continue on the way we are? Is he out of his mind?

The truth is that there’s a lot at stake with the issue of global warming. But don’t let the skeptics fool you into thinking there’s nothing else to worry about. Global warming or not, we all still have a responsibility to protect the planet.

Community Connection:

Climate change scientists warn that the world’s glaciers are disappearing. Read Where to Find Glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere and plan to see these giants before they disappear.

The inhabitants of the smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean notice the effects of climate change and rising sea level everyday, and each day that passes these people get closer and closer to becoming “environmental refugees.”

Cartaret Islands

The Cartaret Islands rise five feet above sea level, and due to flooding and high tides, are practically uninhabitable. The people of the Cartaret Islands have tried to save their land by creating sea walls and planting mangrove trees, but it is estimated that the islands will be totally submerged by 2015.

In 2007, the government of Papua New Guinea officially designated money to relocate the families living on the island, making them the first island residents in the world to be relocated by the government due to rising sea levels.

Tuvalu

Global warming has been a concern for Tuvaluans since the 1990s. The government even runs workshops to educate the residents about the impacts of climate change and how it continues to affect them.

Tuvalu’s highest point is 15 feet, much higher than some of the other islands, but most of the island is just over three feet above sea level. As with the Cartaret Islands, high tides are causing severe erosion and widespread flooding.

According to assistant secretary for Foreign Affairs Paani Laupepa,

“Even if we are not completely flooded, in 50 to 70 years we face increasingly strong storms and cyclones, changing weather patterns, damage to our coral reefs from higher ocean temperatures, and flooding of all our gardens.”

Maldives

At just four feet above sea level, the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has already pledged to use tourism revenue to buy land in India, Sri Lanka, and Australia for Maldivians to relocate to once their island is gone.

Over the next 90 years, the sea level is expected to rise two feet, and with the highest point in the capital city, Male, just three feet, the 70,000 people who currently live there might want to consider relocating for their future children’s sakes.

Not Just Islands

Not just the islands of the Pacific are feeling the effects of global warming and rising sea level. The coastlines of Chesapeake Bay in Delaware and parts of Florida are diminishing each year, but one of the major areas of concern is Bangladesh.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is situated on a large delta, created by hundreds of tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. 90% of the land is on the flood plain, and 15-20% of the population lives on land that is just three feet above sea level.

Every year, storms and extreme flooding cause the communities in this area to be evacuated, and some permanently relocated.

Community Connection:

For more information, read Ian MacKenzie’s article about The First Casualties of Climate Change, or Julie Schwietert’s article, “Maldivians Abandon Archipelago; Establish New Country in Australia”.

Photo by: midorisyu

Recently, supreme research brains at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science discovered a way to genetically modify a a type of bacterium to consume CO2 and produce isobutanol, a liquid fuel that can be used as a gas alternative.

And the process only requires sunlight to get going, meaning this achievement carries with it all sorts of cleaner, greener, cheaper energy implications.

Revolutionary? You betcha.

The modified bacterium potentially serves as not only a fuel substitute, but also an environmental cleanup agent through its consumption of carbon dioxide, the villain in our global warming story. Researchers say the ideal place for this bacteria is next to power plants emitting carbon dioxide so the plants’ greenhouse gases can be swallowed up and recycled into liquid fuel.

Unfortunately, the research is only in its initial stages, making it still too early to tell whether or not this will be the bacteria that saves the world.

Until then, we should continue doing our part to try and reduce emissions as we watch the infamous emissions clock climb to unfathomable numbers.

You can read more about the research here on the online edition of the science journal Nature Biotechnology.

Photo of Dr. Jane Goodall by: JJ W.

One of the largest political conferences of the year, the UN Climate Change Conference draws various experts, political figures, media members, and other participants to discuss climate change and international efforts to combat it. The Copenhagen conference aims to achieve four main issues:

* Ambitious emission reduction targets for developed countries
* Nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries
* Scaling up financial and technological support for both adaptation and mitigation
* An effective institutional framework with governance structures that address the needs of developing countries

This year Dr. Jane Goodall has put her global tour on hold to join the conference in hopes that her presence and presentations will help emphasize the importance of local communities putting in efforts to fight deforestation, a major contributor to global warming.

From her press release:

“According to Dr. Goodall, “Any agreement reached at Copenhagen should include direct funding to local communities to assist in protecting carbon-rich forests.” This support, she explained, can be achieved through the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) financing mechanism to the benefit of both local communities and the goal of REDD to provide long-term protection of forests.

