Why are biofuels carbon neutral? They arent.

It's hard to believe that burning biomass is considered carbon neutral.

But under the current international rules for GHG emissions accounting, burning of biomass (plants, trees, etc) does not add to atmospheric carbon.* Wait, what? Burning anything in the presence of oxygen releases carbon dioxide. If an acre of trees is cut down and burned, the stored carbon is released into the atmosphere. Period. (The exception to this is anaerobic combustion, to make biochar, which I will write about later). Under these current accounting methods for GHG emissions, there seems to be NO requirement that the burned biomass should be replaced at all, let alone be replaced at the same rate that it's burned.

That's why power plants in the UK are shipping trees from the Congo and Amazon to be burned for electricity -- because it's considered "carbon neutral." So England gets a good carbon reduction report card because they're burning the most valuable forests in the world? No way! Burning trees is not carbon neutral; there's an overall net carbon emission. What gives?

The current emissions accounting assumes that trees that get cut down and burned are replaced with other trees that will get cut down and burned, thus making a nice closed-loop carbon system. But there are three problems with this assumption. The biggest problem: if you don't REQUIRE the trees to be replaced, you CANNOT assume that they will be replaced, and you can't assume that a third party will replace the trees. Just because a resource is renewable doesn't mean it renews itself at the same rate you use it.

Beyond making sure that the trees are replaced with saplings, there is another issue about carbon emissions. From the moment that the trees are cut down, we are missing out on carbon sequestration that those trees would have been doing if they were left alone. (In econ-speak this is called opportunity cost). Lastly, if additional energy is used to transport & process the trees being burned as fuel, the additional transportation emissions should count towards the total carbon impact of those burning branches.

I propose instead that burning biomass should be considered a carbon emission (since it is, duh). If replacement biomass is planted and grown at the same rate as the biomass is burned, then the company should get credit for doing so. Only then would the emissions be roughly considered "carbon neutral." Then companies who actually ensure that they replace what they use are rewarded for their efforts. Burning wood does release carbon and those emissions should count as an emission until the "replacement" trees have sequestered the same amount of carbon that the burned trees released.

Recent articles on trees, forests, carbon & energy production:
Tree Harvester Offers to Save Indonesian Rainforest, NYT, Norimitsu Onishi, 29 Nov 2009
Trees: Out of the Forest and Into the Oven, IPS, Stephen Leahy, 24 Sept 2009
Wood-Fired Powerplants are No Environmental Cure-all Boston Globe Editorial, 29 Nov 2009

*Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reference Manual: Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Vol. 3, Pg. 6.28, (Paris France 1997)

Eddie Would Go

The ocean offered, Mr. Downing decided, and the Eddie was ON. The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big wave surfing invitational was held on Dec 8, 2009. The illusive and epic event was last held in 2004 when Bruce Irons rode from the break to the beach & walked away with a win. This year, it was a beautiful surf competition in every way. Congratulations to Dave Long and the other participants on an amazing and intense day of surfing in memory of Eddie Aikau. It was exciting and awe inspiring to watch (live stream, yes!) Kelly Slater, The Brothers Irons, Clyde Aikau, Keone Downing, Ramon Navarro, Sunny Garcia, and more make some of the world's heaviest waves look like butter. Mahalo nui loa and much respect to the Aikau family for keeping the mana of Eddie's memory alive.


I only wish I had been there to get some pictures!

picture via Michael Goulding/AP at http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/12/08/us/1209SURF_9.html

Copenhagen Flurry

Lots of coverage of the COP15 opener today (technically yesterday) in Copenhagen.

Some highlights:

• "The press" features an editorial around the world in 56 newspapers that clearly and simply urges action on climate change.
• COP15 has a Facebook page, a Twitter Page & YouTube channel. Twitter is bursting with positive #cop15 tweets.
• The opening video of a little girl having nightmares of climate change? What was that? Boo. Next time get Olgivy to make something for you. Or any of the videos I posted below. Or this one.
• Greenpeace banner with 50,000 US signatures asking Obama to lead, cool, but I wonder what they do with all of those banners they make... Messenger bags?
• EPA endangerment finding, woo hoo!

Sheesh.

Power of Music to Inspire

Some great inspiration in honor of this week's World Aids Day

One at a Time
music video by Travis McCoy

Videos: Art Speaks Truth to Power

The power of videos on the internet is an amazing way to engage people on climate change. Some great recent ones:

Go to Copenhagen
HuffPost wants YOU to be their Citizen Ambassador!

From "Cope" to "Hope"
by Olgivy

Hmmm.. well, I can't find this on YouTube anymore...

What Would Our Kids Do?
from Moms Against Climate Change

100% Renewable Energy. Right Now.

Scientific American article says that renewables are ready and willing to power the planet.

Go to Article

Click image below for the interactive version.

Growing food in cities: Permaculture

There are many types of urban agriculture -- from a downtown farmer's market selling produce grown (close-ish) outside the city, community vegetable gardens, organic, not organic, commercial hydroponics, home gardens to sell, to give away, or eat produce, container gardening, rooftop gardens, green roofs, etc.

