Manuel said:
"This is great news! I hope all cities pass this into law.The practice of using plastic bags just to quickly dispose of them has been going on far t..." [read]
Jay Knecht said:
"What are the performance stats for the Son of Max? ..." [read]
gazelle said:
"@ Dallas:
The book, and the supplementary videos in the "How It All Ends" youtube series, address this in detail, but I'll try to paraphrase:..." [read]
Barry said:
"Kofi Annan has about as much of a clue about electric cars and developing countries as Ann Ann the Panda.
He underestimates the ingenuity o..." [read]
JJ said:
"Very cool. I didn't thought that biodesel might be our future fuel...." [read]
Derek said:
""I guarantee you this will spark huge debates around the world," she said. "We have to delve into this in a way that hasn't been done in a long tim..." [read]
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" set, fall 2009. Credit: Dana Edelson, NBC Universal, Inc.
NBC Universal and company-wide environmental initiative Green is Universal is paving the way for sustainable film and television production. From greening the set of Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to cutting carbon emissions on the feature film Away We Go, their Film and Television Production Guides outline environmental practices, from pre to post production, and are available to the industry at large for download. This past week they spread environmental awareness across television production arms; Universal Media Studios (UMS) and Universal Cable Productions (UCP), during their annual Green Week--if you missed it, watch Al Gore on 30 Rock, and more on NBC.com. Click through for highlights from the 39-page sustainable production guides and photos from green set construction at Jimmy Fallon and SNL.
Everything is electronic these days; even if you read a book in paper form, it has been typeset on computers, printed and bound by computerized machines. One can forget that putting a book together used to take a lot of people with a lot of different skills, including the trade of bookbinding. Tim James still binds books, but is also gathering the tools, samples and manuals of the trade in a small, quirky San Francisco museum that is open on Saturday afternoons. It specializes in another printing revolution, when cast iron, steam and electricity changed the industry in the late 1800s.
Many schools started off the 2009 school year by hosting green welcoming events for new students and incoming freshmen. All these wide-eyed co-eds were treated to different ways the school is going green and how they personally can get involved. Students at Brandeis University are taking this tactic a step further by creating a green committee that monitors the green progress of individuals in the student body, reports the Brandeis Hoot. Big brother? Maybe, but maybe this is also students taking climate change personally and demanding action from the ranks, not just lip service.
It's a huge wooden gramophone-like instrument which is dragged across the Swedish countryside by a dedicated and strong group of choristers. It amplifies the sound of the earth that it is ploughing. Hmmmm...
"I know the score," said Al Gore with a steely gaze last night on Saturday Night Live, about being called up by NBC once a year during its "Green Week" to talk about the environment, "Thanks, I can't tell you how exciting it is to have the bully pulpit on a 4th-placed network." Then he spoke of feeling like Punxsutawney Phil:
Already thinking about your holiday shopping? Our gift guide is the perfect place to start, but if you're the kind of shopper who likes visiting a store rather than waiting for the UPS truck, check out Wired's fifth annual pop-up store in New York City--where a careful collection of green gifts has been selected by one of our favorite eco-celebrities.
Wrapped government buildings and surrounded islands, endless fences and saffron gates: This is the work of Christo and Jean-Claude. Famous for their large-scale installations, the couple has drawn controversy throughout their career, but the goal, but simply, has always been to make people happy with expressions of beauty.
As Jean-Claude explained, when people come to see their art, "They start smiling at each other, they start talking to each other, they are in a completely different state of mind. Is very rewarding for us, because they feel that freedom and they feel that they are witnessing something that happens once in a lifetime."
On November 18, 2009, Jean-Claude, wife and artistic collaborator of Christo, died in the couple's apartment. Following, is a celebration of the work she helped create.
An ad by Plane Stupid, an anti-airplane pollution advocacy group, is stirring some serious controversy in the UK and around the blogosphere. In a graphic TV ad designed to reveal the massive emissions that even short flights produce, CGI polar bears fall from the sky to bloody deaths in the city below. Watch the strange, jarring spectacle after the jump.
From a 1962 edition of Life Magazine available on Google Books...
We were a bit late in picking up on this one, but it's really worth passing on anyway. So credit where credit is due: Grist had it first, then Climate Progress, and so on.
The text starts:
The giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet the petroleum energy Humble [which merged with Standard Oil, later Exxon...] supplies -- if converted into heat -- could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second. ... ...
