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climate-change

Park City commits to 100% renewable

 

Park City, Utah is the latest American city to pledge to turn to 100% renewable energy (you can view the whole list here). The promise was made under the 100% Committed Campaign and Park City has set 2032 as its deadline. Boulder, Colorado, San Francisco and San Diego, California, Georgetown, Texas Grand Rapids, Michigan and others have already committed to the cause.

This is great news, but why has it taken them so long? The campaign seems to have emerged as an attempt to push local councils toward sustainable energy, as climate change becomes a leading issue in national politics.

Last month, in September, when Boulder announced its commitment, Mayor Suzanne Jones, took to the mic to state that: “[It] is increasingly clear that Congress is not going to address climate change; cities like Boulder need to take the lead.”

Mayor Jack Thomas pushed a similar messaged in Utah and urged other cities to follow suit: “Park City’s commitment for 100% renewable electricity is driven by our community” he said. “The passion for the natural environment and our responsibility to take care of it is part of the fabric of what makes Park City a very special place to live. Park City can’t do it alone.”

Mountain communities have proudly pledged to change their energy source as they understand the risk they face if global warming is allowed to continue at the rate that it is at. “Park City recognizes that without snow, they cannot grow,” Talya Tavor, I AM PRO SNOW program manager, said. “At Climate Reality we bring together the passion to fight climate change with the passion to protect our mountain communities to make an unstoppable force for change. That’s why it is no surprise that mountain cities are leading the way on renewable electricity.

But that’s not all, national businesses like Ski Butlers, Ikea, Adobe, Facebook Apple and more (full list) have made the commitment to switch to 100 percent renewable electricity, under the RE100 plan to get the world’s most influential companies committed to 100% renewable power.

This  shows that business and government leaders recognize the urgent need to address the very real issue of climate change, and it also shows that practical solutions are actually being put in place to do so.

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Cara Delavigne eats a burger -- beef is one of the most carbon intensive foods
Off-Grid 101

Cutting your Carbon Footprint

Suppose you believe that man-made Carbon emissions are bad for the planet. What do you do about it? Some eminent experts say that individuals can do little or nothing to reduce global pollution and its all down to governments and giant corporations.

Others say that you have to start somewhere, and if the corporations and busybody Governments won’t act, we the people can shame them.

Our view is somewhere in between – its sensible to reduce consumption especially for those of us in Western society who have been over-consuming for decades.

Here is a handy guide to what you can do. It happens to overlap neatly with many of the things people do when they live off-grid – in order to save both money and resources.

Fly less:

Flights account for an eighth of all transport carbon emissions. Trains and phone/web calls are less intensive alternatives.

Drive less and better:

Use fuel-efficient modern cars, share and drive in a higher gear. Public transport is better and walking best of all — including for health.

Eat less meat:

The shift from animal to plant-based protein reduces energy required to produce food, reduces methane emissions from livestock — and is healthier.

Waste less food:

A third of food globally is wasted, or 1.3bn tonnes a year. Freeze food nearing expiry, don’t cook too much and use leftovers.

Keep clothes longer:

Wash clothes less often and at lower temperatures to extend their life; sell or donate them when no longer wanted.

Buy fewer things: Electrical goods use energy, but products also have a significant “embodied” carbon impact from their manufacture and transport. Cut down, buy longer-lasting products and resell or donate after use.

Recycle more: Throwing out means the need for replacement production; and waste in landfills produces methane emissions. Rinse, separate and recycle.

Use less water:

Shower for a shorter time, wash up in a bowl not with a running tap, use economy settings in washing machines, steam cook.

Use less heat: Save money and waste by setting thermostats at 18-21C and turned off when out; use insulation; install solar panels.

Use less power: Use LED bulbs; turn off lights and standby on devices when not in use; don’t heat more water in a kettle than needed; limit air-conditioning.

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Professor Camilo Mora predicts 5 BILLION deaths through global warming by 2050
Land

Alaska to be the next Florida?

Climate change will make the most desirable places to live currently, uninhabitable by the middle of this Century – according to a scientific paper in Nature magazine last year, and recently picked up by the New York Times snoozepaper.

California and the Southwest will be hit by drought and wildfire. The East Coast and Southeast will suffer appalling heat waves, hurricanes, and rising sea levels.

Policy makers and city planners are calculating when the future climate will depart from its normal variability. How much time do we have to act? A decade? A century?

“If you do not like it hot and do not want to be hit by a hurricane, the options of where to go are very limited,” said Camilo Mora, a geography professor at the University of Hawaii and lead author of the paper in Nature predicting that unprecedented high temperatures will become the norm worldwide by 2047.

“The best place really is Alaska,” he added. “Alaska is going to be the next Florida by the end of the century.”

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Water

Global Storming

2010 was the wettest year since records began. And it was not just the amount of rain and snow, but the intensity which increased

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Energy

Daryl Hannah slams Steven Chu

Says Mexico Climate Change conference center is over-air-conditioned and condemns Chu for proposing “nothing concrete” in his keynote speech.

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Community

Blueprint for sustainable living

katyandleanderfamilyportraitAn off-grid Community in the UK has been awarded £350,000 of central government money to help it spread its low-carbon lifestyle to families across the country.

The Lammas project in the Welsh hills involving nine “ordinary” families living in eco smallholdings in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire, has been named by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change as one of 10 low-carbon communities.

Lammas (named after a Pagan harvest festival)  will spend the moneyon a “community hub” building. It is seen “a blueprint for sustainable living” and the money is intended to facilitate educational visits. The local government in the area has pioneered one of the most favorable regimes to enable planning permission for off-grid developments and Lammas owes its existence to this planning framework.

The new building will help launch its low-impact housing initiative and pioneering farming and land-use technologies, as well as promoting carbon-positive food and fuel.

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Energy

Big Energy hand-outs

The stimulus billions are going to fund big grid-tied corporations instead of a myriad local and micro energy projects

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Energy

Steven Chu Interviews

In his first interview, energy secretary-designate, Steven Chu, says “we have to immediately start decreasing the amount of energy we use”

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