[ Saturday, October 23, 2010; 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. ] The U.S. Green Building Council, AZ Chapter, Southern Branch’s 3rd annual Expo featuring up to 60 exhibitors of green building products, businesses, and organizations; public and professional educational seminars; and a Green Home Tour. Jerry Yudelson, world-renowned author and sustainability expert is the keynote speaker. For more information, or to purchase tickets for the Green [...]

[ Friday, October 15, 2010; 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1030 North Olive Road, Tucson

Dr. Arun Majumdar, director of ARPA-E, the U.S. government agency created to
promote and fund research and development of advanced energy technologies, will
deliver a public address at the University of Arizona on October 15.

One of the most influential leaders in U.S. energy research, he will [...]

[ Monday, October 18, 2010; 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] 

You are all invited to a dedication ceremony for Pima County’s Solar Electric Generating Facility. Be there when they flip the switch on the largest polycrystalline PV solar facility in Southern Arizona.

Directions:

Exit I-10 at Ruthrauff Road/W. El Camino del Cerro

Turn west off the ramp at W. El Camino del Cerro

The road to the solar site [...]

[ Sunday, October 10, 2010; 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] Speedway and Grande

Workshop instructors: Catlow Shipek & Chris Stenken
10/10/10 is set to be a global day of action on climate change in over 180 countries. Events are being planned that demonstrate real solutions, that anybody and everybody can be a part of to the threat of climate change.

In Tucson, Watershed Management group will be installing [...]

[ Thursday, October 21, 2010; 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. ] Salpointe Catholic High School

Join Watershed Management Group (WMG) for a Green Infrastructure Showcase & Open House celebration with Samos Neighborhood, Salpointe High, WMG, and the City of Tucson, all leaders in green infrastructure for Southwest neighborhoods. This event will include an introduction to WMG\’s Green Streets – Green Neighborhoods program, an outdoor tour of [...]

A New York Times article provides a stark warning about the impending water crisis facing communities in the southwestern United States.  The article provides some of the basis for concern:
“Adding to water managers’ unease, scientists predict that prolonged droughts will be more frequent in decades to come as the Southwest’s climate warms. As Lake Mead’s [...]

Imagine Greater Tucson, a collaborative effort to define a publicly supported vision and clear action plan to help shape the region’s future is kicking off its multi-year campaign at the end of the month. There are many opportunities to get involved and to help ensure that sustainability is a fundamental concern of the campaign. Learn [...]

[ Thursday, September 30, 2010; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. ] You are invited to a lecture and discussion with Dr. Sharon Megdal, Director of the University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center. Discover what our current situation is and what can we do now, before we are in a crisis!

Hear Sharon Megdal, then meet with cistern installers, dual flush toilet venders and other people working [...]

[ Friday, October 29, 2010; 5:30 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Historic Fox Theatre, 17 West Congress, Tucson

A Sense of Wonder: a celebration of children and nature, a film about Rachel Carson will be shown at the historic Fox Theater. This gala evening event for adults and youth 12 and above will include appearances by Pete Mesquitey and Eb Eberlein. The event will be catered by [...]

The New York Times reports on a massive flow of money into California to defeat its recent legislative efforts to control green house emissions in that state. Out of state oil companies are the major sources of millions of dollars supporting an initiative to suspend application of the law until unemployment falls below, and stays [...]

[ Saturday, October 2, 2010; 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. ] A symposium examining recent evidence that climate change may be affecting desert ecology in Saguaro National Park will beheld from 9 am to 4:30 pm, October 2nd at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Warden Oasis Theater.

Jonathon Overpeck, co-director of the Institute of the Environment and leader on the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Travis Huxman, [...]

[ Sunday, September 12, 2010; 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. ] The Age of Stupid
September 12th, 5:00 pm. Film starts at 5:45

Sunday Night at the Movies at St. Francis in the Foothills Church, at Swan and River Roads. Bring a potluck dish to share in the main meeting space. Questions? Call Liz 299-9839

Pete Postlethwaite stars as the narrator of the film, an old man living alone [...]

[ Wednesday, September 15, 2010; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] The Loft Cinema, 3233 E Speedway, Blvd., Tucson, Arizona

The Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival On Tour brings together a selection of films from the annual festival held each January in Nevada City, CA. The chosen films not only highlight environmental concerns but also provide solutions, reaching people through beautiful imagery, and inspiring local individuals [...]

National Geographic has developed a cute (and informative) water use calculator. Even though it leaves out some of the ways in which we use and save water, you might enjoy giving it a try. Of course, you might want to pass the link on to your friends.
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-footprint-calculator/

By Steve Andrews, Sally Odland, John Theobald and Randy Udall.  Andrews and Udall are retired co-founders of ASPO-USA. Odland is a former ASPO-USA board member. Theobald is a former ASPO-USA conference organizer.
Published by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas – USA (ASPO-USA) on Mon, [...]

