http://www.cchange.net Covering the transformations to social, environment and economic sustainability Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:08:33 +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/2009/06/17/banking-futures-making-money-sustainable/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/06/17/banking-futures-making-money-sustainable/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:51:18 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=980 http://www.cchange.net/2009/06/17/banking-futures-making-money-sustainable/feed/ 0 Alternative Economic Models,Climate Change,Community Economic Engagement,doug rushkoff,international finance corporation,Life Inc,Local Currency,Local Living Economies,Lyle Estill,Peter Blom,Renewable Energy,Sustainable Agriculture Banks are increasingly viewed as a bane to a healthy economy.  But done right, banks can play a key role in the shift to sustainability.  Today, Sea Change presents three perspectives on futures for banking.  Peter Blom, (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/PeterBlom-100x150.gif)(http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/DougRushkoff-150x150.jpg) Banks are increasingly viewed as a bane to a healthy economy.  But done right, banks can play a key role in the shift to sustainability.  Today, Sea Change presents three perspectives on futures for banking.  Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank (http://www.triodos.com/) in the Netherlands, proposes a shift in the mission of banks, from maximizing profit to maximizing sustainability.  Doug Rushkoff (http://rushkoff.com/), author of (http://lifeincorporated.net/), discusses how a surplus of debt that banks needed to sell triggered the financial meltdown.  (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/LyleEstill.jpg)And Lyle Estill (http://lyleestill.com/blog/?page_id=4) describes the role a chapter in his book (http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3993) played in a local currency in North Carolina, The Plenty, being carried by a local bank. Triodos Bank was just named Sustainable Bank of the Year (http://www.triodos.com/com/whats_new/latest_news/press_releases/triodos_most_sustainable_bank) in an award (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e1dafe8c-51a4-11de-b986-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=590f3c26-4564-11da-981b-00000e2511c8.html) from the Financial Times and International Finance Corporation (http://www.ifc.org/).  Last year, Triodos CEO Peter Blom was knighted into the Order of Orange-Nassau (http://www.triodos.com/com/whats_new/latest_news/press_releases/603833) for pioneering sustainable saving and investment schemes.  At the recent Summit on the Future of the Corporation (http://www.summit2020.org/), Blom facilitated a World Cafe (http://www.theworldcafe.com/) session where Francesca recorded his comments on the changes necessary to achieve sustainability -- from the individual to the systemic level. Doug Rushkoff discusses the instrumental role banks played in the current financial crisis.  His new book ,LIFE INC, is about how corporatization is holding our lives as captives, all the way down to our individual identity.  In the book, Rushkoff presents the counter-intuitive notion that a surplus of money caused our collective financial crisis. This is an excerpt from a longer interview he gave Francesca and Bill. Finally, we end with a story of hope: the role banks can play in supporting local currency (http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm), and the revitalization of regional economies.  Lyle Estill's story of how a chapter in his book, SMALL IS POSSIBLE, helped inspire a local bank to back a local currency in North Carolina serves as a launching pad for Estill to discuss the larger context of how local economies can help solve our concurrent crises around climate change, resource depletion. This segment is excerpted from a much longer interview he gave Francesca, which we'll air later in the season. Bill Baue clean 29:11 http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/community-governance/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/community-governance/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 19:35:37 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=840 http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/community-governance/feed/ 0 Community Economic Engagement,community governance,corporate governance,Fair Trade,Fair Trade Towns,Green Living,human rights,jessie smith noyes foundation,Labor Rights,Local Living Economies,Shareholder Engagement,southwest organizing project Longtime shareowner activist Steve Viederman discusses the notion of community governance, where communities reclaim democratic power of self-determination from corporations and other external forces.  Exemplifying community governance is the Fair Trad... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/steveviederman-150x150.jpg)Longtime shareowner activist Steve Viederman (http://www.sustainability.com/about/profile.asp?id=84) discusses the notion of community governance, where communities reclaim democratic power of self-determination from corporations and other external forces.  