Greenpeace Goes Grey!

We all know Greenpeace from their mediagenic actions against Walehunting and other environmental crimes. Over the last couple of years, the activist multinational has gone a new way with some own business initiatives where they take responsibility for the issues they target.

It is part of a trend where nowadays activists have grown up and have become eco-entrepreneurs. But who will tackle the dirty businesses when the most professional activists have moved to the business table? Can Greenpeace still be as sharp in it's critics when it is part of the same game?

In Germany, Greenpeace Energy offers us "honest" energy. Let's be honest then. Alltough Greenpeace promises that we as customers can take part in building new, clean energy power plants, the reality is that this only counts for a very small part of the energy, as one can easily read from their website.

The largest part of this German Greenpeace Energy comes from hydro powerplants in Austria and Norway. Some of those powerplants are older than Obama, so where's the change, really?

Is hydro power energy from abroad really the solution, Greenpeace? I've seen a lot of hydro power plants fucking up with nature, and although it is preferable above nuclear or coal, it is still an industry that's disturbing our nature. And what guarantees are there that the Norwegean energy I buy from Greenpeace is not exchanged with German nuclear power to a Norwegian costumer, in the end?

A wave of critics on eco-energy in the media is coming along with a comeback of nuclear energy in Europe. This kinds of critics does not really help us forward to clean energy either, but the only way to keep the green movement alive is to keep it trustworthy. So in this case it is better beating the critics than ignoring them.

As the German newspaper Zeit argues in a critical article, just buying certificates from abroad does not necessarily bring anything. The fact that half of The Netherlands changed to green energy because of a taxbonus did not do anything to the 85% dirty energy.

Okay, it is complicated for an independent eco-energy businesses to offer German produced eco-energy in Germany because of a complicated system of renewable energy support. But since the rise of a market for eco-energy it has brought us all but the promised rise of green energy. In the end we seem to be greenwashing our own energy bills.

We, conscious consumers, are mislead and made stupid. In the end, joining the international trade of certificates or byuing clean energy from abroad is maybe a handy means for governments or business to polish their green image, for Greenpeace it should be different.

I just want to have honest clean energy, Greenpeace. If you think you're big enough to get me that, well, go ahead and offer me that über-honest energy. Locally produced and sourced energy, possibly supporting a system where cities and municipalities become responsible for their own energy production. Without mixing and trixing. It's time to move forward...

In the meantime, I would suggest Greenpeace to sell that Greenpeace Energy and come over to the other side: to get on the barricades for a more honest and cleaner energy policy without being part of the tricks that keep consumers stupid.

Or should we some day come to Greenpeace and chase them with banners and ships and all?

A critical consumer of "green" energy

Cool eco-streetart or smart soap commercials?

What's all those 15 year old kids running around with buckets and spouses by night? It's the new graffiti hype, stupid.

Having a respectful amount of creative streetwaste on my account, I've always been a bit worried about the environmental effects of graffiti. The anti-graffiti propaganda claims tons of cleaning costs for graffiti, and maybe the're even a bit right. Time to get some more environmentalist ideas into the urban art movement and rethink our creative re-shaping of cities.

An excellent environmental form of streetart is drawing clean in dirt. You take a dirty urban canvas, and get your stencil down on the dirt. Reversed streetart is a project by UK streetartist "Moose" alias Paul Curtis.

Cool idea, just a shame that the best new streetart ideas nowadays too often merge with advertising agencies. In this matter, ecosoap brand Green Works. And Moose is not only a streetartist, but in the same function running his "innovative advertising agency" Symbollix, with clients like Microsoft and Channel4.

A great concept for greenwashing your company, literally.

Via: Karmakonsum. In his blogpost, Christoph admits he's been one of those graffiti kids too.
Any more in the sustainable bloggosphere with a graffiti or streetart background? Might there be a strong correlation? Leads awareness for urban environments to environmental thinking and living? Or are our blogs just another form of leaving our traces...?

As Fast as Taking your Clothes Off: Drap Art International Recycling Art Festival in Barcelona

Drap Art is an International Recycling Art Festival, this year the 19th, 20th and 21st of December 2008. The festival promotes creative recycling, through the organisation of festivals, exhibitions and workshops. The festival has an OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS to send in their creative materials and inventions before May 17th.

