Helena Norberg-Hodge: On Earth Day, an Economics for People & Planet

Helena Norberg-Hodge's summary of the clash of two major worldviews we now see in play throughout our planet:

Much has changed since the first Earth Day in 1970. Not only have our ecological crises come into sharper focus, it has also become obvious that we need to rescue not just the Earth, but also its people from the clutches of an economy gone mad. Worldwide, more and more people are recognizing that fundamental changes to that economy are urgently needed if our most pressing problems – ecological, social, economic, and even spiritual – are to be solved. Instead of trying to tackle a seemingly endless list of separate problems, strategic shifts in economic policy would put us on a path that is good for both people and the planet.

Over the past decades, globalization, or the continued deregulation of trade and finance, has created a world dominated by giant banks and corporations. Because governments almost everywhere have catered to their demands, we are now faced not only with global warming, extinction of species and dramatic increases in pollution, but also with financial instability, endemic unemployment, increased conflict, and epidemics of ill health and depression...

We need to move in exactly the opposite direction – away from economic globalization and towards the local. This doesn’t mean eliminating all trade or adopting an isolationist attitude – it simply means shortening the distances between consumers and producers wherever possible....

The localization movement is beginning to bridge the divides between groups that are working to make the world a better place: environmental activists, small business owners, community leaders, educators, social justice campaigners, farmers, workers’ rights advocates, religious and spiritual groups. An exciting, once-in-a-generation coalition is emerging: a coalition that offers real hope for broad-based and lasting renewal.

Read the rest here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/22-1

Vote by March 15th for sustainable Tokyo-based solar-sail cargo ship Greenheart - nominated for Royal Dutch Society of Engineers Prize

Your vote for Greenheart counts- Even in Dutch!

Via Jen Teeter in Kyoto, please check out the latest from Greenheart, a visionary renewable energy project based in Japan:

Creating the world’s first solar-sail cargo ship tailored to fit the needs of marginalized coastal communities is an idea that has propelled a small Tokyo-based international team closer to winning a major engineering prize far from home shore.

International NGO Greenheart Project is but one of 10 nominees for the Vernufteling Prize, to be awarded by the Koninklijk Instituut Van Ingenieurs (the Royal Dutch Society of Engineers), De Ingenieur and Technish Weeblad magazines, and a Dutch association of consulting engineers, NLingenieurs. The finalists were chosen from a field of more than forty submissions based on four criteria: innovation, economic worth, technological advancement, and social value.

The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. Competitors were asked to respond to the challenge of creating ideas that both embody the social importance of innovative technology. The competition also seeks to make the important work of engineers more visible and widely recognized.

In line with the Dutch word Vernufteling, a portmanteau of inventor, engineer and a lot of creativity, entrants are encouraged to utilize a combination of new and existing technologies to solve real world problems. The winning project also must show potential to attract young people to technical studies and inspire them.

Over the past eight years, 83 engineering firms have submitted a total of 376 ideas, projects and innovative solutions to the Vernufteling Prize. In 2013 Arcadis took home the award for their innovative Winterhard Wissel which keeps railways free from snow and ice in the winter.

As Gert Schouwstra, a Dutch consultant at AA-Planadvies, who nominated Greenheart Project explained, “This project can really work. This year, we shall see how Greenheart will prove itself.”

Greenheart ships are customizable to meet the needs of the end user, whether they be used for fishing, fisheries monitoring, , ecotourism, cargo or passenger transport.

A unique feature is an open source platform which ensures that the end-users can have a say in how future ships are built without the financial and technical burdens of paying for patent rights.

Intentionally designed to be small scale at 32 meters in length and 220 tons, the vessels are designed to be easy to repair and service while maintaining the elegance of a yacht. Through its foldable mast/crane the ship can be maneuvered under bridges allowing greater upstream access, and lift items large and small on and off of shore, whether cargo, a haul of fish or even floating debris such as nets during an environmental cleanup mission.

Greenheart class ships promise to play a hefty role in restoring economic and ecological balance to transport in vulnerable and remote coastal communities, while setting an example that vessels powered by renewable energies are a practical alternative to fossil-fuel based fleets.