Exemplifying community governance is the Fair Trade Towns (http://www.fairtradetownsusa.org/) movement, where communities commit to supporting Fair Trade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade) commodities such as coffee and cocoa.  We speak about Fair Trade Towns and World Fair Trade Day (http://www.worldfairtradeday09.org/) with Amherst Fair Trade Partnership (http://www.myspace.com/amherstfairtrade) Chair Yuri Friman and Bart's Cafe (http://www.bartshomemade.com/greenfield.htm) owner Al Sax, who is coordinating the launch of the fourth Fair Trade Town here in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Valley) where we produce Sea Change Radio.  And finally, this week's ViewPoint comes from Liana Foxvog of SweatFree Communities (http://www.sweatfree.org/) on its latest report, Subsidizing Sweatshops II, which identifies how communities can advocate for their state and local governments to avoid buying products such as firefighter uniforms produced in sweatshop conditions. In November 2008, Steve Viederman met with some of the best community organizers in the country at the the South by Southwest Learning Continuum: Southern Echo (http://southernecho.org/s/) from Jackson, Mississippi; Southwest Workers Union (http://www.swunion.org/) (SWU) from San Antonio, Texas; and SouthWest Organizing Project (http://www.swopblogger.org/) (SWOP) from Albuquerque, New Mexico.    "Community governance" was the buzz -- in other words, communities reclaiming democratic power of self-determination from corporations and other external forces.   As longtime president of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (http://www.noyes.org/), Viederman helped steer grants to community organizations working to empower citizens and protect their local environment.  For example, the Noyes Foundation helped SWOP engage with Intel (http://www.noyes.org/97pres.html) over environmental issues such as water use and toxics in its New Mexico chip manufacturing facility.  On a recent visit to his grandchildren, Viederman stopped by the studios to chat about community governance. Among other things, he distinguished between communities as stakeholders, the current terminology, and stakeowners, the term Viederman proposes as a more accurate description of communities' rights and responsibilities.   (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fairtradetown-150x150.jpg)Next, there's a movement afoot for communities to use their collective consumer power to promote Fair Trade, which sets a fair price for commodities like coffee and cocoa and deals directly with worker cooperatives to empower growers globally.  Fair Trade Towns is gaining steam in the US, particularly here in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts where we produce Sea Change Radio.  To find out more, we invited Yuri Friman, Chair of the Amherst Fair Trade Partnership, and Al Sax, who's helping launch Greenfield as the fourth Fair Trade Town in the Valley, into the studio. Bill Baue clean 29:31 http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/viewpoint-communities-going-sweat-free/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/viewpoint-communities-going-sweat-free/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 19:34:25 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=847 http://www.cchange.net/2009/05/06/viewpoint-communities-going-sweat-free/feed/ 0 human rights,Labor Rights,Liana Foxvog,Local Living Economies,Sustainable Business,Sustainable Public Policy,SweatFree Communities,sweatshops Currently, communities are unwittingly supporting sweatshop labor when state and local governments use tax dollars to buy things such as firefighter uniforms.  Liana Foxvog, National Organizer of the advocacy organization SweatFree Communities, (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/lianafoxvog.jpg)Currently, communities are unwittingly supporting sweatshop labor when state and local governments use tax dollars to buy things such as firefighter uniforms.  Liana Foxvog, National Organizer of the advocacy organization SweatFree Communities (http://www.sweatfree.org/), discusses findings of Subsidizing Sweatshops II (http://www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing), the latest research on sweatshops perpetuated by government contracts. Guillermo Cosajay works in a garment factory making apparel for the government. When his vision started going blurry, he didn’t know why. Then he looked at his glasses and saw they were covered with oil. But the glasses weren’t keeping the oil out of his eyes. Cosajay told researchers from SweatFree Communities, “The thread uses lots of oil. So when you are working, there is a part of the machine that shoots oil into your eyes.” Guillermo brought this issue to several supervisors, but to no avail. A new report by Sweat Free Communities, Subsidizing Sweatshops II, shines a light on workers' rights violations in seven factories like the one Cosajay works in. It also looks at how our tax dollars can foster workers' rights --and economic recovery-- rather than fuel the race to the bottom. A previous exposé last summer profiled four of the same factories. Since the first report (http://www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing1), the stock market crashed. That's brought increased attention to jobs and insecurity. But, long before news of the crisis hit the airwaves, most of the world’s population had been experiencing a quieter, less-publicized economic crisis. The workers we interviewed face a daily crisis. Families can't make ends meet on their wages. They go to work sick because they can't afford to lose a day’s pay.  