Meet Ernest The Ecodiddle, What are Green Banks? Climate Finance 101 Webinar, and ICSI

MEET ERNEST THE ECODIDDLE

Hi Folks, I’m Ernest Ecodiddle, I want to keep Planet Earth cool, clean and in great shape for the future. 

No. No you’re not.

I could be.

Uh huh. What’s an ecodiddle anyway?

Not sure. But Ernest is an Ecodiddle who teaches a wide range of eco-topics such as sustainability, global citizenship and climate change in his new book series! “The Ecodiddle Explores” series is, according to Barnes and Noble, a fun introduction to the science behind climate change.

“The Ecodiddle Explores” series of light-hearted but informative cartoon-style notebooks.  It’s all based on the premise that something has made Ernest Ecodiddle’s ice cave melt and he needs to find out why. Join him and his friends in as they work through three books and seven books, including: The Ecodiddle Eco-Riddle, Solving the Eco-riddle, and The Ecodiddle Emergency.

While each book stands alone, the series builds up the basic science behind climate change and sustainability in easy to understand stages which link closely with funny stories.

Ernest’s most recent notebook, and adventure, is “Sustaining our World” where Ernest finds ways to tackle modern climate change and live sustainably in the future using the Ecodiddle Eco-code. He and his friends have fun baking, making paper, model water wheels, turbines and batteries and planting trees as they find out about renewable resources, clean energy, how to reduce, re-use and recycle waste and the importance of plants and nature. Ideal for 7-12 year olds, either in the classroom or at home, these colorful and cheery books include practical activities, easily accessible explanations and wider aspects of general knowledge.

Ernest the Ecodiddle can even help educate the adults around you.

Questions remain. Who is CC Seely, and why is an Ecodiddle have wings like a bat, horns like a deer, chest scales like a lizard (?), and fur like a bear? We reached out to CC Seely and are awaiting a reply on these and other burning ecodiddle questions…

DEEPER DIVE: Ernest the Ecodiddle, Ecodiddle Insta, BN

JUST WHAT ARE GREEN BANKS?

Here on The Climate Daily, We often talk about how climate change will affect all aspects of life. One aspect is financial. In the fight to combat climate change, banks have a critical role to play, specifically green or climate banks. They’re essential parts of making the society-wide just transition to clean energy we need /  go from lofty ideal to actual it’s-happening-now reality.What is a green bank, and why does it matter to us?

A green bank is a financial institution that uses limited public funding to attract private investment in clean energy, energy-efficient housing, and other green projects. For people in disadvantaged communities, one of the main obstacles to installing rooftop solar or undertaking energy efficiency retrofits is the high upfront costs of these projects.

HOWEVER, by turning to a green bank, they can receive a loan that covers 100% of the cost of the project at a low enough interest rate that their investment would lower their costs of electricity, even including the cost of repayment of the loan. This is known as a triple win: for borrowers, the green bank and the planet.

According to the “State of Green Banks,” a report put out by RMI, twelve green banks from ten countries have invested a total of $24.5 billion of their own capital since their respective inceptions. The Green Bank Network reports that its nine members have supported projects with a total value of almost $70 billion as of mid-2020, over $45 billion (or 64 percent) of which came from the private sector.

Closer to home, US green banks have used $1.9 billion of their funds to catalyze $7 billion in total clean energy investment since 2011.

DEEPER DIVE: Climate Reality, State of Green Banks, Green Banks

CLIMATE FINANCE 101 WEBINAR

Speaking of Green Banks and climate financing, how about a webinar offering an official primer? That’s right, on October 5th, you can attend Climate Finance 101: Pensions, Investments,  Banks and Indigenous Rights.

It’s billed as “an essential overview of important issues regarding financing and climate change. Learn how your pension, investment and banking money is being spent..too often in violation of the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.” Also find out how you can take control of your hard-earned money to fund a just and sustainable future.

Speakers include: Patrick DeRochie, Senior Manager at Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health; Tim Nash, founder of Good Investing and The Sustainable Economist Blog—an investment planning firm with a focus on sustainable investing; Dr. Myrtle D. Millares, co-founder of Climate Pledge Collective.

Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health empowers you to tell your (Canadian) pension fund to protect your pension and the planet. Good Investing helps online investors learn to make intentional decisions around their personal integrity. Climate Pledge Collective is on a mission “to change every single person on our planet—one by one—into advocates for climate solutions.”

The cost is free, and you can register by clicking on the link in the Deeper Dive section of this episode. Visit theclimate.org/episodes for more.

DEEPER DIVE: Climate Finance 101 Webinar Registration, Shift Action, Good Investing, Climate Pledge Collective

ICSI—INT’L COALITION FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

The Biden administration is working assiduously to corral the variously independently-minded members in Congress, aka the Democrats, behind two massive pieces of infrastructure legislation. Biden calls this a “Once in a generation” moment, not unlike that played out during the FDR administration. This time, instead of building our way out of a depression, the goal is to build our way through the transition period we at The Climate Daily refer to as the Era OF Climate Change.

Capital investment is one way for entities from municipalities to NATION STATES to secure infrastructure funding. But then what?

If you’re asking that question, you know global leaders are too. In December 2019, many of them assembled in Los Angeles to identify the biggest barriers to infrastructure climate adaptation and resilience and to understand how the engineering community could act as a catalyst for action. It culminated in a signed declaration to move forward through a ‘Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure.’

And in 2020, the International Coalition of Sustainable Infrastructure was born. Its slogan is “Engineering a more sustainable, just and resilient future.” And that’s why the ICSI matters to us. Its mission is to mobilize an engineering-led coalition to make resilience and sustainability a cornerstone of every decision in the infrastructure lifecycle in every community around the globe. 

The International Coalition of Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) has been accepted as a Partner Initiative for BOTH the UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE’s  global campaigns, Race to Resilience AND the sibling campaign of Race to Zero.  

The campaigns sets out to catalyze a step change in global ambition for climate resilience, putting people and nature first in pursuit of a sustainable and resilient world where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them. Through a partnership of initiatives, the campaigns will focus on helping vulnerable communities build resilience and adapt to impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, drought, flooding and sea level rise.

DEEPER DIVE: ICSI, Race to Zero, Resilience Shift