Earthday (WEEK)

Earthday is upon us, and I am happy to find that it has grown in many many places to 'EarthWeek'. About a month ago I decided to track the goings on via YouTube, so subscribed to a search term simply "Earthday" 2008. My hope was to gather PSA's about city's and towns and their scheduled events. What I found were thousands of videos from hundreds of different types of outlets. Schools not only advertising their earthday events, but whole school and district wide challenges ranging from litter disposal to energy efficiency. Vineyards planning events with no motor vehicle traffic allowed (carts, bicycles and horsedrawn carriage available). Mom's doing clever voice overs with babies in carriages asking us to consider her future. Hundreds of kids taking it upon themselves to put something on video to express their thoughts about earthday and the situation they find themselves in, some quite elaborate productions, some simple but thought provoking and honest. I was less than 10 years old when the first earthday event was held, and I remember thinking when I was a kid that nature and the animals and plants were important and that I would do what I could to keep them all safe. Since then I've watch each year as the effort has slowly grown into what we see today. It's one of the childhood ideals I have been able to hold onto all of these years, which makes it seem all that more real for me. I have the benefit of the long view with me now, and with that I can see some of the good our efforts have brought to us. The eagles and hawks have returned to the skies around the urban and suburban areas of the pacific northwest, the hare's and the coyotes also seem to have found their balance in and around our suburbs. There is much for us to do, and a new way of thinking and acting is on the horizon. I try to look to the success stories to remind me why these changes are needed, change is hard for me as it is for most. A little reward goes a long way in easing the transition so please, take the time to seek out the success stories and think what more wonderful things will happen if we keep working at it.

We love these guys! Click to hear Kevin Bacon, Questlove and Zach Braff's Call for Climate. (OH! Don't forget Chevy! He's up there^)

Above is the collected Earthday Videos discussed, below is an article from Treehugger.com


The US's Earth Day (22 April 2008) now include unlikely champions such as JCPenney. Banana Republic, Macy's, Clorox, and even NBC's The Biggest Loser. While you can put no price on raising awareness, one question remains: Does turning Earth Day into a marketing blitz promote the cause or contribute to green fatigue? We ask the question: Is Earth Day the New Christmas?.

National Hanging Out Day

Forget about Earth Day; a much bigger deal is National Hanging Out Day, celebrating the humble clothesline (Saturday April 19th) Why dry your clothing with coal, using six percent of the nation's electricity, when you can tell your friends that you have installed solar and wind power in your home, for the price of a clothesline? In celebration of this great day we present the party line on clotheslines. Be they indoors, for apartments or yards, decorative, low tech or high tech, they are integral to our future. ::More

The Pleasures of the Flesh

George Monbiot points out that the world produced 2.1 billion tonnes of grain last year, the biggest harvest in history. "If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?" Yet only about 1.1 billion tonnes of it goes to feed people. While diverting 100 million tonnes to feed cars is a "crime against humanity", the real problem is that "760m tonnes will be snatched from the mouths of humans to feed animals. This could cover the global food deficit 14 times. If you care about hunger, eat less meat. ::More


This Little Piggy Went to Market

RecycleBank, the company who brought us an innovative recycling program that pays you to throw less stuff away (by throwing more in the recycling bin), is taking their game across the Atlantic Ocean, to Europe. Fresh off raising $30 million, the company will expand services here in the States and will expand into Europe. (As their truck collects the recycling it scans the barcode on the container and translates the value of the recycled items into a dollar amount -- up to $35 RecycleBank Dollars a month.) ::More

Tailpipes vs. Smokestacks

This post references a chart which shows CO2 emissions by gas-electric plug-in hybrids depending on their electricity source. Plug-ins beat the conventional gasoline-powered vehicle at the top in all situations, but the comparison with a regular hybrid vehicle is more complex. Depending on the power source, it can go from slightly worse than the hybrid, to about twice as good (and three times as good as the conventional car). Not surprisingly, coal without carbon capture is the worst power source. ::More

Ecoffins Biodegradable Caskets

Our guide on How to Green Your Funeral already offers a huge array of resources for those looking for more environmentally sustainable end-of-life options, from a conversation the Green Burial Council to some very funky green casket suppliers. But even that guide is by no means exhaustive - our inboxes are constantly filling up with information about products and services for green burial or cremation. Such as Ecoffins, makers of biodegradable coffins crafted from bamboo, willow, banana, etc. ::More

Experts Ask Schools for Help

When an acclaimed expert on rare diseases arrived on the scene, 19 schools in 10 U.S. states had reason to hope he might be aware of a cure for the strange, contagious disease striking school photocopiers during The Great Copy Machine Epidemic. But even he was stumped by the symptoms. According to Dr. K, "They just keep chewing up trees and contributing to global warming. It's impossible to suggest a cure when we simply don't know the cause." Teachers and students are the solution, he said. ::More

Munchies
a. Potato chips (crisps), smoothies, honeys, jams and shortbread are just some the foods to be :climate impact labelled in the UK.b. Greenpeace asked an ad agency to raise awareness about genetically-modified organisms.c. Your fave eco-organic-fairtrade snack might be owned by on of the Top 30 food processors in North America.

Transits
a. Retired NYC subway cars are controversially being dropped off the coast of Delaware to create a reef.b. LA's new Bus Rapid Transit lines, is a step towards light rail, and a wider transit strategy involving bikeways.c. San Francisco tries out improved public transit by offering a Connected Bus with high speed internet!

Presidents
a. Past. Bill Clinton is the head liner celebrity at Toronto's upcoming 400 eco exhibitor Green Living Show.b. Present. Is George W Bush really turning over a new leaf and contemplating "new climate change proposals"?c. Almost. Al Gore has a brand new, rousing, call-to-arms slide show, "New Thinking on the Climate Crisis".

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