People are fired and blacklisted when they try to organize. Workers are laid off--often without warning or adequate severance pay--when factories move for cheaper labor. The collapse on Wall Street only made things go from already bad to worse. Companies tell workers that they should be happy to have a job-- and never mind about the poor conditions. Guillermo Portalatin, a worker at Eagle Industries, who makes Army and law enforcement apparel, said: “The workers have a lot of fear because of the economic situation. The company takes advantage of that. They told us recently not to listen to radios, and when somebody asked for a raise, the supervisor said we were lucky to be working.” Portalatin and Cosajay don’t work in a third world sweatshop. They work in Massachusetts. Ongoing SweatFree Communities’ research shows that a family of four with two adults working at the factory make only 60-65% of a living wage. The company’s family health insurance plan costs 80% of their monthly earnings, so workers don’t buy into it. Workers say that time-keeping and surveillance create an uncomfortable work environment. They told us of incidents of favoritism, sexual harassment, ethnic discrimination, and monitoring of union supporters. In addition to shooting oil, health and safety concerns include heat exhaustion and fainting, accidents involving forklifts hitting sewing machine operators, and cuts from sharp material. Equally concerning is management’s unresponsiveness to workers' requests for safety equipment and improvements in the working environment. Workers at Eagle and many other factories are organizing for a seat at the negotiating table with management. Tax-payers can act in solidarity with workers by asking state and local officials to adopt sweatshop-free procurement laws and join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium (http://buysweatfree.org/). Those actions will help ensure that our tax dollars no longer subsidize sweatshop conditions--and instead provide incentives for companies to improve conditions and respect workers' rights. For the Sea Change ViewPoint, I’m Liana Foxvog of SweatFree Communities. Bill Baue clean 3:47 http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/wangari-maathai-peace-and-environmental-justice-taking-root/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/wangari-maathai-peace-and-environmental-justice-taking-root/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:31:09 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=779 http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/wangari-maathai-peace-and-environmental-justice-taking-root/feed/ 1 Alan Dater,Alternative Economic Models,Climate Change,Community Economic Engagement,Green Jobs,Green Living,lisa merton,Local Living Economies,marlboro college graduate school,nobel peace prize,Renewable Energy,Social Entrepreneurs Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue of Sea Change host an intimate chat with Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai about the links between environmental justice, women's empowerment, democratic governance, and sustainability at the Marlboro College Graduate Scho... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/lisamertonalandater-150x133.jpg) (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wangarimaathaifrancescabill21-150x130.jpg)Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue of Sea Change host an intimate chat with Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/press.html) about the links between environmental justice, women's empowerment, democratic governance, and sustainability at the Marlboro College Graduate School (http://gradcenter.marlboro.edu/), where Baue teaches.  Maathai is touring (http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/events.php) the US promoting her new book, (http://www.amazon.com/Challenge-Africa-Wangari-Maathai/dp/0307377407), as well as the documentary, TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (http://takingrootfilm.com/index.htm).  In the second half of the show, Rheannon and Baue speak with the filmmakers, Alan Dater and Lisa Merton (http://takingrootfilm.com/production-team.htm) of Marlboro Productions (http://www.marlboroproductions.com/index.html). In her native Kenya, Wangari Maathai saw that deforestation was devastating the environment. Good arable land was eroding, streams were getting polluted or drying up and the women had to go further to find ever-scarcer firewood. So in 1977, she founded the grassroots Green Belt Movement (http://greenbeltmovement.org/index.php). Over the past 32 years, it's planted 35 million trees, bringing back whole ecosystems with it and revitalizing villages. The program has been carried out mainly by women in those villages. By hiring them to plant the trees, it gave them the means to care for their children and protect their environment. The corrupt regime of Daniel Arap Moi sought to stop her, arresting her numerous times and even jailing her. In 1991 she was beaten while planting trees on public lands and suffered a head injury. But she fought on and earned world acclaim for her actions and her courage. In 2004 Maathai became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” She's in the US to promote her new book, CHALLENGE FOR AFRICA and a new film about her, TAKING ROOT, which aired recently on the PBS program, Independent Lens (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/takingroot/index.html). Taking a break from her tour of major cities, Wangari Maathai visited the filmmakers near their home in Vermont for a public talk.  