Mr. Kennard has a long list of credits, starting as a community organizer for the Conservation Foundation in the late 1960’s, helping to “lay groundwork for the environmental movement and the subsequent explosion of grassroots action on Earth Day.”. He was awarded the Leadership Medal of the United Nations Environment Program for “distinguished contribution to the cause of the environment.”

He served as National Vice Chair of Sun Day in 1978, National Chair of Earth Day in 1980 and as Special Consultant to the EPA Administrator for Earth Day 1990.

He also authored the book of essays on social and political change, “Nothing Can Be Done, Everything Is Possible.” The Christian Science Monitor called the book “a primer for the modern-day activist.”

We've been thrilled by the recent pick up in blog comments and discussions going on at Green Options: we're glad many of you feel comfortable participating in discussions here. Ninety-nine percent of those comment have been constructive, thoughtful and informed. The other one percent… well, we're making some changes to address spam (which has picked up also) and uncivil behavior.

After deleting a ton of spam yesterday, I asked our developers to turn on moderation for comments submitted by users not registered at GO. This does not mean that you won't be able to add your voice to the discussion without becoming a member; rather, it means that those comments will have to be approved before appearing on the site. The content team will be checking the moderation queue frequently, so it shouldn't be too long before your comment appears.

On the issue of civility: let's face it — people find it way too easy to be rude or obnoxious online. We're not speaking face-to-face; we probably haven't even met the person with whom we're having a conversation. From our perspective, though, knock-down, drag-out flame wars add nothing to a given debate, and certainly don't add any value to Green Options. So, feel free to engage in spirited argument, but, if an exchange devolves to name-calling, insults, obscenity directed at another user, etc., we will remove those comments (or, if we're feeling cheeky, we'll disemvowel them). We don't want to stifle discussion; rather, we want to encourage it. We believe that a community is built by people who treat each other with courtesy, even when they disagree. We want all GO users to know that they can offer their opinions and knowledge without being bullied, insulted or otherwise mistreated.

We value your participation at Green Options, and are always interested in your ideas for making the site the place you want to discuss sustainability and green living. Let us know if you have questions or concerns.

Why would people do that? So we could offset those emissions, of course.

Turns out that offering free offsets (specifically wind energy credits provided by Renewable Choice Energy, a company Shea helped found) worked pretty well as a draw: we had hundreds of people visit, and their emissions tallied up to almost 74,000 pounds. As we told people visiting the booth, their travel was the biggest source of CO2 emissions for the event — GreenFest itself offset the electricity used at Chicago's McCormick Center, and that came in at over 17,000 pounds. Needless to say, we were happy to help neutralize some of the carbon footprint of Greenfest…

We also got some great photos. Super-intern Liam handled most of the photo duties for us, and we'll get some of those posted. In the meantime, here's one that appeared on Treehugger yesterday: the cute woman on the left is Leonora Oppenheim, one of my compadres at Treehugger. The guy who looks like a well-fed English professor with thinning hair… OK, that's me… We're standing in the festival's Fair Trade Pavilion, right in front of the Kallari Association's booth. The Fair Trade chocolate they were promoting was incredible — David got a whole bag of it…

Needless to say, we had a great time — we hope those of you who attended will share your stories.

And please remember: Rebecca's always on the lookout for new tips. Please submit your to the Discussion Forum we've created for them, and she'll make sure you get credit for your contribution.

For those of you needing your Tip fix, don't forget our archives are overflowing with great green tips.

UPDATE: Rebecca enjoyed her day off so much that she requested another one… and we're happy to oblige.  She'll definitely be back tomorrow…

So, we'll have posts up today — just not at the usual early times.  Come back by… you'll find the usual mix of great posts from our writers.

We hope you enjoyed our attempts at a little fun… back to business now!

An easy and very important way to do this is through your local newspaper. Local news is where ideas are hashed out… Local media tends to be much less dominated by corporate interests than national or even regional media, and as a result can take firmer stances on pro-conservation, anti-development issues. Even if a local media outlet is unwilling to take a stand on an issue, they are often quite willing to give voice to that issue through involved readers.

That’s where you come in. Writing a letter to the editor is as easy as typing an email. Submissions to the Editorial page don’t need to be extremely verbose, or even well-spoken. They do, however, need to be well-thought out and respectful. Angry jabs or diatribes will rarely get printed in a newspaper. Well-reasoned arguments, however, laid out in a tactful manner, will almost guarantee a good look from an editor. Ultimately, editors are concerned with one thing: readership, and they will likely print any letters they think will generate a debate, and hence increase readership.

