EAA invites you to submit a funny, creative video portraying how each of us can reduce our environmental impact and what we can do to protect Mother Earth.

Topics include but are not limited to: energy & water conservation, recycling, composting, buying local, reusing, and consumption, etc.

Anyone 18 years or older living in US is invited to use a camcorder, camera or mobile device to record a video clip two minutes or less.

To enter, you can upload the video to either of the following:

1. EAA Facebook Page ‘Environment Action Association
2. Your “YouTube” account under the subject of EAANYC-The Greener me, The Better us and tag EAANYC.

Videos will be judged on originality, creativity, adherence to theme and number of page views generated.

The contest runs from Jan 5 to March 5, 2012. Winning videos will be announced on Earth Day and available for online viewing at environmentaa.org and on the EAA facebook page.

Rules of the contest:

• Videos must be PG rated
• Videos should be 2 minutes or less
• Finished videos must be uploaded to YouTube
• You may submit more than one video
• If filming others, you must have their permission before it gets posted to YouTube
• Videos must be posted and the link along with the entry form sent to eaanyc@gmail.com by no later than midnight Eastern Time, Monday, 5 March 2012 to be included in the competition.
• Entry forms are available upon request by emailing eaanyc@gmail.com

Prizes:

1. First place -$300 cash
2. Second place -$200 cash
3. Third place -$100 cash

The Environment Action Association reserves the right to eliminate any video is done is poor taste, deemed inappropriate and/or does not meet the requirements above.

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will take to the shops and just think of all the plastic bags that don’t have to be used. Plastic bags have never been so un-fashionable.  And for good reason!  There are so many stylish options available for reusable bags these days. Here’s a round-up of three fabulous reusable bags…

Maggie Bags

We love these Maggie Bags made from Recycled Seatbelts. They come in a range of single colours, or multi-colours like the Autumn Leaves bag pictured here. These bags are made to last with four nickel plated feet on the bottom and internal zip pockets for your purse, keys or cell phone.

Rebagz Tote Bags

These Rebagz Cinchy Tote Bags are made from recycled rice sacks. The one pictured here is called Honeybee, and there are other fresh and funky styles available. These Cinchy Tote Bags are not only eco-friendly and stylish but they are human-friendly too because they are made under fair labour conditions. Makes a great shopping bag, handbag or even a briefcase!

Flip & Tumble

Finally, the Flip & Tumble Reusable Shopping Bag. Gorgeously designed in loads of colour choices. Reusable shopping bags that folds up into a tiny pouch when not in use, it’s so easy to take it along when you go shopping. This bag can hold 25 pounds and has a comfy fit felt shoulder pad.

Click here to join me and take the pledge to make plastic bags history!

She created the United Nations Environmental Programme  in 1972 and founding the Kenyan Green Belt Movement in 1977, Wangari inspired a nation to plant 45 million trees in Kenya. The GBM movement continues to plant trees and campaign for education, nutrition and other issues that are important to women. She wrote a number of books, which are available on the GBM website.

She was elected as an MP in Kenya in 2002, and became deputy environment minister in 2003.  In 2004, she was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to sustainability, democracy and peace.

EcoStreet praises Wangari Maathai for her lifelong dedication to our beautiful planet. You are our hero… goodbye, you will be missed!

Why not join the Green Belt Movement tree planters and plant a tree in your neighbourhood because, in Wangari’s words “When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope”.

Photo copyright © The Nobel Foundation

But they need to push new laws through Parliament before these plans can go ahead. That means we have time to stop them.

Sign the petition at 38 Degrees now to tell the government to “save our forests”.

http://www.38degrees.co.uk

THE PETITION TEXT:

“Save our forests – don’t sell them off to the highest bidder”

Don’t let private companies chop down our woodland.

Protect trees for the conservation of wildlife and the enjoyment of the public.

This is a piece of environmental history… recordings of the concert in 1970 that launched Greenpeace. Recorded in Vancouver in 1970, the album has been remastered and available from the Amchitka Concert website.

No time to read this?  Then please just click on over here to see what I’m doing now.

Life changed considerably when we moved from the UK to South Africa in 2008.  It’s a completely different lifestyle, and being green can be quite a challenge here at times.   We’ve moved 4 times in the past two years, so it’s been difficult to put down roots properly and set up an eco-friendly home the way we did in England.  Our last move was 6 months ago now, and yes, we’re finally putting roots down and making plans to transform our new home into an even more eco-friendly place than our English home.   But in the meantime, something else has been taking my attention.  And that is the desperate need of so many people here in Cape Town.