Jimmy Fallon filled-in for his guests who backed out of the "Green Night Eco-Jam" on Late Night last night. In case you missed it, check out Fallon's performance with The Roots. He opens with a rendition of Amy Winehouse's "They Tried to Make Me Buy a Hybrid (but I said, "No, no, no!"), then attempts a Green Day tune (decent imitation but can anyone provide lyrics?) Next, he switches T.I. and Rihanna's "Life Your Life" to "Change Your Lightbulb," does a convincing Timberlake singing "Recycling," and ends the mini set with Jay-Z and Alicia Key's "Empire State of Mind" which had me singing along to the chorus about "renewable bamboo" and "sustainable wood floors." It's all part of NBC's Green Week and there's more tonight, as 30 Rock does more mocking.
...
Image Credit: GOODGOOD writes: "It's been a bummer of a week for climate news." Indeed, with a bill stagnating in the Senate and some bad news regarding Copenhagen, it would be easy to get discouraged....
American rock band '30 Seconds to Mars,' sing lyrics like: We were the kings and queens of promise / We were the victims of ourselves / These lessons that we learned here / Have only just begun. And they have chosen the vibrant bike culture of Los Angeles as the visual connection to their words.
Although parts of the city were closed off to allow for filming it is rather pleasing to see one of the world's more automobile-centric cities overrun with bicycles, with barely a car in sight. Though one does make a dramatic entrance stage left. ...
Image Credit: Planet Green
This winter, Planet Green will show you the world through a broader lens. With new and expanded coverage, the network is broadening its scope to consider, as Jeff Hasler, Senior Vice President Production and Development for Planet Green explained, "a wider range of stories about passionate people engaged in forward thinking activity."
New episodes of Greensburg and Wa$ted! will premier alongside a slate of new series....
Image from BBC
The artist Angela Palmer decided to try and capture the essence of climate change by visiting the most polluted place on earth and the purest. She had a dream that she would wear a white suit in these two far-flung places and see how the air affected it.
Her choices were the smoggy, coal-producing city of Linfen, China and the pristine and serene Cape Grim in Tasmania, Australia. She spent a week in each, collecting air samples, puddle samples and studying the effect of the air on her pure white outfit. The exhibition, Breathing In, is an exploration of what she found in these two extreme environments.
...
100 Heartbeats book by Jeff Corwin. Image courtesy of Rodale Books
Every year, we lose 20,000 unique animals, insects or plants. That breaks down to every 20 minutes. That equation from ""100 Heartbeats"," the MSNBC documentary from naturalist/TV host Jeff Corwin, addresses the issue of the world's endangered wildlife on the brink of extinction. Not only are 25% of Zimbabwe's rhinoceros gone and orangutans may be the first ape to go, the Florida panther is also at risk. Corwin has some ideas of what to do....
Quite a Character
I think the less I say about this one the better. You just have to see for yourself, and hopefully get it... For those who missed the previous appearance from Veronica, check out her interview (at the wheel of her SUV) here: Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O. Lobbyist. I think she's a great character. Would love to have her visit other pedestrian and/or bike-friendly places to see her reaction. Via Streetfilms...
Ghost Forest has arrived in London, from Ghana, on its way to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Ten eerie and massive tree stumps are lying in state in London's Trafalgar Square, a bit like fallen warriors. The show, designed to raise awareness about the depletion of the rainforest, has been put together by an artist, Angela Palmer.
The tree trunks are huge and many have their roots still attached. They come from nine different types of trees: mahogany, denya, dehuma, celtis, wawa, hyedua, danta, and dahoma. They were chosen from a regulated commercially logged primary rainforest in Ghana and transported here by crane, truck and boat. ...
"Bloody Hell! That's the biggest leopard seal I've ever seen!"
Leopard seals are pretty scary predators, especially if you're a penguin. But they can be friendly to other leopard seals, which is something that photographer Paul Nicklen learned during one of his trips to Antarctica. He was taking underwater photos when a leopard seal started feeding him penguins, starting with live ones, which were released close to him (to see if he would catch them), and ending with half-chewed dead ones. One theory is that the leopard seal saw his reflection in the lens of the camera and thought that Nicklen was a fellow predator, but an awkward one in need of some help. This went on for FOUR DAYS. You have to check out the video below, the photos are great!...
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsBurn Up is a two-part miniseries that explores the oil industry from the inside. The series premiered in the UK in 2008 to rave reviews and went on to win a Rose d'Or.
Now, the series will premier for the first time in the United States on Planet Green....