Is urban agriculture a good thing? I say yes, but not all urban ag is created equal. On the downside would be design students who think you can grow hydroponic blueberries in thirty-story farm skyscrapers. It’s not as simple as ordering a blueberry bush and having it appear. If you've ever tried to grow blueberries (which grow on a woody bush) you'd understand that plants can be temperamental about where they want to grow, what conditions they need, and whether your efforts will quite literally bear fruit. So while I’m excited about pushing the limits of traditional agriculture, my excitement is tempered by realism: plants are experts at growing, provided that they’re in the right environment. Towards that end, urban ag should be looking for ways to let plants do what they do naturally: grow.

“Traditional” industrial agriculture takes advantage of economies of scale to produce large areas of food at a very low cost per unit. It also uses a great deal of fossil fuel energy, pesticides, and fertilizers which create costs to the environment that eventually catch up with us and someone (taxpayers) ends up paying for later (for example, paying to clean up a polluted stream, getting sick from contaminated shellfish because of high coliform counts, erosion of roads from poor soil practices, climate change, etc). Smaller gardens, often seen in cities where space is a premium, have really high yields per area of space, but require more human involvement in the form of time. You can't just plant a blueberry bush on your porch and come back three months later expecting a blueberry harvest. Urban ag requires more attention per plant than industrial ag plants get, but the benefit is high yield in low space and low embedded energy (tractor fuel, transport, etc). Read: Ch 2 of Bill McKibben's Deep Economy for more facts and figures about this.

Enter permaculture, a multi-crop production process that mimics natural ecosystems to produce high yield food. The idea is that the system of agriculture works better as a living system, and not as an assembly line, and this system should be a long-term investment (“perma” = permanent) in the productivity and quality of the land and soil. Permaculture methods have brought plants to the desert and improved soil quality in agricultural lands around the world (see CNN video below), but can permaculture work for urban environments, which are not really, well, natural at all? If you’re planning to grow things in the ground, such as in a community garden or abandoned lot, urban permaculture could have some great benefits, but for city dwellers like me with container gardens, other methods seem to be more practical, so I’m curious to learn more.

READ:

Redesign the city: a look at urban permaculture by Liz Neves is a solid, recent article. If you read more articles, you'll find that much of what's available online is based off of the guys who started this in the 70's, and it could use an image update to get some mainstream traction in this century.

WATCH:

The CNN International video does a pretty good job of making it seem cool:


In a more thorough discussion, I would include the applicability of (biochar + urban ag + permaculture) = better small-scale, high-yield food production.

From Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson in NYT on March 6, 2009:

"Any restorations will require, above all else, a substantial increase in the acreages of perennial plants. The most immediately practicable way of doing this is to go back to crop rotations that include hay, pasture and grazing animals.

But a more radical response is necessary if we are to keep eating and preserve our land at the same time. In fact, research in Canada, Australia, China and the United States over the last 30 years suggests that perennialization of the major grain crops like wheat, rice, sorghum and sunflowers can be developed in the foreseeable future. By increasing the use of mixtures of grain-bearing perennials, we can better protect the soil and substantially reduce greenhouse gases, fossil-fuel use and toxic pollution."

Drew Dellinger: Planetize the Movement

Great use of imagery, sound, and poetry.

Add some "Hope" to Copenhagen

What gives you hope?

image from hopenhagen.org

What a great website! Go here to learn about the Copenhagen Climate Talks and make your support known as a global citizen. The site features an interactive world map with a quote about hope from each person (you!) who signs the UN Climate Petition. The website is a perfect example of using the visual power of advertising to talk about addressing climate change in positive terms.

My post was inspired by this article: Convince public on climate to save planet: experts
And how do you convince the public? Well, the DOE says it has to be fun, easy, personal, local and interactive.

Home Energy Use App by Google

Hey look - Google made a sweet an app to monitor home energy use, and it's coming soon to a neighborhood near you! The Google PowerMeter will give you real-time data about your home's energy use -- so you can finally "see" how much electricity you're using and when. And it has the sleek, colorful grandma-friendly interface of Google, horray! I'm really excited about this, and waiting anxiously for them to roll this out in New England -- they're currently testing it in the UK.

image from google.org/powermeter

I'm still not convinced that complete information is actually going to lower my home energy use, even though I'm excited about all of the colorful graphs. My Discover card, for example, has a great online "spend analyzer" that I check out all of the time - it's colorful and interactive, and it makes me more aware of what I purchase, but I'd be hard pressed to say that it helps me to curb spending.

For the PowerMeter app, it would be really valuable to have a !! goal setting tool !! built in (something my credit card obviously does not have). That way you can set a goal, say using 10% less energy this year than last, and the PowerMeter can send you reminders of when your energy use is off track. (Or a cookie when you're doing a good job?) The economist in me loves easy access to more complete information, but the lazy bum in me realizes that sometimes coaching is more important than knowledge when it comes to remembering to change my habits.


So, yes, Google is taking over my life (and probably yours). But they just make it so darn convenient...and good looking.

