Political
Understanding Sustainability Conference – Portland
It seems that it’s conference season these days. Another interesting Green event that would definitely be worth checking out is the Understanding Sustainability: Perspectives from the Humanities Conference. The event takes place May 20th through the 22nd in Portland, Oregon. It’s free and open to the public, and sure to be very educational.
Acknowledging the varied understandings of the term “sustainability,” the Understanding Sustainability conference seeks to discuss the way in which the term might be approached in a truly useful and efficient way. Through innovative dialogue and debate, the conference seeks to create or improve on green frameworks for environmental scholarship, activism, research, and policy. › Continue reading
Obama and Offshore Drilling
Image: Flickr User krb&nah
But maybe we in the environmental community shouldn’t really be so surprised. In this New York Times article, it’s reiterated that ‘Mr. Obama said several times during his presidential campaign that he supported expanded offshore drilling. He noted in his state of the union address in January that weaning the country from imported oil would require “tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.’” › Continue reading
Seeing the Forest for the Trees (Part II)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxterclaws/ / CC BY 2.0
Continued from Part I of Seeing the Forest for the Trees.
Last week I attended Dr. Peterson’s lecture, “Climate, Forests and Future: A View from Treeline” at the University of Washington as a part of the School of Forest Resources and the College of the Environment lecture series, Sustaining our Northwest World.
There were two subjects within the lecture that particularly caught my attention, the first being a number of actions that policy makers and environmental managers need to take into account when preparing for the effects of climate change. The second topic was a discussion on the very interaction of climate scientists and policy makers themselves and the effects on the issues at stake. He said that scientists as well as environmental managers need to take a keep a number of things in mind when responding to this climate crisis. › Continue reading
Seeing the Forest for the Trees (Part I)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathycsus/ / CC BY 2.0
Last Thursday evening I attended the public lecture “Climate, Forests and Future: A View from Treeline” by Dr. Dave Peterson – forest service scientist, professor and co-nobel prize winner. He spoke at the University of Washington as a part of the School of Forest Resources and the College of the Environment lecture series, Sustaining our Northwest World.
Initially his talk focused on the ecological aspects of the local climate change impacts in the Pacific Northwest, such as a projected increase in mountain pine beetle population that has already caused havoc in British Columbia. The beetle infestation will result in an increase in surface fuel and eventual forest fires. Washington, Oregon and Idaho forests are already beginning to see these effects of climate change.
Dr. Peterson continued on to discuss two topics that particularly caught my interest, the first being how exactly to prepare and respond to the effects of a climate change that we are already experiencing? Because essentially, that is the point we have reached. We are already seeing and experiencing the local effects of increased green house gases in our atmosphere. Now, we need to recognize this and begin to focus on how best to react to those changes, effectively. It’s no longer a question of if… it’s a question of when and how.
He outlined a number of actions that every policy maker and environmental manager should take to heart at this point, particularly those in the forest service though they are applicable across the board. › Continue reading
Green Jobs
image: flickr user OregonDOT
In today’s current economic situation, there has been a lot of hope (and hype) inspired by what’s being called “green-collar jobs”. This self described new industry would appear to be the much needed solution to not only the depressingly high unemployment rates, but also the need for alternate energy sources and even a more general, cultural environmental paradigm shift. But what is the real situation when it comes to the green job market today? What even qualifies as a “green collar job”? It’s sometimes all too easy to fall for perhaps over emphasized, environmentally significant buzzwords. Recognizing this, let’s start with a couple definitions.
In a Time article, What Is A Green-Collar Job, Exactly, Phil Angelides (chair of the green employment focused coalition, Apollo Alliance) defined it as a job that pays decent wages and benefits that can support a family, a job that is part of a real career path with potential for advancement, and a job that reduces waste and pollution and benefits the environment. Personally, I prefer Green Collar Blog‘s wider definition of “full-time, part-time, or internship opportunities that provide a social or environmental benefit. These jobs can be in the public, private, or non-profit sector and include jobs in areas such as energy efficiency, green building, natural resource management, recycling, and renewable energy.”
The Green Collar Blog definition includes a broader view of green, including sustainability and corporate social responsibility type jobs. It really all comes down to an argument over what the real definition of “green” is, but let’s save that for another blog. › Continue reading
In Response to WA State “Eco-Terrorist” Bill
image: flickr user steews4
Check out what TreeHugger.com has to say on the subject here.
Firstly, I would like to preface this blog by saying I would recommend people intent on their promotion of environmental awareness to stick to lawful means of expressing that activism. That said, I also believe there should be more of a discussion on the understanding, legally and culturally, of “eco-terrorism”. What is it? Why is it used? What purpose does it have? What results does it achieve?
A large part of activism is the spreading of awareness of issues. People are often desensitized to issues of environmental crisis in the face of sensationalized media overkill. I think that activists utilize their right to freedom of speech to express intense concern for issues and to spread awareness. The more common strategies do this without putting human lives at risk or result in the destruction of property. The umbrella labeling of all environmental activists as “terrorists” is absurd and rather slanderous, to be frank.
Destroying Clothes- Brand Managmenent and the Apparel Industry
It really is quite a dilemma, the question of brand and style management and environmental stewardship has been at the forefront of controversy since the H&M and Walmart clothing destruction and disposal incident. This conjures up a similar dumpster diving topic of food disposal by grocery stores and restaurants, food safety concerns can pose some justification while the destruction of clothes can be more difficult to explain.
Given that people are dying of exposure around the world and there really doesn’t seem to be any cause to destroy perfectly good clothes, there are two issues one must consider- Brand management and the fragile economy of clothing manufacturing. In some ways they can be interconnected although one is detrimental to a company, the other can doom an industry.
Brand management to some is not an excuse, but in our society it is a necessity. Much like the regulation of food production to maintain pricing, people starve as a consequence, however, it is needed to maintain the industry. If a brand is de-valued, it can bring about the death of the company. If you had just purchased a new jacket at a store for $100, and then started to see that same jacket being worn by homeless, showing up in large quantities at second hand stores and charities, it would probably disappoint you or make you feel like you got ripped off (you paid decent money for something that others are getting at a heavy discount or even free). Not only does it sabotage the ‘style’ (style inherently involves an exclusivity factor or comparison with ‘stylish’ people), but it de-values the item knowing that you over-paid for it. This will cause a collapse in the brand as no one will want to pay that much for their items if they can get it cheaper elsewhere, or know that ‘societal unsavory individuals’ will be wearing them at the same time.
The other, and probably least recognized issue is the affect on the clothing industry as a whole. This has been a particular problem in very poor regions of Africa and South America. The infiltration of charities giving away free clothes has destroyed any hope of a local industry and sadly closed down the manufacture of traditional style clothes. In areas of true extreme poverty, where the chance of death from exposure is a real risk, these practices have indeed saved lives. It is the collateral damage from an over-abundance of these items which has spread throughout these areas that wreak havoc on the local clothing industry.
Eco Eliteism – Greener Than Thou – Are you a Green Snob?
I recently received an email with a footer that read: “Please consider the Environment before printing this email. Think Green.” The interesting thing is that it actually made me kind of mad. The person who sent me this email is anything but green, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought green living had more to do with color choices than the earth or the environment. This got me thinking though, have I become an eco-eliteist? Am i so into my own ‘green-ness’, that I deny any attempt, genuine or not, at other becoming green or doing something that will benefit the earth regardless of how they feel about it? I guess it has a lot to do with the whole concept of Greenwashing. That it’s cool to be green, but people don’t think or embrace it, they turn it into a marketing line, a ploy, a fad. › Continue reading
