Culture & Celebrity

Oscar-nominee Robert Stone discusses Earth Days now and then. Photo by RCruger

Shiny Chevy’s cruising efficient freeways and cheery new homes signaling the American Dream soon turned into a nightmare of smog and suburban sprawl. Through this context we view the birth of the ecological movement 40 years ago. Though many know the basic storyline, Robert Stone’s documentary, Earth Days, explores the roots of the first Earth Day, follows its rise through the legislative achievements in the 1970s, and collapse with the Reagan administration, with some intriguing surprises. With every week bringing some new eco-film release, why is this redux relevant?

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Image via: Tesla

The first Tesla Store located outside of California opens its doors this week. Here's how you can be part of the grand opening party and get to ride in a Tesla Roadster.

Interact

It is World Oceans Day today, and we are trying to make a big deal of it. Last Friday was World Environment Day, theoretically the rest of the world's version of Earth Day, but it passed without a peep just about everywhere. Don't get me started about missing Mole Day last week. In this modern age, where we parse seconds but should be doing the right thing every day, not just special days, do they make sense?

Design & Architecture

Photo credit: Nancy Packer, Collection/Mural Art Program

Now this is a makeover: Ten of Philadelphia's recycling trucks got a bold and brilliant overhaul with the help of 60 students from the city's Mural Arts Program. Printed on admittedly less-than-eco-friendly vinyl, with graphics inspired by the historic textiles collection of The Design Center at Philadelphia University, the trucks first rolled through city streets—very appropriately on Earth Day—to mark the introduction of Philadelphia's new single-stream recycling program.

Follow the jump for more art-trucking action. For a complete set of trucks, visit the Mural Arts Program's Website.

Fashion & Beauty

Photo credit: Floc Designs

Like a devoted lover, these portable flip-flops will go where you go, roam where you roam, whether it's to the yoga studio, the spa, or that grody motel room where the carpet smells (and feels) like wet mongrel.

Made in the United States from 95 percent recycled rubber, Floc Designs' Pocketflops ($20) fold in half, so you can slip them neatly into the matching organic cotton or recycled PET pouch for chucking into your gym bag or purse for unforeseen ambulatory emergencies (broken heel, blistery feet, a city-wide blackout that forces you to schlep from midtown Manhattan across the Queensboro bridge to your boyfriend's apartment because the entire PATH subway system ground to a standstill).

Fashion & Beauty

Photo credit: Abigail Doan

Our heartiest congratulations to Stacy Longo of the Fashion Institute of Technology, who crushed her competition underneath her pointy stilettos and emerged the winner of Project Earth Day's student competition this past week.

Shown above, Longo's two-piece outfit was inspired by the boxy, geometric silhouettes of the 1920s. (Think Coco Chanel's iconic black, white, and cream tweed jacket, which Longo drew on when choosing her color scheme.) Comprising 100 percent recycled materials—the cream skirt was originally a Bill Blass sweater salvaged from the Salvation Army, while the basket-weave top was machine-knit by Longo herself from strips of yarn she found around the classroom—the garment embodies the interplay of structure and form she finds so fascinating.

TH Exclusives

After nearly a month, 177 winners in 8 categories, and thousands of thousands of votes cast by you, we're happy to announce the 'Best in Show' winner of our first annual Best of Green awards. Congratulations to Dave Burdick, the winner as Best Tweeter to Have on Your Side, who came out of the Best of Green: Culture & Celebrity category to garner the highest overall rating and win! Way to go, Dave!

Fashion & Beauty

Photo credit: Anvil Knitwear

Anvil Knitwear has just launched a T-shirt that's a complete zero. Zip, zilch, nada. Not only is the underachieving tee made from 69 percent pre-consumer recycled cotton, but it also has a net zero carbon footprint.

Earning Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree certification wasn't a slam dunk—the sixth-largest purchaser of organic cotton worldwide had to put its recycled tee through the paces of carbon-footprint assessment, from raw-materials sourcing, manufacturing, and transportation to screen printing, consumer use, and end-of-life disposal. Anvil made the T-shirt carbon-neutral by reducing emissions during its production and then offsetting the rest.

Design & Architecture

Waterfall (Nuit Blanche), 2008, 6000 lbs of recycled water bottles, hockey arena netting, aircraft cable, 30 x 74 x 20 feet

Artist Katharine Harvey has created work out of waste and plastic before, like her installation for ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche last fall, but in honour of Earth Week she recently topped that with a 21 foot tall, 15 foot wide chandelier that was installed in Santiago Calatrava's Galleria in Toronto.

Culture & Celebrity

TreeHugger founder Graham Hill, Bryan Hughes of Planet Green, and many other volunteers at Koshland Community Garden.

The Green Apple Festival hoped to get a good sized turn out of volunteers for Earth Day activities, rewarding participants with free concerts of major headlining bands. Turns out, the volunteers needed little enticing. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in Earth Day 2009 through the Earth Day Network and Green Apple Festival.

TH Exclusives

TreeHugger loves having voices from all over the globe, especially on big green days like Earth Day, when a bunch of us can chime in and give perspectives from all over the planet. We gathered up a few from earlier this week -- Earth Day and the Green Apple Festival included -- so we could see how we all spent the day designated for Momma Earth. From The Flaming Lips in Washington D.C. to an electric tractor in Oregon, here are some of Team TreeHugger's experiences on Earth Day.

Culture & Celebrity

Photo via e-how

Jennifer Aniston often gets mocked by the eco-crowd for her light green pledge to make a difference by taking three-minute showers, which include a teeth-brushing. Now, she’s getting serious and stepping up her green game by spending $15 million on an eco-makeover for her Beverly Hills mansion. As part of her green renovations, she will add solar panels, a reflective metal roof to conserve energy – plus her garden will include drought-resistant plants. The cash-heavy star reveals, “When you become aware of all the things you do, and all the effects those things have, you want to make small changes." Thanks: Green Daily

Business & Politics

Photo via the Telegraph

Obama issued an Earth Day proclamation yesterday, which sounded a call for protecting the environment, developing renewable energy, and creating measures to fight climate change. According to his statement, "no issue deserves more immediate attention than global warming." But Obama didn't stop there--he also went on to include a list of practical advice American citizens can follow to green their lives. Here, organized into a list of actionable tips, is Obama's guide to going green--in the words of the president himself.

Fashion & Beauty

Photo courtesy of Jurlique.

We are all familiar with the words “organic” ingredients and “all natural” ingredients when referring to beauty products, but it’s very rare to see “biodynamic” in the mix. But that’s exactly what Australian company, Jurlique, focuses on: biodynamic beauty that delivers dynamic results.

For over 20 years, Jurlique has been a pioneer in the “farm to bottle” process – growing, processing and formulating pure, potent extracts directly from their own self-sustaining biodynamic farm in South Australia. From herbs to flowers, we found that Jurlique’s targeted skincare products restored and rebalanced our skin effortlessly.

TH Exclusives

TreeHugger’s inaugural Best of Green awards have been an amazing, inspiring way to celebrate Earth Month, and, now that we’ve celebrated Earth Day with all the winners, it’s time to pick the “Best in Show” for the Best of Green.

After narrowing the field from the entire world of green down to our favorites -- over 175 winners, all told -- we need your help to pick an ultimate winner. Now that your votes have been cast to pick your favorites in each category, those category winners are going head to head to determine who will win the “Best in Show” for this year’s Best of Green awards. See who came out on top before heading to Planet Green to cast your votes.