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Are you a former QBACC member or an Alumni interested in sustainabilty at Queen's?Starting this year, QBACC will be sending out a monthly newsletter to Alumni on our current campaigns, and how Alumni can help us out. If you are interested please fill out this form and write "Alumni Newsetter" in the subject line.
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Hey everyone!Here is the second QBACC update of the summer. We don't have a ton of actual QBACC stuff to update everyone with just yet. But we do have 2 articles, one audio file, and a movie for you to peruse at your leisure.I am sending out two articles with somewhat competing views, the general theme of the two articles is economic growth. Read the first article,http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.100-special-report-why-politicians-dare-not-limit-economic-growth.html?full=trueit takes the opinion that the levels of economic growth that the world was experiencing before the recession, about 2-5 percent annually, will never allow us to meet the targets that are required to prevent uncontrolled global warming and mitigate the negative consequences that we will now face no matter what. Really good read.Then read the second article http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=6cd5578a-85ab-4627-b793-680ea8d44c7f This is from the authors of breakthrough, which is a very controversial book. I don't fully agree with the article (and it doesn't really summarize the book in any meaningful way) but it offers another very interesting counter argument to the above one, essentially that growing our economy and doing it as fast as possible is the only way to beat climate change! Here is the question that I am going to pose, our current system of economic growth requires that the economy continually increase in size, if it does not continually increase the economy collapses on itself and we get depressions and recessions. However, the rate of growth that our economy has means that it doubles in size approximately every 14 years! If a bigger economy means bigger consumption, is our system of economics sustainable, can our economy double in size every 14 years without depleting natural resources. Can our economy double in size every 14 years and we still meet the necessary targets to prevent global climate change. Now I cant propose a system that is not based on our current system of economic growth, so the real question is there a way to have economic growth without consumption growth - can we have non consumptive economic growth?Now for the audio recording and video.I am also leaving you with this audio recording of an interview with the author of climate wars Gwynne Dyer. If you dont want to buy or borrow the book this is a cool way to hear some of the main points.http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/climate-wars/index.htmlI don't know if all of you know about Ted talks but here is one if you have never seen one. I really encourage you to check out other talks some of the most incredible presentations you will ever seen. Anyways here is a presentation about how the entire world can be running on exclusively electric cars by 2020 if the political will exists, sounds crazy but not only is it not but in some place in the world the political will does exist and whole countries will be going electric.Oh and I forgot to the mention the electricity for the cars - it comes from 100% renewables!http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.htmlNext update will have information about what we at QBACC have been up too, and I cant promise it but it might have the potential design for a QBACC t-shirt which one of our members has been working on.Hope all of your summers are going great.Talk to you all soonDaniel
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Hey QBACCers!I hope that everyone is relaxing during these summer months whether youre working and enjoying wild weekends off, or procrastinating on doing working for summer courses, or just bumming around!With this round of updates we have lots of very exciting news to tell you!!! First things first:The city of Kingston has made a public commitment to becoming the MOST sustainable city in Canada!The idea for Kingston to become Canadas most sustainable city was developed just over a year ago. A consulting group has been brought in to Kingston to take a serious look at the validity of this proposal, and although the city is still only in early planning stages, things look promising. The city hopes to tackle sustainability issues in four pillar areas: culture, environment, society and economy. Currently, pillar champion groups composed of Kingston business owners, community social workers and community members at large, are leading investigations into how sustainable each of these areas already are. They are searching for holes in the citys current sustainability framework and hoping to not only fill those gaps with more sustainable practices, but also improve on what is already being done.I hope you will all agree that QBACC, which represents the environmental interests of Queens students, should have some level of involvement in this initiative (how much, we will have to discuss as a group when we are all together again in September). Queens University students are significant contributors to the Kingston community and population, and if our university doesnt get on board with this initiative, the city is going to have a very tough time creating the sustainable Kingston they are striving for.If you are interested in becoming more heavily involved with the Kingston Sustainability project, email us back asap! Weve got lots of stuff to get going!In other news, check out this talk by Capt. Charles Moore. Hes speaking on plastics pollution in our oceans, and how it is influencing aquatic ecosystems. Shocking stuff!http://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.htmWeve heard so much recently about the effects that rising sea water levels will have on coastal communities. Well, its already happening! Below is a documentary on the Carteret Islanders and how they are being forced to abandon their homes because of global warming and rising ocean levels.http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/watch/9/the_next_waveAnd, for all COFFEE LOVERS ( I know Im one )heres exciting news! The worlds first carbon neutral coffee!Not so fun fact: On average, 50 pounds of carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere for every 17 pounds of coffee made. This group in Peru has now neutralized that carbon output through hardwood plantings by the coffee farmers themselves. Check it out!http://www.deansbeans.com/coffee/NOCO2.htmlSigning off, and wishing you a fantastic week!Talk to you soon,Jena
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Hello Everyone!This is another QBACC update coming to you from a little town in West Germany (town of Kaiserslautern).Being in Europe makes Canada and especially America appear to be slacking on the topic of climate change and what is being done about it, so why not inform yourself a little more by following some links below!Today I had a class with students from Kenya, the United States, and Germany! Topic of Discussion: What kind of consequences and possible effects of climate change do you expect in the different sectors of water resource management?I was shocked to hear that majority of American students taking summer courses here still do not fully agree that climate change is a relevant problem, while others from Kenya are more concerned about ways of getting clean water to begin with! The perspectives were a huge eye opener!So I came across Climate cover-up, a book by James Hoggan that should be added to your summer reading list!Check it out:http://www.desmogblog.com/slamming-the-climate-skeptic-scamThe book is an insiders view of how the energy industry has fuelled a bogus controversy about climate change!The book rips the lid off the campaign to discredit scientists, confuse journalists, and deny climate change. The tactics have been slick, but PR expert James Hoggan and investigative journalist Richard Littlemore has compiled a readable, accessible guidebook through all the controversy. Beginning with leaked memos from the coal industry, the oil industry and the tobacco-sponsored lie-about-science industry, the authors expose the plans to debunk global warming; they track the execution of those plans; and they illuminate the results.The authors reveal the PR techniques used to misinform, to mangle the language, and to intimidate the media into maintaining a phony climate change debate. Exposing the seedy origins of that debate, this book should either frustrate the hell out of you or get you really thinking!On another note, here is a link for a discussion on geoengineering (scroll down this webpage to watch the video).http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204771304574181522575503150.htmlGeo-engineering, in simple terms, is a way of literally and physically cooling down the earth by blocking the sun. Personally, I am reluctant to the whole idea and can make a list of consequences for some of the procedures they speak of. However, geo-engineering has gone from a fringe idea to the subject of intense debate. This makes me think of how far the notion of climate change has progressed!On this note, I suggest another book: The Tipping point by Malcom Gladwell.http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.htmlI purchased this book last summer from an airport in Lisbon Portugal. Inevitably, I have still seen it featured on the shelf of many airport bookstores across Sweden and Germany!Last but not least, a topic you should all get to know. The concept of cradle-to-cradle.http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/cradle-to-cradle/It was put together by an American architect and a German chemist. Below is a video link of William McDonough (the architect) speaking of social, environmental, economical, and political issues that cradle-to-cradle addresses. The final few seconds of the video is a hopeful and a good note to end on!Enjoy JAuf Wiedersehen,Christine
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Heat: - How to Stop the Plant from Burning by George Monbiot Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer
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