Poverty is rife here.  There are some who have lots and some who have enough to live comfortably (we are fortunate to fall into this category), but there are millions of people here have to stuggle on a daily basis just to feed their families and provide a roof over their heads.

When we moved six months ago, it was to a home in a wonderful part of Cape Town called Newlands.  It was here that I met a crowd of Zimbabwean crafters who make their crafts from recycled materials where possible (for purely economic reasons).  Most of them live in Delft, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town that is notorious for its high crime rate and high unemployment rate.  They work at night, making beautiful artworks that they then sell during the day at traffic lights in Newlands.  It all sounds like a great micro-business plan, until you see your first police raid!  You see, it’s illegal to sell anything at the traffic lights in Cape Town.

The first time that I witnessed a police raid on the craft sellers at the traffic lights it really shook me up.  Police arrived in numbers and chased the craft sellers in all directions.  Those who managed to get away lost the wares that they had to drop or leave behind in their hurry to get away.  Once the police had caught a few of the sellers and loaded them into the back of the police van, they then came back to the lights to pick up their wares.

My first feelings were those of outrage and indignation.  How dare the police spend their resources on bullying these guys who are trying to be creative and make an honest living.  There is plenty of crime in this country that could really do with the attention of the police.  Murderers, hijackers, rapists, burglars, there are plenty of them at large.   Gentle creative people, displaced people trying to earn an honest buck, they really don’t need this harassment.  They need support and encouragement.

So the following day I took a walk to the lights to go and talk to these guys.  I asked about what had happened yesterday with the police.  They were very eager to tell their stories and told me that this was something that happened regularly.   I asked about their crafts, what happened to them after the police took them, could they get them back.   I was told that sometimes those who are caught and have their goods confiscated are given a ticket by the police and told that they can retrieve their goods from the police station by paying an admission of guilt fine (somewhere in the region of R200 per item).  This is usually prohibitively expensive, and more than the materials cost, often more than what the crafter can sell his wares for.  Other times, the goods are just taken without receipt (because it’s better to run away, lose your stock and be free to go home and make more, than to risk being arrested and spending the night in jail).  Often, bags, jackets and other belongings are also taken and never seen again.

I spent weeks mulling over this sad state of affairs.  It didn’t sit right with me.  I felt drawn to help these guys.  A few months down the line, and I’d formulated a plan and invited two of the crafters that I had got to know fairly well to join me in setting it up.

And so we started the Mother City Craft Collective, an online outlet for the arts and crafts that are currently being sold at the traffic lights n Newlands.  The goal of the project is to drum up enough sales online so that these guys don’t have to sell their goods at the traffic lights anymore.

We’ve started the project with no capital or funding, simply volunteering our time and expertise.  It’s been a slow start and at times very frustrating.   We decided to register as a cc with 3 members so that the two Zimbabwean crafters who started the project with me could apply for their business permits.  This proved impossible to navigate with CIPRO as the two Zimbabweans didn’t have South African identification documents and we ended up in a catch 22 situation where you need a business permit to get your identification document, but you can’t get the business permit without the identification document.

Our website took me quite a while to get going (I’m no web designer, just a blogging housewife after all), but we’re there now, and we have a showcase for some of the wares.  We’ve also expanded our collective from 3 to 5 people, and as soon as sales pick up, we’d like to expand this further.

Sadly, because it’s taking time to drum up sales (we’ve only had 2 sales at time of writing this), these guys are still having to support themselves by working at the traffic lights, and still taking the risks everyday of being arrested and having their goods confiscated.

Just this past weekend, one of the guys was walking through the park on the way to the traffic lights when he was stopped by the police and had all his stock confiscated.  They took well over R1000 worth of stock, and it will cost him over R800 to get it back.  R800 that he doesn’t have.  And so it carries on.

The reason why I’m telling this story here is because I’m hoping that EcoStreet readers (those that are still bothering to check this site now that I’m not updating it very often) will be interested in what we are doing.  The members of this collective and I would be immensely grateful if you would follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page, and most importantly tell everyone you know about what we are doing, what we would like to achieve and how we need customers to make this possible.

