Most teenagers are busy texting their friends or playing video games. Not Angela Primbas. This teen is taking matters into her own hands when it comes to pollution. She and two friends of hers have formed Save Our Streams (S.O.S.), and new group dedicated to stopping the pollution of their backyard streams and the entire Lake Erie Watershed.

Says Angela,

When I was a kid, I can remember seeing a sign that was posted on one of the beaches at Lake Erie that said the beach was closed to swimming because of pollution. That was a big wake-up call for me. I also learned about pollution in my seventh-grade science class. Environmental issues weren’t really part of my school’s curriculum, but I was lucky enough to have a science teacher who really cared about the environment and shared with us some facts about pollution. Between those two avenues, I learned about the toll that pollution is having on our community.

You can read more of the interview with Angela at Mother Nature Network.

Image via NeilsPhotography on Flickr.

Yesterday, TIME magazine reported that pollution isnt just bad for your health - it is also linked with lower IQs in children. The study, which was published by the journal Pediatrics found that mothers who gave birth after living in places with high pollution have, on average, children with IQ scores that are four points lower than mothers who are pregnant in a clean environment.

“A difference in four points could be educationally meaningful in terms of school success,” says Frederica Perera, director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health and lead author of the study. The effect is comparable, she says, to the damage seen in children exposed to low levels of the toxic metal lead.

Nearly 20 children participated in the study, which first began in 1998 and has tracked them for over a decade. Read more about it at TIME.com.

Picture via Flickr.

You could say that Ecovolunteer is a travel agent. But the trips we organize are not your average holidays. They bring you to places that are not accessible to tourists. Where you get the possibility to protect nature and its inhabitants.

A friend told me that she was planning an eco-vacation, so I did a little research on the subject. As it turns on, a lot of eco-tourism is more about the tourism and less about the “eco.” Then, there are companies like Ecovolunteer.

You aren’t going to relax on your “vacation” though this company. Instead, think if it like a missioin trip. You can search for options by location or by species that interests you most. You apply for the trip, rather than just booking it, and although costs are fairly low, you won’t be sipping mojitos on the beach at any of these locations.

It’s a once in a lifetime experience, though. If you can afford it, consider travel that saves the earth, not just travel that looks at the natural environment and comments on how pretty it is! To learn more, check out the Ecovolunteer website.

Picture via sxc.hu

Most people committed to going green have switched from using bottled water to reusable water bottles, but that’s not the only disposable product you can eliminate from your life. Earlier this month, Jennifer Chait posted a long list of ways to replace your disposables. Some of my favorites:

• Instead of store plastic produce bags use cloth produce bags.
• Instead of ice pops from the store choose reusable ice pop molds and make homemade ice pops.
• Instead of new bottles of shampoo, get a refillable bottle and buy shampoo in bulk at the co-op.
• Instead of paper coffee filters use a reusable coffee filter.
• Instead of disposable razors choose an electric razor.

Jennifer lists a number of other good disposable-replacement ideas at Blisstree. Check it out today and list your own tip as a comment below!

Picture via Klearchos Kapoutsis.

Wyndham Worldwide’s new headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. is all about renewable resources. According to Green Lodging News, the new facility is powered 100% by wind energy. The building opened in 2009 and they expect to receive a LEED Silver award.

According to Environmental Leader,

Faith Taylor, vice president, sustainability and innovation for Wyndham Worldwide, told the news site, “We really wanted to walk our green talk. We took the LEED initiative to heart. It was a collaboration of many groups.”

Picture via Flickr.

Need a reason not to litter? How about this: just one piece of trash can create a life-threatening problem for wildlife. From JeffBridges.com:

Bill Driver, who lives in Wichita, KS, saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate.

It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface.

You can read more of the story, as well as see pictures of the poor critter, here.

Eventually, the catfish was saved, but it never would have happened had their not been junk in its lake in the first place. So remember - don’t litter! Oh, and keep your eyes out for mysterious bouncing balls found in lakes. You may be able to save a fish too.

Picture via Flickr.

• No. 1: Herbal Essences Hydralicious Reconditioning Shampoo, $3.99, rating: 9.7
• No. 2: Got2b Hottie Deep Repair Shampoo with Heat-Active Silk Proteins, $6.99, rating: 9.7
• No. 3: Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Frizz Control Shampoo, $5.99, rating: 9.5
• No. 4: Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Shampoo, $6.99, rating: 9.3
• No. 5: Pantene Purity Clarifying Shampoo, $5.65, rating: 9.3

Most notable, of course, is that an organic shampoo - Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Shampoo - made the top five list. Sadly, though, it was one of the few green shampoos that was rated at all. I’d be interested in seeing how other organic shampoos compare.

Says Environmental Leader,

The charging stations feature:

• Secure, authorized access to charging, which helps eliminate energy theft and cord theft.
• Networked ability for drivers to find and navigate to open charging stations.
• Control functions that allow utilities to optimize grid use.

You can read more here.

1. Use smaller pots and pans.

Whenever you heat up water in a pot or fry food in a pan, it uses power to distribute the heat. If you use a smaller container, you won’t have use as much heat to cook your food. As an added bonus, smaller pots and pans also take less water to wash when dinner is over.

2. Choose organic drinks.

You may have already cut bottled water out of life, but what about beverages for special occasions? There are actually a number of wineries and beer manufacturers that make organic alcoholic drinks. They’re better for the environment, and you’ll be supporting a smaller business. If you can find a local bottler, even better.

