We All Live Downstream

Guest Blog submitted by Clean Water Action’s Sarah Mullkoff on behalf of Expedition Copenhagen’s Midwestern Youth Delegation, a group of twelve young leaders who are in Copenhagen to promote Midwestern climate change solutions at the international negotiations.

Members of our youth delegation have taken on multiple roles here at the conference.

We attended plenary sessions to observe actual negotiations, conducted press conferences and led educational presentations. We formed working collaborations with our peers from around the world, including China, Canada, Kenya, Denmark, India, Latin America and more. Additionally, we filmed our observations, and uploaded high-quality news stories to the web. We are writing tweets and blogs (like this one) to present our perspective for followers back home.

While our days have been packed with activities from pre-dawn to well into the night, our mission remains to present the Midwest voice to those here in Copenhagen and, in turn, to be the voice of Copenhagen back in our Midwestern communities.

The Midwest is critical to the success or failure of the conference.

We contribute 4-5% of total global warming pollutants, but with our natural resources, our educated workforce, and our agriculture and manufacturing capabilities, it could be a lot larger percentage of the solution. America’s heartland has much to gain economically by tackling climate change, because a clean energy economy will be the largest business opportunity of all time.  We have a very strong engineering and technology base, able to develop innovative clean-tech jobs, renew our economy and put millions of Midwesterners back to work while reducing our reliance on foreign oil. As breadbasket to the world, there are energy solutions on our farms too, like wind power, carbon offsets, and the next generation of biofuels.

And, many of those in our generation are just now graduating from Midwestern universities with degrees that will be essential to restore economic prosperity to our communities while solving one of the world’s most daunting challenges.

The whole world looked to the US to help negotiate a comprehensive climate agreement here. Similarly, the whole world is watching the United States Senate to see that it enacts President Obama’s pledges here in Copenhagen. Midwest U.S. Senators are the critical players in passing a comprehensive jobs and energy bill that is at a standstill on the Senate floor.

Our Senators comprise some of the most important votes that will determine the fate of the Earth. They have the opportunity to lead the transition to secure, sustainable societies all around the world, with good jobs and the economic engine powerful enough to solve the problem.

Call your U.S. Senate offices today. The message is: the whole world is waiting on you. Enact a clean jobs energy bill now.

Expedition Copenhagen Delegates:

Reed Aronow, St. Paul, MN

Liana Balinsky-Baker, Chicago, IL

Aurora Conley, Bad River, WI

Megan Constans, Fargo, ND

Maia Dedrick, St. Paul, MN

Chris Detjen, Detroit, MI

Jamie Horter, Bristol, SD

Holly Jones, Mt. Pleasant, IA

Sarah Mullkoff, Lansing, MI

Chalie Nevarez, Milwaukee, WI

Danielle Ostafinski, Grand Rapids, MI

Jamie Racine, Racine, WI

The Midwestern youth delegation with Expedition Copenhagen, is a partnership of Will Steger Foundation (WSF) and Stonyfield Farm. WSF is a non-profit organization committed to creating local and global climate change solutions through advocacy, education, and outreach. Will Steger, a lifelong arctic explorer, is an eyewitness to the rapid changes in our climate and is accompanying this youth delegation in Copenhagen. Follow our work at www.willstegerfoundation.org

Sarah Mullkoff is an organizer on Clean Water Action’s Michigan staff.

– Guest Blog by Lynn Thorp –

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the environmental movement is – ultimately – about people.

My friend and colleague, Diana Neidle, who died from brain cancer just before Thanksgiving this year, made her life about just that: improving people’s quality of life, and building her career as a champion for the powerful role people can play in shaping public policy by working together.

I was fortunate to see Diana in action first hand. After she “retired” from her staff role at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), she continued to work with CFA, Clean Water Action and our Campaign for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water to make sure that those landmark water protections won in the 1996 reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act were implemented well.

Diana Neidle looks on with others as President Clinton signs the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments.

Diana worked with environmental and consumer organizations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff, and public water systems on the most important details of protecting drinking water and health for our most vulnerable people: the frail elderly, people with HIV/AIDS, transplant recipients and others whose compromised immune systems place them at risk from contaminated drinking water. She also championed the new drinking water Right to Know reports, established with her leadership in 1996, and campaigned tirelessly on behalf of low income consumers’ access to safe and affordable drinking water.

Diana’s many years of service on the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, which advises EPA on drinking water policy, reflected both her ability to work with diverse groups to find common ground and her grasp of a wide array of technical and policy issues.

Diana was a mentor, a teacher, a coalition partner and a good friend to many of us here at Clean Water Action. None of us will ever forget her compassion and her determination to help all of us do a better job together.

But the notice written by Diana’s family for publication in the Washington Post said it best, “She is remembered for her kindness, good cheer and empathy for others.”

– From Guest Blogger Jon Scott –

Tea consumption in the US measures in the billions of gallons per year. Worldwide, tea consumption is second only to water.

Since before the Boston Tea Party, tea has figured prominently in our nation’s history and economy. It remains, together with coffee, a beverage of choice for millions of Americans. Recent years have seen surging consumer interest in tea, an interest which shows no sign of abating.

Particularly noteworthy is growth in consumption of organically produced, fairly traded tea and coffee, a sector pioneered and led by organizations like Equal Exchange and Rishi Tea, among others.

But what does any of this have to do with clean water?

First, the obvious: No cup of coffee or tea is better than the water used to brew it. Cleaner, better-tasting water makes for a better tasting brew. All tea and coffee drinkers are by definition water consumers. So it’s only logical that that tea and coffee connoisseurs would be passionate clean water aficionados, too.

In fact, tea and coffee provide important case studies on how consumers are using their purchasing power to reshape the marketplace to deliver environmental, economic and social benefits.

Consumer purchases and demand for organically produced and fairly traded tea and coffee have fueled tremendous growth and change in the U.S. and abroad. More and more crops are now more sustainably produced. That means they are grown in ways that reduce water pollution and deforestation, and provide better protections for agricultural workers’ health.

Rishi Tea supports Clean Water with its award-winning holiday Cinnamon Plum blend.

The local communities and worker-cooperatives which grow and process the products earn much more return on their labor, when they bring their goods to market via Fair Trade Certified companies and organizations.

What more can be done? As consumers, we can continue to purchase and demand Fair Trade Certified, organically produced tea and coffee. That, plus your active support of groups like Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund, will go a long way to ensuring that what comes out of your tap in the future contributes to a healthier, tastier cup of tea.

Jon Scott is Director of Corporate Relations for Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund, developing partnership projects that support Clean Water and advance our mission by promoting environmentally-safe jobs and businesses.