-
Powered by
Translate
- Sign Up For Our Newsletter
- donate
- contact
Celebrate Earth Day 2020 while staying at home
Neighborhood or At-Home Activities
- Pick up litter in the neighborhood during a walk (using gloves and staying 6ft apart).
- Order delivery or pickup from a local ocean friendly restaurant (OFR). In doing so, you can support the strength and longevity of ocean friendly restaurants.
- If ordering delivery, request no utensils if you have the option.
- Buy local produce if possible. Many farmers markets are open during the COVID-19 pandemic, and buying their products could help keep the farmers afloat.
- Even when you’re home all day, think about turning off the lights or appliances when you’re not in the room. Continue to unplug outlets when not in use.
- Plant seeds or a tree! You can order potted trees online from the Arbor Day Foundation, or possibly your local nursery or local tree nonprofit. If you live in the City of Los Angeles, City Plants offers free trees for your yard or parkway.
- Build a birdhouse or a bird feeder out of recycled materials, such as an old cardboard box or milk jug
- Some tips for building a recycled birdhouse can be found here: https://www.lushome.com/15-smart-recycling-ideas-making-unique-birdhouses/141768
- Tips for building a recycled bird feeder can be found here: https://www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/bird-feeders-recycled-materials
- Recommendations from EarthDay.org themselves!
- Make a commitment to going plant-based, and composting. You can try some non-perishable foods, or plant-based recipes. Try to reduce food waste during this time, and trying composting any leftover foods.
- Try some at-home recipes for natural cleaning products. Nancy Birtwhistle (from the Great British Baking Show) and others have plenty of easy, eco-friendly at-home products you can make while staying at home.
- Have a garden? Try doing a garden exchange via Facbook or Nextdoor.
- You can exchange seeds, wood and dirt by leaving them on someone’s front doorstep, or setting up times to exchange them safely.
- Find more actions for the planet at
- Check out other key tips for being eco-friendly: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g19851547/earth-day-tips/
Online Support and Learning on Earth Day:
- Follow Earth Day events online, as they move digital
- Join CalRecycle to share tips on how you help the environment while staying at home. Do you recycle, compost, repurpose items, reuse bottles–or something else? Share a picture or video of what you do to help the earth using #HowISavethePlanet and #CalEarthDay50.
- Do one thing for the earth and post a photo or video for #OneThing4Earth video/photo challenge – New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services is encouraging people to record videos or take photos of themselves doing one thing that’s good for the earth in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The department commissioner shared a video of him adding materials to his compost pile, a very important activity that benefits our planet!
- World War Zero is hosting a series of virtual town halls on Monday, April 20 – Wednesday, April 22, which will feature celebrities, political leaders, activists, and scientists. The town halls will cover the solutions we can implement right now to save our planet and what America’s role should be in both the climate and coronavirus crises.
- The Nelson Institute is presenting a virtual Earth Day conference on Monday, April 20
- Post Carbon Institute’s online course Think Resilience is available for free until Earth Day! Throughout the 22 short video lectures, you’ll learn how we got to this perilous moment in history and how we can develop strategies for tackling the challenges we face.
- Coursera offers numerous free online courses on climate change topics, including: Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change offered by the University of Chicago; Act on Climate: Steps to Individual, Community, and Political Action offered by the University of Michigan; Global Energy and Climate Policy offered by SOAS University of London.
- PBS has compiled a list of 161 science documentaries you can watch right now, no membership required. The list features several environmental documentaries, including: Extreme Realities, hosted and narrated by Matt Damon, which investigates the link between extreme weather, climate change, and threats to our national security.
Games and Kid-Friendly Activities
- Take a virtual trip to an aquarium or national park. This is a great activity to do with restless kids. Choose a venue to e-visit, and have an informative discussion with your kids about conservation
- Visit the Georgia Aquarium: https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/webcam/beluga-whale-webcam/
- Watch the Cincinnati Zoo livestream: https://www.facebook.com/cincinnatizoo/
- Take a virtual trip to Yellowstone National Park, Acadia National Park and more:
- Follow some Bill Nye experiments on earth sciences: https://www.billnye.com/home-demos
- Play earth related board games with your family / roommates. Board games can be a great teaching tool reminding people of the importance of our planet and its resources. Some great games that highlight the climate and our environment are:
- Photosynthesis – a tree-planting strategy game where players take trees through the entire life-cycle, from seedling to full bloom to rebirth, and earn points as their leaves collect energy from the revolving sun’s rays.
- Planet – a unique strategy board game where players compete to create perfect worlds with the ideal conditions for wildlife to flourish. Each player’s board is a 12-sided 3-dimensional planet core and players select landscape tiles representing oceans, deserts, mountains or frozen lands, and arranges them on their planet to create the best ecosystems.