Coal Plants -- Water Pollution with No Fines?

(Warning: this is a rant.)

AAAAAHHH! Quit polluting my beautiful state for FREE! Ack!

Power plants make HUNDREDS of EPA pollution violations and pay NO FINES? What?? I'm lucky if I can talk my way out of one speeding ticket, but 392 of them, you must be joking. See the NYT map and data here.

I try to focus on positive solutions for climate change on this blog, but today's New York Times article on water pollution from coal-fired power plants fired up the economist in me. Effluent (regulated water discharge) violations from coal-fired power plants numbered between 59 and 392 violations for the ten top violators between 2004 and 2007. Gross, but okay, it happens, people & companies mess up sometimes. (There's the Three Mile Island near-miss, the TVA fly ash boo boo, maybe the whole prime-mortgage debacle...) But none of these coal plants that are top repeat violators had to pay anything for messing up. No fines?? None? Not even a little "oops, sorry my drunk college son keeps puking on your front steps, we're sending him over to clean it up and mow your yard." No three strikes you're out? Not even a symbolic 25 cents in the swear-jar?

It is not reasonable for plants that break federal regulations to pay the same amount as the plants that play by the rules. How, HOW, can a company be considered an advantage for the economy if 1) it dumps more pollution into my community than it pays for, 2) doesn't clean it up, 3) and doesn't pay for someone else to clean it up? If one of those three things is happening, the company is either not making enough profit, or is poorly managed. If you're not making enough profit, or you're too poorly managed to play by the rules (ie. regulations), GET OUT OF THE GAME! Go invest your capital in something that is legal. There are rules to capitalism and democracy (this is not anarchy kids), and if you're not willing to play by those rules, then you're not a capitalist, you're just stealing.

The New York Times downloaded this data in May 2009 — E.P.A. records may reflect updates since that date. The E.P.A. acknowledges known problems with its database. Only facilities with active permits are shown; those that have closed or had permits terminated prior to May 5, 2009 are not included. Additional explanations and supplementary data.

Climate Week NYC

This Week:
Dozens of events about climate change
[Sept 20 - 26]



The Climate Group is partnering with some serious heavy hitters to bring the world's attention to addressing climate change.

There are piles of presentations, discussions, films, and events happening all over the city.

Some interesting events open to the public:

Monday 9.21: Jobs Justice Climate
New York Society for Ethical Culture
Starting at 6:00 pm, free, info and tickets here.

Tuesday & Wednesday 9.22-9.23: Urban Green Expo
Wednesday 9.23: Responding to Climate Change
Mercy Corps Action Center
7:00 pm Panel discussion

Thursday 9.24: Solar in the Developing World
6:00 pm Panel Discussion

Friday 9.25: Brita Climate Ride
Kickoff Event
9.26 - 9.30 Ride from NYC - DC
Go!

We are Van Jones

I know this is old news by now, but to follow up on the Van Jones story, I just want to reiterate how disappointed I am to see the way things turned out.

I watched the Fox show that publicly tarred and feathered Mr. Jones. It was gross. I'm all for public debate and can appreciate opinions that Van Jones was not the right man for the job, or that his public statements, or professional demeanor were not ideal, although I personally don't agree with those opinions. I attended the speech at the Power Shift conference and have met many of the people who worked in the community-based organization (Green for All) he directed at the time. I didn't find any of them to be particularly radical, but rather a group of youth from the wrong side of the tracks who were working their hardest for something they are passionate about: a clean and safe future for themselves and their families. And they are pursuing that goal by demanding that the advantages of the green economy should be seen by all of us -- that this is a time of innovation where everyone should have an equal shot to take part, and that your community can be (em)powered, both financially and emotionally when they take part in a solution against climate change.

I have seen little evidence that Mr. Jones neglected any of the duties of his job, that he was bad at his job, or that there was any professional reason. What I saw on that t.v. show, however, was a clownish parade of disjointed accusations based around a theme of fear that didn't gel into a real problem. When I see such illogical behavior, I wonder if there is another reason for spending so much air time tearing down someone who seems to be doing just fine at his job. Maybe because he's doing more than just fine at his job. Maybe he's the only public figure who was effectively inspiring young people to take political action on climate change. Maybe he's the guy who's challenging the climate status quo by making climate a priority for everyone, of all races, genders, incomes, ages, and educational backgrounds. Maybe because he's the most well-known, non-elected champion of the pending energy bill.

Equality and justice. Those are two pretty basic pillars of the country we live in. (I'd personally throw in a pinch of compassion, but I didn't make the rules). Equality and justice are what Van Jones talked about at the Power Shift conference this March. It was an well-practiced and well-delivered speech, that inspired me to work for a balanced climate and a decent future, at a time when it seems like most national leaders seem to chose inaction as the preferable option. I know that no one seemed to know who Van Jones was until a week ago, but he was one of the leading voices on making "green" accessible to everyone, not just to those who could afford it, and that message remains very important to me. The climate challenge is a team sport, and everyone needs to be included in the solution if we're going to win the game.

