‘Green Spiderman’ Climbs Building to Draw Attention to Climate Change

A French climber known as ‘Spiderman’ scaled a 41-story building in Sydney on Tuesday to draw attention to climate change. Hundreds gathered to watch Alain Robert make his death-defying – and illegal – climb up to the top of an office building in less than 30 minutes without the use of a harness or ropes.

Watch:

When Robert got to the top, he unfurled a banner advertising environmental group One Hundred Months, which has calculated that we have 100 months starting in August 2008 before atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases would likely reach the point of no return.

As soon as Robert got down, he was arrested and remains in custody waiting to be charged.

Link [Reuters] + [One Hundred Months]
Photo credit: AlainRobert.com

Change the Web, Save the Earth

Have you ever noticed that on the bottom of Earthfirst.com posts there are some links that help you take action on an issue you just read about? For example, below a recent post about Obama shelving the Bush-era offshore drilling plan, there are related ways to take action on drilling:

That magic is provided by a Social Actions widget and we’re excited to announce they’re now launching an online competition to make even more cool tools for social change! The Change the Web Challenge aims to inspire third-party developers to build innovative tools that make it easy for people to find and share opportunities to make a difference. If that means turning out more cool ways to save the environment, we’re totally down!

You can find more info at socialactions.com/changetheweb. You can also follow @changetheweb on Twitter for the latest campaign updates.

%RA={environment, activism, climate change}%

Climate Activist or Terrorist?

Josh Tulkin,  Field Director of the Energy Action Coalition and Power Vote recently found out that he was listed as a suspected terrorist by the Maryland State Police along with two other climate change activists.

From the NYT article:

For a 13-month stretch starting in March 2005, three environmentalists working for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network were listed in a Maryland State Police data base as being “suspected of involvement in terrorism.” The description went on to note that the police had “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime,” and the listing, and possible tracking, did not continue. But the activists — not surprisingly — were not happy to hear about this when they received letters from the state police earlier this month informing them of the situation.

How did this make him feel? Here is Josh’s response to the letter:

‘Jackass’ Steve-O is Actually Serious about Animal Activism

So, maybe Steve-O is for real about this animal rights stuff. When he became the latest celeb to get naked for PETA’s anti-fur campaign last fall, a lot of people scoffed – I mean, this is the dude that was on the Jackass spinoff ‘Wildboyz’. Goat rodeo, anyone? I, for one, didn’t know anything about Steve-O’s animal activism – I’ve sat through countless hours (my husband is a fan) watching him intentionally harm himself as part of the cast of Jackass, CKY and Wildboyz, so it’s hard to take him seriously. Um, he used Tobasco sauce as eyedrops, and that’s a very mild example.

I was surprised to read Ecorazzi’s write-up about Steve-O rocking a PETA anti-fur shirt at the Maxim Hot 100 Party in Hollywood, California last week:

Daredevil Steve-O arrived to the Maxim Hot 100 Party in Hollywood, California last week rocking a PETA Anti-Fur shirt. No stranger to activism, the Jackass star has participated in many campaigns for the animal rights organization. You can check out some of his work here.

Since ‘Wildboyz’ seemed to make it clear that Steve-O wasn’t too concerned about the welfare of animals, I did a bit of digging before reposting this news, and was again surprised to find this on his personal website, posted on April 5th 2008 after he went to rehab and decided to clean up his life:

I want to make this world a better place and have chosen to do so by living what I consider to be a good life. I wish to lead by example, which is why I no longer contribute to the suffering of animals. I will not eat or wear any parts of the bodies of dead animals (correction: I eat fish). I could make a list of the things I choose to do, but, rther than do that, I will just leave you with the following statement: I am hopeful that I will make you all proud.

Perhaps we should all take this as a lesson: being so incredibly goofy that you would get a huge tattoo of your own face on your back doesn’t necessarily make you a douchebag. Also, crack is whack. Here’s hoping Steve-O stays clean and continues the animal rights work.

Link [Ecorazzi] + [Steve-O]

Woody Harrelson’s First Foray into Environmentalism was Saving Ants

Actor Woody Harrelson gets made fun of a lot in the media for being a hippie. And apparently, it all started when he was just a wee boy: he would put himself in a position to get beat up by other kids by defending a pile of ants.

From Ecorazzi:

“It got me into fights. But every day, I would run out just after class and stand there and stop anyone from stepping on the ant bed. I’d stay put until everyone had passed by and then I’d finally go home. I guess you could call that my first activism.” The actor sums it up: “With a name like Woody, I suppose my path was probably already established. It was inevitable that I’d be doing something like this. But people didn’t really give the environmental movement much importance back then. Now it’s a pretty hip thing to be green. But me, I’ve always been kind of a Hollywood hippie.”