Photo: Animal Planet
Great Documentary Coming to Animal Planet
At the feet of the Kilimanjaro, about 1,200 elephants have been going through one of the worst drought that the savannah has seen in living memory. For those majestic animals, it is a struggle to stay alive, and to keep those around them safe. Echo: Queen of the Elephants is a new documentary ("Echo has been invaluable in teaching us about the social interactions, communication and leadership of elephants," says Moss. "But to those who have studied Echo for all these years--she is much more than a research subject. Echo is a powerful presence in our lives and the lives of her family. She's been a companion; she's given us joy and filled us with wonder on a daily basis, and for that, I will always be grateful." ) about a group of elephants led by their matriarch, Echo. It was filmed by some of the same people who made the acclaimed Planet Earth, so you know it's going to be something else......
Building Bipartisan Support for Public Transportation
Our friends at Streetfilms did a short interview with William Lind, co-autor of Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation. Mr. Lind seems to want to help "liberal transit advocates" translate some of their ideas in language that political conservatives can related to (well, some of them anyway), and his main goal seems to be the expansion of rail in the US. I highly recommend that you watch the video above if only for the part where he talks about how subsidized the highway system is. Via Streetfilms. See also: Warren Buffett Makes a $44 Billion (!) Bet on Trains....
Yesterday was America Recycles Day, which isn't a bad thing as an idea -- certainly, more recycling is better than less -- but do we really need a day for it?
Last year, Lloyd called recycling "bullsh*t" as a big picture solution, and reiterated it this year, and he's right. Do we really need a day dedicated to reminding us to recycle?
Let's work a little harder and celebrate Zero Waste Day instead. To do so, all you have to do is follow the 7 Rs.
...
Green Spaces co-founder Jennie Nevin addressing the party crowd.
Photo via Remy ChevalierGreen Spaces NY announced the official launch of their national clubhouse for green entrepreneurs with a festive party this past Thursday evening. The party was attended by over 300 environmental movers and shakers, select media, and fashionistas. New York Partners Jennie Nevin, Marissa Feinberg, and Roberto Rhett introduced attendees to their new 'clubhouse membership' called 'EcoPreneurs'. The membership includes: film screenings, gallery openings, supper clubs, pop-up retail shops, networking happy hours, workshops, and access to a referral network....
There's more to fair trade gifts than tote bags re-constructed from rice bags (as cute as they may be) or coffee, tea and chocolate (as delicious as they are). True, they're more difficult to find, but once you do, you'll discover clothing that doesn't look or feel like a burlap sack, toys that are actually appealing to play with and perfect-presents-for-foodies that extend beyond the typical and tired choco-treats. Not convinced? ...
Image credit: The Sierra Club/Flickr
Right now, students from kindergarten to eighth grade can enter the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.
The challenge encourages young students to confront the problems in their lives and neighborhoods and to share the solutions they discover with other participants around the country. There's the opportunity to learn. There's the opportunity to take action. In the end, students might even change the world....
Malin Ackerman's--most recognizable for her roles in The Heartbreak Kid, Watchmen, and Couples Retreat--expanding green conscience to Kate Walsh's swim with sea turtles in support of Oceana--click through for the video--and Emily Deschanel, who brought factory farming footage to Fox, a lot happened this week in green celebrity news. ...
Credit: Screenshot from www.acespace.org.
If you know how to type your name, and think we need to break our addiction to fossil fuels, you can get a girlfriend and help the environment.
The girlfriend is virtual, but the environment part is real.
There's a Facebook app out that takes your name and sprinkles it throughout a hip hop video on Crush Global Warming.
...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 11.23.09
From a 1962 edition of Life Magazine available on 
Calling all pescatarians! Annie Scott reports on the problem with tuna in "
Image Credit: GOOD
Image Credit: Planet Green
This winter, 
Image from BBC
100 Heartbeats book by Jeff Corwin. Image courtesy of 
Image credit: 
Photo: Animal Planet
Great Documentary Coming to Animal Planet
At the feet of the Kilimanjaro, about 1,200 elephants have been going through one of the worst drought that the savannah has seen in living memory. For those majestic animals, it is a struggle to stay alive, and to keep those around them safe. Echo: Queen of the Elephants is a new documentary ("Echo has been invaluable in teaching us about the social interactions, communication and leadership of elephants," says Moss. "But to those who have studied Echo for all these years--she is much more than a research subject. Echo is a powerful presence in our lives and the lives of her family. She's been a companion; she's given us joy and filled us with wonder on a daily basis, and for that, I will always be grateful." ) about a group of elephants led by their matriarch, Echo. It was filmed by some of the same people who made the acclaimed 
Yesterday was 
Green Spaces co-founder Jennie Nevin addressing the party crowd.
Photo via 
There's more to 
Image credit: 
Malin Ackerman's--most recognizable for her roles in The Heartbreak Kid, Watchmen, and Couples Retreat--expanding green conscience to Kate Walsh's swim with sea turtles in support of 
Credit: Screenshot from 