Voting by the general public is open from February 25th to March 15th through the Van Dag de Ingenieur (Day of the Engineer) website. After tallying up the votes, the Vernufteling prize winner will be announced on March19, 2014 at High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

To vote for Greenheart...

1. Go to this site: http://www.dagvandeingenieur.nl/vernufteling/publieksverkiezing-2014/
2. Choose "AA Planadvies-Groen vrachtschip voor eilandengroep" from the pull down menu at the top of the page
3. Put in your name and email address
4. Click Stemmen (Vote).
*No need to check any of the boxes there (The page is in Dutch and English)
The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. If we win it will give us the wide public exposure that will propel us to finishing the construction of the boat and getting more people interested in joining us in changing the paradigm of shipping and waterway transport.

Drawing upon, and endeavoring to be compatible with, the rich sailing traditions of coastal communities, Greenheart is working to radically amplify access to the oceanic commons and distant markets, while interacting with the environment in a more equitable and just manner. Greenheart is intentionally open source small-scaled, durable, adaptable, affordable, energy-efficient, solar/sail cargo ship that is easy to service and repair. It expects to rearrange the balance of opportunities among rich and poor by making safe, long distance sea travel accessible to marginalized and excluded sectors of the world population.

ABOUT GREENHEART PROJECT

The Greenheart Project is an international non-profit organization founded in Tokyo, Japan with offices in Europe and Japan, preparing to build the world’s first fuel-free, container-ready commercial vessel. The small sail-solar ship is specially designed for use by communities in marginalized coastal communities and can serve as a mobile solar power station. It will be built in Chittagong, Bangladesh and launched as early as this year.

To learn more about Greenheart Project visit: www.greenheartproject.org
Pat Utley, Greenheart Director
patutley@greenheartproject.org
P: +81-3-5606-9310

Severn Cullis-Suzuki "Love is the Movement" Japan Tour • Simultaneous screenings of Velcrow Ripper's Occupy Love

"If you can’t fix the environment, please stop breaking it!” Severn said to the world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. She was only twelve years old. A video of her speech presenting environmental issues from a youth perspective went viral, and Severn Cullis-Suzuki became known around the world as “The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes." 

Severn, daughter of Japanese Canadian scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki, is now 34-years-old and an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility. 

For the first time in six years, Severn returns to Japan for “Love is the Movement” – a series of talks about the future of the human race in the face of global environmental crisis. Issues covered include the localization movement, the fair trade movement, and other movements that focus on quality of life for our children and future generations. 

Severn Suzuki will be at Kyoto's Ryukoku University on February 21st.

Details (in Japanese) here: http://kokucheese.com/event/index/141937/

Other stops include Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Shiga. 

Simultaneous screening of Canadian filmmaker Velcrow Ripper's Occupy Love, the third film in the inspirational "Fierce Love" trilogy about global grassroots nonviolent environmental and democratic movements. 

Schedule (Japanese):  http://unitedpeople.jp/occupy/jouei. 

Details on the "Love is the Movement" Tour (in Japanese) here: http://www.sloth.gr.jp/events/sev2014/

All about Severn Suzuki here: http://severncullissuzuki.com/bio

"Love is the Movement" on Facebook (in Japanese): https://www.facebook.com/sev2014. 

グリーンハート・プロジェクト 寄付キャンペーン Greenheart Indiegogo Crowd funding Campaign （until Nov. 1st / 11月1日まで）

(English Below）
もし、環境に一切負荷を与えず、しかも、これまで好条件の市場や漁場へのアクセスが不可能だった数多くの 人々が活用できる、海上輸送手段があったとしたら？

そして、燃料を消費するのではなく、電力を創りだす船があったとしたら？

私達はそんな船を形にしようとしている、東京生まれの、国際的NPO団体です。

プロジェクトの主旨

環境汚染物質を排出せず、燃料を消費せず、港湾施設の整っていない発展途上国の海岸線へのアクセスを可能 にし、しかも長期航海に耐えうる船があったなら―

そのようなアイデアから始まったこのプロジェクトは、これまで数年の時間をかけてリサーチを行い、専門家の 意見をもとに計画を進めてきました。そしてこのような船は、大型船舶によって世界市場を動かす大企業で はなく、周りを海に囲まれた環境にありながら、安価で便利な輸送手段をもたない貧しい地域に暮らす何億もの 人々にとって、切実に必要とされていることを実感してきました。健全な市場 に出て適切な価格で取引を行うことができる―それだけで、彼らの暮らしは大きく変わるのです。


