Almost unbelievably, giant petrochemical corporations prowling our planet for new places to drill are honing in on everybody’s favourite party island. Locals who love the island year round for myriad reasons beyond the techno scene have launched a petition and need our support to block this dangerous scheme.

Ibiza may be infamous for its summer season when legions of tourists flock into mega-clubs to thwap one out to often dubious electronica and spend weeks of their wages on small bottles of water costing ten euros a pop, but there are whole other dimensions to this unique and sacred “Pine Island”.

Early ravers

Ibiza is an exquisite jewel in the Mediterranean with precious ecosystems and a rich cultural past resulting in large portions of the island being registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Phoenician settlers founded a port here in 654 BC and named it Ibossim (from the Phoenician “iboshim” dedicated to the god of music and dance Bes).

Something magical about this extraordinary countryside and coastline lends itself to bacchanalia and has been drawing revellers ever since. Some say it is the unusually intense magnetic field focused on a magnificent rock of the southern coast called Es Vedrà.

Es Vedrà

Of course, at a time when our planet’s climate is dangerously changing and renewable alternatives abound, drilling for oil anywhere is unacceptable. However, by setting their sites on our beloved “White Island” the oil hoodlums have finally gone too far.

Perhaps the money men have bought the myth – that this island is just a den of iniquity. They have failed to appreciate that the international, elite of House Heads are actually a major creative force driving much of the positivity keeping our culture float in these dismal times of corporate hegemony.

Paradise @ DC10

The dance floor of DC10 contains so much wasted talent the average IQ is significantly higher than at most of the world’s leading universities. Not only is this a fight Big Oil can never win, by rounding on the latent passions of the Techno Troubadours they may find they have picked an enemy that will prove their downfall. Underground club culture is grass roots and touches every major metropolis in the world. Roused into action it could prove an unstoppable force for change in the world.

In the island’s legendary cave after-parties the talent is so wasted it is actually pretty much wall to wall Mensa members. These people haven’t been partying non-stop for the last fifteen years because they can’t get a job – they’ve been doing it because it makes a hell of a lot more sense then working 9-5 in an office for a company participating in an economy that decimates the natural world whilst enabling six billionaires to sit in mega yachts the size of small cities off Formentera.

Yoga on Formentera

How to solve the “energy crisis”

This latent genius could solve the world energy crisis in 30 seconds if someone got in there and told them there was a problem. We don’t need to disturb them though as we have figured the solution out already. All we need to do is connect giant, concentrated solar arrays in all the world’s major deserts to a global renewable energy grid. If the fossil fuel corporations were simply acting in the interests of their shareholders, as they claim, they would have done this already. The truth is, these companies are run by evil, greedy men who have been so intoxicated with their poisonous business model they plan to destroy our planet just because they can.

Logical arguments can only take us so far. What we need is for the good people of the world to unite into an unstoppable force of positivity and demonstrate that other ways of living are available and much more fun. We don’t need to work five days a week, banks are not too big too fail and the last wild spaces on earth are definitely not for sale. A key tool in our arsenal is house music. Over to you Romanthony:

Please sign the petition here

Bruce Parry, member of the EcoHustler Advisory Posse say no:

Please sign the petition here

The post Ibiza says ‘no’ to Big Oil appeared first on EcoHustler.

Q & A with the director – Peter Downey

1. What motivated you to make the film?

The post Anima Mundi appeared first on EcoHustler.

Giving conventional physical presents is already a bum-out for the buyer who has to brave the Christmas crush – and that’s before we get into the wrapping, packaging, not to mention the ethical hangover.

In contrast, the more conscientious among us are getting creative or giving each other gifts in the form of innovative, pro-social ‘nudges’, which put a smile on our faces whilst also doing some good in the world.

