Eco-Friendly Cycling Clothing, More G7 Summit Wins, Sky’s The Limit, Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

RESPONSIBLE, SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE CYCLING CLOTHING

We’re big fans of biking. Along with having a much smaller carbon footprint than cars,  bicycling can also be a great way to get outdoors and exercise. 

But what about all those fancy clothes that cyclists want to wear? How do those affect the environment? The short answer is they’re no better than regular clothes. Cycling gear brand Velocio is trying to help change that.

Velocio is a cycling clothing brand that uses Bluesign and Oeko-Tex approved sustainable fabrics in their clothes. They’re also a member of the 1% for the planet, give 10% of their Trail series sales to public lands sustainment projects, and this year, they decided to step it up a notch.

Because Velocio’s team kit this year is focused on climate change,  100% of the profits from this year’s team jerseys will support The Environmental Justice Foundation, 350.org, and Protect Our Winters (POW).

They didn’t stop there though. The actual graphic on the jersey is an artist’s interpretation of rising sea levels, how we’ll lose land mass if we don’t start making changes.

Appropriately, the cycling jersey is made from recycled fabric. This is Velocio’s fifth year producing a team jersey focused on a community initiative as part of their Unity series.

DEEPER DIVE: Cycling Tips, Velocio

G7 SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS

The G7 summit was this past week and yielded some positive results on the climate front. The major nations all committed to a few things that are long overdue.

The special climate envoy for the United States, John Kerry, said that this was the “first #netzero G7 with climate goals aligned with keeping 1.5 C within reach.”

That goal is to keep 1.5 degrees celsius of warming or lower in the coming decades, a very necessary marker to fight climate change. The major commitment from the summit took a huge step forward to support that by backing away from coal based power.

While there still is going to be coal-fired energy production, the group’s participants all committed to stop funding coal power plants by the end of this year. That’s Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. all yanking funding for coal this year.

Another huge support for the environment came in the form of safeguarding more land. The summit agreed that by 2030 a growth of 30% more land in each country will be able “to boost wildlife and help soak up carbon emissions” as protected parks and refuges.

The results of the G7 summit directly connect to the greater affordability of renewable energy resources. The group’s attempt to create a “clearly defined pathway toward climate neutrality” not only means a cleaner planet, but also  opportunities for greater energy equality.

DEEPER DIVE: Sea Turtle Week,AXIOS 

IT’S THE CARBON TRACKER

 According to British think tank Carbon Tracker, it’s time to make a big push toward renewables.  Carbon Tracker is an independent financial think tank that researches investment opportunities that want a “low-carbon future”, according to their website.

The report focuses on both the cost decrease with solar and wind renewables and the actual land needed for facilities to exist. 

According to Carbon Tracker’s research team, the price of solar power technologies has already dropped below the economic threshold for cost. What does that mean? Essentially it’s suggesting that it’s actually cheaper, as of 2016 actually, to make the same amount of energy through solar than it is through fossil fuels.

The report is being published now because Carbon Tracker’s team seems to think it’s gotten so inexpensive and efficient that now public opinion will start to demand cheaper, cleaner energy.

With prices for the actual technology to harness solar and wind power dropping, the cost it takes for an initial push of capital investment to get green, renewable energies going shrinks too. According to the report, by 2050 fossil fuels will essentially be a luxury good. 

DEEPER DIVE: Carbon Tracker

TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S LASTING MARK 

So hunting and fishing aren’t usually activities that we associate with positive climate change action — maybe we should change that. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is a group dedicated to “guarantee all Americans quality places to hunt and fish.” That might not sound like the language we normally use to combat climate change, but many of the same issues come up.

Theodore Roosevelt, the conservation group’s namesake, founded the National Wildlife Refuge System, the U-S Forest Service and doubled the number of sites in the National Parks system. He was also an avid hunter and outdoorsman, doing things like climbing the Matterhorn on vacation from law school, or going on solo hunting trips while actually in office as the President.

On the group’s main homepage, the top priorities start to sound very similar: Decrease or stop industrial fishing to help rebalance marine biomes. Ballot federal agencies to maintain public access to public land. Help land managers have the resources they need to combat modern diseases spreading through deer, elk, and other animal herds. Even campaigns to help restore the Mississippi River delta.

While we might not all agree with each other’s practices, climate change is a global community issue. As we’ve mentioned before on the Climate Daily, spending time outdoors builds better connections between people and the issues of climate change. Groups like this conservation partnership represent an opportunity to come together and build momentum toward a sustainable future we all can enjoy. 

DEEPER DIVE: TCRP, National Park Service,Forest and Wildlife Service