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Climate Change, People Power and Great Movies from “Down Under”

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013


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As extreme weather continues to wrecks havoc around the world with wildfires, droughts, floods and superstorms becoming the norm coverage in world media and “connecting the dots” on these extreme events and climate change isn’t keeping up.

Scientists, who are “shouting from the rafters” about the crash course we are on with our environment are not being heard. Dr. James Hansen, NASA who resigned in early March 2013 after nearly 50 years as a climate scientist for NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, stated that “as a government employee, you can’t testify against the government,” and he plans to play a more active role vis a vis lawsuits lawsuits challenging the federal and state governments over their failure to limit emissions and on visible symbols of climate change like the Keystone XL pipeline.

Two wonderful films from film makers “down under” in New Zealand – Thin Ice – and Australia – 2Degrees – have come to our attention and we would love for you and the kids in your life to learn more about them.

Thin Ice , the inside of Climate Science launches on Earth Day, April 22nd.

Thin Ice Trailer from Thin Ice Climate on Vimeo.

In the film, Geologist Simon Lamb follows scientists at work in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the USA. They talk about their work, how climate science has come under increasing attack in recent years and their hopes and fears – with a rare candour and directness. This creates an intimate portrait of the global community of researchers racing to understand our planet’s changing climate. Learn more about the film here.

Credit: 2Degrees, vulnerabilities of forest dwellers to climate change

2Degrees, from Australia, is the second film that has come across our desk and which we look forward to seeing when it is released later this year.

2Degrees looks at the urgency of the climate crisis from a climate justice perspective and features what is happening to our rainforests, the lack of progress from the international community through the United Nations process, and positives like campaigns for solar thermal power and the voice of youth fighting for their future. Similar to Jim Hansen’s concerns that “the message isn’t getting out,” one of the films producers, Angela Palmer, shared the following personal take on the lack of media attention in Australia around climate change with Climate Mama. This same lack of urgency and attention we see and feel here in the USA is found the world over and we all need to work together to overcome this inertia, from the ground up!

Angela Palmer on 2Degrees media silence and a “call to arms”

Green Turtle Films has been working on our film, 2 Degrees, about climate justice, for over 4 years now. Having been immersed in this subject for so long, we take it for granted that climate change is real, humans are causing it, and the planet will face dire consequences if we continue with the currently universal “business as usual” approach.

Credit: Shutterstock

But the reaction of the Australian media to the recent fires and heatwave still manages to shock us. There have been very few mainstream media articles linking the recent events to climate change. The few that have resulted in a storm of skeptic voices, led by the national newspaper, The Australian, and members of Parliament from the conservative opposition.

This silence on the part of the media was not by accident. Scientists were speaking up, such as Liz Hanna, from the Australian National University, who made an impassioned plea:

“Those of us who spend our days trawling — and contributing to — the scientific literature on climate change are becoming increasingly gloomy about the future of human civilisation. We are well past the time of niceties, of avoiding the dire nature of what is unfolding, and politely trying not to scare the public. The unparalleled setting of new heat extremes is forcing the continual upwards trending of warming predictions for the future, and the timescale is contracting. This trepidation on the part of scientists and researchers, and in some cases flagrant resistance by stakeholders in the fossil fuel industry, to allow the real story to be fully revealed and comprehended by the public at large, has allowed the stalling of action to save the planet, and ourselves”.

The media’s behavior has made us even more determined to finish our film and have it distributed as widely as possible. The message of our film is that we will not have a “top-down” solution to climate change from the United Nations process or from governments in the time frame the science demands. The only way we will see a reduction of emissions is for the general public to take action: to both reduce our own personal emissions and to demand more from our governments, media and industry. Only when it is clearly an electoral issue will governments take it seriously. People power has forced change in the past, and we need to do it again now. Our film is a call to arms, and clearly it has never been needed more urgently.

Click here to find more information about 2 Degrees

Stay tuned for more Earth Day movie recommendations next week..In the meantime, as it is DO SOMETHING WEDNESDAY, check out these two films, with the kids in your life. Find out if there is a screening in your neighborhood, or better yet, plan one. In the lead up to Earth Day, discuss what actions you and your family will take to combat climate change at home, with your community and beyond. Share your ideas with us so we can share them with others!

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Climate Mama Video Peek of the Week, Disasters, Do Something Wednesdays, Earth Day is Every Day, Nature, Oceans & Water, Politics | No Comments »

World Water Day, Climate Change and WaterAid America

Friday, March 22nd, 2013


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Used with permission

March 22 is World Water Day, a day established by the United Nations to look at water issues around the world. As part of the Global Team of 200 and Mom Bloggers for Social Good, we are supporting and using our collective voices to raise attention to this important Day. As well, we want to let you know abut some of the amazing organizations and voices that work every day to change people lives by providing programs, actions and education on access to clean water. One of these organizations is WaterAid.

