In his book, "Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming"
(Island Press, 2009), University of California, Berkeley, biologist Anthony
Barnosky. says that because of climate change,
wilderness left to its own will no longer look like the natural areas
we see today. Our conservation strategies must be rethought, he adds, because business-as-usual will not preserve all the aspects of nature we have come to know, love and respect.
Setting aside preserves, for example, puts animals and plants in a bind: As global warming makes their current habitats unsuitable, surrounding human development prevents them from moving to more hospitable places. The alternative, assisted migration, smacks of creating wild zoos - quasi-natural areas like the dinosaur wonderland portrayed in the book and movie "Jurassic Park."
"The new twist in preserving nature is that we might have to come up with a separate but equal system, where we actively set aside some tracts of land as wildlands where people can experience this feeling of 'wilderness,' but recognize that the species that live in those places and the landscape are not going to be the species and landscape we are used to," he says. "Our kids are going to see very different things in those kinds of places than we do."
Warming already altering patterns of migration
Barnosky describes in his book how global warming is already causing shifts in the ranges of animals and plants, disrupting migrations and spawning, and stressing animals confined to parks and reserves.
While ecosystem change and extinction are normal, Barnosky
reminds us that past climate change, such as cooling at the beginning
of glacial periods and warming with the onset of interglacial periods,
took place over thousands of years.
The current warming is happening faster, by a factor of about 10.
Global warming multiplies impacts of human activities
Global warming comes on top of many other environmental impacts that have been stressing the environment, Barnosky notes in his book. He wrote "Heatstroke," in part, because he "wanted to raise awareness that global warming is not just an add-on consequence as far as impacts on ecosystems and nature are concerned.
We are all aware of habitat fragmentation, invasive species, growing human populations, and the tradeoff between resources needed to sustain us versus resources to sustain other species.
People tend to think those are the big problems, and that global warming is going to heat things up a bit.
"In reality, global warming, as far as how it is going to change nature, is as big or bigger a problem than all of those other four, and especially when you put it together with all of the other four.
There are feedbacks that make everything much more severe. It is like multiplying rather than adding everything up."
Solutions to protect both species and wilderness
Wilderness must be protected, he says, if for no other reason than that it acts as a canary in a coal mine, "a barometer of how healthy the Earth actually is."
But imperiled species must also be protected as biodiversity resources, he adds, even if this requires assisted migration of not only the endangered species, but also the plants and animals these species interact with in their ecosystem.
One alternative that some scientists have put forward is Pleistocene rewilding, a wild idea to re-establish the large "megafauna" that dominated Earth during the planet's last major bout with global climate change, the period of on-and-off glaciation that took place between 2 million and 10,000 years ago.Read more details about Barnosky and Heatstroke
Certified
businesses go beyond compliance with local environmental requirements
and implement pollution prevention efforts in their work sites.
Businesses are certified through an intensive application and
evaluation process. During the certification process, businesses are
evaluated in the areas of:
- Hazardous waste management
- Air quality and pollution
- Spill prevention and response
- Product and waste storage
- Cleaning procedures
- Purchasing/inventory management
- Recycling procedures
- Employee involvement and training
- Drainage Systems
- Energy And Water Use
THE PROGRAM
Learn more at http://www.ecobiz.org/becomebiz.htm
They are a cooperative working group of local areas from the Cities of Portland and Gresham, Clackamas County, Metro, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Clean Water Services, and Washington County. The Eco-Logical Business Program team includes planners and management experts in air pollution, hazardous materials, solid waste, surface water, and wastewater disciplines.
They joined together to promote, enhance and implement comprehensive pollution prevention programs and materials.
| LOCATE AN AUTOMOTIVE OR LANDSCAPE ECO-BUSINESS In OREGON |
|
 |
PORTLAND AREA AUTOMOTIVE ECO-BUSINESSES |
|
STATEWIDE AUTOMOTIVE ECO-BUSINESSES |
 |
CERTIFIED LANDSCAPE FIRMS |
Their on line resources include a wide variety of PDF downloads in the following areas:
Eco-Logical Business Checklist - pdf
Recycling Resources/Services - pdf
Their website holds a treasuretrove of waste management information to help businesses find practical solutions:
Compendia For Construction and Auto Recycling
Hazardous Waste Management
Antifreeze Recycling
Freon Recycling
Used Oil/Filters
Re-Refined Oil
Auto Body Refinishing
Alternative Gun Washing Solvents
Wash Water Management
Storm Water Management
Oil Water Separators
Secondary Containment
Spill Prevention and Response
Operations
Employee Training
Utilities
Catalogs
and... a wide variety of Alternatives
Green living is about making choices...and finding solutions to your specific needs for food, shelter, companionship and productive, satisfying work. We talk straight about green building, and green products. We have real solutions for real families. Stay tuned for practical green tips and techiques as well as resources to help you make going green a whole lot easier.
Green Living Solutions for Offices
Most people think it's hard to green your office -- but with our resources and tips, you'll breathe easier in not time! We make going green easier, fun and definitely better for our greater workspace and playspace, the earth.Green workspace is about reduction, recycling and making good purchases of the everyday things like paper and paperclips, computers and travel. We'll get you started and you'll enjoy the creative potential of green living -- and we think you'll even want to take your new green expertise home with you!
Green Living Product Categories
- Low-energy Lighting
- Natural Light
- Alternative Autos and Transportation
- Yummy Food
- Furniture and Furnishings
- Green and Healthful Buildings
- Heat and Air Conditioning Efficiency
- Water Conservation
- Outdoor Living Spaces
- Living with Nature
Ecopsychology is on the cutting edge of a shift in how we see the world and ourselves. It views many of the problems we face today as being caused by our separation from our roots in the natural world. It finds many useful solutions through reestablishing connections to those roots. As a discipline, eco-psychology studies the interaction of human beings and their environments. As a therapy it seeks to return people to a balanced relationship with their environment.
