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Vol. 1 No. 8 – April 24,
2009
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IN THIS
ISSUE:
Woody Tasch to Keynote at
Expo
Worth a Look: EARTH, the movie
• EPA Declares Greenhouse Gases "A Serious
Problem"
• Auto Pollution Dwarfed by Ship Emissions
• Artwork Graphically Illustrates Ocean
Garbage
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WORTH A
LOOK:
EARTH, the
movie
Released nationwide on Earth Day, this
first documentary from the new Disney label Disneynature is a flawed
but nonetheless spectacular, sometimes breathtaking up-close look at
our living planet and its diverse inhabitants. Intimate storylines
are built around the seasonal struggles of three animal families:
polar bear, African elephant and humpback whale. Disney so hopes
you’ll see “Earth” that the company has promised to plant a tree for
every ticket sold during opening week. It’s a nice gesture, one of
several good reasons to spend 96 minutes watching this gorgeous
film, and soon.
About the flaws: Anyone who saw the highly
acclaimed 2007 BBC/Discovery Channel 11-part series “Planet Earth”
will notice that quite a bit of that program’s groundbreaking
footage was inserted into “Earth.” Disney argues that seeing it on
the big screen is a wholly different and much more compelling
experience than seeing it on TV. Perhaps. Then there’s a sometimes
“too precious” voiceover by iconic baritone James Earl Jones. The
script writers were trying, like everyone else involved in the
production, to walk a fine line between showing the authentic
brutality of life in the wild and not scandalizing the G-rated
audience for which the film was made. Not an easy task; and not
every viewer will regard the outcome as fully successful. (Warning
to parents with young children: there are some thinly veiled scenes
of mayhem and death.)
But in the end, these are quibbles. The
core reason to see “Earth” is to see… well, EARTH. Raw, vast,
implacable, majestic beyond belief – and fragile, poignant,
awwww-inspiring, maybe even tear-jerking. This movie is by all
accounts a tour-de-force, in-your-face ad for the only planet we’ve
got, pointedly including some of our most endangered co-inhabitants.
See “Earth” – it’ll make a believer out of
you.
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QUOTABLE:
"Courage is more
exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not
have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each
thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared,
discovering we have the strength to stare it
down."
–– Eleanor Roosevelt
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CONTACT:
EarthWorks
Letter
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The EPA's new declaration on the
dangers posed by greenhouse gases represents a reversal of Bush-era
doctrine with major legal implications.
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The
emissions from one large container ship may be equivalent to the
pollution generated by as many as 50 million cars, researchers
say.
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Chris Jordan's "Gyre" is composed of some 2.4
million pieces of plastic debris collected from the so-called
"Garbage Patch" in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean.
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Dear Friend,
You are receiving this
newsletter because you have expressed interest in EarthWorks Expo
and in living more sustainably. Please share this information with
others. Thank you! |
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Woody Tasch to Keynote at
Expo
Slow
Money: Investing as if Food, Farms & Fertility
Mattered
What if you were told
that one solution to crises such as global warming and the worldwide
financial meltdown could be found in the simple act of growing even
a small part of your own food? Nothing drastic; nothing
revolutionary. Just a window box for a tomato plant in your
kitchen.
 "It’s remarkable, but people who grow their own
food, who reconnect with the soil, can immediately appreciate the
implications of an economy that doesn’t respect the power of
ecology," says Woody Tasch, keynote speaker at EarthWorks Expo on
Sunday, August 22.
Tasch firmly believes
that the discipline of greening our thumbs for the purpose of
nourishing ourselves, of reconnecting with the planet through its
soil, is an important step toward "connecting the whole person with
the sustainability problem." Do this, he argues, and we might
finally change the cultural, industrial and economic systems that
accelerate things like climate change or the mortgage-related debt
crisis.
He knows whereof he
speaks. For years, Tasch has promoted a philosophy of responsible
investing that prioritizes the social good over the urge to make a
quick buck – "bringing money back down to
earth." From 1999 to 2008 he was Chairman of Investors' Circle, a
network of angel investors and social purpose funds and foundations
that has invested $133 million in over 200 early stage
sustainability-promoting ventures and venture funds since 1992. He
is also founding Chairman of the Community Development Venture
Capital Alliance, supporting over 100 small-scale venture funds that
target economically disadvantaged regions; Sustainable Nantucket,
promoting environmentally responsible growth management on Nantucket
Island; and the Nantucket Education Trust, supporting affordable
housing for teachers.
