At today’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future put on by Gov. Jerry Brown featuring speakers: Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sir Richard Branson, Nancy Sutley and many more, it was widely acknowledged that with the combination of environmental factors of climate change and rising sea levels, California’s agricultural industry will be negatively impacted, including its multi-billion dollar wine industry. Follow the Green Blog Network for full report and analysis.

Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice! 

Eco Consulting * Eco Media

“Not one piece of our structure will end up in landfill,” says Smallworks president, Jake Fry. The gingerbread dwelling is fully sustainable and environmentally responsible with net zero impact on anything aside from your belly. “Every peppermint swirl, candy corn, and multi-coloured jujube will be stuffed into someone’s gob, probably at the end of a huge holiday dinner.”

Who hasn’t decorated their dining table or sideboard during the festive period and wanted to fit in an extra miniature Christmas tree, shiny bauble, or even one more entire gingerbread house? Smallworks has launched this increased density action for better and more efficient space use for your holiday table. Designed to fit on a standard-sized, appropriately-zoned holiday decorating space, the Gingerbread Laneway House works as a stand-alone structure or an additional dwelling to the rear of your traditional Gingerbread House.

Founded 6 years ago, Smallworks is Vancouver’s first and most established laneway house builder. They specialise in building small, beautiful homes and exceed the green building practices of Vancouver’s Green Home program. Inspired by Smallworks’ West House laneway house developed for the LiveCity site at the 2010 Olympics, this is their first foray into baked goods. The Gingerbread Laneway House was constructed by Kreation Artisan Cakes, experienced builders in fine gingerbread architecture.Metro Vancouver residents can visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/smallworks.homes between now and December 15 for a chance to win The Gingerbread Laneway House.

Dear Readers, Wine Lovers and Environmentalists: Please have a look at my recent article which originally appeared in the International Herald Tribune. It is also online at NYTimes.com with full LINK HERE.

by Paige Donner

Green Blog Network * Greening Hollywood * Greening Beauty 

Greening Paris * Greening Vancouver

 

Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice! 

 

Eco Consulting * Eco Media

In Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, on the banks of the Seine, there is a Carrousel that is now powered by renewable energy.

Renewable Energy Carrousel, Paris - photo by Paige Donner copyright 2011

All photos by Paige Donner copyright 2011

This City of Light is filled with carrousels. You can find them across the street from the Eiffel Tower, on the other side of the river at the foot of Trocadero, in the vast courtyard of the Hotel de Ville and many more locations throughout the city. But this one, just underneath the Eiffel Tower, is the city’s flagship Renewable Energy Carrousel. Its LED lights are the same color as the flickering lights that have the Tour Eiffel twinkling on the hour every evening.

On a recent sunny, Autumn day filled with the scent of fallen leaves, the carrousel was itself twinkling in the afternoon sunlight. And FYI – during the Christmas Holiday week, many of the carrousels are free for children to ride on.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice! 

Eco Consulting * Eco Media

Asked about the EIO and how it operates, 20 year old 

Katherine Belben, the NGO’sCommunications Coordinator, explained, “The EIO is the product of the current environmental and political climate. On the one hand we face impending environmental catastrophe which requires immediate action; and on the other we have world governments who appear incapable of reaching unified consensus to address the problem. The EIO has galvanised the support of a generation of people who, as well as wanting to glean knowledge and experience in an area set to become the growth engine of the 21st century, are simply not going to stand back and watch as that happens.”

“The required emissions reductions and investment in low carbon technologies can be achieved by creating a system which influences share price according to the environmental costs of a company’s actions. This is precisely what Environmental Tracking seeks to do,” added Sam Gill, Operations Director, Environmental Investment Organisation.

The Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK based NGO supported by a global research network, aims to persuade more companies to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and report to higher standards with the launch of four new regional Carbon Rankings this week.

The series of Environmental Tracking (ET) Global Carbon Rankings, featuring over 1,200 of the world’s largest companies, is part of a broader strategy to create a global market mechanism designed to tackle climate change.

By pioneering an open source approach to collaborative working the EIO has made it easy for those eager to be part of the climate solution to contribute, hold the world’s biggest companies to account, and, implement a powerful mechanism.

Kicking off with the release of the ET North America 300 today at 11am (GMT+1) Monday 24.10.11, the EIO will be releasing a regional Ranking each day this week. The ET Asia Pacific 300, ET BRICS 300 and an updated ET Europe 300 will follow on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each of these Rankings has been designed to put the spotlight on standards of public GHG emissions reporting across the world.

The Regional Rankings act as a precursor to the eagerly awaited ET Global 800, which looks purely at the largest 800 companies across the world without any geographical bias. This will go live at 11am (GMT) on Tuesday 1.11.11.

With the introduction earlier this month of the long awaited New Scope 3 Standard from theGreenhouse Gas Protocol (released 4.10.11), the EIO has taken a proactive approach to incentivise companies to adopt this important new standard in GHG Reporting. The finalised standard has been the result of a three year global multi-stakeholders process that included more than 2,300 participants and road-tested by 60 companies in 17 countries.

• The Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO) is a UK-based non-profit research body working in the field of eco-financial innovation. See eio.org.uk  
• Environmental Tracking 3.0, the short publication outlining the concept behind the Carbon Rankings is available as a digital download or in hardcopy from Lulu.com
• The EIO held an advance briefing on the launch of its Regional and Global Carbon Rankings last Friday 21.10.11 at the Carbon Show, London.
• Current live Indexes:

• The ET UK 100 Index can be viewed on Bloomberg by searching “ETETUKP:IND”; and,
• The ET Europe 300 Index can be viewed on Bloomberg by searching “ETETEURP:IND”.