Sea Change Co-Hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue  sat down for an intimate chat with Wangari Maathai at the Marlboro College Graduate School, where Baue teaches. The story of Wangari Maathai, and the Green Belt Movement, is captured vividly in the documentary, TAKING ROOT.  The film won a bunch of awards in 2008.  Rheannon and Baue spoke with filmmakers Alan Dater and Lisa Merton of Marlboro Productions from their home studios.  The interview started with the question, what inspired them to tell the story of Wangari Maathai's vision in film? Bill Baue clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/storyline-wangari-maathai-and-the-fig-tree/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/storyline-wangari-maathai-and-the-fig-tree/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:30:31 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=786 http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/15/storyline-wangari-maathai-and-the-fig-tree/feed/ 0 Community Economic Engagement,green belt movement,Local Living Economies,wangari maathai Wangari Maathai tells Sea Change Radio Co-Hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue the story of a great fig tree that stood near the village where she grew up in Kenya.  At that time, her mother and the other villagers regarded the tree as sacred -- as t... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wangarimaathai-150x150.jpg)Wangari Maathai tells Sea Change Radio Co-Hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue the story of a great fig tree that stood near the village where she grew up in Kenya.  At that time, her mother and the other villagers regarded the tree as sacred -- as the tree of God.  Maathai also told this story in the documentary film about her life and work with the Green Belt Movement (http://greenbeltmovement.org/index.php), entitled TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (http://takingrootfilm.com/index.htm). Bill Baue clean 3:39 http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/01/viewpoint-hazel-henderson-on-the-new-financiers/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/01/viewpoint-hazel-henderson-on-the-new-financiers/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:37:58 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=743 http://www.cchange.net/2009/04/01/viewpoint-hazel-henderson-on-the-new-financiers/feed/ 0 Alternative Economic Models,Community Economic Engagement,green economy,Green Living,hazel henderson,Local Living Economies Commentator Hazel Henderson of Ethical Markets Media thinks the outline of a new, moral financial system is beginning to rise from the ashes of the old. Its being ushered in by what she calls "the new financiers"... - Commentator Hazel Henderson (http://www.hazelhenderson.com/) of Ethical Markets Media (http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/) thinks the outline of a new, moral financial system is beginning to rise from the ashes of the old. Its being ushered in by what she calls "the new financiers"... A venture capitalist friend of mine asked me in a recent discussion about the financial meltdown, “who will be the new financiers?” I answered immediately, “the new financiers will be the high-level information brokers. They'll also be the dealmakers in creating the growing green economy.” Media and  information drive markets. But the new financiers are largely invisible to the traditional Wall Streeters and asset managers. That's because information, not money, is the new financiers' prime currency. Not that the new deal-makers don't value money. But they have a different approach to it than the high flyers on Wall Street. They value the role of honest, well-managed currencies that remain tied to the real economy of goods and services. Money is a special kind of information.  When backed by real-world goods and services, money can accurately track and score human ingenuity, productivity and transactions interacting with the natural wealth of resources of our home: Planet Earth. The problem with money is keeping it honest.  From the kings who shaved of the edges of coins to today’s bankers who create our money out of thin air, we humans have found many ways to debase our currencies. Money was invented back around 3,000 BC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#History_of_money).  It evolved from clay tablets, shells and cows to metal tokens, gold, silver, and today’s paper money and electronic currencies that are blips on millions of financial trading screens. With the Industrial Revolution in Europe, our need to trade and exchange grew exponentially. Our money systems of exchange had to grow, too.  