Thoreauvians

ll who signed the petition asking Mitt Romney to acknowledge that climate change is real and to put forth a plan for a

Much of the existing water is contaminated by past uraniummining and milling, abandoned mines and other current corporate operations such as Peabody Coal.

New York City. Dedicated to social, cultural and environmental sustainability, Thoreau Centers are named after the American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. As American’s first notable naturalist, Thoreau believed in the importance of democracy and advocated living in harmony with nature. Tides provides an array of services that amplifies the efforts of forward-thinking philanthropists, foundations, activists and organizations to make the world a better place. Tides helps create environmentally and financially sustainable workspaces for nonprofits and communities to come together.

To help the candidates answer a “what will you do about the climate” question, the Presidential Climate Action Project will release the latest of its reports next week on what the President and his Administration can do, with or without Congress.  Among its proposals will be how the next Administration can launch America’s deliberate and historic transition to an advanced energy economy. The bottom line is this: The American people are finding they can’t run and can’t hide from the insidious impacts of global warming. Political candidates should not be allowed to hide from the issue, either.

Noam Chomsky has said, "I’m not a great enthusiast for Obama, as you know, from way back, but at least he’s somewhere in the real world."

He stated that the 2012 candidates are "Off the International Spectrum of Sane Behavior."

are the Native Peoples of the Western Hemi

el environmental policies of the Inca, the managed sub-climax forest successions in the Eastern Woodlands and the Three Sisters method of high-output low-soil-loss agriculture exemplified in the Finger Lakes area by the Haudenosaunee people. The European conquerors and immigrants paid little attention to the land management skills of their victims and it was only in the 1980s that modern science began seriously investigating the Native achievements and their relevance for the wider society.

Since its mass production began in the 1940s, plastic’s wide range of unique properties has propelled it to an essential status in society. Next year, more than 300 million tons will be produced worldwide. The amount of plastic manufactured in the first ten years of this century will approach the total produced in the entire last century, according to the report.

To our great shame, America now has • the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children; • the greatest inequality of incomes; • the lowest social mobility; • the lowest score on the UN’s index of “material well-being of children”; • the worst score on the UN’s Gender Inequality Index; • the highest expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP, yet all this money accompanied by the highest infant mortality rate, the highest prevalence of mental health problems, the highest obesity rate, the highest percentage of people going without health care due to cost, the highest consumption of antidepressants per capita, and the shortest life expectancy at birth; • the next-to-lowest score for student performance in math and middling performance in science and reading; • the highest homicide rate; • the largest prison population in absolute terms and per capita; • the highest carbon dioxide emissions and the highest water consumption per capita; • the lowest score on Yale’s Environmental Performance Index (except for Belgium) and the largest ecological footprint per capita (except for Denmark); • the lowest spending on international development and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of national income (except for Japan and Italy); • the highest military spending both in total and as a percentage of GDP; and • the largest international arms sales.

Crisis And Opportunity In The Environmental Century: Inspiring A Generation To Greatness In The Classroom By Climate Guest Blogger on Aug 30, 2012 at 9:11 am by Stephen Mulkey, via Climate Access As an ecologist, I know that we have precious little time to prepare a generation to respond to the ecological crisis of our planet in peril. As the president of Unity College, I am alarmed by how little progress has been made in focusing higher learning on what is undoubtedly the most important challenge facing humankind. Given the overwhelming scientific evidence of imminent climate disruption, failure to make climate literacy a requisite part of any undergraduate curriculum is inexcusable. Recent papers in the journal Nature show that we have transgressed the boundaries of a safe operating space for humanity with respect to several key environmental factors. Chief among these is climate change, which amplifies the effects of all other critical factors such as freshwater depletion, nitrogen pollution, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, and changes in land use. There is now mounting evidence that sometime during this century we will reach a state shift in the planet’s ability to support us. Climate change will affect every facet of the academy and change the practice of essentially all fields of study.

“Rather than allowing 9/11 to continue to live in infamy and sadness, we want to use the day as a point of strength, unification, and renewal,” says Nick Watson, a 39-year-old former sergeant in the Army Rangers and a founder of Veterans Expeditions (VetEx)

A GREEN NEW DEAL The Green New Deal is an emergency four part program of specific solutions for moving America quickly out of crisis into the secure green future. We call these solutions a Green “New Deal” because they are inspired by the New Deal programs that helped us out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. And these solutions are “Green” because they create an economy that makes our communities sustainable and healthy. First, we will guarantee the economic rights of all Americans, beginning with the right to a job at a living wage for every American willing and able to work. Second, we will transition to a sustainable, green economy for the 21st century, by adopting green technologies and sustainable production. Third, we will reboot and reprogram the financial sector so that it serves everyday people and our communities, and not the other way around. Fourth, we will protect these gains by expanding and strengthening our democracy so that our government and our economy finally serve We the People. Take courage. Because of the urgency of these times, I am asking you personally to take courage and to be willing to believe that these major changes to our economy and politics are within our reach.