Why Sustainable living?

New research on the motivations to live sustainable lifestyles points to "it's just the right thing to do" as the best rationale, as reported over on Treehugger by Jaymi Heimbuch

"John Vucetich, assistant professor of animal ecology at Michigan Technological University, and Michael Nelson, associate professor of environmental ethics at Michigan State University say that trying to get people to live sustainably by giving them hope for a better future doesn't really work. We're told to stay hopeful, that what we do each day will make our future bright...but what people need to be told is that living sustainably is just plain old the right thing to do."

What is Green Energy?

Here's a link to a interesting primer about green energy over on AltGlobe

I might have spoke too soon about Vilsack

Here's a newsletter post from Rodale regarding Mr. Vilsack,

"Few of his contemporaries expected President Richard M. Nixon to break with Cold War politics and open full diplomatic relations the People’s Republic of China in 1972. Because he was playing against type (a moderate Republican reaching out to a staunchly Communist regime), he had credibility that a more liberal leader could not have mustered. The breathtaking move stunned conservatives, as it largely jettisoned ideology for more pragmatic considerations in U.S.-China relations.

We’re on the cusp of a similarly noteworthy shift in the posture of the USDA under its new secretary, Tom Vilsack of Iowa. Initially dismissed by many progressive food and farming activists as a tool of corporate agribusiness, the new leader is making waves several times a day in what is starting to feel like a tsunami of positive change. Consider these items:

On February 5, Vilsack says he wants to expand farmers' choices to include opportunities in energy—such as wind, solar and geothermal power—and in the growing market for organic and whole foods.

On February 21, Vilsack makes his first visit to a farm group outside Washington, addressing 300 farmers and agriculture professionals at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund’s Georgia Farmer’s Conference. He said he wanted to send a message that the USDA is serious about civil rights issues. He admitted that “some folks refer to USDA as’ the last plantation,’ and it has a pretty poor history of taking care of people of color.”

On February 24, Vilsack announces that Kathleen Merrigan will be his deputy secretary, putting the person who drafted Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 into the Department’s number 2 position.

On February 25, Vilsack is “called out” for skipping the 2009 Commodity Classic in Grapevine, Texas—the annual pow-wow of conventional corn, soybean, sorghum and wheat growers and agri-business powers. The official blog of Hoosier Ag Today radio quoted an American Soybean Association officer as saying of Vilsack: “Even though he is from the state of Iowa, he has a tendency not to lean towards truly production and modern agriculture, and we have to work on that.”

On February 26, Vilsack says cuts to U.S. farm commodity payments will be directed at farmers and ranchers with large incomes and big sales, and could affect 3 percent of U.S. farmers.

Do you feel the earth moving yet? Commodity lobbyists are already swarming Capitol Hill to hogtie their Congressional friends, but the horse of food policy change seems to be out of the barn. However, it will be a long, hard run. If you don’t have a trusted group advocating for organic and sustainable agricultural decisions on your behalf, now is the time to engage one.

In this update, written amidst the background of national changes, we look at:

Why Jeff Moyer, farm director at the Rodale Institute, is willing to work at hammering out a sustainability standard for agriculture with industrial ag leaders, when most organic and community food-security groups are not. Read more >>

How a mixture of organic farms in the Northeastern United States looked to a visiting Danish agricultural journalist. Hint: He was impressed with dairy breeding and weed management, but felt that nutrient accounting was quite lax compared to the rules back home. Read more >>

Greg Bowman from the Rodale Institute"

It's a good day at the USDA

Obama has appointed Kathleen Merrigan as #2 at the USDA. This is really good news. After his choice of Tom Vilsack as #1, you'll see him peeking out of Monsanto's pocket, it was clearly necessary to get someone in there who prefers agriculture over agribusiness. Read about it at Scientific American, what do you know about that, a scientist in a position of power in a department dealing with natural science! Will wonders never cease.

Sustainable development in Bermuda?

Bermuda has a sustainable development plan commissioned by the Government and published in June 2006. I've just begun to go through it and also to familiarize myself with the primary environmental organization on the island "Greenrock!". A title chosen I assume due to the tendency to refer to Bermuda as "the rock".

So far I am encouraged by my efforts to understand the state of the green movement here. The plan calls for the creation of a governmental body to oversee development and implementation of an energy strategy and just today Greenrock!, who, headed up by Andrew Vaucrosson, support the sustainable development plan, is in the papers calling for the creation of an independent energy authority. See the article in the Royal Gazette.

An independent body would be free of governmental and industry pressure and bias, hopefully, and could steer the energy strategy towards more sustainable and equitable solutions. Currently, energy is a monopoly on the island. BELCO, the company in charge, has recently produced a plan for implementation of renewables, I have yet to locate and review that plan.

"Mr. Vaucrosson said that as new renewable energy suppliers come on board, Belco could ultimately lose revenue. The independent authority however, would also be able to assist the power company in recouping some of its losses. By setting up a multi-source grid, Belco could end up buying back surplus electricity from domestic homes powered by renewables.

"An independent authority can look at how to create a multi-source system to help Belco offset its losses," said Mr. Vaucrosson."

