Bits & Pieces May 4, 2018 by Shanti Moorjani

On July 4, El Cerrito holds an amazing event call "WorldOne Festival" featuring diverse music and food, lots of fun for kids and many booths sharing what their particular group is up to. I would like to set up a booth for Person of the Planet to share what we are about and encourage people to think of themselves as a "Person of the Planet" and add their name to our growing list. I am willing to take on this project of set up, manning the booth, finding cool things to share about us/you. But, I am only one and as HiIlary once said; "It takes a village".   I would love to have help with set up and extra help sitting at the booth. I cannot do it without you. I think an hour or two either setting up, sitting and breaking down would be very helpful. Since this application needs to be in by May 15th, please let me know if you could help out.   Let's do it!

Help me get educated! This week I am re-reading the first chapter in the book: "A Global Warming Primer" Answering your questions about The Science, the Consequences, and Solutions by Jeffrey Bennett. I will re-read and ponder just the first chapter pages 3 - 24 and report back next week a few things that impressed me. If you already have this book or are able to get one, let me know what stood out for you after reading this chapter. The email we use is: personoftheplanet@gmail.com    

Next week stay tuned to more on about Deepika Tahilliani in Mumbai and what she is doing to change the health of the planet!

Our Warming Oceans

Sue Day sends us this article from Cornell University. It seems that a joint research project with Cornell and UC Irvine have raised a significant warning regarding ocean warming.

Dire Levels of CO2 will Decimate Oceans in 200 Years

By Blaine Friedlander |  March 8, 2018

If humanity does not act to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will continue to climb and Earth’s average temperature will escalate. This sustained climate warming will drive the ocean’s fishery yields into steep decline 200 years from now and that trend could last at least a millennium, according to University of California, Irvine, and Cornell University researchers in Science, March 9.

Read the complete article by clicking here!

I Believe in Reincarnation! Do You?

I bet that headline got your attention. And I hope all of you believe in reincarnation as well. Read on, citizens, and become a believer.

Today’s blog comes from the Northwest Earth Institute. We will now look at the 5 R’s that support “reincarnation” pertaining to a healthy planet.

“PRACTICE THE "5 RS" -- REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, REPURPOSE, AND RECYCLE -- The linear and wasteful ways in which humans partner with the materials that make up the economy result in significant greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of the products that meet our daily needs. Project Drawdown has measured, mapped, and modeled a set of solutions that, collectively, show a pathway forward to a more circular economy where material already extracted, produced, and used is recovered and efficiently reprocessed into reincarnateforms or, in some cases, more thoughtfully disposed of or transformed so as not to release potent gases with significant global warming potential into the atmosphere. “

Refuse: plastic straws when getting a purchased beverage.

Reduce: ask, is this purchase good for the planet? Do I really need another ______ ?

Reuse: can I make this purchase from a thrift store? Craig’s List or Nextdoor?

Repurpose: (my favorite) Is this item that I’m about to discard suitable for an alternative use?

Recycle: Ya’ll get this one!

The use of materials for a variety of purposes has an ongoing impact on the health of Earth. More from Project Drawdown:

“The linear and wasteful ways in which humans partner with the materials that make up the economy result in significant greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of the products that meet our daily needs. A linear life cycle where material is extracted, processed, transported, manufactured, utilized, and discarded leaves a terrific atmospheric and financial footprint from the energy wasted, the embodied energy in the materials themselves, and the burden of handling the waste streams resultant from wanton consumption. 

Project Drawdown has measured, mapped, and modeled a set of solutions that, collectively, show a pathway forward to a more circular economy where material already extracted, produced, and used is recovered and efficiently reprocessed into reincarnate forms or, in some cases, more thoughtfully disposed of or transformed so as not to release potent gases with significant global warming potential into the atmosphere.  In some cases, simply more judicious use of materials results in significant energy savings, which mitigate emissions. "

It is exciting to read about hopeful ways to reverse, and reincarnate, damage to the planet. More information in coming weeks. You can find additional information at www.nwei.org.

Bits & Pieces April 13, 2018 by Shanti Moorjani

A big thank you to Michael Ware for helping to educate us on the ins and outs of recycling. He patiently allowed for an interactive presentation that was light with tricky questions, humor and good stories. His pile of plastic examples was familiar to most of us. Lynda Hurley who had brought Michael to our attention, even brought her own bag of plastics to find out where they stood on the recycling scene. The talk was surprisingly well attended.

