http://www.cchange.net Covering the transformations to social, environment and economic sustainability Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:26:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Sea Change Radio covers the transformations to social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Change is accelerating in positive and negative directions: the clock is ticking in the race to see which will tip first—the problems or the solutions. Join Sea Change's Host, Alex Wise, as he provides in-depth analysis to help our audience understand possible remedies and potential pitfalls. Sea Change interviews sustainability experts including Paul Hawken, Stewart Brand, Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Lester Brown, and many others. Sea Change airs on over 30 radio stations around the country. Alex Wise clean Alex Wise awise@cchange.net awise@cchange.net (Alex Wise) 2007-2011 Making Connections for Sustainability Sustainability, Climate Change, Human Rights, Environment, Corporate Responsibility, Socially Responsible Investing, Accountability, Stakeholders, Clean Tech, Renewable Energy, Green Jobs, Wealth Divide http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/cwr-images-archive/SeaChangeRadioTAG_square144_sm.jpg http://www.cchange.net Weekly http://www.cchange.net/2012/01/31/walmart-green-or-greed-part-i/ http://www.cchange.net/2012/01/31/walmart-green-or-greed-part-i/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:57:10 +0000 Alex Wise http://www.cchange.net/?p=4146 http://www.cchange.net/2012/01/31/walmart-green-or-greed-part-i/feed/ 0 alex wise,csr,Grist,marc gunther,sea change,sea change radio,stacy mitchell,sustainability efforts,Sustainable Business,walmart Author, researcher and advocate, Stacy Mitchell talks about Walmart’s sustainability efforts. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/StacyMitchell-150x150.jpg)(http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grovvy-Green-Walmart-Logo-150x150.jpg)Walmart. What does the name of the world’s largest retailer evoke for you? Do you think of its reputation as a poor employer and its anti-union tactics? Do you lump it in your mind with other large corporations who worship profit at the expense of environmental and social justice? Or perhaps you’re among those who respect Walmart’s more recent initiatives to improve its environmental impact, cut back on energy use, and reduce packaging. Today on Sea Change Radio, we begin a two-part series in which we speak with two writers for whom the name Walmart evokes very different things. This week, host Alex Wise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Wise) talks with author, researcher and advocate, Stacy Mitchell who recently published a 6-part series for Grist (http://grist.org/series/2011-11-07-walmart-greenwash-retail-giant-still-unsustainable/) on Walmart’s sustainability efforts. Mitchell believes that the company’s purported efforts to improve its sustainability profile are mostly window dressing, a ploy to change the media narrative of Walmart’s poor track record without actually changing its overall negative global impact. Next week we will hear a contrasting opinion from reporter Marc Gunther who’s written extensively on Walmart, as well. Gunther is more impressed by the company’s sustainability efforts, believing that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good, and that when a giant like Walmart makes moves toward environmental responsibility it is worth taking notice. But first, our discussion with Stacy Mitchell. Alex Wise clean http://www.cchange.net/2010/07/13/a-brand-nuclear-day-green-icon-stewart-brand-takes-controversial-stance/ http://www.cchange.net/2010/07/13/a-brand-nuclear-day-green-icon-stewart-brand-takes-controversial-stance/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:50:20 +0000 Alex Wise http://www.cchange.net/?p=2606 http://www.cchange.net/2010/07/13/a-brand-nuclear-day-green-icon-stewart-brand-takes-controversial-stance/feed/ 1 amory lovins,environmental movement,Grist,long now foundation,mark jacobson,merry prankster,nuclear energy,stewart brand,ted conference,the well,whole earth,whole earth catalog Alex Wise speaks with Stewart Brand, author, Merry Prankster, and one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement. In the first part of this two-part interview, Brand discusses his provocative new book, (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ba_summer20_ph22-e1278996981860-150x150.jpg)(http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/StewartBrandIsRad-150x150.jpg)Alex Wise (http://www.cchange.net/about/alex-wise/) speaks with Stewart Brand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Brand), author, Merry Prankster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Pranksters), and one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement. In the first part of this two-part interview, Brand discusses his provocative new book, Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Discipline), and makes the case for nuclear energy expansion. Brand's pro-nuclear stance has certainly ruffled a number of feathers in the environmental movement. Since the book's publication, Brand has been debating luminaries on the topic from Amory Lovins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amory_Lovins)(Grist article (http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-13-stewart-brands-nuclear-enthusiasm-falls-short-on-facts-and-logic)) to Mark Jacobson (http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/) (here's video from TED conference): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8ccWSZkic Alex Wise clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/08/12/growing-food-growing-community/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/08/12/growing-food-growing-community/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:00:28 +0000 Francesca Rheannon http://www.cchange.net/?p=1543 http://www.cchange.net/2009/08/12/growing-food-growing-community/feed/ 2 Abby Youngblood,erik hoffner,fresh food,Grist,Growing Power,Just Food,organic farm,organic farming,orion grassroots network,scott kellogg,sustainable city,sustainable urban agriculture Sea Change Radio goes to the Northeast Organic Farm Association conference to talk with Will Allen of Growing Power, Abby Youngblood of Just Food, and Scott Kellogg, author of TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wil-allen.jpg) Sea Change Radio goes to the Northeast Organic Farm Association conference to talk with Will Allen (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html) of Growing Power (http://www.growingpower.org/), Abby Youngblood of Just Food (http://www.justfood.org/jf/), and Scott Kellogg, author of  (http://www.amazon.com/Toolbox-Sustainable-City-Living-Ourselves/dp/0896087808). A couple of weeks ago, Sea Change co-host Francesca Rheannon wrote an article titled Why Posterity Matters. In it, she lauded the efforts of PS 11 in Brooklyn (http://fort-greene.