Just so everyone knows tommorow at the regular Muggy Monday spot where we normally give out free coffee the dalhousie sustainability office will be giving out FREE TRAVEL MUGS to fulfill this week's green act of the week- using travel mugs! This is one part of the one million acts of green challenge between Dal and Acadia! See you tommorow morning between 8:30 and 12:00pm.
Also don't forget to check out the Sustaindal table at the Society fair this wednesday afternoon! If you want to volunteer to help set up, take down or just hang out at the table for a bit just e-mail us at sustaindal@dal.ca.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
One Million Acts of Green Kickoff
From October 2008 – Summer 2009, CBC is running a campaign called One Million Acts of Green. The idea behind the campaign is that one small act can make a big difference. If you add up everyone’s individual acts we can make significant change. The CBC is asking everyone to get involved from organizations such as universities to individuals.
Starting January 15 – April 15th Dalhousie will be in a challenge against Acadia to meet our committed acts of green. The challenge is based on student population. Dalhousie’s challenge is 16,000 acts and Acadia’s is 3000. These acts will help to reduce tangible ecological and economic costs such as green house gases and money for utilities.
We need everyone from the Dalhousie community to help out – students, employees and alumni. How does it work? Register at the One Million Acts of Green Website. http://green.cbc.ca/Default.aspx. Join the Dalhousie group so your acts can be registered for the challenge. Fill in your name in your profile so we can count people for internal challenges. Scan the over 80 acts. Give yourself a pat on the back and click on Acts that you are already doing consistently now at home and at the university. You can see how much green house gases you are saving. Identify Acts you would like to start to do and do it! Then you can click on this Act.
Throughout the campaign period, a specific Act will be featured each week through campus communications vehicles such as Dal News. In addition events will be organized to help support the promotion of some of the Act. Keep your ears out for neat events. You can do more than the 14 acts at anytime.
Dalhousie will be launching a new initiative for everyone on campus in September 2009 called ReThink – Creating a Culture of Sustainability on campus. ReThink will be a fun, interactive forum for organizational learning through sustainability teams and annual awards. As part of this program Dalhousie will be commissioning two Sustainability trophies to be awarded each year. These trophies will be awarded in September 2009 to the residence and overall university group that did the most Acts of Green through this campaign. In addition the person with the most acts of green will receive a prize.
Internal campus competitions are encouraged. If you are rallying your groups to participate make sure you track who has participated and how many Acts of Green they did so you can submit the final tally to the Office of Sustainability at the end of the campaign in April.
Starting January 15 – April 15th Dalhousie will be in a challenge against Acadia to meet our committed acts of green. The challenge is based on student population. Dalhousie’s challenge is 16,000 acts and Acadia’s is 3000. These acts will help to reduce tangible ecological and economic costs such as green house gases and money for utilities.
We need everyone from the Dalhousie community to help out – students, employees and alumni. How does it work? Register at the One Million Acts of Green Website. http://green.cbc.ca/Default.aspx. Join the Dalhousie group so your acts can be registered for the challenge. Fill in your name in your profile so we can count people for internal challenges. Scan the over 80 acts. Give yourself a pat on the back and click on Acts that you are already doing consistently now at home and at the university. You can see how much green house gases you are saving. Identify Acts you would like to start to do and do it! Then you can click on this Act.
Throughout the campaign period, a specific Act will be featured each week through campus communications vehicles such as Dal News. In addition events will be organized to help support the promotion of some of the Act. Keep your ears out for neat events. You can do more than the 14 acts at anytime.
Dalhousie will be launching a new initiative for everyone on campus in September 2009 called ReThink – Creating a Culture of Sustainability on campus. ReThink will be a fun, interactive forum for organizational learning through sustainability teams and annual awards. As part of this program Dalhousie will be commissioning two Sustainability trophies to be awarded each year. These trophies will be awarded in September 2009 to the residence and overall university group that did the most Acts of Green through this campaign. In addition the person with the most acts of green will receive a prize.
Internal campus competitions are encouraged. If you are rallying your groups to participate make sure you track who has participated and how many Acts of Green they did so you can submit the final tally to the Office of Sustainability at the end of the campaign in April.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A disapointing end to COP 14
Well it’s over. I began COP 14 with high hopes for progress towards Copenhagen and a post-Kyoto climate plan, but this did not happen. COP 14 failed to produce any significant progress. There were a few outcomes (an Adaptation Fund Board was created) but hardly the kind and number we had hoped for. It was not only Canadian NGO’s and youth who left disappointed, but international delegates and NGO’s as well. The world really was watching Canada actions at the negotiations to see if they would finally take meaningful action to fight climate change. But sadly for Canadians – and tragically for those whose nations will be underwater as a result of sea level rise—Canada did nothing.
