Tag: Greta Thunberg

Climate Action, Eco, Environment September 1, 2020September 3, 2020

How to Make an Eco-Friendly Hero Board With Your Kids!

Washington (GGM) Analysis | September 1, 2020 by Sarah J. Kings

Most parents would like their children to become happy and healthy adults. As an eco-conscious parent, you are also aware of the need to provide a safe and viable environment for your children as they grow up. With this in mind, you have been recycling, upcycling, and teaching your children habits that reduce waste. You might be noticing that with talks of the climate crisis all around them, your children might be expressing feelings of being overwhelmed. Afterall, this is a massive issue, and it may leave your young one feeling like it is too big to tackle. Making a Hero Board composed of positive role models who are making headway in combating this crisis is an excellent way to assuage anxious feelings in your child.

Twitter- @FunWritings

First get out a dry erase board or a chalkboard and some chalk. Next, give your child a list of five to ten people to research in a virtual scavenger hunt. These people should all be worthy of being called a Hero for Mother Nature. Ask your child to come up with an eco-friendly fact about each person on the list. Once your child has discovered one thing that each of these individuals is doing for the environment, have a discussion with them. Allow them to explain what they found out, and talk about which people are the most inspiring. Ask your child to pick their top three favorite people from the list, and give them some time to do some more research. On the chalkboard, your child can draw an image of their top three heroes, write down inspirational quotes, and jot down some interesting things that those people are doing to improve the health of the environment.

Here is a list of 10 people you can use to get this process rolling.

・Lise King – Executive Director of United Nations Global Impact

・Leonardo DiCaprio – Actor, producer, and activist

・Greta Thunberg – Child activist and leader in climate change

・Jane Fonda – Actress and activist

・Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – United States Congresswoman

・Sean Mendes – Singer and environmentalist

・Natalie Portman – Actress, Producer, and activist

・Jane Goodall – Research Scientist and activist

・Bernie Sanders – Vermont Senator

・Dr. Gavin Schmidt– Climate Scientist at NASA

Instagram- @leonardodicaprio

For even more fun, use your driveway and some sidewalk chalk, instead of a chalkboard. This activity will give your child the chance to do a little research about all the positive things that are being done to help Mother Earth. It will give you a chance to bond with your child over this important issue. It will also encourage them on their journey, and remind them that they are not alone in their efforts to combat the climate crisis.

Come back every Tuesday for more Eco-Friendly Parenting tips!

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Climate Action, Congress, National Security, Nature October 4, 2019January 7, 2020

Longworth HOB & Critical Compost | Climate Action

Washington (GGM) Analysis | October 4, 2019
by Noreen Wise

Success in reducing atmospheric carbon levels to the targeted 350 PPM from the current 412 PPM will come from tiers of immediate action. If every tier nails its targets, we’ll save the globe and civilization. This should motivate us to Act Now, especially when we consider how basic and easy many of the “actions” are for lowering carbon.

The main TIERS:

Individual carbon footprint
Corporations, businesses & organizations
Local, state & federal government and agencies
Farms
Nature
Miscellaneous

All we have to do as individuals is focus on the tiers that we fall under. The greatest obstacle to succeeding at carbon reduction though, is missing the small, easy opportunities that we fail to recognize. The ones right under our nose that we would be able to execute immediately if we were more aware.

Composting is the best example of a basic missed opportunity. For example, take the Longworth House Office Building dining hall in Washington, DC where thousands of constituents, lobbyists, and House Representatives eat breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday each week. Sadly, Longworth does not currently compost, despite the fact that the US Botanic Garden is across the street and would thrive on weekly fresh compost, as would the massive acres of capitol grounds that are also across Independence Ave.

