December 22, 2008 – 2:03 am
Sometimes it seems that our leaders are not capable of solving the climate crisis, so maybe we must do something by ourselves…
Now you can help both Santa and the Planet by giving a free Carbon Neutral Day gift. Click the image below and the Brighter Planet will donate a day’s worth of carbon offsets for free to good purposes. You do not need to pay anything. Just visit the site, and find good ways to reduce your carbon emissions. As a bonus, after claiming your One Day gift, you can pass it on to your friends, family, and colleagues.
The first 5 people to click the link will be able to claim the gift.
If you are not among the happy five, visit Jeffrey Zeldman site, and try your luck there!
Happy Holidays!
December 20, 2008 – 7:51 pm
It would be fun to draw a positive and cheerful cartoon about the brave pioneers who struggle for decent climate policy. Unfortunately the current actions of European Union do not inspire for that at all…
I made the cartoon above for Christmas 2000. At that time George W. Bush “won” the Presidency of the United States. Bush declared that the global warming was not man made. He said also that USA is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, at the same time the European Union called for more efficient actions to tackle climate change.
Now thit seems that the tables are turning. Barack Obama says he will show leadership on the issue of climate change when he takes office, reports the Guardian. On the other hand in Poznan the European Union managed to avoid concrete actions to reduce emissions, and and I’m sorry to say Finnish Government was one of the worst players there lobbying for shortsighted benefits of Finnish industry.
Leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative Kim Carstensen comments: the Poznan outcome:
“This was a moment in time when real leaders would have stepped up and taken the positions that would combat the economic and climate crisis at the same time, Instead, industrialized countries preached sermons about the importance of climate protection in the Poznan plenary while lacking or attacking policies to make it happen at home – a serious sign of climate hypocrisy.”
November 28, 2008 – 1:12 pm
Buy Nothing Day can be celebrated today 28th november 2008 by bying nothing.
And the other days of the year it would be wise to think twice before you buy. There are those very smart folks who keeps telling that it doesn’t make any difference what a single person consumes. The whole system should be changed first. Next day these same very sharp people tell, that system can’t be changed, because people do not want to consume ecologically and ethically produced products and services…
International Buy Nothing Day site
Adbusters: Buy Nothing Day 2008
September 23, 2008 – 5:04 pm
Today, september 23th 2008, is an Earth Overshoot Day. Humanity have today used all the resources nature will generate this year according to Global Footprint Network.
September 22, 2008 – 11:00 am
Today is an International Car Free Day. If we really want to reduce travelling by car, we should improve the public transportation so that it always is a cheaper option than using own car. One thing is sure though, we can’t go on this way…
September 3, 2008 – 10:52 pm
Image from Hayao Miyasaki animated film My Neighbour Totoro © Studio Ghibli
Drawn blog informs that a group of Pixar artists has started a campaign to raise money for the Sayama forest in Japan. This 8750-acres forest in Tokyo inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s excellent animated film My Neighbor Totoro. Miyazaki helped set up the national trust, Totoro no Furusato Fund to preserve the forest.
Over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause. On september 6th 2008 Pixar Animation Studios will be hosting an auction event featuring all these pieces of art. All the proceeds of this fundraiser will benefit the protection of the Sayama Forest.
Visit Totoro Forest Project website if you want to buy at auction, help the project some other way or just admire fine pieces of art and hang around with fabulous Totoro style.
Thanks to Google Maps Japan you can take a virtual walk inside the Sayama Forest.
Amphibians, the first four-legged creatures that ever walked on earth, are now in big danger. Over one third of the amphibian species are threatened with extinction.
Frogs are dying because of habitat loss, climate change and a fast spreading Chytrid fungus disease. International campaign called Amphibian Ark tries to save disappearing frog species by keeping them alive in Zoos and release the species later back in wild.
Learn more from Amphibian Ark site and Frog Matters Blog.
In Finland we have every spring a happening called “Nuukuusviikko”, something about Thrifty Week in english. NGO organisations encourage people to live their daily lives using less energy and natural resources.
The Green Changemakers have found a Japanese term for Thrifty Week. It is Mottainai! 
It is an old Japanese word with love and compassion to think of the gift from the nature or someone who made the product. The word closest to Mottainai in English is “Do not waste!”.
February 4, 2008 – 11:13 pm
Here in Finland some folks have found a way to deal with the global warming. They build artificial refrigerated skiing tunnels, so people can ski even though we have no snow! Brilliant!
Friends of the Earth in Finland tells more about the Snowmen Against the Climate Change campaign.