Thousands of young people attended this conference because we see the reality of what fossil fuel emissions is doing to the world, and we have a commitment to living in a different future than the one we're headed towards. We have our full mental faculties, we work hard and study hard, we're regular people, we shop, eat, drive cars, ride bikes, take walks, live in cities and rural areas, and we CARE. We observe different faiths, we embody the melting pot that America was designed to be, we believe that the U.S. can be a leader to combat climate change, and we believe that we ALL deserve as stable of a planet as we can get. So when I see a person, a business, or an organization who is really walking the walk, who is coming up with viable economic alternatives for our cities, communities, and buisnesses, who is looking towards the future of our country, and is not afraid, but who is creative, open-minded, thoughtful, and concrete about the future, I get excited.

Right now, my excitement has fizzled into frustration, disappointment, and anger. But my hope is still here. My hope is that from the rubble of this chaos within an apparently small group of Americans concerned about the climate, more young leaders of good character will keep stepping up to the plate to speak the truth of how important this issue is for each of us. I hope we see Van Jones continue his work with the same level of efficacy and inspiration in a new venue. I hope we each continue to work to inspire our communities to make energy changes at the individual and group level -- to change when and why we drive, to lower our electricity use, to make investments in green and fair businesses, to plant vegetables for ourselves and our friends, and to envision our communities for a functional future. Because in some ways we are Van Jones. If he succeeds, we succeed. But even better, if we succeed, so does he, and so does everyone who helped to make a green economy, and a clean energy future a reality for our country.

If you want to read a better cited and informed article, I also suggest reading "Thomas Paine would have loved Van Jones" by Kelpie Wilson.

There's No Such Thing as Green Fashion

It's been bugging me for a while that the movement towards being "green" has manifested itself in the fashion industry. The bottom line to climate action is that we need to be a world of less "stuff." As much as I like the aesthetics of fashion, it breeds an irrational desire for a particular brand of object. So all of these "eco" blogs about green designer jeans & organic cotton are starting to get to me. We aren't experiencing climate change because we spray pesticides on cotton crops.

Lika Volkova is an interesting clothing designer because she's decided to cut out as much as possible of the supply chain between the designer and the wearer. I don't sew my own clothes because it's hard. But Volkova begins with the assumption that I, as the sewing novice, and she as the clever design whiz, can make designer clothes happen at home, in a wild, world changing clothing collaboration.

Pretty cool.

Green Your Block: National Day of Service

September 11, 2009
United We Serve, National Day of Service


Create an event in your neighborhood
or
Find an Event Near You

Green for All & the Hip Hop Caucus have joined up for a national service day to bring our communities & residents into the clean energy economy. The coalition behind this includes all the movers and shakers of the climate action movement. This nation-wide day of action focuses on 4 project areas:

• Education and awareness
• Legislative advocacy
• Youth activism
• Private-sector development

photo from greentheblock.net

Pittsburgh: It's what's GUD

Got to spend a week at home in Pittsburgh last week, and green is the name of the game. Three examples of what's going on in the biggest city in Appalachia.

GUD (Green Urban Development)
Community Projects in Pittsburgh

GET:Larimer: Green Ecological Tourism
Why this group is GUD: Development group of local small business owners looking to make Larimer the go-to green showcase for Pittsburgh. Looking to use an inclusive community empowerment model, but they are still in the process of collecting ideas & partner organizations. They are a project of U.S.E.D. Urban Solutions for Ecological Development.

Lawrenceville: an area gaining in popularity and within an easy bike commute to downtown Pittsburgh. In the last 5-10 years, this middle-class neighborhood has developed a local buzz around it's ability to attract artists & restaurants and re-populate a declining urban area.
They've even posted a litany of YouTube testimonials to tell you why it's a great local place to live.

Braddock: see my earlier post about a mayor working to bring life, art, and functionality to an urban town Pittsburgh.

Other resources:
Walls are Bad - Pittsburgh's City Guide to the Outdoors
Sustainable Community Development Network

Cool Brazilian Roofs

(this video is in Portuguese)

Show from Andre Trigueiro's "Cidades e Solucoes" about three climate-friendly roofing technologies being used in Brazil. Summarized below.

1) Ecotelhado -- Green roofs in Niteroi, (the Brooklyn of Rio de Janeiro), they use modular synthetic tiles & a multi-layer system to absorb rainwater & short scrubby plants that don't need a lot of water in the first place. The plants can be used on flat or pitched roofs, or as vertical walls. The tiles insulate the building (ie. lowering interior temperatures), are low maintenance & don't grow into the building structure. Typical green roof technology.

2) Green Building Council Brasil -- running a "campaign" to paint residential roofs white. (Better than the idea on Good to paint highways white, um, roads are dirty), This lowers the temperature inside the house & reflects heat, lowering the city "heat island" effect. They presented in D.C. and aparently the Whitehouse is amenable to the concept. This is an inexpensive, simple solution, good for cities, and particularly for the tile roofs commonly found in Brazil. Idea: Let's use a whitewash so it sticks to the clay instead of Sherman Williams.