Gold became too constricting – there just wasn’t enough of it. Soon, the lack of gold led governments to issue paper “fiat” currencies backed only by promises and a fraction of actual gold.  Some countries went off the gold stadard entirely (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#Post-war_international_gold_standard_.281946.E2.80.931971.29), including the USA in 1971. Our current financial crisis goes way beyond earlier recessions and panics caused by the lack of gold or sufficient supplies of credible paper money. Today, the globalization of finance and technology caused money-creation to go wild, leading to a credit bubble and mountains of debt. The money supply surpassed real economic growth. Risk-analysis took a back seat, as bankers ignored real-world conditions. For example, the bets on who might default -- those infamous credit default swaps -- grew to  some $680 trillion dollars of contracts (http://www.bis.org/publ/otc_hy0811.pdf) -- while real global production measures only the $62 trillion of global GDP. Today, central banks are in a frenzy of printing money.  But no amount of ink and paper can print enough new money to close the hole between that $683 trillion of false promises and the world’s real GDP. The only issue is, who will take the hit.  Up to now, the political clout of financial sectors has forced taxpayers to bail out financiers. The blatant unfairness of this has caused huge outcries from outraged citizens.  Those billions given to irresponsible bankers could have financed universal healthcare and college education. I predict this is the end of finance based only on money and fiat currencies, not on the real economy of goods and services. Enter the new financiers and their bringing a new hybrid economic model with them: half the old money-based competition and half information-based sharing, cooperation and exchange.  The rise of Google (http://www.google.com/), e-Bay (http://www.ebay.com/), Microplace (https://www.microplace.com/), Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/), Facebook Bill Baue clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/25/seeding-the-solidarity-economy/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/25/seeding-the-solidarity-economy/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:03:49 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=729 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/25/seeding-the-solidarity-economy/feed/ 0 Alternative Economic Models,center for popular economics,chilo villarreal,Climate Change,Community Economic Engagement,emily kawano,Fair Trade,forum on solidarity economy,Green Jobs,Green Living,human rights,Labor Rights The Center for Popular Economics (CPE) recently hosted the first Forum on the Solidarity Economy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst -- home of Sea Change Radio.  CPE Executive Director Emily Kawano explains the theory and practice behind the s... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/solidarityeconomy.gif)The Center for Popular Economics (http://www.populareconomics.org/) (CPE) recently hosted the first Forum on the Solidarity Economy (http://www.populareconomics.org/ussen/node/99) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst -- home of Sea Change Radio.  CPE Executive Director Emily Kawano (http://www.populareconomics.org/bios/kawano_e.htm) explains the theory and practice behind the solidarity economy, and discusses strategies and next steps for the US Solidarity Economy Network (http://www.populareconomics.org/ussen/) in cultivating a socially and environmentally sustainable economy.  And Chilo Villarreal (http://www.ruralco.org/aboutus/board.html) of the Coalición Rural (http://www.ruralco.org/index.html) in Mexico illustrates solidarity economy concepts through story.   Finally, the News Analysis examines the business of water. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/emilykawano.jpg)As our existing economy collapses under the weight of its own unsustainable growth, what economic forms will replace this failed system?  Policymakers bend over backwards to prop up a the broken status quo, while idealists around the world envision more equitable and ecological alternatives.  The solidarity economy -- that's one such vision.  Last week, these visionaries traveled from around the world to the Forum on the Solidarity Economy here at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, hosted by the Center for Popular Economics.  This week, after the dust had settled, Center for Popular Economics Executive Director Emily Kawano visited us in the WMUA studios.  Sea Change Host Bill Baue opened the conversation by asking Emily, what is a solidarity economy, and what role can it play in helping fix the current economic breakdown? Kawano identifies three priorities for advancing the solidarity economy by focusing on leverage points where the current economic system is failing or has gaps: housing, finance, and cooperatives. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chilovillarreal.tiff)The colorful wrap draped across her back immediately caught the eye of Sea Change Host Bill Baue at the Forum on the Solidarity Economy.  When he saw her later in an empty classroom, he jumped at the chance for an interview.  She introduced herself as Altagracia Villarreal -- but everybody knows her as Chilo.  