グリーンハート号の特徴

＊燃料を使用しない―これが意味するのは、燃料費がかからない、CO²やその他の有毒物質を排出しない、といっ たことだけでなく、燃料補給のための停泊も必要としません。地域ごとの適切な人件費、費用はそれだけなのです。 ＊メンテナンスが容易―燃料エンジンに依存していないため、メンテナンスの回数もより少なく、費用も抑えられます


＊活動範囲の多様化―分刻みに消費される燃料の心配がないため、より柔軟な活動を可能にします。

・なぜ小型なのか？

現在の太陽光発電パネルは環境にやさしく、高効率ですが、出力に限りがあります。船の主な動 力は風ですから、このサイズの船に必要な補助電力と、生活に必 要な電力（電灯や冷蔵庫、海水の濾過）が発電できる大きさでいいのです。


・活動地域のインフラ整備を最小限に抑えることも重要

＊船体を浅く設計することで、浅瀬や川岸への停泊を可能に
＊船尾をロールオン・ロールオフ式にして、さまざまな種類の船荷を運んだりエコツーリズムの要素 を加えたりできる
＊クレーン式マストの採用により、港湾設備が全くない場所、低い橋の下でも活動が可能に
＊どのような積荷にも対応可能なため、麻袋からコンテナまで積むことができる

また私たちは、船の耐性や修理面、操作のしやすさなども踏まえて設計に取り組んでいます。どれほど偉大な 志や決意があっても、自分達で操作できなければ意味が無いからです。


プロジェクトへの支援

目標とする資金は＄120,000 (寄付サイト）

＊サイトは英語ですので、このＰＤＦで日本でどうやって寄付できるか、書いています！

私たちは皆さんからの支援によって、船の建設費用を集めています。この支援は ただ募金するだけでなく、その金額によって特典がつきます。特典には、 船に名前を記載したり、実際に特定距離を一緒に航海したり、もちろん クルーとして航海に参加するというものも含まれています。すでに名 乗りを上げてくれている企業からの支援金に皆さんからのサポートが加わることにより、誰にでも操作で きる最新技術を搭載した、丈夫な船を完成させることができるのです。


まず、最初の一隻を製造するところから始まります。

初めの一隻は　小さい一歩　に思えるかもしれませんが、それは何千もの人々の暮らしに、影響を及ぼ すかもしれません。その一隻はやがて何十、何百、何千隻もの船の、世界で最初の一隻になるのです。

処女航海は様々な環境や条件に対するテスト航行となり、実用的で 多様な活動をしながら世界をめぐる、６万マイルの距離を予定しています。

寄付サイト　http://www.indiegogo.com/greenheart
ホームページ　http://www.greenheartproject.org

We all know that we need to live more sustainably. However, when be purhcase products from the stores, or even try to build an eco-house, we are forced to depend on transportation services that pollute. When we buy fair trade products, the producers still do not have full control over how their products get delivered. For these, and many other reasons, Greenheart is making small-scale solar- and wind-powered ships to shake up the shipping industry.

Greenheart is making completely fuel-free, sail- and solar-poweredsmall ship specially designed to provide marginalized coastal communities around the world with an affordable means of sustainable marinetransport.

The driving features of the designs are:

1. Cheap to build, maintain, & operate
2. Easy, basic, and tested technologies Zero-emissions, low stress on theenvironment
3. A sailing mast that doubles as a cargo crane
4. Shallow and tough enough to service beachesand unimproved ports

Who Benefits?

