Watch AWAKENED ACTION: Women Leaders Speak to the Climate Catastrophe and Pandemic

AWAKENED ACTION speakers, Upaya Zen Center Facebook.

Happy World Oceans Day

Happy World Oceans Day, June 8, 2020, the United Nations day to unite and rally humans around the world to protect and restore the oceans.

From 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM PT, the United Nations and Oceanic Global are hosting a free digital event "Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean," presentations from leading ocean voices. Learn more on www.unworldoceansday.org/2020.

Happy World Oceans Day.

AWAKENED ACTION: Women Leaders Speak to the Climate Catastrophe and Pandemic, and Explore Strategies for a Sane, Just, and Compassionate Future

I'm also looking forward to the June 21, 2020 online event "AWAKENED ACTION: Women Leaders Speak to the Climate Catastrophe and Pandemic, and Explore Strategies for a Sane, Just, and Compassionate World."

The day-long event is being organized by Upaya Zen Center and co-sponsored by Loka Initiative, Fire Drill Fridays, and Parliament of World Religions.

Schedule

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Three panels of speakers

6:00 AM - 8:00 PM PT

The Event

"We invite you to attend this extraordinary daylong intensive plunging deep into the facts, faith, and politics around our climate catastrophe and the effects of climate change and the pandemic on our shared future. We will examine the similarities between what climate change and Covid19 expose etc.

"The presenters are women of action, who are renowned leaders in their respective fields, all of whom have deep regard for the ways in which world view, values, science, and contemplative practice play an essential role in how we shape a future that is just, sane, and compassionate.

"The program includes key presentations and talks from climate scientists, perspectives from long-term contemplatives and environmentalists, and insights from social historians. 

"There will be presentations, meditation, Q and A from participants, panel discussions, plus a reader and reading list.

"In addition, registered participants have access to the program once it’s completed. 

"Join us now for this free, online (donation only) program on June 21. Information about how to access and all materials are forthcoming."

The Speakers

Dekila Chungyalpa

Dekila Chungyalpa
"Dekila Chungyalpa is the Director of the Loka Initiative, a new environment and climate education and outreach platform for faith leaders at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Its mission is to support faith-led environmental and climate action efforts, locally and around the world, through collaborations on project design and management, capacity building, training, and public outreach."

Dekila works with His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa on his environmental initiatives. Read more about Dekila in the February 9, 2020 Tricycle article "How Dekila Chungyalpa Draws on Faith to Protect the Planet."

Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen

Christiana Figueres
"Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat with 35 years of experience in high level national and international policy and multilateral negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 2010, six months after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. During the next six years she worked to rebuild the global climate change negotiating process based on fairness, transparency and collaboration, leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement, widely recognized as a historical achievement. Over the years she has worked in the fields of climate change, sustainable development, energy, land use, technical and financial cooperation."

Jane Seymour Fonda

Jane Fonda
Jane Seymour Fonda is an American actress, political and environmental activist, and author. She is the founder of Fire Drill Fridays.

Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD

Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD
"Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her Ph.D in medical anthropology in 1973. She has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions, including Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School, University of Virginia Medical School, Duke University Medical School, University of Connecticut Medical School, among many others."

Sensi Wendy Johnson

Sensei Wendy Johnson
"Wendy Johnson is a Buddhist meditation teacher and organic gardening mentor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Wendy has been practicing Zen meditation for thirty-five years and has led meditation retreats nationwide since 1992 as an ordained lay dharma teacher in the traditions of Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and the San Francisco Zen Center. Wendy is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, where she lived with her family from 1975 to 2000. She has been teaching gardening and environmental education to the public since the early 1980s."

Sensi Kritee Kanko, PhD

Sensei Kritee Kanko, PhD
"Sensei Kritee Kanko, PhD is a climate scientist, educator-activist, grief-ritual leader and a Zen priest. She is a Sensei in the Rinzai Zen lineage of Cold Mountain, a founding dharma teacher of Boundless in Motion and a co-founder of Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center. She has served as an Ecodharma teacher for Earth-Love-Go (Lama Foundation), One Earth Sangha, Impermanent Sangha and Shogaku Zen Institute. As a senior scientist in the Global Climate Program at Environmental Defense Fund she helps implement climate-smart farming at scale in India. She was trained as a microbiologist and isotope biogeochemist at Rutgers and Princeton Universities."