At Copenhagen, Dr. Goodall and Dr. Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute’s director of conservation science, will demonstrate a pilot project that, with the aid of Google mobile and web-based mapping technologies, will enable local communities to provide accurate and timely forest monitoring data that is essential to meeting REDD’s goals.

The project will allow local communities in Tanzania and Uganda and indigenous Surui people in Brazil, along with their institutional partners, to exchange experiences and find ways to mutually support ongoing carbon/REDD project development efforts in these geographic areas.”

Watch this video which examines the complicated array of issues facing negotiators who specialize in REDD issues: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. Video courtesy of Clean Skies.

Also check out Managing Editor Julie Schwietert’s article “It’s a bad time to be an iceberg” discussing some of the effects of global warming.

The very cold & very windblown author in front of an iceberg in Chilean Patagonia. While posing for the photo, a large chunk of the berg sheared off and began floating away.

Maybe you’ve been following news coming out of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen, which wraps up later this week. With the end of talks slated for December 18, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier today that world leaders “face a defining moment in history” as they decide whether to commit their countries to serious, significant environmental protection policies related to climate change.

Many observers are pessimistic about that possibility, as talks about climate change have gotten stuck on issues related to the divide between rich and poor nations.

If that’s not discouraging enough, there’s been disturbing evidence that the climate change problem is accelerating at a pace that’s even faster than we once thought.

Last week, the international news outlet France 24 reported that a “monster iceberg” has been spotted drifting toward–of all places–Australia. The 12 mile long slab broke off a larger berg about a year ago and has been making a slow but steady drift toward Australia.

If you’re curious about what that might look like–and what implications it might have–check out this 2008 video of a Newfoundland iceberg collapse, found by Eva Holland and reposted on World Hum last week:

Community Connection:

Want to see what climate change looks like around the world? Check out Abbie Mood’s article, Explore Climate Change With Google Earth.

Feature photo by acbo

The new climate change feature for Google Earth lets you view some of the major environmental concerns (rising sea level, rainforest deforestation, glacial melting, and species turnover) and how they affect different areas of the globe. There are also special features like “Climate Action in California” and “Protecting the Arctic Ocean.”

Download it from the Google website.

Community Connection:

One judge ruled climate change a religion. Read the article by Julie Schwietert and leave your thoughts!

On December 19, 2008 Tim DeChristopher, a then 27-year-old University of Utah student, strolled calmly into a Salt Lake City Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office and into a room where the drilling rights of 149,000 acres of pristine public lands, including parcels located near Arches and Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah, were being auctioned off to the highest bidder.  

DeChristopher, wielding paddle number 70, won the leases on 13 parcels of land and drove up the prices for other parcels by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What separated DeChristopher from the other bidders in the room was that he had no intentions of actually paying for these leases.

He had shown up at the BLM office that morning to join others in protesting the sale and soon found himself in the auction room, wielding a paddle and attempting to block the sales in this highly contentious auction.

Announcement of the public land sale drew strong objections from many business owners, conservationists, archaeologists, the National Park Service, members of Congress, and even celebrities, including Robert Redford. Several environmental groups also filed lawsuits in an attempt to stop the sale, believing the land sale would threaten some of Utah’s most precious and scenic redrock desert.

Some of the parcels were adjacent to national parks and critics of the sale felt the views from America’s most cherished parks would soon be spoiled with oil rigs.

A few hours into the auction, oil and gas company bidders became suspicious of bidder 70 after he won the many of the controversial parcels surrounding Arches and Canyonlands National Park. DeChristopher was soon removed from the auction and questioned by federal agents.

On April 1, 2009, DeChristopher was served up a two-count felony indictment and now faces up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

Shortly after the auction, DeChristopher quickly evolved into a folk hero.

DeChristopher does not regret his actions and says he will deal with the consequences. In an interview with the Mountain Gazette he stated:

“Anything else, whether it’s prison, or missing out on school, or whatever, is not nearly as big of a risk as just continuing on this path of destruction that we’re on right now. I didn’t know that it would be effective at the time, I just knew that there was a chance that I could protect the land. I knew that I could live with the consequences, but I couldn’t live with knowing that I saw a chance to make a difference and didn’t take it.”

DeChristopher’s actions worked.

On February 4, 2009, newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar revoked a majority of the sales, including most of the parcels that DeChristopher had won and thoroughly rebuked the previous administration’s hasty reviews of the contested sites.

