Video - Climate Change Valentines for Politicians in Australia

AYCC volunteers in Canberra, Australia, surprised politicians with a valentines Day message: "It's not the thought that counts, it's real action." As explained by these activists, Romance and politics have one things in common: "Actions speak louder than words."

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UK Valentines Day Cards Against Fossil Fuels
A Love Letter to the Earth and its Inhabitants on Valentines Day

UK Valentines Day Cards Against Fossil Fuels

In the UK, Valentines Day 2014 is being marked by a national day of action. Valentines Day events are part of People and Planet's Go Green Week which is taking place from February 10-16, 2014. Students and staff from colleges and universities all across the UK are taking part.

On Valentines Day, Friday February 14th there is a national day of action in the UK that includes Fossil Free rallies across the country. These Valentines Day events also include cards for University Vice Chancellors (VCs) and politicians.

During Go Green Week, students in the UK are shining a spotlight on educational institution’s links to the fossil fuel industry. They engaged in a number of events including mass rallies and colourful, creative stunts on campuses. The Valentines Day message calls on universities to go Fossil Free.

A Love Letter to the Earth and its Inhabitants on Valentines Day

Valentines day is an opportunity to express love to people we care about, shouldn't the day also be about finding ways of communicating our love for the planet. No matter where we are, regardless of our power or wealth, we are all dependent on the Earth for our sustenance. Here is a love letter expressing gratitude for nature, and all those who work to make a better world.

We have many reasons to be grateful this Valentines Day. We are crafting positive environmental narratives that are getting more people on-board. A movement is being born that is infused with what can only be described as "eco-morality".  A new religious psychology and ethics is emerging that reinforces the environmental message. The new breed of environmentally concerned citizens gives us reason to hope that we will be able to tackle the difficult issues we face.

Video - Overfishing: Current Levels of Fishing are Unsustainable and Jeopardize the Future of this Important Food Source

Around 90 million tons of fish are removed from the world's oceans every year. But the seemingly inexhaustible food source is proving finite. More and more fish species are disappearing. And it's no wonder, because up to ninety percent of each catch is thrown over board again as worthless by-catch. This documentary accompanies scientists, fishermen and fish processing factories. It reveals the sometimes threatening and sometimes unexpected links in overfishing and addresses real solutions to rescue the oceans.

American Environmental Activism in 2013

The US environmental movement is represented by a wide range of NGOs of varying sizes. Some operate on the local level while others operate nationally and internationally. Some of the largest and most influential environmental organizations in the US are:

Environmental Defense Fund
National Audubon Society
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Friends of the Earth
Sierra Club
World Wide Fund for Nature
350.org
Greenpeace USA

These organizations and many others have championed a host of different causes including fisheries, wildlife, forests, wilderness and biodiversity. More recently they have focused on ozone depletion, acid rain, air pollution and water pollution. The overarching issue garnering the most activity is climate change, specifically efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Part of this effort supports the broad spectrum of environmental actions known as sustainability.

New Jersey Supreme Court Ruling Undermines Enforcement of Wetlands Protections

Sometimes laws that protect the environment are emasculated by precedent setting rulings by the courts. In New Jersey, the state's highest court has made it harder to enforce environmental protections. The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of upholding the state's wetland protections but added an unsettling caveat.

A 1987 law in New Jersey was supposed to give the state's Department of Environmental Protections the mandate to protect wetlands. The law protects drinking water, prevents flooding, and preserves important habitats for fish and wildlife. However, a recent unanimous decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court erodes the law.

Infographic - Plumbing Heroes: Water Stewards for the 21st Century

Click Here for an interactive version - Able Skills Construction Courses

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Reducing Water Use in the United States

This op-ed was written for World Water Day by Danielle Nierenberg, Co-founder of Food Tank. The article offers five steps that we can all take to reduce water waste in the United States. Danielle has spent the last two and a half years traveling to 35 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, conducting research on environmentally sustainable ways of reducing hunger and poverty. Over the last fifteen years she has been published in hundreds of publications around the world, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, the Houston Chronicle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Seattle Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and dozens more. Her research has been featured on National Public Radio, Voice of America, ABC, and CNN.
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Infographic - Forests and Land Use

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Arbor Day Business Partners

NASA Imagery Shows Trees are Dying in US Forests

Years of drought and high temperatures are thinning forests in the upper Great Lakes and the eastern United States. According to 2013 NASA satellite imagery which is part of the third National Climate Assessment, nearly 40 percent of Mid-Atlantic forests have lost tree canopy cover. Other afflicted areas include southern Appalachia, the southeastern coast and to a lesser extent, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.

The combination of less water and higher temperatures are making trees, especially southern pines and the upper Midwest's hardwoods, more vulnerable to insects and new pathogens.