According to Exploring Green , Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment:

51% of “trash” dumped into landfills is compostable
Annually, the world throws away approximately 1.3 billion tons of food
3.3 billion tons of CO2 is released each year to process the wasted food (production, harvesting, transporting and packaging)
Wasted food thrown away in a landfill releases methane
Methane increases global warming 21 times that of CO2
On the other hand, wasted food that’s composted and layered into soil, increases the soil’s nutritional content which increases the amount of carbon it can sequester

Thus, composting uneaten food at home, at work and in restaurants and dining halls is a no-brainer. In fact, many school districts are jumping in. Capitol Hill dining halls would only have to change one of its two trash signs to “FOOD/COMPOST.” This is so easy, it’s scary.

HillReport10-3-19a — Trash sign at Longworth HOB dining hall. A red asterisks has been placed on the items that can be composted. The uneaten food would have to be removed from the packaging before it’s dumped into the compost bin.

Our oceans sequester approximately 25% of atmospheric carbon and nature 28%. The big challenge with ocean carbon sequestration is that it increases water temperature as well as acidity. The increase in water temperature, melts the glaciers which raises the global water levels. The higher temperature also causes changing climate which becomes that much more extreme.

To save humanity from climate extremes, the focus is now on increasing carbon sink in nature and in soil, and trying to lower ocean temperatures. Nature — which means planting more trees and greens, and elevating the nutritional values in soil — is one of the new climate action touchstones on the carbon sequestration front. In short, compositing has become a vital necessity. Thus, missed opportunities sound the alarm.

Composting has become such a critical factor in the success of lowering our atmospheric carbon levels, that a whole new industry is starting to take shape. CompostNow.org is a compositing service for home, office, and restaurants.

They provide heavy duty plastic bin
They pick up full bin each service day, and leave an empty one
They track waste & compost creation by the pound
Members earn compost! Very easy and rewarding.

When the carbon facts are this simple and the cost a bare minimum, and #ActNow only a matter of changing signs, it’s unfathomable how anyone would pass on this opportunity. Come on, Longworth… let’s FIX THIS!

Climate Change March 12, 2019August 20, 2019

Climate Strike | Young Voices That Haunt

Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Perspective | March 12, 2019)
by Noreen Wise

Children are often far more intuitive than adults. They have natural child’s intuition, similar to our pet’s intuition. Children are excellent at reading body language, with an uncanny ability to accurately deduce what kind of day we’re having without us saying a word.

Further, children are observant, typically hyper observant. When walking along a sidewalk, or driving the familiar route to school, a child will notice if the Lopez’s tulips have suddenly blossomed, or if the Wilsons’ painted their front door, whereas we adults may not. Young children are that much closer to the ground and thus silently absorb any number of signals from nature about its well being. Their memories are extremely sharp, recollecting with great accuracy if the water level along the river bank is higher this year than it was several years ago.

Children are idealists. We teach them what’s right. Provide for them a strong moral code to live by. They trust it. They believe that we live by the same code. They expect adults to practice what we preach.

The Climate Strike, led by alarmed children reaching out to adults and demanding that we please “panic” about their Climate Change plight, the same way they are, intuitively projects that the point of no return will land squarely on their shoulders. Doomsday will arrive when they’re graduating from college, launching into their young adult lives. Do we remember our blissful 20’s? Instead, these terrified Americans will have to suffer the consequences of our indifference, of our blind eye. They’re profound Climate Strike message arrives at the right time and in the tone. An urgent plea for help. If only our president could stand up with the rest of us and do something noble.

In a New York Times article, the founder of Climate Strike, 16 year old Greta Thunberg of Sweden, had a very poignant message for adults:

“‘Adults keep saying, “We owe it to the young people to give them hope,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.’”

No adult with a conscience wants children to endure this type of fear, and yet so many do. In the United States, children and teens already feel terrified with Active Shooter Lock Down Drills in their schools. If our action will help alleviate their young troubled minds, then let’s get to it. This forward path should be a very simple daily roadmap that will become a powerful force for curbing global warming and brightening the future outlook of today’s youth.