Deeper Shade of Green

Prince Charles made a sci-fi-inspired speech at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi this week. But swallow your cries of jet-setting hypocrisy: Instead of spewing planet-warming pollutants by flying to the Middle East, the Prince of Wales appeared as a life-size, 3-D hologram, and he used the occasion to call for urgent action against global warming. “Scientists are now saying that the problem of climate change is now so grave and so urgent that we have less than 10 years to slow, stop, and reverse greenhouse-gas emissions,” said the virtual prince. “Common actions are needed in every country to protect the common inheritance that has been given to us by our creator.”
sources: The Telegraph , The New York Times

Whole Foods to stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day

Whole Foods will stop handing out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day, April 22, this year. The mega-retailer of natural foods announced yesterday that it will instead encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags; the lazy and forgetful will have their goodies bundled into 100 percent recycled paper bags.

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WWF and the government of Abu Dhabi today launched a Sustainability Strategy to deliver the world’s greenest city – Masdar City.

The six square kilometre city, designed by Foster and Associates, is to house an eventual 50,000 people in accordance with WWF One Planet Living sustainability standards which include specific targets for the city’s ecological footprint.

Independent and public verification of Masdar City’s performance in meeting these standards is just one of the features distinguishing the project. Another is the commitment that the project will not just preserve existing regional biodiversity but enhance it.
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California, 15 other states, and five nonprofits sue EPA over waiver decision

California has made good on its promise to sue the U.S. EPA over the agency’s refusal to allow the state to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles, and 15 other states have made good on their promise to join in on the litigation. The swarm of states, along with five nonprofit groups, filed suit last week in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The presumed shared feeling of the group, as stated by California Attorney General Jerry Brown: “The denial letter was shocking in its incoherence and utter failure to provide legal justification for the administrator’s unprecedented action.”

According to conventional wisdom (oh all right the tabloid press to be more precise) all teenagers ever think about are themselves. So it may come as a surprise that a global survey of almost 50,000 teens released today reveals that they have many other concerns - and that they worry more about dangerous greenhouse gases than drugs, violence or war.

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Commentary By Gwynne Dyer, The Georgia Straight

Do not be too downhearted about the outcome of the Bali talks. They did not deliver the binding commitments to cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions that are desperately needed, and as a result millions may die who might have lived. But they did show us something remarkable. They showed us the human race trying to grow up and take responsibility for its common future. Read the rest of this entry »