Sustainable shopping: save the world, one chocolate at a time

Cocoa is probably the most sustainable of all internationally traded commodities, so there are several “feelgood” reasons for eating the chocolate made from it this Easter – at least when the cocoa is grown by smallholder producers and traded by processors that are committed to equitable sharing of profits.

These are the chocolates you’re looking for. 

Here are some ways to tell if you are onto a good thing.As a wild species, cocoa (Theobroma cacao) originates from the rainforest of the Amazon basin and the foothills of the Andes. In nature, it grows as an “understorey” species, shaded by the rainforest canopy. Much of the world’s cocoa crop is similarly grown in the shade of taller trees in mixed plantings.

Unlike many plantation crops, like rubber and oil palm, cocoa can be grown with a diverse mixture of other plants. Of course, not all growers produce this way, so if preserving biodiversity is a priority for you, look for Rainforest Alliance certification.

Read the piece on The Conversation buy a trio of authors - “Sustainable shopping: save the world, one chocolate at a time.”

Downsizing: Matt Damon's funny-ish climate change film

There are several reasons climate communicators and activists, and not just cli-fi aficionados, could benefit by seeing Downsizing, the end-of-2017 movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Alexander Payne – to be released March 20 on disk.

Going small to make big-time cuts in carbon footprint.

1. It is one of the few films that addresses climate change mitigation (i.e. reducing greenhouse gas emissions). Most cli-fi movies depict extreme weather disasters (impacts) or survivors struggling in bleak climate-changed landscapes (adaptation).

2) Rarer still, Downsizing is a comedy, a useful quality not often found in climate change communications.

3) Several members of the cast and crew have been Academy Award nominees; three have Oscars on their mantels. Hong Chau, was nominated for the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for her supporting performance in the film.

4) Downsizing raises an important point for discussion: What is the human(e) response to climate change, to predictions of climate disasters in particular?

Read the Yale Climate Connections story - “Downsizing: Matt Damon's funny-ish climate change film.”

What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?

People become vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Some do it to alleviate animal suffering, others because they want to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Still others are fans of sustainability or wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Eliminating meat from our diets would bring a bounty
 of benefits to both our own health and the planet’s
 – but it could also harm millions of people.

No matter how much their carnivorous friends might deny it, vegetarians have a point: cutting out meat delivers multiple benefits. And the more who make the switch, the more those perks would manifest on a global scale.

But if everyone became a committed vegetarian, there would be serious drawbacks for millions, if not billions, of people.

“It’s a tale of two worlds, really,” says Andrew Jarvis of Colombia’s International Centre for Tropical Agriculture. “In developed countries, vegetarianism would bring all sorts of environmental and health benefits. But in developing countries there would be negative effects in terms of poverty.”

Read Rachel Nuwer’s BBC story - “What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?”

Misunderstandings about hydrogen reach Toyota's highest echelons

T

he many misunderstandings about hydrogen appear to have filtered up to the highest echelons of the Toyota car company.

Even though it was already involved with Tesla, probably the most successful all-electric car manufacturer, Toyota has plumped for hydrogen fuel cell cars.

 A ClimateProgress story - “Tesla Trumps Toyota: The Seven Reasons Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars AreStalled” – tells us that “For reasons that mostly defy logic, the otherwise shrewd car company, Toyota, is placing a large bet on hydrogen fuel cell cars, starting with the Mirai. At the same time, it has backed away from its partnership with Tesla to build an all-electric vehicle.

Author, Joe Romm, says, “Toyota is going to lose this bet. There is little reason to believe hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) will ever beat electric vehicles in the car market.”

Considering global warming in the U.S.

A

merican figures for those who agree that global warming is a reality.

U.S, figures, although not the same for many reasons, reflect those of Australia.

Check out the interactive charts here: “Estimated % of adults who think global warming is happening, 2014.”

American exceptionalism a threat: Robert Manne

Robert Manne.

“American exceptionalism is now a threat to both the earth and the future of humankind. No nation is more important in the struggle against global warming than the United States.”

“However,” Australia’s Robert Manne reports in the Guardian, “because of its self-conception, no nation is less likely than the US to subordinate itself to the international community”.

Manne, in his reporter headed: "Climate change: some reasons for our failures" says that nations of earth are doing very little to avert a foreseeable catastrophe.

“There are many reasons why”, he points out, “some obvious, some less so.”