Tag Archives: energy

4 Ways to Celebrate the Solstice

by LacyHostetler Posted on December 21, 2015

The winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere and the official beginning of winter, has had deep spiritual significance since neolithic times. “Throughout history, humans have observed this seasonal milestone and created spiritual and cultural traditions to celebrate the rebirth of sunlight after the darkest period of the year,” explains National Geographic.

This year the winter solstice, the moment when the Earth is farthest away from the Sun, falls on December 22 (or December 21 depending on where you live), and for many, this is a holiday to celebrate. Many people are turning to non-denomination celebrations to avoid the consumer frenzy of this time of year, but also as a way to build their own traditions, particularly as eco-consciousness expands.

But why is it important to celebrate this event? According to Deena Wade of Mother Earth Living,

“Attuning our senses to the subtle changes and cycles of the seasons might help us attune more lovingly to the subtle changes and cycles in ourselves. By performing simple rituals with personal meaning to celebrate the solstice, these rituals will serve as touchstones to help us cultivate an attitude of receptiveness and appreciation that will carry us through the holiday season with more ease.”

For many, celebrating solstice is about acknowledging the divine energy of nature, often said to be heightened during this important celestial event, and being mindful of our connection to the natural world. Here are five easy ways to celebrate the solstice this year.

1. Do an Energy Fast

This idea comes to us from Richard Heinberg, author of Celebrate the Solstice. You can turn off the television, games, lights and cell phones and enjoy the day without technology to remember what our lives we like before technology. Turning off the electronics will allow you to tune into yourself, perhaps setting intentions for the new year, or reflecting on the year past.

2. Get Outside

Whether you’re in a city or in the forest, finding time for nature time is good for you anytime of year, but can be particularly grounding during these holiday weeks. If you can find water, the winter solstice is a great time to experience the benefits of finding your blue mind, but even just getting outside for a walk in green space is proven to have numerous scientific benefits.

3. Celebrate with Food

Connecting with food is an important part of any celebration, but it seems especially important during the winter months as we work hard to keep our body and souls warm. Whether holiday baking is your style, or making warming, nourishing plant-based meals, or making a warming fireside Wassail, a traditional German drink if spiced, simmered beer, rooting yourself in healthy traditions is a good option for any holiday.

4. Get Crafty to Connect with Nature

Cait Johnson, a writer here at Care2, has shared two of her favorite solstice projects: making a prayer stick and celebrating stones. These projects give adults and children a chance to reconnect with both nature and the spirit world, whatever that means to you.

Another great project is to make paper lanterns from recycled, upcycled, and natural items from in or near the home. Get the tutorial here.

Related:

Winter Solstice Savory Pie
5 Reasons to Love the Winter Solstice
Christmas and Hanukkah Co-opted Paganism

Images from ThinkStock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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4 Ways to Celebrate the Solstice

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Here’s Why the Words “Loss and Damage” Are Causing Such a Fuss at the Paris Climate Talks

by Myrna Posted on December 8, 2015

It’s not just mitigation and adaptation anymore. Rich Carey/Shutterstock PARIS, France — There’s a big sticking point in the negotiations over a global climate deal, and it centers around this little phrase: “loss and damage.” The concept has become hugely important to developing countries and climate justice advocates at the COP21 talks — and a big headache for developed countries. The conversation around climate aid — money and assistance that goes from rich countries to poorer ones for climate change–related programs — has traditionally focused on two areas: mitigation, which means cutting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions by doing things like building up renewable energy capacity and halting deforestation; and adaptation, which means preparing for future climate changes, by taking steps such as building better drainage systems to deal with higher seas and more severe storms, and shifting to heartier crops that can withstand higher temperatures and lower rainfalls. But now developing countries are pushing for assistance in a third area: loss and damage. This refers to irreparable losses (loss of lives, species, or land taken over by rising seas) and recoverable damages (damaged buildings, roads, power lines) — basically, to what happens when mitigation and adaptation fall short and climate disaster strikes. At this point, no matter how much we cut emissions or how much we prepare for coming changes, there will still be significant loss and damage from climate change. Already, the devastating effects of rising sea levels, hotter temperatures, and extreme weather events are growing rapidly. Small Pacific island nations are experiencing regular flooding, which submerges roads, batters houses and seawalls, and sends populations fleeing. In nations like Bangladesh, farms are ruined by the infiltration of salt water. Read the rest at Grist. Follow this link: Here’s Why the Words “Loss and Damage” Are Causing Such a Fuss at the Paris Climate Talks ; ; ;

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Here’s Why the Words “Loss and Damage” Are Causing Such a Fuss at the Paris Climate Talks

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This Is How Much Money It Will Cost to Save the World

by ChristeLoewe Posted on December 8, 2015

Mother Jones

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This story originally appeared in the Huffington Post and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Finance is full of big numbers, and for almost every big number, there is another, even bigger number it should be compared to.