The Festival's intellectual background towards Recycling gives it an interesting perspective on the whole issue of recycling. Some quotes:

"Drap-Art’s aim is to enhance creative recycling as a tool of transformation in the arts, the environment and society. Recycling, reusing and recuperating revaluates things. This, not only helps to induce a more reflexive consumerism, but also contributes to the growth of respect for the environment and for the people living in it, leading towards cultures based in knowledge and respect. Moreover, creative recycling is a global and multicultural phenomenon that occupies a significant position in the popular arts and crafts, in all societies of the world. It was introduced into western art by the avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century, and towards the end recycling has entered the world of design and architecture."

"Now that a desolate future, provoked by an unsustainable global growth presents itself more and more clearly, Drap-Art considers that it is of utmost importance to animate the new generations to use recycling, not only as a tool of criticism, but as a device at the disposal of everybody to transform protest into positive proposals, which are the seeds of a more sustainable world."

Recycling Art Contest
Get your creative recycling objects on the international stage!
Send in your stuff:

MODALITIES:
Interventions in public space
Workshop of live creation
Drap Art group show of recycling artists
Shows (theatre, marionettes, dance, concerts or performances)
Audiovisuals (video, movies, documentaries and video art)
Art, design and crafts Market.

Deadline: the projects must arrive before May 17th, 2008 at La Carboneria, Drap Art Gallery, c/ Groc 1, 08002 Barcelona.
More information: Tel. + 93 268 48 89, info@drapart.org, www.drapart.org

Source: Haute Nature

Green Chic - Saving the Earth in Style

Can we live a gorgeous green lifestyle without giving in on the comfort of our luxury consumption habits? There is a boom of new conscious and green lifestyle magazines and advertisements that promise us that the new green is all about luxurious and quality living. They say LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) do not give in with consuming less, they choose for a lifestyle of conscious hedonism. But how is that possible?

Trendy green lifestyle
After a wave of articles on the issue of trendy green lifestyle, lately more and more guides on green living are being published. I read two books for chic women, women who care about their style but are also concerned about our planet. Both books are stuffed with tips on how to live green in a stylish, enjoyable way.

Green Chic
Green Chic, Saving the Earth in Style is a book by Christie Matheson, who helps her readers changing their lifestyle towards a more energy saving and conscious one, while staying chic. A lot of attention goes to tips that help reduce CO2 emissions.

Green is the New Black
Green is the New Black, how to change the world with style, by Tamsin Blanchard, is focussed on style issues such as being a green fashionista, designing your own clothes, green weddings and holidays.

Showering less
In first instance I fell for the design of Green is the New Black, but even with style handbooks it's not all about the looks! Actually Green Chic is a better practical guide and goes a bit further in green lifestyle tips. While the first hangs a lot on style details and is written for women who can't resist their consumerist addictions, Green Chic dares to get her chic readers into showering less or changing their fashion habits completely. Green Chic contains a lot of open doors, such as "eat more local, organic whole foods" but also some serious background information on the sustainability of different textiles.

Green fashionista
I liked Green Chic because it went into changing your lifestyle towards more quality. The best part is the advice on changing your wardrobe. She advices you to "edit" your whole wardrobe until you only have clothes that you really, really love wearing. And to get rid of everything else. An interesting starting point of becoming a green fashionista...

Less is more
To come back to the dilemma weather luxurious green consume is possible, I believe the green chic lifestyle should not just be about endless luxury consumption. Green products often carry a special quality that cheap or conventional products don't have. But above all green living is about enjoying quality above quantity. In supermarkets you are tricked into all kinds of psychological discounts, and in the end you always buy more things than you need. Since I exchanged supermarkets for shopping at local organic stores and the organic week market, I buy much less and enjoy much more of the products I consume. It is a luxurious lifestyle just buying organic food, but it does not costs me more than my former consume habits. Really! So the best way to enjoy a green chic lifestyle is to give in on the quantity and go for the quality. Less is more.

There is also two new books on ethical fashion with alike titles: Eco Chic, The savvy shoppers guide to ethical fashion, by Mathilda Lee; and the almost released Eco-Chic, The fashion paradox, by Sandy Black.

Climate change: the ice is melting faster than ever

New research analyses show that world wide Gletsjers are loosing ice faster and faster. The speed in hwich the ice melts is still going up. As gletsjers are seen as one the best indicators for the situation of our climate, this is another emergency call from our planet.