Despite this, DeChristopher still broke the law and is being tried for violating the terms of a federal auction. He will plead that he interfered with the auction in an act of civil disobedience. His actions were in protest of the Bush administration’s oil and gas policies, which he felt were worsening climate change and threatening the health of everyone on Earth.

Follow DeChristopher’s battle at Bidder70.org.

What do you think of DeChristopher’s actions? Is he a folk hero or a criminal? Share your thoughts below.

Community Connection:

Find out what gas companies have done in other countries when 60 Minutes’ exposes Chevron’s environmental atrocity in the Amazon.

Ah, life’s simple pleasures. Photo: Kecko

While the rest of the world’s populations are flocking toward their nation’s metropolitan hotspots, a 2001 British census shows that Brits have been forgoing the fast-pace of the city for slower country living, a trend that has only gotten worse in recent years.

Not okay, says University College London research associate and author P.D. Smith in an article published in Wired UK magazine’s January issue.

Smith cites data revealing rural households emitting higher carbon dioxide than their urban counterparts due to larger residences, longer commutes, and multiple cars. Turns out, the regions with the largest carbon footprints in the UK are in the rural northeast, not the famed cities of London or Glasgow. London, interestingly enough, has the lowest per capita emissions. Who would have thought?

Smith argues that city living creates a low carbon economy and those who opt for country living should be taxed for the luxury.

“British people need to be cured of the insidious fantasy of leaving the city and owning a house in the country…. We tax cigarettes to reflect the harm they do to our health: we need to tax lifestyles that are damaging the health of the planet – and that means targeting people who choose to live in the countryside.”

Making exceptions for agricultural workers and those who are employed in rural areas, Smith wants to institute a “Rural Living Tax” for all other country residents, such as rich people with two houses.

But other than tax the pants off country dwellers, isn’t a better solution to aggressively promote greener living for all citizens?

Rather than punish people for choosing to live with cows and chickens, we should be encouraging the habitual acts that contribute to sustainability. The Earth is everyone’s responsibility and finding more reasons to tax certain demographics doesn’t exactly carry that message across.

Sound reasonable enough? Let those opinions fly free in the comments below.

You may remember reading about Anna Brones and her new social media start-up on Matador Pulse. She’s now competing to become the Huffington Post’s Hopenhagen Ambassador at the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference.

Anna took a few minutes out of her day to answer a couple questions.

Why do you want to cover Copenhagen?

I’ve been wanting to go to the Copenhagen conference for a long time. First of all, the importance of the conference itself is huge; our global future is at stake. Second, because of new media, the whole world gets to take part.

The Copenhagen conference won’t just be happening with political leaders making decisions behind closed doors; because of blogs, video interviews, Twitter updates, etc. everyone is going to be able to stay up to date with what is happening in real time. That’s a pretty amazing thing.

Why are environmental issues important to you?

I [grew up] spending my time outdoors, and over the years I’ve come to realize that if I don’t personally take steps to protect it, the natural spaces that are so key to our existence may no longer be here.

As a writer I’ve committed myself to educating others about these issues, so that they too can push for change. We need to learn how to live in balance with nature, and that means changing how we live our lives.

Vote for Anna Brones on the Hopenhagen Ambassador website here.

Community Connection:

Keep in the loop about what other Matador members are doing and what’s going on at Matador on Matador Pulse.

Photo: *Andrew

It’s a ruling that sets a powerful precedent.

Judge Michael Burton, the justice who ruled last year that Al Gore’s climate change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” was “political and partisan,” ruled in a separate case earlier this week that:

“[A] belief in man-made climate change … is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations.”

The ruling was made in the case of Tim Nicholson, the former director of sustainability for a British property firm. Nicholson was fired in 2008 due, according to his claim, to his “philosophical belief about climate change and the environment.” Nicholson had protested the activities of firm executives who made decisions that not only weren’t green… they were downright ridiculous. In one instance, Nicholson told the judge, an employee was dispatched to take a flight from London to Ireland simply to deliver a Blackberry to another employee who had forgotten it, leaving it behind in the London office.

In court, Nicholson’s former employer tried to argue that “green views [are] political and based on science, as opposed to religious or philosophical in nature.” Because religion deals with matters that cannot be proven and because climate change can be substantiated, Nicholson’s views should not be considered religious, the company argued.

Their argument fell flat, though, as Judge Burton ruled in Nicholson’s favor.

The ruling is significant because it may establish precedents for significant, positive policy changes in British corporations… though it may also encourage more litigation. In its analysis of the case, the Telegraph explained:

“The ruling could open the door for employees to sue their companies for failing to account for their green lifestyles, such as providing recycling facilities or offering low-carbon travel.”

