On June 21st, I had the opportunity to attend and film the Girls On The Rise Conference. It was really interesting to experience the conference and their activities. The conference’s theme was Self-Care. Not taking care of yourself can lead to health issues.

There were several impactful and empowering presentations about dealing with stress, why self-care is important, and other people’s own struggles dealing with health issues that was led from lack of self care. It’s amazing to see these people who struggled with health issues and eventually becoming healthier.

During the presentations, there would be mini activities that had the girls critically think and engaged. Afterwards, the conference was split into two groups where they would each go to a workshop. The workshop was fun and provided useful information. Each workshop taught the girls the effects of stress and ways to de-stress.

The participants in the first workshops had learned that treating yourself comes in different ways. Yoga, meditation, exercise, drawing, music, reading, and more are some ways to relax and treat your body. One of the presenters had said that writing out your feelings or thoughts is a way to relax and release your emotions. Then they passed notebooks around where the participants could decorate and personalize them.

The second and last workshop included treating your body by eating right. The presenters talked about nutrition being a main component of your health. Eating food affects your mood and health. Eating healthy foods makes you motivated, positive, and prevents health issues while junk food leaves you sluggish, tired, and possibly at risk to different health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure. Lots of useful information provided where the girls could apply them and take care of themselves when they are experiencing stress. After the presentation, the girls were lined up so they could make a DIY bath scrub, which was also a way to help de-stress.

Overall, this conference was an opportunity for many of the girls to learn, be aware of their health, and have fun.

 

Story by Jasmine Duong, Sac BHC Youth Media Team member

from Sacramento Building Healthy Communities http://ift.tt/29dVImr

Across vast tracts of the Philippines, farmers are adapting their farming methods to withstand climate change. They're producing food in times of drought and typhoons through resilient forms of ecological agriculture. Meanwhile some scientists are saying ‘wait, we’ll feed you eventually with a form of rice that has not yet been grown outside of a highly controlled research environment’.

It’s known as GE ‘Golden’ rice, but it’s far from golden as the name tries to suggest. It has failed as a solution and isn’t currently available for sale, even after more than 20 years of research. Even its developer, the International Rice Research Institute, has admitted there is no proof that it will address Vitamin A Deficiency responsible for widespread malnutrition.

So in the absence of a promised ‘solution’ from the advocates of genetic engineering, farmers in the Philippines - where ‘Golden’ rice is being researched - are getting their hands dirty producing food that actually feeds families and will equip them to withstand the effects of climate change.

Greenpeace has been supporting them.

So when we are accused of blocking the development of ‘Golden’ rice by a group of scientists, we can only point to the facts: there is no ‘Golden’ rice. It is a likely dead end. A failed, expensive experiment. Instead, what the Philippines needs, and millions of farmers across the world, is support they can use. This is not just our opinion, but the view of scientists with considerable experience of the issue and who have published their findings in the peer reviewed scientific literature.

It is no coincidence that in the run-up to an important decision on GE food labelling in the US state of Vermont, that the issue of ‘Golden’ rice has been raised again. Golden rice has been the poster child of the GE lobby groups keen to pave the way for global approval of other more profitable genetically engineered crops.

So let’s look at this issue from the right perspective.

The Greenpeace campaign for ecological food and farming is built on rigorous scientific analysis, supported by extensive internal discussions and developed in consultation with external experts. The solutions we campaign for are science-based and proven in theory and practice. We campaign against an introduction of GE crops, pesticides and other chemicals in the industrial farming system and promote an ecological farming model that works with biodiversity and respect for planetary boundaries to support sustainable food production.

Today we have been challenged by a diverse group of scientists, a group with which Greenpeace has a fundamental difference of perspective. This group of scientists appears to be perpetuating a myth. Other scientists have assessed agriculture and food production in a more multidisciplinary way. Agriculture is not solely a technological activity with a pure focus on high yields. Agricultural fields harbor biodiversity, they serve as a source of clean water and rural areas should be a place for thriving and sustainable economies.

Development, use and effectiveness of technologies such as GE should not be assessed from a one-sided perspective - in this case a historically deeply embedded and technocratic perspective of western scientists. In analysing GE in a multidisciplinary way, as 400 agricultural experts of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science Knowledge and Technology for Development (IAASTD) did in 2008, it is clear that GE crops will not solve the urgent issues of climate resilience, ecological impacts and food insecurity. Instead, the use of GE crops leads to new problems from pesticide use, to the market dominance of a few powerful companies and generates some fundamental doubts concerning our ability to feed the world’s population if this highly technological paradigm persists

So rather than support a costly experiment such as ‘Golden’ rice that has failed to produce results for the past 20 years and which has diverted attention from methods that already work, the world’s scientists should focus instead on climate proofing global agriculture. We need to address malnutrition through a more diverse diet, equitable access to food and a shift to climate resilient eco-agriculture.

Sound and ethical science clearly shows it would be irresponsible to impose GE ‘Golden’ rice as a quick-fix remedy to people on the frontlines of climate change. It doesn’t work.

Droughts and typhoons in the Philippines will not wait - and Filipino farmers don’t have time to wait for a golden goose. There are safe and effective options already available to help farmers feed their communities and there’s a real chance here for governments and the philanthropic community to support these endeavours.

Greenpeace is campaigning for a paradigm shift, a transition, from industrial agriculture to ecological farming. A food system based on diversity instead of endless monocultures of crops with high chemicals inputs. A model which works with nature, instead of against it. This agroecological model is backed by independent scientists, farmers, communities and consumers all over the world. Modern GE-free smart breeding technologies are a part of the solution. A technology such as marker assisted breeding enables breeders to identify crops with beneficial traits – such as increased vitamin or mineral content, climate resilience, or resistance against plant diseases. It’s happening, on the field, with far bigger effectiveness to solve the urgent crises agriculture and food production than GE so far has shown, with lower costs, both economically as for the environment.

