Did you know that Earth Day began in 1970? Did you know that it’s history goes back to Senator Gaylord Nelson and an 11 state conservation tour in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy? To find out more, click HERE! The image above is from the article.

“Yet to imagine a planet where you could not drink the water…” – quote from Wyland Ocean Wisdom. The incredible image above came from National Geographic Wallpapers.

“When we care enough we begin to take action…” – excerpt from Wyland Ocean Wisdom.

“Clean energy may be the greatest opportunity of this century”. – excerpt from Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Click HERE for more info.

“The largest and most important U.N. Climate Change conference in history opened Monday… the last best chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.” – excerpt from the Associated Press. Click HERE to read entire article.

Today is Earth Day! Click HERE to see what the earth could look like in 2100.

thedailygreen.com is a website that strives to be “the consumer’s guide to the green revolution”. In that light they have created a Top 10 list for eco-themed movies suitable for kids. The list includes Ferngully (1992), Finding Nemo (2003), (2005), Over The HedgeHomeward Bound, An Incredible Journey (1993), The Lion King (1994), Happy Feet (2006), Arctic Tale (2007), Rescuers Down Under (1990), A Bug’s Life (1998), The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1989). Surf’s Up and Evan Almighty did not make thedailygreen list but they are two of our favorite movies for kids!

“Americans make up 5 percent of the world’s population, but contribute nearly 25 percent of the greenhouse gas pollution that causes global warming.” – excerpt from AOL earth focus on Global Warming. Click HERE to explore more of AOL’s interactive website.

Friends of the Earth sued the U.S. Export-Import Bank in 2005 charging that the government “sankbillions of dollars into financing activities without considering the effects on global warming.” The government has agreed to take greenhouse-gas emissions into account when evaluating fossil-fuel projects. For more information on the Bloomberg report click HERE.

The incredible images above come from National Geographic Wallpapers.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory explodes on takeoff. Scientists had hoped the $280 million satellite would help them monitor carbon emissions. Click HERE for more information.

Click HERE to watch the video!

National Geographic Magazine reports in its September 2008 issue that “the first – and still most comprehensive – study of global soil misuse, scientists at the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) in the Netherlands estimated in 1991 that humankind has degraded more that 7.5 million square miles of land.” For more information click HERE.

President Obama signed an executive order yesterday on energy independence. In signing the order he pledged to lay down more than 3,000 miles of transmission lines, make 75% of federal buildings more efficient and weatherize 2 million homes. Click HERE for more information from The Wall Street Journal.

This week UN officials are meeting in Poznan, Poland as a “half-way point in a two-year drive to work out a new climate pact by the end of 2009″. Officials warn that the world “must avoid a ‘cheap and dirty’ fix for the global economic slowdown. – excerpt from Reuters. Click HERE for entire article. The incredible images above come from National Geographic Wallpapers.
Click HERE for National Geographic blog ‘The Green Room’ post on the UN climate conference.

Click HERE for the Ends of the Earth features.

“China’s voluntary goal of decreasing carbon emissions… would result in five times more greenhouse-gas savings than the targets set by Europe under the Kyoto Protocol… If China’s leaders see the necessity of this approach, why can’t ours?” – excerpt from Enlisting Father Profit to Save Mother Nature review of Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded in BusinessWeek.

“A new publication provides a thorough yet easy-to-read overview of the issue of climate change in our state.  “Climate Change in South Carolina” describes the impact of climate change on South Carolina’s environment, public health, and economy.  It goes on to detail solutions both individual and collective:  efficiency and conservation, renewable energy innovation, and political leadership.  The 24-page booklet is the product of former Upstate Forever intern Colin Hagan’s yearlong Compton Mentor Fellowship and was co-sponsored by Upstate Forever, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Abell Muiltimedia”. – Excerpt from Upstate Update monthly bulletin.

Click on the link below to view the guide.

SC Guide to Climate Change

Click HERE to see msnbc’s interactive multi-media map of global warming.

“We’ve all heard often enough that it’s time to start thinking and acting green. We’re depleting the Earth’s resources in record amounts, and it’s becoming more and more clear that we need to start thinking in terms of protecting and preserving the Earth and her resources when we build. Despite all the public knowledge about the importance of sustainable and renewable building practices, there’s still a lot of resistance to the idea of “going green”. One of the biggest reasons – the notion that it’s more expensive to use sustainable materials and consider environmental issues.
Obviously, it’s not financially feasible for most of us to completely gut our homes and replace them with totally green and environmentally responsible buildings, but that’s not the only way to accomplish the goal of living a greener life. There are a lot of things that you can do on a shoestring budget that don’t require any major investment of either time or energy. You can take bigger steps toward living a greener life when you’re ready to make major renovations to your home. While there’s a general belief that choosing greener products and alternatives will cost you more money, that’s not always true. In many cases, the greener alternative costs no more than or even less than the traditional option. In nearly all cases, you’ll make up any additional cost over the course of a few years.