Good for Woody. He went from a nerdy ant protecting kid to a crazed serial killer and porn king. No, but seriously, Woody Harrelson is one of those celebrities who really walk the walk. He lives in a solar powered sustainable community in Hawaii, runs his car on biodiesel and is heavily involved in a wide range of environmental and animal rights causes. You can read more about Harrelson’s activism at SFGate.

Link [Ecorazzi]+ [SFGate]
Photo credit: How to Go Further: A Guide to Simple Organic Living

Gorgeous Ecostore Installation for Green Drinks

Ecostore created this lovely art installation from real lawn, flowers and oil drums for the inaugural Auckland ‘Green Drinks’ event on April 3rd. Green Drinks is an informal networking event for thousands of environmentally minded people to get together over drinks. To learn more about Green Drinks and help organize an event in your area, see the GreenDrinks.org website.

Link [Green Drinks] via [ibelieveinadv]

Sierra Club Seeking National Online Organizer to Fight Coal Industry

Down with the coal industry! The Sierra Club has posted a job announcement seeking someone who can take over the efforts to fight the coal industry and push clean renewable energy in the U.S. Let’s help them find a good candidate for this important job! Here are the details – spread it around and email it to anyone you know who might be interested.

The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest grassroots environmental group has launched a nationwide campaign to stop the construction of new coal plants and end destructive mining practices in Appalachia. The campaign is part of the overall strategy to move the United States beyond coal and slash global warming pollution. Organizers or campaigners of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply for this full-time, paid position.

From the Sierra Club:

The National Coal Campaign online organizer will work alongside our top campaigners to stop the coal rush by fighting individual power plants, stopping mountain-top removal, and speeding up the deployment of clean and renewable energy sources across the US.

To apply, email natalie.foster -at- sierraclub =d0t= org with “Coal Online Organizer application” in the subject line. This position is geo-flex, full-time, and includes a competitive salary and full benefits.

Key skills we’re looking for:

- An organizer at heart. You should be eager to empower and engage others in the democratic process and work well with all types of people.

- Passionate about protecting the planet by building grassroots power. Saving the world is your life, not just your job.

- Calm under fire. When the Kansas legislature reverses the veto of Governor Sebelius to stop a coal-fired power plant, you quickly, strategically and coolly swing into gear.

- Leadership experience. You start projects, rally people, inspire others.

- Excellent writing skills. Your writing should be sharp, personable, and hard-hitting.

- Strong self-starter, entrepreneurial. You don’t need someone to tell you what to do.

- Willing to do what it takes to make a project come off. Low ego, high focus on getting stuff done.

- Hard worker, can do flexible hours and manage your time independently. You know that changing the country doesn’t always happen between 9 and 5.

- At ease with technology. You don’t have to know HTML, but you should know what HTML is.

Link [Sierra Club]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

On-Campus Food Getting Greener (and Hopefully Tastier)

First there was the cool invention of reusable take-out trays by a college student, and now schools across the country are starting programs providing sustainably grown meals in on-campus dining halls and cafes. College students around the country are demanding green options, and they’re getting it.

From Wiretap Magazine:

“Students get it,” said Anna Lappé, a sustainability food expert, author and the co-founder of the Small Planet Institute who often speaks at campuses around the country to promote sustainable eating. “The most common question I get from students is, ‘We know we need to be promoting sustainable food — what can we do?’” She usually responds to the question with examples of what other schools have done, which is no short list.

Julian Dautremont-Smith, sustainability expert and associate director at the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Learning, or AASHE, says that one thing his organization does is connect like-minded students at schools across the country so they can compare notes and learn from each other.

This is a great example of the power of college students rallying together and making a demand, and it working. I can’t believe how far college cafeteria food has come in the short amount of time since I was an on-campus student! I was picking through barely edible, oil-soaked nastiness and making far too many trips to off-campus fast food joints as a result. I wish I would have started something like this at my own school – but then again, I went to a tiny private college funded by conservative Southern Baptists who thought that being an environmentalist meant I was a rabid, dangerous eco-terrorist. The climate is changing in more ways than one – people are so much more open to ‘green’ choices now. Take advantage of it!

Contact the AASHE through their website for information on how to get a similar program started in your school.

Link [Wiretap Magazine]
Photo credit: Flickr user klynsis

Fsck Your Hummer, And His Hummer, and Her Hummer, and That Hummer Over by the Tree

10 Miles Per Gallon…
2 Soldiers a Day.

It’d be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. FUCKYOURHUMMER.com doesn’t mince word:

Welcome to FUCKYOURHUMMER.COM. This site is being set up as on omage to vandalized hummers. Whether it is a hard to peel off bumper sticker, slashed tires, keying, spray painted… we want to have your pictures of it! WHY you might ask? This grotesque monster of an SUV is a symbol that says “I could give a shit about the enviroment, wars over oil, global warming, energy independance, or any number of other issues.” You are the epitomy of stupid americans, and make the rest of us look like assholes. Some of us in this country actually do give a shit. Now I hope others will force you to give a shit.