Person(s) of the Planet (POP) is a group of many individuals who care about the health and survival of this planet. They are individually motivated to do their unique part in their own lives by asking the question for every decision "Is this good for the Planet" and doing what they can. Arlington Community has taken POP under its wings this past year sponsoring many informative talks, movie showings, and even a "Green" Holiday Bazaar. The church has added solar panels to its roof and has gone green in various other ways. Many individual here and beyond the walls of church have declared themselves to be a "Person of the Planet."

Notes from India by Shanti Moorjani

As of March 24, 2018, the governing civic branch (BMC) of Mumbai (Bombay) has banned all plastic bags, cups, cutlery and the like! You have one month to get rid of your household plastics. After that, if you are caught with a plastic bag you will get a citation and pay a fine of 5,000 rupees ($80.00), second offence R10,000, third offence R25,000 plus 3 months in jail. In 2005, Mumbai found that plastic bags were a major reason why storm water drains were clogged, leading to floods in various parts of the city. I have relatives in the Santa Cruz district of Mumbai whose cars were submerged during the monsoons on two different years recently. Other cities in India who have already instituted bans on plastic are Delhi, Rajasthan, Kamar, and Tiramalu.

Another project Mumbai executed a little over a year ago, was a massive art project to draw attention to the importance of mangrove trees along the coast and inland waterways. Over the course of seven days, the walls of 36 railway stations in the city were beautified by 25,000 volunteers who painted mangrove trees, exotic birds, insects, and butterflies. Between October 2- 8 people are asked to give something back to society by volunteering to help a project or another person less fortunate. This is called Daan Utsar, previously know as the "Joy of Giving Week". MAD (Making a Difference foundation) sponsored the event, conceived by Mumbai First, a not-for-profit think tank in Mumbai.

I was very proud to see my niece, Deepika Tahiliani stepped out to design one of the 36 stations. . Deepika is an accomplished artist, designer, mother of two and active crusader for the environment who lives in Mumbai.   Her station was the Hamhara Railway Station. Over the course of the seven days, Deepika help managed 230 volunteers of all ages to draw and paint her exotic designs This week long project attracted much attention as people waited for their trains or happened to be walking by. The colorful art emerged over the seven days drawing attention to the importance of Mangrove trees, this urban forest that surrounds Mumbai.

Mangroves are tree and schrubs that have adapted to life in a salt water environment, and are recognized by their dense tangle of of prop roots that appear to be standing on stilts above the water. This biomass keeps the shorelines intact, preventing erosion, acting as a shield against cyclone, floods and tsunamis. Mangrove trees clean the air of carbn dioxide at a rate much higher than any other plant on the planet (except bambo), literally taking the CO2 out of the atmosphere and packing it away in their rich soil. They are natural carbon schrubbers and act as the lungs for our planet. Lastly, the mangroves support and amazing bio-diversity. Specifically in Mumbai this includes 82 species of butterflies, 7 species of snakes, crabs, mudskippers, 208 species of birds, zoo plankton, insects and the fan throated lizard.      

Going Without... Part II

Person of the Planet Sponsored Article shared by Ruth Robinson  

I recently 'stumbled' upon this journalist and blogger. Who knew fashion, travel and sustainability would be in the same sentence, and linked together. Alden Wicker, journalist and founder of www.ecocult.com, does just that. The following is part two of a two-part reprinted article for P.O.P. Ms. Wicker is young, hip and has some interesting insights from the world of a 30-ish writer. 

Last week we read about Wicker’s idea to live 200 days without buying things. She wrote: Could I survive 200 days away from the mall?

Going Without Buying Things for 200 Days (Part II)

By Alden Wicker

In fact, I could. And here is some of what I learned along the way:

1. There is already too much stuff in the world. As I toured various thrift stores, online classifieds sections, Facebook buy/sell groups and the like, I was shocked to see the sheer volume of stuff we humans have already created. Mountains of clothes, tons of furniture, dishes, pans, walking sticks-an ocean of all things imaginable. As all of this stuff is being thrown away, more is being churned out. We don’t need more.

