Green Options

Summer is my favorite season.  It’s the time of year for sunset barbecues and dinners on the patio, and for strings of tiny Italian lights and flickering Moroccan lanterns. Summer plays the beautiful hostess of longer days and breezy nights, polka-dotted sundresses, and peals of joyful laughter coming from children playing in the backyard.

There’s no better time than summer to indulge in a sliver of chocolate cake, so rich in contrast to the simplicity of the gingham tablecloth and the mason jars overflowing with wildflowers.   This cake is made without using wheat, corn, or dairy ingredients, yet it is unmistakably, deliciously, chocolate.

On April 3, celebrated primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall will turn 75.

These days, Jane Goodall spends most of her free time traveling the world to speak to youth about the importance of environmental conservation.

That is, if you can call it free time. She might be going on 75, but she keeps the tightly packed schedule of a woman less than half her age. From book tours promoting her most recent book on vegetarianism to college lectures (where she gladly demonstrates her famous chimpanzee greeting call) to a morning giving positive feedback to youth about a classroom nature or community project, Dr. Goodall, or Dr. Jane, as her many friends and fans call her, has dedicated her life to making the world a better, greener, happier place.

Growing up in the suburbs of Virginia, I didn’t even hear of Winter Solstice till 9th grade or so. I associated this mysterious Winter holiday with equally mysterious people…pale nerdy folks who liked to wear purple velvet clothing and buy dragon figurines and miniature crystal balls from New Age bookstores at the mall. They called themselves Pagans, and more specifically, Wiccans.

Though I wasn’t raised Christian, I still took on the same dismissive attitude as my local Bible-toting community, thinking of people who worshiped nature as eccentric, campy folks who should be left alone to perform their inconsequential hocus-pocus spells and rituals.

As I got older and became an environmentalist, the Winter Solstice did strike a bit more genuine interest within me; friends of mine- scientists, yogis, Christians, Jews, and treehuggers alike- were celebrating the Solstice in nightclubs, houseparties, and quiet gatherings in nature. I liked that Winter Solstice revelers were actually acknowledging some natural phenomena, something about planetary movement and time. I have been invited repeatedly to these soirees over the years, but never attended- the “hokiness” factor of my childhood kept me closed to the exploration.

This month Eco Fashion World is featuring the celebration issue stating:

“Green glitter is in the air, it’s time to celebrate! Last month, Americans made the whole world proud and hopeful by coming together to vote for a new president who represents a real potential for change. Some may say that nothing brings people together like adversity, but the electric current that swept through the world on the 4th was pure joy.”

On the EFW cover

Part 2: Do Fireworks Pose Significant Environmental Danger?

Pittsburgh, PA.  A place known for its peoples’ good ol’ blue collar fervor, our enthusiasm for everything from our football team (STEELERS!!) to our beer (Iron City) to our hoagies (Primanti’s, brother!).  We are thus naturally inclined to encourage bombastic public demonstrations of our affection–in this case, in celebrating ourselves!

I viewed the record-setting Pittsburgh 250 fireworks display from a wonderful vantage point on the North Shore, as I cheered my city on from the balcony of McFadden’s with a massive group of Couchsurfers visiting Pittsburgh for their regional meet-up weekend.  All the while I was marvelling at the bright splashes and the thundering bursts–thirty minutes in duration!–the thought kept flitting across my mind: “what exactly is IN that massive smoke cloud pooling across the river?”

The Composition of Fireworks, a page compiled by Reema Gondhia at Imperial College in London, gives you the factual rundown of the makeup of fireworks.  A firework’s chemical arrangement, however ingeniously designed to manifest our titillating visual delights, provides some unsettling names–chemicals with long rap sheets from research institutions indicating their threat to living systems.  Read on for some distrubing examples.

Renowned primatologist, environmentalist, and humanitarian, Dr. Jane Goodall, has called for the entire world to join in a celebration of peace.

Nearly half a century after her landmark work with chimpanzees in Tanzania, “Dr. Jane” as she’s more often known, is traveling the world with a message that “peace is possible.”

This message is inspiring many to join Roots & Shoots, the Jane Goodall Organization’s international youth activism program. Roots & Shoots supports grassroots activities and projects that benefit the environment, animals, and communities.

On September 21st, Roots & Shoots groups and other individuals around the world will symbolically join Dr. Jane in a call for peace from communities the world over. Groups from Tanzania to Tennessee will make and fly Giant Peace Doves, like the one pictured here.

As we approach another St. Patrick’s Day celebration, I think it only appropriate to bring everyone’s attention to PETH. Recent news stories indicate there is a shortage of hops, mainly because farmers are turning their attention to growing corn, soybeans and other food crops for the manufacture of ethanol and biodiesel.

While recording interviews for our Greening the Golden Years podcast series, I received an email from a senior, Mr. John Lane, who’s become very [...]

The outlook for the environment is not all doom and gloom. Environmentalists, scientists, and lawmakers have led the way in overcoming significant, even planetary, environmental crises in the past and we will probably continue to do so in the future.

In fact, in many ways, there is more reason for optimism for the fate of our species and the planet now than at any point in the last several centuries. These are the [...]

For many, this Sunday will bring the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Dr. Jane Goodall. Participants in the Los Angeles event will join Dr. Goodall and hundreds of others in celebrating peace, while around the world dozens of other groups will host similar events. If you’d like to attend the L.A. event (free admission), visit the event’s website, or simply arrive at the location pinpointed on the maps below.

If you’re not in the Los

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