Canada also had the dishonourable distinction of wining the Colossal Fossil also known as the Fossil of the Year – an award given o the country who has won the most Fossil of the Day awards at the COP. Canada was recognized by the Climate action Network International (a group of over 400 international NGO’s) as the country who did the most at COP14 to obstruct negotiations.
The excuses were plentiful: “We’re waiting for the US to act”, “We’re waiting for China, India and Brazil to act”, “ Our cold climate and long distances between cities prevents us from doing anything”, “We can’t do anything until consumers change their fossil fuel consumption habits” and so on.
So what can we do between now and Copenhagen? Write letters to your MP telling then that the federal governments’ inaction on climate change means not only ill effects for Canadians, but threatens the very existence of many developing and island nations who did contributed almost nothing to the problem. Write to your local and provincial representatives and Minsters of the Environment demanding action at their respective levels of governments. Tell them that in light of federal inaction, we must look to the sub-federal level for concrete action on the issue of climate change. Let’s apply pressure from the bottom up because if we wait for the federal government to act, we’ll all be old and grey (and possibly underwater) when they get around to doing something about it.
Canada also had the dishonourable distinction of wining the Colossal Fossil also known as the Fossil of the Year – an award given o the country who has won the most Fossil of the Day awards at the COP. Canada was recognized by the Climate action Network International (a group of over 400 international NGO’s) as the country who did the most at COP14 to obstruct negotiations.
The excuses were plentiful: “We’re waiting for the US to act”, “We’re waiting for China, India and Brazil to act”, “ Our cold climate and long distances between cities prevents us from doing anything”, “We can’t do anything until consumers change their fossil fuel consumption habits” and so on.
So what can we do between now and Copenhagen? Write letters to your MP telling then that the federal governments’ inaction on climate change means not only ill effects for Canadians, but threatens the very existence of many developing and island nations who did contributed almost nothing to the problem. Write to your local and provincial representatives and Minsters of the Environment demanding action at their respective levels of governments. Tell them that in light of federal inaction, we must look to the sub-federal level for concrete action on the issue of climate change. Let’s apply pressure from the bottom up because if we wait for the federal government to act, we’ll all be old and grey (and possibly underwater) when they get around to doing something about it.
Friday, December 5, 2008
great video!
In case the good fight is getting you down, get re-inspired by this video
http://vimeo.com/2032854?pg=embed&sec=2032854&hd=1
Emily
ps: Did I mention that Canada won 4 fossil of the day awards yesterday? Did I mention there are only 3 awards given out? ya well we got 4, we tied ourselves for first place. good lord.
http://vimeo.com/2032854?pg=embed&sec=2032854&hd=1
Emily
ps: Did I mention that Canada won 4 fossil of the day awards yesterday? Did I mention there are only 3 awards given out? ya well we got 4, we tied ourselves for first place. good lord.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
YouthClimate.org
YouthClimate.org is designed to be public face for the International Youth Delegation in Poland.
Includes:
- Blogs (currently aggregating automatically from 17 youth climate blogs writing on Poznan
- Photos (currently displaying 3 embedded photoshelter galleries)
- Media/Press Releases
- Actions/Events
- Twitter Feed of Poznan
- Mogulus Video Stream
Includes:
- Blogs (currently aggregating automatically from 17 youth climate blogs writing on Poznan
- Photos (currently displaying 3 embedded photoshelter galleries)
- Media/Press Releases
- Actions/Events
- Twitter Feed of Poznan
- Mogulus Video Stream
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
UN COP 14 photo campaign - The world is watching
Hey friends,
A new photo installation is going up at the COP in a matter of days and we need your help
The message is "the world is watching," and hundreds of pictures of people's faces and eyes will be displayed with a message to cop delegates for urgent action. It's not a branded campaign, just a unified message.
If you want to participate, it's super easy and fun to point a camera at your own face. Or to do it to a friend.
Here's the flickr site for posting:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/theworldiswatching
Hooray for 3 minute projects!
A new photo installation is going up at the COP in a matter of days and we need your help
The message is "the world is watching," and hundreds of pictures of people's faces and eyes will be displayed with a message to cop delegates for urgent action. It's not a branded campaign, just a unified message.
If you want to participate, it's super easy and fun to point a camera at your own face. Or to do it to a friend.