No matter what renovations you’re doing, you’ll find that there are green alternatives that aren’t much more expensive than the traditional alternatives, and many that cost even less. When you factor in the ongoing savings and the added value to your home, green is the best way to go”. – Excerpt from greenbuildingarticles.com.

Click on the link below to read some valuable suggestions.

Going Green

An EcoFriendly event can occur at a movie opening, a WalMart, or even a school. This movie didn’t have the conservation theme of a Happy Feet but that didn’t matter. We partnered with the Sound of Light thru the greenLIFEproject to set up a booth where kids could learn about sustainability. The kids learned to carpool, recycle and use CFL light bulbs.

See this LINK for cost info on doing EcoFriendly events in your community.

Increasing concern about global climate change has raised public awareness about sustainable design and now requires architects to address these critical issues. “Sustainable design has entered the mainstream as a significant environmental and economic force in building design, construction, and development,” according to authors Muscoe Martin, AIA, LEED and Gregory Franta, FAIA. Sustainable Design II takes an in-depth look at the emergence of green building rating systems, most notably the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification. It also examines the costs and benefits of green buildings and integrated design strategies.

Successful completion of the Sustainable Design II quiz earns 12 professional development units (PDUs) and/or AIA learning units in health, safety, and welfare. The monograph’s price includes the monograph, the web-based quiz, the score reporting process, and one free retest if needed. Online, fax, or mail orders are accepted for all NCARB monographs.

Order online or visit the publication section of NCARB’s web site at
http://www.ncarb.org/publications/index.html to see other available titles.

Sustainable Design II
By Muscoe Martin, AIA, LEED, and Gregory Franta, FAIA
138 Pages
Regular Price: $275
NCARB Record holders: $175

NCARB’s monograph series provides a convenient, low-cost way for architects and other design professionals to learn about new developments in the industry and meet continuing education requirements. Current NCARB Record holders may earn multiple PDUs in health, safety, and welfare for less than $16 per unit— one of the lowest continuing education unit costs available today. All passing scores are reported to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) at no extra cost.” – Copied from www.NCARB.org.

Click on the link below to find out more about this series.

NCARB Monograph Series

Well we all know that summer brings a lot of hot weather and very little rain, especially here in the South.  Eartheasy has put together some tips that will help your lawn survive the drought this summer.  

Click on the link below for some very helpful tips.

Drought

Click HERE to view entire AP article.
Click HERE to view entire NOAA report.
Click HERE to view a blog that discusses this report.

See the following Oceana.org reports on Global Warming (GW) , what GW is doing to the Oceans, GW ocean victims, and What We Can Do!

“We could have no ice at the North Pole at the end of this summer…” report scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. “If it does happen, in September it’s possible that ships could sail from Alaska right to the North Pole.” – excerpts from June 28 AFP article. What is Santa going to do?
Click here to read entire article.

“We have only three options: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. We will have to do all three.” Strong words from Harvard professor John P. Holdren in a BusinessWeek article titled Battening Down the Hatches.

But what exactly is mitigation, adaptation, and suffering? According to the article mitigation is the part of being ‘green’ that we are all familiar with. It’s driving less, recycling or using compact fluorescent light bulbs. It’s the things you can do to lessen or mitigate the damage to the environment. Reducing one’s carbon footprint is a great example of mitigation.

What is adaptation? According to the article, adaptation is all the things we need to do now to prepare “for a world reshaped by climate change.” The City of Annapolis, Maryland is planning to spend $9 million to raise the city’s dock located on Chesapeake Bay. Florida is exploring ways to protect 1,300 miles of coastline. You know its serious when Washington starts spending money. According to the article, “Congress is considering nearly two dozen bills with provisions for funding research and helping communities cope.

What is suffering? We are all familiar with Hurricane Katrina and the expense of rebuilding. The article mentions the Alaska town of Newtok. Diminished sea ice that once protected the town is leaving it vulnerable to erosion by the sea. The Alaskan town of Shismaref is “literally being battered to the point of falling into the sea.” – excerpt from July 17, 2006 BusinessWeek article, Business On A Warmer Planet. These towns are being moved. This is suffering!

“The Asian giant is overtaking the U.S. as the world’s biggest contributor to global warming…[and] between 2000 and 2010, the increase in China’s emissions will be more than five times greater than ALL the reductions expected under the Kyoto Protocol.” – excerpt from March 24, 2008 BusinessWeek article China’s Carbon Explosion.

Don’t you just hate all those styrofoam peanuts that you get in packages!  Or those styrofoam blocks around electronics and the like. 

Well, I received an email about recycling styrofoam and some tips on how to do just that.  Some of the tips I had not heard of before but were good ones.

I had heard that you can take the peanuts to places that ship packages and they will take them.  Just bag them up and take the bag to them.  I think the smaller shipping places would appreciate them more than the “big named” ones.

Click on the link below to read the article.

Styrofoam