|
by Michael McGee
August 19, 2009
 When I think of my carbon footprint, I see a five-toe imprint in warm, golden-brown sand. I sense more comfort than discomfort, and a space that can fill a size 11 shoe. When it comes to a person's carbon footprint, there is something unnatural about thinking it is much larger than the size of, well, a person's foot. It might also be that I have never confronted the true size of my carbon imprint.
For those who at least sense the importance of understanding our personal and global emissions, a new art exhibition,CO2 CUBES , is about to help us see and sense what is not visible to the naked eye. Are you ready? |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
 By Michael McGee
August 19, 2009
On August 5, 2009, I attended the first public Transition Town meeting in my hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Victoria is one of a few hundred towns, villages and cities where local people are, among other things, working to lead a deliberate transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels and address the twin (economic) problem of peak oil.
An informative presenation was led by Tamara Schwartzentruber and Harald Wolf, and a memorable visualization was led by Denise Dunn. These individuals are part of a larger core organizing group that was recently established in Victoria, with more local gatherings and activities in the works for the months ahead. Whether you live in the same city as me, or some other place in the world, there is universal relevance to the issues that are central to a transition plan. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
By Jon Warnow
(Reposted from 350.org)
July 8, 2009
 Often, people ask: “In real world terms, how does a planet at 350 look any different than a planet at 450.”
There are approximately 2.7 gazillion ways to answer that question, but here’s just one: a planet at 350 has coral reefs. A planet at 450 does not.
Just yesterday, a team of scientists (along with Sir David Attenborough—who we’re hoping will be our next 350 messenger) issued a warning: a planet that stays above 350 for too long is a planet which “condemns coral reefs to extinction in the future, with catastrophic effects for the oceans and the people who depend upon them.”
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
by Michael McGee
July 16, 2009
 The town is New York City. The number is 3.6 trillion, as in the metric tons of long-lived greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. The place is 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, near Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and Macy’s. The medium is a digital billboard, 70 feet high. You could say it’s in the heart of the city where 500,000 commuters pass by every day. The launch was June 18, 2009, compliments of the Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division.
As Newsweek summarized, “National debt used to be the big number we all lived in fear of. Now it’s greenhouse gases.” The “carbon counter” is not just visible from New York City. You can view the ever-growing number right now from your computer screen. Go to the website just launched by the Deutsche Bank website at know-the-number.com. Watch the number and try this at the same time. Count out one second intervals...“one one thousand”, “two one thousand,” “three one thousand.” Then note the number of metric tons that are accumulating in the atmosphere for each second. By my count, it’s a thousand metric tons per second. It makes me sad.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
