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 [...]

[ 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 [...]

[ 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 [...]

[ Monday, March 8, 2010; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Joel D Valdez Library (Stone and Alameda)

Lower Level Meeting Room; doors open at 5:30 pm

City/County Water Study – Next Steps?

A landmark, 20-month multi-disciplinary, multi-agency study of Tucson-area water resources was completed just one month ago.  The goal was to develop a common understanding of basic facts and critical factors for planning a sustainable water future.  [...]

Via Clean Break, John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, offers some useful thoughts on the recent controversy surrounding the emails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. Holdren touches on the current state of climate science, the significance of the emails, and the [...]

[ Monday, February 8, 2010; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] The focus of the Sustainable Tucson General Meeting will be Food Sustainability. On February 8, your view of food sustainability in Tucson ’s future may change forever. The Sustainable Tucson Working Group on Food & Agriculture will engage your mind and your tastebuds in thinking about the sources of food in Tucson, Pima County and [...]

[ Thursday, November 19, 2009; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] A Community Brainstorming Gathering is scheduled for Thursday, November 19th, 6:30-8:30pm (doors open at 6pm) at the Armory Park Center, 220 S. 5th Avenue. The Brainstorming Gathering is being organized in support of the Water Project being planned for March 26-28, 2010. The Water Project is a participatory festival that celebrates, educates, and facilitates creative [...]

Paul Krugman offers a timely analysis of some of the reasons for our inadequate response to the crisis of climate change.

[ Wednesday, September 9, 2009; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] This special meeting will focus on efforts being made at the city and county level to move our region toward sustainability. We will hear from Tedra Fox, Pima County Sustainability Manager, and David Schaller, Administrator of Tucson’s Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development. This is sure to be a timely and informative discussion. Please come [...]

[ Wednesday, August 12, 2009; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] What: Sustainable Tucson August General Meeting
When: Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 5:45pm- 8:00pm
Where: Joel D. Valdez Main Library Downtown, 101 N. Stone Ave (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)
Sustainable Tucson is pleased to present a Special General Meeting featuring one of ST’s original founders. Thomas H. Greco, Jr. will give an illustrated presentation”The Global Financial [...]

Q: Why should I care about the Citizens united v. FEC ruling?
A: In this landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it is unconstitutional to limit how much money corporations can spend to influence elections. Why? They said limits would violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Since the 2010 ruling, corporations have [...]

by Rob Hopkins
Published on Energy Bulletin (http://energybulletin.net), 05/28/2009
At the Transition Network conference, Richard Heinberg gave an online presentation looking at the concept of Emergency Planning for Communities, something he initially unveiled at Findhorn last year. You can see his presentation here. For a while now, Richard and I have been discussing the tension between longer [...]

View Richard Heinberg’s Presentation on Resilient Communities here.

Richard Heinberg on Resilient Communities: Day 7 of the Findhorn Positive Energy Conference
The final day of the recent Findhorn Positive Energy Conference began with rain driving on the bedroom window. This extraordinary week at Findhorn had offered us a year’s worth of weather in one week. Snow, sleet, [...]

[ Thursday, May 21, 2009; 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. ] Lee Stanley presents:
Thursday, May 21, 7:30 pm

1327 N. 4th Avenue

At 7:30, May 21st I will show a fifteen minute short called : City Repair.
City Repair is the story of a quintessential grassroots startup in
Portland, OR who transform space into place.

After that I will show ‘What a way to Go.,,Life after the end of
Empire, a [...]

[ Wednesday, April 22, 2009; ] Sustainability Actions Everyone Can Do

We in Tucson face an unprecedented sustainability crisis including economic meltdown, climate change, resource depletion, and unraveling of the social fabric.——- Every level of our community is important in the effort to mitigate and adapt to these inter-related crises – household, neighborhood, small business, education, social service agencies, government, non-profits, and [...]

No, we can’t?
by Dave Cohen
Published on Energy Bulletin (http://www.energybulletin.net) March 5, 2009
What is the biggest impediment in 2009 to mitigating the harmful effects of energy problems in the 21st century? The answer may surprise you-it is insolvent zombie banks and our entrenched FIRE economy (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate). Allow me to explain.
Another Tragic Misallocation of [...]

FORMAT FOR SKETCH PLAN
There are 3 sections, each with a few questions. Compile or summarize your groups answers either in paragraphs, or as lists, whatever you feel is clearest.
—————————————————
The Present:
————————
1. How is your topic area (Food, Transportation, etc.) operating today?
2. What currently exists that contributes to or is working toward long-term sustainability [...]