[ Saturday, October 16, 2010; 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] At the HabiStore
3840 S. Palo Verde at Ajo (SW corner of Ajo and Palo Verde)

Learn from the gurus of green, as local experts share tips, info, and ways to go green and save greenbacks at the Green Living Fair in Partnership with AFV Day Odyssey. Discover steps for energy savings, resource conservation, organic gardening, composting, [...]

A recent study suggests that even though more of us are concerned about the environment and the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, most of us are poorly informed about the relative impact of energy saving actions we can take in our homes. Arguably “people seem conditioned to think of energy savings as they [...]

Cheers Sustainable Tucson:
Lots of of Zero-Race.com serendipity is happening!  The Electrics are coming to town!  So now it’s time to tap into furthering the wellspring of EVnthusiastism with Sustainable Tucson.  Many around the country are jumping in as “Indians” and just being players on the Zero Race Regional Coordinating Teams (RCTs).  EVolunteers are needed for the RCT – Arizona, [...]

[ Tuesday, October 26, 2010; 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. ]
Tucson Association of REALTORS
2445 N. Tucson Blvd.
Event Phone number: 520-382-8775

The Tucson Association of REALTORS Green Committee presents, this one of a kind event! In this presentation, Jerry Yudelson, author of Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis (2010), will describe how future water availability will affect the quality of [...]

[ Monday, September 13, 2010; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] The September Meeting will focus on the carbon burden associated with supplying Greater Tucson’s water supply. Additional information will be supplied about what individuals can do within their communities to use our precious water wisely and sustainably.

Tom’s of Maine is asking for the public’s vote to determine five non-profit organizations that will each receive $20,000 through its “50 States for Good” initiative. This year, the “50 States for Good” program drew submissions from every state with a special focus on non-profits that need volunteers to help get important projects started in [...]

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Are 12 Times Support for Renewables!
Bloomberg reports that although the US provides greater support for renewal energy than most nations, we still provide substantially more subsidies for non-renewal energy.
See the rest of the article here.

A recent report from climate scientists at Stanford University evaluates the results of multiple model runs that suggest extreme heat waves are likely to become the norm in the Western United Stated, with Arizona being among the states most heavily burdened. Read the brief report here.

All political parties including independents are accountable to the emerging challenges of sustainability. The G.O.P. in Arizona is particularly accountable for the state’s catastrophic condition both now and going forward.
Despite voters’ May approval of Prop 100 to tax ourselves to solve some of the current deficiencies, the G.O.P. and its Tea Party affiliates continue to [...]

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation has just published a very comprehensive but sober analysis of various strategies for achieving a necessary reduction in carbon emissions by the much-discussed 2050 target deadline. In their view “numerous advocacy groups, scholars, think tanks and others have proposed a variety of steps to take based on a [...]

Rolling Stone magazine will soon publish a scathing analysis of the administration’s failure to mange the high risk deep sea oil exploration effort, beginning with the Interior Department’s tepid response to mounting evidence of incompetence and malfeasance within its Minerals Management Service. Make sure you are prepared for an assault on your assumptions about how [...]

Public opinion researcher Jon Krosnick has just reported solid and impressive evidence that the public still understands the threat of climate change, our role in it, and some of what we need to do to address it. He provides a direct challenge to recent reports that have claimed that doubts have risen dramatically. Read his [...]

Find out about an exciting opportunity to work with your neighbors and save both money and water! Download the flyer here .

Sustainable Tucson is republishing the following call to the community which we originally presented in February 2008. The message is not only more relevant today but portends some of the events which have already happened since then. As we prepare to participate in the upcoming Imagine Greater Tucson process this coming Fall, let’s focus on [...]

Industry leaders seem to be showing more openness to energy descent issues
Published on Energy Bulletin (http://www.energybulletin.net)
Published Tue, 05/04/2010 – 07:00 by The Oil Drum
This is a guest post by George Mobus, who is an Associate Professor of Computing and Software Systems at the University of Washington, Tacoma. His blog is Question Everything.
I’ve spent the [...]

Bill McKibben on “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough Planet” (video)
by Michael Brownlee
Description:
As part of his current book tour, author and climate activist Bill McKibben spoke at the First United Methodist Church in Boulder, CO on April 27, co-sponsored by Boulder Book Store and Transition Colorado. The video of his presentation is below, following [...]

Paul Krugman suggests that the BP oil spill in the gulf may be just what the environmental movement needs to get back on the public agenda, given what he observes about public sentiment: For one thing, as visible pollution has diminished, so has public concern over environmental issues. According to a recent Gallup survey, “Americans [...]

[ Tuesday, May 4, 2010; 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm. ]
Max Boykoff, an expert in the cultural politics and media coverage of climate change, will speak at the University of Arizona about how climate change and outlier views of it are portrayed by the news and entertainment industries. Boykoff, assistant professor at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research [...]

