Monthly Archives: December 2017

Ben and Jerry’s vs. Glyphosate: Moving on from the Toxic Relationship

Oh, Ben and Jerry; a staple of life. From breakups to movie nights, childhood memories to sweet-tooth binges, the good old Ben and Jerry tubs have escorted us through life’s pitfalls and triumphs. It takes a lot to make a lasting relationship work; whether it be a marriage or the connection between consumer and frozen treats. It takes smart decisions, the willingness to accept and correct mistakes, and a constant ability to grow and rebrand.

That’s Ben and Jerry’s niche, and they are at it again with the removal of Glyphosate. What do I mean “again” …? And, Glypho-what?

Ben and Jerry’s vs. Glyphosate: Moving on from the Toxic Relationship

Working and playing with plants helps cope with illness, disabilities

“Oh, that’s like me,” Underhill says, reaching for it. “That’s my kind of plant.”

The Botanical Garden’s therapeutic horticulture program has grown in popularity in recent years, offering connections with nature to those enduring serious illness, developmental disabilities, or physical or mental trauma. It includes sessions at the garden, in a part known as the Sensory Garden, as well as outreach at area treatment centres such as Siteman.

“We believe that connection to nature provides healing,” Carbone said. “I can bring this to people who are probably in the worst situation they’re ever going to be in.”

https://www.thespec.com/living-story/7981624-working-and-playing-with-plants-helps-cope-with-illness-disabilities/

Gary Snyder’s Poetry Earns Him A Spot In The California Hall Of Fame

(Audio)

Gary Snyder’s life and work as a poet spans from the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance in the 1950s to today. He’s won a Pulitzer Prize for his poems, and his blend of Buddhist spirituality and environmental activism have earned him a reputation as the “poet laureate of Deep Ecology.”

Gary Snyder has published more than 20 books of poetry and prose, and that earned him a spot in the California Hall of Fame at tonight’s ceremony hosted by Gov. Jerry Brown. Capital Public Radio’s new environment reporter Ezra David Romero joins to talk about Gary Snyder’s poetry and his work.

http://www.capradio.org/news/insight/2017/12/05/insight-120517b/

Greater future global warming inferred from Earth’s recent energy budget

This is an academic study.

Abstract

Climate models provide the principal means of projecting global warming over the remainder of the twenty-first century but modelled estimates of warming vary by a factor of approximately two even under the same radiative forcing scenarios. Across-model relationships between currently observable attributes of the climate system and the simulated magnitude of future warming have the potential to inform projections. Here we show that robust across-model relationships exist between the global spatial patterns of several fundamental attributes of Earth’s top-of-atmosphere energy budget and the magnitude of projected global warming. When we constrain the model projections with observations, we obtain greater means and narrower ranges of future global warming across the major radiative forcing scenarios, in general. In particular, we find that the observationally informed warming projection for the end of the twenty-first century for the steepest radiative forcing scenario is about 15 per cent warmer (+0.5 degrees Celsius) with a reduction of about a third in the two-standard-deviation spread (−1.2 degrees Celsius) relative to the raw model projections reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Our results suggest that achieving any given global temperature stabilization target will require steeper greenhouse gas emissions reductions than previously calculated.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24672

and summary here:

Most Dire Climate Change Predictions, Warns New Study, Are Also the Most Accurate

New research shows emissions must go down every year starting in 2020 to prevent dangerous warming of planet

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/07/most-dire-climate-change-predictions-warns-new-study-are-also-most-accurate

Is Big Food’s Lobbying Arm on the Brink of Extinction?

Consumers can take satisfaction in the fact that they’ve played a role in what some say is the diminishing power of the GMA over Washington policy.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/05/big-foods-lobbying-arm-brink-extinction

UN commits to stop ocean plastic waste

Nations have agreed that the world needs to completely stop plastic waste from entering the oceans.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42239895

WHAT IS THE SYMBIOTIC ECONOMY?

https://symbiotique.org

Soil Power! The Dirty Way to a Green Planet

The earth possesses five major pools of carbon. Of those pools, the atmosphere is already overloaded with the stuff; the oceans are turning acidic as they become saturated with it; the forests are diminishing; and underground fossil fuel reserves are being emptied. That leaves soil as the most likely repository for immense quantities of carbon.

Now scientists are documenting how sequestering carbon in soil can produce a double dividend: It reduces climate change by extracting carbon from the atmosphere, and it restores the health of degraded soil and increases agricultural yields. Many scientists and farmers believe the emerging understanding of soil’s role in climate stability and agricultural productivity will prompt a paradigm shift in agriculture, triggering the abandonment of conventional practices like tillage, crop residue removal, mono-cropping, excessive grazing and blanket use of chemical fertilizer and pesticide. Even cattle, usually considered climate change culprits because they belch at least 25 gallons of methane a day, are being studied as a potential part of the climate change solution because of their role in naturally fertilizing soil and cycling nutrients.

Do your part to reduce single-use plastics

You can do your part to reduce single-use plastics by using a refillable water bottle made from long-lasting food grade stainless steel.

The Power of Regenerative Systems

“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.”

Buckminster Fuller

In these times of increasing uncertainty and volatility we must remain adaptive and responsive to the world’s most significant challenges in order to achieve global prosperity.

One solution is a circular economic system that restructures finance and business to prioritize sustainability and accessibility across our global resource supply chain, thereby guaranteeing livelihoods around the world. This regenerative system will be formed by a new era of social and cultural awareness, one that truly appreciates the interconnectedness of mankind’s socioeconomic systems and our surrounding environment. The main challenge will be to ensure that the global system aligns with the fundamental and universal principles of life.