Herman van Bekkem is Ecological Farming Campaigner at Greenpeace Netherlands and Wilhelmina Pelegrina is Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaign Coordinator at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/29sYssR

Last week I visited the Svalbard archipelago in the northern Barents Sea to bear witness to the rapid changes occurring in the Arctic. In many ways, the Arctic is the frontline of dramatic environmental changes that will impact everyone.

Until recently, the northern Barents Sea, one of Earth's last pristine environments, had been safely protected with ice cover. However, this is no longer the case. Due to the effects of climate change, sea ice is melting, the area is changing dramatically, and a new ocean is opening up. This enables the oil and fishing industries to expand into the far North.

This far away land and its seas are no longer what they used to be and are surprisingly not protected. Norway, due to its role in deciding what happens in these waters, has a key part to play. If we are to retain what we have left, and make the area more able to be resilient in the face of the changing climate, the Norwegian government must make the waters a marine protected area. Up to now, however it has shown a lack of political will to do so.

Giant fishing trawlers bulldozing the sea

Having spent 20 plus years as a climate campaigner, I didn't travel to the Arctic with rose-colored glasses. I knew the ice was melting. The Earth's 2015 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA reports that spring 2016 was the hottest recorded in the Northern hemisphere.

With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, the ancient glaciers of Svalbard are retreating. Witnessing the ice melt – with my own eyes in my new role as Executive Director, Greenpeace International – I imagined the day in just a short few decades when the Arctic will have ice-free summers and it petrified me.

Climate change is opening up the northern Barents Sea and the fishing industry is advancing further to the North each year. Which means previously untouched areas are turning into a new hunting ground. Dozens of giant trawlers are already above the 78th parallel, a historic development.

This industry is using bottom trawling as part of their practice. Bottom trawling does not mean just taking cod; it is like clear-cutting forests but underwater. The trawlers carry 100-metres long nets weighing with heavy metal rollers that smash everything in their path. They are like bulldozers of the sea. Fragile seabed communities of sea pens and corals that need decades to grow can be wiped out in seconds. And with the industry, comes trash.

Arctic islands are covered with trash

Probably like most people who don't live here, I imagined this part of the Arctic as a land of ice and snow with limited traces of human beings. I expected to see more glaciers and more majestic ranges covered in white. Instead our Greenpeace crew, campaign team and the three winners of our poster competition, found trash.

I wasn't sure how much trash we would find, but at the end of day one we had collected a large mound of trash – buoys, fishing nets, rope, glass, plastic bottles and more. The recurring piece of trash though was shoes – was this a message about our human footprint?

For Svalbard, it is estimated that about 80 percent of the trash washed ashore comes from industrial fishing. In annual Barents Sea fisheries surveys the highest litter counts coincide with areas of intensive fishery and shipping.

These items are not only a blight on the landscape, they are dangerous. Reindeer, polar bears and other animals get entangled in old fishing nets and suffocate. Birds consume toxic particles of plastic. Plastics can carry pollutants that, if ingested, may also accumulate through the food chain.

As part of our 'Protect What You Love' campaign, the team decided to organize a beach clean up to raise awareness about the consequences of bottom trawling and the trash left behind by the fishing industry.

According to UNESCO, globally, up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die each year from eating plastic or getting entangled in plastic debris.

Urgent need for legal protection

This unequivocal destruction of the underwater ecologies is legal. The current protected areas cover just a small part of unique marine habitats, and the rest is open for destructive oil production and industrial fishing.

For now, some of the world's largest seafood and fishing companies have committed to not expand their search for cod into large, previously un-fished areas in the northern Barents Sea in the Norwegian Arctic.

The initiative, brokered by Greenpeace, marks the first time an entire industry has collectively called for Arctic protection – in the absence of legal protection in these areas.

The agreement states that any fishing company expanding into the agreed to Arctic waters will not be able to sell their cod to a number of major seafood brands and retailers. But the agreement, though in good faith, is voluntary.

Our environment – whether it is the Arctic or the Amazon – needs protecting. I believe the Arctic waters are crucial for the life of our planet and should be protected.

The Norwegian government needs to act fast to ensure these previously untouched areas of the northern Barents Sea are protected and any expansion of fishing is stopped.

Jennifer Morgan is Executive Director at Greenpeace International.

This story first appeared on The Huffington Post.

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/290bHiJ

The Steinway baby grand piano was slung and swung on board in Germany, it was lashed down in the hold and we headed north. We took in a storm off the coast of Norway where green seas were shipped over the pitching bow and portholes resembled washing machines. As the degrees of latitude rose, those of temperature dropped. When we crossed the Arctic Circle and all the time we traveled I wondered what sound would finally come out of that adventurous piano.

Ludovico joined in Longyearbyen. We took him out onto the fjords in search of ice. It wasn't difficult to find. 28 miles from Longyearbyen is Wahlenbergbreen – a surging glacier. I approached slowly, bringing the Arctic Sunrise into Yoldiabukta Bay, looking for leads through the ice and weaving my way between aquamarine icebergs and bergy bits so striped with moraine that they resembled select candies.

In the last mile we left our satellite footprint behind. We had found the edge of the world and became unplugged from distraction. All attention became focused on the elements of the bay whilst our intention was firmly founded on Saving The Arctic. A ringed seal craned its neck from atop a block of ice and watched the Greenpeace boat glide slowly past.