Do the plans call for concentrated solar plants, vehicle to grid automobiles, as well as microgeneration? I'll keep you posted on what I learn.

I have long believed that Bermuda is well positioned to become energy independent. Ample wind and sun, as well as offshore currents represent a huge opportunity. It is exciting to see such efforts as those mentioned above taking root. How deep those roots go I am hoping to discover.

Thanks to the Encyclopaedia of Practical Knowledge for the image.

Local Food in Bermuda

Ironically, I'm eating more local food here in Bermuda, a country that imports almost everything it consumes, than anywhere else I've lived. I'm right in the bustling heart of Hamilton, the biggest town on the island, and every saturday there is a farmers market.

Wadson's Farm is a long standing organic farm and has some of the best lettuce I've ever eaten. They are also harvesting carrots, leeks, cauliflower, and more right now. We've known members of this family for many years as my wife taught some of the girls last time we lived here. It really is wonderful to talk to the farmer, tour his operation, and feel so confident about the food you eat. If you can do it where you live I heartily recommend it.

Yowza! Sounds like science fiction but it isn't

Check out this article over on celsias by Jeanne Roberts. It's starting to feel like a movie starring Kevin Costner.

Antarctic Ice Shelf "Hanging by a Thread", and What it Means to You

Here's an excerpt,

"Now, to make matters worse, geophysicists from the University of Toronto warn that the increasingly unstable West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) could lead to significantly higher sea level rises, and such changes will be highly variable as well, affecting primarily North American and nations in and along the southern Indian Ocean (Indonesia, the Maldives, and Madagascar).

Estimates suggest rises up to 16.5 feet, which is the value of the total volume of water locked up in the WAIS. However, warns study author and geophysicist Jerry X. Mitrovica, the estimate may fall shy because it ignores three significant effects: sea levels fall near a melting ice sheet, but rise progressively at greater distances; earth rebounds when an ice sheet melts, pushing more water into the ocean, and; melting of an ice sheet as large as the WAIS may cause the earth's rotational axis to shift, potentially as much as 1,640 feet from its present location - an alteration in the earth's geophysical plane that could shift water from the southern oceans to the Indian Ocean and northward toward North America."

WWF's Earth Hour 2009

Join the more than 500 cities worldwide and turn off your lights on March 28th for one full hour in a global demand for action on climate change. Governments won't act unless they see consensus in the people.

Earth Hour

“Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to come together with a united voice and make a loud and powerful statement on the issue of climate change,”- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“The C40 Climate Leadership Group is about cities working together to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and that is why as Chair of the C40, I support Earth Hour. It's crucial that cities and the public come together to take action against climate change and Earth Hour provides a great platform to do that."- Mr David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group

Recommended gardening website

If you are a gardener, interested in growing your own food, I highly recommend Emma Coopers website. Her podcast is excellent, her voice is pleasant and the production is simple and elegant not to mention to the point and useful. Check her out at;

http://coopette.com/

Geoengineering, Sequestering Crops, Another Bad Idea

It may come down to geoengineering, essentially what we've been doing for the last 150 years of industrial despoilment, but it scares me and I hope and pray we can come to our senses in time enough to avoid it. We have proven our lack of skill when it comes to modifying the natural world. Check it out over on Celsias
Geoengineering, Sequestering Crops, Another Bad Idea

James Hansen: The Sword of Damocles from Celsias.com

Dr. James Hansen speaking plainly again.
Here's an excerpt;

"Coal is not only the largest fossil fuel reservoir of carbon dioxide, it is the dirtiest fuel. Coal is polluting the world’s oceans and streams with mercury, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals.

The dirtiest trick that governments play on their citizens is the pretense that they are working on “clean coal” or that they will build power plants that are “capture ready” in case technology is ever developed to capture all pollutants.

The trains carrying coal to power plants are death trains. Coal-fired power plants are factories of death. When I testified against the proposed Kingsnorth power plant, I estimated that in its lifetime it would be responsible for extermination of about 400 species – its proportionate contribution to the number that would be committed to extinction if carbon dioxide rose another 100 ppm. ... On a per capita basis, the three countries most responsible for fossil fuel carbon dioxide in the air today are the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, in that order. Politicians in Britain have asked me: why am I speaking to them — the United States must lead? But coal interests have great power in the United States – the essential moratorium and phase-out of coal likely requires a growing public demand and a political will yet to be demonstrated."

James Hansen: The Sword of Damocles

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GM crops increase pesticide use

From Organic Consumers Association

"According to a recent (December 2008) global summary report from the Worldwatch Institute:

1) The U.S. leads the world, by far, in genetically engineered crop production and consumption.

2) The widespread planting of crops genetically engineered to resist specific pesticides (which allows farmers to apply more pesticides to their
crops) has created 15 new species of plants known as "superweeds" that are resistant to commonly used pesticides. In 2008, these superweeds were discovered on hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. farmland.

3) Due to the presence of these new superweeds, GM crop production has already led to a $60 million annual increase in pesticide use in the U.S.
Most of that money goes to the same companies that developed the GM crops that were supposed to reduce pesticide use in the first place."

Learn more