UA climate scientist Jonathon Overpeck confirms previous studies that Arizona is ground zero for the most extreme warming and drying impacts in the U.S. Read article here. UA Regents Professor, Malcolm Hughes recently completed a new study that shows the last decade was the hottest in at least the past 1300 years.

By Tony Davis, February 18, 2009, Arizona Daily Star
The state’s best-known climate-change expert presented harrowing forecasts for sharply higher temperatures and drier rivers and reservoirs before a legislative committee in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Jonathan Overpeck told the House Environment Committee that:

Temperatures could regularly hit the 130s in Phoenix by the second half of this century [...]

By Tony Davis, published September 2, 2008, Arizona Daily Star
Data from tree rings, other sources indicate last decade was hottest in
1,300-1,700 years
The decade ending in 2006 was the warmest such period in the Northern Hemisphere for at least the last 1,300 years and possibly longer, says a new study written by a University of Arizona [...]

Carbon levels rising faster, scientists warn
By The Associated Press, Arizona Daily Star February 15, 2009
CHICAGO – Despite widespread concern over global warming, humans are adding carbon to the atmosphere even faster than in the 1990s, researchers warned Saturday.
Carbon dioxide and other gases added to the air by industrial and other activities have been blamed for [...]

Tucson’s problems are increasing. After two years, we continue to have a glut of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 empty, unsold houses. Home prices are plummeting. Families are abandoning their foreclosed houses, especially in the suburbs. Builders are going bankrupt. Skilled workers are losing their jobs and leaving the state. Net population growth in Tucson has [...]

[ Saturday, March 7, 2009; ]

The Crash Course seeks to provide a baseline understanding of the economy so that everyone can better appreciate the risks that we all face. Created by Chris Martenson, PhD scientist and MBA professional, this set of video tutorials and related articles present a clear, accessible explanation of the complex factors which are converging to create [...]

(Originally published by The Tucson Weekly,  January 20, 2009)
End of empire, Beginning of struggle
by Bob Cook, Core Team member of Sustainable Tucson
The era of American empire has collapsed with the exiting of President George W. Bush, and the age of struggle for sustainability has begun with the “clean” presidential election of Barack Obama.
Bush presided over [...]

JANUARY Meeting –Organizing questions:
How large a population can Tucson/Pima County support in a sustainable manner, providing our needs from local capacity? (e.i., without importing energy, water, food, and other resources from outside the region)
Do we have a good database model of resources in and out of Tucson?
What is sustainability for a community? Is it self-sufficiency?
Where [...]

By Paul Krugman
Published in Arizona Daily Star, December 23, 2008
America. Whatever the new administration does, we’re in for months, perhaps even a year, of economic hell. After that, things should get better, as President Obama’s stimulus plan – OK, I’m told that the politically correct term is now “economic recovery plan” – begins to gain [...]

By David Adam, published by The Guardian (UK), December 9, 2008
As ministers and officials gather in Poznan one year ahead of the Copenhagen summit on global warming, the second part of a major series looks at the crucial issue of targets
At a high-level academic conference on global warming at Exeter University this summer, climate scientist [...]

by Richard Heinberg
December 4, 2008
Executive Summary
Our continued national dependence on fossil fuels is creating a crippling vulnerability to both long-term fuel scarcity and catastrophic climate change.
The current economic crisis requires substantial national policy shifts and enormous new government injections of capital into the economy. This provides an opportunity for a project whose scope would otherwise [...]

On October 30th, Dr. David Suzuki, reknowned Canadian scientist and educator, gave “one of the great speeches in history”  to the 20th Anniversary Roundtable on the Economy and the Environment.
Click on the following to watch a video of that speech:
http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&lang=e&clipID=2099

[ Saturday, November 15, 2008; 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. ] DU VAL AUDITORIUM
University Medical Center, 1501 North Campbell Avenue
November 15, 2008; 8:00AM – 5:00 PM
Register online at: www.healthandclimatechange.eventbrite.com

Keynote Speakers:
Andrew Comrie, PhD, Professor of Geography & Climatology, University of Arizona
Jeremy Hess, MD, MPH, Consultant, National Center for Environmental Health,
Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia

A Multidisciplinary Panel of Clinicians and Public Health Professionals and Elected Officials and
3 [...]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Memorandum for the President-Elect
by Tom Whipple, retired CIA analyst, columnist for the Falls Church (VA) News-Press, and editor of Peak Oil Review. Published November 6, 2008
The way things are shaping up, in less than three months you will be in charge of solving the direst set of crises since the ones [...]

Tucson is ideal locale for a ‘Green New Deal’
By David Schaller, published November 6, 2008
SPECIAL TO THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson has not been immune to the great economic turmoil of the past year. In recent weeks, the crisis hit home as retail and home sales plunged, financial institutions were shaken, budgets cut and jobs lost.
The [...]