Here's the flickr site for posting:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/theworldiswatching
Hooray for 3 minute projects!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Youth Climate Blogs
Here's a list of some great youth Climate Change Blogs, most of which have a Poznan COP 14 presence. Enjoy!
Emily
It's Getting Hot in Here: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/
SustainUS: http://sustainus.org/component
UK Poznan Delegation Blog: http://www.ukyd.org/category/blogs/
Emily
It's Getting Hot in Here: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/
SustainUS: http://sustainus.org/component
UK Poznan Delegation Blog: http://www.ukyd.org/category/blogs/
Sunday, November 30, 2008
UN Conference on Climate Change
Hey all!
You may or may not be aware, I am in Poznan Poland at the United Nation Conference on Climate Change (aka the UNFCCC COP 14) and I’m here representing the Sierra Club Canada. As the project Coordinator for SustainDal, I wanted to share some of my experiences with you. This is a 12 day conference and will be covering a huge number of topics and issues within those topics.
I’m staying with the Canadian Youth Delegation at a hostel (imagine 30 young environmentalists crammed into a handful of 8-bed per room dorm rooms- let me tell ya, it’s hectic!) And these are some of the brightest and most talented young activists in Canada, they are incredibly inspiring people. They are representing a huge range of local and national organizations who are running brilliant climate change campaigns for thee negotiations and I plan to send out some links to these sites to SustainDal members because we have power in numbers.
2 things are vital, and we need you help:
1: the emissions reduction target for the post Kyoto period (after 2012) will be decided in Poznan. The IPCC is calling for a 25-40% reduction beyond 1990 levels by 2020 and many countries feel that this number is too high. IT IS NOT TOO HIGH. The 25-40% range will result in a 2 to 2.4 degree change in the global climate. However the Climate Action Network (a group of global ENGO’s) are demanding a MINIMUM f 40% reductions to avoid a global environmental catastrophe because they feel that even a change of 2 degrees will be far too much. We need you to lobby the Canadian government to support this target range (25-40%) during the negotiations. That means today! Contact your MP and demand the most stringent reductions from Canada, one of the worst polluting countries in the world. Keep an eye out for Avaaz-type e-petitions as well.
2: The Canadian Government may fall on December 8th a coalition government may take its place. If this happens, it’s possible that Canada could reverse its Kyoto position DURING the conference. We could turn things around. Canada has always deliberately and shamefully blocked negotiations, and only the US is a worse offender than us. We need you to write to the Canadian government and tell them that you want to see a coalition government (and not one between the conservatives and NDP that we’ve head rumours about). The conservative government has had an abysmal track record concerning climate change and are oblivious to the absolute urgency of this issue, let’s get them out of power and take some real action on climate change for once! Write to your MP and tell them what YOU want from YOUR government!
I’ll be writing an update every few days. You can also check out my Sierra Club blog for more details on the daily developments here in Poznan at www.sierraclub.ca/climatecrisis
Also, please go to the International Day of Action on December 7th at Back Rock Beach in Point Pleasant park and show our federal government that they need to act now to meet our Kyoto commitments. For more info, keep an eye on the SustainDal emails, go to www.sierraclub.ca/atlantic or email atlanticanadachapter@sierraclub.ca.
Until next time!
Emily
You may or may not be aware, I am in Poznan Poland at the United Nation Conference on Climate Change (aka the UNFCCC COP 14) and I’m here representing the Sierra Club Canada. As the project Coordinator for SustainDal, I wanted to share some of my experiences with you. This is a 12 day conference and will be covering a huge number of topics and issues within those topics.
I’m staying with the Canadian Youth Delegation at a hostel (imagine 30 young environmentalists crammed into a handful of 8-bed per room dorm rooms- let me tell ya, it’s hectic!) And these are some of the brightest and most talented young activists in Canada, they are incredibly inspiring people. They are representing a huge range of local and national organizations who are running brilliant climate change campaigns for thee negotiations and I plan to send out some links to these sites to SustainDal members because we have power in numbers.
2 things are vital, and we need you help:
1: the emissions reduction target for the post Kyoto period (after 2012) will be decided in Poznan. The IPCC is calling for a 25-40% reduction beyond 1990 levels by 2020 and many countries feel that this number is too high. IT IS NOT TOO HIGH. The 25-40% range will result in a 2 to 2.4 degree change in the global climate. However the Climate Action Network (a group of global ENGO’s) are demanding a MINIMUM f 40% reductions to avoid a global environmental catastrophe because they feel that even a change of 2 degrees will be far too much. We need you to lobby the Canadian government to support this target range (25-40%) during the negotiations. That means today! Contact your MP and demand the most stringent reductions from Canada, one of the worst polluting countries in the world. Keep an eye out for Avaaz-type e-petitions as well.