Thanks so much for reading this and before I go, here’s our website address again: http://www.mothercitycraftcollective.co.za

And that brings me to the inspiration for this blog post.

Firstly, Julie Cohen of Better Than Fiction Productions emailed me the link to a video that she produced for PBS about a lady called Dee Williams who lives in a tiny house.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

And secondly, I read this morning at Bindu Wiles blog that she is starting a community project called the Shed Project, which has nothing whatsoever to do with sheds (or tiny houses), but fits perfectly alongside the story of tiny houses because it’s all about shedding the bumf that we don’t really need (including excess body weight).

I’m going to be taking part in the Shed Project to see what I can shed. If you’re interested in getting rid of some of your excess, Bindu Wiles will be launching the project in about a month’s time, so add her to your feed reader if you don’t want to miss out.

This Tuesday, 13th July, I’m going to be joining artist Janet Botes to launch ecojunki at the Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks Meet-up. We’ll be showing some of our own recycled art and crafts, and inviting Greendrink-ers to bring along their own recyclables for a demonstration/have-a-go.

If you’re in Cape Town and want to come along, here are the details:

Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks
Cape Creative Exhibition Centre, 37, Main Road, Greenpoint
Tuesday 13th July 2010
6 pm for 6.30 pm – till 9 pm
The theme for the evening is greening visual arts and wine making
Time changes for this month : 6 pm for 6.30 pm – till 9 pm.

Eco artist and activist Janet Botes will present the Ecojunki movement and projects in Waste Art.
Bring recycled packaging (paper, plastic) which can be used for a demonstration !

All Capetonian artists are invited to participate in an open discussion about how to green Visual Arts.

Heron Ridge Wine Farm from Helderberg will be presenting their experience of farming the wine biodynamically and offer some wine tasting, which you will be able to compliment for a small contribution with some cheese platters from African Cheese and Wine Tours.

There are two swishing events happening in the next little while, one in London (UK) and one in Cape Town (RSA).  See their details below.

Incase you can’t read the fine print, here’s a close-up:

For the Cape Town (Northern suburbs) event, check out the Fashion Exchange website or their Facebook page for more info.  Take note that you will need a ticket for the Cape Town event.  Here are the basics:

And for the activist at a loose end next weekend, why not join in with a mass action called by London Rising Tide, London Tar Sands Network and Climate Camp London.

Party at the Pumps Part 2 is taking place just three days before Shell’s AGM, where the company will come under fire from shareholders over its plans in the Canadian tar sands; and a week before the Merthyr to Mayo solidarity bike ride, which will link two communities in Wales and Ireland resisting fossil fuel extraction.

When: Saturday, 15th May
Meet: 1PM at Oxford Circus
Bring: a zone 1-2 tube pass, noisemakers, your friends & family and your
dancing shoes
Oxford Circus meeting point map: http://tinyurl.com/OCnw-SVmap

Shutting down a petrol station for 5 hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon
was so much fun we’re going to do it again. Shell’s Hell – in the tar
sands and beyond – is next in the firing line.

Party 1 had Samba, twin sound systems, a live Ceilidh band, face-painting,
free cakes and 200 people. Party 2 will be bigger and better, with
activists joining us from Brighton, Oxford and beyond.

Watch the video call-out here:

And while there aren’t any protest parties going on in Cape Town on that day, there is this community market, which is well worth supporting:

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COPArt Live! Bank Holiday Monday (3 May, 10.30am)

Londoners interested in the environment and looking for some bank holiday fun are invited to attend a free event that will mix art and music at the Village Underground in Shoreditch on Monday 3rd May from 10:30am to 9:00pm.

Visitors to COPArt Live! can create their own work of art and witness the making of a mural and sculptures by five young local artists. All pieces of art created before 6:00pm on the day will be exhibited from 6:00pm to 9:00pm and will then be collated to form COPArt – a large digital montage and visual petition for action against climate change.

COPArt was officially launched at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in November 2009. Hundreds of people have already contributed.  It is organised by Climate Squad, a project run by environmental charity Global Action Plan and funded by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and v, the National Young Volunteer Service.

Kate Lyons of Global Action Plan called  COPArt a forum for young people to express their views on climate change and demonstrate what they are doing about it in their communities.

UK readers: lookout for a UK-exclusive giveaway, coming on Monday.

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