• World shipping is making efforts to movetowards cleaner vessels. Present technology limits truly clean (zero-emission) ships toabout Greenheart’s size. We are helping to push those limits upwards.
• Small-scale, no range limits nor fuel costsmake this an appropriate development tool –giving struggling coastal communitiesaround the world profitable access to globalmarkets. A leapfrog technology for marginalized economies.
• People everywhere are inspired by simple clean and elegant solutions that promise abetter future. Greenheart’s maiden voyages will accentuate positive publicity and innovative thinking.

For more information, visit Greenheart's campaign site which will be running until November 1st and help them reach their ambitious goal of $120,000!

In exchange for donatiosn, Greenheart will send you a $10 or $20 voucher to buy any goods at the retailers listed below. There are no restrictions on what you buy with the vouchers, all they ask is you try to shop as locally as possible.

• $25 Perk - On top of other gifts you get a $10 Shopping voucher
• $50 & $75 Perk - Add a $20 Shopping voucher

 The vouchers will be sent out at the end of the campaign in November, in time for the holidays.

North America

Global Exchange [2 stores in San Francisco, Wash. D.C., Virginia] http:www.globalexchange.org

Haiti Projects [Boston + Online Shop] http://haitiprojects.org

Traditions Café and World Folk Art [Olympia, Washington] http://www.traditionsfairtrade.com

Europe

Rapanui Clothing (UK) [Isle of Wight Shop + Online Shop] http://www.rapanuiclothing.com

Tres Hombres [Netherlands – Rum and Madeira ] http://www.svtreshombres.com

You can also receive an all natural bamboo speaker for your iphone, or ship your own items on the world's first fuel-free cargo ship, or get on the boat yourself!

Check out the campaign site at: http://www.indiegogo.com/greenheart
Homepage http://www.greenheartproject.org

Paul Hawken: "The Biggest Global Movement in History"

It is my belief that we are part of a movement that is greater and deeper and broader than we ourselves know or can know. It flies under the radar of the media by and large. It is nonviolent. It is grassroots. It has no clusterbombs, no armies, and no helicopters. It has no central ideology. A male vertebrate is not in charge.

This unnamed movement is the most diverse movement the world has ever seen. The very word "movement" is too small to describe it. No one started this worldview. No one is in charge of it. There is no orthodoxy. It is global, classless, unquenchable, and tireless. Its shared understanding is arising spontaneously from different economic sectors, cultures, regions, and cohorts. It is growing and spreading worldwide, with no exception.

It has many roots. But primarily the origins are indigenous cultures, the environment and social justice movements. Those three sectors and their subsectors are intertwining, morphing, and enlarging... This is a democracy movement...It's marked by kinship, communities, symbiosis. It's Pachamama ("Mother Universe"). It's Mama. It's the earth talking back, waking up...

This talk is now five years old––but this clip of Paul Hawken speaking at a 2006 Bioneers conference describing the collective energy of hundreds of thousands of civil society organizations made up of tens of millions of people––if not more, from all over our planet–– is still breathtaking.

The social entrepreneur drew his talk from his 2007 book, Blessed Unrest: How The Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.

The movement Hawken describes is not something new. Citing poet/environmentalist Gary Snyder and actor/activist/writer Peter Coyote––Blessed Unrest refers to "the great underground, a current of humanity that dates back to the Paleolithic and its lineage can be traced back to healers, priestesses, philosophers, monks, rabbis, poets, and artists 'who speak for the planet, for other species, for interdependence, a life that courses under and through and around empires.'" 

Hawken's imagination was captured by not only the explosion of movements––but also by the shift towards the "intertwingling" of causes––environmentalism; renewable energy and sustainability; biodiversity; indigenous issues; civil society, children's issues; community development; cultural heritage; democratic activism; fair trade; good governance; human rights; social and economic justice; disarmament and peacemaking; water and other resource rights; and gender issues.

Orion excerpts Blessed Unrest here.

Global World Food Sovereignty Day: "From Food Monopolies to Food Commons"

( Family garden on an island in the Inland Sea. Photo: JD)
Comprehensive analysis of the engineered global food price hikes, the global food crisis, and how to fix it (agro-ecology, food democracy) at Slow Food International. (The author explains why US Big Ag is pushing so hard to force open markets in Asia (and Africa)): "From Food Monopolies to Food Commons" by Eric Holt-Giménez, Ph.D.:

Calls for food sovereignty, food justice and even “food democracy” are ringing from fields to kitchens around the world. In the face of the recurrent food and diet crises plaguing our planet, farmers, farm and food workers, consumers—politically engaged citizens—are struggling to regain control over their food systems. Why?