Since 1995, she's served on the board of the Coalicion Rural, a collaboration between 17 organization in Mexico.  Its partner in the US, the Rural Coalition, is made up of 70 to 80 organizations throughout the country.  He opened by asking Chilo how she defines solidarity economy, and later asked Chilo to describe a specific example that illustrates the solidarity economy in action, and she answered in both Spanish and English.  You'll hear her Spanish underneath her English response. Bill Baue clean 29:30 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/18/gaviotas-a-village-to-reinvent-the-world/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/18/gaviotas-a-village-to-reinvent-the-world/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:48:53 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=683 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/18/gaviotas-a-village-to-reinvent-the-world/feed/ 0 Alan Weisman,Alternative Economic Models,Chelsea Green Publishing,Clean Tech,Climate Change,Gaviotas,Green Building,Green Living,Local Living Economies,Renewable Energy,Robert Weissman,Sustainable Agriculture Journalist Alan Weisman talks about his book , reissued late last year by Chelsea Green Publishing on the 10th anniversary of its first edition.  And in the News Analysis, Rob Weissman of Wall Street Watch talks about its new report, (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/alanweisman-150x150.jpg) Journalist Alan Weisman (http://www.chelseagreen.com/authors/alan_weisman/) talks about his book , reissued late last year by Chelsea Green Publishing (http://www.chelseagreen.com/) on the 10th anniversary of its first edition.  And in the News Analysis, Rob Weissman (http://www.cptech.org/staff/rob.html) of Wall Street Watch (http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/) talks about its new report, Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America (http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/soldoutreport.htm). And support Sea Change in the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Changing Climate Change Contest by clicking here (http://www.justmeans.com/showideadetails?ideaid=8382&isread=y).  Finally, Sea Change is on Twitter (http://twitter.com/cchange) -- we'll tweet you if you tweet us. Is it possible to create a sustainable community in the harsh environment of a treeless savannah?  Yes, if you use affordable, small scale technology that respects people and the planet.  That's what the villagers of Gaviotas, an "unintentional" community in the largely uninhabited eastern part of Colombia, say.  Journalist Alan Weisman chronicled the making of this sustainable community in his book, GAVIOTAS. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/see-saw-150x150.jpg)The interview begins with Weisman talking about what that community looks like today.  He talks about innovative uses of energy there -- including kid power: a see-saw doubles as a water pump. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/hospital-150x150.jpg)In the midst of a country plagued by violence, no one has been killed in Gaviotas in the 40 years since its founding. One remarkable reason is the hospital Gaviotas built that treats all comers -- whether impoverished farmers, indigenous people from the area, or even rebels and paramilitaries. The hospital was designed with ideas from residents, Indians from surrounding areas, and a young engineer from one of Colombia's top universities, Esperanza Connell. (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/solar-150x150.jpg)But Gaviotas hasn't kept it's innovations to itself. It's teamed up with poor urban communities in Colombia to bring small, appropriate technology that leaves a light footprint on the planet.  For example, solar collectors. Bill Baue clean 29:28 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/building-green/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/building-green/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:01:47 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=657 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/building-green/feed/ 2 Alex Wilson,Climate Change,Community Economic Engagement,Erin Gorman,Fair Trade,Green Building,Green Jobs,Green Living,human rights,Karl Frisch,Labor Rights,Local Living Economies BuildingGreen.com founder Alex Wilson discusses the history, current state, and future of the green building movement. Erin Gorman, CEO of Divine Chocolate USA, welcomes the move by Cadbury to source Fairtrade cocoa from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in ... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/alexwilson-150x150.jpg) BuildingGreen.com (http://www.buildinggreen.com/) founder Alex Wilson (http://www.buildinggreen.com/about/staff.cfm) discusses the history, current state, and future of the green building movement. Erin Gorman, CEO of Divine Chocolate USA (http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/), welcomes the move by Cadbury to source Fairtrade cocoa (http://www.csrwire.com/News/14719.html) from the Kuapa Kokoo (http://www.kuapakokoogh.com/) cooperative in Ghana that owns Divine, and Bama Athreya of the International Labor Rights Forum (http://www.laborrights.org/) also applauds (http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign/1971) Cadbury's move.  