- Evolution: Climate – players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce, predators lurk, and the climate can swing between scorching hot and icy cold. Traits like a Hard Shell and Horns can protect your species from Carnivores while a Long Neck will help them get food that others cannot reach. With over 200,000 ways to evolve your species, every game evolves into a different adventure.
- Ecosystem – a science game in which players build ecosystems of wild animals (such as bears, rabbits, foxes, and eagles) and are rewarded for sustainability and diversity.
Happy Earth Day 2020!
Our updated Mexico Forest Protocol Version 2.0 is now available for use
Here’s what is helping us cope with stay-at-home orders
All Reserve staff are working from home in accordance with recommendations from the CDC and local and statewide public health and Governor offices. When we’re not working, we’re partaking in all the traditional stay-at-home activities including home workouts, cooking, streaming tv and movies, reading, facetiming, trying to learn a language, checking out home concerts from our favorite musicians, gardening, and more! Here’s a quick list of what is helping us cope and deal with working from home/ stay-at-home orders / self-quarantining. We hope you might find some new and/or useful ideas and that you stay well!
For working
- Encourage ergonomic tips and considerations while working from home: Check out this list for some great tips https://boltonco.com/2020/03/18/ergonomic-tips-and-considerations-while-working-from-home/, including changing postures frequently, moving every 30 minutes for 2-3 minutes, sitting up straight with relaxed shoulders, and placing the monitor approximately an arms reach from the body
- Chatting with coworkers at the water cooler and at lunch is definitely missed by our staff! We’ve implemented weekly “happy hour” chats where we all gather virtually with our drinks and have totally non-work-related chats.
Fun activities while staying at home
- Lunch doodles with Mo Willems – “This is likely not news to the working parents out there who are now holding down full time jobs while simultaneously serving as co-educator, coach, playmate, and recess monitor. My kids and I have very much enjoyed lunchtime doodling with one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems. It’s a wonderful creative break (I admit that I have even been sucked into it and away from my work computer on occasion). We especially enjoyed one episode with guest Dan Santat.” – Jennifer Weiss
- Knitting – “I’ve definitely been knitting up a storm, to no one’s surprise. One of my favorite designers, Andrea Mowry, is hosting a sweater “knit-a-long”, so I’ve been working on one of her sweater patterns. It’s a great creative activity, and helps me feel productive while re-watching West Wing for the umpteenth time.” – Sarah Wescott
- Socially distanced neighborhood walks keeping 6ft away from anyone else outside – “I’ve also been taking daily walks after work for a change of scenery – staying a safe distance from any passing neighbors on the sidewalk. My neighborhood is full of citrus trees, so an added bonus is that we usually come home with a bunch of lemons, oranges, pomelos, and tangerines that were otherwise going to waste.” – Sarah Wescott
More pics from walks around the neighborhood:
- Supporting our favorite businesses with online shopping – a lot of stores, including wineries, have some great deals right now. “My favorite winery – Two Mountain in Zillah, WA – has a great shipping deal. They have a cool Lemberger, which is pretty similar to a pinot noir. And the shipping comes with delivery tracking, so you can watch your case of wine getting closer to your door in real time!” – Holly Davison
- Online multiplayer strategy board games – “You can play Catan, Agricola, Terraforming Mars, Ticket to Ride, and many more awesome strategy board games with friends while observing the social distancing stay-at-home orders. Here are some recommendations from Nerdist: https://nerdist.com/article/8-board-games-available-as-apps/ and a list of game apps from Asmodee: https://www.asmodee-digital.com/en/. If anyone out there reading this wants to challenge any member of our staff, just shoot us an email!” – Rhey Lee
- Online learning – “This is totally the perfect time to take the courses you’ve been meaning to take if only you had the time! I’m taking a course on copyediting and diving deep into AP style and Chicago Manual of Style. This particular course is in line with my professional development goals, but you can find online classes on pretty much anything – many of them free through Coursera or your local library. Some of my friends are taking advantage of free courses on Coursera like life coaching or other self-exploration topics. I’ll likely be taking one through them next for project management. Oh, and soon, there will be some Virtual Cons that I might attend…so that will be interesting!” – Heather Raven
Mental health tips
- CAL Matters: How to get past the coronavirus crisis without losing your mental health – Breathe, meditate, be mindful, keep a schedule, get some exercise, get into some hobbies/projects, connect with friends and family, practice kindness, pick up a new skill, and ask for help if you need it.
Climate Action Reserve Programmatic Response to COVID-19 Outbreak
If a programmatic deadline (e.g., project submittal, verification, monitoring report submission) cannot be met by the original deadline due specifically to reasons directly related to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, projects may receive up to a 6 month deadline extension. This does not include extending the reporting period(s) in question. Projects seeking such an extension must submit a written request via email prior to the original deadline, which must specifically detail the impact of coronavirus on the project’s ability to meet the relevant deadline as well as the length of extension being requested. Any project that is eligible to defer verification or conduct a less-intensive desktop verification is strongly encouraged to use that option. This policy may be modified in the future as conditions warrant. This policy is limited to projects reporting under the Climate Action Reserve’s voluntary offset program. Projects reporting under the California Compliance Offset Program should seek guidance from the California Air Resources Board.