Because the “solutions” to these crises offered by governments, agri-food monopolies and multilateral institutions—e.g., more “free” trade, genetically engineered crops and the spread of giant retail chains—brought on the crises to begin with. With a billion people “stuffed” and a billion “starved” on the planet, why do the G-8 countries, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization continue to prescribe catastrophic solutions to catastrophe?

The answer is simple: the oligopolies dominating our global corporate food regime are also in crisis. The record profits and massive wealth they accumulated during the 2008 and 2011 food price inflation crises must be re-invested in order to maintain a compound rate of growth... Where can they re-invest their vast amounts of accumulated wealth? The monopolies have what is called a crisis of over-accumulation.

Who will solve the crisis of over-accumulation for the monopolies? The poor.

The poor are not getting any richer, but as a group they are growing at the rate of 8% and because they make up nearly half of the world’s population they offer a vast, expanding market opportunity for the agri-food monopolies. With the promise of “saving the world from hunger,” these corporations are now busy leveraging public development funds of northern governments to open new markets in Africa and Asia. Foreign food and development aid—which is fuelled by public money—is being directed to poor countries so that they can buy GM grain, fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic engineered seeds from the northern monopolies.

Many studies and reports have shown that agroecology is the best answer to hunger and climate change in the Global South. Poor countries also have to be allowed to protect their own agriculture. The oligopolies controlling our food systems are not solving the problem of hunger—rather, hunger is being used to solve the problem of over-accumulation for the oligopolies...

Over the last three decades the waves of neoliberal globalization has not only ruined local and regional food systems...

Food sovereignty, food justice and food democracy are movements of people that seek other solutions. They seek to re-open public spaces of decision so that people rather than monopolies decide what we eat, how it is grown, and how the multi-trillion dollar wealth of our world food systems is distributed. How can our movements make sure that our public resources are used for the public good rather than monopoly interests? By re-establishing the public sphere within our food systems—by taking back the “food commons.”

A food commons is not only a physical place where food is produced, processed, sold or consumed; it is also a social space where decisions are made in the interest of the common good. Whenever food activists take back a part of the food system in the interest of the common good, they are constructing a food commons. This is why food sovereignty as an organizing concept and precondition for food justice, food democracy and the right to food is so important: it implies a space that is sovereign to the corporate food regime. It is a space in which people—not corporations—decide...

The social construction of food commons is taking place around the world in the nooks and crannies of the existing corporate food regime. Little by little, the different experiences of community gardens, fair trade, community service agriculture, food policy councils, farmer’s movements and consumer movements are slowly converging in their efforts to build a better food system.

Read the entire article here.

Earth Day festival this weekend at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

Fom Philip Brasor's "Earth Day Japan Needed More Than Ever" posted at The Japan Times:

Plans for this year's Earth Day festivities in Tokyo, which organizers predict will attract some 140,000 people, remain fluid in light of the disaster, but in addition to fund-raising activities for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami, one of the themes of this year's festival is saving electricity, an issue that has become much more immediate with the loss of the Fukushima nuclear reactors and the probability of another hot and muggy summer in the city. Electricity for the entire festival this year, including the power to drive public address systems for concerts and lectures, will be generated using recycled cooking oil, or so-called biodiesel fuel. There will even be a car on display that was designed to run on hemp oil.

More than 400 nonprofit organizations and nongovernment organizations will be on hand manning booths, distributing literature and selling wares. The 27 restaurants participating in the Earth Day Kitchen will serve dishes containing ingredients that are locally grown, organic and free of genetically modified elements. The president of Earth Day Tokyo since its beginnings, author, naturalist and Japan Times contributor C.W. Nicol, will honor 2011 as the International Year of Forests by presiding over the Earth Day Forest...Patrons are encouraged to bring their own dishware to cut down on waste, and those who do will receive a discount on all prepared food. The nonprofit recycling group A Seed Japan will provide utensils to those who come empty-handed, but you pay for it...

