Help Haiti: Social media as a major part of the Haiti relief effort

The catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake to hit Haiti on Tuesday, the worst earthquake in Haiti in over 200 years, has resulted in unimaginable destruction, with death tolls estimated in the tens of thousands. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed, including the National Palace, akin to the White House in the US, Parliament, schools, and hospitals. 

However, if there is any relative upside to this disaster, it has been the universal and immediate bond of altruism across the world as a global flood of support and donations as soon as the news of the earthquake hit the social media networks. Within one day, the viral fundraising campaign via Twitter and Facebook raised over $5 million for the Red Cross's relief efforts. @RedCross tweeted: "text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti" on Twitter, and within minutes, this message spread throughout the world via social networks, facebook status messages, and twitter updates and retweets. The one day total of $5 million that's been raised so far by the Red Cross far exceeds the 2009 mobile text donation total of nearly $4 million, said a spokeswoman for the organization which undeniably proves the power and necessity of social media and viral information dissemination to mobilize action. 


In 2005, Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean founded a nonprofit organization, Yele Haiti, to provide global awareness for his homeland, the poorest in the Western hemisphere. Yele has become another major fundraising organization for disaster relief efforts in Haiti, either via the Yele.org website or via text: "Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI. Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help..please help if you can" (as @wyclef initially tweeted). Within 1 hour the system was overloaded and within a day Yele had received $1 million in donations.

Excellent additional organizations to donate to include Oxfam, who promise that "we are providing clean water, shelter and sanitation and helping people recover – your donation will go immediately to the most critical needs in Haiti, and we will ensure that every penny is used wisely" and Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres), who state on their website, that "we have already treated more than 1,000 people on the ground in Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake, but the needs are huge. An inflatable hospital with operating theatres is expected to arrive in the next 24 hours."

I am overwhelmed with profound sadness for the people of Haiti, but am somewhat buoyed by the glimmer of light that manifests in the power of global empathy and outpouring of generosity in the face of such tragedy. My only wish is that a similar mobilization of attention and resources would manifest in a proactive way to protect and nurture our planet and halt further harm (massive deforestation, unthinkable wastestream contributions, mountaintop mining explosions, overfishing the oceans, global pollution, etc.) resulting from human hands. Ignored amidst the immediacy of this disaster is the simple fact that earthquakes and volcanoes are triggered by climate change, and as the natural balance of earth's climate becomes more disrupted, and global warming careens out of control, geological disasters will occur with increasing frequency and severity.

Will 2010 be the year of the electric car?

The trends from automakers at the Detroit Auto show, happening this week, seem to suggest so. Due to the current economic climate, the worsening recession, and increasing concerns around climate change and global oil reserve depletion, car manufacturers are eager to highlight new versions of smaller, less expensive cars, many of which get up to 40 miles per gallon on highways. Hybrids and electric cars are also taking center stage, with many auto manufacturers debuting electric models. Electric cars still seem to be firmly rooted in the future realm in the majority of the United States, with lack of ubiquitous charging stations and the current high cost of electric cars, but hopefully this is changing. A $100 million federal grant to the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation is a great start, as are the 2500 electric car charging stations in 5 chosen cities (one of which is Seattle - yay! For more on Seattle's Electric Vehicle initiative, see the following November 1, 2009 story in the Seattle PI).

One major reason I was regretting no longer living in Colorado this past year had to do with the forward-thinking $42,000 tax credit Colorado gave new Tesla roadster buyers, if they purchased the $109,900 car before December 31. For those who don't know, the Tesla Roadster is an unquestioned sports car, a two-seater that is so low-slung it feels like you're climbing down into a bucket seat in a race car, with the thinnest barrier between you and the road, that goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. I had the thrill of being taken for a test drive in the Roadster last year, (yep, that's me in the passenger seat in the pic) and I swear, I felt g-forces throw me back against the seat and keep me there; seatbelt unnecessary! I admit, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the car since. That's the best discount on a pure luxury item I've ever heard of, at nearly 50%, putting this fantasy car well within reach, at least to those in the market for "normal" high-end brands like BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc. Though the massive tax credit made national news and received quite a flurry of attention among the social media networks as 2009 drew to a close, a representative from Colorado's Department of Revenue said in an October issue of the Denver Post, that fewer than 10 tax filers were expected to take advantage of the credit, sealing the Tesla Roadster's status as pure luxury.

Nonetheless, more practical cars like the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric car that debuted in November, the Nissan LEAF, an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle currently in Seattle as one of the chosen test markets, and electric cars that are already popular in Europe are making their way to the US; e.g., Daimler's smart ev car (with a range of 70 miles on a charge, 70 mph top speed), and Th!nk city (which can drive 110 miles on a single charge and tops out at 65 mph) are paving the way for more ubiquitous EVs on the road.

