earth hour - 8pm on the 29th of March

For those of you who may not already know, it’s earth hour this coming Saturday night.... Well, that is, in Australia. If you’re in the States or the UK or any other marvellous part of the world for that matter, then it’s 8pm on the 29th of March, your local time.

All you have to do is sign up on the web site and when earth hour rolls around, turn everything electrical off in your house. Lights, tv’s, dvd’s, ipods, kitchen white goods and yes even your beloved computer.

You could then light a candle or two or, as many are doing, gather with others and watch you local city lights switch off. I think it's going to be amazing.

This little clip may help explain where it all began (Sydney, Australia 2007). It may make you want to join in too. I hope so.

Polar bears reappear once more

{Where to now.}

It’s the last day of September and I thought a good way to mark the day was to post a few of my recent polar bear drawings. I haven't been able to post on Sew Green for a while, so what better way to get myself slowly reacquainted than this. With polars to break the ice.


{Where to now.}


{The last safe patch. (Please, click to enlarge.)}

Medium: watercolour and pencil on Fabriano 640gsm traditional white paper.

Polar bear links to peruse:
Most Polar Bears Gone By 2050, Studies Say
WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker
Polar Bear Conservation Through Research and Education

(Polars also said farewell September, hello October over here on elsewhere.)

book for kids?

brought to you by Laurie David [a producer of an inconvenient truth ] and Cambria Gordon, this book might be what you use to talk to your children about global warming.

i haven't actually seen a copy, but i heard the two authors speak about it and how their children are reacting to climate change. they felt there was a void of information for children that was honest, and suggested ways to help.... and not too scary or frightening.

would love to know if anyone has seen/read the book with their kids and what they thought.

amazon link to book

write your congress{wo}man

Hi everyone - this is actually a guest post from my DAD :). he's definitely one of the reasons why i was excited to join sew green. he has continually been interested in environmentalism. he also has roots in activism - and asked if he could write something for us. i was thrilled. thanks dad!

««««««««««««««««

I am sure that this is no surprise to the readers of this blog but recent reports have found that the estimates of changes due to global warming have been seriously understated. For example:

Science magazine reported in March that Antarctica and Greenland are both losing ice overall, about 125 billion metric tons a year between the two of them — and the amount has accelerated over the last decade. To put that in context, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (the most unstable part of the frosty cloak over the southernmost continent) and Greenland together hold enough ice to raise global sea levels by 40 feet or so, although they would take hundreds of years to melt. We hope.

In January, Science reported that actual rises in sea level in recent years followed the uppermost limit of the range predicted by computer models of climate change — meaning that past studies had understated the rise. As a result, the study found that the sea is likely to rise higher than most previous forecasts — to between 50 centimeters and 1.4 meters by the year 2100 (and then continuing from there).

Science Express , the online edition of Science, reported last month that the world’s several hundred thousand glaciers and small ice caps are thinning more quickly than people realized. “At the very least, our projections indicate that future sea-level rise maybe larger than anticipated,” the article declared.

This blog’s attempt at encouraging people to change their daily habits in various ways is an important way to try to help reduce global warming.

But so is writing one’s representatives in government. You can find these people in the United States at the following sites:
write your house representative
write your senator

{ed. note: if anyone knows of how to reach representatives in canada, the UK, austrailia, etc. leave links in the comments. also tell us if you've ever received a response or what your experience has been}

Feel free to copy and paste the three pieces of info noted above into a letter to your Representative and Senators.

While they may have done some work on improving fuel standards for vehicles, tell him/her that they need to do MUCH, MUCH more. Talk about the need to develop alternative fuels, to stop oil companies from ripping us off by not paying the royalties they owe the government, to do more about encouraging the development and the use of public transportation, to not support the development of nuclear energy because of the danger of the waste, etc.

Additionally, keep writing them. A letter once every few weeks asking them about what they are going to do about some environmentally related issue will make them notice that the voters want action. With the convenience of computers one can copy, cut and paste, and send pieces of newspaper or magazine articles with relative ease.

You’ll get a reply. Usually, it will be a canned response extolling what he/she has done about issue x, y, or z. Write him/her back thanking him/her for the reply and then asking him/her what he/she is going to do about issue a, b, or c that he/she did not address in the letter. Politely, but clearly, remind him/her that you expect him/her to keep working on these issues.

Is it worth a few minutes of your time occasionally? I think it is!

car {s}hop

we have been a one car family for 2 years now. we always planned on getting a second vehicle. this is l.a. after all and everyone drives. everywhere. but we found that d could manage with a combo of biking and taking public transit to work. it added an extra half hour or so onto his commute, but he found he was was less stressed, and in better physical shape too. we have been lucky to have an extra car (thanks friends and family!) at our disposal through all this - "just in case" - and it has come in handy when something has come up where i can't pick up the kids in our usual way. a kind of car-share that has worked will in a pinch.

but we are looking now for a second of our own. i think the ideal would be something very fuel efficient with a low carbon footprint. of course. and a camper/van. to ease our weekend getaways and our yearly trip up the coast to canada. and it could also serve as our "just in case" vehicle.