There will also be workshops in Japanese paper-making and various exhibitions, including one by Japan's only photojournalism magazine, Days Japan, featuring photographs related to issues having to do with the environment and poverty.

At least four nonprofit food resellers will be in the park selling fresh organic produce grown on farms in the Kanto region, some even within the Tokyo city limits. In many cases the farmers who actually grew the fruits and vegetables on offer will be counting the change. Other outlets for consumables include a Himalaya Bazaar featuring handmade clothing and accessories, and a Fair Trade Village occupied by various foundations dedicated to helping small producers in foreign countries get real value for their goods.

Read Brasor's entire article at the above link and find out more about Earth Day Tokyo 2011, Apr. 23-24, Yoyogi Park and other locations in the Shibuya-Harajuku area at www.earthday-tokyo.org

Finding Connections: Sea, Forest & Our Lives—Pacific Asia Resource Center DVD features individuals who saved their eco-systems

The Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) has worked since the 1970’s to promote sustainable development and fair trade in Asia. The Japanese NGO has released their newest DVD, Finding Connections: Sea, Forest and Our Lives, produced to encourage sustainable development and biodiversity conservation in Japan and abroad—particularly in rapidly developing Asian countries.

In the name of "development," humans are destroying ever-increasing swathes of our planet; thus wiping out entire eco-systems which we depend upon for food production and the continuation of life itself. Finding Connections: Sea, Forest and Our Lives features ordinary people who defy this trend living in harmony with nature—often against overwhelming forces. By listening to their experiences, we learn about the intimate interconnections between humans and nature.

Patterns of human relationships with nature reflect values that have changed with time. During the 1960's, Japan’s oceans, rivers, forests and fields underwent major changes as the country attempted to double its national income by exporting industrial products. At this time, productivity and efficiency ruled. Finding Connections: Sea, Forest and Our Lives paints a picture of staggering environmental damage throughout the Japanese archipelago:

• Coastal tidal flats, precious habitats for various aquatic species that sustain the food chain of the sea, were destroyed when corporations reclaimed shores to build industrial plants.

• The flows of rivers, which bring rich nutrition from mountains to the sea, were interrupted by dams built to generate electricity, prevent floods, and create reservoirs. The government build the dams meet projected increases of industrial and domestic water demand.

•  Broad-leafed trees, the natural vegetation of the Japanese archipelago, were replaced with conifers in order to meet growing demand for wood, which later began to face fierce competition from imports.

•  Planted conifer trees were left abandoned; their reduced water-holding capacity resulted in floods and landslides.

•  Chemical fertilizers and pesticides were introduced to agricultural fields through which rivers and oceans flowed.
However, ordinary citizens, who dedicated their lives to saving the natural eco-systems that make up their homes and provide their livelihood, made a difference:

Kudoh Kohta (Representative director of Iwaizumi Pure-wood Funiture): “All living things are protected by the environment and the earth...humans are just one of these species.”

Kohta believes that trees must only be used sustainably, taking into consideration the pace of forest regeneration. The furniture artisan runs a furniture work shop that operates on the concept, “Making furniture that last for 300 years with trees that have lived for 300 years.”

Kumagai Hiroyuki (Former Executive Director of the Campaign Coalition Against the Niitsuki Dam): “We’ll never get back those 27 years. We spent blood and sweat, but now we have peace of mind. We preserved the foundation of our livelihoods.”

Kumagai led the campaign coalition against a local dam project for almost three decades; engaged in relentless civil research and promotion until the project was finally frozen in 1997. He was elected as a local city council member.

Hatakeyama Shigeatsu (Oyster farmer, Representive Director of Mizuyama Sea Farm): “It’s important to raise awareness among people living in the river basin.”

Hatakeyama, a fisher, planted broad-leaf trees along upstream mountains along a river slated for a dam project, to let people know that rivers are vital sources of nutrition for the blessings of the ocean. His movement, named “The Forest Is the Sweetheart of the Sea,” gathered widespread attention.

