The Cancun Agreements

Friday marked the last day of COP 16—the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Following last year’s disastrous conference in Copenhagen, delegates from 193 countries met in Cancun with little fanfare and low expectations. The Cancun Agreements, drafted and released Saturday morning,are actually being met with general satisfaction.

On the positive side,the agreements are laudable: emissions reduction, limits to deforestation, financial support for countries affected by climate change. According to the Economic Times, global temperatures are to be restricted to a rise of 2 degrees C (3.6 F) over pre-industrial levels. Wealthy countries are to cut their emissions by 25-40% by 2020 over 1990 levels. In addition, as Grist describes in a surprisingly supportive article, the changes that developed and developing countries must make to their systems of monitoring and reporting on emissions. For example, developed countries will have to submit annual reports of their emissions, and developing countries will have to report every two years on their progress in cutting emissions.

COP16: Cancun

Last Monday, delegates started meeting in Cancun, Mexico, for COP16—the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Every year, officials from participating countries meet to discuss environmental issues and, we hope, make agreements to remedy those issues. Last year, they met in Copenhagen at a disastrous summit that ended in the notorious Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding, three-page “statement of intention” that participating countries merely “took note of” rather than adopted officially.

This year, 194 nations are sending representatives to Cancun for negotiations, but expectations for any binding agreements are low. Heads of state and high-level leaders are generally not attending. The ultimate goal at Cancun is to come to an agreement about extension of or successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 treaty that mandated reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions, primarily for wealthy countries. Kyoto expires on December 31, 2012, and without an extension or a new treaty, the world will be left without any significant, binding climate-change agreements. The United States never ratified Kyoto.

An Evening with the Surfrider Foundation, A History of the DC Bag Tax from an Insider View

As a member of the greater DC community, I’m sure you’re aware of the plastic bag tax.  Since its implementation at the beginning of this calendar year, bag use has dropped from 22.5 million per month to 3 million per month and individual stores have estimated a 60 – 80% drop in use, while raising $1 million for cleanup efforts on the Anacostia River.

The Surfrider Foundation was one of the major organizations that lobbied for this tax, and so far it has been a wild success.  They supported this initiative based on an early study done by a few volunteers, who walked up and down the Anacostia River and recorded every piece of trash that they found.  They discovered that 47% of the trash consisted of plastic bags on land, while 20% of the trash was plastic bags in the river.  The Surfrider Foundation was founded by surfers who advocate for access to beaches and waves, but also for clean water, a human right that many people don’t have access to.

The bag tax has been a major success, seeing a 66% drop in the number of bags being cleaned up since last year, but not without critics.  It’s important to note that the issue was never about raising money, so it wasn’t a tax in the traditional sense, but it was more of a tax to reduce the number of plastic bags clogging up our rivers.  (Think of a “sin tax.”)  The tax ended up passing with less resistance than expected, especially when you consider the fact that more environmentally aware/progressive cities and states have failed...

Lightbulb Swap: Using CFLs

This week, EcoAction will be in Red Square for the EcoWeek light-bulb swap. Bring your incandescent light bulbs, and we’ll give you a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) for free!

The switch to CFLs is a quick, easy way to make a huge impact on the environment. According to Energy Star, CFLs use 75% less energy and last ten times longer than incandescent light bulbs. They also produce 75% less heat, which reduces the energy used for air-conditioning in buildings. CFLs will save you money, too. One CFL is a bit more expensive than one incandescent bulb, but because it lasts so much longer it can save you up to forty dollars over its lifetime. Imagine how much money could be saved by replacing all the bulbs in your home or workplace.

Actually looking into where my food comes from... novel concept, right? (2nd post in food series)

I adapted an essay from my Local/Global Food and Farm Systems class, where we had to write a Food Diary:

I am a vegetarian, so I let some of my food habits slide because of the many ways that vegetarianism avoids environmental problems associated with factory farming. I have not yet admitted to myself that processed vegetarian foods also have negative environmental impacts and can also be part of the industrial animal-abusive food chain. I eat many unprocessed foods, like salads and vegetables, but they are rarely local, and often eaten with other processed foods like salad dressings.
Most of my food is organic or otherwise labelled as eco-friendly and targeted to concerned consumers like me. I have to look beyond the images of trees and the claims of "natural" and "green." For example, instead of butter, I use Smart Balance because it is labelled as healthier, yet its ingredient list is filled with names I cannot decipher, and one I wish I couldn't: “TBHQ for freshness,” a form of butane described by Pollan as  “the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget.”[i]

Voting and Environmentalism

Last week, EcoAction was tabling in Red Square with a list of the candidates that the Sierra Club has endorsed for the upcoming midterm elections. Claire and I were “tabling” on Friday afternoon—we were actually table-less, but we managed to commandeer a bench. Because not too many students stopped to see the list, I thought I would post it here so that if you missed us last week, you can still check out the endorsements.