Leading the charge is Abundance Generation. This crowd investment platform was the first in the UK allowing internet users to put small amounts of money into large-scale renewable energy projects. These micro-investment gifts start from as little as £5. You don’t have to be a millionaire to give a gift that does good in multiple ways:

1. Earning the receiver a decent rate of interest (typically 6-7%)
2. Taking money away from banks who invest it unethically (e.g. arms companies and big oil)
3. Putting money into renewable energy projects (supporting alternative energy companies, bringing energy bills down and responding to climate change)

These Christmas gifts are an exciting new frontier in the drive for the Clean Energy Revolution. The potentially positive outcome is not just financial – the receiver of the gift will have their curiosity piqued: what are these products? Why are they good? What are the benefits of citizens co-owning distributed renewable energy assets?

As they learn more, they may be inclined to add more money over time and to tell their friends about it. What started as a fun Christmas surprise may seed a new understanding that the money we spend on our energy bill, like our choice of bank, is a vote for the kind of world we want.

When tens of thousands of us take our money out of banks and invest in renewable energy projects we will see very rapid change in our world. Everywhere, wind and sun will drive electrons through wires adding credit to our accounts. Banks and large energy companies will cede power to networks of citizens, and resistance to action on climate change will gradually ease.

The shift in energy ownership – and who profits from it – will help the world move consciously forward to new and better ways of living on our planet earth.

It is a massive buzz to see positive change happening in the world. Right now, switched on citizens are beginning to harness the power we share when we choose to link up and collaborate to make a difference

This new innovation from Abundance gives us the opportunity to pass this on as a Christmas gift, putting a huge dose of magic sparkle back into the festive season.

Lets do this.

The post The Gift that Keeps on Giving appeared first on EcoHustler.

The original Santa is still the best

A new campaign has been launched to resurrect the original green Father Christmas. ‘Green Father Christmas’ calls for the festive icon to once again embrace his green coat, abandoning his allegiance with big global consumer brands. Launched by crowdfunding platform Abundance Generation, the campaign stands for a Christmas less focused on consumption.

Green Santa was last spotted in the 1920’s, before a well known drinks company expanded his waistline and donned him in red to promote its brand. Far removed from his modern image, Father Christmas once dressed in green, cut a slim figure, assisting children and those in need.

Abundance Generation, as well as helping Father Christmas find a healthier image, is suggesting its ‘Green Energy Investment’ as a meaningful gift this Christmas.

Bruce Davis, cofounder of Abundance Generation said: “Yes, we’re stealing Father Christmas from the drinks industry. We’re reuniting him with his green coat because, once again, Christmas is about far more than acquiring ‘things’. There’s a fast growing shift away from giving material goods, to buying gifts with meaning. We’re pretty sure Father Christmas would approve of our Green Energy Investments. A gift that’s helping to create a clean energy future, as well as a secure return for people.”

Modern Green Santa

In a rare interview, Father Christmas said: “The holidays are coming and I agree it’s time for a change. Representing a drinks brand was fun for a while, but the thrill of the ride has grown thin – unlike my waistline. Last year, the elves and I delivered fewer throwaway presents than ever before, this year we want to give better gifts and embrace the move towards a greener Christmas. I haven’t worn my green coat for decades but it feels great. It is, admittedly, a little tighter than it used to be.”

He continued: “Some of the elves at Abundance Generation have come up with a gift of a ‘green energy investment’, perfect for those boys and girls who already seem to have everything! Over the last few years I’ve received an increasing number of letters requesting less disposable ‘stuff’. I’m relieved really, I get great joy from making people happy but was really beginning to worry about the environment. All these things are being shipped around the world before arriving in Lapland, and millions of presents end up as clutter or in a hole in the ground.”

The gift of a Green Energy Investment includes Abundance Generation membership and a handful of their green energy debentures. You can gift an investment of £5, £10, £50, £100 or £1,000 in solar or wind power projects across the UK, helping friends and family be part of the shift to clean energy. This offers a fixed return of 6.65% IRR over a 19 year duration. Ideal as a gift for children, the investment can put into a bare trust until a child reaches 18 years of age. Gifting a Green Energy Investment is very simple and can be set up via the Abundance Generation online Christmas store.