2. People buy things out of pure compulsion. As I looked to fill my needs through pre-owned sources, I was blown away by the amount of new items in thrift stores-items that were unused, complete with price tags and original packaging. Everything from new scented candles to new clothing graced the aisles of secondhand stores. Clearly, the act of buying is often completely disassociated with actual human need, or even want. It’s much more akin to a compulsion.

3. There is an unreasonable stigma against pre-owned items. As I blogged about my experience, I received a lot of interesting feedback on the hygienic aspect of my efforts. Many felt that buying clothing, furniture and other goods used instead of new was dirty and uncivilized. What a weird mentality! These same people would happily donate their used goods to thrift stores. I guess it’s good enough for the lower income among us-but not for “us.”

4. There is so much abundance. During my 200 days, I learned I didn’t need to go to big box stores to buy what I needed-there were plenty of resources in my own community. Our communities have an abundance of stuff and plenty of people willing to give it away at a very low price or for free.

5. When nothing is new, nothing is expensive. My bank account definitely got a break during these 200 days. Secondhand comes at a delightfully steep discount. And I never felt that I compromised on quality, either.

6. It’s awesome paying a person instead of a corporation. Especially when shopping through classifieds, I found that most sellers were honest and helpful. They were normal people just wanting to recoup a portion of their purchase price by selling perfectly usable items. It was refreshing to know that my money would be going directly to someone just like me, instead of a faceless corporation.

7. I don’t really need that stuff. Truth is, some things you simply cannot find preowned. Lots of items, even common ones, are either impossible or impractical to find pre-owned. When I was forced to not buy them-against my strongest impulses at times-I was surprised how nothing changed. Not my health, happiness or inner harmony. I realized that most things are really just “nice-to-haves;” real needs are generally more limited.

My 200 days was not only an optional experience in sustainable living and minimalism. It was a necessary and transformative journey. When someone dies, you’re expected to just “get past it” and go back to normal. I did not want to feel like losing my father was an event I simply moved on from, an experience that ultimately left me unchanged.

Going Without

Person of the Planet Sponsored Article shared by Ruth Robinson  

I recently 'stumbled' upon this journalist and blogger. Who knew fashion, travel and sustainability would be in the same sentence, and linked together. Alden Wicker, journalist and founder of www.ecocult.com, does just that. The following is part one of a two-part reprinted article for P.O.P. Ms. Wicker is young, hip and has some interesting insights from the world of a 30-ish writer.

Going Without Buying Things for 200 Days (Part I of II)

By Alden Wicker

A few months ago, I went through the worst experience of my life: my father passed away.

It was a cancer which took him, and a small part of myself as well. As I reflect on the time preceding his death, there were so many hard parts. One of the hardest was not being able to mourn in peace.

Nope, in our society you can't just mourn a person's loss-you need to work. Not just at your job, but on piles of paperwork, people to notify and arrangements to be made. Finally, when I thought all of the hard work was over, I had to empty out my father's apartment. Little did I know that this would be the bitterest labor yet.

Going through my father's old things, I felt the loss of my father with each and every item I sorted. And there was a lot of sorting to do. It took weeks to clear out the lifetime of possessions in my single father's small apartment. Weeks to sell, donate, recycle or throw out the boxes and boxes of kitchenware, clothing, furniture, office materials, and so much more.

I threw away a normal life of accumulation.

Time, money, and effort had been heavily invested in getting all of this stuff-only to be disposed of with great difficulty. We were destroying the planet for future generations, all so that we could enjoy a short lifetime full of material possessions that in many cases were hardly used, rarely necessary and easily forgotten.

I decided that I didn't want this to be my "normal." And so I embarked on an experiment lasting 200 days where I would buy nothing new. Excluding groceries, medicine and basic toiletries, I would borrow and buy secondhand, or simply go without.

Like many of us making a steady income, I'd never been very disciplined when it came to my purchases. If I could afford it-and even when I couldn't-I often just thought "why not?" Could I survive 200 days away from the mall?

Part II will be published on April 6, 2018

Eating Green by Ruth Robinson

Will you help reduce carbon emissions by eating?  (Say what?!)

If you are like me, you get hungry, eat, probably cook your own meals, then repeat this several times a day, not counting snacks and treats.  Since we need food for life and energy, we also need a healthy planet to produce our food.  Check out these ideas that really will make a difference:

Consider what you don’t eat – and specifically, what you waste.  You could start by using smaller plates for your meals and less food.  You could also think ahead and see if you can ‘cook once, eat twice’ and use those leftovers creatively.

