Thursday, October 7, 2010

10.10.10 & Blue Carbon Solutions - Miami Event

10.10.10 is an upcoming day of action for global events centered around climate change.  Folks here in Miami, Florida, are including a coastal habitat planting project (i.e., a blue carbon solution) as part of their positive message to reduce emissions worldwide.

Oleta River State Park is Florida's largest urban State Park, and its 1,043 acres includes extensive mangrove forest habitat.  Local event organizer, Urban Paradise Guild (UPG, www.urban-paradise.org), has been involved with park restoration projects for over 2 years. Projects include recruiting and organizing volunteers to plant mangroves, removing exotic species, restoring native habitat, and operating the Park Nursery.

UPG is also a founding member of the Blue Climate Coalition, an international alliance formed to support the inclusion of coastal and marine conservation in climate change policies.  More  information on UPG can be found below.

Dates and times for Miami's 10.10.10 event follows.  Expect bloging here on the action.

- Steven Lutz, Blue Climate Solutions
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10.10.10 Miami:  Please support the following events for the 10.10.10 global work party to reduce emissions as part of an international day of action on climate change this weekend.  Can you attend? Bring friends?  We need a large crowd to attract the media attention that is going to push our leaders to pass clean energy policies.  Miami is rolling up its sleeves and getting to work.  Our leaders should too!

THREE Work-Days and a variety of activities are scheduled in solidarity with world-wide projects to reduce emissions worldwide this weekend as part of the 10.10.10 international day of action on climate change:

Fri, Oct 8th from 3pm to 6pm, Oleta River State Park, join Urban Paradise Guild and the University of Miami's Volunteer Link for nursery and planting prep projects.  See http://www.urban-paradise.org/100810 for details. 

Sat, Oct 9th from 9 am to noon (optional picnic & kayaking until 5pm), Oleta River State Park, join Urban Paradise Guild , Branches Florida City, 1Sky, Konbit Haiti, Surfrider, Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Blue Climate Solutions for nursery and planting prep projects.  Optional: Bring a picnic lunch and stay for kayaking in the afternoon.  See http://www.urban-paradise.org/100910 for details.

Sun, Oct 10th from 9 am to 11:30, join 1Sky, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Blue Climate Solutions, and Oceana for a rally on Miami Beach.
9 am - Bicyclists meet for clean energy rally ride at Government Center Metro station to ride over Venetian Causeway to rally on Miami Beach.
10 am - Pedestrians and cyclists join to rally on Miami Beach in the sand on 10th St.
12 noon - Optional: After Party at the Carlton Hotel at 1433 Collins Ave.

Sun, Oct 10th from 11am to 3pm (optional picnic & kayaking until 6pm), Oleta River State Park, join Urban Paradise Guild for nursery and planting prep projects, consolidating and completing the work on 10/8 and 10/9.  See http://www.urban-paradise.org/101010 for details. 

Contact:
Andrea Cuccaro, 1Sky Florida Organizer, 786-925-1151, 1skyflorida@gmail.com, or
Sam Van Leer, Executive Director and Founder, Urban Paradise Guild, sam@urban-paradise.org, for UPG Activities.

Urban Paradise Guild: UPG is a high-impact organization that combines hard work, innovation, education and activism. "We always know we make an impact because our hands are dirty," is how UPG's Executive Director puts it.  While other organizations were demonstrating during last year's 350 Day (10/24/2009), UPG had a Work-Day planting coastal habitat.  This year, Work-Days are the wold-wide theme.  UPG has a total of 9 Work-Days every month around Miami-Dade County.  This includes every Sunday, and the 2nd Saturday of every month, at Oleta.  See UPG's calendar for opportunities: http://www.urban-paradise.org/Schedule.

UPG is preparing for a major planting at Oleta on November 13 to create several acres of Maritime Hammock (South Florida's unique coastal hardwood ecosystem).  Projects for 10.10.10 include Nursery and Organic Stewardship (UPG methods of protecting Native Habitat by removing exotic plants without herbicide).