An aerial view of the Chevron spill on 11/18/11. Photo credit: Reuters

Federal prosecutors urge for charges to be brought against 17 Chevron and Transocean employees, including Chevron’s president in Brazil George Buck, for withholding information and committing environmental damage. The officer leading the investigation, Fabio Scliar, stated, “I am utterly convinced that the company’s institutional policy is reckless and irresponsible. Therefore, the executives are responsible.” Chevron has apologized but stressed that the allegations are “without merit.”

The outrage in Brazil might be compounded by the fact that the World Cup and Summer Olympics are coming there in 2014 and 2016 so there is pressure for the beaches to look picture perfect. Also, Chevron’s disgusting environmental track record doesn’t inspire confidence. AlterNet, an independent environmental news agency, ranked Chevron the number one worst energy company in the world partly due to their toxic dumping and human rights abuses in Ecuador.

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Activists and politicians are accusing India, Brazil, the United States and China (who together account for nearly half of the world’s emissions) of being uncooperative when it comes to creating a legally-binding international deal that commits countries to reducing their emissions. For now it looks like a standoff between these four countries and the EU, which is backed by coalitions of small island nations and least developed countries. Both India and China contend that cutting emissions would hamper their economic growth, and the United States announced its refusal to comply with certain Kyoto Protocol pledges that expire next year.

"Youth calling for action on climate change form a giant lion's head on the beach in Durban" Photo: Reuters. Source: The Guardian

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “The European Union has said it will not renew its emissions reduction pledges unless all countries agree to launch negotiations on a new treaty that would equally oblige all countries – including the world’s two largest polluters, the United States and China – to control their emissions.” Europe is calling on the UN to negotiate a new climate deal by 2015 which would cover all major economies. In a joint statement at the conference, countries standing with the EU conveyed concern about waiting three more years: “The gap between our ambitions and the current pledges is simply too wide. The chance to reach our objective is getting smaller as time passes and we need to start this process today.”

Despite many differences, indicators are strong that the conference will end with an agreement on the creation of a $100 billion Green Climate Fund to help developing countries cope with climate change. The BBC reports that “the draft agreement for this meeting specifies that a levy on fuel used by international shipping could be one source of money for the fund.”

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Chevron Makes Use Of Solar Energy to Recover Oil: “What if solar energy is generated in order to extract oil from mature oil fields? Does this constitute a spectacular irony, or a clever application of renewable energy; one that may be justified in a world where oil is likely to remain fundamental to our economy for a considerable number of years to come?”

Aging Parking Meters Get Solar Upgrade: “A small solar-powered parking meter company is benefiting from the down economy and aging parking infrastructure.”

Why Americans Like Solar Energy: Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Michael Brune, discusses how “recent polling and surveys indicate that, by and large, regardless of our politics, we still think developing solar energy is a great idea. ”

World’s Largest Solar Bridge Under Construction in London: “An iconic steam-era railway bridge is to become the world’s largest solar bridge.” This project seems to “have a particular symbolic value when discussing the dawn of a new energy paradigm.” An interesting follow up to this article is: Solar is Possible on Listed Historic Buildings. Should It Be?

Image credit: TreeHugger

Solar Power For Third-World Ag Boosted: U.S-based non-profit Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is investing in a program that serves as “an integrated approach to implementing solar energy systems that empower rural communities in developing countries to improve their health, education, economic development and food and water security.”

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Their Mission: To Build a Better Toilet: “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has begun a ‘Reinvent the Toilet’ competition and awarded $3 million to researchers at eight universities, challenging them to use recent technology to create models that needn’t be connected to sewers, or to water and electricity lines, and that cost less than pennies per person a day to use.”

Can water end the Arab-Israeli conflict?: “Could solving the water crisis in Israel and Palestine also help resolve the entrenched occupation and conflict?”

Sunflowers used to clean up radiation: “Scientists have discovered that sunflowers can pull radioactive contaminants out of the soil and the water, and researchers cleaning up the Fukushima site in Japan are putting the flowers to the test.”

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef ‘at risk from pesticide’: “Agricultural pesticides are causing significant damage to the Great Barrier Reef, according to a new Australian government report on water quality at the site.”

9 year old’s clean water fundraiser reaches $1 million two months after her death: “Two months after Rachel Beckwith’s ninth birthday, the fund-raising campaign of the girl who died in a traffic accident last month has raised more than $1 million to bring clean water to African villages.” GIVE TO RACHEL’S CAMPAIGN HERE.

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A reporter from National Geographic wrote this article about one community that, after decades of suffering from the chokehold of poverty, has become an “incredible example of how rainwater harvesting can create prosperity.” Government environmental regeneration programs have helped villagers install rainwater storage systems,  and this investment in sustainable development is proving highly effective.

"Kamla Devi was Rajasthan's first woman to graduate from Barefoot college as a solar engineer." Photo credit: The Guardian

Elsewhere in India, Barefoot College is training rural women to become green entrepreneurs in an effort to help the country grow in a way that is environmentally responsible. Barefoot College’s low cost, decentralized and community driven approach capitalizes on the potential already present in villages by training the women in skills including solar engineering, healthcare and water testing. Check out this article about one of the College’s success stories,  a 19-year-old, semi-literate woman from a small village who “has broken through India’s rigid caste system to become the country’s first Dalit [“untouchable”] solar engineer.”

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Envision Solar’s other signature product brings solar power to a new level by using the energy created by its solar panels to power electric cars at specially designed charging stations. Using the sun to power electric vehicles might quell the criticism that electric cars, while remaining nonreliant on fossil fuels, still use a lot of energy which exacerbates global climate disruption. Mr. Noble and his company are proving that solar panels can not only save individual users thousands of dollars on electricity bills, they can beautify parking lots, make your car go, and promote a culture of environmentally sustainable architecture. If policy catches up to innovation, this idea could have lasting effects on the future of our planet.

