Green Options

Mark the date.

Planners and volunteers met yesterday to brainstorm for this year’s annual Boston GreenFest, a celebration and education of all things environmental. The fair at City Hall Plaza, which will take place Friday and Saturday this August 21 and 22, includes hundreds of exhibitors and sponsors and promises to be the greenest and fullest showing yet for the Massachusetts festival.

Bright, abundant sunshine and strong winds pervaded the city during the late-morning meeting, natural resources that seemed good omens for the summer festival and that will undoubtedly be featured in solar and wind power exhibits there.

The informal Boston GreenFest committee, comprised of occupations and talents as varied as insurance professional, fundraiser, student and community activist, discussed the character and message of the event, as well as its participants.

“The broadest scope possible is the answer,” said Dr. Karen Weber. “We believe the message has to get out in the broadest sense possible.”

Weber heads Foundation for a Green Future, the organization hosting Boston GreenFest.

August saw the fastest retreat of arctic sea ice on record, according to new NASA data. During that month, sea ice melted at a rate of 32,700 square miles per day, compared with 24,400 square miles per day in 2007. The rate of decline is even more dramatic when compared with the 30-year average rate of decline, 19,700 miles per day.

The accelerated seasonal retreat of sea ice surprised NASA scientists, who expected a more moderate retreat on the tail of a la Niña year. Moreover, the data show that one cold year, when sea ice levels are able return to normal, is not enough to counter the long-term melting of the arctic.

It's that time again already - a new issue of Body+Soul magazine is on sale and it's time for me to give you the rundown of what's good. If you happened to miss the first B+S review, or want to know more about the background of this publication, check out my June 16th review. For the July/August issue, Body+Soul's official website offers up the following blurb:

Energize your life!

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