The 10StepCAP focus for the month of June will be WATER, and to deal with our sadness and devastation about the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill we will organize Water Soundings as our action for the month. The instructions below are posted on the official 10stepcap.com website.
Organize a Water Sounding
Register it as an event on the Blog and/or on Facebook 10StepCAP Group
How to organize a Water Sounding: Gather friends, family, neighbors, and strangers, in a circle by a natural body of water. Open with words of welcome, a poem or other reading. Speak of the water and center yourselves in the space and moment. Listen in silence to the water and its surroundings. The silence may be longer or shorter as you wish, but don't short-change yourselves. If you have time, you may scatter and each person may spend some time writing or drawing, or making nature art in any way they wish. Come back together to share your reflections and images. You may use any props you have - bells, sage, cloths - but all you really need is yourselves.
It would be desirable to avoid using gas powered vehicles to go to the Sounding, If possible, walk, bike, canoe or skate. Taking the bus beats driving. But you know what you must do - simply pay attention.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Carbon footprint results
Bete reports from São Paulo, Brazil: Hi, I just calculated my carbon footprint. It came up to 8.71. The English website works well for Brazil. It said the average for industrialized countries was 11. Does that mean that the US is double that average? I am of course way above Brazil's average. But need to work a lot to get to the global target. This is very interesting. Bete Greta reports from Bethlehem, PA: I calculated my footprint with the US version of carbonfootprint.com, the short test, and scored 11.37, which is low for the US but high for the rest of the world. Yes, Bete, the average US carbon footprint is double that of the other industrialized countries. I hope to use a couple of the other tests to see if there are significant differences. I plan to do so before the end of the month. Anyone else ready to report? |
Monday, May 10, 2010
Don't go away - it's time to try harder!
My, oh my - it's already May 10! I've been negligent about communicating with anyone who's checking this blog. Most of my energy is going into the Census work I'm doing for eight or ten weeks - I'm starting my fourth week today.
Sometimes it feels as if the Climate Change issue has gone away. Do you get that sense? But maybe like me you get email notices, articles, requests for signatures and calls to your representatives - and you're aware that the ice is still melting, islands are drowning, weather patterns are shifting with major flooding and wind storms in some areas and long droughts in others. Usually it the vulnerable populations are already victims of poverty and injustice, living in shanty towns on slopes that sustain mudslides, or trying to eke out a living in dry, windswept areas. People whose lives have depended on the bounty of the water find that the fish are disappearing, just as other wildlife is affected by the changing climate.
Two big issues - Water and Peak Oil - weave in and out of the Climate Instability situation, threatening humanity with a triple whammy that could mean immense suffering and violence. The rush for fossil fuels is not abating, despite the information on carbon emissions (the increasing levels in the atmosphere, close to 400 ppm), and in spite of the major accidents with coal (loss of miners' lives), oil (the terrible spill in the Gulf of Mexico) and natural gas (the depredation of the water table and the explosions). Nuclear disasters are waiting to happen around the world, and the problem of disposal of spent uranium has not been resolved.
So our efforts must continue - as people who acknowledge our place in this culture of addiction to fossil fuels we need to serve as examples in any way we can, and we must spread the word, letting others know about our actions.
Tomorrow I will highlight in a new blog entry some of the actions 10-steppers have shared with me. I'm trying to let everyone know that I've designated May as the month to focus on our carbon footprints. So tomorrow I'll also share a bit about the carbon footprint tests we can use.
Check in again tomorrow!
Sometimes it feels as if the Climate Change issue has gone away. Do you get that sense? But maybe like me you get email notices, articles, requests for signatures and calls to your representatives - and you're aware that the ice is still melting, islands are drowning, weather patterns are shifting with major flooding and wind storms in some areas and long droughts in others. Usually it the vulnerable populations are already victims of poverty and injustice, living in shanty towns on slopes that sustain mudslides, or trying to eke out a living in dry, windswept areas. People whose lives have depended on the bounty of the water find that the fish are disappearing, just as other wildlife is affected by the changing climate.
Two big issues - Water and Peak Oil - weave in and out of the Climate Instability situation, threatening humanity with a triple whammy that could mean immense suffering and violence. The rush for fossil fuels is not abating, despite the information on carbon emissions (the increasing levels in the atmosphere, close to 400 ppm), and in spite of the major accidents with coal (loss of miners' lives), oil (the terrible spill in the Gulf of Mexico) and natural gas (the depredation of the water table and the explosions). Nuclear disasters are waiting to happen around the world, and the problem of disposal of spent uranium has not been resolved.
So our efforts must continue - as people who acknowledge our place in this culture of addiction to fossil fuels we need to serve as examples in any way we can, and we must spread the word, letting others know about our actions.
Tomorrow I will highlight in a new blog entry some of the actions 10-steppers have shared with me. I'm trying to let everyone know that I've designated May as the month to focus on our carbon footprints. So tomorrow I'll also share a bit about the carbon footprint tests we can use.
Check in again tomorrow!
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