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“Bottom Feeders”:

According to an article in last month’s Economist, Mexican scientist Alethia Vázquez-Morillas has found a way to use mushrooms to break down used diapers. Diapers can take centuries to rot away, but with Vázquez-Morillas’ method of mycoremediation —the deployment of fungi to clean up waste—they biodegrade in a matter of months. “…Cultivating the right type of mushroom on soiled nappies can break down 90% of the material they are made of within two months. Within four, they are degraded completely. What is more, she says, despite their unsavory diet the fungi in question, Pleurotus ostreatus (better known as oyster mushrooms), are safe to eat. To prove the point she has, indeed, eaten them.” Click here to read more.

Mushrooms Employed to Address Urgent Need to Replace Fertilizer Use:

As it becomes increasingly apparent that non-organic fertilizer poses a serious threat to global agriculture, and “given the fact that the world’s population continues to rise, it makes sense that researchers are looking for ways to reduce dependence on artificial fertilizers and increase fertility in soils.” Scientists have discovered that certain mushrooms, mycorrhizal fungi, can be used to form alliances with plants in a way that reduces the need to apply phosphate fertilizers. Because tropical soils are particularly lacking in this type of fungi, “researchers have been working on biotechnology breakthroughs that allow huge quantities of mycorrhizal fungi spores to be suspended in gel and shipped to farmers around the world. Field tests are currently underway in Colombia to assess the impact of these preparations on crop yields.” Read more here.
To hear the world’s number one fungus fan, Paul Stamets, speak about further benefits of mushrooms (non-drug related of course), click here.

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In the elaborate window display at Selfridges’ flagship store on Oxford St. in London (the UK’s second biggest store behind Harrod’s), mannequins model trendy oversized organic cotton tees with bold phrases like “SAVE THE WORLD,” “STOP AND THINK,” “SAVE THE SEA,” and “NO MORE FISH IN THE SEA.” The money raised will be given to the Zoological Society of London to “set up new – and maintain existing – marine reserves around the world. Selfridges does not make any profit from the sale of this product.”

I would be lying if I said that I am not happy that this fashion superpower is making aquaculture preservation a prominent and trendy issue. But here’s where I disagree with their marketing tactics—on Selfridges’ website, they write, “Earn fashion kudos and peace of mind with famed activist and cult fashion designer Katharine Hamnett’s bold No More Fish in the Sea t–shirt.”

Here’s a peace of MY mind: environmental activism should not just be a battle between you and your guilty conscience nor should it be a fashionista’s “who is the most self-righteous of them all” contest.

Buying a “slouchy, relaxed fit tee” from a giant department store that probably flies most of their merchandise in from China has very little to do with “saving the world.” Yes, acknowledging the global mass slaughtering of sea life is a step in the right direction, but my fear is that the glimmer of activism shown by a t-shirt buyer will stop there.  Selfridges’ is framing the issue like: buy this shirt, make all your friends think you are wise and love Nemo, then go home and bask in your self-congratulatory halo.

No! Buy the stupid shirt if you want to but then go home and call your elected officials to tell them to pass environmental protection legislation. Then hang-dry your shirt after you launder it instead of putting it through the dryer. Then start buying more organic cotton shirts. Then go volunteer at the Zoological Society. THAT’s what it means to “stop and think.” Don’t just stop long enough to text “I heart starfish” or “Saving babies in Africa is cute” or “Trees have feelings too” or whatever the cause of the day is to 345GUILT FREE for $3 per text. Sew environmentalism into everything you do, and into everything you wear.

Get started by discovering more methods to support marine preservation efforts here:

http://saveourseas.com/act

Greenpeace petition

Ocean Conservancy

p.s- just to clarify: Project Ocean is a large campaign with several components. I’m not trying to put down the whole program, rather I want to emphasize that buying the t-shirt should not be the only take away from an event like this.

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Researchers from Reading University in the UK, where the agricultural sector accounts for about 43% of the nation’s methane emissions, have discovered that “Increasing the proportion of maize silage (corn fodder) in cows’ diets from 25% to 75% could reduce methane emission by 6% per litre of milk, while high-sugar grasses could reduce an animal’s methane emissions by 20% for every kilo of weight gain…A diet including a particular variety of oat could cut sheep’s methane emissions by a third.”
Britain’s Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said, “It is very exciting that this new research has discovered that by simply changing the way we feed farm animals we have the potential to make a big difference to the environment.”

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This year’s World Water Day theme is Water and Urbanization because, according to UN-Water, “rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters” are causing enormous stress on urban water systems and people are suffering as a result. Growing slums account for nearly 40% of the world’s urban expansion. Utilities infrastructure is limited and unreliable in these booming slums and the result is often poor sanitation and disease. World Water Day “will encourage action by governments, organizations, communities, and individuals around the world to actively engage in addressing urban water management challenges.”

Here are two easy ways to part in advocating for the human right to water: (For more ideas click here.)

UNICEF is holding a fundraiser called the Tap Project. All you have to do to get involved is dine at a participating restaurant in your city during World Water Week (March 20-26) and then you agree to pay $1 for the water they would usually give you for free. Your dollar goes to a good cause, and you enjoy a nice night out on the town. To learn more and find participating restaurants in your area, click here.

Also, ITT Watermark, the world’s largest provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions, is conducting a Facebook campaign in honor of World Water Day. Between March 21 and March 25, ITT will donate $1 USD for each post, comment or “like” on the ITT Watermark Facebook page, up to $10,000. Funds raised will go to ITT Watermark’s nonprofit partners: Water for People, Mercy Corps and China Women’s Development Foundation.

Happy World Water Day!

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