I found anchorage in a depth of 60 meters of water in position 78°29'N 14°18'E just 550 meters off the ice wall. The stage was lowered to the water, set with geometric angles that reflected the arctic light. The baby-grand was set upon the stage and a piano stool passed out the pilot door. Ludovico donned a lifejacket and stepped off the boat.

When his fingers struck the first keys I was standing at the pilot door to the Arctic Sunrise. Ludovico Einaudi, rafted up beside the ship, played the first note of Elegy to the Arctic. The moment was suspended above the lapping sound of water and the crystalline chink of ice melting. My spine tingled and I wept – it was beautiful beyond words. He floated away with his grand piano towed behind a dinghy. The music drifted up, punctuated by the ice cliffs imploding, rumbling, plunging and as if in applause the collapsing ice sent waves racing out to rock us all together.

He played for the Arctic Terns, the Awks, the White Winged Gulls and the Black Legged Kittiwakes. He played for the crew of the Arctic Sunrise. He played for the 8 million who have lent their signatures to Save The Arctic. He played for those generations to come and he played for my son, Gwynfi on his 4th birthday.

Captain Mike Fincken has been sailing with Greenpeace for over 20 years.

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/292ro9t

My name is Jasmine Duong and I’m an incoming junior at Hiram Johnson High School. My hobbies consist of studying, reading, watching YouTube videos, hanging with my friends, and filming for fun and when I feel inspired. I’m also a 16 year old without a dream. I have always lived my life being criticized and told what to do. I was planning my whole life and preparing myself to be a nurse because I loved science and medicine and because I had to.

When it came to filming, as cliche as it sounds, it makes me feel alive because I don’t have to focus on myself or the future anymore but a camera and the videos I make. I love making videos for my audience. I want it to make people laugh, but at the same time spread a meaningful message. Although, I lost my confidence as a kid, I still want to keep going and reach the goal of making an amazing film. Filming will always be my passion.

I don’t know what I’m going to film yet, but I know that it gives me a stage whether it’s big or small. My voice can be heard.

from Sacramento Building Healthy Communities http://ift.tt/295rZKS

My name is Calvin Szeto, I am 16 years old, and I am currently a junior attending West Campus High School. I do have some experience with cameras and editing as I own a Sony HDR-AS20 camera and have used iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. Some of my hobbies include shoe collecting/reselling, playing basketball and badminton, and watching movies. I feel that I am an unpredictable person, it all depends on how I wake up and the weather.

My plans for the future are to graduate high school, get into a 4 year college, get my Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch), and to be an architect and maybe have my own firm. I feel that the summer program will benefit me in the future if i decide to pursue a career in the field of media/ filmmaking. I am looking forward to going to places that I have not been to before, meeting new people, and covering the events.

Finally, my favorite quote is #YaTuSabes.

from Sacramento Building Healthy Communities http://ift.tt/295s55o

Fire is the fundamental human technology, the foundation of everything that came after in human societies. Controlled fire transformed our diet, physiology, psychology, language, social structure, technologies, and our relationship to the rest of nature. 

 

Some archeologists believe that fire management provided the change that distinguished us from other social mammals. Although we are enamoured by the power of modern technologies, an understanding of our relationship with simple fire informs us about genuine solutions to our ecological impasse. 

 

The discovery and use of fire

 

Non-human animals are known to use natural fire. Hawks, cheetahs, and other species hunt prey disrupted by fire. Savanna chimpanzees are not intimidated by fire, behave sensibly around it, and will hunt food after a fire passes. Humans likely used fire for millions of years, before they could ignite or control it. 

 

Fire maintenance likely began among Homo erectus communities, who moved from forest to savanna habitats. Fire ignition followed, and may have contributed to a cognitive advance, the use of intermediaries — tender and kindling — to ignite a slow burning fuel. Evidence of intentional fire exists around a million years ago, in archeological sites from Chesowanja, Kenya to Yunnan Province, China. 

 

Three hundred thousand years ago, fire-based technologies existed throughout Eurasia, including stone hunting tools warmed to improve working qualities and hafting glues that required fire to prepare. Fire allowed humans to seize caves previously occupied by other large, fierce mammals. Fired pottery existed twenty thousand years ago, and metallurgy five thousand years ago. During this long history of fire use, hominids distinguished themselves from all other large mammals. Meanwhile, fire revolutionized human society. 

 

The need for fuel and fire maintenance likely led to a division of labour among early hominids. Human communities grew more stationary around the fire and hearth, transforming vocal communication, language, and eventually story-telling. During a million years of fire management, the Homo genus evolved a waking day of about 16 hours, much longer than most other mammal species, and gained survival advantages that our species enjoys to this day. 

 

Cooking may have been fire’s greatest social impact, since it made more calories available from foods, reduced the energy cost of digestion, and freed that energy for other enterprises, tool-making, art, and social interaction. Every species is constrained by its available energy, and cooking gave humans an energy boost, which led to additional technological innovation. These developments also changed human brains, mating habits, and gender divisions of labor. Among most primates, males and females gather the same food. Once hominids controlled fire, males spent more time on wide range hunting and defense, and females and elders refined social ritual and language around the hearth. Fire contributed to food sharing and longer childhoods, and thus greater learning potential. 

 

However, the costs of fire can be high. Cooking fires make a stationary community more vulnerable to predators or invasion, so security became a more constant labour. Fuel-foraging depleted local brush and trees. Some Neolithic settlements, such as Çatal höyök in modern Turkey, provide evidence of long distance foraging for firewood and of woodland management. Fire allowed metal technologies, which led to early mining, which required more wood-burning, and led to localized mineral depletions and deforestation.