Stephanie Kaza, PhD

Stephanie Kaza, PhD
"Stephanie Kaza is a long-time lover of trees, a practicing Soto Zen Buddhist, and an environmentalist. She is Professor Emeritus in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont (UVM). Her books explore timely questions of the challenging issues in climate, sustainability, and humanity facing us today."

Diana Liverman, PhD

Diana Liverman, PhD
"Diana Liverman is Regents Professor of Geography and Development, and formerly co-Director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona, USA. She is an expert on the human dimensions of global environmental change, especially the social causes and consequences of climate change. She was a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC."

Joanna Macy, PhD

Joanna Macy, PhD
"Eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with four decades of activism. She has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application."

Rebecca Solnit

Rebecca Solnit
"Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and urban history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster. Her books include Recollections of My Nonexistence; Hope in the Dark; Men Explain Things to Me; and A Paradise Built in Hell:The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she writes regularly for the Guardian and Lithub and serves on the board of Oil Change International.

"Rebecca also has been working with Upaya’s Nomads project since 2013 and was a student of Zenkai Blanche Hartman, an early leader at San Francisco Zen Center."

Heather McTeer Toney, JD

Heather McTeer Toney, JD
"Elected at age 27, Heather McTeer Toney knows what it means to be a public servant. She was the first African-American, first female and the youngest to serve as Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi from 2004-2012. In 2014, she was appointed by President Barack Obama as Regional Administrator for Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Southeast Region. Known for her energetic and genuine commitment to people, her work has made her a national figure in the area of public service, environmental justice and community engagement. She currently serves as the National Field Director for Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of over 1 million moms and dads committed to fighting climate change and protecting children from the dangers of air pollution. Heather is also a sought-after speaker and writer."

Some of the speakers' biographies provided above are excerpted from longer biographies. Continue reading those biographies on the Upaya Zen Center website.

Register for the Event

Visit the Upaya Zen Center website to register. You'll first have to create a free account on the Upaya Zen Center website.

Registration ends on June 21 at 10:59 PM PT.

This program is being offered for free. Donations of any amount are welcome and can be made on the Upaya Zen Center website.

Watch the Event

The event will be held on Zoom. An email will be sent out to all registrants 48 hours in advance of the event with the login details.

The organizers will also provide a reading list and a collection of selected resources. 

The Upaya Zen Center website says, "This program, including all sessions and Q&A sessions, will be recorded and made available to you shortly after the sessions end in order to make this a full experience for people in any time zone. You can view the program at a time that is convenient for you. You are not required to join the live session. If you enroll after the program starts you will have access to the recordings."

The Island President

My take on the GOP Presidential Candidates: Climate Change & the Youth Vote

I author HeadCount's Sustainability & Climate Change e-newsletter. Here's my latest issue "The GOP, Sustainability And Climate Change." It was sent to readers' inboxes and was published on the HeadCount blog on January 6.

Primary season is heating up, starting with the Iowa Caucus earlier this week. It was a squeaker, that brought new possible frontrunners into the news cycle and ended some Presidential dreams.

Coming into Iowa, candidates stumped on a range of issues, including sustainability and climate change. Here's where the 2012 hopefuls stand:

Who says your vote doesn't count? In the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney claimed victory by a margin of just eight votes. Wonder where this guy stands on climate change and sustainability issues? In October, Rick Perry released a video accusing Romney of adopting Obama-style policies on carbon emissions. While that's totally true, Perry omitted the fact that Romney later withdrew his support, citing economic concerns. Romney has criticized Obama over the government’s failed investment in the solar energy company Solyndra. But during his last presidential campaign he said he supported the $4 billion the US invested in green energy, and said he would increase it five-fold to about $20 billion a year. Additionally, as Governor of Massachusetts he launched the ($15 million) MA Green Energy Fund. A former Republican Capitol Hill energy aide has said of Romney's position on environmental issues: “It’s like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Frankly, there’s a bunch of people who are tired of getting a box of chocolates."

To read the rest click here - you'll be taken to the post on the HeadCount blog.

I also recently published a piece "Ron Paul & the New Hampshire Youth Vote" on Care2.com, featuring friends from HeadCount! Here it is:

Let’s recap the percentage of votes received by the top three finishers in the 2012 New Hampshire Republican primary election: Mitt Romney received 39.4% of the votes cast, Ron Paul 22.8% and Jon Huntsman 16.8%. I have heard that Ron Paul has a lot of support from young voters, but what does that look like? Let’s use New Hampshire as an example.