World Water Day is a day to draw attention to the facts: 783 million people, or 11% of the world’s population, do not have safe water to drink; this, coupled with poor sanitation, results in 2,000 children dying every day. Check out our earlier post on WaterAid and learn about and share information with the kids in your life about some of the amazing programs WaterAid offers to counter this difficult and challenging reality.

Credit: WaterAid used with permission

Fresh water accounts for less then 3% of all the water on the globe and access to clean, uncontaminated drinking water is unavailable to almost 1/6th of the world’s population. Millions of women are unable to work and millions of children are unable to go to school, because they spend so much time collecting water.

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Climate change impacts including changing levels of rainfall, decreasing runoff from glaciers, drought and smaller levels of snow pack are all contributing to making fresh water less available and more of a scarce commodity. In the United States at the end of 2012, 60% of the continental US was experiencing severe drought conditions. Water management and monitoring both for agriculture and drinking water are under serious review.

Most developing countries have very low per capita carbon footprints yet they feel the effects of global warming and it’s impacts on clean drinking water most significantly. Global warming has no boundaries. The US produces close to 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions which don’t stay “over the USA” but contribute to climate change the world over. So while the impacts of water scarcity may be more visible in other parts of the world, this is OUR problem and we need to be part of the solution.

Water is just the beginning of the road out of poverty. WaterAid helps the world’s poorest people to plan, build and manage their own safe water supplies and to improve their sanitation and hygiene. These basic services transform lives. Hours spent carrying water can instead be spent with family, tending crops, raising livestock or starting a business. Simple changes to sanitation and hygiene practices save thousands of babies’ lives and keep children in school. WaterAid’s new short video Water is Just the Beginning, explores the ways safe water changes lives. Grab the kids in your life and watch it together.

Talk to your kids about how YOU and your family can help. Things that may be easy for us in most places in North America (turning on the tap and getting fresh, clean water for example) can be so very difficult for families in other places around the world. Remind your kids about how fortunate they are and what things they wouldn’t be able to do (play lacrosse, soccer, dance, draw, play video games!) if they had to spend hours each day collecting water for their family.

How you can help today:

1. Follow WaterAid America on Twitter and Facebook and share their posts on the #20ways that water is just the beginning of the road out of poverty.
2. Join the World Water Day Google+ Hangout at 1.30pm EST on March 22 – WaterAid and other water organizations will be discussing the world water crisis and solutions in a celebration moderated by YouTube star Justine Ezarik.
3. Make a donation: as experts in practical, hands-on water solutions WaterAid has brought clean water to 17.5 million people. But they need your help to achieve their aim of helping 1.4 million more people this year.

Visit WaterAid America and UNWater for all the latest World Water Day news.

“As we live climate change access to clean, potable water will become the greatest challenge confronting the human race. World Water Day helps us put the focus squarely on this scarce and critical resource.”

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Climate Mama News, Food, Global Team of 200, In The News, Nature, Oceans & Water | 2 Comments »

Nuturing the Soul of Your Family: Book Review and Climate Connection

Friday, March 15th, 2013


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We don’t often review books here at ClimateMama, and when we do, they seem to have an obvious and overt connection to climate change. But when I was asked to review Renee Peterson Trudeau’s book, “Nurturing the Soul of Your Family, 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday life” the title of the book grabbed me (my soul could certainly use a little nurturing!) and I said sure. I am SO glad that I did; the book touched me deeply in many ways, personally, professionally and spiritually. I feel strongly that this book has a direct and deep connection to our work at ClimateMama, and I would HIGHLY recommend it.

Richard Louv, one of our heroes and the author of the national bestseller, Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder, calls the book: “Life-enhancing” and recommends it for all families “seeking to move from chaos to a more joyful, fulfilling existence.”

That kind of sums up how many of us at ClimateMama feel these days. We have a strong desire to try to contain and move away from the chaos filling our lives and to make sure we stay connected to family and friends who inspire and give us reasons to be joyful as we find small and large ways to tackle the climate crisis. As the urgency of the climate crisis becomes crystal clear, and as we work to help others grasp what we are up against, “chaos” in every way shape and form seems often to take hold.