While we don’t condone scratching up your neighbor’s Hummer, it’s hard for us to muster up any sympathy for the “victims” of such an act. Hummers are teh suck.

Link [FUCKYOURHUMMER]

Earth Day Awesomeness, from Conception to 2008

Smug Alert! It’s Earth Day, people!

Obviously, if you’re a fan of EarthFirst.com, you act as if every day is Earth Day (you do, of course, don’t you?), but that doesn’t mean the symbolism of the holiday isn’t significant to all of us. No, not because we get to go on Smug Alert. Luckily, for the most part, the general public no longer considers Earth Day to be that annoying day that sanctimonious little shits in Greenpeace t-shirts tell everyone else what to do with their pickup trucks and recyclables. More and more people are starting to actually, like, care and stuff.

How’d Earth Day start, after all, in this nation of McDonalds and fossil fuels? Envirolink.org has the scoop straight from the source. Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, says the idea started back in 1962:

For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political “limelight” once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

Senator Nelson kept on truckin’ for the next seven years, trying to get the message out despite little interest from politicians. The people were starting to get it, though, and what better time than the summer of love, 1969, for it to take off? In September of that year, Senator Nelson announced that the following spring, April 1970, there would be a ‘nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment’ and asked everyone to take part. The message spread, people got excited, and the day itself turned out to be a great success. 20 million people demonstrated in thousands of schools and communities nationwide, with Senator Nelson marveling that it ‘organized itself’.

Since then, Earth Day has been celebrated in thousands of different ways all over the world. Many cities center their festivities around local natural wonders and efforts to preserve them, while others take the chance to educate the public about what they can do to be ‘green’. At Earth Day events you can typically find local environmentally friendly retailers, purchase local organic food & beverages, participate in interactive exhibits and enjoy live music.

Of all the Earth Day celebrations, the largest and best known is the nationwide Green Apple Music Festival which actually took place this past weekend (April 18th-20th) in 8 cities around the U.S. including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Miami, Washington DC & NYC. In Miami, Menudo played. Menudo!

Others who celebrated over the weekend include Tokyo and Barcelona. Buenos Aires and Russia plan to be fashionably late, throwing their own Earth Day bashes on the 26th. Some of the happenings around the globe include awareness of genetic modification of our food, showing off new advances in green technology, cultural performances, and (in America) voter registration.

Sure, there are still people out there that think global warming isn’t real. And there are plenty of trees all over the world, so we’re not going to run out any time soon (eye roll), humans were meant to lord over the earth and everything will just adapt to our gluttony and gross misuse of the amazing natural bounty we’ve been blessed with by God, nature, science or what have you. Right? Uh, no, and that’s why you should take this opportunity to spread the Earth Day love.

So let’s all hold hands and sing: “Come on, people now people now… people driving hybrids people now…” Kidding, kidding. Ride your bike to work, attend a festival in your area, do something good for the earth or at least get outside. Or, you can join us as we live blog Earth Day, all day long! Come on, it will be fun (but you should take a break to go outside at some point, seriously).

Link [Envirolink]

Photo credit: South Park Studios & Wikimedia Commons

Going Green? Blue Might be Better

So, you feel as if you’re already reducing your carbon footprint in every way possible. Recycling, buying organic produce from the local farmer’s market, taking public transportation and buying fewer disposables. Is it enough? You might think so, but others would disagree: particularly, those who subscribe to the ‘BLUE movement’.

Before you start groaning about color-labeling and wondering what people will come up with for orange, yellow and purple, check out what the BLUE movement is all about.

Here’s how former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach described it to Gristmill:

People who are part of the BLUE movement aspire to make a difference through the people and products that touch their lives. It encompasses green issues like protecting our last wild places and reducing our output of CO2, but it also includes personal concerns like saving money, losing weight, and spending time with friends and family.

The BLUE movement challenges you to improve your life and increase your effectiveness in making the world a better place. It’s not just about living green, it’s about ‘PSP’ or ‘Personal Sustainability Practice’: actions you take regularly that are good for you, the community and the planet. It takes eco-consciousness one step further into the realm of total self-improvement.

People are urged to translate PSP into their every day buying practices, using consumer power to initiate positive change. Revolution starts with the individual, and the BLUE movement wants us all to fight the power one smart purchase at a time.

Seems to me like the BLUE movement is a natural extension of being ‘green’. Anything that might help people vote with their feet – or, more specifically, with their wallets – is a good thing in my book. Be more conscious about what you buy – it’s so simple, and it has the power to spur real change.