• The Environmental Tracking (ET) Carbon Rankings are compiled from publicly available emissions data taken from company sustainability reports, annual reports and websites. The Rankings and the fully transparent methodology behind them can be viewed online at eio.org.uk
• The rankings are comprised of four data bands according to the status of a company’s data: A) complete, public, verified; B) complete, public but unverified; C) incomplete; and, D) no public data. In cases where there is no data available, companies are benchmarked against the worst performer in the same sector. Once in their respective categories, companies are ranked according to emissions intensity (emissions divided by turnover). Additionally, companies are advantaged according to the number of Scope 3 categories disclosed.

Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice! 

Eco Consulting * Eco Media

I’m pleased to announce that our new doc, Revenge of the Electric Car, begins its national theatrical rollout next week starting October 21 in LA and NY and then in 20+ cities over the next month (see list below).

If you’re in Los Angeles, please join us for our opening week launch at Landmark’s NuArt and our Opening Weekend Airstream Lounge Party!

Opening Week Screenings
11272 Santa Monica Blvd, West LA, CA 90025

Fri–Sat-Sun: 12:30 PM, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50 (Oct. 21-23)
Mon-Thurs: 5:10 PM, 7:30, 9:50 (Oct. 24-27)

Tickets available now via this site:
https://tickets.landmarktheatres.com/ticketing.aspx?theatreid=209

Opening Weekend Airstream Lounge Party
Sat-Sun: 2PM – 10PM

To support our opening weekend in LA on October 22-23, we’re bringing in the electric cars from the movie and setting up shop in a vintage Airstream around the corner from the NuArt Theater. You’ll find us next to Sideshow Books at 11323 Idaho Avenue. The Airstream Lounge is our all weekend drop-in cast and crew party for friends, media makers, and well-wishers. Come on by anytime from 2:30PM to 9:30PM to say hello to Gadget, Scarlett and other stars from our team, check out the EVs (Tesla, Leaf, Volt and Porsche), and hang out with us between screenings

Co-Host a Screening at a Theater

If your group would like to co-host one of our public screenings at the NuArt (or anywhere else during run of theater), we’ll try to set it up with you. Choose a show-time from the list above (if LA), then send us an email and let us know about how many people you’d like to host. We’ll try to arrange to have a Q&A with someone from the film there with you at your show. So far we have screenings with Causecast, Bioneers, GADA, LA Burning Man, the Black Rock Yearbook, Plugin America and Global Green.

Thanks to everyone for spreading the word and making our opening week a success!

Best,

CHRIS PAINE
Director

FORWARD THIS TO A FRIEND SHARE ON TWITTER POST ON FACEBOOK BRING YOUR ORGANIZATION TO SEE ‘REVENGE’ OCTOBER 21ST, 2011 Los Angeles, CA – Landmark Nuart New York, NY – Landmark Sunshine Cinema OCTOBER 28TH, 2011 Nashville, TN – The Belcourt Theatre NOVEMBER 4TH, 2011 Berkeley, CA – Landmark Shattuck Cinemas Boston, MA – Landmark Kendell Square Cinema Palo Alto, CA – Landmark Aquarius Theatre Portland, OR – Hollywood Theatre San Francisco, CA – Landmark Embarcadero Santa Fe, NM – Center for the Contemporary Arts Scottsdale, AZ – Harkins Theatres Camelview 5 NOVEMBER 7TH, 2011 Annville, PA – Allen Theatre NOVEMBER 11TH, 2011 Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theatre Chicago, IL – Gene Siskel Film Center Detroit, MI – Landmark Main Art Theatre Houston, TX – Alamo Theatres Mason Park Minneapolis, MN – Landmark Lagoon Cinema Sacramento, CA – Crest Theatre San Diego, CA – Landmark Ken Cinema Santa Rosa, CA – Summerfield Theatre Seattle, WA – Landmark Varsity Theatre NOVEMBER 18TH, 2011 Philadelphia, PA – Landmark Ritz at the Bourse NOVEMBER 23RD, 2011 St. Louis, MO – Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema NOVEMBER 25TH, 2011 Denver, CO – Landmark Chez Artiste Washington, DC – Landmark E Street Cinema DECEMBER 2ND, 2011 Atlanta, GA – Landmark Midtown Art Cinema JANUARY 5TH, 2011 Honolulu, HI – Honolulu Academy of the Arts Request the film for your city

Modeled after the NYC Day of Yoga, free and open to willing participants, Paris organizers of the event admitted they’d had 6,500 people sign up on the website to attend this morning’s hour-long practice in the 7th Arrondissement, en plein air. They had organized for and expected 2000 participants. 

The practice was led in both English and French and an elegant Cellist played on stage, accompanying the entire session with live sitar-like music. Practitioners were from all ages, mature to the young, and attendees included mothers with infants, families with children, young couples, men, women and even a few of our furry friends. 

Sponsors of the event which included BeYoga, Go Sport, SportForUs.com, Soy Joy, Lole, VaiVai and the Mairie de Paris, passed out complimentary yoga mats, t-shirts, energy bars, coconut water and tea and re-usable tote bags. 

On this gorgeous October Sunday morning of Paris Fashion Week, a yoga respite en plein air was a welcomed and stimulating detox! Namaste!!

All photos by Paige Donner c. 2011

See the full gallery on Posterous