If that’s what it takes to get climate change on corporate agendas, though, it might not be such a bad thing.

Community Connection:

The international conference on climate change is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen next month. Keep visiting Change- we’ll have a correspondent at the conference who will be filing daily dispatches.

Photo: ctenophore

Well, this is a depressing way to start your Thursday.

As if the news of glacial melt and polar bear deaths wasn’t enough to make you want to crawl into a hole until the environmental apocalypse has come and gone, here’s a stunner:

Scientists now believe that coral reef destruction is so accelerated that it’s impossible to save these living underwater ecosystems.

According to this article from the BBC, the only intervention believed viable at this point is to collect reef samples and freeze them for posterity. Should we get our act together on climate change and help restabilize the oceans’ temperatures, then, the reasoning goes, the cryogenized coral can be reintroduced to sea beds.

All the more reason why the world’s superpowers need to start walking the walk on climate change at next month’s Copenhagen summit.

Community Connection:

Members of the Matador community are active in coral reef protection and restoration. Check out the organizational profile of the Reef Doctor, an environmental conservation and activist group based in Madagascar that’s dedicated to conserving coral reefs through local education and community-based environmental projects.

Maybe climate change can really only be understood by seeing it first hand.

In their travels around the world, Matador’s editors have witnessed the effects of climate change with their own eyes. Today, in recognition of Blog Action Day, Matador editors Lola Akinmade and Hal Amen posted dispatches about climate change issues in Nigeria and Bolivia.

Photo: Lola Akinmade

Matador Goods editor Lola Akinmade examines this image, explaining how global poverty and climate change are inextricably linked. Click here to read the full article, “The Scarcity of Breath.”

Photo: scropy

Matador Trips editor Hal Amen reports on why a receding, melting glacier matters to a community in Bolivia. Click here to read about “los pobres dying of thirst. Just one consequence among countless others of climate change.”

Community Connection:

Have you witnessed the effects of climate change in your travels or in your own community? Share the story below. If you have a photo that tells the story better, consider submitting it to Matador’s Flickr photo pool!

Ice that sheared off a glacier in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile; Photo by author

Polar bears are dying, ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising.

You’ve heard these facts so many times, you’ve likely tuned out any mention of them.

You know the planet’s climate is changing, and it’s not for the better.

But judging from some of the (ahem) informed comments we receive in response to climate change articles on Matador, it’s pretty clear that some folks still don’t believe climate change is a problem.

That’s where you come in.

October 15–that’s this Thursday–is Blog Action Day, an “annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.”

This year’s issue is climate change.

Besides being an urgent issue that affects everyone on the planet, the organizers of Blog Action Day selected climate change as this year’s topic in order to stimulate conversation about the issue leading up to the Copenhagen climate meeting scheduled for this December.

To get ideas about a post you can write for Blog Action Day, click here. And for other ideas about how you can take action, the Blog Action Day organizers offer 12 concrete steps you can take to address climate change in your own community.

Community Connection:

Want to learn about someone who’s concerned about the environment every day? Check out Chris Jordan’s Pacific Garbage Patch project here.

Photo by author

This absurdist statement was typical for choreographer Christopher Caines on Sunday, September 20, as he led a group of 2,000 New Yorkers gathered in Central Park to create a giant living sculpture for Oxfam and the TckTckTck Campaign’s Human Countdown: Climate Wake-Up Call.

I was part of that sculpture—assigned, specifically, to represent Western Sahara on the North African coast. My role as one of 600 Earthlings was simple. I was a little speck, a grain of sand trapped inside an hourglass—one of many grains of sand—and together we dissolved into the phrase “tck tck tck,” a reminder to world leaders that time is running out for them to act on global warming.

Our public protest targeted decision makers as they gathered in New York for the United Nations summit two months ahead of the Copenhagen climate treaty talks this December. But instead of shouting angrily about how they’d better get it together on a fair and binding climate change agreement, we were a close-knit community of volunteer dancers spelling out our message.

There was a foolishness to what we did, I know. What kind of crazy person spends an entire day running around in a park pretending to be a grain of sand? How could we possibly change the world?

But we were all in it together. As the choreographer reminded us: “You are the most important people here today, and you’re all here to help each other.”

And we were not alone.

The next day, in 2,632 media-saturated events in 134 countries, thousands of people allied with the TckTckTck Campaign and its partners, including Avaaz and 350.org, rallied to send a Global Climate Wake-Up Call.