The overwhelming majority of the candidates are Democrats: for the House races, they are all Democrats, and for the Senate races the only exceptions are Charlie Crist (I-FL) and Tom Clemens (G-SC). The Sierra Club did not endorse any Republicans. Obviously, since the District has no seats in Congress, this list is really only relevant if you’re registered elsewhere and you have an absentee ballot.

Urban agriculture event on campus Oct 9 ~ First in a series about food

Last Saturday, EcoAction and Georgetown Community Garden (formerly called GUSGI) co-hosted an event with food from the Burleith Farmers Market and three amazing speakers.

First, Christopher (Director of Business Operations) and Christian (Farm Manager) from Engaged Community Offshoots spoke about their awesome farm in Edmonston, Maryland.

 

Their story is inspiring; the four-person staff recently got a grant and found park land in Maryland, where they now have hoophouses so they could grow vertically, partner with groups like Whole Foods to get waste for their compost and restaurants like Busboys and Poets to sell their food, and teach hands-on classes for immigrant workers and college students so they can replicate this model in their own communities.

This is their mission statement from their website: “ECO seeks to reverse the effects of systemic poverty, racism, and environmental destruction through establishing and promoting social venture community-based businesses.”

Reusable Coffee Cups on Campus

Hi all! My name is Madeline, I’m a sophomore in the College (English major, Philosophy minor) and for my first post on the EcoAction blog, I thought I’d tackle an environmental issue that seems to be a huge issue here at Georgetown: the use of disposable coffee cups.

I often get coffee in the mornings at Uncommon Grounds in the Leavey Center, and almost every customer in line takes a disposable paper or plastic cup for their drink. Students, professors, staff, visitors—no one seems to carry a travel mug, a thermos, or even a ceramic mug with them for their drink. At the other Corp coffee shops, at Starbucks, and at Epicurean, it’s the same story.

We’ve all seen this across campus, and we’ve all been guilty of using a disposable paper cup at one time or another. I know I left my travel mug in my room all weekend even though I went out for coffee a number of times. It can be a burden to carry a mug around with you, especially if you’re also toting a reusable water bottle. Even if you do usually carry a mug, it’s easy to forget it from time to time; or you might find yourself with a serious caffeine craving when you don’t have it with you. These are all understandable situations.

But I think we can agree that even when wastefulness is due to normal human forgetfulness, it’s still a bad thing. Moreover, most of the wastefulness due to the use of paper cups is not the result of people forgetting their travel mugs at home; it’s due to complacency and, frankly, laziness at coffee shops throughout the country.

DC VegFest

Tara and I at the DC VegFest with the Carrot.

Last weekend, on September 11, my friend Tara and I headed to GWU for the DC VegFest, an annual festival celebrating vegetarianism.

Neither of us had been before, so it was a really great experience.  We bought delicious falafel from Amsterdam Falafelshop, located in Adams Morgan, and vegan cupcakes from Sticky Fingers Bakery, located in Columbia Heights.  (Yes, the cupcakes were delicious - just ask the winner of Cupcake Wars, a vegan chef!  We got strawberry and cookies-and-creme cupcakes, FYI.  Both delicious!)

We also had samples from Gardein, a company that makes vegetarian meats, and some protein shakes from Vegan Bodybuilding (no lie!).

So why am I writing about this on a blog about environmental issues?  It's been suggested that the meat industry as it exists today in the United States is a major contribution to carbon emissions - according to the Environmental Defense, if every American skipped a meal of chicken a week for a vegetarian substitute, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than 500,000 cars off the road.

You can save tons of carbon emissions (literally) by reducing your meat consumption - meat is a much more greenhouse-gas intensive product than vegetables are (due to the emission of methane and the huge amounts of corn required to feed the animals, not to mention the emissions due to transportation).

Reusable Grab&Go bags at Leo's

School administration has approved a new program at Leo's for the 2010-2011 academic year. Every student with a meal plan will be provided a free reusable Grab&Go bag in September. Though administered for free last year, disposable plastic bags will now cost 5 cents to purchase. This program will significantly cut down on Georgetown's plastic waste, while fostering a collective student movement.