2: The Canadian Government may fall on December 8th a coalition government may take its place. If this happens, it’s possible that Canada could reverse its Kyoto position DURING the conference. We could turn things around. Canada has always deliberately and shamefully blocked negotiations, and only the US is a worse offender than us. We need you to write to the Canadian government and tell them that you want to see a coalition government (and not one between the conservatives and NDP that we’ve head rumours about). The conservative government has had an abysmal track record concerning climate change and are oblivious to the absolute urgency of this issue, let’s get them out of power and take some real action on climate change for once! Write to your MP and tell them what YOU want from YOUR government!
I’ll be writing an update every few days. You can also check out my Sierra Club blog for more details on the daily developments here in Poznan at www.sierraclub.ca/climatecrisis
Also, please go to the International Day of Action on December 7th at Back Rock Beach in Point Pleasant park and show our federal government that they need to act now to meet our Kyoto commitments. For more info, keep an eye on the SustainDal emails, go to www.sierraclub.ca/atlantic or email atlanticanadachapter@sierraclub.ca.
Until next time!
Emily
Monday, October 20, 2008
It's Waste Reduction Week (October 19-25)!!
HOW TO LOSE WASTE IN 5 DAYS…
Oscar’s 5-day program to lose waste and keep it off!
-How to lose waste by watching what you consume-
Waste Watchers Recipe
Travel Mug Pie
SUBMITTED BY: Muggy Mondays
"I am an avid coffee drinker and love my travel mug. I have reduced my waste and can even save money at certain coffee establishments"
RECIPE RATING:)
PREP TIME 1 Min
USE TIME Yrs
READY IN 1 Min
SERVINGS endless
INGREDIENTS
o Travel Mug
o Fair Trade Organic Coffee or Tea
o Organic sugar (optional)
o Local organic milk (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. Obtain a travel mug
2. Bring travel mug to: school, on a drink run to local coffee shop, for car road trips
3. Drop by Muggy Mondays in the SUB lobby and get FREE FAIR TRADE ORGANIC COFFEE and TEA every Monday morning
4. Save the planet; one disposable coffee cup per day creates 10 kilograms of waste a year.
5. Repeat in 24hours
REVIEWS
HOW DID YOU LOSE YOUR WASTE TODAY???
Share you story by posting a comment below.
HOW TO LOSE WASTE IN 5 DAYS…
Oscar’s 5-day program to lose waste and keep it off!
-How to lose waste by watching what you consume-
Waste Watchers Recipe
Travel Mug Pie
SUBMITTED BY: Muggy Mondays
"I am an avid coffee drinker and love my travel mug. I have reduced my waste and can even save money at certain coffee establishments"
RECIPE RATING:)
PREP TIME 1 Min
USE TIME Yrs
READY IN 1 Min
SERVINGS endless
INGREDIENTS
o Travel Mug
o Fair Trade Organic Coffee or Tea
o Organic sugar (optional)
o Local organic milk (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. Obtain a travel mug
2. Bring travel mug to: school, on a drink run to local coffee shop, for car road trips
3. Drop by Muggy Mondays in the SUB lobby and get FREE FAIR TRADE ORGANIC COFFEE and TEA every Monday morning
4. Save the planet; one disposable coffee cup per day creates 10 kilograms of waste a year.
5. Repeat in 24hours
REVIEWS
HOW DID YOU LOSE YOUR WASTE TODAY???
Share you story by posting a comment below.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Hour's One Million Acts of Green!
THE HOUR WITH GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS TO MAKE MILLIONS SEE GREEN AS A MASSIVE, NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN BEGINS ON OCTOBER 21, 2008
The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, Canada’s late-night talk show, and Cisco are partnering to spearhead a massive, nationwide environmental movement. This fall, CBC and The Hour will mobilize Canadians to commit One Million Acts of Green. In partnership with Cisco, and the power of their ‘Human Network Effect’, the collective goal is to change how we live and how we treat the planet, one act at a time.
It’s not about overhauling your life; it’s about one act from each individual amassing to a million. Maybe it’s switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, making the decision to walk or bike to work, or to buy locally-grown organic food. It can be as simple as recycling your cell phone or as ambitious as building a green roof space. One small thing can have a huge impact. Young and old, parents and kids, small towns and big cities, The Hour wants Canadians to take action for the sake of the environment.