A good example is a letter I got published recently in my local, home town newspaper, the Hi-Desert Star in Yucca Valley, California. You can read the letter here. I wrote in regards to the proposed installation of big-game guzzlers in designated Wilderness Areas near my town. While it is a somewhat esoteric issue (OK, very esoteric), I wrote a thoughtful letter that carefully laid out the issues and stated my opinions. This is something editors will recognize, and often reward. The Hi-Desert Star decided to publish my letter, despite its relatively limited audience, and I got many responses.

If there is an issue that is important to you, I would encourage you to consider writing a letter to the editor. Be sure to include an action point at the end of the letter (in the case of above letter, writing a comment on an environmental assessment), or a contact or website for people to find out more information. This will only further help to garner support for your issue, as well as engage people in the issue.

Letters to the editor are a time-honored tradition in American media, and they continue to be an easy way for people to mobilize support on issues, particularly green issues, in local communities.

Normally, we'd announce a feature like this with it's first installment, but we're jumping out ahead of this one because we'd like to give you the opportunity to let us know about "green myths" you've encountered. Our writers have already started discussing some topics, but we also want to hear from you: what myths are out there about the green life that you'd like to see addressed? Or, perhaps you've heard something about recycling, composting, renewable energy, etc., that doesn't quite sound right, but you're not sure. Send it along — we'll check it out.

• A Los Angeles-area resident to cover the many green things happening there.
• A "green teen" — an active and passionate pre-teen to teenager who can cover green activities and development by/for that age group.
• A "green senior" — replace "pre-teen" and "teenager" with "senior citizen" or "elder" in the above description.
• A green entrepreneur — Amy's doing great with the wide world of green business; now we want to add an "insider" to the mix. We'd prefer someone who's running a business, not just thinking about one.
• UPDATE: One more… I knew something wasn't right here! We're also looking for a writer to jump into Ryan Thibodaux's Red, Green and Blue spot — a progressive environmentalist who likes to argue politics… and does it well. Ryan's not leaving… just moving on to other areas.
• Another UPDATE: We'd also like a Chicago-based writer… just too much good stuff going on there…

We'd want each of these writers to contribute weekly at a minimum. While each writer at GO has a primary "beat," there's always room for branching out.

Finally, we'd like to build a pool of young, hungry journalists (or journalism students in their 3rd or 4th year) that would be interested in doing longer-form pieces… perhaps even some investigative journalism. We anticipate publishing pieces like these monthly, but would be willing to do it more often for the right stories.

Think you might be the right person for one of these positions? Email me, or send me a private message — please note the position for which you're applying in the subject line. Please introduce yourself, and submit or point to a few writing samples. You don't have to have previous blogging experience, but some knowledge of web publishing software is always a plus.

All of these are independent contractor positions. We pay per post/article, and have just implemented a bonus structure for writers.

You may be scratching your head and thinking "Squidoo? Lens? Huh?" That's OK: Squidoo is a publishing platform created by super marketer Seth Godin. It's a place where anyone (yes, anyone) can build a small web site (a "lens") focused on topics, ideas, products, etc., about which they're passionate and knowledgeable. Lenses are designed to be "pointer": that is, a lensmaster creates his/her lens to point to other things on the web relevant to his/her topic. Several of us are Squids — my Green Blogosphere lens, and Shea's Green Blogathon lens are both up for Lens of the Year, in fact… mine is currently at #33, and Shea's is #51.

This is only our first lens — we've got others that we want to build. Got one of your own? Let us know in the comments! If you don't, why not… build one! It really is easy… and, then, of course, let us know.

Finally, we do have some advertising and Amazon items for sale. All money raised through our lenses will go to Dos Margaritas, "a cocktail of conservation & sustainable development through education & micro-finance programs for South America."

1) GO member attacat asks about using biodegradable trash bags/bin liners:

The bin liners that are commonly used are made of synthetic polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene, and these are not considered biodegradable. Eventually, these plastics will break down, but only after being submitted to decades of heat and light.

Green Your Office proposes a new technology called d2w totally degradable plastics. Apparently, these refuse sacks will “degrade turning harmlessly into CO2 and water”. I may be missing something here, but isn’t CO2 one of the main gases that the greenhouse effect has been blamed on? Are biodegradable bin liners actually harmful to the environment as well?