3) A roof made from juice boxes? (my favorite) replace corregated tin roofs with a composite material made from recycled milk/juice boxes. This is so cool! In Brazil, milk comes in a box similar to the juice boxes we use in the US. It's a plastic/cardboard laminate that we don't recycle here because it's a pain to separate into its individual parts. In Niteroi, 17 companies shred the stuff & turn it into a strong material that you can use for cheap roofing. Benefits: it comes from a waste material, doesn't conduct heat like tin roofing does, so the house/factory/etc. stays cooler. Doubt: Not very flame retardant. Idea: I wonder if you could spray paint the panels white.

NOAA Chief on Oceans and Global Warming

Yale Environment 360 interviews the head of NOAA (you know, the weather advisory & ocean guys) about returning scientific research and evidence to the forefront of the organization. Jane Lubchenco is (gasp) a real live scientist who believes that the organization's responsiblity is rigorous data collection and analysis, and then the translation of those results for the rest of us. Sweet. No more multivariate statistical regressions for me!

read interview here

Dancing for the Climate: Powershift Australia

Using dance to engage the public & get fun, positive attention for climate change. The video takes a little while to get going, but it's a great action. Powershift is a youth conference to create leadership around clean energy and green jobs. I attended the US version in March '09 held in DC.

Urban Gardening: New York

Hhere's a look at some urban gardening that's going on around the US.


NYT featured a nice article about rooftop gardens with fun photos. --->
Image via Andrew Wilson, NYT





New York Sun Works has an impressive cadre of worker bees bringing fresh food to the rooftops, office buildings, and yes rivers of New York. In 2007 they launched a carbon-neutral river barge/greenhouse that grows veggies and hosts visitors to learn about hydroponic horticulture and alternative fuels. Sun Works also has interests in a myriad of projects related to vertical greenhouses & sustainable engineering. Their technology focuses on hydroponics, a growing method I'm not crazy about when it comes to "big picture" food production. On the other hand, the diversification of methods, and the experimentation is hugely important -- and it looks like they're working in a thorough and thoughtful manner. They have a cool lookin' brochure here.

Although, if we're counting looks, I'd say that this Uros community did a better job on Lake Titicaca, and they didn't even need solar panels...

Nominate Someone! Boston Youth Leadership Award

Boston seeks to nominate youth leaders for multi-cultural award. Read below for quoted text:

“We Are Boston”
Youth Leadership Awards:

"Do you know a New Bostonian resident or an individual, under 21 years old, whose parents are immigrants, who deserves a special recognition? The Office of New Bostonians is looking for a young person who has the perseverance, courage and idealism of a New Bostonian. The nominee must have made significant contributions to empower his/her community, demonstrated cultural pride or promoted cross-cultural understanding/collaboration and be an inspiration to his or her peers."

Nomination Form Here
Nomination Deadline: June 30 (extended)

Why is this important? This is an incentive from the City of Boston to encourage youth from diverse family backgrounds to take an active role in re-imagining and creating the community of their hopes and dreams. It asserts that Boston's success is tied to the active participation of all residents, and that youth from different cultural backgrounds have something special to bring to the table when it comes to community engagement. It creates a positive reward for the recipient, but more importantly, it sends a message to the recipient's peers about what their larger community/city expects and rewards. This is a direct request from the City that respects and recognizes the individual's unique identity and background as a desired component of community development.

Send your nominations!

Election in Iran

This is a video of an election protest in Iran from June 17, after the June 13 election. Most of the US media images of the election have shown rioting and shouting, but this one is silent. It's amazing to see such an enormous group of humanity standing silently for something bigger than themselves. You can see the progression of protests in a collection of first-person videos. I am humbled by the passion and perseverance.

Bogota: Paths for Sustainability

PBS did a series in 2007 called E2 Design (I don't have TV, so my mom just sent me the link almost two years later...) about design solutions for sustainability. One of their shows was about Bogota and the things that a developing, cash-strapped, recently violent city is doing to be a model for sustainability. This story also reminds us of the power of education: The city's mayor took the sustainability discussion he learned from the U.S. and combined it with values from his community.

You can watch the video online.

Urban Gardening: Chicago

Small Steps: Walkable Times Square

See:
photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times

Read: Times Square Closes To Traffic (NYT Article)

Learn: NYCDOT's Strategic Transportation Plan

Liveable Streets Contest Winners

image from www.good.is

GOOD's contest to get re-visioned plans for liveable streets has announced the winners. Great visual explanations that are easy to understand. Click the picture to go to their site.

Winner of World Bank Climate Change Documentary

Winner of the World Bank Micro-Documentary Contest
Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Flood Children of Holdibari


Bangladeshi kids make an educational group to teach their community about how to stay safe during flooding.