It is important to note that, as with any investment product, there are risks. Part or all of the original invested capital may be at risk and any return on investment depends on the success of the project invested in. All products from Abundance are long term investments and may not be readily realisable (and their value can rise or fall). Estimated rates of return are variable and estimates are no guarantee of actual return.

The post Green Santa is Leaner but not Meaner appeared first on EcoHustler.

Fifty veiled figures dressed in black carried out a performance art installation entitled ‘Parts Per Million’ throughout a series of rooms in the ‘BP Walk Through British Art’ at Tate Britain during the art gallery’s official re-opening (Saturday 23 November 2013). The piece critiqued the role that Tate is playing in exacerbating climate change by bolstering the public perception of BP through its long-standing sponsorship relationship.

The art at Tate Britain was reordered chronologically this year. The Liberate Tate performance began in the ’1840′ room, when the industrial revolution started to significantly impact emission levels, to the present day room with contemporary art created as carbon dioxide levels reached an all-time high of 400 parts per million (ppm). Leading climate scientists consider 350 ppm to be what must be returned to in this century for earth to be safe for human life for generations to come. In each room the Liberate Tate performers arranged themselves in a different configuration and counted aloud en masse the increase in atmospheric carbon ppm during that time period.

‘Parts Per Million’ is the tenth performance at Tate by Liberate Tate: a group that has become internationally renowned for artworks aimed at ending the relationship of Tate and other cultural institutions with oil companies. One of the performers, Fiona Edwards said:

“Any celebration of British art that prominently bears the BP logo is also endorsing that company’s business model which explicitly involves the destruction of a safe, liveable climate. Tate Britain celebrates with a ‘House Warming Party’, but the presence of BP, one of the companies data shows is most responsible for climate change due to its carbon emissions, makes it more of a ‘Global Warming Party’.”

The national collection of British art housed at Tate Britain – art owned by the public – was rebranded the ‘BP Walk through British Art’ in May: in the very week it was announced carbon dioxide levels had reached 400 ppm. A report published earlier this week estimated that BP was responsible for 2.5% of global historic emissions.

Terri Fletcher of Liberate Tate said: “Tate’s vision statement says that it will ‘demonstrate leadership in response to climate change’. Yet oil companies like BP are actively looking for ways to expand their markets and find new reserves at a time when the world needs to be dramatically reducing the amount of fossil fuels that are being burnt. By actively promoting BP, Tate is positioning itself on the side of the fossil fuel companies that are actually creating dangerous climate change.”

There is growing alarm from artists, Tate members and visitors that Tate is providing support to a corporation creating climate chaos and forcing climate-conscious gallery visitors into an uncomfortable position if they want to enjoy art at Tate (the mission of the art museum is to promote public enjoyment of art). Last year Tate said in a reply to a freedom of information request that it had received more representations raising concerns about BP’s sponsorship than any other issue since the oil company became linked to the gallery in 1990.

Since 1990, when BP first attached itself to Tate and its collection, much has changed: the scientific evidence of climate change due to burning hydrocarbons and the negative social and environmental impacts of oil companies, BP in particular, is now clear and far more widely known amongst the public, including art lovers.

Tate has placed BP sponsorship “under review”. BP has dominated the Tate Members Annual General Meeting (AGM) for years. In 2012 Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota promised Tate members ethical alternatives would be explored so that Tate trustees had a choice not to continue BP sponsorship. A progress report is due at the 2013 AGM on 6 December.

Liberate Tate

Liberate Tate, Parts Per Million, Tate Britain 2013 Credit: Kristian Buus

The post Parts Per Million by Liberate Tate appeared first on EcoHustler.

Rainforest – not for burning

A biofuel is any fuel recently produced by a living organism. It could be a twig that falls in your back garden that you put into your wood-burning stove. It could also be trees from a rainforest shipped to an inefficient, old power station that releases most of the energy as “waste” heat through redundant, totemic cooling towers.

Clearly, biofuels can be good or bad depending on a range of factors.