Consider no-meat Mondays.  More days a week without meat, all the better.   How about learning to cook or bake something this week that is from a vegan cookbook?

Do you know the definitions for:

‘Use By’; ‘Best By’; ‘Sell By’ on food packaging?  If not, you may be wasting perfectly good food. 

Here’s a new word for you:  “silvopasture”. 

Silvopasture is an ancient practice that integrates trees and pasture into a single system for raising livestock. Research suggests silvopasture far outpaces any grassland technique for counteracting the methane emissions of livestock and sequestering carbon under-hoof. Pastures strewn or crisscrossed with trees sequester five to ten times as much carbon as those of the same size that are treeless, storing it in both biomass and soil.

Carbon aside, the advantages of silvopasture are considerable, with financial benefits for farmers and ranchers. Livestock, trees, and any additional forestry products, such as nuts, fruit, and mushrooms, generate income on different time horizons. The health and productivity of both animals and the land improve. Because silvopasture systems are diversely productive and more resilient, farmers are better insulated from risk.

Silvopasture often runs counter to farming norms and can be costly and slow to implement. Peer-to-peer education has proven effective for spreading it. As the impacts of global warming progress, appeal will likely grow, because silvopasture can help farmers and their livestock adapt to erratic weather and increased drought. That is the climatic win-win of this solution: Silvopasture averts and sequesters emissions, while protecting against changes that are now inevitable.

Come back next week for more carbon-reducing ideas!

Bits & Pieces by Shanti Moorjani

A big thank you to Andrew (Andy) Gunther for his inspirational and informative talk last night at the Arlington Community Church.   Andy was the Person of the Planet's guest speaker for the month of March. Yes we all think we know about climate change and climate disruptions, but how about some scientific facts and compelling pictures to back it up? Andy did just that, keeping us on the edge of our seats.

Andy started by asking us 3 questions: 1) Must we change? 2) Can we change? and 3) Will we change? His talk focused on global warming comparing the last 20 years to facts dating back 800,000 years. He talked about rising waters, extreme weather events, disappearing species, air pollution, human migrations due to climate disruptions, and the resulting new disease potential.

His passion for the subject was reflected in how expertly he convince us of the immediate risk for all human life on the planet, only to be brought to a final understanding that Yes, we can make a difference. Many things are already in motion to help reverse the alarming trend of global disruptions and the people's will is there to make it happen.

Here's some additional reading. Andrew mentioned: "Climate Wars" by Gwynne Dyer about the effects of dwindling resources and massive population shifts forcing the worlds powers into desperate measures to find advantages to survive. Also, an article in February 25, 2018 edition of Rolling Stones magazine titles "Welcome to the age of Climate Migration" by Jeff Goodell.

I would also like to add a great small, concise book that everyone should have: "A Global Warming Primer" by Jeffrey Bennett. And, if you would be curious to know what the planet would be like without us, check out the book: "The World Without Us" by Alan Wiesman. Lastly, the brilliant book by Paul Hawken called "Drawdown," "the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming" will surely empower you.

Person of the Planet's next speaker will be Michael Ware from the Berkeley Recycling on Thursday, April 12, at 7:00pm.

The Grande Dame of the Everglades By Ruth Robinson

She stood 5’ 2”, weighted in at 100 pounds. You have heard her name over and over this past month, but you may not know who she was. The ‘she’ I’m referring to was Marjory Stoneman Douglas. You certainly know the high school in Parkland, FL, named for her and the tragic scene last month of yet another mass killing.

Douglas lived to 108, working until nearly the end of her life for Everglades restoration. Upon her death in 1998, an obituary in The Independent in London stated, "In the history of the American environmental movement, there have been few more remarkable figures than Marjory Stoneman Douglas.”

Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. In addition to being a tireless environmentalist, before that word was invented, she championed women’s rights, civil rights, clean drinking water and better sanitation for the people of Florida.

President Bill Clinton awarded her the Medal of Freedom. Douglas was tireless and never silent when confronting political barriers. It is ironic that she did not give up on the incredible value of the Everglades and worked to preserve this treasure; this was just a swamp that needed draining to many real estate developers in south Florida.

What a legacy, what a remarkable woman. Now you know Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a memorial to a true American Hero, not only a memorial to those who died there.