 

One of humanity’s oldest surviving stories, the Epic of Gilgamesh from Sumer, at least five thousand years old, begins in a settlement protected by kiln-fired brick walls. The story discusses forest depletion, drying marshes, social oppression, and abuse of power, all linked to the power of controlled fire. We witness here, fundamental dysfunctions that remain with society today. 

 

Fire, extinctions, and ecological overshoot  

 

By 50,000 BC, long before agriculture, Homo sapiens population growth surged, and anthropologists find evidence during this period of animal and plant extinctions, primarily caused by controlled human fire used as a hunting technique.

 

Around 47,000 BC, humans arrived in Australia, regularly set fire to the landscape to flush prey, and eradicated dozens of large mammals, marsupials, reptiles, and flightless birds. The burning also caused localized climate change by reducing water vapour. Declining cloud cover shifted the monsoon cycle, the Nullarbor grassland became desert scrub, and once abundant Lake Eyre became a salt flat. 

 

When human communities advanced into the Western Hemisphere, about 75% of large mammals (mastodons, mammoths, giant beavers, bears, and tigers) vanished. Similar mass extinctions occurred when humans arrived in Madagascar, Hawaii, and in New Zealand.

 

How does this knowledge help us now? We can see that humanity did not require industrial fossil fuel technology to cause species collapse and climate disruption. Sheer numbers, stone tools, and a plentiful external energy source were sufficient. University of British Columbia professor Dr. William Rees, developer of “ecological footprint” analysis, explains that certain mammalian traits led our species to overshoot ecosystem resources even prior to industrial technology. Like other large mammals, humans are “K-strategists,” (“K” stands for a habitat’s capacity, German Kapazität), which means we have evolved to occupy all accessible habitats and use all available resources. 

 

Evolutionary success has costs and, without restraints, can be fatal. Nature taught us to be aggressive and rapacious, as survival skills, but didn’t teach us how to stop. We have to do that ourselves. To solve our ecological dilemma, humanity has to reverse its expansion. Continued growth for a successful species that has overshot its habitat will lead to collapse. 

 

External energy and Food

 

When a plant or animal’s energy use relies directly on the sun or food, habitat capacity acts as a restraint on growth, and each species remains in dynamic homeostasis as witnessed in predator-prey cycles or in our own gardens. In 1922, Polish-American biophysicst Alfred Lotka, who developed predator-prey dynamics, published “Contribution to the energetics of evolution,” proposing that evolution was driven by the ability to access available energy. Trees grow more leaves so they can transform more energy. The sharp eyes of the hawk help it process more energy, with less energy cost. 

 

All plants and animals other than humans rely solely on energy from the sun or food, internal, which biologists call “endosomatic” energy. The energy humans derive from fire, work animals, fossil fuels, hydro dams, or solar panels, is “exosomatic,” energy retrieved from outside our bodies. The elites throughout history have also gained exosomatic energy from slaves and exploitive wages for labour.

 

The average human requires about 2,400 food calories (kilo-calories) per day, about 3,600 megajoules (MJ) each year. In pre-fire hominid societies, each person consumed roughly this much energy from food. Fire provided humans with about 15,000 MJ of extra energy each year, 4-times more external energy than internal energy from food, a 4:1 ratio. About a billion people today still live roughly on this fire-level energy budget. In the poorer nations such as Haiti and Senegal, the average energy consumption is about twice this level, an 8:1 ratio of exosomatic energy. 

 

However, in rich, industrial nations, the use of external energy soars. Europeans use about 40-times as much external energy as they get from food, and the average US, Canadian, or Scandinavian citizen uses about 90-times as much external energy. Among the super-rich, jet-set, multiple-home elite, this energy use can skyrocket to 1000-times as much external energy. We could solve most of our energy problems by limiting frivolous energy waste among the rich.

 

Industrial nations spend about 15% of their energy budget to grow food. The so-called “green revolution” was really a black revolution, relying on fossil fuels for fertilizer, machinery, transport, and packaging of food. A study by Mario Giampietro and David Pimentel shows that food delivered to the consumer in North America requires ten-times more energy than the food contains. When we add the energy cost of storage, cooking, and waste, industrial food has a negative net energy of over 12:1. Nate Hagens, who teaches “Reality 101” at the University of Minnesota, points out that humanity’s food today is not an energy source, it is “a vast energy sink .” In the natural world, spending more energy to get food than the food contains proves unsustainable.

 

Since 80% of our energy use comes from fossil fuels, we are essentially eating oil. To achieve this level of food production, industrial agriculture has depleted soils, spread toxins, disrupted nutrient cylces, and launched an era of rapid global heating.  In short, humanity has used Earth’s vast energy stores to overshoot their ecological habitat. 

 

Humanity’s destructive consumption of exosomatic energy started with the advent of controlled fire, and that basic fire economy has never disappeared. Firewood use never declined and remains an important source of energy for humans. Coal did not replace wood, but only added to our energy consumption. Oil, gas, and nuclear power did not replace coal and hydropower, but only added to our energy consumption. One might imagine “replacing” oil with renewables, but so far, renewable energy simply adds more energy. Historically, humans only stop using an energy source when it is depleted.  

 

Learning to reduce our energy consumption — not just finding more — remains at the heart of our ecological challenge.

 

==============    

 

Notes and sources:  

 

Human use of fire

 

Clark JD, Harris JWK. 1985 Fire and its roles in early hominid lifeways. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 3, 3–27, Springer, 1985.