According to a report issued by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), approximately 15% of eligible New Hampshire voters under the age of thirty participated in the primary this year. That’s approximately 29,000 voters. To put that in some sort of context, approximately 26,000 young people voted for Barack Obama in the state’s 2008 primary.

Ron Paul definitely did well by the New Hampshire youth vote. Young voters cast their votes for Ron Paul by a margin of 22 percentage points. This is more than double the number of youth votes that the candidate received in the 2008 New Hampshire primary. Interestingly, CIRCLE Director Peter Levine said “Dr. Paul’s 47% support from 18- to 29-year olds was the strongest level of support for any candidate by any age group.”

I like statistics, but what did this really look like? HeadCount, a nonprofit organization whose thousands of volunteers register fans to vote at concerts year-round, sent a small team of volunteers to New Hampshire to look into this for us. In this video you can watch a few insightful conversations that they had with Ron Paul supporters.



To read the rest of my post click here - you'll be taken to the post on Care2.com.

A single vote WILL make a difference.

I have received (and continue to receive) a deluge of election-related emails. But I thought that this one - which I received from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund this AM - was particularly worth a re-print.

Please vote in this election.



Dear Nicole,

Dirtier air. More dirty energy. Greater dependence on our enemies' oil. Fewer new jobs.

That could be the result of the 2010 midterm elections - if you don't vote on November 2nd.

Up and down the ballot, in hundreds of electoral contests in all 50 states, our health, security and economy are threatened by anti-environmental, anti-science and anti-climate candidates.

Many of these contests will be extremely, extremely close. An unprecedented number of congressional races have been rated "toss-ups." But if enough of us show up at the polls, we can stop the wave of climate deniers who threaten to take over our state and federal governments.

The danger is more widespread than you think:

* Not a single one of the 37 Republican Senate candidates supports action against global warming - even though clean energy reforms could bring more than 1.9 million new jobs by 2020.

* A number of congressional candidates who voted for the landmark climate law -- The American Clean Energy and Security Act-- are threatened in races that could be decided by a handful of votes.

* More than 750 congressional and state legislative candidates have signed on to support the anti-climate agenda of Americans for Prosperity -- a corporate front group funded by the oil billionaire Koch brothers.

Close-minded anti-environmentalists don't represent the will of the people. Numerous polls and studies have overwhelmingly showed that the majority of Americans support policies to keep our air and water clean, our food safe and to transition our nation to clean energy.

But the other side has benefited from an unprecedented deluge of money from oil and coal interests and the shadowy front groups they help support. Hundreds of anti-environmental candidates who have turned their back on science could be elected if people like you don't turn out to vote.

Your vote, and the vote of millions of others like you, is our best defense from this attack. And every single vote will make a difference. Remember how close things were in 2000? Many races this year are likely to be won by small margins and recounts. Our nation is depending on you on November 2nd. Make a plan, and cast your vote at your nearest polling place.



Thanks for supporting environmental sanity in these deeply troubling times.

Sincerely,


Peter Lehner
Executive Director
NRDC Action Fund



Not sure if you know who the "clean energy" candidates are? Check out the League of Conservation Voter's endorsements here. For state specific info, click on "State LCVs" on the top right hand corner of the page.

Help Save California's Climate Change Law, from Anywhere in the USA.

When California voters go to the polls on Nov 2 they will be voting on a series of propositions, including Proposition 23.

Here's a summary of what's up:



If you are a Californian, then pledge to Vote No on 23 here.

The Sierra Club has set up a program that allows anyone in the USA to make phone calls to Californians, to encourage California voters to vote No on 23. To join the Sierra Club phone banking program, go here. All you need is a computer with a high-speed connection (such as DSL) and a separate phone line.


photo: Michael Franti's Power to the Peaceful Festival in Golden Gate Park, Sept 11 2010.

1st African Youth Summit on Climate Change. Nairobi, Kenya. August 20 -22.

The 1st African Youth Summit on Climate Change to serve as an appropriate avenue where African youth can come together and discuss issues relating to various topics on climate change including the role of youth in adaptation and mitigation projects, public awareness and participation, biodiversity and active participation in UNFCCC negotiations.

It's being organized by the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), an umbrella youth network that was conceived in 2006 in Nairobi Kenya, during the 2nd International Conference of Youth held before the UNFCCC, COP 12.