An important part of our lives that often suffers, is that part that should be devoted, uninterrupted, to our families and good friends. Many of our friends and colleagues in the Climate Movement tell us the same thing, and regularly feel despair and anxiety, as the problems that confront us and our natural world can often seem too big at times to get our arms around. Renee Peterson Trudeau reminds us of the need to slow down; she provides concrete exercises and ideas for helping us find our center and move through the chaos, how to find joy in the present moment, and time to enjoy that freedom.

I personally have a hard time saying no. There are so many exciting things happening on climate change education and advocacy these days, I want to be at the center of it all and I want to bring my kids in to this center as well. We are all part of a connected world and to successfully address and solve the crisis we face, we will need to work together from many fronts.

That being said, none of us are irreplaceable and we need to be able to recharge and celebrate our families and ourselves too. Practically for our family, my children still need to be children and have time to enjoy their moments too. It is important to me (and to my kids) that they have time for lacrosse practice and music lessons, and other things they enjoy and want to experience. It is also important that we make time to enjoy each other’s company. At 13 and 15, my children are now taller then I am and I see their grownup selves peeking through at me often. More and more, I realize that my time with them on a daily basis is becoming shorter, and I need to cherish and hold tightly to the moments that I have with them.

In a clear and direct fashion, Nurturing the Soul of Your Family shows us how to reconnect and “find peace” in everyday life. Technology has created a world were organizations like ClimateMama can thrive, and gives us ways to “grab the future” and to be more consciously connected. However, it can also take over our lives, and we need to understand this and find ways and time to disconnect as well.

Renee’s 10 paths to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life include:

Tapping the transformative power of self-care
Healing form the inside out
Unplugging to plug in (people first!)
Unleashing the healing power of nature
Making time for spiritual renewal
Loving the ones you’re with
Defining, celebrating and honoring your family culture
Slowing down, doing less to experience more
Exploring a new way of being
Building your tribe.

As both a personal guide and as advice to our Climate Mamas and Papas, several things jumped out at me as I read this book. One was the recognized need for us all to slow down; the reality that by doing less you actually can experience more. There is so much to learn and help others understand about climate change. But the broad inertia that has set in here in the USA and lack of willingness to move forward on solutions is one that I believe is perpetuated by our short attention spans which are encouraged by technological advances that move us quickly through media cycles and events.

Renee opens up our eyes to the need to spend more time in nature with our families. We need to experience nature’s wonders to remember why it is important that we protect and nurture nature, both for our generation and for generations to come. If we don’t slow down and make time for this, we miss a powerful opportunity to connect ourselves and our families to the natural world. Renee helps us understand this and guides us through ways that we as individuals and together as families can find our way back to nature. Renee reminds us that:

“It’s not a luxury to get away and immerse yourself in a natural setting. It’s like oxygen. It’s essential to your well-being. It’s one of the greatest gifts we have available to us.”

There is so much in Renee’s book and so many personal ways to interpret it, that everyone who reads it will find something that they can relate to and put into practice. I highly recommend this book! Make it a gift to yourself, or consider giving it as a gift to someone you love. Nurturing the Soul of Your Family helps remind us to slow down and “smell the roses” before they are gone…

Yours,

Climate Mama

For more info and other reviews, check out the new facebook page Renee just set up for the Nurturing the Soul of Your Family…

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Posted in Art, Fashion, Entertainment, Climate Mama News, Climate Mamas & Papas, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle & Fun, Nature | No Comments »

GOING PAPERLESS IN 2013: A Resolution & Personal Way to Fight Climate Change

Thursday, January 10th, 2013


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Paperless2013. What does that really mean to me? I was born into a generation where we “touched and felt” everything, including what we read and what we wrote. In fact, something wasn’t real or proven unless you physically “had it” in your possession. For example, as a Representative of the International Monetary Fund at the United Nations, when I was covering the annual

Credit: Shutterfly

United Nations General Assembly, if I could get a “paper” copy (there were no other kinds of copies then….) of a head of state’s speech, before it was delivered live by that country’s leader, it was considered an incredible “coup.” I would then rush back to our office to make “paper” copies and hand out to “key contacts” or “fax” it around the world, one paper at a time, so we could share it with our staff abroad. I hate to tell you how many years ago that was though, as it definitely “dates” me.

Now I am the mother of two teens who use “paperless” social media to share their work and play on an “every minute” basis via their smart phones, tablets and computers. As the founder of a website and blog, I see where and how technology has moved us, whether we were ready or not, to a time where “digital information” is key – information which we can transmit, save, share and store electronically. As an environmentalist, I regularly remind people that when they do use paper to consider where it came from and it’s recycled content, from toilet paper to paper towels at home, and then for all office supplies, mailings and paper they use in their office – large or small.

