The Green Spot

Tck Tck Tck Copenhagen

A Letter from Bill McKibben 350.org

Dear friends,

If you’ve never bicycled in a big group of people, it feels…powerful.

The highlight of the week for me was joining the 150 riders on this year’s east coast Climate Ride as they finished their trek from New York City to Washington, DC, 300 miles in 5 days. They’d pedaled through rain and fog, up hill and over dale; I rode the last couple of miles on one of DC's new bike-share bikes. Riding with such a big crew felt like being part of some big animal, sweeping around curves and across intersections with a bunch of whooping, hollering climate activists.

This week made me understand why Moving Planet on Sept 24th will be both fun and powerful, potentially a watershed day in the fight for a workable planet. Imagine the whole world riding together, moving beyond fossil fuels and delivering powerful demands to our politicians.

The Climate Riders were doing more than just raising money (though they did that too, for eight environmental groups including 350.org). They were also raising hell--or at least a bit of a ruckus. In a particular twist of fate, they landed on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol literally at the same moment that the Senate was deciding whether to finally cut taxpayer subsidies to the giant oil companies.

On that lawn in front of Congress, they delivered over 400 THOUSAND signatures from people across the country who took a stand against oil subsidies:

Here was the situation in DC: Outside the Capitol was a small crowd of people on bikes, moved only by their muscles and their morals. Meanwhile, inside the Capitol, hundreds of lobbyists from places like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, compelled by corporate cash and cronyism. This week the lobbyists won, and the Senate agreed to keep funneling tax money to Exxon and the rest of the big polluters.

But we can change this situation by making our movement big enough to really matter--big enough that our demands to politicians carry more weight than campaign contributions from big polluters. And one key to making our movement big is to make it joyful. There are millions of Americans who love to bike. They may not know it yet, but they are our natural allies in the fight against climate change: they understand that many of the changes we need are not just possible but fun.

They’re some of the folks that we will be reaching out to for Sept. 24--your local bike clubs, race teams, elementary schools. With your help, we can make Moving Planet big enough to break through and change the politics of climate change. Politicians will pay attention if we can extend the climate movement beyond the people they expect to hear from--we need to show we’re not a special interest, we are the majority. We need to be circling the U.S. Capitol, and the capitols of every state, riding laps around city halls and coal-fired power plants.

Trust me, the organizing will be worth it. The feeling of riding in a happy bunch of your brothers and sisters makes you feel more powerful. 

Help us build this power at www.moving-planet.org

Onwards,

Bill McKibben

P.S. To make this movement powerful, we need to make it grow. Can you spread the word on Facebook and Twitter?

 

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350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.

What is 350? 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Scientists measure carbon dioxide in "parts per million" (ppm), so 350ppm is the number humanity needs to get below as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. To get there, we need a different kind of PPM—a "people powered movement" that is made of people like you in every corner of the planet.

Related articles

• Bill McKibben: Our Lives Are Threatened by Rich and Powerful Entities -- Here's How We Can Fight Back (huffingtonpost.com)
• Overheated rhetoric: Why Bill McKibben's global-warming fear-mongering isn't helpful (scientificamerican.com)

Green Goes With Everything

Sloan Barnett. Green Goes with Everything: Simple steps to a healthier life and a cleaner planet.
Atria Books, 2008.

Here's Sloan's own introduction to her book. Enjoy!





Link to purchase Green Goes with Everything from Amazon:

Are you ready for a revolution?

What would it mean to you if Steorn has indeed discovered and developed the technology to make our energy free? From the video description:

Steorn have developed a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy. This means never having to recharge your phone, never ...   having to refuel your car. A world with an infinite supply of clean energy for all.

Watch the video here: Steorn launch revolutionary free energy

Kate Williams
Achieve Health Northwest

Contact me by email -- kate@achievehealthnw.com

3rd Graders, Whales and Democracy

I used to be a third grader who wrote letters to her representatives in Washington D.C. I started doing this when I read about Sharpie the baby sperm whale in Mrs. Foster's 3rd grade class at Longfellow Elementary. I was an idealist and activist-in-training.

Now I'm a grandmother on my way back to believing that I can make a difference by talking about what matters to me and participating in our democracy. In the past, I made excuses for not being active on behalf of our planet and the beings that co-exist here: I'm too busy; it's not my job; I do enough by ___; I think it will be okay (I hope it will be okay)...

One day recently I woke up and realized that there's really no time like NOW to get engaged in being an active steward of the earth. I couldn't bear the regret that I'd let so many years go by and watched a decline so unbelievably wasteful and destructive it seems almost unbearable to look at and really see--to understand what is needed and what may be lost because I wasn't paying attention--because I thought that "someday" there would be time.

Today, I wrote to my representative Rick Larsen about some more whales. This past week I read an article (Japan's whale hunt symbol of its desperation) in the Honolulu Advertiser, a commentary by Peter Heller:

"But perhaps the real reasons the Japanese continue to whale have less to do with culture and more to do with fears about the imminent collapse of a major food source. Today's oceans are in great peril. We have lost 90 percent of the pelagic predator fish stocks -- marlin, tuna, swordfish, great sharks --that existed in 1950. Half the world's reefs are dead or dying. A report published a year ago in Science warned that if the current trends of overfishing continue, every fishery will collapse by 2048." (P. A18, Wednesday, December 5.)