 

Discovery of Fire by Humans, J. Gowlett

http://ift.tt/291oLpn

 

Fischer-Kolwalski, M. and Haberl, H. eds. (2007) Socio-ecological transitions, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

 

Energy for Cooking, R.M. Amaraskara

http://ift.tt/290K26i

 

Overshoot, energy, and food: 

 

Historic Overshoot, from Deep Green 

http://ift.tt/291oUcs

 

Alfred J.Lotka, “Contribution to the energetics of evolution”; Proc Natl Acad Sci, 8, May, 1922

 

Energy content of food: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:

http://ift.tt/1zp38JW 

 

Food energy use increase: US Dept. of Agri. Report, P. Canning, et. al.: 

http://ift.tt/291oXVJ

 

Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy: Pimentel, David and Giampietro, Mario. Carrying Capacity Network, 11/21/1994. http://ift.tt/291oHWC

 

Human appropriation of the products of photosynthesis, Vitousek, P.M. et al. Bioscience 36, 1986. http://ift.tt/290JKfJ

 

Constraints on the Expansion of Global Food Supply, Kindell, H., Pimentel, D.; Ambio Vol. 23 No. 3, May 1994. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. http://ift.tt/291oItt

 

“Eating Fossil Fuels,” Dale A. Pfeiffer, Wilderness Publications, 2003

http://ift.tt/290JWvv

 

Human energy use: EJOLT, Environmental Justice orgs. 

http://ift.tt/1b6G82m

 

Food Consumption and Access, Lynn Brantley, et al. Capital Area Food Bank, 2001

http://ift.tt/290JI7u

 

Diet for a Small Planet, Lappé, Frances Moore. Ballantine, 1971, revised 1991. 

http://ift.tt/291oToH

 

Energy and Population, Paul J. Werbos:  http://ift.tt/290JRrj

 

Impact of Population Growth on Food Supplies and Environment, Pimentel et al. 

http://ift.tt/291oUZO

 

World Energy Consumption, Gail Tverberg, Our Finite World

http://ift.tt/290JFZq

US Food System, U. of Michigan: http://ift.tt/291oLW7

Fertilzer energy use, Fertilizer Institute: http://www.tfi.org

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/290JUnj

-changing the world starts at home
To me, health is about more than physical wellness. It’s spiritual and emotional well-being and a sense of social belonging and purpose. These other facets of health are, in many ways, predecessors to good physical health. For people to achieve physical wellness, they must first value themselves. To develop habits that promote physical wellness requires time and effort that can only be fully applied by people who believe they are worth that commitment. That is why I am so excited to be a part of an organization like BHC that approaches improving my community’s health from all angles.

Building Healthy Communities is about promoting community engagement and youth education, improving access to healthcare and healthy foods, developing safer neighborhood environments, and fighting against the inequities that plague this area. It takes more than good doctors and big hospitals to generate health in a community.
South Sacramento is my home. There are many, like me, who have found that this city has provided them with all they’ve needed, but unfortunately, not everyone who lives here has the same opportunities available to them that I have had.

My younger brother and I went to different high schools, both in Sacramento, but had entirely different experiences. My high school had a retention rate of almost 100%, but my brother’s graduating class was nearly half of what it was when he entered high school. During the evenings, my brother and I like to go on runs to our neighborhood park. Should we have grown up just a few miles down the road, we might not feel safe running in the evenings, or even have a park in our neighborhood to run to.
Some of the smaller communities within Sacramento have significantly less than other communities, and few things contribute more to a person’s sense of self worth than does the message sent by their environment. For individuals to commit themselves to their own health, they must first know how, but then must have an environment that allows them to. This must happen at the community level. I believe that all people deserve the same opportunities to improve their own health and that neither zip code, ethnicity, nor pay grade should play a hand in determining those opportunities. I believe this to be true in all corners of the world

from Sacramento Building Healthy Communities http://ift.tt/290xWdn

Grand prize business start-up package valued at more than $100,000 with a $10,000 cash prize

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (June 27, 2016) – Downtown Sacramento Foundation (DSF) today announced Oblivion Comics & Coffee as the winner of the 2016 Calling All Dreamers competition. Co-owners Laura Benson and Neil Estaris were one of five finalists and 34 total business plans submitted this year.

Oblivion Comics & Coffee will feature new, vintage and independent comics, paired with craft coffee from Chocolate Fish and artisanal toast made in-house. Inspired by the DC Comic universe’s Oblivion Bar, a neutral space where superheroes and villains coincide peacefully, Oblivion Comics & Coffee will be a real, modern day safe-haven for comic lovers and coffee connoisseurs, alike.

“Each year, we are impressed by the caliber of business concepts submitted, and this year was no exception,” said Valerie Mamone-Werder, senior manager of business development at Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP). “This year saw the most viable business plans, making it one of the toughest selection processes, but after careful consideration of each finalist’s plan, market potential and financial longevity, Oblivion Comics & Coffee stood out as the most unique addition to downtown’s current mix of diverse retail.”

Although it is only one of many selection categories considered, Oblivion Comics & Coffee received a high majority of the more than 2,800 votes cast during the public voting period held in May.

“We are ecstatic the Downtown Sacramento Foundation agrees Oblivion will add to the unique vibe of downtown Sacramento,” said Benson. “Sharing Oblivion with everyone is the best part. We’ve had so many people reach out to us saying how much they want Oblivion to open, that they’ve been looking for a place just like it. It feels amazing to be able to provide this place for them and we’re crazy excited to connect the community of geeks and coffee lovers.”

“We can’t wait to finally transition from pen and paper to brick and mortar,” said Estaris. “Next we get to choose which location suits us the best. We’re looking at a few really cool options downtown and want to make sure we take the time to find the perfect space.”

Upon choosing a storefront in the 66-block downtown district, Benson and Estaris will be awarded a start-up incentive package valued at $110,000 that includes a combination of in-kind services and cash donations from contest sponsors to be used toward opening their shop in the downtown district.