The Summit is open to young people from all over Africa interested and involved in initiatives aimed to tackle climate change and ensure sustainability. It will consist of informative sessions and skills-building workshops on climate change issues ranging from scientific knowledge to effective political advocacy.

Apps are due July 30, 2010.

Other sources of energy are out there. Whether the oil companies are gonna go find them is the question.

Anderson Cooper interviewed Jimmy Buffet the other day.

Part 1:



Part 2:

Join "Hands Across the Sand" - Worldwide, Sat June 26

Tens of thousands of people who support clean energy and oppose offshore drilling are expected to participate in more than 700 Hands Across the Sand events this Saturday, June 26.

The events are open to everyone - no RSVP required!

Events will take place in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and more than 20 countries, beginning in Auckland, New Zealand and work its way across global time zones finishing on the North Shore of Kauai, Hawaii.

A complete list of events, all of which begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, can be found here.

Some of the groups supporting Hands Across the Sand:
350.org, 1Sky, Audubon, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Earth Day Network, Endangered Species Coalition, Energy Action Coalition, Environment America, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, MoveOn.org, Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Surfrider Foundation.

A little Depressed about the State of the Environment? There's (still) Hope in a Changing Climate.

Check out this documentary "Hope in a Changing Climate" produced by the Environmental Education Media Project - came out last year. Good stuff.

Trailer:




To watch the whole film go here. Can't embed it.

We are an Unstoppable Oil Dependent Machine

Jon Stewart did a great piece last night in response to Obama's Tuesday night Gulf Coast update. I can't embed it here, but click here to watch it online.

Also check this out from the Rachel Maddow show - same theme - "That was Then This is Then" from her March 26 show:

Today's Gulf Coast Address from the Oval Office

Sierra Student Coalition accepting apps for their UN Climate Change (COP16) Cancun Delegation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) will take place in Cancun, Mexico from November 29th - December 11th, 2010.

To apply to join the Sierra Club Student Coalition delegation, go here to review the SSC Youth Delegation Application Packet, and then fill out this application form. Apps are due at 12noon EST on July 2.

Read about Mary Shindler's experiences at COP15 with the Sierra Student Coalition here.


photo: Mary Shindler

My newest HeadCount e-newsletter :: THOM YORKE, BEN HARPER & SEAFOOD LOVERS ARE CURSING THE OIL SPILL

My latest HeadCount Sustainability & Climate Change e-newsletter went out one week ago, today. This month, it really should be called the "Gulf Coast Oil Spill" e-newsletter ...



You can read it in full here.

If you'd like to comment on it through HeadCount, then check it out on the HeadCount blog here. Of course you can comment below, too:)

Look for Youth dressed as Oil Barrels next week ...

According to this Consequence09 blog post, all next week young people will be out in force on Capitol Hill and in states around the country wearing large oil barrels to demand senators oppose Senator Murkowski's proposed Dirty Air Act and support comprehensive climate legislation.

Check out the summary of upcoming actions here:



Want to make your own oil barrel costume? Directions here.

What else can you do? Send a e-letter to Obama and the US Congress here.

US Senate Climate Bill - Cheat Sheet :: If you support US Climate Change Legislation then Call your Senators Today.

Received this in an email from Ocean Champions this AM:

Yesterday, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) released their version of a Climate Bill, called the American Power Act.

The bill is "balanced" to improve its chances, but by setting a path to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop renewable energy, it still represents a paradigm shift that would promote healthier oceans, drive economic and job growth and enable independence from foreign oil.

What we like:
* It mandates a 17% reduction in carbon pollution from 2005 levels by 2020, 42% by 2030 and 83% by 2050. Not as fast as many would like, but in line with the Climate Change bill (Waxman-Markey) passed by the US House of Representatives last year.

* It sets a price for carbon, with a $12 floor and a $25 ceiling (with each set to grow over time), which will improve investment in renewable energy.

* It allows carbon trading, but by a limited set of entities on a regulated exchange, allowing market forces to create pricing efficiency while limiting speculation.


What we don't like:
* It pre-empts states from implementing mandatory greenhouse gas reductions.

* It restricts the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

* Like the House Bill, it has the USDA, not the EPA regulating agriculture offsets.

