Nike establishes policy to protect the Amazon and the climate

International — Just a few short weeks after the release of Slaughtering the Amazon Nike has announced new standards for keeping leather made from Amazon destruction out of its shoes.
Following the release of our report, Nike contacted us because they wanted to work towards a new leather sourcing policy that didn’t contribute to the destruction of the Amazon or climate change. Now they’ll be adhering to those standards until there can be guarantees that none of the leather and other cattle products in Brazil are coming from deforested Amazon land.

"Nike has set a great precedent for Timberland, Adidas, Reebok, and Clarks to follow,” said Greenpeace forests campaigner Lindsey Allen. “Brazil’s cattle industry, which supplies leather for shoes, is responsible for about 80 percent of all deforestation in the Amazon. In fact, the Brazilian cattle industry is the largest single source of deforestation anywhere in the world. And deforestation in turn causes one-fifth of all the greenhouse gas emissions in the world, more than all the world’s cars, trucks, trains, planes, and ships combined.”

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World's rich targeted in new model for carbon cuts

Researchers in the U.S. have proposed a new way of allocating responsibility for carbon emissions they say could solve the impasse between developed and developing countries.

The Princeton researchers estimated that in 2008 half of the world's emissions came from just 700 million people.

The Princeton researchers estimated that in 2008 half of the world's emissions came from just 700 million people.

The method sets national targets for reducing carbon emissions based on the number of high-income earners in each country, following the theory that people who earn more generate more CO2.

"It's fairer than some other ideas out there in the sense that we attribute responsibility for emission reductions based only on the number of high-emitting people in the country -- if the country has large number of people who are high-emitters then it has more work to do," said Shoibal Chakravarty, a research scholar at Princeton Environmental Institute.

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Recycling DIY Projects

I love Jessica's blog because it not only shows some fabulous fabric finds, it also gives a handy DIY projects you can easily do. I've recently found some fun recycling projects which are a joy to do (especially when you're penny pinching like i am but still can't get over the need to "renovate" your place) ---recycling magazines are a perfect way to recycle and get a cool "new" items for your house.

These coasters are a cool gift item to give (make sets for friends!) and or use at home. If you're feeling more daring, why not try making a basket?