Today, Woody Tasch is
Chairman and President of Slow
Money, a nonprofit organization formed in 2008 to catalyze the
flow of investment capital to small food enterprises in order to
support sustainable agriculture and the emergence of a restorative
economy.
Don't miss this informative
and inspiring presentation by Woody Tasch on Sunday, August 23, 12
noon at the Denver Merchandise Mart. See you at the
Expo!
Special Events to Kick Off Denver Green
Festival
A number of noteworthy
public events are scheduled for Friday, May 1 in Denver on the eve
of Green
Festival, which takes place May 2-3 at the Colorado Convention
Center:
Denver Premiere
of "A Sea Change," a powerful new documentary film about
global warming's effects on the world's oceans. Director Barbara
Ettinger and co-producer/protagonist Sven Huseby will be on hand for
the screening, which takes place at Starz Film Center, The Tivoli,
900 Auraria Parkway in Denver, Friday May 1 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are
$10 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and youths at the door and provide
admittance for the film and selected Green Festival events during
the weekend. For more about the film, GO
HERE; for more about the event, GO
HERE.
Kick-Off Party
and Concert benefiting Phoundation
for Change, a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting
America into domestic renewable energy as soon as possible. The
event takes place at the Oriental Theatre, 4335 W. 44th Avenue in
Denver, starting at 4pm with bands, comedians, curbside demos of
ethanol car conversions and more. Main concert starts 7:30 pm,
featuring Mohney & the Groovemachine, Odin's Other Eye, The High
Council, headliner Meniskus, and jam band Duty-free. Tickets at the
door $10, $7 for green-sector workers, or $5 with coupon below
(print and clip):
EPA Declares Greenhouse Gases "A Serious
Problem"
Sets stage for first-ever regulation of CO2,
Other GHGs
Found in the
Associated Press, April 17, 2009
For the first time, the U.S.
government, through the Environmental Protection Agency, has
officially declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
responsible for impending climate change and a serious threat to
public health. Government officials now say they are ready to use
the Clean Air Act to require power plants, cars and trucks to
curtail their release of climate-changing pollution from the burning
of fossil fuels. At the same time, the EPA said the science pointing
to man-made pollution as a cause of global warming is "compelling
and overwhelming.” While falling short of mandating specific action,
the move is seen as "a wake-up call for Congress" to either come up
with strong legislation soon or expect the EPA to create new
regulations on its own. For the whole story, GO
HERE.
Auto Pollution Dwarfed by Ship
Emissions
Found in UK
Guardian, April 9, 2009
Confidential data from
maritime industry insiders shows that just 15 of the world's biggest
ships may emit as much pollution as all the world's 760 million
cars. The estimate is based on engine size and the quality of fuel
typically used by ships and cars. Low-grade ship bunker fuel (or
fuel oil) has up to 2,000 times the sulfur content of diesel fuel
used in US and European automobiles.
Research by
US scientists has shown that pollution from the world's 90,000 cargo
ships leads to 60,000 deaths a year in the US alone and results in
billions of dollars per year in health costs from lung and heart
diseases. For the whole story, GO
HERE.
Artwork Graphically
Illustrates Ocean Garbage
Thanks to Laura
Schallmoser
Photographic
artist Chris Jordan specializes in creating images that allow people
to “see” concepts that are otherwise difficult to visualize. His
latest work, Gyre, measures 8 by 11 feet and is based on a famous
Japanese painting, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai. Instead
of paint, Jordan’s colors are composed of 2.4 million pieces of
plastic – the estimated number of pounds of plastic that enter the
world’s ocean’s every hour! Gyre is the first image in a mini-series
that Jordan is creating about the Pacific Garbage Patch and is named
after the Pacific Gyre, a thousand-mile-wide ocean current which
turns clockwise like a giant slow-motion whirlpool and concentrates
tons of the world’s trash. For the whole story, with pictures, GO
HERE.
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