And Karl Frisch (http://www.karlfrisch.com/) of Media Matters (http://mediamatters.org/) brings us the ViewPoint on how the mainstream media is dropping the ball on covering climate change. Alex Wilson founded BuildingGreen in 1985, when the green building movement was in its infancy.  As executive editor of Environmental Building News (http://www.buildinggreen.com/articles/), the bible of green building, Wilson has provided the information that has formed the building blocks of the movement.  In November 2008, Wilson received the Leadership Award for Education (http://www.buildinggreen.com/press/leadership_award.cfm) from the US Green Building Council (http://www.usgbc.org/), whose board he served on from 2000 until 2005, the crucial period when the organization created the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) (http://www.usgbc.org/leed/) certification. Wilson launches the conversation with a primer on green building and its history, starting with an explanation of LEED.  He then compares indigenous structural design, such as the Anasazi, who oriented their dwellings toward the sun to capture solar energy, compared to design that developed in the age of cheap fossil fuel, which abandoned age-old principles of efficiency.  Wilson points out, however, that the Anasazi  civilization collapsed due to reliance on unsustainable water use -- a fate our current culture may share with them. Wilson highlights solutions, such as green roofs (http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2009/1/30/Integrate-Food-Production-and-Green-Building/) and urban agriculture which integrates into the built environment (http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2009/1/29/Growing-Food-Locally-Integrating-Agriculture-Into-the-Built-Environment/), citing the example of City Farm (http://www.resourcecenterchicago.org/70thfarm.html) in Chicago.  He then proposes the idea of passive survivability (http://www.buildinggreen.com/live/index.cfm/2008/10/14/On-the-Path-to-Passive-Survivability), the notion of designing our buildings to survive the kinds of challenges that will become more prevalent as the climate changes, such as power outages and water shortages.  The beauty of this idea is that it's exactly the kind of design we need to achieve sustainability. Bill Baue clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/newsanalysis-fairtrade-cocoa-goes-big-league/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/newsanalysis-fairtrade-cocoa-goes-big-league/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:59:49 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=653 http://www.cchange.net/2009/03/11/newsanalysis-fairtrade-cocoa-goes-big-league/feed/ 0 child labor,Community Economic Engagement,equal exchange,Erin Gorman,Fair Trade,Ghana,human rights,Labor Rights,Local Living Economies,Social Entrepreneurs,Sustainable Business,West Africa Cadbury, the popular British chocolate maker, just agreed to source Fairtrade cocoa for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the top-selling chocolate bar in the UK. The move effectively triples sales of Fairtrade cocoa for farmers in Ghana, (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cadburydairymilk-150x150.jpg) Cadbury (http://www.cadbury.com/Pages/Home.aspx), the popular British chocolate maker, just agreed to source Fairtrade cocoa for Cadbury Dairy Milk (http://www.csrwire.com/News/14719.html), the top-selling chocolate bar in the UK. The move effectively triples sales of Fairtrade cocoa for farmers in Ghana, where Cadbury sources from Kuapa Kokoo (http://www.kuapakokoogh.com/).  It was one of the first cooperatives there to be Fairtrade (http://www.fairtrade.net/) certified in the '90s.  In the late '90s, Kuapa Kokoo also started its own brand, Divine Chocolate, to keep more of the value that typically gets skimmed by middle-men and big chocolate companies.  Erin Gorman, CEO of the Divine Chocolate USA (http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/), welcomes the move, which validates its model of Fairtrade sourcing.   Bama Athreya, executive director of the activist NGO International Labor Rights Forum (http://www.laborrights.org/) (ILRF), also supports the development (http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign/1971).  (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bamaathreya-150x150.jpg)Athreya and other activists have been campaigning for over eight years to convince major chocolate companies such as Nestle, Mars, and Hershey's to purchase Fairtrade cocoa.  The Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing (http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign/resources/861), a set of guidelines signed by activists and progressive chocolate companies such as Equal Exchange (http://www.equalexchange.coop/), argues that Fairtrade helps stop the worst forms of child labor and trafficked labor.   Both are widespread problems on cocoa farms in West Africa. Chocolate companies balked at the Fairtrade solution.   Erin Gorman of Divine points out how Fairtrade addresses not just the symptom of child labor, but also the root causes that underpin child labor.  