Sustainability

 Considering some of the climate change  efforts...

Some videos to share about the Green Wall being built tree-by-tree across Africa.

..and I enjoyed seeing the following video which shows the 4 year training efforts of planting just a small area of trees at a time, then other plants for food and other sources.

These videos were shared with me by Cathy Holt, a former Asheville NC resident, who now lives in South America and publishes an occasional blog post through "Medium." Here's the link to her latest post: https://cathyholt.medium.com/earth-us-africas-great-green-wall-food-forest-barichara-s-water-ea501489c38d

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And my new newsletter "The Contrarian" selected Al Gore for their weekly standout figure for democracy last week.

"Climate change deniers have derided Vice President Al Gore for decades. And yet with each new climate change-enhanced disaster, his warnings about global warming seem more prescient...

Slamming President Trump’s climate denial and “phony” energy emergence, he declared, “These performative acts show the pervasive influence that the fossil fuel industry will have in the United States over the next four years. But make no mistake, the global Sustainability Revolution is unstoppable.” He slammed withdrawal from the Paris Accords as “shortsighted abdication of leadership that will only serve to put our nation at a disadvantage.

“Trump officially barred new offshore wind leases and will review federal permitting of wind projects, making good on a promise to ‘end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers,’” Vox reported. Even his own party members may dissent. (“The top four states for wind generation — Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas — are solidly red, and unlikely to acquiesce. Even Trump’s pick for Interior secretary, Doug Burgum, refused to disavow wind power during a hearing last week, saying he would pursue an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy.”)

Meanwhile, in targeting credits for EV’s Trump is handing China a gift. Rattner notes that while the U.S. lags in EV production, only 10 percent of our car production is electric. In China, that number is 50 percent. China dominates the world market with 76 percent of the global market.

The rest of this article "Undaunted: A champion for truth, science, and responsible stewardship" was published Jan. 24, 2025, by Jennifer Rubin.

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Today's quote:

What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers. 

-Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (1865-1946)

Today's art:

Unknown photographer

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You may notice I'm posting more that will share the efforts all over the world to better our possible chance of survival from the climate crisis, and oh yes, the political one as well.

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Today is day 3 after dental work, and the area where novocaine was pumped is still sore and swollen, and my lower left lip is somewhat "frozen" and it's hard to talk. So I'm trying to get in to see my doctor sometime today...and taking ibuprofen. It's been hard to talk with only 3/4 of my lips working, not to mention my looking quite gorilla -ish!

What will work in our future

 Sustainable is the minimal standard we should have.

Watch Lalita Booth talk, a straight-forward clear thinking way to look at changing our future for the better. I admit that she covers a lot of subjects, and moves quickly through her talk.

"Lalita Booth, MPP, MBA speaks at the Four Futures for Mountain Farmland Symposium on the inclusive wealth formula as a tool for thinking through land use in the North Carolina mountains."

(Talk description from YouTube)

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And I was super surprised to meet her at the SWAN water meeting last Friday. (SWAN, Swannanoa Watershed Action Network). Her input into the discussion was as amazing as this talk, and she took notes and offered to design a chart to cover some of the new ideas that were proposed for investments from carbon credits into sustainable land, farms, watershed drainage, and whatever other investments we could think of.

I hope to see her again. I feel like a kindergartener next to her incredible ways of thinking. Plus she farms nearby using all of these techniques. Plus her father, Ian Booth, was there, who gave me a link to climate.org where a climate change networker can find lots of information. How about a list of worldwide conferences on climate change? I signed up for the newsletter, so you might be getting some of their info here.

Today's quote:

“Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”
― Alice Walker

Sustainability vs mining cost, and art, and gun violence measures

 From this article by PBS "How Mining affects people and the planet" - on 

PBS NewsHour follow@newshour.org via mcc.mcsv.net

Before a solar panel can be installed on a roof or an electric bus can hit the streets, manufacturers first have to get their hands on key metals and minerals.

