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The TH Interview: Sharon Schmidt, Mom in Greensburg Kansas

by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 05.11.08
Business & Politics

285_taylor-schmidt.jpgWhen I recently had the opportunity to interview Greensburg mother Sharon Schmidt she sounded tired but resolute. Much like you’d expect a mom who has been through a lot in the recent past, putting her own life back together while ensuring her son has the best possible experience as a high school junior despite the fact that their entire town has been rebuilding from a tornado that took it off the map.

Her words give life to what it means to be a mom from Greensburg, and I suspect you’ll enjoy reading what she has to say this Mother’s Day as much as I did listening to her speak a short time ago.

TreeHugger: What’s this school year been like while Greensburg is being rebuilt?

Sharon Schmidt: It’s started out just kind of surreal and at the very first of the school year in late summer and very early fall there were still some very bad storms and we were living in Femaville, and they didn’t have their storm shelters yet so it was just very trying.

I guess when they would hit we would have gotten notice, but they were fast moving storms so it was unsettling I guess… But they do have shelters now (at school) so as a mother I feel better about it.

Read more: The TH Interview: Sharon Schmidt, Mom in Greensburg Kansas

Reindeer Herders Latest Casualties To Fast-Changing Arctic Climate

by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 05.11.08
Business & Politics

Sami-Culture-Climate-Change-Victim.jpg
Fewer and fewer Samis live the nomadic life these days. Photo courtesy wiki commons

Reindeer herding is no piece-of-cake job - the hours are long and the weather mostly crummy. But at least ten percent of the indigenous Sami people (also called Lapplanders, or Lapps) in Europe's far north have herding as their traditional occupation. Though they've over time been encroached upon by different assimilation pressures and have been shifting to stationary reindeer farming over nomadic herding, a rapidly-warming Arctic climate is the latest serious threat to their livelihood.

Traditionally Sami reindeer herders traveled over ice roads - broad hooves mean the herd can forage for food below the snow. But changing climate over the last decade means winters can bring unstable ice and more rain, and temperature changes that make snow thaw and freeze to thin ice sheets that reindeer hooves can't penetrate.

"Climate change is threatening our economy as reindeer herders," herder Olav Mathis-Eira told The Independent. "Because this is part of our traditional way of life, if the economy goes, probably the entire Sami culture would go with it."

Via: The Independent
See also: Arctic Emissaries Head To Washingtonand Finnmark 2007

Branding for Non-Profits - Why It's Important

by Jerry Stifelman, The Change on 05.11.08
Business & Politics

Branding is vitally important for non-profits and charities. photo.

The essence of branding is developing a clear identity for the messenger -- as opposed to marketing, which merely focuses on the message. However, in the non-profit sector, branding frequently falls by the wayside. My theory is that when your messages are as serious as saving the planet, it's hard to look beyond them. (It should also be noted that many non-profit communications are the result pro-bono work, often completed by different agencies - which can make it hard to maintain consistency across campaigns.)

I've already removed myself from junk mail lists thanks to Green Dimes and the Center for a New American Dream – so the only solicitations I now receive are from the environmental, human rights and animal welfare organizations that I contribute to. And I'm always astonished at these organizations' apparent failure to realize that they are competing with one another for my attention and for my contributions (both in terms of whether or not and how much I contribute). But here's an example of good branding in the sector:

Read more: Branding for Non-Profits - Why It's Important

Yale Researcher Challenges Traditional Role of Predators

by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 05.11.08
Business & Politics

"Revolutionary." That is the word Oswald Schmitz, Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, uses to describe the conclusions of research into how predators influence ecosystems. Pre-revolutionary logic: the soils -- and plants' interaction with soils -- determine the types of plants that grow. This in turn determines the types of herbivores present, thereby indirectly determining the population of carnivores. So effectively the ranges of wolves or cougars depend on the soil type. Reminds me of a joke...

Read more: Yale Researcher Challenges Traditional Role of Predators

Public Transit Looking More Attractive in the Face of Record Gas Prices

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 05.10.08
Business & Politics

chicago public transit
Image courtesy of frozenchipmunk via flickr

The upshot of the record gas prices we're seeing has been the sometimes meteoric rise in the number of drivers switching over to public transit. And, as we learn today from a prominent piece in the NYT, it's become a national trend — one that has especially picked up steam in many of the Southwest's car-happy metropolitan areas (hi Los Angeles). Indeed, as another recent piece in the LAT points out, usage statistics for the MTA have gone through the roof:

"After declining at the end of 2007, L.A. rail and bus ridership started rising in January. From January to March, average weekday boardings were up 16% on the Red Line rail system, 13% on the Blue Line and 17% on the Gold Line, which set a record for highest average weekday boardings in March with 22,231. Bus ridership grew 8% from January to March."

Read more: Public Transit Looking More Attractive in the Face of Record Gas Prices

Rothbury Music Festival Showcases Next Generation of Carbon Offsetting

by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 05.10.08
Business & Politics

Big-Wildcat-Ranch-Rothbury-Music-Festival.jpg

When you’ve got a brand new music festival you’re putting together it’s really a great opportunity to think outside the box when it comes to greening the event. And this July, organizers of the ROTHBURY Festival in Rothbury, Michigan will do just that; offsetting the carbon footprint of folks enjoying acts like the Dave Matthews Band, Gov’t Mule, Snoop Dogg, and John Mayer in a novel way.

Read more: Rothbury Music Festival Showcases Next Generation of Carbon Offsetting

Russia Joins Global League of Climate Obstructionists, Putting Future U.N. Treaty in Doubt

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 05. 9.08
Business & Politics

moscow st. basil's cathedral
Image courtesy of JackVersloot via flickr

When in Rome: Joining its fellow top polluters -- China, India and the U.S. -- Russia has signaled it would rebuff the imposition of tougher emission standards, casting doubt on the prospects for a future U.N.-mediated climate treaty, reports Reuters' Alister Doyle. Government officials said last week that the country wouldn't accept binding caps under a new deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, set to expire by the end of 2012.

Read more: Russia Joins Global League of Climate Obstructionists, Putting Future U.N. Treaty in Doubt

Is the Lieberman-Warner Climate Bill on its Last Legs?

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 05. 8.08
Business & Politics

john warner and carl levin

Oh Lieberman-Warner climate bill, we hardly knew ye: Climate Progress' Joe Romm brings us the sad news that the legislation may be on its way out -- victim, as he put it, of "apathy" and some serious watering down (read: neutering). Oh yes: It also turns out that whole "getting 60 votes" thing got in the way:

Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) shrugged off suggestions she is having trouble winning over moderates and conservatives from either party in her quest to find 60 votes and squash an inevitable filibuster.

“To tell you the truth, we don’t know if we’ll wind up getting 60 votes this time,” Boxer said in an interview. “But we do believe we’re making tremendous progress and we’re going to start the debate.”

Read more: Is the Lieberman-Warner Climate Bill on its Last Legs?
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