To have a look at the current crop of eco-vehicles - the sexy (the Roadster), the rugged (the Jeep - EV?), the fun (MINI EV - I can't wait!), and the Tron-mobile (you'll see...) and vote on your favorites, head on over to Planet Green!

The Dirty Secrets of 6 Scandalous Foods - and Healthy Alternatives

Today, one of my favorite online resources for interesting and topical environmental, health, and green living news, The Daily Green, posted an interesting and enlightening story about six "scandalous" foods that are in some way bad for the environment, the world, our health, or some combination of all three. In addition to elucidating the careless and even exploitative business practices of these foods, not all hope is lost: better alternatives are given. This short list is easy to remember and certainly will factor into my decisions the next time I'm at the grocery store or at a restaurant.

While some of the "scandalous" foods and the reasons they're on this list may not surprise you (the ubiquitous presence of corn and corn products in the form of high fructose corn syrup has been widely exposed as the main culprit behind the US's obesity "epidemic," type 2 diabetes, blood pressure problems, not to mention liver and kidney problems, and even osteoarthritis), many others are eye-opening, to say the least. For example, I learned that the dominance of corn in our food products is not only dangerously threatening to our own individual health, but has resulted in massive deforestation across the world. In addition, the widespread use of chemical fertilizer on corn fields in the U.S. has created a massive "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico – a 7,900 square-mile area patch of water that is so oxygen-depleted that sea life cannot survive.

So what are the other top offenders?

In no particular order:

Shrimp: Harvesting shrimp is phenomenally wasteful, and harmful to other sea creatures. Up to 10 pounds of other fish are collaterally destroyed for every pound of shrimp caught, including dolphins, who are caught in the shrimp nets. Shrimp farms outside the U.S. (notably those in Thailand) have also carelessly polluted and subsequently destroyed their mangrove forests.

Better Alternative: Instead, if you must eat shrimp (it is very high in cholesterol, so decreasing your shrimp consumption is a good thing, overall), choose U.S.-farmed shrimp or wild-caught spot prawns and pink shrimp.

Chocolate: This one surprised me. Apparently, chocolate has similar dark political underbelly-conflict roots much like conflict diamonds. A 2007 report revealed that Africa's cocoa trade was bankrolling both sides of Cote d'Ivoire's bloody civil war. In addition, the cocoa trade has also been accused of supporting forced child labor and trafficking. I don't think anyone would ever guess that their candy bar purchases would support African labor trafficking.

Better Alternative: Fair Trade chocolate. One of my favorite companies is our very own local Theo Chocolates, located in Fremont (Seattle), WA, which creates gourmet delicious and decadently pure dark chocolates and interesting blends like chocolate orange, chocolate mint, salted caramels, and so on. (and while you're at it, purchase Fair Trade coffee).

Tuna: Of all of the foods on the list, this one is the hardest for me (not) to swallow (*ahem*). There is nothing better to me than sashimi-grade tuna, sliced thin... nonetheless, tuna is one of the most well-known offending fish industries. For years, the tuna industry used the practice of "dolphin circling" to catch tuna, resulting in the deaths of more than 100,000 dolphins each year. I thought tuna was back on the "safe to eat" list, mercury levels notwithstanding, with "Dolphin-safe" labels cropping up everywhere; however, these labels conveniently ignore the fact that tuna fishing collaterally destroys thousands of other sea creatures including sea turtles, sharks, and rays. In addition, overfishing within the tuna industry is destroying itself. It's estimated that 90% of the world's tuna stock has already been harvested. At this rate, tuna will be entirely extinct within the next few years.

Better Alternative: Arctic Char, Rainbow trout, or wild Alaskan salmon

Corn: Almost everything about this food is terrible for one's personal health and the environment.

Better Alternative: Organic sweet corn, eliminating foods with high fructose corn syrup (Start reading labels; and stop drinking soda!)

Beef: Wow. I knew the cattle farming industry was environmentally offensive but had NO IDEA that this industry accounts for more greenhouse gas waste than that released from the entire auto industry. In addition, talk about waste. It takes around 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. In a world where water will become more valuable than oil (see: "Oil, Water, and Climate" published by Cambridge University Press) with respect to its growing scarcity this amount of waste cannot hold. Cattle farming is simply unsustainable.

Better Alternative: Reduce your meat consumption! And if and when you do choose beef, choose grass-fed beef, which is more nutritious, less harmful to the animal, and less wasteful to produce than factory-farmed corn-fed cows (see "Corn" above).

Bananas: Again, another huge surprise. Although the nutritional value is indisputable, the banana growing industry is responsible for deforestation in Latin America, as well as environmental and human destruction due to polluting pesticides. In addition, the simple banana is another with a long history of political conflict through supporting colonial exploitation. Recently, Chiquita apparently was found to have paid the Colombian terrorist group United Self-Defense Forces more than $1.7 million for protection between 1997 and 2004.

Better Alternative: Fair trade bananas.

For more, check out The Daily Green's original article here