We placed cell phone calls to the White House, we sent text messages to cabinet ministers from Australia, we filmed ourselves and went viral on You Tube, we tweeted, we blogged, we handed out fake copies of the New York Post with the headline “We’re screwed.”

When I was a kid growing up outside of Chicago, I sat in suburban comfort on my couch one summer and watched in awe and confusion as police clubbed and tear-gassed Vietnam War protesters rioting just a few miles from my house during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Now, climate change has become an equally urgent issue that has galvanized support around the globe.

Some old-school protesters complain that we 21st-century activists don’t engage with the passion that fired them up back in the day. As I see it, though, the technology available through new media and the Internet has forever changed the nature of public protest. Just look at the live-blogging and mobile-phone photos that came out of the Iran elections in July.

Here in the States, it may be true that nobody is risking their life anymore by taking to the streets for a political cause. But who’s to say that our cause is any less just because we’re having fun and acting silly while joining in the fight?

And global warming is a strange enemy to fight. It’s as big as the world, and as small as tossing the bottle of soda you just finished drinking into a recycling bin. It’s a massively complex problem, and yet some people don’t even believe it’s happening. In short, doing battle with an amorphous idea requires tremendous creative energy and a well-developed sense of the absurd.

The Human Countdown was designed by Christopher Caines with the assistance of visual artist Gail Rothschild and architect Stephen Furnstahl.

“When Christopher first asked me to help with the graphics and figure out how to enlarge the hourglass/earth/text onto the huge net, I thought it sounded impossible,” Rothschild said. “But I’m always up for impossible projects for noble causes, and somehow, it all worked!”

Read dispatches from on-the-ground journalists and bloggers at TckTckTck.org’s Climate Voice, an online reporting hub where you can follow progress on the global warming debate and keep up with breaking news, live video, Twitter streams, and aggregated blog feeds.

Community Connection:

What do you think about 21st century activism and the roles technology and even fun might play? Share your thoughts below.

The real scenario will be far more frightening than anything we can Photoshop. Photo: Cherrylynx

Yesterday, I was listening to The Brian Lehrer Show, a program on my local public radio station here in New York City. One segment featured scientists Rob Young and Orrin Pilkey, authors of the recently published book, The Rising Sea.

Young and Pilkey, climate change specialists, spoke about the 10 cities they deem most at risk from sea level rise caused by climate change. The cities are:

1. Miami, Florida, USA

Miami is the seventh largest city in the United States, so any abrupt sea change here would impact the lives of millions. Average elevation? Just six feet.

A Miami blogger, citing a July 2009 New Scientist article, wrote recently that even rapid action to decelerate climate change is unlikely to prevent an inevitable swallowing up of Miami by the sea. Instead, he argued, the only logical plan B for the city is to stop building in vulnerable areas…which is almost everywhere.

2. Venice, Italy

Venice is known as the city of water for good reason. Since 1897, the mean sea level around Venice has increased by three inches. That may not sound like much over a period just a shade longer than a century, but coupled with the phenomenon of sinking land, the public television show NOVA has referred to Venice as a city under environmental siege.

3. New York, New York, USA

What would New York City be like under water? Scientists predict that we may find out far sooner than anyone expected. According to this article from Science Daily, “Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century,” putting New York City at particular risk.

4. Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Mumbai is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, which makes predicted sea change effects here particularly frightening. Besides the fact that many parts of the city are just 46 feet above the Arabian Sea, Mumbai is known to have a poor drainage system and–as if that wasn’t enough–it’s located in a major seismic zone.

5. Singapore

Singapore was accurately described by The New York Times in 2007 as “surrounded by sea and almost pancake flat.” Though its highest peak is 540 feet above sea level, the vast majority of inhabited space is just a few feet above sea level. The inevitable slip into the sea is being addressed by the government, which has reached out to Dutch dam-building experts to help reinforce the Singaporean sea wall.

6. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

The vulnerability of New Orleans to the whims of the ocean was laid painfully bare by Hurricane Katrina. The highest point in the city is only six feet above sea level, and being surrounded by water, the future of the city in the event of even a minimal sea level rise is likely to be catastrophic.

7. Osaka, Japan

How’s this for a sobering statistic? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that a mere one meter rise in sea levels “would swallow about 90% of the sandy beaches in Japan and 100% of the sandy beaches in
Osaka.”

8. Tampa/St. Pete, Florida, USA

Sea levels in Tampa/St. Pete have been rising at a clip of an inch a decade since the 1940s.

9. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, is another one of the world’s 10 most populated cities and one of its most low-lying.

10. Tokyo, Japan

At just 16 feet average above sea level, Tokyo rounds out the list of the world’s cities that are deemed most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

The common feature of all 10 cities is their low-lying elevation. For more of the science behind this list, listen to the podcast of this segment here:

Community Connection:

Carly Blatt’s “How to Survive Travel Disasters: Lessons From Hurricane Katrina” isn’t just relevant for travelers; it includes some useful emergency planning tips for those of us who live in low-lying and catastrophe-prone areas, too.

The greenhouse gas clock is located next to Madison Square Garden. Photo by Francisco Collazo

The U.S. national debt clock?

That’s so last year.

On June 18, a 70-foot tall greenhouse gas clock was unveiled by Deutsche Bank on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 34th Street in New York City. The company, which has a branch that advises business clients about the economic and environmental benefits of being green, erected the clock to raise the public’s awareness about greenhouse gas emissions.

Fast Company calls the counter a “scary…scare tactic” and predicts that it may quickly become a “sign of hopelessness.”

Let’s just hope that we’re not as cynical as Fast Company, which wonders “how a single person could make a difference [in reducing emissions]“… and let’s hope that the greenhouse gas clock doesn’t meet the same fate as the debt clock… which ran out of digits last October.

Community Connection:

Not sure how one person can make a difference? Check out “The Lazy Environmentalist’s Guide” here.

A factory in Wuxi, China; Photo: Robert Scoble

That’s the equation posed and the question asked by George Monbiot on his environmental blog at the Guardian.

We rich countries export our production to poorer countries, whose governments are typically eager to accept our companies and our contracts so they can improve employment, wages, and their own access to goods. In return, we get our products at a cheaper price.

But for all the “benefits” we insist poorer countries receive by serving as our hub of manufacturing, there’s a clear cost, too. Just take a look at the sky in China:

An all too typical day in Beijing. Photo: stan

Monbiot explains that the West conveniently puts the blame for the world’s environmental woes–especially CO2 emissions–on the East, all the while neglecting to mention that the East wouldn’t be pumping as much CO2 into the atmosphere if it weren’t for our own production goals.

The debate isn’t just fodder for academic dispute; it has important policy implications. In the past, global initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol were largely dominated by the interests, voices, and purse strings of Western governments. The West evaded responsibility for taking meaningful action, putting the burden of responsibility on the East.

But Monbiot argues that if we can change the conversation about CO2 and convince ourselves and one another that all of us– producers AND consumers–share the blame and responsibility for CO2 emissions, then perhaps future policies–such as those that are likely to be drafted at the December climate change summit in Copenhagen– will actually hold all of us accountable for a problem that affects everyone on the planet.

Community Connection:

Read more about how you can reduce your own carbon footprint.

I love The New York Times. I grew up reading The New Yorker magazine. I always digg the Harpers index. I think National Geographic is pretty much the coolest club on the planet.

But I won’t be reading any of these fine publications until they stop taking money from lobbyists and PR firms that are determined to thwart necessary reforms of American energy policy.

The sad truth is that the finest American newspapers and magazines are serving as disinformation platforms for a massive social media campaign being launched by an energy industry that is refusing to change its destructive ways.

This onslaught of cutting-edge, highly funded fossil-fuel propaganda campaigns are more dangerous to our health than tobacco ads, and have no place masquerading as well-intentioned information on the websites of our magazines and newspapers.

The Evil of Greenwashing

When I saw greenwashing ads for Chevron in The New Yorker I smelled hypocrisy.

How could the magazine that publishes Elizabeth Kolbert’s devastating reports on climate change allow itself to be sponsored by one of the most heinous and destructive energy companies in the world today?

When I saw banners for “Clean Coal: America’s Power” on The New York Times website I was sickened. Coal is not clean.

Coal smoke is choking us. Wrapping filth in the American flag is an insult to every citizen who loves this country.

The claim that coal is “cheap” power becomes very false very fast as soon as health care costs are taken into account.

Explore sustainability with Shell and Harpers?

As a friend put it, that’s like saying “learn more about diversity! Contribute to the KKK!”.

But the final straw came today, when I visited The New York Times opinion page and saw a banner ad promising “The Truth” about the Canadian tar sands.

Let’s get one thing clear: the massive tar sand projects in Canada are fueling climate change and causing vast ecological destruction.

Thanks to wonderful journalism from sources like the Times, we know just how much we stand to lose if climate change is left unchecked.

