A Green Roof

A green roof has many advantages.  Advantages of a green roof include that they:

• are aesthetically pleasing
• reduce city "heat island" effect
• reduce carbon dioxide impact
• reduce summer air conditioning cost
• reduce winter heat demand
• lengthen roof life by two to three times
• remove nitrogen pollution in rain
• neutralize acid rain effect
• reduce noise
• reduce stormwater runoff
• provides songbird habitat (list  from http://horticulture.psu.edu/cms/greenroofcenter/history.html )

Carbon sequestration may be one of the most important effects of a green roof.

Using plants to do this is referred to as terrestrial carbon sequestration. Through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in biomass. If net primary production of these ecosystems exceeds decomposition, then these systems become at the very least a short term sink for carbon. http://www.hrt.msu.edu/greenroof/

So, if you are building or renovating, consider installing a green roof.  Your new abode might look
like this! (  It is the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.  Yes, that is a building under that greeneery!)  Even if it doesn't, you will have created a positve example  and energy in the world.

Climate Change Bad and Getting Worse

Al Jazeera and the UK Gaurdian seem to be the only media outlets that talk about climate change. Al Jazeera points out that it is bad and getting worse:

So far human greenhouse gas emissions have raised the temperature of the planet by one degree Celsius.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/2011622132049568952.html
The Al Jazeera article goes on to list impacts felt RIGHT NOW - including high food price - floods -wildfires - loss of biodiversity - and  acidifying oceans. Meanwhile, the UK Guardian has created a huge FAQ on climate change in the hopes of educating people.  Find it at  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/series/the-ultimate-climate-change-faq

Media in Canada don't seem to pay attention to climate change - and  Canada's politicians do nothing.  The Conservatives  do nothing - and are reviled for it - but the Liberals signed the Kyoto Accord and then did dick-all as well.   Why?   Well , Stephan Dion was soundly punished at the polls for presenting a green platform that took climate change seriously.  Therefore, presumably our politicains do nothing because we don't really want them to take action.  We  aren't  exactly rioting in the streets,are we?  ( Well, we're not rioting  because we're worried about the impacts of climate change.)

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!   And arguing with people in denial ends up reinforcing their defenses - what's a poor activist to do?  Work through ready made communities - church groups - chambers of commerce -  etc and tailor your message to the group.

And work on yourself - meditate - and work on seeing everyone in the world as connected to everyone and everything - and as worthy of your love. Then, when you carry out your activism, you will do so with loving kindness  and compassion.  I think it's the only chance we've got.....

Low Arctic Sea Ice

Arctic Sea ice volume in 2010 was the lowest on record, with 60% missing in September 2010 compared to the average from 1979-2010

From the UK Guardian at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/jun/28/2010-year-global-weirding?intcmp=122#/?picture=376214022&index=2

Oceans of Trouble

Think of the collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland - and then say the imminent crash of the oceans doesn`t matter to humanity.

Legal Innovation

Canada's Use of Agent Orange

Listen carefully - Canada didn't ban the use of Agent Orange until 1985!



Video from Al Jazeera - an excellent source of news.

And , apparently, Agent Orange was used country-wide.  Whatthehell???!!!!  I had an epiphany - and posted about it - early last year. 

A repost of what I wrote then seems to be appropriate today.

I witnessed a soul retrieval healing for a friend recently. While my friend and the healer were journeying, the beat of the drum proved almost hypnotic. I wrote the following:


The healer suggested "outside, in nature find a stick...."
Are we not nature?
Not if we live in a linear world - a poverty stricken world without mess, change or growth.
And we do everything we can to destroy life and growth: spiders, bacteria, mice ....
We clean furiously,
lay traps,
sweep away cobwebs...
and we spray pesticides and weedkiller outside.
We detest life. We detest change.
We wish to end the cycle of life - death - life.
Oh - to be a machine......
We are not machines.
We are life. Stardust . Divinity. Energy.
We scintillate and shimmer and dance and coruscate and change and
die and are born once more.
From this we create balance.
We are ordered tension.
Crystals growing - decaying - shifting - changing.
When we prevent change we prevent life.
We wish to die - permanently.
That is why we try to kill Gaia.
We desire sterility.
Complete.
Utter.
Final.
END.
No change. When we achieve that, we too will be gone.
We want that. We hate ourselves.
If we learn to love ourselves, we will save the world.
She is a part of us - we are a part of her -we need her.
So -
when we are healed of self hatred, we will be healed of world hatred.

Environmental Regulation

Environmental regulation is often cast as a burden on business. Clean air standards smother firms in red tape and stifle economies already facing tough times, opponents say. But what if environmental protection actually boosted economic performance? A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that reducing ground-level ozone (a main component of smog) significantly improved worker productivity. “Our results indicate that ozone, even at levels below current air quality standards in most of the world, has significant negative impacts on worker productivity, suggesting that the strengthening of regulations on ozone pollution would yield additional benefits,” the authors note.

How big are those benefits? A back of the envelope calculation suggests that a 10 ppb reduction in the EPA’s ozone standard would translate into an annual cost savings of $1.1-billion, Mr. Neidell said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/why-environmental-red-tape-may-be-good-for-business/article2042951/

Economic benefits from smog free air at ground level?  Who'd have thought clean air could improve productivity?

Perhaps  Robert Owen would have thought so. - he bought a mill named New Lanark quite some time ago.  A couple of hundred years or so....

New Lanark became celebrated throughout Europe, with many leading royals, statesmen and reformers visiting the mills. They were astonished to find a clean, healthy industrial environment with a content, vibrant workforce and a prosperous, viable business venture all rolled into one. Owen’s philosophy was contrary to contemporary thinking, but he was able to demonstrate that it was not necessary for an industrial enterprise to treat its workers badly to be profitable. Owen was able to show visitors the village’s excellent housing and amenities, and the accounts showing the profitability of the mills.

His ideas didn't spread even though he prospered while and becuase he treated his employees well .( For one thing, he paid them in coin of the realm instead of in tokens.   For another , he didn't employ children of three.) 

Often, ideology trumps our own interests - and we behave in self-defeating ways.

It would be in our long term  interests to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.   Why don't we?