If you're like me, this passage, in particular, caused me to tear up with a great sadness in my heart. How could it be that just yesterday in my memory I was a third grader sure that if I wrote to Senators Magnuson and Jackson and President Eisenhower, they would listen and turn it all around for the sperm whale and other great mammals of the ocean? How could it be that that did not happen--or enough did not happen to make a difference?

I'm not a third grader any more, but my middle grandson is. When the world's fisheries collapse, I probably won't be around to see his tears. He will be 48 years old trying to teach his children how to live in a world without a rich and vital part of the world that has been disappearing for half a century. I can't imagine it. Thankfully, along with the sadness this picture brings up for me is an arising energy, strength and clear intention:

This is not happening on my watch with me standing by as an "innocent" bystander wishing and hoping someone else will use their power to save my world. I want to leave a legacy of powerful action with intention for my grandchildren to build upon as a foundation for their lives.

I know that some of you feel this way. What are you doing and what can I learn from you to pass along to my grands?

Joy in learning,
Kate
Mount Vernon, Washington

To read more about:
1. Japan's whale hunt 2007 -- http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html
2. Action needed "at home" -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6642931.stm

How Green is Your Clean?

How Green Is Your Clean?
By Kate Williams, Achieve Health Northwest

My parents didn’t know enough about the effects of Eastern Washington sunshine to make me wear sunscreen and a hat. They didn’t know that exposure to UV rays may trigger dangerous skin growths. These days, many of us don’t know about the effects of the products we use around the house on our health and the health of our children, grandchildren and creatures who share our local environment. It’s time to get as informed about these products as we are about sun exposure. It’s time to take action to care for our health.
According to research verified and reported by Shaklee, an international company that produces earth-friendly products, did you know:

• An average home generates 25 pounds of toxic, hazardous waste each year – most of which comes from household cleaning products.
• More than nine out of every 10 suspected poison exposures occur at home with household products.
• Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that elevated concentrations of household chemicals persist in the air. Some are suspected of causing or are know to cause cancer in humans.
• Women who work at home have a 54 percent higher death rate from cancer than women who work outside the home.
• Toxic chemicals that are found in many pesticides and fertilizers are often found in the foods that we eat.

What’s under your sink?
The chemicals that used to lurk where I stashed them under my sink and on my laundry shelf include: Chlorine is the chemical most frequently involved in household poisonings in the U.S. Chlorine may cause reproductive, endocrine and immune disorders.
Degreasers may contain petroleum distillates, which can damage lung tissues and dissolve fatty tissue around nerve cells.
Glass Cleaner may contain ammonia. The fumes from ammonia can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
Oven Cleaners are one of the most dangerous cleaning products which can cause severe damage to eyes, skin, mouth and throat.
Toilet Bowl Cleaners are an extremely dangerous cleaning product, which can be harmful just by breathing the fumes and fatal if swallowed. When you read the labels (you do read them, don’t you) look for these common ingredients that are harmful to humans: Naphthalene, kerosene, formaldehyde, phenol, cresol, lye, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, petroleum distillates, benzene, ammonia, paradichlorobenzene, sodium hydroxide, butyl cellosolve, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid.

What’s your cleaning “uniform”?
The usual rubber gloves that you may also stash under your sink are not enough protection against exposure to harmful chemicals. Do you wear a mask? What do you wear to protect your respiratory system from chemical-laden fumes? And what keeps children and pets from harmful exposure to the chemicals in your cleaning products? Are you prepared to wear a hazmat suit to do your weekly cleaning and lock up your products and spray bottles as if they’re loaded guns? Of course not.

Where do chemical culprits end up?
Most chemicals we use indoors end up washing down our drains into the sewer system. But, the chemicals we use in our gardens and to wash our cars, end up washing untreated into our waterways where they enter the food chain and eventually end up in our bodies. And there are many chemicals in our air and water these days. Nearly 75% of the top high production and volume chemicals have undergone little or no toxicity testing. However, the EPA estimates that up to 28% of all chemicals in the current inventory of about 80,000 have toxic potential.

What’s the way to green clean?
We don’t have to make ourselves sick or make the earth “dirty” while we clean up our homes, cars and yards. There are human and earth-friendly choices. Use this checklist to shop for cleaning products and re-direct your spending away from the usual culprits and toward modern, effective cleaning and laundry products:

• Natural ingredients
• Free of harsh chemicals (see list above)
• Biodegradable
• No phosphates, borates, nitrates
• No volatile organic compounds
• No testing on animals
• Recyclable packaging

Use organic dishwashing liquid (not detergent you buy in a grocery store) to pre-mix garden sprays. Wash your car with an organic, biodegradable cleaning product. There are safe, and effective, products to use in our homes and gardens. Begin replacing your cleaning products today with those that you can trust to protect your healthy human systems.

Kate Williams is a wellness coach and consultant. Kate's lifestyle change program is Joy In Health. She is co-owner and founder of Achieve Health Northwest, specializing in environmental and nutritional approaches to healthy lives. Kate is an independent distributor of Shaklee products. Contact: kate@achievehealthnw.com and 1-866-567-1587.