California NOW

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone! Today communities around the world are celebrating life and giving the planet a big hug. Not sure yet how you'll be celebrating Earth Day? Find an event near you! The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970.

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with dozens of CA NOW members at the state conference about the intertwining connections of social justice and ecology. The EcoFeminism Panel hosted a great workshop featuring the commitment of Eco Moms, consumers and activists to take action for the sustainability of our homes, planet and life.

Today I celebrate all the women and men who have contributed to the environmental movement from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to Vandana Shiva’s relentless efforts in food security to Mary Hunt’s current work on sustainable standard certification.

We can celebrate Earth Day by taking an action pledge, signing a petition to stop global warming and getting a copy of the Spring 08 edition of WE magazine for women which features Mary Hunt as an Earth Advocate!

 

Ecospot Grand Prize Winner

The Alliance for Climate Protection and Current TV challenged you to make provocative ecospots, shorts video messages to drive your friends, community, and government to get involved in solving the climate crisis. They are proud to announce that the grand prize winner of the 60 Seconds to Save the Earth Ecospot Contest is Dave Schlafman for his video entitled Sky is Falling.

March 22 = World Water Day

I'm Not Afraid of the Dark

Tonight's a full moon, I'm not afraid.

Tomorrow is a new day, I'm not afraid.

Because activism is my light.

Because heart guides my path. I'm not afraid of the dark.

Here's some exciting Earth Hour news:

The Parks service in San Francisco is offering nature hikes on Alcatraz on March 29. The Golden Gate Bridge and Ghiradelli Square will be joined by landmarks all around the City by the Bay. Restaurants across the city will be hosting candlelit dinners, including Bistro Boudin – the creator of San Francisco's Original Sourdough French Bread – which will also be turning off its signature red neon sign. The Building Owners and Managers Association has thrown tremendous support behind Earth Hour, and dozens of downtown buildings including 101 California will "turn out" for the event. Parc 55 Hotel and The Westin San Francisco Market Street are both turning off their non-essential lighting and asking their guests to do the same. And the news is getting around – media from the San Francisco Chronicle to KCBS radio are spreading the word!

For more info on how to build community support and organize your own Earth Hour event, check out this handy Community Kit.

MySpace's Our Planet page is all about Earth Hour! Check out the videos posted, and don't forget to become an Earth Hour friend.

Earth Hour is on Ecorazzi – America's favorite enviro-gossip and lifestyle site. Check it out!

Earth Hour 2008: 8pm, March 29th

Global Warming is our problem.

Earth Hour is our turn to fix it.

5 things to do in the dark:

1. Host an Earth Hour eco-party...candles, organic good, live acoustic music.
2. Give yourself an energy makeover by making a list of ways you can save energy. Then, on the following day, take action by replacing old light bulbs with energy-saving CFLs and installing power strips.
3. Take one hour for yourself to just unplug and chill out...turn off the screens, put down the handheld devices and just take some "you" time to reflect.
4. Give someone a massage.
5. Grab a flashlight and take a long walk with some friends through your neighborhood, picking up trash and recyclables as you go.

Radical Eco-Feminist West Coast Spring Tour 2008: Friday, March 28, 2008

Two activists from the Portland Animal Defense League, Rising Tide North America and Stumptown Earth First! will offer a presentation and interactive two-part workshop on radical eco-feminism and environmental ethics.

Location: Long Haul Infoshop, 3124 Shattuck Ave.,
(across from La Peña, 1 block east of Ashby BART), Berkeley. Time: 7pm. Info: 510-540-0751

Looking Good...in the Dark

Earth Hour is just three weeks away, sign up today!

Earth Hour will bring millions of people around the world and across the United States together on Saturday, March 29, 2008 to make a bold statement about climate change. Together we will turn out their lights for one hour—Earth Hour—from 8 to 9 p.m. local time.

Here are just a few of the landmark buildings and places across America that are "turning out" for Earth Hour:

• Sears Tower
• Phoenix Suns' US Airways Center
  
•  Golden Gate Bridge
•  Wrigley Field
•  Atlanta's Bank of America Tower
•  Alcatraz
•  CNN Headquarters

La Hora de La Tierra:
Apagar las luces de  8 a 9 pm el sábado 29 de marzo del 2008. Visitar EarthHour.org para aprender que se puede hacer en la lucha contra el cambio climático                                 

CA NOW Welcomes Mary Hunt

The Eco-Feminism Committee is proud to present this Woman in the Public Eye, Mary Hunt ~ Author, Speaker, Business woman at the 2008 CA NOW Conference. 

From her Blog ~

I'm a speaker, writer and business developer for sustainable products and the women's market. I TRUST IN PURSE STRING THEORY - Money talks. Women determine over 80% of all consumer buying. By purchasing and promoting fully sustainable products, they can redirect the business climate while cooling down the global climate.

In Women We Trust is a recognition of the dual roles women play in bringing about a more Sustainable world. I'm an example of that duality, behaving both as a marketing professional and as a consumer. In my lifetime I've purchased 10 cars, selected the furnishings for 3 homes & 4 apartments, and hand picked enough groceries for 24,000 meals. I'm guessing that makes me the average boomer woman.

Protect Gray Wolves

For the second time in a month, the Bush Administration has taken aim at endangered wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.

Yesterday the administration announced plans to strip the region's 1,500 wolves of protection under the Endangered Species Act. Just last month, the administration handed down a new License to Kill rule that would allow Wyoming and Idaho to slaughter hundreds of wolves by hunting, trapping and aerial gunning.

You can tell your own Representative to oppose the Bush Administration's wolf-killing plans here!

Water Warrior: Maude Barlow

It's the strength of women that will sustain the flowing waters of life.

This was just one of the many take-home messages of tonight's talk with environmental author and activist Maude Barlow. Maude is the founder of the Blue Planet Project which works internationally on water justice issues. In addition to being nominated for the "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" she is a recipient of the "2005/2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship" and the "2005 Right Livelihood Award".

Maude's most recent book Blue Covenant calls on all of us to work together to solve the global water crisis, to make a promise of sustainability from us to the earth.

In her speech tonight she called attention to the urgency of this crisis by quoting several alarming statistics: stating that there are currently 2 billion people living in water stressed areas and more children die of water born diseases than AIDS and malaria every day. Violence against women is increasing in the Global South where water is literally a matter of life and death. In the U.S. we are literally paving over our wetlands and sucking our lakes, rivers and deltas dry.  Today 36 states are at risk of water shortages.

Last month I served on a delegation with Global Exchange to Guatemala. One of the communities we visited was devastated by the recent poisoning of their drinking water by a Canadian gold mining corporation.

Let's face reality. Water is life. Period. Without it we cannot survive.

Maude discussed how we are constantly moving water from where nature put it to where we want it. Dams. Irrigation. Pipelines. We are containing water in chemical and fossil fuel bottles labeled Aquafina (tap water repacked by Pepsi). We are living our lives with the false assumption that resources are limitless!

Maude's work has inspired many to recognize that the earth has limits and we have to live within them. Her passionate dedication to environmental and human rights  is so contagious that I had to share this night with all with you as soon as I got home.

To learn more measure your water footprint here and found out how you can take action.