Climate change is no different. As world leaders meet for climate talks in Paris, here’s the big number: In 2014, the world invested $391 billion in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure. And here’s the even bigger number: We should actually be spending $7 trillion dollars a year for the next decade, and even more later.

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This Is How Much Money It Will Cost to Save the World

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Coal Baron Don Blankenship Convicted of Conspiring to Commit Mine Safety Violations

by RalfR60vpnmsbmr Posted on December 3, 2015

Mother Jones

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Don Blankenship, the former CEO of coal giant Massey Energy, was found guilty of conspiring to commit mine safety violations on Thursday in federal court in Charleston, West Virginia. However, Blankenship was found not guilty of making false statements to federal regulators in the aftermath of the 2010 explosion at a Massey-owned mine in West Virginia. Blankenship faces up to one year in prison on the conspiracy charge, a misdemeanor, and his attorney Bill Taylor told reporters he will appeal.

The irony of the Blankenship trial was that while the Upper Big Branch disaster—the deadliest in an American mine in 40 years—seemed to hover in the background of the prosecutors’ arguments, it was his paperwork after the accident, not his mine’s safety record before it, that posed the biggest threat to his freedom. As I reported in October:

What threatens to put the 65-year-old away for decades are two allegedly false statements Massey submitted in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission: “We do not condone any violation of MSHA regulations,” and “we strive to be in compliance with all regulations at all times,” Blankenship informed investors, even as his company was allegedly outflanking the regulatory system. It’s the mining equivalent of busting Al Capone for tax evasion.

“I have all the respect in hell that at least somebody was able to say, ‘Wait a minute, that isn’t right,'” says Bruce Stanley, who represented Caperton in his suit against Massey. “But he’s up for what, a possible 30-year sentence? Well, there’s only one count that puts that kind of mileage on it. That’s the one that says he lied to Wall Street. When it comes to human lives, he gets maybe a year.”

Read MoJo‘s in-depth profile of Blankenship’s rise and fall here.

This article has been updated.

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Coal Baron Don Blankenship Convicted of Conspiring to Commit Mine Safety Violations

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Happy Thanksgiving!

by Georgiana06S Posted on November 26, 2015

Mother Jones

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Aren’t they cute when they’re asleep? In reality, of course, they’re just storing up energy for later. They will strike when all the humans are sated with turkey and don’t have the energy to fight back.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And remember: no shopping today. Tomorrow is soon enough. Fight the power.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Big Corporations Are Using a Record Amount of Clean Energy

by DeloresMerritt Posted on November 20, 2015

Mother Jones

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On November 30, world leaders will flock to Paris to hammer out an international agreement to slow global warming. The agreement is likely to give a boost to the clean energy industry, as countries around the world pour money into wind and solar projects as a way to cut their greenhouse gas footprints.

In the United States clean energy is already a booming business. Solar is the fastest-growing energy source in the country, and in 2015 total investment in renewable energy projects here reached nearly $40 billion. Here’s some more good news: Big corporations are signing up for a record amount of clean energy for their offices, data centers, warehouses, and other facilities, according to a new analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit environmental research outfit.

RMI tracked publicly announced contracts between corporations and large-scale wind and solar farms and found that in 2015 the total reached 2,100 megawatts, roughly equal to 525,000 home rooftop solar systems. That’s 75 percent higher than what RMI measured last year, and it includes more than a dozen companies with new contracts. New contracts this year include Dow Chemical, General Motors, Walmart, and Kaiser Permanente. It’s also a big win for the climate: Electricity accounts for one-third of US greenhouse gas emissions, and more than one-third of electricity goes to commercial users. So if big companies are clamoring for clean energy, that can have a significant, near-term impact on reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas footprint.

“The pressure is mounting for corporate executives to take action” on climate change, said Hervé Touati, RMI’s managing director. “What they realize is that signing these large deals is the best way to say you are addressing your sustainability agenda.”

In most cases, the contracts are “power purchase agreements,” where the company agrees to buy a certain amount of power from a wind or solar farm at a fixed price for 10 to 20 years. These contracts are mutually beneficial, Touati explained: They give renewable energy developers the guaranteed revenue they need to finance big new projects, and give the companies long-term certainty about one of their biggest expenses, electricity.

Tech companies such as Google and Facebook were early adopters of large-scale clean energy, thanks to the sky-high electricity consumption at data centers. Last year, Apple announced that 94 percent of its operations are powered by clean energy, including a massive solar array outside its data center in North Carolina. Now, Touati said, a more diverse mix of corporations is getting in on the act, including hospitals, hotels, and shipping companies.

That trend is driven by a confluence of factors that have made clean energy contracts seem like low-hanging fruit to top corporate financial officers. The cost of clean energy is continuing to plummet—solar power could soon be cheaper than conventional grid electricity in all 50 states. Meanwhile, customers and investors are increasingly conscientious about companies’ impact on the environment. A recent survey by the World Resources Institute found that half of all Fortune 500 companies have implemented specific goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and invest in renewables.