But to meet the demands of the transition away from fossil fuels, experts say more sustainable approaches are needed to minimize the effects the mining industry can have on the planet, people and their communities.

The question of how to pull off this balancing act is one of the many topics that world leaders, policymakers, researchers and others will discuss at the ongoing COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Experts say it’s crucial to figure out how we can mine more responsibly and efficiently to meet the needs of the clean energy transition, and some note that part of the answer also requires consumers to think more critically about their energy demands.

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A link to an artist's miniature landscapes: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/12/house-of-wonders-miniatures/ by Caroline Dewison.

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And for those who [still] hope to curb gun violence in America...

The only thing that students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas should have been worried about yesterday was studying for their final exams.

Instead, a day of studies turned into a day of terror when a shooter opened fire on campus—just hours after extreme members of the U.S. Senate blocked votes on key gun safety legislation.

I am heartbroken. I am devastated. I am angry. How many more innocent lives must be stolen until our elected officials decide that enough is enough?

My heart aches for the Las Vegas community—a city that is already all too familiar with the devastating impacts of gun violence. In 2017, we grieved alongside them when 60 people were killed and over 800 others wounded when a gunman opened fire at a music festival. Today, we must stand with them in mourning once again.

Our young people deserve so much better. That’s why I will not rest until we see a future where we can all live freely without the threat of gun violence.

Please, keep standing with me in this fight.

Sincerely,
Gabby Giffords

Yes, I've not posted about all the gun violence lately, because until we get a better body to represent the American public in state legislatures and Congress, it's a moot point.

Today's quote:

We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.

THICH NHAT HANH hAPPY SECOND NIGHT OF HANUKKAH

How greenwashing by Delta Airlines and it's lawsuit leads to regenerative business changes

Treehugger's newsletter which I look at briefly every day, had a good report about regenerative sustainable businesses. 

 "A consumer class action lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 30, 2023, claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world's “first carbon-neutral airline” and should pay damages. The complaint in California federal court alleges the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus." Source: ABC News

 (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

The Treehugger article is by Gagan Levy...

...the Founder & CEO of GURU, the leading integrated agency for conscious consumer marketing. He has worked with some of the world’s most impactful purpose-driven movements, brands, and organizations. As former Co-chair of American Sustainable Business Network, one of the country’s most prestigious socially responsible business communities—and creator of B Corp—Gagan leads the way to a next economy that is regenerative, just, and prosperous for all.

Greenwashing is "...making false or deceptive claims regarding the environmental benefits of products or services."

Here're some of Levy's conclusions:

Now, as we face environmental crises, it is imperative to move beyond labels and marketing strategies. We need to embrace a new era—that of "regenerative business." Sustainability, initially focusing mainly on environmental practices, has evolved. Sustainability 2.0 encompassed economic and social pillars, shifting from reactive to proactive, encompassing fair trade, community impact, and involving various departments within organizations.

The new horizon is regenerative business, where sustainability is woven into every fabric of an organization. Here, sustainability drives innovation. It’s not just about mitigating environmental impact; it's about rejuvenation, creating systems that restore and thrive. This concept heralds an integrated approach involving all stakeholders, especially the workforce, in realizing the organization's mission... Through transparent communication, genuine commitment, and collective effort, businesses can foster trust and actively contribute to environmental sustainability.

Delta’s greenwashing lawsuit should serve as a wake-up call for introspection and change. Companies need to realize that consumers today are not just looking at labels; they are scrutinizing actions. In this age of information, where data is at one’s fingertips, companies can no longer afford to hide behind deceptive marketing.

Let Delta’s lawsuit not be just a headline but a catalyst for transformation towards truly sustainable businesses that hone in on the idea of regenerative business models, reinventing green marketing practices for good."

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Since today's post was all about quotes, I won't add another one. I hope you get a chance to read the whole article, or maybe just look around to find businesses working in a transparent sustainable model. I'm pretty sure there are some...but I would love to know if you know of some. 