Overall, we can apply the same principles to evaluate if a biofuel is sustainable as anything else. If it is small-scale, local, regenerative and promotes biodiversity – it is sustainable. Anything else – isn’t.

Local energy – Aberdeen health campus CHP

We can imagine a hierarchy of biofuels. The best, at the top, convert local waste into a fuel. BioRegional pioneered this approach 10 years ago when they collected local tree surgeon waste to burn in their combined heat and power plant. New companies like Loowatt recognise that even human waste has a calorific value that can be used to create useful energy. There are countless other ingenious innovations converting waste streams and untapped biological productivity into useful energy, reducing the need to burn fossil fuels.

Converting agricultural land to produce biofuels is flawed and thus is lower on the biofuel hierarchy. Reducing the supply of food increases prices making it harder for the poorest in our world to get fed.

Sadly and consistently, when mega-corporations co-opt ecological solutions and lobby for them to be turned into diktats by nation states and federations of nation states the magic has totally been lost. At the bottom of our hierarchy are large-scale, structural and institutional processes that lock us in to burning forests for decades in inefficient power stations.

Drax – yes those cooling towers are wasting 70% of the fuel’s energy

The conversion of Drax power station to burn word pellets instead of coal is proudly described by the company that runs it and the supportive politicians also invested in large-scale power generation as “environmental leadership“. The switch to “sustainable biomass” is presented as a climate solution.

This is plainly absurd and demonstrates both the depths energy companies will sink to keep old power stations running and the extent to which they think the rest of us can be hoodwinked. Their hubris is mendacious.

Global supply chains are notoriously opaque. When the power station sources wood chips from global commodities markets many of those pellets will have been rainforest. Even if, as Drax claims, the wood will be from “sustainably harvested” forests in North America the process is clearly bogus.

How much carbon will be released cutting the forests down and shipping the trees to England?  Also, presumably, we are expected not to concern ourselves with the animals that live in the forest. They are omitted from their nasty little spreadsheets.

Cute forest animals do not deserve to die

It is fundamental that we are not lulled into using metrics of sustainability that miss the point. Focussing on atmospheric stability and reducing carbon emissions are useless if we ignore ecological stability. We cannot allow the last great woodland habitats on earth to be fed into furnaces to keep fuelling a global economy that, in any case, long ago abandoned improving human well being in favour of the lurching mania of humanities grim, quixotic last dance – endless work for endless consumption.

The EU policies promoting biofuels are misguided. Like the modification of the Drax power plant these policies don’t encourage lifestyle changes that can improve our well being and reduce our ecological footprint – things like promoting localization, human powered transport and local food and energy production.

Rather than reducing the use of private cars the biofuel laws keeps them running. This doesn’t benefit people or planet, only the business models based upon thermal energy systems, internal combustion engines and the people that profit from them.

Rather than stoking the fires of an economy that consumes the biosphere we could dial it down. If we all travelled and worked less we could spend more time growing food, fixing and making things caring for our young and elderly, creating art and music, dancing, cooking, pleasuring each other sexually and generally savouring existence.

Sustainability may motivate us to change but the outcome is better lives.

Local and less industrial lives require less energy – but we will still need plenty. This is no problem. Creating small-scale, local power stations creates local jobs, empowers communities, reduces fuel bills and shifts political power away from global mega-corps. Decentralising emerges as the solution to many contemporary ills.

All around us new solar panels, wind turbines and tidal arrays branch out like the first plants to emerge out of the primeval murk. They offer us a golden ticket; the journey to a future of limitless free energy in which wild spaces can be preserved, offering humans the eternal joy of a bountiful and abundant eden in which to live. In contrast, the regressive forces of conservatism seeking to keep the grim industrial furnaces fired-up to burn trees are a dark, abomination. We have to resist with every element of our biology because burning trees to power televisions is very hell.

Thomas Cole – Dream of Arcadia

The post Won’t Get Bio-Fooled Again appeared first on EcoHustler.