Video - Webinar on US Energy Efficiency Policies

Energy and climate policy in the United States are being proposed at a fast pace, and it is difficult, even from people working in energy, to keep track of all the new proposals. This webinar reviews the impacts of some of the current proposals and bills on energy efficiency. The presentation will include both federal and state level considerations.

The State of Our Oceans: We are Headed Towards a Marine Mass Extinction

Oceans are the defining feature of our planet and they are indispensable to life. People are also intimately connected to oceans whether we live inland or on the coast. The world/s oceans are an essential part of life on Earth, they generate most of the oxygen we breathe, they provide valuable sources of food and they regulate our climate.

One of the greatest threats to oceans comes from acidification. According to 2012 research from the University of Bristol, ocean acidification is occurring at unprecedented rates. This is mainly due to the absorption of carbon dioxide emitted by humans.

Using Trees to Generate Electricity is Not Green Energy

Despite the value of trees to human and planetary health, an increasing number of American companies are cutting down forests to convert trees into pellets for electricity. It is tragically ironic that trees are being destroyed in the name of renewable energy. It is often said that trees are the Earth's lungs, they sequester carbon, produce oxygen, prevent erosion and are one of nature's most aesthetic creations. While coal is widely understood to be environmentally destructive, many do not understand that burning wood for electricity is even more harmful.

According to a Dogwood Alliance article, "burning trees for electricity will actually result in increased carbon emissions, when compared to coal." While it is good that European utilities are transitioning away from coal, it is a travesty that they are adopting wood based biomass as a replacement. 

The Green Cup Challenge®

The Green Cup Challenge® (GCC) was launched in 2007, it is an annual month long inter-school energy challenge that takes place each January/February to call attention to peak winter energy use. Originally designed to help schools measure and reduce electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions, GCC provides hands-on learning opportunities for students and school staff, including facilities managers, to work together to reduce their school’s carbon footprint. GCC integrates education and action, quantifies progress and aggregates success.

Action to Defend Canada's West Coast from Big Oil

A historic direct action will take place in Victoria, B.C. on October 22. When sending letters and signing petitions isn't enough we must say "enough is enough—not on our watch." People from the province of British Columbia will join others from across Canada to converge on the B.C. legislature to take peaceful, direct action to defend the West Coast.

Enbridge and Kinder Morgan are proposing new tar sands pipelines that would bring hundreds of supertankers to B.C.’s fragile coast. B.C. Premier Christy Clark has said she’d support supertanker projects as long as B.C. gets a payout to compensate for the risk of oil spills—in other words, she’s willing to sell out the coast to big oil.

The Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day

Every third Saturday of September the Ocean Conservancy stages the International Coastal Cleanup Day. This day is the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health. Over the last 25 years nearly nine million volunteers from 152 countries and locations have cleaned 145 million pounds of trash from the shores of lakes, streams, rivers, and the ocean on just one day each year.

Oceans are crucial to the health and well being of the planet. We are all intimately connected to the ocean, it drives and moderates our climate. It is the ultimate source of much of the water we drink and much of the air we breathe. It directly feeds millions of people. It also absorbs a great deal of the air and water pollution generated by a world population approaching seven billion people.

Lawsuit to Protect Arctic Sea Ice as Critical Seal Habitat

Environmentalists are using the courts to try to protect vanishing Arctic sea ice. In September, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit intended to protect the critical habitat of two species of seals in the US District Court in Anchorage. Even though the agency proposed listing the ringed seal and the bearded seal as threatened in 2010, nothing has been done. The suit accuses the National Marine Fisheries Service of illegally delaying listings for the two species of seals under the Endangered Species Act.

Study Shows Deforestation of Tropical Rainforest Decreases Precipitation

Deforestation can have many impacts including increases in un-sequestered carbon, and decreases in atmospheric oxygen, but according to new research loss of tropical rainforests can also significantly decrease rainfall. According to a new study titled, "Observations of increased tropical rainfall preceded by air passage over forests," the destruction of tropical forests could reduce rain across the Amazon basin by more than a fifth (21%) in the dry season by 2050.

Study Shows that Climate Change is Killing Forests

Climate change is causing a massive forest die-off on almost every continent on Earth. Forests are already under threat from illegal logging and land clearing for agriculture. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, trees in forests all around the world are dying due to dry climatic conditions and elevated heat. This study corroborates the notion that global warming is increasing the risk of fires, disease and pest infestations like pine beetles. This die-off is undermining the wide range of ecological and economic benefits that forests provide.

New Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

As revealed in a September 7, 2012 news release, the United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Canada’s Minister of the Environment Peter Kent have signed a newly amended Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in Washington, D.C. First signed in 1972 and last amended in 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a model of bi-national cooperation to protect the world’s largest surface freshwater system and the health of the surrounding communities.