 

From Kate Raworth on sustainable living

 More from Kate Raworth, the originator of Doughnut Economics theory.

The Planet's Economist: Has Kate Raworth found a model for sustainable living?

This rather long article looks at lots of things important to consider with our ecological approach to life on earth. It begins...

Consider the electric car. Sleek and nearly silent, it is a good example of how far the world has progressed in fighting the climate crisis. Its carbon footprint is around three times smaller than its petrol equivalent, and unlike a regular car, it emits none of the greenhouse gases that warm the planet or noxious fumes that pollute the air. That’s the good news. Then consider that the battery of an electric car uses 8kg of lithium, likely extracted from briny pools on South America’s salt flats, a process that has been blamed for shrinking pasturelands and causing desertification.

The 14kg of cobalt that prevent the car’s battery from overheating have probably come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where cobalt mines have contaminated water supplies and soil. As the demand for electric vehicles grows, the mining and refining of their components will intensify, further damaging natural ecosystems. By 2040, according to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for lithium will have increased more than fortyfold."

" ... After three years in Zanzibar, Raworth moved to New York to begin work as a researcher on the UN’s annual Human Development report, a project that ranked the world’s nations not by their GDP but by their citizens’ quality of life. While working on a report about consumption, Raworth read a book called How Much Is Enough? by Alan Durning, an American environmentalist. The book posed an urgent question: “Is it possible for all the world’s people to live comfortably without bringing on the decline of the planet’s natural health?” The only way to achieve this, Durning contended, was by buying less stuff – fewer fridge-freezers, tumble dryers, hair lotions and television sets. But few would be willing to accept the reduction in living standards that this would entail. “I remember reading about the data – our use of plastics, our use of materials – and I was like, this is what I’ve been missing,” Raworth told me."

"... “Doughnut Economics is all about action. We’re not sitting having academic debates back and forth about the meaning of words,” Raworth said ... “It’s time to be propositional, and sometimes the best form of protest is to propose something new.” To her supporters, the fact that no national government has adopted the doughnut as a substantive policy agenda is not an indictment of Raworth’s ideas, but of our governing classes. Despite plentiful evidence that the pursuit of growth has accelerated the climate crisis, contributed to rising inequality and failed to secure decent living standards even for many people in rich countries, politicians of all varieties still treat it as a panacea.

WHY  THIS NEW MODEL ACTUALLY COULD WORK!

"... Raworth gently suggested that new, less doom-laden words and images [are] needed to describe the future. Because there are so few models for a low-growth economy that do not entail returning to an era before industrialisation, it has been easy for critics to portray any attempt to shrink our ecological footprint as an assault on social progress.... “There is a phrase I really like, which is ‘public luxury and private sufficiency’,” she told [Antoine Back, Amsterdam's deputy mayor,] pointing to Amsterdam’s generous bike lanes and tram system as examples of the luxuries that could be part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Antoine Back ".... told me the absence of solutions in Raworth’s work was one of its strengths. “I don’t use the word ‘solution,’” he told me. “It suggests that there is a magic bullet; that technology will come along and save us.” He feared that our tendency to search for irrefutable answers where there are none produces inertia, leading people to believe that it was always someone else’s responsibility to solve the climate crisis.

"...The week after we met in Amsterdam, Raworth travelled to Birmingham [UK] to give a talk at a community centre about putting the doughnut into practice. ... The event in Birmingham was hosted by Civic Square, a social enterprise that works with low-income local communities and hosts coffee mornings and community festivals organised by people with enticing job titles such as Doughnut Storyteller and Dream Matter Designer. “You can’t just keep shouting from the parapets, or relying on governments to legislate,” Imandeep Kaur, the founder of Civic Square, told me. “You have to put people at the forefront of the story, so they can actually take part in it.” In the future the enterprise intends to repurpose empty high-street spaces for the use of local communities, and to build a new public square. For now, they make do with a floating barge where visitors can read copies of Doughnut Economics over free coffee and cake; on the banks of the canal, they host regular events and a gardening club. "

59 things with attempts at sustainability

 CNN's 59 Sustainable products their editors picked (loved) The link didn't work. So here are a few.