In this Sustainable Business Alliance speaker series,leading peak oil educator, Julian Darley talks with Bay Area business owners about the impact Peak Oil is having on their business and community, October 9, 2008. Click hear for this timely 83-minute discussion on video.
http://globalpublicmedia.com/fireside_chat_with_julian_darley

[ Friday, May 2, 2008; ]
Support clean energy by going to the movies…

This Friday, May 2, the Fox Theatre will be showing a screening of the documentary “”Gas Hole””.
And proceeds from the movie will go to the PAG Clean Cities program to advance outreach and education of the use of alternative fuels in the region.

As gas prices continue [...]

on March 14 at the UofA, the Arizona Daily Star sponsored a forum entitled “Tucson Growth: Decision at the Crossroads”, during which panelists discussed the issues raised by growth in the Tucson region.
Sustainable Tucson prepared a comprehensive flyer of critical questions on the topic related to sustainability concerns, and distributed it to attendees. [View and [...]

Date not yet set, but keep informed.
www.savethesantacruzaquifer.info

Ms. Jeanine A. Derby, Supervisor
USDA, Coronado Nat. Forest
300 W. Congress st., tucson, AZ 85701
520-388-8300

[ Friday, April 25, 2008; 12:00 am; Saturday, April 26, 2008; 12:00 am; Sunday, April 27, 2008; 12:00 am; ] Democracy School is a strategic advance in the struggle for real community self-governance.
Team up with people like you who want to rethink their options.

Democracy Schools take place over a weekend, late fri. through Sunday.

Visit www.celdf.org for more info.

[ Wednesday, March 12, 2008; 6:00 pm; Wednesday, April 16, 2008; 6:00 pm; ] Corporatism has power & control over war & peace, Earth & space. What can we do as individuals and as groups?

Meetings 6pm, Wednesday March 12, and again April 16th.

Martha Cooper Library – 1377 N. Catalina Ave
(1 block east of Columbus 2 blocks north os Speedway)

An issue of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [...]

A study finds that man-made global warming has been steadily reducing snowpack along mountain ranges. States must make plans now to adapt, scientists say.
By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2008
Human-caused global warming has been shrinking the snowpack across the mountain ranges of the West for five decades, suggesting that the region’s long battle [...]

While the world’s attention was on Bali in December 2007, a remarkable set of comments and predictions were made by Prof. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Science and other scientists at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
They were made at a media briefing: “Climate tipping points: Are we [...]

By George Monbiot, The Guardian (U.K.), December 4, 2007
Outdated figures have been hiding the full extent of climate change. But I am still advocating action, and not despair.
When you warn people about the dangers of climate change, they call you a saint. When you explain what needs to be done to stop it, they call [...]

[ Wednesday, April 9, 2008; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Turning Point: The Next Two Generations
Public Lecture and Conversation with Prescott College President

Dr. Daniel Garvey
Sponsored by Sustainable Tucson and Tucson Association of Realtors
7 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9

Tucson Association of Realtors Conference Center
2445 N. Tucson Blvd.
What challenges face the next two generations?
What is the responsibility of those who have come before?
How can [...]

By Thomas L. Friedman, published December 2, 2007, The New York Times
It was 60 degrees on Thursday in Washington, well above normal, and as I slipped away for some pre-Christmas golf, I found myself thinking about a wickedly funny story that The Onion, the satirical newspaper, ran the other day: “Fall Canceled after 3 Billion [...]

One species-Homo sapiens-consumes nearly a quarter of Earth’s natural productivity.

I became aware of global warming several years ago but did nothing because I did not know what to do. Then I heard of the light bulbs, using less water while showering, buying a water bottle to reuse instead of buying bottled water, etc. The list now goes on.
Then last year I began [...]

Creating a sustainable culture of peace based on progressive values starts with
facing what’s really going on, both internally and externally.
WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO? Taking Action In The Face Of Collapse
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
By Carolyn Baker
Every time I write an article on collapse such as my most recent one “Happy
Independence Day; You Have [...]

…and nothing short of a planetary rescue will save it from the environmental cataclysm of dangerous climate change. Those are not the words of eco-warriors but the considered opinion of a group of eminent scientists writing in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
By Steve Connor, Science Editor, The Independent (UK) published June 19, 2007
Six scientists from some [...]

By Dan Sorenson, Arizona Daily Star, May 5, 2007
As officials around the globe discuss what to do about climate change, the authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report and some local experts say there is work to do here, now.
“It’s easy to say, ‘I’m the small guy and I don’t count,’ but [...]