Read more of this story »

Starting this weekend, a five-block stretch along Broadway in NYC will be a pedestrian-only zone. From Newsday:

One of two new no-car zones created along Broadway by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (the other promenade will stretch from 33rd to 35th streets on Broadway at Herald Square, near Macy’s), the usually clogged stretch from 42nd Street north to 47th became a place for tourists and locals alike to meander along the sun-drenched avenue without having to worry about racing cabs and irate drivers trying to navigate congestion.

Making these tourist-heavey areas car-fee will not just make the area safer and friendlier, but it will also hopefully entice some people to walk when they would have normally called a cab or driven themselves.

Image by J Gutierrez.

These earrings, made from recycled bottle caps, are cute and give you a chance to tell others about the cause. Says the artist:

My designs hope to spread positive messages not only in the image design, but with the interaction you will have with others when you wear them. More importantly, they are a small donation to Mother Earth by helping conserve her resources.

You can find tons of designs on her website, and the prices are extremely affordable. On top of being recycled, she donates part of her profits to The Adelante Foundation, which helps women living in poverty.

Before:

After:

Cool. He’s located in Texas, and for handmade piece of art, the prices are actually quite resonable. Check out the website for more information.

Larry Page, co-founder of searh engine giant Google is planning an environmentally-friendly mansion, according to reports.

Page’s green-certified home should be 6,000 square feet, hardly modest for most folks, but only a bit over half the size that he could build on the lot, according to Palo Alto Online, the website for Palo Alto Weekly, which uncovered the plans.

The home will also reportedly have solar panals, “paving that lets the rain seep through,” eco-friendly building materials, and more. Still, can a mansion ever TRULY be green?

Image via wikicommons.

Near the southern end of the Okinawa chain of islands, you’ll find Japan’s largest coral reef - and it is dying. Reports shows that up to 90 percent of the coral may already be gone, so scientists are now testing “transplant” methods in the Sekisei Lagoon Reef to hopefully save the country’s other coral reefs.

From the NY Times:

“We have been replanting forests for 4,000 years, but we are only just now learning how to revive a coral reef,” said Mineo Okamoto, a marine biologist at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, who has led development of the palm-size ceramic discs. “We finally have the technology.”

With their process, divers drill holes underwater to “plant” ceramic disks, which have surfaces where new coral can take hold. Experts say the process will take decades.

Image via Flickr.

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“We know that paper coupons will not be completely replaced, but providing consumers and retailers with an outlet for mobile coupons is a positive start towards reducing the waste created by the mountains of mail we all receive,” said Luke Knowles, who created Coupon Sherpa with his brother Jesse Knowles. “In the future, an increasing amount of coupons will be presented on mobile devices, and that will be great for the environment.”

Read more at their website.

From Reuters:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore will publish a follow-up to his global warming awareness bestseller “An Inconvenient Truth” on November 3. The book will be called “Our Choice” and will describe solutions to global warming, the environmental crusader and U.S. publisher Rodale Inc. said in a statement

All of the proceeds will be donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Image via Kjetil Bjørnsrud.

According to reports, the DVD cases will be made with 20% less plastic, and the paper will be 30% post-consumer recycled content. They’re also doing away with any cardboard outer sleeves. From Green Biz:

By switching to the lower-impact packaging, Sony Pictures expects to reduce its annual carbon emissions by 2 million pounds by the end of the year.

Changes to packaging for DVDs and CDs obviously has the potential to lead to widespread impacts due to the sheer volume of discs being produced, shipped and sold.

Other movies, like eco-friendly kid film Wall-E have been released with more sustainable packaging in the past, and we’ll likely see more of this in the future.

A California woman has been accused of importing guitar picks, which wouldn’t be a big deal - if they weren’t made from endangered turtle shells.

Qing Song, 54, of Santa Rose allegedly imported picks that were made of the raw shells of Hawksbill sea turtles. Although many musicians prefer shell picks over plastic picks, trading or selling anything made from an endangered species is illegal without a permit for specific approved purposes.

Song supposedly sold 74 picks and was in possession of nearly 900 more picks. She’s been charged with two misdemeanors and a felony count. The picks came from China and were sold in California.

Image via Dan Hershman.

1. Green Home Environmental Store: Sheets start at just $26, and you can also find green duvets, covers, mattress, and beds.

2. Heart of Vermont: They have sateen, flannel, percale, and chambray sheets, as well as organic matress pads and other organic products.

3. Kushtush Organics: Based in Phoenix, this company has a number of awesome organic sheets in unique colors and designs.

4. The Natural Sleep Store: As their name implies, this website has tons of organic bedding lines.

5. Pure Rest Organics: They have not just sheets, but also blankets, pillows, covers, mattress pads, comforters, and infant bedding.

6. The Clean Bedroom: There are organic sheets in tons of colors and styles at this website.

7. EcoBedroom: Along with baby bedding, this site also sells natural blankets, comforters, shams, duvet covers, and more.

Got a great place to order organic bedding online? Leave a comment!

Image via sxc.hu.

This is about more than recycling - it is also about safety and health. When someone in a developing country doesn’t have shoes, they could step step on something that causes infection, and even death. According to AboutMyPlanet,

There are plenty of people in Canada and the United States who need shoes, and they provide those shoes. In fact, after the large disasters of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and the Asian Tsunami, Soles4Souls donated over one million pairs of shoes.

Of course, not every pair of old shoes qualifies! Kids grow out of shoes really quickly, though, and almost everyone has a pair of shoes in their closet that they just don’t like or wear often. Consider recycling them with Soles4Souls.

Picture via sxc.hu.