where to look? and how do i decide? oh i do like those hybrids you see all over the place (sam, leslie, you do love yours, don't you? and they are comfy for family outings?). but i keep thinking straight vegetalbe oil (svo), and ultimately waste vegetable oil (wvo), may be the way for us to go. i worry about the impact of the demand for palm oil that biodiesel may cause. of course inroads into pond scum fueling my car sound interesting. and the idea of a used vehicle appeals to me. (converting an older diesel to wvo and practicing the 3 R's as much as possible.) but we do need one reliable vehicle. (again - this is l.a...) we certainly are not waiting for ford and gm's much touted corn ethanol fueled vehicles. (you can read more about "why corn ethanol isn't the answer" here.) i have checked out the top 10 green cars (unfortunately for the uk and many models not available here - but it gives me some ideas.)

i don't like car shopping at the best of times - hence our 2 yr lack of a second vehicle - and all these additional issues begin to overwhelm me - as you can see. oh yes, and of course we are trying to do this on a budget.

so i turned to my "go to girl", and friend alegre, of Green and Greener. she told me:

"From an environmental stand point I’m torn. While I haven’t found CO2 info about burning used veggie oil, I agree that it’s always better for something to get used two or more times before it enters the waste stream. However, I also believe that lowering CO2 emissions is the SINGLE MOST IMPORANT thing we can do right now because of the urgency of global warming. So I’d recommend getting a PRIUS, having it modified to be a full-plug-in (find info here) and then make sure that you are signed up for GREEN POWER with DWP (if you don’t have solar panels) so that the energy you are getting is CO2 emission free."

so there you are. we are looking and thinking and wondering if, as more hybrids come on the market the price will beging to decrease. (perhaps i will still be blogging about this in another two years!)

in the meantime, i have purchased a terrapass for our minivan.

i would love your feedback on this.

wanted: earth-friendly, reliable set of vehicles for family of four. must be willing to commute during the week, enjoy short drives to the beach, and weekends in the mountains as well as yearly drives to the great white north.

any ideas?

All aboard!

I’m the first to admit I have romantic notions about trains. I have sentimental attachments to them as my memories from them are all fun. Riding with my girl scout friends in elementary school (can’t remember where we went, but I know it involved giggling), riding with my mormor in Sweden, doing the Eurail thing with Laurel (We only got kicked off once, in Italy for accidentally getting on the bullet train when we’d only paid the regular train fare. Those Italian train conductors were a bit intense.), avoiding (this time on purpose by hiding in the bathroom) paying the fare to Båstad with Daniel (during a year I spent in Lund, Sweden) and travelling to the Norwegian fjords in 2001 (as seen above and below – the only photos of mine from my train adventures that I could find).



Most recently I took the train from Emeryville, California to Auburn, California (riding the Zephyr). I had no idea it would be such a party. I left on a Friday, and the train was surprisingly populated. Commuter regulars were opening their mini-wines (bought in the dining car), and celebrating the end of the work week. Some staggered down the aisles with lemon-capped beers. On the way back to SF, the train was also quite populated, this time with Oakland A’s baseball game goers. A cute granddad and his decked out in Oakland A gear grandson quietly picnicked together.

My point is, I love trains. I do not understand why there aren’t bullet trains and regular train riding going on all over the US. It is so much more environmentally sound (and safer) than car driving en masse or riding the plane! And you can read, get work done, dine, have a party, play cards, draw, take photos, journal, walk around, craft, etc. on the train!

The SF Guardian recently had a good article about Schwarzenegger’s postponing the realization of a California bullet train. The California bullet train has been in the works since the 1980’s, and in planning for almost 10 years. Why is it taking so long? There are these folks who say a bullet train would cut into hundreds of parks and protected areas in California. This is obviously not good for the environment. But I wonder in the long run, which has a greater impact, cutting into some of these protected areas (I’m assuming not by huge amounts since the rail would run alongside existing rails), or continued degradation due to so much car driving (which will only increase as the population increases, and which will require wider and more roads, also cutting into land). The reason Schwarzenegger is not getting this train moving is not related to the land impact however. His reason is all about cost-effectiveness in the short term. When are politicians going to realize we need to think in the long term, especially if they’re claiming, as Schwarzenegger is, to be environmentally conscious?!

Honestly, I think it will be hard to persuade car-drivers to switch to the train. But with some good advertising, with growing awareness of how our car-centered lives are severely hurting our environment, and with a bullet train travelling much faster than a car, perhaps a slow transition to trainriding and public transport is possible....

In the Bay Area, you can get involved with the bullet-train supporters. And write to Schwarzenegger.

Some flickry train goodness:
longing.
waking up on the train at 6 am.
from driftwould
7-1
an old train car

It's all about the dining car:
dining car nap
dining car (check out those seats!)
dining car table
lunch on the train

If you’re looking for a train-related movie, Station Agent is one of my all-time favorites.

World Environment Day

||Two polar bears with lights to mark out the safe parts ice.||


||Two polar bears with floatation devices.||


||Humpback whales repairing the ice sheet.||

Happy world environment day, everyone! I thought it only fitting to post a few of my polar bear and humpback whale drawings on this important annual day.