Working closely with the DSF selection committee and downtown property owners, Benson and Estaris are considering a few storefront locations in the heart of downtown, near The Kay. Once a location is secured, they can begin taking advantage of the other start-up package prizes.

GRAND PRIZE PACKAGE

The 2016 Business Start-up Prize Package is valued more than $100,000 and includes a $10,000 cash prize in matching funds and a suite of business support services:

• $10,000 in start-up capital (matching funds)
• Up to six months free rent for a downtown storefront selected from several retail spaces within the downtown district
• Up to $10,000 in labor and services from MarketOne Builders to make the new space a perfect fit
• Brand development from MeringCarson
• Up to 25 hours of business and real estate-related transactional legal services from Smith, McDowell & Powell (SMP)
• Website and dynamic digital presence from Blanket Marketing Group
• Interior design consultation from LJ2 Interiors
• Point of sale hardware provided by POS Portal 
• Up to 15 hours of accounting consult related to financial and business operations from Brown, Fink, Boyce and Astle, LLP
• Three-month advertising campaign in Inside Publications’leading community-centric newspapers in the Sacramento area
• Consumer-focused media and public relations support from T-Rock Communications 
• One year free phone and internet services, or a donation of $2,500 dependent on the storefront location, from Consolidated Communications
• Semi-finalists are paired with a SCOREmentor – a seasoned business professional to provide guidance and help refine business strategies throughout the competition and after
• Set of business cards and graphic flyers from TDogg Studios

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Since the program’s inception in 2013, the Calling All Dreamers competition has helped turn entrepreneurial vision into reality by offering a variety of resources and tools to help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of their first year in business.

To date, the Calling All Dreamers competition has helped launch 11 new businesses in downtown Sacramento, either through the grand prize or continued support after the competition. In all, they have leased more than 13,500 sq. ft. of retail space and created 13 full-time and 53 part-time jobs. New businesses include Andy’s Candy Apothecary, The Dailey Method, Ana Apple, Allspicery, Figs and Feta, Sun & Soil, Off the Chain Bike Bus Tours, Metro Juice, Benjamins Shoes, The Workspace: Fashion Incubator, and Whired Wine.

The 2016 Calling All Dreamers competition is made possible by the generous support of the following sponsors who continue to be champions for the economic growth of the downtown core and the Sacramento region: The City of Sacramento Economic Development Department; SMUD; MeringCarson; Consolidated Communications; Blanket Marketing; LJ2; Wells Fargo; Market One Builders; Smith, Mc Dowell & Powell, A Law Corporation; BFBA; POS Portal; Inside Publications; TDogg Studios; and T-Rock Communications.

For more about the competition and grand prizewinner, Oblivion Comics & Coffee, visit http://ift.tt/O2SN0K. All media inquiries, please contact Jordyn Anderson at janderson@downtownsac.org.

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About Downtown Sacramento Foundation

Downtown Sacramento Foundation (DSF) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to support and foster civic pride through cultural, social, economic and physical improvements in downtown Sacramento.   

The post Oblivion Comics & Coffee announced as winner of 2016 Calling All Dreamers competition appeared first on Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

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Last year was the worst year on record for the murder of environmental activists, and more killings took place in Brazil than in any other country in the world.

Activists across the globe are facing increasing violence as they stand up for the planet. An environmental defender was assassinated almost every other day in 2015, according to a new report from Global Witness.

Of those killed, a severely disproportionate number – 40 percent – were Indigenous People. And 50 of the 185 murders worldwide took place in Brazil.

Global Witness found that fights against mining projects, agribusiness expansion and the construction of new hydroelectric plants were the main causes of the killings. Not coincidentally, these are the three priority areas for the supposed development agenda of the Brazilian government.

Brazil is facing an escalation of violence in remote areas, and murderers often face no consequences. Almost all of the murders of environmental defenders in Brazil took place in the Amazon, where criminal activity is common. The lack of governance in the region victimizes the forest and its people.

Only days ago, a Greenpeace Brazil team conducted a flight over ​​the Sawre Maybu Indigenous Land in the heart of the Amazon – home of the Munduruku Indigenous People – and found evidence of illegal logging and mining activities.

Just last week, there were clashes and deaths in three Brazilian states. In the state of Pará, Sergeant João Luiz de Maria Pereira was killed during an operation against illegal deforestation in the Jamanxim National Forest of Novo Progresso.

In Mato Grosso do Sul, a Guarani-Kaiowá Indigenous Person was shot dead in a 70 farmer attack on a farm neighbouring the Tey'i Kue Indigenous Land. Six other Indigenous People were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, including a 12-year-old child.

And in Maranhão, the Ka'apor people of the Alto Turiaçú Indigenous Land live under constant threat of attack. To prevent the invasion of their land and forest destruction, they have begun monitoring and patrolling their territory, but his has upset farmers and loggers seeking to exploit it. According to organisations that support the Ka'apor people, farmers and loggers are planning to attack villages. Yet the government agencies responsible for the safety of Indigenous People and their territory are not taking action.

If the Brazilian government doesn't immediately implement measures to address this growing violence – if it continues weakening the rights of Indigenous and traditional Peoples in the name of economic interests – there is no doubt that there will be more victims.

Environmental defenders are putting their lives at risk to protect their lands, forests and rivers against destructive industries. We must stand in solidarity with them – no matter where we are in the world.

You can start now. Stand with the Munduruku Indigenous People of Brazil, who are fighting to keep their traditional territory in the heart of the Amazon from being devastated by a massive dam.

Márcio Astrini is the public policy coordinator for Greenpeace Brazil.

Another version of this blog was posted by Greenpeace Brazil.