* The biggest flaw - it doesn't ban new offshore drilling; disappointing, but not surprising, given national politics. (In response to the BP oil spill, the bill was changed to give "impacted" states the right to veto oil drilling plans of neighboring states, and allow states to veto any drilling within 75 miles off their coast.)


I also like (and trust) the Natural Resource Defense Council's analysis of the bill.

One of today's New York Times stories about the bill talks about "next steps".

If you support the concept of US climate change legislation (however imperfect the draft bill that Senators Kerry and Lieberman released yesterday may be), then please call your US Senators with the simple message - "pass the Kerry-Lieberman climate change bill." The Capitol Hill main switchboard number is 202.224.3121. Give the operator the name of your US Senator and ask to be transfered to their office.

Apply for Youth Delegation to next International Climate Change Meeting in Cancun, Mexico :: Apps due June 4

This is a fantastic opportunity. When I was covering COP15 I came across this organization's work a lot - I was really impressed.

SustainUS is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers 26 years of age or younger. Founded in 2001 to prepare U.S. youth for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the organization has since expanded to include local chapters in six cities, as well as two national programs engaging young scientists and future policymakers.

Interested in attending the UNFCCC COP16 and COP/MOP6 negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, November 29-December 10?

Applicants for SustainUS's Agents of Change delegation must be 18-26 years old at the start of the negotiations, and must be either U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or have been studying or working in the United States for at least six months at the time of application.

Selected applicants will join a diverse delegation of youth, including those both familiar with and new to the youth climate movement; from across the United States and beyond; including young scientists and engineers, policy specialists, grassroots activists, media and communications specialists; students, young professionals, and community volunteers; and more.

We have limited, need-based scholarship money for youth from climate change-impacted communities (requires separate application; see below).

Full delegation details and application materials are here.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. EDT on June 4th to agents(@)sustainus.org

Chill Out : Campus Solutions to Global Warming :: Video Highlights

On April 21, National Wildlife Federation will feature the winners of this year's Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming competition, the nation's premier competition showcasing campus-based climate action, in a 30 minute webcast.

Join Alisa Reyes (of Nickelodeon's show All That) and David Mizejewski (the host of Animal Planet's BACKYARD HABITAT), the hosts of Chill Out, to find out how award-winning students and staff are creating real solutions to global warming on campuses across the country and see the best examples of campus climate action.

To register to watch the webcast on April 21, or anytime after that at your own convenience, go here. NWF is encouraging people to host screenings of the webcast on their college campuses or in their homes.

OneClimate Live Video Coverage from Bolivia People's Climate Change Summit :: April 19 - 22

If you were following my blog during the international climate change negotiations that took place in Copenhagen in December 2009, then you might have come across my posts about the OneClimate live webcast. OneClimate provided internet viewers with live programming pretty much around the clock, from their location in the Bella Center, where the official actions were taking place. It was absolutely amazing.


photo: Chacaltaya, Bolivia 350.org 2009 day of action, from 350.org on Flickr.


In reaction to the outcome of COP15, a people's summit is taking place in Bolivia from April 19 - 22. (Official details here.) OneClimate will be covering the event live, again through an interactive live webcast. All viewers will be able to put their questions to delegates attending the summit and engage with others watching around the world.

Here's a short video preview:

Cochabamba Summit trail from Peter Armstrong on Vimeo.

Please re-visit this post from April 19 - 22 to catch the live stream, below.

Bill Maher :: Don't Climate Skeptics Want to Live, too?

On Friday night's "Real Time" Bill Maher referenced climate change as the ultimate health issue.


Conservative talk radio host Amy Holmes, actor Hill Harper, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson weighed in.

I can't embed the video here - visit this Huffington Post entry to watch it. Definitely worth the click, especially if you need a good laugh today:)

The Most Unorthodox Career Change Ever

This is a re-print from today's Surfrider Foundation SOUP e-newsletter, image and all:



In what can only be described as the most unorthodox career change ever, Deryck Spooner has left his role as the Nature Conservancy's climate change organizer to join the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's biggest trade group, as a grassroots director. Spooner will coordinate API's efforts to "develop, mobilize and sustain a political infrastructure of individuals, groups and coalitions to advance priority advocacy issues with elected officials." Naturally, this career change makes environmental groups extremely nervous since Spooner has a deep knowledge of grassroots strategy and "green" credibility. According to a source, Spooner argues that he sees no conflict between his old and new jobs.

Read the New York Times' full story here.