All Canadians have to do is commit one act of “green” (or more), then register the act. There will be a highly interactive One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG) website (www.onemillionactsofgreen.com) where anyone can log their acts and see an immediate impact via an extensive green calculator designed by GreenNexxus. The site will also be a hub of information about OMAoG, and will serve as an educational resource of “green” content. Registrants will be able to learn more, inspire and challenge others to act.
The campaign will officially kick off on Tuesday October 21, 2008 and will run over The Hour's entire upcoming season, through to June 2009. George and The Hour will unite with other CBC programs to 'go green,' including CBC News, Kids’ CBC, Steven & Chris, Living, CBC Sports and others. The call is out to everyone: politicians, celebrities, athletes, businesses, schools and universities. Everyone. OMAoG has recruited some big time environmental partners who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us for the duration of the campaign: Clean Air Foundation, The David Suzuki Foundation, Earth Day Canada, Environmental Defence, Evergreen, Green Street (managed by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation) and The Climate Project-Canada are all non-profit, ENGO’s. They are results-based, community-centred and absolute authorities on what it takes to get to ‘green.’ Their support and commitment to OMAoG is invaluable.
The Hour is the only talk show in Canada that, night after night, delivers the best conversations with an incomparable line up of guests. The Hour has featured some of the leading environmentalists in the world and key issue makers including, Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki, Sir Richard Branson, Bjorn Lomborg, Dr. Jane Goodall, Tim Flannery, Terri Irwin, and Arnold Schwarzenegger - making The Hour a perfect vehicle to take this topic and this challenge direct to Canadians.
OMAoG exemplifies what Canadians do best, being a part of a collective. To be bigger than the individual, and to see what can be achieved by working together in a human network, is intrinsically Canadian. The goal is set: the challenge is on to make our lives, our communities, and our environment greener. One Million Acts of Green, one act at a time.
The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, Canada’s late-night talk show, and Cisco are partnering to spearhead a massive, nationwide environmental movement. This fall, CBC and The Hour will mobilize Canadians to commit One Million Acts of Green. In partnership with Cisco, and the power of their ‘Human Network Effect’, the collective goal is to change how we live and how we treat the planet, one act at a time.
It’s not about overhauling your life; it’s about one act from each individual amassing to a million. Maybe it’s switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, making the decision to walk or bike to work, or to buy locally-grown organic food. It can be as simple as recycling your cell phone or as ambitious as building a green roof space. One small thing can have a huge impact. Young and old, parents and kids, small towns and big cities, The Hour wants Canadians to take action for the sake of the environment.
All Canadians have to do is commit one act of “green” (or more), then register the act. There will be a highly interactive One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG) website (www.onemillionactsofgreen.com) where anyone can log their acts and see an immediate impact via an extensive green calculator designed by GreenNexxus. The site will also be a hub of information about OMAoG, and will serve as an educational resource of “green” content. Registrants will be able to learn more, inspire and challenge others to act.
The campaign will officially kick off on Tuesday October 21, 2008 and will run over The Hour's entire upcoming season, through to June 2009. George and The Hour will unite with other CBC programs to 'go green,' including CBC News, Kids’ CBC, Steven & Chris, Living, CBC Sports and others. The call is out to everyone: politicians, celebrities, athletes, businesses, schools and universities. Everyone. OMAoG has recruited some big time environmental partners who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us for the duration of the campaign: Clean Air Foundation, The David Suzuki Foundation, Earth Day Canada, Environmental Defence, Evergreen, Green Street (managed by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation) and The Climate Project-Canada are all non-profit, ENGO’s. They are results-based, community-centred and absolute authorities on what it takes to get to ‘green.’ Their support and commitment to OMAoG is invaluable.
The Hour is the only talk show in Canada that, night after night, delivers the best conversations with an incomparable line up of guests. The Hour has featured some of the leading environmentalists in the world and key issue makers including, Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki, Sir Richard Branson, Bjorn Lomborg, Dr. Jane Goodall, Tim Flannery, Terri Irwin, and Arnold Schwarzenegger - making The Hour a perfect vehicle to take this topic and this challenge direct to Canadians.
OMAoG exemplifies what Canadians do best, being a part of a collective. To be bigger than the individual, and to see what can be achieved by working together in a human network, is intrinsically Canadian. The goal is set: the challenge is on to make our lives, our communities, and our environment greener. One Million Acts of Green, one act at a time.
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