EarthAction

US Joins International Renewable Energy Agency

The United States today joined 130 other countries as members of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in an Assembly meeting held here in the seaside resort of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

Ambassador Reno Harnish, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science, signed for the U.S. government. He said: “The United States is extremely pleased to join IRENA. President Obama is committed to renewable energy to mitigate climate change, ensure energy security, create green jobs and lead a green recovery. Joining IRENA allows us to cooperate with 130 other nations to speed market adoption of renewable energy around the world.”

Read more of the ACORE Press Release quoted above.

No More Bull: Take a Position on the Economy!

Sign the CASSE position on economic growth.  Join David Suzuki, Chris Matthews, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, and more than 3,000 others who support the transition to a better economy.

Growth, growth, growth.  It’s all economists ever talk about.  But a bigger economy isn’t necessarily a better one.  Our economy has grown for decades, and now we face the prospect of losing our jobs and our stable climate.  It’s time to show support for a new economic paradigm – one that meets the needs of all citizens and maintains a healthy planet.  A steady state economy is a true green economy that aims to stabilize population, consumption, and overall use of energy and materials.  It’s about development instead of growth and quality instead of quantity.

Take a position and help jumpstart the transition to a better economy!  Visit the CASSE website for more information, including other actions you can take to support a sustainable economy.

Want to volunteer in Kenya or Tanzania this summer?

Go with the World Computer Exchange and show community leaders and teachers how to use the Internet, make websites, and more! Both trips go from July 10-July 26. Learn more about volunteering in Tanzania or Kenya.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user eir@si, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Save Canada's Wild West Coast Salmon from Fish Farm Sea Lice

Juvenile pink salmon with sea lice                                   Photo by Alexandra Morton

Action: Please sign the petition below which has grown from 500 to over 10,000 signatures in the last few weeks.

Raising salmon in ocean pens or cages on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada is bad news for Canada's wild salmon, and for the Orca whales, eagles, bears and other animals that depend on the salmon for food. The practice, called 'fish farming', crowds the caged fish in unnatural and unhealthy conditions which breeds diseases and deadly sea lice that overwhelm the healthy natural salmon in adjacent waters. Canada has the only coast with abundant wild salmon to allow this industry.

Alexandra Morton of the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society is leading an effort to get the Canadian  government and the Province of British Columbia to apply the Federal Fisheries Act to 'fish farms'.

To sign the petition to apply the Fisheries Act to fish farms the way it is applied to fishermen, please click on the link below. The petition is a simple form with the minimum requirements to be effective in the British Columbia's Premier's office and with the Federal Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans. If you are inclined, please forward this to others who care about the wild salmon.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cEkxX3p3MGFBbWNVVGNVU3lxQnBwQmc6MA

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Statement on Tibet, China and the Dalai Lama

In a week where the Dalai Lama stuck his neck out, and the Chinese government retaliated with public scorn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has stepped forward and asked us to raise our voices.

Sign the letter today and stand behind these two moral authorities for the future of the Tibetan religion and culture.

To sign the letter, and to learn more, please visit: http://www.thecommunity.com/

REP Roundup!

Hello all! It's time for another edition of the "Rep Roundup!"

If you're unfamiliar with REPs, or Feed-In Tariffs as they are also called, check out the Why REPs? page over at the Alliance for Renewable Energy to find out why this legislation is being called the "the world's most effective renewable energy policy." 

At Wind-Works.org Paul Gipe writes about Indiana Representative Matt Pierce introducing REP legislation into the Indiana General Assembly, and other REP activity in the Midwest.  (Click here for the article.)

Our friends at FARE are hosting a conference February 3rd to discuss "Effective Renewable Energy Policies: Stimulating Job Creation, Long Term Investments, and Improving Energy Security."  If you'll be in the Tallahassee area, do consider coming to what is sure to be a lively, informative, and collaborative conference!

And lastly but not leastly, there's tons of buzz about REPs/Feed-In Tariffs in the blogosphere!  Come check out all the sites and articles we're bookmarking on our Delicious site.  If you're on Delicious yourself, we encourage you to use the tag "REPs" when you come across REP/FIT articles.

Thanks, and we'll see you soon for another Roundup!

(Photo courtesy of flickr user kimerlyfaye, shared under a creative commons license.)

2008 EarthAction Report

EarthAction was plenty busy in 2008 leading a renewable energy campaign in North America, calling for action on 30 issues on our website, surveying our 2,600 Partner Organizations around the world, starting our ‘Social Media’ project, winning an award, and lots more. Click here to read about our accomplishments and let us know your ideas for our future work.

Photo of Long Beach, West Coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino and Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada. EarthAction has carried out several campaigns to protect the environment in this beautiful part of the planet. Photo by Lois Barber 2008.

2008 EarthAction Partner Organization Technology Survey

In 2009 we want to use the Internet more to bring together EarthAction’s 2,600 Partner Organizations in over 160 countries. We want to encourage and enable our Partners to communicate with each other, help each other on projects, share information, skills and expertise. To begin, we carried out a Technology Survey of all the Partners for whom we had email addresses. Click here to see the results of the survey. Send us your ideas of how we can use the EarthAction Network to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

REP Roundup!

There's lots of exciting news in the air about REPs/Feed-In Tariffs!  So get ready for this first edition of the EarthAction weekly "REP Roundup!"

(For more info about REPs, head on over to the Alliance for Renewable Energy and check out Why REPs?)

First, Australia is under way nationalizing feed-in tariffs, as proposed in a recent bill by Senator Christine Milne.  (See this article.)

The UK also recently passed an Energy Bill that makes Feed-In Tariffs law (to be implemented by 2010.)  Paul Gipe writes about the incredible news here.   

In the US, Gainesville Florida is implementing REPs.  (Check out the Florida Alliance For Renewable Energy.)  The city of Los Angeles also recently announced plans to "launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs," which will include Feed-In Tariffs.  For a critical look at this policy and how Feed-In Tariffs will play a role, see Paul Gipe's article.  Wrapping up the US, we also have a call to the energy revolution for Oregonians.

That's it for this week!  Exciting progress is being made all around the world to enact this powerful renewable energy legislation.  Stay tuned for more exciting news and buzz about REPs/Feed-In Tariffs.  (If you have an article or news about REPs you would like to be featured in the weekly roundup, please contact us or leave a comment on this post.)  

(Photo courtesy of Papalars, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Chemicals in our Bodies

I was just perusing through articles over at Ode Magazine, and I came across an article submitted by a reader that I thought was a very straightforward summary of the "scary" chemicals found everywhere in our environment. The author talks about wanting to protect his baby from these chemicals and the steps he and his family are taking to do so (avoiding products with sodium laureth and laurel sulfate, etc.)  These chemicals are in the lotions and shampoos we put on our bodies, in our detergents, and in our food. 

This summer I read Not Just A Pretty Face, an expose on the beauty industry by Stacy Malkan that I highly recommend.  I was completely shocked to learn about the dangers and hazards found in most cosmetics, and the US government's lacking regulations. You can learn more at her site, and you can also go to  www.cosmeticsdatabase.com to look up the ingredients and health concerns of the products you use.

I believe that we can make a difference in our own lives and those of others with the choices we make everyday.  I don't believe that buying things is the answer to many of our environmental concerns, but I will do my best to support those companies whose products I can trust are non-harmful to my body and who are working to create better, more sustainable business models.

(Edit: Mike, the author of the article at Ode Magazine, has also created a site for skin care information at www.myskinbetter.com and has his own line of non harmful products at Emily Skin Soothers.)

(Photo by Jeramy Lim, shared under a creative commons license.)