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/ps-11/), New York to educate its young students about the importance of good fresh food. The kids grow vegetables in the community garden next door. PS 11 serves a neighborhood that, while beginning to gentrify, is still predominantly poor, one where the problems of obesity and lack of access to affordable, healthy fresh food are rife -- and related. How to bring healthy, organic  food to low income communities was a recurrent theme at the recent conference (http://www.nofamass.org/conferences/index.php) of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, or NOFA (http://www.nofamass.org/index.php). Our first guest, Will Allen, was the keynote speaker. He says healthy food is at the forefront of community development; it’s a social justice issue to make sure all people have same access to good food. Allen is a leader in the movement to bring affordable organic food to all communities, especially city dwellers who usually can’t afford it. But Growing Power, the national organization he founded and directs, is about much more than that: it’s about building community by building skills, education and enterprise in sustainable urban agriculture. Right now, its work is centered in Milwaukee and Chicago, and comprises greenhouses, aquaculture operations and intensive composting. FOSCR (Friend of Sea Change Radio) Erik Hoffner (http://www.grist.org/member/1604) of Grist.org and the Orion Grassroots Network (http://www.oriongrassroots.org/) also met with Will Allen at the NOFA conference. Check out that interview here at Grist.org (http://www.grist.org/article/urban-ag-revolution). Abby Youngblood coordinates a program called Fresh Food For All. It’s run out of Just Food (http://www.justfood.org/about/), a nonprofit in NYC that works to establish a strong regional food system that’s socially just as well as environmentally sound. The program trains community gardeners all over the city, including in low income neighborhoods. It also connects urban residents with ex-urban farmers through farmers' markets and CSA (http://www.localharvest.org/csa/)'s. Scott Kellogg is the co-founder of the Rhizome Collective (http://archive.rhizomecollective.org/) of Austin, Tx, an education project promoting affordable sustainability. He’s now moved to Albany New York, where he’s replicating the collective as "Radix". Kellogg is also author of the book, TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING. He tells us about creative, affordable and low tech ways to grow food, recycle wastes and produce energy for ourselves in an urban environment. Francesca Rheannon clean 29:42 http://www.cchange.net/2009/07/16/big-agriculture-tipping-the-balance-of-regulation/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/07/16/big-agriculture-tipping-the-balance-of-regulation/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:49:06 +0000 Francesca Rheannon http://www.cchange.net/?p=1395 http://www.cchange.net/2009/07/16/big-agriculture-tipping-the-balance-of-regulation/feed/ 1 ACES,agribusiness,Climate Bill,Climate Change,Colin Peterson,farm lobby,food policy,food safety,Ghost Ranch,Grist,Henry Waxman,House Agriculture Committee We talk with food editor Tom Philpott of Grist.org about the impact of the farm lobby on the climate and food safety legislation. And Lisa Hamilton discusses food policy from the perspective of the small farmer. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tom_philpott-199x300.jpg) We talk with food editor Tom Philpott (http://www.grist.org/member/1554) of Grist.org (http://www.grist.org/) about the impact of the farm lobby on the climate and food safety legislation. And Lisa Hamilton (http://www.lisamhamilton.com/book/book.html) discusses food policy from the perspective of the small farmer. Her book is (http://www.lisamhamilton.com/book/DeeplyRooted.html).Big agriculture is coming under increasing scrutiny these days. A popular new film, Food, Inc (http://www.foodincmovie.com/). (http://www.foodincmovie.com/), takes a hard-hitting look at how our industrial food system harms our environment and our health. One environmental impact is on the climate. Agribusiness has a big greenhouse gas footprint (http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/factoryfarms/dairy-and-meat-factories/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-industrial-agriculture) -- whether it comes from methane from livestock, the petrochemicals that go into making pesticides, or the emissions from transporting food across countries and oceans. And then there's the issue of food safety. Every day seems to bring news of another outbreak of sickness from contaminated food produced by big industrial processing facilities. Congress is getting into gear. A new food safety bill (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875) sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman made it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month and will soon go to the House. But big agriculture has a some powerful friends in Congress, and they can tip the scales in their favor when it comes to regulation. Some say the bill will be devastating to organic and other small farmers (http://farmwars.info/?p=594), who aren't causing the food safety problems, but who can't afford the measures mandated by the bill. One of agribusiness' biggest champions is Colin Peterson (http://collinpeterson.house.gov/), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Grist.org's Tom Philpott says Peterson already has shown (http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-22-colin-peterson-villain) that he can wring major pro-agribusiness concessions on policy out of Henry Waxman -- he did it on the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act that just passed the house, after threatening to oppose the bill (http://www.hillheat.com/articles/2009/06/14/collin-peterson-mixing-climate-change-together-with-energy-independence-isnt-smart). Tom Philpott is a food editor for Grist.org, and he farms at Maverick Farms (http://www.maverickfarms.com/), a sustainable-agriculture nonprofit and small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. In her book DEEPLY ROOTED, Lisa Hamilton explores the lives of three farm families (http://www.looncommons.org/2009/07/10/sustainable-ag-rooted-rebooted/): Harry Lewis, an African-American organic dairy farmer in Texas, Virgil Trujillo, a Latino rancher at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, and the Podoll family in North Dakota who are breeding seeds (http://www.npsas.org/ovt.html) for diversity. Hamilton told Sea Change Radio that the new push to develop a regulatory label for "sustainability" (http://ecolabelling.org/blog/2009/07/09/sustainable-agriculture-label-in-the-works-in-the-us) might end up making things more difficult for small farmers, while letting agribusiness continue unsustainable practices. Lisa Hamilton is a journalist and photographer who writes about farmers, ranchers and agriculture. Read articles by Lisa Hamilton (http://www.lisamhamilton.com/article/article.html). Francesca Rheannon clean 28:12