Opposing the expansion of the tar sand projects is a life or death issue, not just for the cancer victims of Alberta, but for all Creation.

Editorial Separation

Apologists will argue that big media companies maintain a wall between editorial and advertising. That is no excuse. In the age of new media, common sense morals are more important than a self-righteous blind-eye.

How can anyone trust an institution that purports to give us the truth about important world issues, but is sponsored by harmful propagandists?

The big energy companies are mounting a sophisticated propaganda and disinformation campaign.

They are pouring money into online media projects. We need to fight back.

Boycotts and Counter Attacks

Sorry, Nick Kristof. Sorry, Gail Collins.

Tom Friedman – how big is YOUR carbon foodprint?

As much as I love the Times, I’m going to get my news elsewhere for a while. I encourage you to do likewise.

Here are some good alternatives:

Global Voices Online

The Pulitzer Center

IPS News

Google News

Additionally, in the face of the massive energy lobbyist PR campaign, it’s imperative that all of us work overtime to counter the faux-patriotic green-washing of the energy industry.

The energy reform challenge is as imperative as the civil rights struggle was in the days of Martin Luther King.

Call them out.

Expose the false arguments. Look beyond the carefully market-tested messages.

If you know someone who buys into the fossil fuel lobby’s misleading claims, sit them down for a serious talk. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ask why the places where fossil fuel is central to the economy – like West Virginia – are the poorest and unhealthiest places in America.

Ask why places where the fossil fuel lobby is effectively countered by informed citizens – like Vermont – boast healthy populations and strong local economies.

Our future depends on our willingness to reform our energy policy. Big oil companies and their big media collaborators are standing in the way with billions of dollars on their side, but the truth needs no ally.

Further Reading

Yes, we have an energy crisis. But the problem isn’t what you think. Read “The Crisis Of Too Much Energy”.

Wondering who to trust? Read “How To Evaluate Claims About Big Oil”.

Interested in social responsibility? Read “Manifesto of a Young American”.

Feature photo by Oran Viriyincy. Photo above by Claire L. Evans

The average person in the US receives nearly 11 pieces of junk mail each week, or 560 pieces a year. This amounts to 4.5 million tons of junk mail yearly, of which 44% goes straight to the landfill unopened and unread.

Here are some more facts:

100 million trees are cut down each year to produce junk mail.

1 million trees offset 48,000,000 pounds of carbon emissions.

Eliminating junk mail in the US would offset 480,000 cars.

Conclusions

These numbers only reflect the amount of carbon emissions offset by the raw materials alone. They do not take into account all of the carbon emissions created in transporting the trees from the forest to the pulp mills, much less the emissions generated in manufacturing the paper. Nor do they take into account the carbon emissions created in distributing the junk mail via mail-trucks, planes, and cars nationwide.

It’s safe to say that were we to include those factors in our equation, the actual emissions created through junk mail would easily be in the millions of cars, perhaps in the tens of millions. Anyone want to work on that formula?

How to Stop Receiving Junk Mail

For a quick and easy guide to stop receiving junk mail, please visit the Native Forest Network.

Photo: JOE M500 / Feature photo: The Truth About…

It’s ironic that I was thinking of this topic the very moment a driver opened his door just as I was approaching. I yelled out “Jesus! What the…”, as I swerved around, but he didn’t even give a second look.

As the cycling movement gains momentum, and as Matador publishes more pieces like Bike Touring Montana: Classic Big Sky Rides, The World’s 15 Most Bike Friendly Cities, and 6 Reasons To Go By Bike, now is a good time to freshen up on some basic considerations for drivers AND cyclists as we share the road.

The following tips are hardly new revelations; they are common sense. Although, based on direct evidence, I could be wrong. These have all been repeated time and again in any number of magazine articles, television shows and driving courses.

But as long as drivers and cyclists are behaving badly, it can’t be said enough.

Editor’s note: The cyclist in the image above was killed when a car door was opened in his path. He was thrown into traffic and struck by another motorist.

6 Tips For Drivers

Cyclists are here to stay. Year after year, more people — perhaps frustrated by traffic, petrol prices, or climate change — are making the swap to self-powered transportation. It’s a growing trend.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when cyclists are around:

1. Take your foot off the gas pedal

You won’t save any time by speeding dangerously around a bike rider. Trust me. You’ll get stopped 100 meters up the road by the traffic light. At which point the cyclist will pass you to get to the front, and then you’ll start the exercise again.