The only losers in this arrangement, Touati said, are traditional electric utilities, which more cling to fossil fuel-fired power plants. For those power companies, the loss of big corporate customers is harder to brush off than losing a few homes to rooftop solar. That could motivate them to clean up their act more quickly.

“When we come with Google and Facebook and those big names and we tell electric utilities that these big corporations want this, then they start to listen,” he said. “This trend is going to be difficult to stop.”

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Big Corporations Are Using a Record Amount of Clean Energy

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Trump’s Insults Are Weak, Lack Energy

by FredericStonge Posted on November 4, 2015

Mother Jones

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Me, yesterday, on how Donald Trump is likely to attack rising star Marco Rubio: “The obvious route for Trump is to mock Rubio’s inability to balance his own checkbook, but I’m hoping for something more original.”

Trump, today: “He is a disaster with credit cards. All you have to do is look.” And: “He certainly lives above his means — there is no question about that.”

That’s really disappointing. Trump also went after Rubio on immigration and for not showing up to vote in the Senate. Bo-o-o-o-ring.

There’s just no creativity here anymore. Remember when he called Jeb Bush “low energy”? That was great. Or that he couldn’t imagine anyone voting for Carly Fiorina’s ugly mug? Good times. It makes me wonder if Trump is really giving his all for America these days. Even the cover of his new book looks phoned in. I mean, is that supposed to be Blue Steel or Le Tigre? I can’t tell.

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Trump’s Insults Are Weak, Lack Energy

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TransCanada Just Asked the United States to Suspend the Keystone XL Pipeline

by DuaneJoshua Posted on November 3, 2015

Mother Jones

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In an unexpected turn of events, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline proposal requested to temporarily suspend its US permit application on Monday.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the Calgary-based TransAmerica Corporation asked that State Department, which reviews cross-border pipelines, delay its decision while the company goes through a state review process in Nebraska. Earlier in the week, the White House indicated its intention to rule on the controversy-ridden pipeline by the end of Obama’s term; some were expecting the State Department decision to reject the pipeline as soon as the end of the week.

“We are asking State (Department) to pause its review of Keystone XL based on the fact that we have applied to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in the state,” TransCanada Chief Executive Russ Girling said in a statement.

But some are speculating that the request is a political play: A delay in the permit could mean pushing the issue beyond the 2016 election—and into the hands of a new administration.

TransAmerica has vowed over the years that it would not back down on the proposed pipeline from Alberta to Texas in the face of economic or political challenges, and until recently, it had been pushing for a speedy border permit approval.

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TransCanada Just Asked the United States to Suspend the Keystone XL Pipeline

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Watch 2 GOP Presidential Candidates Call Out Their Party for Denying Science

by Myrna Posted on October 28, 2015

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Watch 2 GOP Presidential Candidates Call Out Their Party for Denying Science

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Congress Just Created a Benghazi Committee for Planned Parenthood

by RenaHort470 Posted on October 23, 2015

Mother Jones

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The three congressional investigations into Planned Parenthood this year have all turned up nothing, but that hasn’t stopped House Speaker John Boehner from yet again attempting to take down the nation’s largest women’s health care organization. On Friday, he announced that Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn will chair a select panel charged with investigating the group—and that she’ll be joined by seven other anti-abortion Republicans, all of whom cosponsored a recent bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

“Recent videos exposing the abortion-for-baby parts business have shocked the nation, and demanded action. At my request, three House committees have been investigating the abortion business, but we still don’t have the full truth,” Boehner said in a statement on the new panel, which will report to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and which he hopes will have more success than the others in defunding the organization. “Chairman Blackburn and our members will have the resources and the subpoena power to get to the bottom of these horrific practices, and build on our work to protect the sanctity of all human life.”

In the wake of the series of deceptively edited videos that showed Planned Parenthood staff discussing fetal tissue donation, Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, spent hours in September answering Congress’ questions about her organization’s use of taxpayer dollars. Described as a “partisan attack based on ideology” by committee member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the hearing turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. State investigations into local Planned Parenthood providers have similarly turned up no wrongdoing.

Blackburn, one of four women selected to serve on the panel, has a record of opposing abortion. Earlier this year she teamed up with Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) to push forward a measure that would ban nearly all abortions after 20 weeks. She’s also an advocate for the argument that women wouldn’t be hurt by Planned Parenthood’s closure because there are community health centers that provide the same services, despite evidence to the contrary. Earlier this month, Blackburn said, “There are still many questions yet to be answered surrounding Planned Parenthood’s business practices and relationships with the procurement organizations. This is exactly why the House is investigating abortion practices and how we can better protect life.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have drawn comparisons between the Planned Parenthood investigations and the House committee on Benghazi, which this week heard testimony from Hillary Clinton.

“After my experience yesterday I am just amazed they are talking about setting up another special investigative committee, this time to investigate Planned Parenthood,” Clinton said early Friday morning. “And I think we all know by now that is just code for a partisan witch hunt. Haven’t we seen enough of that?”

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Congress Just Created a Benghazi Committee for Planned Parenthood

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