When I was asked to support a New Year’s campaign called Paperless2013, a move to advance in a real way the ”paperless office,” I didn’t think twice and just said, “sure, I’m in!” The program has been created by a group of Silicon Valley companies I admire, including and among others, Google, Hello Fax, Manilla, Xero and Expensify. As someone who runs a small education and advocacy business on climate change, you would think I would have figured it out by now, but unfortunately I am still “swimming” in a needless pool of paper. As I see it, Paperless2013, a pledge to go paperless in our offices, is what I need to jump start my year, and “unfreeze me” from the state of panic I find myself in every time I walk into my office. I need to steel myself to look away from the piles of paper that envelope me, many of which I haven’t looked at thoroughly in months.

The Paperless2013 campaign is a simple one, sign up at Paperless2013, pledge to go paperless and begin receiving a short list of tips and ideas on how to be successful. Use the #paperless2013 hashtag, follow Paperless2013 on twitter and facebook. Be one of the first of your friends or colleagues to join this new campaign and let some of the “experts” in going paperless help you manage your family or small “business” paper load today! Let us know if you sign up and how and if you think going “paperless” is important and will help you.

I will keep you updated on a regular basis on my progress here at ClimateMama as I work to “clean up” my act and organize my own office and life!

As an aside, I have to say that as I researched this program, I was surprised that this simple “feel right” and straightforward campaign has generate an uproar and strong attacks from some voices in the printing industry. There is a need and requirement that certainly still exists for paper and it doesn’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon.

However, in many developed countries the paper industry is often the 3rd or 4th largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation has many problems, not the least of which is our planet’s loss of trees – trees which act as important carbon “sinks” or “absorbers” of the carbon dioxide we humans emit. Every industry, as technology and times change, should revisit its mission and business practices and figure out how to be more effective and efficient. It would be foolish for us not to consider how to better store, use and save our documents. And in this regard, it is also important for those companies that do help us be more effective in the digital world, to think about their carbon footprint and energy use too.

Grab the kids in your life and tell them about your PAPERLESS2013 pledge today. Ask them to share their thoughts with you on paper, going paperless, and being more energy efficient and energy wise…

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Climate Mama News, Lifestyle & Fun, Nature, Recycling | 2 Comments »

Standing Up to Fracking Waste: NOT IN MY BACKYARD, OR YOURS!

Thursday, November 29th, 2012


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Hey Climate Mamas and Papas, we need your voices and your calls on this one. Let your New Jersey friends know and ask them to call their local legislators to ask them to support the bi-partisan fracking waste ban, and an over-ride of the Governor’s veto, when it is posted! New Jersey has an opportunity to join Vermont as one of the only 2 states in the country to ban fracking waste (the poisonous, cancer causing “proprietary chemical cocktail” that flows back out of gas wells).

Currently there is NO safe way to treat this waste. Below is a statement that I wrote and read on November 28th at two of the many, many rallies that took place at New Jersey State Assembly and Senate offices.

As a reminder, the New Jersey Legislature passed, by overwhelming numbers, a bi-partisan bill in both the Senate and the Assembly which would ban the transport, treatment and storage of fracking waste in New Jersey. Governor Christie vetoed this ban and used the following as his argument in support of his veto: “Although the bill is, on its face, neutral in that it seemingly applies to waste from ‘any State,’ the undisputed fact, agreed to by the legislature, that fracking ‘is not occurring and is unlikely to occur in New Jersey,’ demonstrates beyond a doubt that this ostensible evenhandedness is superficial.” Unclear how this decision was arrived at as the non-partisan NJ Office of Legislative Services signed off on the constitutionality of the bill and New Jersey sits on top of part of the enormous Utica Shale, a deposit rich with natural gas which could be fracked for gas at any time.

Governor Christie, do you want a fracking waste facility..(of which none currently exist) in your town, near your water source, that your kids, family and friends get their water from? I don’t. Which community in New Jersey do you think would be a good place for a fracking waste disposal facility or storage site? Currently much of the fracking waste that is stored in nearby Pennsylvania is stored in open pits. Fluid evaporates from these pits into the air and potentially could leak into the ground. Good idea for New Jersey, our kids young lungs and developing bodies? What if we had open fracking waste pits in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy? Where would that flooded fluid have traveled to?