Get Rich Quick: Hip Hop Gasping

My heart tells me, that this is not what graf was supposed to become:

image from Carmichael Gallery on Flickr
Uhhhh. An "urban art" show titled "Get Rich Quick"? Gross. Come on artists, what about something more "hip hop" themed like "Get Rich or Starve Tryin." Or does 50 Cent have copyright on that? What's killing me is that I really used to like you guys. You all were my last little hope that winning at life doesn't mean materialism, but you get a show in a beautiful gallery and this is what they name it? Swoon -- when you pieced those boats together with your friends, was it really to have your name joined with Shepard Fairey? Ick. Your work is BEAUTIFUL! And I thought those projects meant something about having a community. KAWS, maybe you could get a collaboration going with Damien Hirst. When you were cooking wheatpaste in your kitchen, was it really with dreams of a big house in the suburbs with expensive leather sofas? And Banksy, come on! What about all of that the social commentary? Was that really all about making money? Really?

YES! artists should get paid for their work. I've seen my mom lugging supplies and plywood enough to know that you have to have your heart and soul and body in it to stay in the game. But the title of the show is just repulsive considering what street art used to be at its inception, and what I thought it was all about. I thought it was about adding beauty, commentary, and creativity to public spaces that everyone else had thrown away. I thought it was about engaging with the community and grabbing people out of their haze and back into their environment. There's also a solo show at the same time by Brazilian artist Thais Beltrame coincidentally entitled "When all the stars are gone." Interesting.

What's making me bite my tounge a little is that this gallery shows gobs and gobs of ridiculously talented visual artists. So my qualm is not with the gallery, it's with the "artists" who are going to add a show called "Get Rich Quick" to their credentials. Bleh.

Maybe I just don't understand the deeper artistic meaning that the title is trying to bring to contemporary art. Maybe I'm not appreciating the irony (which, itself would be ironically ironic??). Or maybe, this what the Splasher (remember him/her?) was trying to make a statement about -- if you're going to let street art be synonymous with materialism, instead of opposed to it, all you're posting around the neighborhood are unpaid advertisements for materialism, not public art.

Public Karaoke in London

Thousands of people sing karaoke together in London.

VIDEO HERE

Here's a fun, free time for a lot of city dwellers of all ages to hang out together and participate in something that makes them smile. Interactive engagement, especially in fun, creative things that everyone can do is a great way to get people to enjoy living in their city. Nice.

It's a bit on the commercial side -- since the hosting telecommunications company will use the video footage to make commercials & promotions, but I'll take it.

Urban Gardening: My Rooftop Garden

I planted seeds! Soon they will make food (in theory)! They will continue to get glamor shots on my flickr account. So far I've started lettuce, zuchini, green beans, cilantro, and morning glories from seed. It looks like the daisies and poppies are not interested in sprouting. It also looks like I didn't spell daisies right. Oops. The plan is to buy tomatoes, basil, and some flowers, which should yield a nice summertime mix of fresh food from my back "yard," er, deck.

Goal: Play in dirt, be responsible about watering, grow my own food in containers, eat fresh, free veggies!

[Bonus points if my roommates decide to grow food] :)

Avaaz's Elixir for Exxon Ad Propoganda

I was in an airport with my sister recently (yep, I fly 3 or 4 times a year) and saw a full hallway of these Exxon ads about climate change. Made by Euro RSCG, but not featured online. They were these beautifully laid out equations with declarations that climate change will be solved by technology, so leave the problem-solving up to our scientists who understand these elegant equations & reactions (my personal favorite being pV=nRT), and just keep going about your business as usual, everything will be fine, Exxon has it under control. While I generally think of oil companies as delusionally market driven and not necessarily outright slimy, the propoganda factor was so obvious in these ads that they were vaguely funny. And perhaps all the more ironic because it was just last year that the Rockefellers pressured Exxon to stop funding for climate change denial groups. Apparently my sister and I weren't the only ones grossed out by these ads. Avaaz, an organization encouraging social action on a variety of global issues, made a spoof ad (perhaps not far from the original) to call Exxon out on its blatant ridiculousness:

See Avaaz's counter commercial here

Hometown Represent! Braddock Grows Green

The first-term mayor of Braddock, PA is showing where the rubber meets the, uh, bike path.

See a video clip here.

Photo by Lake Fong, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

What I like about this present-day story is that the work really gives voice and thought to a community identity, something that has been absent from community development since Robert Moses (ick) told us what city living was supposed to look like. What we're seeing is the real and concrete development of a new mode of urban living, and the energy around Braddock has realized the theories of new urbanism into:

• An urban garden that sells produce to the community
• Low-cost housing for artists
• Local engagement in the arts
• Community events and community engagement for residents, providing a sense of place for people of all ages and backgrounds
• Reclamation of existing architecture (instead of those weird suburban condo things)
• Dense, mixed-use development
• A loud call for green job development & clean energy businesses to set up shop

What I encourage for long-term success is that the mayor, John Fetterman, bring other leaders and "figure heads," especially youth from the community, along with him so that he's not the only one talking, and so there are several long-term faces associated with the neighborhood who are allowed to go out and be strong and be vocal to take the message to the streets. I mean, bike paths. This makes the community stronger and avoids the fiefdom complex that so often pervades Pittsburgh neighborhood politics. I would also encourage a thorough long-term plan of how to empower the current residents to take advantage of the economic change that will come to their community when housing prices begin to rise.

