It\’s Getting Hot In Here

[cross-posted from Project Survival Media]

I just came back from an earth-shaking vigil tonight in Copenhagen. This is the twilight of my time here– with only one day left in the conference, nothing seemed to come of it. It has seemed to fail. Many of us organizers have also started to lose hope in anything fair or binding to come out of this process.

Yesterday, I witnessed my good friend, Josh of the Rainforest Action Network, get bludgeoned in the face by police officers. He, along with the rest of us, weren’t trying to get into the Bella Center. We weren’t compromising the safety of World leaders inside. We just wanted to access the street across the bridge, where those who could not get into the center were waiting for us. Where we would have converged, we were going to hold a “People’s Assembly,” to create the kind of treaty that we would have wanted to come from our leaders.

But, the police would not let us cross that bridge. We attempted to negotiate with them. They told us that if we were to pass, we would risk arrest down the line. We accepted this, and attempted to walk past them. But, they blocked the way, and started beating those they could reach. After a while of scuffling, we started to retreat. As we did, they circled around the activists in the front, trapping them. They started to wail down on them gratuitously Continue reading ‘The Twilight of Copenhagen’

Project Survival Media is alive and working globally to bring the survival tactics and sustainable practices of real people to the UN conference in Copenhagen. Right now all over the world, teams are filming different groups of people for their own documentaries.

Luke Estrella at the UN Plaza Farmers Market

Here in the Bay Area, California, after wwoofing for two months in Willits, I have been given the opportunity to lead the Northwestern project.

Today I went to the U.N. Plaza Farmers Market on my way around the city to see the prevalence of organic farm choices for the mainstream San Franciscan public. This market is not known for its sustainability, but for it’s prices and accessability.

There were a few organic farm choices, but I did have the opportunity to talk to one young organic farmer, Luke Estrella from Bounty of the Valley, Salinas Valley. Bounty of the Valley is a 50 acre human powered farm, full of young farmers who are learning how to grow their own food.

I asked him what he thought about the next generation of farmers, since in this area there seems to be a growing trend of young farmers. Farmers used to be an average of 60 years old, but people in their 20′s have, for the first time in years, started to pick up the old pitchfork.

“[young farmers] have a lot of new ideas to bring to the table, young farmers will bring about the change we need for sustainable action.”

He also warned against green washing on the organic front, and how current policy may encourage this.

“There are 500 acre certified organic plots that have organic soil and seeds, but they have a machine that does everything. These are also the farms that have the money to pay for being certified [organic]. These farms are unsustainable by design.”

He elaborated on a machine that many large scale farmers contract out to plant, till, and harvest. Many of these farmers do not touch soil and are not acquainted with their own land, although their products are touted as sustainable.

But, what may be organic isn’t necessarily sustainable. It is important that we not only push for policies that help organic farmers, but that we pay close attention to new policies, and make sure that they are also helping local and sustainable farmers, which organic is only one factor in.

We also need to make this clear to the UN delegation. We are young, ready for change, and unwilling to adapt to old standards.

Just yesterday, the SGA passed a student fee increase at the University of Maryland. The new legislation creates an additional student fee increase of 4 dollars in 2010, and later more or less depending on the market in the future. This “could potentially purchase 100 percent of student consumption in clean, renewable energy,” according to the act itself. The money will go to developing clean energy technologies on campus, integrating sustainability education in the classroom, and making the campus run more efficiently.

What is remarkable to me at least about this referendum is that it was completely created by students for the university. Two years ago, myself, Joanna Calabrese, and Davey Rogner started Clean Energy for UMD in order to put this referendum on the ballot. It was in favor by 91% of the voting students, more then any other bill in previous history at the University of Maryland. However, this is a nonbinding agreement and there was no gaurantee that it would materialize into anything real until it had reached SGA, which finally happened yesterday.

Continue reading ‘UMD Passes landmark student fee increase for Clean Energy’

I live in a little town just outside of Baltimore. Almost every year, Christmas time is at least cold. It wouldn’t be out of the question to hope for snow. But this year, it is the warmest Chistmas in my, or my mother’s, recollection. She, at least, has been living in this same area for 30 years. It is about 65 degrees outside right now. Sure, spring weather is great. But when you hear christmas songs on the radio about a “winter wonderland” and you’re driving around sweating when you don’t live close to the equator, something is horribly wrong.

Something else that got me thinking are the unlikely gas stations that have sprouted up in my neighborhood. Sam’s Club has a gas station. Safeway has a gas station. SAFEWAY. Last time I checked they sold food, not oil. Everyone seems to want to get a piece of the action on the oil industry. Even grocery stores are recognizing our demand for oil.

America has an addiction, and the Earth is very sick. We’re all making great strides in this battle, but we have a long way to go. Things should not be like this, and I’m glad we are all here to fight it.

With election day not too far off, on campus more and more students are signing up to vote. With new voting campaigns, it has become easier then ever to vote on a college campus. But now we must take this a step further. We, as responsible citizens, have the responsibility to take action to help combat climate change on a political level. This is where the Climate Voters Cup comes in.

Continue reading ‘Vote for Earth’