Ohno Kazutoshi (President of Funabashi City Fishery Cooperative): “Rivers flowing into Tokyo Bay were once full of aquatic species. Tokyo Bay and its tidal flats were also habitats for various marine species. But human beings destroyed these habitats. They didn’t do so on purpose, but out of ignorance.”

Ohno lived on Tokyo Bay for over 60 years carrying out his family’s fishing business. Its tradition may be traced back to the 17th century. He contributed to the conservation of Sanbanze, an 1800-hectare tidal flat remaining in Tokyo Bay. The fisher emphasizes its importance for the fishery.

Onodera Hiroshi: “With wet rice paddies, you can harvest a certain amount of rice without fertilizer, since the water from forests is rich in nutrients.”

Onodera, a farmer living upstream of the basin, joined “The Forest Is the Sweetheart of the Sea” movement, thereby becoming inspired to stop raising broiler chickens and become an organic farmer.

With natural resources rapidly disappearing throughout the world, we believe the Japanese experience can help us reconsider the concept of “development” itself—helping us to relearn what we’ve lost. It is our hope that more people will make the choice to return to natural, sustainable lifestyles.

For further information, please contact Natsumi Koike from PARC: Tel: +81-3-5209-3455 Mail: video@parc-jp.org

PARC would be very happy to provide sample DVDs upon request.


Video information:
Title: Finding Connections ; Sea, Forest and Our Lives
Directed by Suzuki Toshiaki, Produced by Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC), May. 2010

● 35min, DVD (NTSC or PAL)
● Bilingual (Japanese/English)
● Price $20 for developing countries, $60 for developed countries
● “Finding Connections; Sea, Forest and Our Lives”

Contents

Chapter 1: Nature Changed by People
Humans and Nature in the Modern Era / Reclaimed Tidal Wetlands and the Impoverished Sea

Chapter 2: Severed Connections
The Agricultural Basic Law and the National Income-Doubling plan / Extensive Forestation and Increased Timber Imports

Chapter 3: The Roles of the Forests and Rivers
The Soil and Water Holding Capacity of Mountains / Proliferating Dams / Connecting the Mountains and the Sea / Awareness Changed Reality / Harnessing Nature in the Mountains

Chapter 4: Interconnected Lives
Culture of Broad-leaf Forests / Sanbanze, a Fishing Ground in Northern Tokyo Bay / Values behind Choices

The video website page is here.

Head's Up: Obama appoints Pesticide Lobbyist as USTR Chief Ag Negotiator--disappointing fair trade, organic & sustainability advocates worldwide

Disappointing millions of fair trade, organic, anti-GMO and sustainability advocates in the U.S. and worldwide, President Obama appointed Islam Siddiqui as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Siddiqui was one of 15 people Obama recess-appointed to government posts last weekend to bypass Senate approval hearings.

More than 80 environmental, small-farm and consumer groups opposed the GMO advocate's Senate confirmation. Siddiqui was vice president for agricultural biotechnology and trade for CropLife America, a trade group of biotech and pesticide companies, including Monsanto. CropLife fought popular initiatives seeking to ban GMO food in California--claiming that pesticides positively impact endangered species. CropLife also lobbied the Bush administration for human and child testing of pesticides, and wrote a letter to Michelle Obama urging her to use pesticides in the organic garden at the White House.

Siddiqui also worked for the Clinton Administration at U.S. Department of Agriculture as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Senior Trade Advisor to Secretary Dan Glickman and Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.

Paula Crossfield at Civil Eats covers the story in "Pesticide Lobbyist Gets Posted as Chief Agricultural Negotiator." More at a great organic blog, Living Maxwell.

What does this mean for Japan and the rest of Asia?

It means that the USTR will be pushing GMO, non-organic, unsustainable practices (on behalf of industries)--as it did under the Bush administration. Asia is a region where governments have more respect for citizen concerns about the health risks of GMO (with notable exceptions like China's recent acceptance of GMO rice and India's acceptance of GMO cotton). The Japanese government has particularly listened to citizens' voices on this matter.

More than ever, grassroots organizations and consumers are going to have to encourage and support government efforts to maintain health and consumer standards that the USTR may falsely label "trade barriers."