-- Allison Ewoldt
Professional and In-depth Sources
Ecopsychology, or eco-psychology as it is sometimes called, is situated at the intersection of a number of fields of enquiry, including environmental philosophy, psychology, and ecology, but is not limited by any disciplinary boundaries. At its core, ecopsychology suggests that there is a synergistic relation between planetary and personal well being; that the needs of the one are relevant to the other.
International Community for Ecopsychology
A Novel about Ecopsychology
Sitting with the Enemy by Sarah EdwardsAfter years of pulse pounding stress and ambition, Rose and Mark Whitman's universe is rich, glamorous, high speed - and empty - a run-a-way train about to crash. They've lost meaning, magic, and soon each other ... until an unexpected turn on the tracks takes them to a remote mountain village and a community struggling to preserve an idyllic, but endangered way of life. Mark and Rose are drawn into a circle of friends who are confronted with painful decisions about what they're willing to do to save their community. When the village breaks into factions, violence erupts fed by fear, greed and prejudice and the group learns the true meaning of community - what destroys it and what preserves it and its role in the quality of their lives and the future of their children.
Enjoy a journey of gentle exploration...you'll smile a lot ... I guarantee it!
Carolyn
Environmental and social impact can shape a greener bottom line.
Ray Anderson, citizen and corporate leader, has come face to face with his role in today's industrial role in unsustainable business shares his thought process and his solutions in this excerpt from "The Corporation".
This is an inspiring look at business's role, and the paradigm shift that is needed to be responsible for the world we leave for our children and the millions of species who are part of this delicate biosphere of life.
The book Ray Anderson credits with opening his eyes to the free-fall to earth that is better known as "business as usual" is "The Ecology of Commerce" by Paul Hawkins.
He calls for a paradigm shift of how we view business. That we look at how we are plundering our natural resources and natural processes and leaving a mess for our grandchildren. And we need to create a new revolution -- moving beyond the industrial revolution to a new revolution. One that could be called a "productivity revolution" or a "sustainability revolution."
The GrassRoots Recycling Network has a vision of the world where waste is not waste - it is a resource.
GRRN is the leading voice calling for Zero Waste (ZW) in the
United States by promoting the message that we must go "beyond
recycling" and go upstream to the headwaters of the waste stream which
is the industrial designer's desk.
Zero Waste means not only 100% recovery of society's discards, but also a redesign of the products and packaging of our lives such that everything produced for our consumer economy is non-toxic and designed to be recovered for re-use, recycling or composting.
GrassRoots Recycling Network is a national network of waste reduction activists and recycling professionals. GRRN sets ambitious standards for Zero Waste goals and policies. They provide opportunities for on-going participation in campaigns and build coalitions to achieve zero waste policies, businesses and communities. They have a valuable website and an active email listserve (called GreenYes) of many hundreds of knowledgeable experts in both downstream recovery and upstream clean production issues.
What is Zero Waste?
GRRN
developed the core message of Zero Waste in the mid-1990's as the new
vision of the grassroots recycling movement, and has been successful in
using that theme to connect recyclers, innovative corporate leaders,
activists, and others both nationally and globally.
GRRN's Zero Waste
message combines visionary thinking with real-world practice to go beyond recycling,
and in the process have described some simple, important solutions to
many pressing issues, such as
- corporate accountability
- local economic development
- air and water pollution
- resource depletion
CONTACT INFO:
PO Box 282
Cotati, CA 94931
than all 4-year colleges combined.
Van Jones helps kids in trouble get out of trouble and into jobs. Helping mothers find alternatives for their kids in prison. Jones got burned out when he confronted all the problems in the community. Facing the culture shock between Oakland and Marin County also brought healing that showed him that green jobs and a green economy could be strong enough to lift people out of poverty and improve community and health at the same time -- these new workers could retrofit the nation!
Jones saw these new workers as the rescuers of their nation -- reallocate the money from prisons to green jobs. Practical, applied, in the real world.
with Van Jones. Watch video.
Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities New publication outlines strategies for developing green-collar job initiatives and pathways out of poverty at the local level. Co-authored by Green For All, this report describes a 4-step approach for local initiatives and highlights a dozen great efforts already underway around the country.
Green For All, in partnership with the Apollo Alliance, Center for American Progress, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, recently released this guide to help cities across America develop strategies to spur the creation of green-collar jobs and opportunity in their communities.
The new guide, Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities: Building Pathways out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy, is a first-of-its-kind publication that addresses the demand for this information and outlines a strategic framework in which local policymakers and advocates can develop a green-collar job initiative that responds to the realities of their local economies and communities.
"Our green future will be invented at the local level," said Van Jones, founder and president of Green For All. "This report offers those leaders some of the best thinking and models currently available for building green-collar jobs and the training pipelines necessary for city residents to fill those jobs and claim the promise of living wage careers."
The guide encourages cities to take a four-step approach.
- First, set a baseline to start from. Identify your environmental and economic goals, and assess local and regional opportunities for achieving those goals.
- Second, develop a green economic development plan. Enact policies and programs to drive investment into targeted green economic activity and increase demand for local green-collar workers.
- Third, ready your workforce. Prepare your green-collar workforce by building green-collar job training partnerships to identify and meet workforce training needs, and by creating green pathways out of poverty that focus on recruitment, job readiness, job training, and job placement for low-income residents.
- And fourth, build on your successes. Leverage your program's success to build political support for new and bolder policies and initiatives.
Green For All
414 13th St, Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
510-663-6500
http://www.greenforall.org/