Most ice is lost in Alaska and Patagonia. In Europe the Alps are loosing enormously, which is somehow compensated with growing ice in Scandinavia.

Source: NRC

Switching off the light on global scale: join Earth Hour on March 29, 2008

It's night and the sky is... orange....green...or pink. In a large part of the world real darkness is unknown, caused by electric light pollution from cities, street lamps and green houses. Researches shows that unlighted highways are as safe as lighted, and offices and green houses can also function without lamps at night. There is more and more awareness for the topic, and some great initiatives to turn of the light.

During Earth Hour on Saturday, March 29 at 8 pm, cities across the globe will be powering off electric light for one hour. Lights and unnecessary electrical items will be turned off from San Francisco to Bangkok. 24 cities, thousands of businesses and millions of people are expected to participate.

And if we can organize this successful for an hour a year, why not do it a bit more often?

Romantic nights stop global warming
The event takes place from 8 pm-9 pm local time, regardless of the location. There is no reason for not joining. The only thing that could happen to you is paying a bit less on your energy bill. A good opportunity for romantic candle light dinner and a moment where people on global scale will be aware of the energy they use. With all the attention for climate change, this event has a huge potential.

sources: Grist Magazine, Triplepundit, Earthhour.org

Virtual activism: plant a tree in facebook or second life

It is a lot of tree planting actions these days, and I am wondering where all these forests are growing. Cleaning up our emissions, or just filling up the empty spaces of cut down Amazon forests?

The latest sprout on the tree planting hype is The Virtual Forest campaign by UNION FENOSA. The idea is simple, you plant a virtual tree in the virtual community Second Life, and for every second participant they plant a tree in reality.

But behind this campaign seems to be an energy company. Other virtual forests I recently read about were from a bank, the so called Facebook Forest Group where you plant a tree with every fifty new members, and the German online community Utopia, planting a tree for every new member.

I am really starting to wonder if all those planted trees are making a difference or just green wash our 'green sins'? Are we planting faster than we cut? Is there any serious research on this jet?

through: ecostreet

Over 20 Supermodels Support the EJF Organic Cotton Campaign

More than 20 top models, including Irina Lazareanu, Coco Rocha, Catherine McNeil, Caroline Trentini, Siri Tollerød and Behati Prinsloo, have now been photographed in EJF’s ‘Pick Your Cotton Carefully’ campaign t-shirts. Most of the pictures were are taken by fashion photographer Eric Guillemain. The successful campaign by the Environmental Justice Foundation for cleaner cotton production has been gaining attention worldwide.

The organic cotton t-shirts are designed around the theme of “childhood, lost innocence and hope” to represent more than a million children around the world forced to labour in cotton production.

The shirts are for sale and support the EJF cotton campaign www.ejfoundation.org/shop

Rainforests disappear faster thanks to biofuel

In an effort to make our cars go greener, our EU governments decided to push the production of biofuel (also known as biogas or biodiesel, with an immediate result: rainforests are disappearing faster. After environmental organizations alarmed, the EU promised to forbid to cut down rain forests for the production of biofuel. But generally, the high demand of resources makes it more attractive than ever before to cut down these trees and plant soy for oil or hamburgers.

All in all the question rises: can we save our planet just with the 'right' consumption? Or can we only by a grand, political shift, a green revolution? At least, just consuming the right, green sounding products won't help. On the other hand, for us as consumers it is the only way to change the way things are produced, and the effects are larger than one might think.

Green revolution
The effect of a high demand for eco-products is the mainstreaming of good business. And in the side stream, this development is part of a bigger movement, a movement of global consciousness. I believe we are at a paradigm shift of which the effects are still to come. We have the possibility of a historic moment. We can. By making a choice in what we consume, and why. And by demanding high results from our political representatives. It's time for some revolution, and we might be just in the middle of it.

Saving rainforests is so...retro
Yes, we better be in a hurry to safe some rainforests (again). Some time ago I had a conversation: where is the safe the rainforest thing? Why is it not hot? An excellent topic to get high up on the agenda again. Especially because it is connected so narrowly to climate change. Because it doesn't make sense to plant trees as long as we cut them down faster. Saving Rainforests is so... retro. But what about a nice recycled Save the Rainforest shirt in best New Rave style cut?

Resources:
EcoWorldly , GreenPeace , WikiPedia

Picture by Lova Palmer