climate change

National Geographic writer, filmmaker and adventurer Jon Bowermaster has spent the last 20 years exploring remote corners of the globe and documenting his experiences for a variety of national and international magazines, as well as in his own books and documentary films. 

For his Oceans 8 project, Jon spent the last decade traveling the globe by sea kayak and investigating the local cultures, histories and environmental issues of those living along the world’s coastlines.  We were fortunate to catch up with Jon recently, and in the video interview below, he describes his Oceans 8 adventures, discusses the perceptions and realities of climate change he’s observed, and talks about the next step in his journey.

We’ll feature future updates from Jon in his travels here on Earthkeepers … in the meantime, you can also follow his adventures through Dispatches on his website.

Yesterday, President Elect Obama vowed to place climate change at the top of his agenda – a move I applaud.  His strongly-worded remarks were both refreshing and reassuring, a sharp contrast against the refusal of administrations, Democratic and Republican, over the last several decades to address climate change in any meaningful fashion.

Impacts of climate change can be felt across borders and across every sector of civic society.  We are living through the dreadful awareness of what happens when we try to manage inter-connected systems with conventional, unconnected governance models.  Who knew that American real estate speculators could help unravel the world’s banking system?  “Environmental crisis” is poised to replace “economic crisis” in news headlines around the world; and for this crisis, no “bail out” plan will rescue us, or future generations, from the real damage being done to our physical environment.  

In addition to Washington putting climate change at the top of its agenda, another complementary, yet elementary, part – if you want a real solution to climate change – is at the cash register you visit every day. As powerful and relevant as the government is, for-profit business has a huge, even outsized impact on the question of climate change. CEOs – yes, that demonized group characterized by greed and self dealing – have the potential to foster huge, positive impact on climate change.  Businesses buy and sell along a value chain that stretches across the globe, from developed economies to developing economies. CEOs can and do have a huge impact on climate change, in the way they run their businesses, in the choices they make about materials, energy use, chemical use, transportation. And if you want to influence those choices – you, the citizen consumer – can.  Imagine if you insisted on organic content in the food you purchase.  Lo and behold – an entire industry springs into action, to deliver organic produce.  Imagine if you demanded that Timberland or Nike or the Gap use organic cotton, rather than pesticide laden factory-farmed cotton.  Just imagine.

I am not saying government doesn’t have an important role in solving climate change – clearly it does.  But if we expect President Elect Obama or Congress to solve the issues facing the environment alone, we’re fooling ourselves.  It will take more effort to reverse the damage being done to our environment worldwide. Citizen consumers have the power to force change, by holding brands and businesses to a higher standard – and in turn many businesses must change they way they currently operate.  With everyday “votes” on what goods and services you buy, you can create a different kind of accountability on climate change.  Consumers can use their purchasing power to hold corporate America responsible for doing more than “working on” climate change.

Jeff Swartz
President & CEO, Timberland

Taking action to create a positive impact on the environment doesn’t have to include tree planting or recycling or driving a hybrid car. The act of raising awareness around the issue of global warming – in a compelling and provocative way – can be just as powerful.

Michael Sheridan is a documentary filmmaker and experimental videosonic artist whose recent work Instant Noodles addresses the crisis of deforestation and the palm oil industry in Indonesia. His work reminds us that there are as many avenues for expressing environmental consciousness as there are individuals in the world – and that the inspirational nature of art is boundless.

Below, Michael shares his thoughts about the creation of Instant Noodles as a means of instigating fresh perspectives on everyday life, and encouraging personal behavior change.

When I arrived in Indonesia in August of 2007, I was already committed to producing new artwork for two exhibitions in the United States. In December I finished a new installation sound piece, This is Foreign for the Axiom Gallery and in January a new videosonic work Instant Noodles.

Instant Noodles was part of the exhibition Greed, Guilt and Grappling-Six Artists Respond to Global Warming at the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts. Mags Harries and Clara Wainwright, the artist-curators of the exhibition, asked me last year if I would be interested in participating. I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to ground my new explorations in Indonesia – a country I frankly knew very little about. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I attended the Ceres conference in Boston, Massachusetts (”The annual Ceres conference is a unique gathering of corporate, environmental, investor, governance, and labor leaders who share a collective vision of sustainability and capital markets functioning side by side”). I have a very high bar for the conferences I attend, and this makes the top three. The networking is genuine and I always learn more than I bargained for.

Some highlights:

A panel with current and former executive leadership of BP and Shell agreeing that climate change is an issue that needs to be dealt with, only differing on how they were going to do it. They both say that company profits fund alternative energy research, so I look forward to hearing about the developments of those investments at subsequent conferences — and ideally sooner.

A closing panel on the economic impact of climate change that included Van Jones, the Founder and President of Green for All a non-profit dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Van was so charismatic, poised and on-point that he elicited applause after almost everyone of his comments. He was so good, in fact, that I didn’t even feel compelled to tell you that Theodore Roosevelt IV and Chip Giller of Grist were also on the panel. And they too were excellent.

What felt different about this conference was that there seems to be a palpable shift to issue identification and value creation. There was less finger-pointing and more collaboration and discussion of important issues with the intention of real results. It’s a good sign and I, for one, look forward to it.

Alex Hausman
Corporate Social Responsibility
The Timberland Company