Be patient. Pass only when safe and pass slowly. You’ll still be on time for your meeting if you drop it down 20 km/h for a few minutes.

Don’t do this / Photo: tvol

2. Shoulder check

Yes, a given. But you’d be surprised how many times I see someone making a turn without checking their inside lane. Or, maybe you wouldn’t.

3. Respect the bike lanes

Think of bike lanes as another car lane. You wouldn’t block other cars, so don’t block cyclists. Don’t park in ‘em, don’t idle in ‘em, and pay extra attention around them.

4. Don’t speed up to make a turn

If you’re making a right turn (or, left in some countries), and a cyclist is between you and the intersection, allow her to get past it. Don’t gun it to 80 to pass, and then cut her off as you slow down to make the turn. Again, you will not get where you’re going faster.

Homemade bumper sticker / Photo: Tina Keller

5. Watch those doors

As alluded to in the intro, when you park and are about to get out of your ride, check your mirrors and look over your shoulder for any oncoming bikers.

6. Put the mobile phone down

‘Nuff said.

The overriding message: Slow down and pay attention. I know it’s difficult in today’s hyperspeed society, but it’s important. Just think, this could be your wife, son, mother, grandpa on that bike. If you hit a cyclist, how would that impact your life? Not really worth the risk, is it?

6 Tips For Cyclists

We need to accept that we also have a part to play to ensure that not only are we safe on the road, but everyone else too.

1. Be a sore thumb

It’s in your best interests to be seen under any circumstance, so stick out. Wearing bright, reflective clothing and using lights (preferably flashing) at night is the best way to be seen. Another way to make sure you’re seen is to always make eye contact with the driver when you’re in a dodgy situation. Never assume anything.

Photo: richardmasoner

2. Show your intentions

Be obvious when you’re about to make a move. Use hand signals. In those hesitant situations where driver and cyclist aren’t sure what the other will do, I find it best to wave them on, unless you’re clear on their intentions.

3. Obey the road rules

You’ll just piss off motorists to no end if you’re constantly weaving around, running red lights, and getting in their way. While it can be said that drivers won’t save time by speeding, the same is true for riders. The difference is, they’re in a big hunk o’ metal and you’re not. Which brings me to my next point…

4. You will always lose in cyclist vs. motorist

Regardless of who is in the right, the laws of physics rule. If you have to be inconvenienced because you have to slow down or make a stop due to the moves of some airhead driver, don’t hesitate, just do it. Sure, some hapless souls have been richly compensated after being hit, but I’m sure if you ask them, they’d rather it never happened in the first place.

Single file would be better / Photo: f_mafra

5. Keep your cool

I know, I know. It can get maddening out there sometimes. But keep your cool and turn the other cheek, lest you end up in a court bind and broken finger like this guy.

6. Put the iPod away

I’ll admit, I listened to music while riding only until recently. One day a fellow cyclist said to me, “that’s very dangerous, mate” (of course, I had to take out an earphone to hear him) while stopped at a red light. At the time it angered me, and I even wrote a nasty post about it.

But in the end I knew he was right. And the thought of that voice running through my head for the rest of my life if I ever did have an accident while listening to my iPod clinched it for me. Time to put it away.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Do you have more tips for drivers or cyclists? Can we all just get along? Any stories from the road that you’d like to share?

Please comment below!

And don’t forget, May is National Bike Month in the US.

By now, we all can agree that global warming is, in fact, real, and is, in fact, changing our climate (snow in South Carolina in March anyone?)

The latest reports, like this one from the National Research Council, continue to surface seemingly on a daily basis, reminding us that we need to make changes, pronto:

Despite years of study and analysis, the world is unprepared for climate change and needs to rethink basic assumptions that govern things as varied as choosing cars and building bridges, the National Research Council reports.

And now, we have an economic crisis to contend with that in some ways, makes implementing these changes trickier:

“Climatic changes will be superimposed on social and economic changes that are altering the climate vulnerability of different regions and sectors of society, as well as their ability to cope,” the Research Council said.

As travelers, how do we best go about continuing to participate in seeing the world and learning from other cultures while reducing our footprint on the environment?

It is no longer a question of when, but how—immediately. One such possibility is being spearheaded by state governments on the West Coast of the US—alternative fueling stations might be found along the Pacific Coast Highway as early as this summer, for both electric cars and biodiesel, ethanol, and natural gas vehicles.

This is just one approach to curbing our carbon emissions.

What else can be done to save both our environment and the freedom to travel? Share your thoughts below.