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Golden 1 Center with Downtown  Commons cranes in background 5th & L Streets   The Golden 1 Center construction currently includes: Installation of the roof solar system Installation of Million Trees panels at exterior soffits Installation of storefront & glazing at exterior north wall of Practice Facility Installation of exterior LED video panel supports at
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Reacting to the vote to leave the EU, Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said:

"Many of the laws that make our drinking and bathing water safe, our air cleaner, our fishing industry more sustainable and our climate safer now hang by a thread. But Greenpeace is determined that this country does not go back to year zero on environmental protection.

"Over the coming months we all need to demand that the government replaces European regulations protecting nature with new UK laws that are just as strong.

"There is a very real fear that Cameron's successor will come from the school that supports a bonfire of anti-pollution protections. The climate change-denying wing of the Conservative Party will be strengthened by this vote for Brexit. That means the green movement, indeed every Briton who values a clean and safe environment, may need to stand up for nature in the face of an attack on the natural world.

"The environment barely featured in this campaign. Whoever comes to occupy Downing Street does not have a mandate to gut the environmental laws that we all rely on to protect us from pollution."

John Sauven is the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK.

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/28X9eaS

Reacting to the vote to leave the EU, Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said:

"Many of the laws that make our drinking and bathing water safe, our air cleaner, our fishing industry more sustainable and our climate safer now hang by a thread. But Greenpeace is determined that this country does not go back to year zero on environmental protection.

"Over the coming months we all need to demand that the government replaces European regulations protecting nature with new UK laws that are just as strong.

"There is a very real fear that Cameron's successor will come from the school that supports a bonfire of anti-pollution protections. The climate change-denying wing of the Conservative Party will be strengthened by this vote for Brexit. That means the green movement, indeed every Briton who values a clean and safe environment, may need to stand up for nature in the face of an attack on the natural world.

"The environment barely featured in this campaign. Whoever comes to occupy Downing Street does not have a mandate to gut the environmental laws that we all rely on to protect us from pollution."

John Sauven is the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK.

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Work on 118 modular apartments moving right along. The Eviva project is unique because each prefabricated unit is built at an offsite plant then hauled to the construction site by truck to be stacked on top of the concrete podium. The units are then bolted together while plumbing, electrical and stucco exterior are added. Completion of the building could be this fall. An estimated cost to build
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This week held huge hope for the Arctic. We could have seen the start of a sanctuary protecting one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of our planet. But OSPAR nations meeting in Tenerife, Spain have failed the Arctic. Three countries, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, refused to engage in negotiations. As a result, the icy waters remain exposed to threats such as destructive fishing and risky oil drilling. 

As a deckhand on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, these last few urgent weeks of campaigning brought me to the Arctic. I witnessed first hand, for the first time, what millions of us worldwide are campaigning so hard to project.  

One week ago, the Arctic Sunrise was sailing from Longyearbyen, on the west coast of Svalbard, Norway, up to uncharted waters to the north. A crucial week leading up to the OSPAR meeting that could result in the protection of the first ten percent of this sanctuary, and the first internationally recognized protection for the North Pole. I’m below deck cutting giant letters spelling Save the Arctic out of particle board with a table saw, encased in noise-canceling headphones and goggles, trying to keep the edges straight and not cut off my fingers. The boson, a long-haired Kiwi named Grant, comes over to check up on the deck crew and tells us to go outside, because it’s really beautiful.

When I walk onto the deck, I gasp.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in Svalbard

We are surrounded absolutely by wilderness amid myriad pieces of ice, some as big as a truck, others the size of my fist. Ringing our horizon are snow-capped mountains, veins of snow weeping down their sides. The sea is glassy, reflecting a mirror image. In front of the bow, 500 kilometers away, is the towering, cracked wall of a surging glacier. All is still and silent, save for the tinkle and slap of water and ice. It’s like being in a frozen cathedral, voices intuitively hushed by the sheer power of this alien land.

I’ve spent years talking about the Arctic, knocking on doors and telling people why we need to protect this place from extractive industries like oil drilling, companies like Shell and Gazprom who take advantage of the melting sea ice brought on by a global climate crisis they helped create. I’ve watched documentaries, I’ve looked at countless photos, but nothing could prepare me for this moment, for actually being here. A year ago, to the day, I was in a kayak in the port of Seattle, Washington, paddling in a watery blockade in front of the Polar Pioneer, Shell’s giant oil rig that was headed for the Arctic. I never imagined I would actually be in the Arctic the following year.

 Sun over the Arctic Ocean in Svalbard

It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Tears of awe fill my eyes.

I want to be outside all the time, drinking in the beauty of this place. Every piece of ice is different. There are dark brown ones caked in mud, translucent chunks, electric blues, perfectly white mounds. As they melt, the waterline tends to melt faster, giving the illusion the icebergs are levitating a few inches above the sea. A seal keeps poking its head up to watch our activities, and when I’m crewing the RHIB, one of our small boats, he pops up just a couple meters away, black eyes looking curiously in our direction, with an eerily human-like face like that of a wise old man. Fulmars and gulls circle the ship, and little auks, being really bad at flying, paddle around the increasingly slushy ocean. Every now and then we hear a noise like thunder, and a pillar of ice calves off and fall into the sea, sending up a white cloud and moving the fabric of the ocean in rolling waves as the great chunks of ice tipped to find balance in the sea.

We’re here just two never-ending days, confusing our internal rhythms with the twenty-four hours of daylight. The longer we stay, the more we’re reminded just how wild this place is. The glacier crumbles before our eyes with increasing frequency, filling the ocean with more and bigger ice, the water covered in slush between the bigger growlers and bergy bits (each size of floating ice has a name, I found out through listening in to our ice navigator giving lessons on the bridge). As we heave the anchor to leave, I’m lucky enough to catch a sort of Fourth of July fireworks show grand finale, as towering pillar after pillar cracks off and smashes into the sea.

