Blakezimmermanhouston - Blake Zimmerman Houston

Don't commodify us. Humanize us. When you commodify environmentalists for your Earth Month strategy, you are dehumanizing our culture, values, and work. While we may have heard greenwashing used, Earth Washing focuses on the mass production based on raising awareness for the protection of the planet. Unfortunately, the extraction rate to create products such as Earth Day T-Shirts, posters, or Earth Day collections is not as ethical as we think they are. To me, environmentalism is more like dismantling white supremacy, than it is a tee or a slogan. Many large-scale corporations that sell ideas of planting trees for every purchase you make are still linked to funding private prisons, slave labor, and the further depletion of natural resources in their supply chain. For many BIPOC communities, Earth Month is every day and justice is still not served. Indigenous People's world views, beliefs, and cultural traditions are essential when fighting for environmental justice. Community-based frameworks are crucial. We must elevate the ideas from Indigenous communities and communities of color that have faced high rates of injustice head on. They know firsthand what it's like to live in a world that inflicts violence, pain, and trauma on those who actively protect Earth, and to still protect it anyways. Yes, Earth Month is an opportunity for many environmentalists to get paid and recognized for our work (we're typically not the guest speaker of choice in a market based on overconsumption). While we are NOT going to shame those trying their best to earn funds for their work, we can critically extend ourselves to redistribute the funds to BIPOC activists and organizations that are often left out from media conversations. While we all contribute to forms of Earth Washing, we can always directly help those who continue to fight against environmental injustices.

-queer brown vegan

How To Join the Zero Waste Movement

If you are reading this article, it means you care about reducing your waste and minimizing your environmental footprint. Good for you! Joining the zero-waste movement is a giant leap in the right direction. If everyone does, it could save the world. And it’s so easy! Everywhere you look, there…

Blake Zimmerman of Houston, Texas explains microgrids and the use of them to promote sustainability. https://blakezimmermanhouston.net/

Morning Mists ♥

National Park Laguna del Laja, Antuco, Chile.

The environmental impact of most consumer electronics and electricals is highest when they are manufactured and distributed – before they are even used.

Many of us have become accustomed to hoarding or discarding old electrical products instead of repairing them, creating a mountain of electronic waste that’s growing by the day.

Every time we extend a gadget’s lifetime, we space out and slow the impacts of manufacture. The fewer new items we buy, the more we limit greenhouse gas emissions, save water and avoid using minerals that are hard to mine and harder to recycle.

The Reparaturbonus scheme in Austria can be used to cover costs of repairs of electrical devices up to a total of €200 refunded. This will cover large household items like fridges, washing machines, tumble dryers, and coffee machines but also things like computers, mobile phones, electronic toys and garden tools.

This is part of Austria’s so-called ‘eco-social’ tax reform, and the scheme is set to be in place across Austria until at least 2026.

Source: Thelocal.at (link in bio)

#sustainability #austria #rightorepair https://www.instagram.com/p/CcAtWH3LHmH/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Turner Beach - Florida - USA (by Diana Robinson) 

Germany has so much renewable energy it is paying people to use electricity

German energy consumers were paid to use power over the Christmas period, thanks to a slump in demand, warm weather and plenty of wind power on the grid, trading data shows. Power prices slipped into negative territory on 24 December and again on 26 December, according to the website of the EPEX Spot, which is Europe’s biggest power trading exchange.

Think twice before you adopt the belief that we live on a planet of scarcity. Abundance exists! My solarpunk novel called The Carbon Coast is set in a future where renewable energies are everywhere and the planet has a chance to breathe. Why am I imagining this future?

Because we can replace fossil fuels with renewable, abundant energy. It will cause growing pains, but we have to make this change, and I hope my novel will inspire people to believe in that future

follow @thecarboncoast for more posts like this and info about the novel

IPCC: We can tackle climate change if big oil gets out of the way | US news | The Guardian

the Guardian

IPCC: We can tackle climate change if big oil gets out of the way

Experts say criticism of oil and gas’s ‘climate-blocking activities’ cut from final draft, reflective of industry’s power and influence