This years topic is ‘Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?’ with a "focus on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, on other ice and snow covered areas of the world, and the resulting global impacts." (as taken from wikipedia)

You can discover a little more here and here.

I’m going to celebrate by writing a letter to my local member of parliament, asking them to establish national laws to cut greenhouse pollution, tax greenhouse pollution and reward energy saving and renewable energy, ensure 20 per cent of Australian electricity comes from renewables by 2020, to stop flirting with nuclear power and ratify the Kyoto Protocol… as suggested by the ACF.

How about you?

I’d love to hear about how are you going to spend the day, or how you did spend the day (depending on the time zone you are in right now)?

Green car parking

My mind is bubbling with excited thoughts and plans. I want to build a green driveway from old bits of dry ski slope! It's such sturdy stuff and looks great once the grass begins to grow through and disguise it.

I often see piles discarded locally, but now they've started using it to stabilise the hill paths and prevent erosion near the ski slope itself, it works really well. That's the kind of re-use I like, where the new use it even better than the original one. The slope is 20 minutes walk from my house, on the Pentland Hills overlooking Edinburgh. Here's where I sit to catch my breath and make my cunning reclamation plans...



People think I'm lucky to have a drive already in my garden, but to me it's lifeless space that could be inhabited by plants and herbs for the insects to enjoy. Scented ones too, since it's good to treat your nose as well as your eyes.

I'm also concerned by water run-off which creates flood problems as more and more people pave their gardens to park their cars. Such a sad loss of habitat. I'm really into green carparks, paving, roofs etc. as a way to lessen our impact in built environments.

The first green carpark I saw in the late 80's was the concrete type which looked similar to this. I was VERY excited to discover it. Modern ones mostly use grid systems made from recycled polyethylene, like this Australian kind. Our local Ikea has a small section for about 20 cars. I'd like to see entire car parks look that way - where suitable*.



I'll be using ski slope if I can, but for those of you who don't have that option but are interested in the idea, have a look at Paving Expert. They explain different types plus preparation needed to install them so they'll stay put. They also advise on grasses for each use - walking, heavy traffic etc. It's a UK site so grasses & suppliers will differ elsewhere but it gives a good overview of things to consider before doing a further search in your own area. They have UK supplier links and this one has pricing for green paths to give you an idea of costs. It seemed no worse than the cost of decent quality paving in the UK.

For many, grass is not an eco option on account of water use but many of these systems also hold dry materials so I'm guessing you could plant low growing drought tolerant succulents etc. such as those used for green roofs (more on that later). Anyone tried that? It also stops dry material being lost onto the road.

Others hold gravel or stones, but having seen a beautiful Scottish river scraped for it's stones and left lifeless, and coutryside quarried for gravel and left scarred and barren - I would not advocate their use unless they were reclaimed. Plus they are incredibly energy intensive and often have huge mileage to get to you.

I'd love to hear from any of you have tried any of these options, and especially from anyone who has successfully improvised. I will keep you posted on my own attempts.

*this tends not to work on slopes and boggy areas.

ps. I forgot to say that they help prevent 'urban heat islands'. Read more about that here.

Green Like Veggies

At one of my favourite vegan restaurants, Native Foods, the manager always writes animal friendly quotes on the chalkboards that line the walls of the restaurant. The other night I sat under a sign that read, "According to a new UN report, the meat & dairy industry produce more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined." I sat under that sign pondering how powerful that statement is and finally asked the manager for more information. She had taken that quote from VegNews Magazine.
A quick search lead me to the UN report and this article relating to the report:

"Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions."
"Livestock now use 30 per cent of the earth’s entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 per cent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 per cent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing."

Why was this so shocking? I became vegetarian in 7th grade after researching a report on rainforests and was horrified by what the meat industry did to the land. I remember crying while reading about the deforestation. Now, 15 years later, I am surprised and horrified by the fact that this continues almost unnoticed.

Global warming and pollution are huge issues right now, as they should be, but the issue is always addressed in terms of cars and "industry" [in general]. It seems to me that people could have a larger effect on global warming if they gave up meat & dairy en masse. We need to reduce & rethink transportation methods in terms of CO2 emissions; doing so could have a huge effect but according to this report if meat & dairy consumption double by 2050, no hybrid car has a chance of making a dent in global warming. Scary.

So what can you do? Give up or reduce meat & dairy consumption. There are already a million health reasons to do so and more so, a billion amazing & delicious reasons.

Here is a list of some of my favourite vegan [don't let that word scare you; vegans have a wonderfully rich and varied diet and are not all "preachy" and righteous. Plus dark chocolate and most sugars are totally vegan, OK and french fries are as well.] recipe resources:

1. Vegan Lunchbox
2. Post Punk Kitchen [I have had amazing results with her recipes]
3. Also check out her Vegan Cupcake book!
4. The Vegan Chef
5. Veg Web
6. Vegan Food
7. Becoming Vegan [first and best vegan health book I have owned]

More reason to eat your organic veggies!

Cheers!