| | US AND CHINA TO SAVE THE PLANET...MAYBE  Obama Adds Green To Red China and Gets A Shade Of Gray (No, Not One of the 50 Shades You're Thinking Of)
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping make a pledge to reduce future emissions. This marks the first time China has made a commitment to protect the environment. The goal: the US will cut carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent, while China will stop its emissions from further growth by 2030.
Reactions to this news have been mixed. Some say it's "historic" and a "breakthrough", some are skeptical that Beijing and Washington can make good on their pledge, and some even say it's simply too little too late. Regardless of the outcome -- if they fall short of their goals or if the planet goes up in flames anyways -- it is definitely a huge move in a positive direction, and one that should be acknowledged as such. Paul Krugman may be right on the money when he concludes in a NY Times Op Ed piece that: "The agreement between China and the United States on carbon emissions is, in fact, a big deal." Krugman goes on to explain the reason it's a "big deal" is because it takes out one of the major lines of defense that have been erected by the Republican party that blockades action that would otherwise help save the planet. There are three major defensive modes that have been inhibiting movement towards combating climate change: denial -- global warming does not exist and it's all a bunch of hogwash; scare tactics -- actions that cut emissions are bad for the economy because they lead to loss of jobs and impede growth; and, finally, there is nothing America can do as long as China keeps blasting out emissions at an ever increasing rate -- therefore anything we do is futile. "Needless to say," writes Krugman, "I don't expect the usual suspects to concede that a major part of the anti-environmentalist argument has just collapsed. But it has. This was a good week for the planet." While the union of Obama and Jinping on combating carbon emissions has, undoubtedly, generated a jolt of optimism the skepticism creeps in when it comes to the numbers. A series of scientific and economic reports have concluded that "in order to avoid the 2-degree temperature rise, the world's largest economies will have to drastically cut carbon emissions within just a few years — a rate far more rapid than what the United States and China have offered."
But, then again, it's better than nothing! And since China and the United States are the two biggest national emitters of carbon, if they can unite in an effort to save the planet than other countries should, hopefully, follow -- or, at the very least, some of the justification for not doing so will be destroyed. Read More: BWC Blog
Read More: The NYTimes.com    And Remember to Tell a Friend About BWC! | | ADVOCACY ALERT!
ACT NOW! STUDENT ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION COALITION (SEAC)
The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) is a student and youth run national network
ENVIRONMENT OREGON
A nonprofit, non-partisan, membership-based organization. Works to protect the health of every Oregonian by working for clean air and water, a healthy climate, an unpolluted landscape and sustainable food and farms.
THE ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE
A national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations
EARTH FIRST!
Works to protect wilderness through radical means.
CAPTAIN PLANET FOUNDATION
The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to give the next generation of environmental stewards an active understanding and love for the natural world in which they live.
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| | | | WASHINGTON WATCH The EPA Invests $3 Million In Green Technology and Innovative Research Uh...That's No Typo. That's "Million", Not "Billion." 
"When we invest in research and innovation, that return on investment builds a healthy economy and a healthy environment for all of us." -- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, recently announced the EPA's intention to fund nine small businesses with almost $3 million. The businesses to receive the money are located in Calif., Del., Ga., Ill., La., Ohio, N.Y., and Tenn.
The funding from the EPA is expected to aid the innovative businesses in bringing green technologies to the marketplace. During the announcement, McCarthy reiterated the EPA's "commitment to strengthening economic growth, supporting sustainable businesses, and combating the impacts of climate change." "The small businesses receiving awards today are innovating affordable, energy efficient technologies that are strengthening our economy and building a low-carbon future while bringing a unique vision for addressing complex environmental issues like reducing harmful emissions to create a cleaner environment and enhancing recycling processes," said McCarthy. The funding is made through the EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program -- a program that has been supporting small businessess and protecting the environment for over 30 years. The program has dished out a whopping $140 million over the last three decades and given 969 awards, allowing numerous small businesses to commericalize their solutions, provide jobs in cutting-edge green technologies that help protect human health and the envirionment. SBIR past awardees have included John Rich of Nashville-based National Recovery Technologies, LLC., a small business that produced a low cost technology to recycle electronics; and Carol Ann Wedding, president of Imaging Systems Technology, a small business that developed a highly efficient, versatile water purification system, based in Toledo, Ohio. READ MORE ABOUT THE 2014 SBIR AWARDS For more information about the SBIR Program: www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir/ To be notified by email when EPA's research funding opportunities are available, sign up at: www.epa.gov/ncer/listserv/  BUY NOTHING DAY VS BLACK FRIDAY Join Adbusters And Go Cold Turkey The Day After Thanksgiving, Or Continue To Indulge? That is the Question. Adbusters urge consumers to reconsider spending habits on one of the biggest shopping days of the year...