Link [Gristmill]

Photo: Flickr user loop_oh

Axis of Corporate Evil: Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, and the NRA Hired Black Ops Private Security Team to Spy on Green Activists

Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, and the NRA hired the private security firm Carlyle Group to get all “black ops” on eco-activists asses. They rumaged through their garbage to find confidential documents (the lesson here- shred your papers) and even social security numbers.

A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies.

In addition to focusing on environmentalists, the firm, Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), provided a range of services to a host of clients. According to its billing records, BBI engaged in “intelligence collection” for Allied Waste; it conducted background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; it provided “protective services” for the National Rifle Association; it handled “crisis management” for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; it made sure that the Louis Dreyfus Group, the commodities firm, was not being bugged; it engaged in “information collection” for Wal-Mart; it conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in a divorce with billionaire Ronald Perelman; and for Mary Kay, BBI mounted “surveillance,” and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Monsanto.

Evil motherbleeping corporations. Souless, hungry, exploitative corporations. Grrr… This stuff makes Mr. Cranky Green mad!

Link [Mother Jones] via [The Raw Story]

March 29th- Live Blogging Earth Hour: Because Someone Had To

We’re live blogging Earth Hour.

8:10 pm- Ahh…. It’s nice to have the Green Blogosphere all to myself. Treehugger, EcoGeek, GroovyGreen, and WorldChanging are all dark and abandoned ghost towns. I’m sitting in the ol’ living room with all the lights in the house on watching an hour long marathon of Cops. I’m warming my feet with a plug in heater and have a few pieces of toast in the toaster. I’ll make some hot chocolate in the microwave in a bit.

8:18- A good Cops so far, they just took out a guy running from them. Looks like it’s time to bust some crack heads. Stupid cops.

8:22- Nice- only four and a half minutes on high in the microwave to heat up a big ass mug of half and half hot chocolate.

8:25- I just turned up the radio downstairs real loud, every kilowatt helps. You can barely hear it with the door shut.

8:27- Just noticed an outside light that I had missed. Flicked it on.

8:30- First Cops is over, one more to go.

8:32- Plugging in the Foreman Grill, it’s grilled cheese and Fluff time!

8:34- Nice, a good looking lady cop in Sacramento. She’s got the taser!

8:35- We’ve got a chase on our hands!

8:36- Oh yeah, I’ve seen this one on Hulu. The guy had a good hiding spot (in the recycling bin), but the damn dog tracked him down.

8:40- Awesome! I found a big ass light and disco ball in the basement from back in the college days. I wonder how much juice that sucker pulls. I hope everyone in the dark is having a good break away from the grid. I’m thinking of you and doing my part to use the extra energy now flooding the system. I’m helping to stabilize the load- I’m a damn hero.

8:43- Now is a good time to plug in all my rechargeable batteries.

8:44- I love seeing rich white guys get busted on Cops. I also love warm clothes right out of the dryer. Popped in another load to wash and dry.

8:48- The floodlights I plugged in outside is melting down into the snow. I can’t stand how cops just slime their way into searching you and your car. Everyone should see Busted: A Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.

8:50- It’ll be nice when the rest of the world plugs back in. It’s lonely in here.

8:53- Blender is out- mmmm…. super thick milkshake.

8:54- Suspicious Vehicle in Broward County. The guy isn’t getting off the cell phone or rolling down the window.

8:56- Well it’s was a great hour live blogging Earth Hour. Going to make some coffee to ice up for tomorrow in the last few minutes.

8:59- That’s it for me tonight, shutting down and going to sleep. I’ve got to wake up early to go to my second job at Wal-Mart. How else do you think I’m going to be able to pay the power bill from today?

9:01 pm- Welcome back everyone.

Catch Us After You Plug Back In: EarthFirst is Liveblogging Earth Hour Tonight 8-9pm

I’ll be liveblogging tonight from 8-9pm to help celebrate Earth Hour, the 60 minute span when the world is being asked to turn off all lights and electricity. I will be camped out at EarthFirst HQ East (my living room) with all my lights on watching the TV set to something good and trashy while warming my hands over my plugin heater. My posts will cover what I’m watching on TV, any snacks I happen to make, and the general atmosphere in the room as we suck up all the excess energy left on the power grid by the rest of you do-gooders.

If you’re a good little greenie you’ll have to catch up on things after you plug back into the system at 9pm. Woot.

Sit In the Dark For An Hour To Save the World-Does Earth Hour REALLY Make Sense?

OK, I see the value of the symbolism behind Earth Hour and appreciate the ‘awareness’ it’s raising, but do we really want to be telling everyone that the way to save the planet from ourselves is by sitting in a dark house? Doesn’t the other side accuse us of wanting to push the world back to a Stone Age of no cars, hot showers, or lighting after sunset? Doesn’t telling everyone that they have to turn off their lights for an hour kinda support that accusation? Isn’t the idea to find a way that we can all stay up after the sun goes down without having to destroy the environment to do it?

I’m just saying…

Link [Earth Hour]