On June 5, 2009, a new movie, Home, will be released that will show our beautiful home through amazing documentary films by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. For the first time ever, a movie will be released simulatenously in 50 countries, and will be free to download fromYouTube. Clearly, the intend of the movie and its producers is to spread as far and wide as possible, and thus to help save humanity from a catastrophe that will occur in case of inaction.

And action is best activated by showing the beauty and wonder of our home; and the extent of its destruction. It took about 4 billion years for life to evolve to todays beauty; we have about 10 years left to ensure that the human species can keep enjoying this beauty for many generations to come. (more…)

A wonderfully inspiring movie on how the world could look like if we acted in time.

In response to the last movie we showed to you, here a movie that looks at the climate crisis with a more optimistic eye. The movie was made before the election of president Obama.

You can watch the 5-minute Video here. It is absolutely worth your time, I promise!

Maiken Winter

OUR CHOICE to provide blueprint for solving the climate crisis

EMMAUS, PA, and NEW YORK, NY, March 24, 2009—Today Vice President Gore announced that his next book, Our Choice, will be published by Rodale in the US and by other publishers internationally on November 3, 2009.

Picking up where An Inconvenient Truth left off, Our Choice utilizes Mr. Gore’s forty years of experience as a student, policymaker, author, filmmaker, entrepreneur and activist to comprehensively describe the real solutions to global warming. A co-recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 for his environmental work, Mr. Gore continues to make sense of the pressing issues we face and Our Choice will unquestionably inspire and rally those ready to fight for solutions that were deemed impossible only a short time ago. (more…)

Who on earth likes to go to the movie and get depressed? Right. Me neither.  But what about a combinations of depressing news, with eye-opening frankness, amazing insights that we all really should have thought of long ago, and a new realization about the immenseness of human stupidity? Ok, actually, that doesn’t really sound too much fun, either. Never mind that.

Just forget any description you read, and any hesitation you might feel.

Just watch it when you get the chance. Or - even better - don’t wait for the movie to come to you.  Try your best to get the movie into your theaters. Now.

The Age of Stupid. (more…)

Die Wärme aus dem Erdinneren birgt ein schier unerschöpfliches Energiereservoire. Die Tiefengeothermie stellt in diesem Zusammenhang eine klimafreundliche und wirtschaftliche Energieversorgung dar. In Zeiten von Klimawandel und steigenden Energiekosten also eine förderungswürdige Maßnahme, mit hohem Wachstumspotenzial.
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In Lüchow-Dannenberg im Wendland ensteht die In Lüchow-Dannenberg im Wendland ensteht die Akademie für erneuerbare Energien. Das Ziel: Studenten mit Hochschulabschluss sowie Fach- und Führungskräften ein Studienmodell mit interdisziplinären Themenschwerpunkten zu bieten, wie sie für den beruflichen Erfolg in der Branche der erneuerbaren Energien unerlässlich sind. Im April 2009 wird die Akademie ihre Türen für die ersten Studierenden öffnen. Dass diese sich dabei auf die Füße treten werden, daran zweifelt die Branche kaum: nirgendwo sonst ist der Fachkräftemangel so groß wie in der jungen EE-Branche. Das CleanEnergy Project sprach mit Geschäftsführerin Martina Grud. (more…)

Written by Stuart Scott, member of Al Gore’s The Climate Project, and author of the blog “Climatecorps“.

I am at a loss for how to even begin to express the treasure I’ve found in the past couple of days.  It is something so vital to the effort to save humanity from its own ’success’ that I have decided to attach myself to the effort to promote this amazing documentary.  It is called The Age of Stupid.  I will provide links below to the website for the film, specifically to the page with trailers, and encourage you to whet your appetite in advance of the film’s actual release, which will come as early in 2009 as the people behind the film can negotiate.  (more…)

On Wednsday, we got an update over the European climate negotiations in Brussels by EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas, and by several other members of the European Parliament. Dimas stated that “a failure of the agreement is inconceivable”, and that the EU climate package will be an inspiration to the world. Those were strong words, considering the fact that Germany is currently blocking effective emission reduction measures (see previous article). (more…)

Wood is one of the oldest construction materials, and it is experiencing an unprecedented renaissance in Germany. A low carbon footprint during construction, affordable material costs and an excellent energy efficiency make wooden houses a major champion in the new green consumer market. An interesting player in the wood house business is the Haas Group, a company which is known among German consumers for its prefabricated houses. The clou: each house comes packaged with a built-in renewable energy system.

The Haas Group has been active in the prefab home building business since the 1970s. In 2002, the company began offerning prefab houses with alternative energy solutions, starting with an integrated pellet heating systems. The system has become a standard offering by now and is enjoying great popularity especially in the South of Germany, which has ample wood pellet resources. Two years later, Haas offered an additional renewable energy option to house buyers, geothermal heat pumps. The deal included the consultation, the planning process, drilling and installation of the system complete with the (in Germany often extensive) paperwork. The company’s latest offer is the “Plus Energy House”, a solar-powered home which generates more revenue through power production than is needed to cover heating costs. (more…)

Endlich. Endlich hat der Umbruch angefangen. Eine neue Ära beginnt - in vielen Bereichen der Innen- und Außenpolitik der USA. Und – für uns natürlich besonders interessant – im Bereich der Energiepolitik der USA.

Obamas Sieg ist eine große Erleichterung für viele Menschen auf der Welt. Endlich ein weltoffener, intelligenter, dynamischer, sympatischer Politiker an der Spitze der USA, der Änderungen anstrebt, die sinnvoll sind. Aber wird seine Wahl auch effektiv den Klimaschutz und den Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien vorantreiben? (more…)