My letter: November 28th, 2012

Assemblywoman Schepisi and Assemblyman Russo,

I am here today as a New Jersey resident and I am appealing to you as a parent and as a mother concerned about her children’s future. I hope you will stand up and be recognized in the assembly and counted on by your constituents and other Bergen county and state residents to support both the fracking waste ban and a continued and permanent fracking ban. We are at an interesting, critical and historic crossroads. You have a unique opportunity as a state Assembly person to lead our county and our state on the road to a future that is rich in renewable energy, and prepared and ready for extreme weather events. We need to mitigate the dangers of the current road we are on, and learn how to adapt and prevent the worst disasters from hurting us and our children.

In our haste to be “energy independent” through fracking, we haven’t considered clearly what this will mean for our children’s future and our own. We need to see ourselves here in Bergen county NJ as part of a world where extreme weather events like super storm Sandy, become more the norm then the exception, fueled in large part by our use of fossil fuels, including natural gas. You have a key role to play in helping educate other legislators about the dangers we face from climate change. As well, we need to define ourselves here in NJ as leaders, showing the nation we can slow down the fracking juggernaut, as it neither provides us with energy independence nor a secure future for our children. I cannot be bought and convinced by ad campaigns funded by Oil and Gas companies that paint fake pictures of an unreal and unsustainable future that continues to rely on fossil fuels – I hope you can’t be either; I am trusting in reality and scientific study that shows us we need to be wary and cautious of fracking, as not only is it polluting our air and our water, but it is NOT the bridge fuel to a renewable future that it was touted to be. .

This is the second year in a row for my children and I imagine for yours that here in Bergen County “Halloween” was cancelled” due to extreme weather. My neighbors and I lost power for days and in some cases weeks. Flooding in Bergen county has become commonplace and costs both us as homeowners and us as a state, millions of dollars each year.

You have a choice and an opportunity as we begin to connect the dots and become part of a positive climate legacy for our children. Legislators at all levels of government and citizens groups need to work together to identify a clean energy future. Our addiction to fossil fuels and extreme energy extraction methods like fracking are not in fact a road to energy independence but handcuffs to a past that is dooming our children’s

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

futures. By taking a stand now, against fracking and fracking waste you have a chance to move us clearly and strongly on a road to renewable energy independence. As one of over ½ of the states in our country to have a renewable energy portfolio standard, NJ has and needs to continue to be a leader on renewable energy, not a follower on a road to fossil fuel energy dependence. The shale deposits in Pennsylvania, NJ and NY will run out of gas, THIS IS A FACT, we can debate whether this will be in 10 years or 50, but regardless, we will be tied to an infrastructure based on pipelines and waste, waste that currently has no way of being safely disposed of.

This addiction to fossil fuels pollutes our air and our water and negatively impacts our children’s health, in numerous ways, including increasing the incidence and ties to illnesses like asthma poison ivy and vector born diseases like west Nile virus. there are no sides here, this isn’t a democrat or republican issue, it shouldn’t be a political issue at all. I ask you as one parent to another, look into your children’s eyes tonight and tell them that you have a roll and can play a real part in charting a clean energy path for them, for their friends and for your family. This is in your hands, we are watching and asking you to represent all of us in Bergen County and NJ and show the rest of the country that we have our children’s backs and their future in mind as we chart a renewable energy plan for our state, and one that doesn’t include fracking or accepting the waste of others to be disposed of in our state. This is personal for me, I hope it is for you too.

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Climate Mama News, Disasters, In The News, Nature, Oceans & Water, Politics, Take a Stand: Action & Advocacy | No Comments »

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Welcome to Climate Mama

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You are a mother, a father, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a teacher or a child at heart. When you hear the Native American saying, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”, it makes you stop for a moment and think. You love nature, travel, adventure and believing in a world that is special and unique. Climate change and global warming are words that alarm you, that often seem too big to get your arms around. You care about what’s happening to the world and notice small changes in your own life that seem to point in the direction of a threatened environment. But you wonder if these changes are real, and if they are you can’t imagine what you can do to help change what is happening.

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Climate Mamas and Papas

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Climate Change so often seems too big to get our hands around. We wonder where we can start and how we can actually make a difference. Each one of us has a different path that we will follow. Some of us cut a wider swath than others, but each of us has a role to play. We would like to introduce you to some amazing individuals, Climate Mamas and Papas who are making a difference, who are, through their daily lives, affecting the lives of all of us. They inspire us, empower us, and challenge us to reach for the stars, to strive to do the best we can to help change the crash course we are currently on with our environment. Lets meet some of these amazing people and find out what inspires them. Meet our featured Climate Mama, Desiree Di Mauro today!

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The Climate Reality Project is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to mobilizing action around climate change. With a global movement that is more than 2 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Leaders, Climate Reality is "spreading the truth and unleashing the cultural momentum to solve the climate crisis."

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