If we're going to make cities livable, that has to mean for everyone, and this model brings together a lot of the ideas. There are a lot of people rooting for these models to work. And of course it's nice to see it happening in my hometown.

Zaproot - More Green News

Zaproot produces short, quirky video segments about the daily news in the world of green.


This particular reporter, Jessica Williamson, speaks English, although quite fast & with one of those fun non-American accents (she's from New Zealand).

Brazilian Green Reporter Andre Trigueiro

Eco design in Rio? Check. World Social Forum in Belem? Yep.

Andre Trigueiro is the best reporter in Brazil covering all things green. He has a TV show available online, "Cidades e Solucoes" (Cities and Solutions) about "cool" things that Brazilian cities are doing related to climate change and the environment.

His weekly(?) radio show is the only podcast I download onto my computer.

Most, maybe all, of his work and programs are in Portuguese, but they're possibly the most thorough and consistent reporting on climate and "green" related news that I've heard in any language, so it's worth checking out.

More than just a reiteration of the important ideas about climate change that are discussed internationally, and more than a transfer of information from the US or UK climate camp, the programs really discuss and discover areas where Brazil is on the cutting edge, or where businesses and organizations are on the cutting edge for their communities. The programs focus on solutions, and things that are working. I think that this really encourages viewers to be motivated and convinced that this is the direction that things are moving in Brazil. The traditional focus on what's wrong and what isn't working leaves out the chance to talk about solutions, forward movement, and innovation. As a viewer, I feel enganged and interested in "what's new" and want to look for similar activities in my neighborhood (albeit thousands of miles away). And it makes me want to watch the next one! (Yes, I'm a nerd, I know...)

I learned Portuguese partially by listening to these shows and radio broadcasts because they were about topics interesting to me.

Event: Babson Energy Expo

Click Image for Info

Event: down:2:earth boston expo

D2E

"An exploration into sustainable living."

April 3-5, 2009

Friday: 5pm–9pm
Saturday: 11am–7pm
Sunday: 11am–5pm

Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA

They don't have as cool of a logo as the Ecological Urbanism event, but down:2:earth looks to be a fun event right in Back Bay.

Update (4/22): Interesting presenters seen there:
Boston Organics -- organic veggies delivered to your home by bike
The Green Roundtable -- providing eductation, policy and technical assistance to promote 'green'
YouthBuild Boston -- giving teens construction & landscaping experience
Foundation for a Green Future -- green roofs & organizers of Boston's GreenFest 2009

Conference: Urban Design & Ecology

Keynote speakers are Rem Koolhaas and Homi Bhabha. SOLD OUT.

Carbon Reduction Rebates

It's like someone decided that today should be Climate Day in Washington! (hey, that's a good idea, why don't we have one of those?)

Today's NPR Planet Money Podcast (<-- listen!) is about a federal middle-class tax break for energy efficiency. Mmm, energy efficiency is so hot! Even the economics-money guys are talking about it.

They also mention that the climate bill doesn't have enough in it that's pro-industry to get anywhere this soon. Sigh. Is it possible to get congressional action on clean energy if it's not pro-industry? I thought congressional action was supposed to be driven by "the people." There's one way we've been able to rustle our congress out of bed to do the work we elected them to do (reminder: we elected them to figure out how to spend our money that we pay in taxes & to keep our nation awesome). In the past, our nation has been able to come together effectively to get federal action on social justice issues, and I think that's what our transition to a clean and green economy really must be if it is to receive congressional support.

Van Jones Moves Up

Van Jones just tapped for senior White House Council position

Wow, this is so ridiculously cool. And I can't believe I just used the phrase "ridiculously cool" in reference to a government appointment. I feel like some of my wonky DC friends (love). Anyway, Van Jones of Green for All, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is now the senior adviser to Nancy Shutley, Chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

This makes my Tuesday morning! It's amazing to feel the wind change direction, if only a little, and to have the sense that what you hope and think should happen is actually about to occur.

Ok, I'm done gushing. He'd better do a great job. He's an excellent speaker, highly motivated, motivational, action-oriented, and he really focuses on the intersection of community, climate, and culture. YES!
(photo taken from http://www.greenforall.org/about-us/staff)

Community + Art: AORTA Projects in New Orleans

AORTA Projects is a site-specific arts group working with post-disaster communities in New Orleans.



See their blog for recent projects (http://aortaprojects.blogspot.com/)

Art + Community: New Orleans

Pro-New Orleans T-Shirts

http://dirtycoast.com/home.php

image from dirtycoast.com and jambase.com

D-Lab Brasil: Commemorative Video

Below is short movie (3 minutes) with pictures and video from the projects the MIT D-lab team did in Canuana, an area in the state of Tocantins, Brasil. (Now made popular as the remote location of this season's "Survivor" -- maybe we should make t-shirts...)

Give Art (back?) to the People!

"Don't tell me what issue you're working on, I want to know what solution you are working towards." ~ Van Jones (paraphrased, I can't find it online)

More information on organizations that are talking about the interaction between art and social issues, especially climate change.