Fair trade, zero-emission cargo ship for sustainable development--the Tres Hombres--to dock at Copenhagen on Wednesday!

Ten Thousand Things has just learned that the topsail schooner Tres Hombres will be arriving in Copenhagen during the UNFCCC period - perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the wind.

Perhaps you have heard of the Greenheart Project, an international Tokyo-based NPO that is designing and building a solar-powered, zero-emission, fuel-less cargo ship to serve communities in their sustainable development issues. Greenheart is collaborating with the topsail schooner Tres Hombres to create a consumer label for products transported cleanly at sea. Tres Hombres will be tying up at Amaliehaven docks, and unloading part of her cargo of fair trade and organic products -including coffee and wine. Some of it will even be for sale to the visitors. In any event, it is a good opportunity to see this fine specimen of minimal carbon transport on her maiden voyage, support clean technologies, and meet the inspiring crew.

Arjen is the captain of the ship for this voyage to Copenhagen.

Over the past two years Arjen (Boogie van der Veen), Jorne (Langelaan)and Andreas (Lackner) have restored this amazing 32 meter long schooner. Their dream is to reinstate sailing-boats as the answer to increasing CO2 emissions caused by transport of goods. They’re calling this “Fairtransport”.

As of Tuesday morning, Jorne reports:  "Tres Hombres was west of Skagen, sailing with a light wind on her beam (going 5 knots). The ship was held up the previous days by North Easterly headwinds. Although in the first days there were quite some crewmembers seasick, the ship kept herself fantastic, on one occasion logging more than 9 knots. Everything is well and the ship is expected to arrive in Copenhagen Wednesday morning."

To contact the visionaries at Greenheart, click here:

-Posted by Jen Teeter

2009 Asia Forum for Solidarity Economy Concludes Successfully in Tokyo

The Asia Forum for Solidarity Economy, which held its first meeting in the Philippines in 2007, wrapped up its second conference in Tokyo on November 10.

Over 400 people from some ten Asian countries attended the four-day event, which was held in Tokyo's Aoyama district at the dual venues of Aoyama Gakuin University and United Nations University. The forum featured sessions examining the solidarity economy within both global and Asian contexts, as well from a number of additional perspectives including microfinance, fair trade, social welfare, local agricultural initiatives, and international finance regulations.

The program also included three site visits to see the fledgling solidarity economy in action, including an organic farm in Ogawa-machi, Saitama; social enterprise initiatives in Yokohama; and local citizen actions in Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa.

One of the primary conference organizers was the Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC), an organization with roots in the era of Vietnam War protests. Together with its newly created sister organization, PARCIC (PARC Interpeoples' Cooperation), PARC continues to focus on strengthening ties between Japan and other Asian countries with a number of grassroots-level initiatives.

From the 2009 Forum website:

The Solidarity Economy (SE) is an alternative framework for economic development that is based on the principles of solidarity, equity in all dimensions, participatory democracy, sustainability, and pluralism. The solidarity economy framework seeks transformation rather than band-aid solutions, yet rejects an one-size-fits-all blueprint. It isn't an abstract theory nor pie-in-the-sky utopianism. Rather, it pulls together and builds upon the various elements of solidarity-based economy that already exist. Some are new innovations,some are old, and we already have a variety of experiences in Asia. And the journey of creation is ongoing.

A number of recent English-language reports on the solidarity economy in Japan and beyond may be found on the forum's website here and here. The website of the Asian Alliance for Solidarity Economy, based in the Philippines and subtitled "Building an Alternative and Compassionate Economy", also has extensive information on how the solidarity economy is taking shape throughout Asia, including links to various member organizations' websites. Reports from the Tokyo event may also be found in its "Solidarity Asia" section, here and here.

The Third Asia Forum is planned for Malaysia in the fall of 2011, with a preliminary meeting scheduled to be held in Bangalore in August 2010.

"To go forward with the solidarity economy, we must change our mindset at the local and territorial level to build a holistic approach, taking into account the challenges of globalisation," said event organizers in an initial post-forum report. "Our networking process takes time, but since Asia has more than 50% of the planet's population, it is of strategic importance."

--Kimberly Hughes