Ice Floating on the Arctic Ocean

Before I came here, I understood on an intellectual level why we need to save the Arctic, but never before have I felt the power of a place like this so deeply. Being here, surrounded by this frozen wonderland, it’s unconscionable to think of an oil rig or a trawling ship plowing through these waters. I think of the delegates of OSPAR, deciding on the fate of ten percent of the Arctic sanctuary that we’ve been working for, and I wish that instead of meeting in sunny Tenerife, they could have met here, voices hushed as they take in one of our last wild places, and perhaps our friend the seal could witness them breathe in the cold air, all debate melting like ice back into the sea.

Raise your voice to protect the Arctic.

Paloma is a deckhand on Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.

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Future site of Ice Blocks project on R Street, Sacramento After a fire destroyed the bones of the former Crystal Ice Block building last November, developer Heller Pacific is forging ahead with revised plans to develop the three block site. The land is now cleared and construction has begun at Block One next to Safeway. This $80 million development will have 145 residential
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Greenpeace activists are asking the company not to get involved in the construction of a enormous hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon.

Last week, Greenpeace activists gathered at Siemens headquarters in Germany and the Netherlands to protest the company’s likely involvement in the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam. If constructed, this massive dam would flood almost 400km² of Amazon rainforest and destroy the livelihoods of the Munduruku Indigenous people who’ve lived there for centuries.

Greenpeace Germany protesters hold a sign in front of Siemens headquarters that reads “Siemens, we want innovation instead of Amazon destruction” in German.

In Germany, the activists used the trunk of an illegally logged Amazon tree to highlight the deforestation the project would cause if it became a reality. They also marked a red line around the Munich-based headquarters to symbolize the ongoing unofficial demarcation of the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory, started last week by the Munduruku Indigenous People with the support of Greenpeace activists. Official recognition of Munduruku lands from the Brazilian government -- known as demarcation -- is the only way indigenous communities can gain the rights to their ancestral lands.

During the protest, Greenpeace Germany forest campaigner Sandra Hieke had a chance to present the CEO of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, with details of the destruction the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam would cause to the Amazon rainforest and the Munduruku Indigenous People. And she gave him a new Greenpeace report that explains the problems hydro-dams cause in the Amazon and a new company briefing on Siemens (in German). This was the first direct conversation between the CEO and members of Greenpeace. Hieke also spoke with him about the human rights violations that occur as part of the construction of many hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon, like the Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River. (To find out more, see the UN report published recently).

Companies like Germany’s Siemens, who provide the technology for hydroelectric dams, must publicly commit to not become involved in the Tapajós project. Instead of contributing to the destruction of the Amazon, Siemens and other companies should help Brazil develop a future with truly clean energy, like solar and wind to meet the country’s energy supply needs.

Greenpeace offices around the world have asked Siemens not to get involved in this devastating project. But the company has yet to distance itself.

Your voice can help make the difference. Join the call to protect the heart of the Amazon and stand in solidarity with the Munduruku people to stop the São Luiz do Tapajós dam.

Jannes Stoppel is a Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Germany.

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The movement to save the Arctic has become a great story. It crystallises some of the big challenges of our time into something simple and compelling, a way for millions of people to make sense of the world and work together to improve it. For three years people across the world have joined together to seek a protected sanctuary around the north pole, and an end to destructive industry across the Arctic.

We’ve come a long way towards that vision. Today, over eight million people have joined our movement. We have helped force one of the richest oil companies on earth - Shell - into almost total retreat. Thirty brave people risked their liberty in Russia and helped put the issue under a fierce global spotlight. Arctic drilling now looks less likely than at any point in the last two decades, and it’s thanks to the incredible global community who make up this movement.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been just three years since we launched the campaign. In 2013 the Arctic was far from the political or financial agenda. The oil companies saw it as just another ‘play’, the logical next step in the hunt for the last drops of oil on earth. Politicians assumed that it would be carved up, exploited, sold. We set out to change this tired old story, to turn drilling for oil in the Arctic into a rallying call for people power.

We’ve seen real drama along the way. The sight of a giant icebreaker forced to turn around in Portland was an incredible symbol of what people working together can do. On the other side of the world, thousands rode bicycles in Bangkok to celebrate a part of nature they might never see. These are just two amongst hundreds of events, rallies and actions. It is impossible to list them all.

Behind the scenes, this campaign has chipped away at the foundations of power. Through working with big institutional investors we've helped transform the Arctic from a source of industry bravado to a place of massive risk, both financial and reputational. We’ve made it harder for companies looking to drill and fish in the far north to clean up their image through brand partnerships, diminishing their cultural influence. The impacts of this have extended beyond the Arctic circle, helping to weaken relationships between corporations and politicians elsewhere in the world.

And the politics are starting to change. Some of the most powerful countries in the Arctic now openly embrace an agenda of protection, not exploitation. We’re still some way from creating a sanctuary, but this dream seems more possible than ever before. We’ve put together a coalition of people, groups and cultural figures who see the importance of this work, and who lobby independently on its behalf.

We always hoped that the Arctic campaign could ripple outwards across the world. The past three years has shown this happening in ways we never expected. When we win the campaign and create an Arctic sanctuary, when the oil companies retreat and Indigenous Peoples are treated with the respect they deserve, we will turn these small ripples into great waves of change. Together, we will save the Arctic. Thank you for being a part of this movement!

If you haven’t already, join more than 8 million people worldwide who want to #SaveTheArctic: http://ift.tt/Nv4yZu

Trillia Fidei-Bagwell is the Digital Engagement Team Leader for the Arctic campaign at Greenpeace International.

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