...but there are just so many good deals! "I'm not doing it for myself…I'm doing it for the economy!"  On November 29th Adbusters -- a Vancouver-based advocacy group -- challenges consumers (mainly shop-happy Americans) to go cold turkey for the 24 hours post their Thanksgiving Day binge. Will this be hard to do? For most people, probably. Consumerism is heavily entrenched in our society and is the backbone of capitalism. Besides, isn't it a good thing that we get insanely good deals at least once a year -- this means less into Walmart's pockets after all. Adbusters refers to this as a "gigantic psycho-financial-crisis of our times" and argues that this rampant consumerism wrecks havoc on Earth. The question is then: do people buy what they don't need during Black Friday and more of it, is consumerism drastically catapulted to unnecessary degrees that negatively affect our planet or does it actually, and simply, allow us to get more bang for our buck on things we were planning to purchase anyways? The Buy Nothing Day campaign is international and continues to gain momentum every year. But, then again, so does the insanity of Black Friday.  So, what side of the fence do you fall on? Will you be standing in that winding-around-the-corner kind of line outside your favorite store energetically participating in Black Friday or will you be cutting up your credit card, mounting a boycott and pledging to Buy Nothing at all on November 28th?
LEARN MORE ABOUT BUY NOTHING DAY CAMPAIGN AND ADBUSTERS
| | WASHINGTON WATCH  Mary Landrieu Goes Out On A Limb For A Pipeline???" (No, that's too mixed a metaphor.)
"Keystone Gets Stuck in the Senate Pipeline." ("Yes, That's Better…")
14 Democrats joined 45 Republicans in support of the Keystone KL pipeline that would run the length of America down into Texas. However, in a nail biting vote the bill failed to pass, coming up merely one vote short of the 60 it needed to pass. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu gambled with her Senate seat on Tues, 18, when she attempted to push this bill through, which has been dancing around behind the curtains of the Senate for nearly two years. To learn more about the Keystone XL pipeline, and in a comedic manner no less, watch this entertaining as always Daily Show snippet: Jon Stewart Puts Keystone Pipeline Into Perspective. READ MORE (Washington Post) | | GETTING INSPIRED, INFORMED, INVOLVED!!  We, The World Campaign: WE Campaign
Join Forces With Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jane Goodall, Deepak Chopra And Many Other Visionaries In Their 11 Days Of Global Unity -- 11 Ways To Change The World Campaign. WE - a global campaign of We, The World to unite and amplify the efforts of people, organizations and movements working for the common good Robert Thurman, Riane Eisler, Bill McKibben and many others. Message from Rick Ulfik, Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net:
"With much of the media focused on the US elections, it's very easy to lose sight of the big picture. While the elections are definitely important, we believe that the economic, environmental, social and political conditions that negatively affect most people will not improve significantly without a major change in the strategy and scale of grassroots coordination in the US and around the world.
"We believe that despite the transformative work being done globally, changemakers must begin working together on a scale we have never seen for humanity to begin to solve the core challenges we face: poverty & rising inequality, militarism & war, ecological damage & the climate crisis." Subscribe to WE Campaign Global Action Newsletter here Rick Ulfik
Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net Learn More About We, The World and the WE Campaign | | | | | | Not a Member of Better World Club? BWC's Member Discounts More Than Pay for a Membership! Our discounts can more than pay for your membership. BWC members save money through hotel, car rental, travel, or other discounts. Join Better World Club now and get in on the savings! Use this link and we'll even throw in a 10% discount on Better World membership. And Remember To Tell A Friend About BWC! | | | | | Have a comment, rant, or suggestion? Email us! | | |
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