I got a kick out of looking at these products. Great ideas all. Many rather high priced for my use. But some at low end prices surprisingly.

It's fun to look through them, lots of clothing, a few shoes, water bottles, some household cleaning products, some personal care products. 

For example these caught my eye: (remember I have only one eye that focuses with my current glasses, then new cataract-removed eye is kind of fuzzy still)

Before Toothpaste

Lindsey Smith/CNN Underscored

I’ve been on a mission to swap out my normal drugstore toothpaste for an all-natural version that still fights against cavities but is gentle on my teeth — and the environment. Before’s toothpaste checks all of those boxes. The brand is also on a sustainable mission with the first-ever plant-based tubes and donations toward environmental initiatives. Want to try it out? CNN Underscored readers can exclusively save 50% off one tube with the code CNN50 — making it only $5! — Lindsey Smith, associate editor

Klean Kanteen 14-Ounce Rise Mug

Kai Burkhardt/CNN Underscored

Klean Kanteen is doing something really cool in the drinkware space by creating more and more products with certified 90% post-consumer recycled steel. This insulated mug is one of those products, and I’ve been loving how hot it keeps my morning coffee — not to mention its gorgeous looks. — Kai Burkhardt, sustainability and outdoors editor  $33

WoolAid Adhesive Bandages

Reba Behar/CNN Underscored

How many times have you been at the beach and stumbled on a gross little floating Band-Aid? Probably too many. Unlike other adhesive bandages, WoolAids are made with merino wool, rather than plastic. Not only will a WoolAid biodegrade in four months, but while it’s on, the skin and wound underneath can breathe and thus stay dry, rather than getting that unpleasant soggy feeling. They also come in colors like blue and grey, rather than attempting to match any kind of “flesh” tone, and stay on forever — I had one on my pinky toe (a notoriously slippery bandage spot) that did not budge for days, even across hiking, hot tubs and a downhill Zorb adventure. — Rena Behar, copy editor  $10  at REI

Ibex Men’s Indie Hoodie

Kai Burkhardt/CNN Underscored

More and more outdoors brands are putting a focus on sustainability, and I think Ibex is doing a great job. The brand focuses around the amazing properties of Merino wool, which is naturally biodegradable, is Climate Neutral certified and has a close relationship with its entire supply chain to ensure safe and fair working conditions. This hoodie is made from 100% Merino wool and is our favorite layer to wear on shoulder season hikes. It’s lightweight, provides decent warmth when it needs to but isn’t too hot so you can actually wear it when the sun is out too. — Kai Burkhardt, sustainability and outdoors editor  $17 at Ibak

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How can anything made of Merino wool only cost $17? I call a typo! Yep when you click on the link (only on the CNN site) it's really $170. More like it!

What do you use on your face, hands, hair? How is it packaged?

I'm not very sustainable in that category. Yet.

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HiBAR Shampoo and Conditioner Bar Set

Jillian Tracy/CNN Underscored

Avoiding plastic is tough, especially with all the soaps, cleansers, skin and hair care that compromise my daily routine. In an effort to cut back, I swapped my plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles for these bars. These last me just as long as the bottles and cost about the same. Plus, this way I know I'm getting every ounce if product possible, down to the very final suds, and I keep unnecessary plastic out of my bins. — Jillian Tracy, editorial coordinator $21 at Amazon

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And my choice is always to buy local, so I need to look in all the little shops here in Black Mountain for these shampoo bars. But I need them to be unscented, which is hard to find. And I kind of have a dry scalp. Anyway, I'm up for trying something that will reduce one ounce of plastic from the environment.

Another attempt to give the link, for all 59 products. CNN's 59 things.