While we’re still investigating the green credentials of Obama, Clinton and McCain, here’s an amusing look at Presidential initiatives designed to reduce the White House carbon footprint before they even knew it had one.
Little-known green factoids about US presidents throughout history
The sheep? They belonged to Woodrow Wilson who introduced them during the First World War to keep the grass short.
Fig 1:Humpback Tail, photographed by Tom Kieckhefer via
Yesterday How Ethical! asked you to get involved and sign Peta’s petition to stop the Japanese persecution of dolphins.
Today, my activist friends, our 2 minute protest is about Japanese Whaling!
On Sunday 18th November the Japanese Antarctic fleet set sail to hunt an increased number of whales this coming winter. Targeting up to 935 minke whales, and for the first time 50 humpback and 50 fin whales, Japan will kill more whales, from a wider range of species than it has ever killed before.
Send a protest e-mail to Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo.
Take action, fellow pesky kids, otherwise they’ll get away with it!
Discover more and find resources at Wiki’s excellent Cetaceans portal.
Photographer Jeff Barbee is used to getting himself into precarious situations.
Prompted by a desire to document the effects of climate change for himself, Barbee set out to sail half way across the Atlantic.
Despite having barely sailed before, Jeff Barbee got himself a berth on a yacht from Cape Town to St Helena, a 35 square mile island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean.
On his website you’ll find blogs, pictures and video as Jeff chronicles the environmental destruction and the slow death of species on this, one of the most remote islands on Earth.
Oops. I’ve missed the start of the 5th Annual Homeless World Cup.
Look out for some more coverage on this tomorrow, as Eric Cantona is running a special training clinic today for the 500 players who have traveled from all over the world to Copenhagen to take part.
All of the players in the Homeless World Cup are, yes, you guessed it, homeless, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives.
77% of the players change for the better - coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, homes, training, and education. Some have gone even further and are have trained as football coaches or become players.
That makes it a hat trick of good news stories this week about the beautiful game, what with the Lions of Mesopotamia winning the Asian Cup last week, and football having the potential to promote green issues to kids.
Will football save the planet? Not on it’s own it won’t, but if initiatives like this continue to succeed, then it might just save the planet one person at a time.
Support sport making a difference:
» Join the homeless world cup fanclub
» Buy a fair trade football from EthicalSuperstore.com!
Fig 1:Detail from “Plastic Bags” © Chris Jordan, 2007
Plastic bags are a bit of a hot topic at the moment. One minute it’s Sainsbury’s and their Anya Hindmarch bags selling on eBay for £200, the next minute it’s a town in Devon banning them all together.My own personal attempts at cutting down my own use of plastic bags are constantly being foiled by my inability to remember to pick up one of two “bag for life” bags that I have.
Friends of the Earth recommend keeping a reuseable bag or a stash of plastic bags by the front door so that you remember to take a couple when you pop out.
They also say:
Keep a couple in your handbag*, for those spontaneous retail moments!
Anyway, after a bit of research, it seems that most people recommend the use of a “funky re-useable or cotton bag” for your shopping trips and saying ‘no thanks’ to plastic carrier bags.
Lots more information can be found on the Friends of the Earth website and also on campaign websites like Abolish Plastic Bags.
This bag says it all! “Say No To Plastic Bags” is a Shared Earth product - a fair trading company who believe it is possible to trade fairly and ethically whilst benefiting artisans and craftsmen.
How Ethical! says that the problem with a jute bag is that it’s only really useful for carrying quests, which is only one out of the 25 second uses that you have for a plastic bag.
Anyway, the bag measures 39 x 36 x 13cm which is big enough for all manner of goods and chattels. Get one from Ethicalsuperstore.com.
At the end of the day, it’s true, plastic bags only make up a very small percentage of the waste that goes into landfill, but initiatives like this get people thinking about litter and how it’s disposed of. I’ve seen countless plastic bags floating along the river here in Newcastle. Admittedly, it’s not as bad as it gets on the the river Citarum, near the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, but it all ends up somewhere.
*Personally, I think this is a bit sexist as this insinuates that only handbag carriers have spontaneous retail moments. It should say “keep a couple in your handbag/manbag, really.
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