[ Friday, April 23, 2010; 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] Kiva Room of the Student Union Memorial Center
University of Arizona

Seminar Synopsis
The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Imperative for a Robust Economy

Speakers: John Laitner and Jeff Schlegel

Observers of U.S. energy policy might think of energy efficiency as a useful tool to manage the growth of our nation’s energy consumption. They might also see it as [...]

[ Tuesday, June 22, 2010; ] The US SOCIAL FORUM will take place in Detroit, Michigan.

The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build [...]

[ Thursday, April 22, 2010; 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm. ] University of Arizona
César E. Chávez Building, Room 301

IN APRIL 2010, FOUR CLIMATE WISE WOMEN
FROM THE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS, UGANDA,
AND BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, WILL BEGIN A 30-CITY,
18-COUNTRY SPEAKING TOUR IN THE AMERICAS.

These community activists can’t wait for politicians and governmental negotiators to get it right on climate change. They want straight talk on what climate change is [...]

Building a Green Economy
By PAUL KRUGMAN
If you listen to climate scientists — and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their
work, you should — it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases. If we continue with business as usual, they say, we are facing a
rise in global temperatures [...]

By Guy R. McPherson
Published at Energy Bulletin and Guy’s blog: Nature Bats Last
(Guy, a former UA professor, has inspired Sustainable Tucson with his writings and appearances at ST General Meetings during the past four years)
As we continue into the decades-old, but only recently acknowledged era of destruction and extinction, it’s apparent the current model [...]

By Dan Allen
Published by the Energy Bulletin, (www.energybulletin.net)  March 30, 2010

SUMMARY: Bound by the tangled cord of its own sins, Industrial Civilization sits immobilized — with the gun of reality pressed to its temple. Monumental changes are imminent – probably (hopefully) a swirling mix of both bad and good. [...]

Road transportation emerges as key driver of warming: NASA analysis
Published Thu, 02/18/2010 – 08:00
by NASA
For decades, climatologists have studied the gases and particles that have potential to alter Earth’s climate. They have discovered and described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the [...]

[ Saturday, April 24, 2010; 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. ] Catalina State Park, 11570 N. Oracle Road.

Citizens for Solar invites everyone to come and join in the fun of the 28th Annual Tucson Solar Potluck and Exhibition. This is the longest continuously running solar potluck in the world. See practical, innovative solar energy in useful action. People will be cooking food in dozens of types [...]

[ Wednesday, March 31, 2010; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] The University of Arizona’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences is sponsoring the special presentation of SIZZLE: A GLOBAL WARMING COMEDY at The Loft Cinema on Wednesday, March 31 at 7:00 PM. Writer-director Randy Olson (FLOCK OF DODOS) and UA faculty members will do a Q&A with the audience following the screening.

Tickets on sale at [...]

[ Wednesday, June 9, 2010 to Thursday, June 10, 2010. ] The WRRC invites you to participate in the 2010 Annual Conference, Creating New Leadership for Arizona’s Water and Environment in a Time of Change, at the University of Arizona Memorial Student Union on June 9-10, 2010. The conference will provide a forum for youth leaders and young professionals to interact with established professionals and together [...]

[ Saturday, March 27, 2010; 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. ] Last year, nearly one billion people in the world joined together in the largest climate movement in the history of mankind. We raised our voices in the United States with 80 million people participating and 318 cities (thanks to you) turning out their lights to take action in the fight against climate change.

This year, not [...]

[ Saturday, March 27, 2010; 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm. ] The 4th Annual Solar Rock Festival will be held on March 27th from noon to 6pm at Himmel Park, south east of Speedway and Tucson Blvd. This Free solar powered festival includes an outstanding lineup of local talent including Spirit Familia, Run Boy Run, Kevin Pakulis, Bruce Phillips, Drama Club, Leila Lopez, the winner of [...]

According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, the general public is not much interested in global warning or the environment. The importance of energy policy has also slipped as a matter of public concern.  This would suggest that policy initiatives that involve using taxes as a strategy to move consumption away from [...]

[ Friday, March 26, 2010 12:00 pm to Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:00 pm. ] Celebrate our most precious and endangered resource -WATER -with the The Water Project: Tucson’s Synergistic Water Festival on March 26-28, 2010. This event combines the energy of Tucson’s sustainability community with the vibrant arts community to provide an opportunity for the public to experience a festive collaboration, learn about water issues and have some fun!

This [...]

Read an excerpt from James Hansen’s new book, Storms of My Grandchildren, about why a program of “fees and dividends” is far superior to “cap and trade” proposals currently being debated. The article in The Nation is available here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100111/hansen .

This editorial by Nicholas Kristof for the New York Times at first seems to be a plug for living in Costa Rica. In fact, it is filled with numerous links to measures of happiness and well-being, many of which incorporate assessments of sustainability. You can review this article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html

A new report, America on the Move, describes the efforts being made at the state level to carry forward the fight against Global Warming. The report identifies six states that have taken the lead by adopting enforceable caps on global warming pollution. Ten states have created regional cap-and-trade systems for emissions from electric power plants, [...]