Check out the Divine Chocolate website for videos of Kuapa Kokoo (Gorman of Divine points out how Fairtrade addresses not just the symptom of child labor, but also the root causes that underpin child labor.) members. Bill Baue clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/02/04/slow-money-compost-growing-new-economy/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/02/04/slow-money-compost-growing-new-economy/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:00:32 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=514 http://www.cchange.net/2009/02/04/slow-money-compost-growing-new-economy/feed/ 2 Alternative Economic Models,Climate Change,Community Economic Engagement,Fair Trade,Green Living,jessie smith noyes foundation,katy lederer,Local Living Economies,steve viederman,Sustainable Agriculture,Sustainable Business,Sustainable Innovation Today we measure the speed of money.  Woody Tasch discusses his book, .  And Katy Lederer transforms her experience working in the fast money culture of Wall Street into poetry in the book , . - We're all reeling from the roller coaster-ride of fast m... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/woodytasch-150x150.jpg)Today we measure the speed of money.  Woody Tasch (http://www.chelseagreen.com/authors/woody_tasch/) discusses his book, .  And Katy Lederer (http://www.boaeditions.org/authors/lederer.html) transforms her experience working in the fast money culture of Wall Street into poetry in the book , . We're all reeling from the roller coaster-ride of fast money, where trillions of dollars transact daily across silicon microchips, and trillions evaporate in the shifting sands unfettered capitalism.  The solution?  Slow money, according to Woody Tasch, recent founder of the nonprofit by that name (http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/).  In his book, also called Slow Money, Tasch consciously riffs on the notion of Slow Food (http://www.slowfood.com/), the Italian-gone-global movement of reconnecting our eating with the land that produces our food.  As he hints in the subtitle of his book -- Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered -- Tasch plays on the agrarian metaphor of slow money as compost in which to nurture a new kind of economy. For a decade, until 2008, Woody Tasch chaired the Investor's Circle (http://www.investorscircle.net/), angel investors who deploy patient capital toward a sustainable future. In the 1990s, Tasch served as treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (http://www.noyes.org/).  There, he and foundation president Steve Viederman first critiqued the dissonance (http://www.noyes.org/94essay.html) between foundations' grantmaking, which aligns with their missions, and investing, which often counteracts social and environmental commitments of their missions.  They sought to harmonize their foundation's mission with its investing, which typically accounts for 95 percent of an endowment, as well as its granting, which accounts for the remaining 5 percent. Bill Baue clean http://www.cchange.net/2009/01/28/after-capitalism-prout-as-a-sustainable-democratic-economic-model/ http://www.cchange.net/2009/01/28/after-capitalism-prout-as-a-sustainable-democratic-economic-model/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:14:18 +0000 Bill Baue http://www.cchange.net/?p=470 http://www.cchange.net/2009/01/28/after-capitalism-prout-as-a-sustainable-democratic-economic-model/feed/ 0 Alternative Economic Models,Clean Tech,Climate Change,climate policy,Climate Progress,Community Economic Engagement,corporate governance,corporate social responsibility,EPA,greenhouse gas emissions,joe romm,Lisa Woll Today, Dada Maheshvarananda meditates on the alternative economic model of Progressive Utilization Theory, or PROUT. Joe Romm of Climate Progress analyzes the climate resolve of the Obama Administration. Lisa Woll of the Social Investment Forum propose... (http://www.cchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dadamaheshvarananda-150x150.jpg) Today, Dada Maheshvarananda meditates on the alternative economic model of Progressive Utilization Theory (http://www.prout.org/), or PROUT. Joe Romm of Climate Progress (http://climateprogress.org/) analyzes the climate resolve of the Obama Administration. Lisa Woll of the Social Investment Forum (http://www.socialinvest.org/) proposes (http://www.socialinvest.org/documents/ObamaAdministrationFINAL1.14.pdf) an Office for Innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility to the Obama Administration.  And auto and environment expert Jim Motavalli (http://www.jimmotavalli.com/index.html) comments on the significance of President Obama's executive order (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_greenhouse_gases) directing the EPA to reconsider its refusal to grant California a waiver allowing it to regulate greenhouse gases from autos. Capitalism, in the highly deregulated form currently practiced, is showing signs of collapse.  What happens After Capitalism?  Dada Maheshvarananda meditates on this very , which outlines the alternative economic model of Progressive Utilization Theory, or PROUT.  Maheshvarananda directs the PROUT Institute of Venezuela (http://www.priven.org/).  Last Thanksgiving, he visited our studios, soon after he had published a commentary (http://vcr.csrwire.com/node/11848) entitled "The Human Cost of Economic Meltdown and Its Alternative." Bill Baue clean