Art in Action -- This is run by a museum called the Natural World Museum. The idea is art as a catalyst for sustainable community, but I don't see any programs that actually increase access to making art (not arts and crafts!!), From the site, NWM sticks to the traditional museum model of exposing visitors to art that other people magically produce. The museum has a blog that sporadically covers issues related to the role of public art in catalyzing social action. It has some interesting initial thoughts; I would like to see what interactive-type projects they might be working on.

United Nations -- So the UN holds an event called Paint for the Planet, and it sounds awesome. But when I looked at the pictures, it looked like a small, closed group in a fancy New York hotel looking at cutesy art made by privileged international kids at private schools. I got a "feels good, does little" feeling. It's a pleasant gesture, but it's not well-targeted for the size of participation that's really necessary to deal with climate change. It's a funny thing about using art to get people to change their thoughts and actions -- you have to actually go make art with people. That doesn't generally happen at fancy hotels or while wearing expensive clothes.

Paired with this was another great idea -- a UN seminar on the way that art can influence the public's ideas about the environment (Through the Art for the Environment Program). One of the sessions had a great title: Art for Change: Vehicles for Environmental Action; it's part of a brand new initiatived called UNite to Combat Climate Change. Great information I'm sure, but again, closed off from any real public participation.

I have this crazy idealist belief that people actually believe in the events and projects they devote their time and money to -- that it's not just lip service, buzz words, fancy dinners, and polite smiles, but I wonder if its possible to get so far from the street that you forget about what really matters to get at this huge mass of humanity (individuals!) who make our lives on this earth. If that's really and truely the target population, you can't get there by inviting the same faces to the solution-making table every time. It would be great to see discussions at this level happening out in public where young, interested people (like me!) can experience them and have productive discussions about successful ideas, projects, and models that they can take to their communities to re-integrate art-making into our culture.

Making Art in my Neighborhood

Pictures from a project I facilitated with teens in my neighborhood community center last summer.

I worked with a great community organizer and leader, Lucious Murchison to put this piece together. I had left my number with the organization to volunteer to teach ultimate frisbee and got a call looking for someone to do an art project about "Peace Art." Ok.

Objective: Create a dialogue with two local populations to address recent violence in the neighborhood: 1) a group of 8 local teens working as summer camp counselors, 2) general youth attending a community block party event at the end of the summer.

Product: An indoor installation to represents the teen's discussions about violence, peace, change, and healthy communities, and that represents the thoughts and voices of the youth in the community.

Method: Workshops to get the teens to brainstorm & prep for the community party activities: Visualizations, lessons about symbolism, metaphors, public art, exercise to photograph the aspects of their community that they are proud of, that they really like. They made individual collages those printed photographs to make a Mission Hill out of all of the "best parts" of their environment.


Themes:
Birds: Peace, community
Cranes: Japanese tradition of wishing for something important
White cranes: Community members who have passed, whose voices and memories still matter
Feathers: Each feather carries a youth's wish for their community
Colors on the large birds: after talking about the positive parts of the neighborhood, we created a graffiti mural about aspects of the community the teens would like to change, paired with agents and symbols of change, the mural was folded into the three birds, representing the ability to identify and transform your circumstances into something unexpected and purposeful.

Street Art: What is going on?

Personal reminder: Turn this section into an organized and constructive reflection about street art/ mainstream marketing/ materialism/ consumerism/ intellectual property & the creative commons/ promotion of public arts and artists/ the role of the artist as an individual and as an ideal etc. as sparked by the Fairey talk I saw last night at the ICA.

Refer to previous blogpost about "selling self worth through handbags."

Include mother's observation: "Art needs more roadies and less groupies." Consider replacing "Art" with "Life." Copyright the quote under mom's name before someone else makes posters with it.

Interesting recent articles:
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2008/12/for-love-of-god-damien-hirst-threatens.html

http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/2007/06/good-artists-borrowgreat-artists-sell.html

D-Lab Brazil 2009

I recently co-lead a trip of undergrad students to Brazil to complete projects in conjunction with Professor Amy Smith's D-Lab course at MIT. This was an amazing experience and I will be slowly adding updates and reflections about the trip and the work we did there.

Until then, all of our project documents are on the D-lab Brazil Wiki

This year, D-lab also sent teams to complete projects in the following countries:

• Brazil
• China
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• Haiti
• India
• Peru
• Sierra Leone
• Tanzania
• Zambia

Social Enterprise & Public Health

A Company Prospers by Saving Poor People's Lives (NYT Article)
[Suggested alternate title: He makes healthy people his business]

Vestergaard-Frandsen
I'm pretty sure this has been around for a while, but they're getting some good press coverage right now.

Image from http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/

Community Arts: Boston's Artists for Humanity

Artists For Humanity is a Boston-based arts program that trains and hires teens to produce mixed media art for local businesses. Nice website and vision for community inclusion. They are also focused on green issues, and sustainability. Creative economic model.

Article about their building's "green features"