StFF beneficiary – Living on One – produced an inspirational film: Living on One Dollar, which launched on Netflix on 1 January 2015 in the US and Canada.
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End of Year Waste Ventures Update
In 2010/11 Waste Ventures was awarded first prize in StFF/MYOO’s Beat Waste Challenge and reports on 2014’s work:
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Parrys Raines – website relaunch and news of Antarctica Conference
Parrys Raines is a MYOOZE, team member of the Plastiki Expedition and supporter of StFF – and she’s still only 19 years of age.
Parrys’s CV includes:
Environmental Law Student Environmental Educator and Adventurer 3 times Australian Representative to UNEP Sustainability Leader Climate Reality Leader Ambassador for Aim for the Stars FoundationWWF Youth Ambassador and Earth Hour Ambassador
Team member of the Plastiki Expedition
Partner & Aust. Rep. International Youth Accord on Biodiversity Enviroweek Ambassador
Visit her new website and learn more about the Antarctica Conference here.
The Lonely Himalayas – project at editing stage
StFF beneficiary – The Lonely Himalayas team – reports on progress so far.
A small grant was made to help enable Ryan Stock and his team film a documentary to explore climate change, industrial farming and urban migration on remote Himalayan landscapes.
Click here for the update.
New ways to monitor our sick planet
ClimateScience.com reports that leading scientific journal Nature says the global warming target of 2oC is “tenuous” and calls for it to be “ditched” in a major comment article published in the 2 October 2014 edition of the influential publication.
As work begins to draft an agreement ahead of the next year’s United Nations climate summit in Paris next year, the authors conclude that the 2°C goal should be abandoned and replaced with a new set of achievable targets.
Read ClimateScience.com feature here.
Rachel Sussman – Feature
The Online version of the weekly magazine, The New Yorker, provides current articles, cartoons, blogs, audio, video, slide shows, an archive of articles and abstracts back to 1925.
Its latest issue carries a feature on StFF beneficiary, Rachel Sussman and her ‘Oldest Living Things in the World’ project and contains the shocking news that:
Of the thirty ancient living things that Sussman has photographed, two have since died.
The article is headed ‘Survivors’ and is written by Raffi Khatchadourian. Read the article here.
People’s Climate March in NYC on 21 September 2014
The People’s Climate March is being organized by an ever-growing coalition that comprises more than 1,000 organizations demanding world leaders take action to combat climate change. Because this is a “movement of movements” moment, the People’s Climate March is being organized in a participatory, open-source model.
The March – 11:30 am, Sunday 21 September
Assembly Location: Central Park West, between 65th and 86th Streets.
- Enter on 65th, 72nd, 77th, 81st, or 86th Street.
March Route:
- The march will begin at 11:30 am.
- March down Central Park West and go east on 59th Street
- Turn onto 6th Ave. and go south to 42nd Street
- Turn right onto 42nd Street and go west to 11th Ave
- Turn left on 11th Ave. and go south to 34th Street
End Location: 11th Ave. in the streets between 34th Street and 38thStreet
The partners want to make sure the People’s Climate March tells the story of today’s climate movement in all its parts – so is trying something new, and arranging the contingents of the march in a way that helps thread its many messages together.
If YOU’RE simply looking to march through the streets of New York with more people than have ever come together before to demand action on climate change, head to 86th St and Central Park West.
UNEP Reports Good News on Ozone Layer
StFF Supporter, Mr Achim Steiner, comments on the recently released UN Report on the scientific assessment of the ozone layer 2014.
The report, produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), indicates that the ozone layer is repairing, but Achim Steiner warns that:
“The challenges that we face are still huge,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a news release. The success of the Montreal Protocol should encourage further action not only on the protection and recovery of the ozone layer but also on climate.”
Read the article in Nature World News here.
Protect the Seabed from deep-sea trawling – Sign the Petition
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, is a UK campaign and petition that has the support of many NGOs. The aim of the campaign is to motivate the UK Government to do the right thing to protect its natural heritage from the devastating effects of foreign deep-sea bottom trawlers (the bulk of deep-sea trawling occurs in UK waters, off Scotland).
Sign the petition now HERE
If you want more information, click: http://www.savethehighseas.org/
Just as we wouldn’t allow Stonehenge to be bulldozed, we must also protect our unseen natural heritage.
Winner of ‘Beat Waste Startup Challenge’ growing
Founded by Parag Gupta, Waste Ventures works in India to incubate solid waste management companies that are owned and operated by waste pickers. The company provides the tools to environmentally process the waste and in the process enables them to generate a much better living from selling recyclables, biofertilizer and earn carbon credits.
In 2010 Waste Ventures was the winner of StFF funded ‘Beat Waste Startup Challenge’ and is now becoming an extremely successful company:
Waste Capital Partners, Inc. Completes its Convertible Note Offering
The Impact Enterprise Will Use Proceeds of Oversubscribed Round to Scale Model in India
San Francisco, CA: On August 29th, Waste Capital Partners, Inc. completed its convertible note offering. The round of finance led by the James Lee Sorenson Family Foundation will be primarily invested in its India operating company, Waste Ventures India, to streamline existing projects and dramatically expand the footprint of the Indian company in South India.
Parag Gupta, Founder and CEO of Waste Capital Partners, stated, “We were thrilled to be oversubscribed in commitments by investors. It is validation of both an extremely important issue that touches upon climate change, sanitation, livelihoods, and agriculture as well as the confidence in our company’s potential to profitably solve this challenge.”
Jim Sorenson, Founder of the Sorenson Foundation, stated, “The James Lee Sorenson Family Foundation is pleased to invest in Waste Capital Partners and its innovative model that cleans up cities in emerging markets while creating much needed compost for farmers.”
Other investors in this round include the Marshall Foundation, the Cordes Foundation, and Impact Assets. The Peery Foundation has also renewed its earlier investment.
About Waste Capital Partners, Inc.: Waste Capital Partners, Inc. environmentally processes waste in emerging markets to form nutrient-rich compost it sells to small farmers. Its efforts currently affect more than 240,000 residents and have been recognized by the United Nations and the Indian State Government of Andhra Pradesh. It is a Village Capital Winner and a Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) ‘Innovation Against Poverty’ Awardee.
Read more here.