Please email all COVID-19 extension requests to the Reserve main email.
If you have any questions, please contact Robert Lee via email or (213)785-1230.
NACW 2020 is cancelled
Based on the development of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), concerns and reactions from participants, and monitoring advisories from the City of San Francisco and the World Health Organization, we made the decision to cancel NACW 2020.
We appreciate the dedication and leadership shared by everyone in our field of addressing climate change. We will be looking into the possibility of turning a few of the sessions into webinars in the next several months.
Finance must be green as it earns green
by Rob Z. Lee, Program Director, Climate Action Reserve
Climate change is altering long-term economic modeling, driving a reassessment of risk and asset values, and generating climate policies that will impact prices, cost, and demand across the entire economy.
According to the UNFCCC, the world needs an estimated US$90 trillion in sustainable infrastructure investments to reduce climate risk and achieve the global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals set in the Paris Agreement. In order to attract and grow the financing we need to meaningfully address the climate crisis, the market must have transparent and credible information about investments’ impacts.
Several initiatives and standards exist to bring focus and transparency to the climate impact of investments. The Reserve’s Climate Impact Score program quantifies any discrete project investment’s expected climate impact, including its greenhouse gas reductions, enabling investors, underwriters, and secondary market participants to confidently direct financing toward projects that will have a positive climate impact. The Climate Bonds Initiative developed a standard certification providing science-based, sector-specific eligibility guidelines for the environmental credentials of a bond. And ratings agencies, such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch, have developed climate risk assessments to provide market participants with a greater level of visibility and transparency on the implications of policy, legal, technology, and market changes associated with a transition to a lower carbon economy.
At the Climate Action Reserve, we believe that there are three climate lenses through which any investment should be assessed: 1) climate risk, 2) organizational footprint, and 3) climate impact.
1. Climate risk:
Climate risk, the focus of Mr. Fink’s letter, can be described as the threat to existing businesses posed by the impacts of climate change. Responsible risk management requires investors to incorporate the anticipated impacts of climate change into their investment decisions. These impacts vary depending on the underlying investment, ranging from impacts such as sea level rise threatening the value of coastal real estate, potentially trillions of dollars in stranded fossil fuel assets, or diminished labor productivity in heat exposed industries such as construction, manufacturing, and transportation. In order to appropriately assess the risk profile of an investment portfolio, each discrete investment should have an assessment of climate related risks.
2. Organizational Footprint:
An organizational footprint refers to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with a company’s operations (i.e., scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions). Most corporations that report on GHG emissions report solely on scope 1 (direct emissions from owned and controlled sources) and scope 2 (indirect emissions from generation of purchased energy) emissions. However, to get a clear view of the full impacts of a company’s operations on the climate, scope 3 (indirect emissions not included in scope 2 both up and down stream throughout the company’s value chain) must also be considered. Literature suggests that there is a link between superior performance on GHG emissions and companies with inferior performance on GHG emissions within specific sectors. This may suggest that outperformance on GHG emissions is an indicator of strong management, as a lower relative GHG impact in comparison to industry peers could suggest efficient operations. However, caveats to consider are that these findings are biased towards larger firms that have the resources to conduct such reporting, and that this reporting is voluntary.
3. Climate Impact:
As opposed to avoiding investments that have exposure to climate change related risks, investors can take positive steps to invest in companies that provide solutions to the climate crisis. Companies that fall into this category could include renewable energy companies like solar PV or wind turbine manufacturers. Such manufacturers may have significant scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas impacts from their manufacturing operations, which would make them potentially unattractive if viewed through the lens of organizational footprint, but it is clear that these sorts of companies have a critical role to play in the transition to an economy of the future powered by 100% carbon free sources.
Investment strategies need to change in light of the challenges posed by the climate crisis. It remains to be seen how the greater financial sector shifts investment capital in response to climate change, but with seven trillion dollars under its management, BlackRock is in a position to make a very serious difference. Moving capital away from investments that are exposed to climate risk, however, is not enough: we must also encourage investment into climate solutions. Let’s hope that BlackRock’s move is just a first step, and serves as a harbinger of much more aggressive and positive action to come from the wider financial community.
Rob Z. Lee is the Program Director of the Climate Action Reserve. He can be reached at rzlee@climateactionreserve.org and (213) 785-1230.
Updated Grassland Protocol Version 2.1 now available
Climate collaboration, action, and ambition! Check out a video highlighting the importance of US subnational and business leadership at COP25, in our joint delegation with The Climate Registry. Learn more at copdelegation.org