Got an answer to this one? Is the amount of CO2 produced by these products negligible when compared to the impact of plastic?

2) GO member tamilee is likely not the only person with this question:

Where can I find home solar power systems and how they work explained in the simplest terms possible? I'm looking for a solar power for dummies website or book. I have been interested in solar power for decades but whenever I try to learn about it there is so much jargon used I just get lost.

There is a Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power to Your Home; the second edition will be released in May. Any thoughts on this book, or other recommendations?

As always, please answer these questions in forum where they were posted…

Well, it seems we're all getting a little media attention lately. I had my turn last week; this week, David gets to shine in an interview with Entrepreneur 27, a site devoted to promoting entrepreneurship in the tech sector and featuring young business leaders. We like to think our boss qualifies there (and I'm not just saying that because he's my boss…). Here's a sneak peak at the interview…

Where do you see Green Options a year from now?

We have many projects in the pipeline, most of which I can’t talk openly about yet, but suffice it to say that web 2.0 media is only a starting point for Green Options. There is so much information out there that is waiting to be formatted and marketed correctly in order to make it accessible to the rest of society. Hopefully, 2008 will see GO providing a wider variety of innovative tools to accomplish that goal. There are angles to take that can make a solid case for sustainable living to people of every persuasion and perspective (except maybe Dick Cheney), including those who feel belittled or condescended by preachy rhetoric. Those people need to be included in the process to create change on the scale necessary, and that starts with making information accessible to a wider range of audiences.

Check out the rest at Entrepreneur 27.

As Ryan and Jimmy showed Tuesday, there's still plenty to discuss regarding the topic of climate change. While I'd guess that most of the team members here at GO fall into the 90% of people who've accepted the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other scientific bodies regarding the role CO2 emissions play in the climate crisis, there's still much to discuss and debate about the action we need to take. Economics tend to be at the core of most discussions about large-scale action, and conversations about the costs and opportunities created by environmental challenges need to occur within the public and private sectors, as well as among informed and concerned citizens.

Some other fodder for discussion:

• The human costs: Climate change is definitely an environmental justice issue, particularly since the developing world will likely "feel the heat" the most.
• The broader ecological costs: We've all read and heard about the polar bears. What other implications does action (or inaction) on climate change hold for other environmental challenges?
• The "marketing" angle: A recent post at The Oil Drum addresses the long-term consequences of climate change in light of research that shows we human beings tend to be very short-term in our thinking. Marketing guru Seth Godin noted last year that "global warming" is an ineffective phrase from a marketing standpoint. How do we communicate the threat of climate change without resorting to "chicken little" tactics?

Clearly, I've just touched the tip of the iceberg (a fitting metaphor, no doubt!). Got something to say about climate change? Say it in the Forum…

The Green Options site went down for a short time last night while our development crew upgraded the system. So, if you see anything wrong trying to linger around today, please report it and we'll take care of it!

From the time we created our editorial policies, we agreed that we wanted to remain neutral in terms of our political leanings. We'd focus on green political issues, and praise or criticize based on results or potential results; not on party or ideological labels. We know that there are people on both sides of the political spectrum who share our passion for green living, and our concerns about the environmental challenges that face us. We want our readers to recognize that there are "green options" in the political realm, also.

As such, we want to expand our political coverage, and present views from both sides of that (artificial) divide of right and left. Ryan, our current politics writer, will be representing the progressive side; we need someone that feels more comfortable with a conservative take on the environmental issues of the day.

What we're looking for: in short, a "green conservative." That is, someone who tends to favor free-market solutions to environmental problems over those created by government. This person could certainly fall into the "energy hawk" category. While party affiliation isn't as important to us as ideas, we'd guess that this writer would identify as a Republican, or maybe even a Libertarian.

What we don't want: a "red meat" ideologue (on either side). We're looking for reasoned arguments, not bashing the other side. We know Ryan's up to the job for the progressive side, and we also know there are plenty of green conservatives who can make their argument with eloquence. We do want passion, but passion for solutions…

Think you're the person for us? Or, do you know that person? Drop me an email or a private message, and tell me why. We'd love to get this feature going ASAP…

The winner of the "Lighter Side of Green" is…. drum roll please…

Wendy Laird, author of "There is Nothing Funny About Environmentalism."

Wendy will receive the $100 prize, and a one-month starter contract as Green Options' resident humor writer. We hope that you're looking forward to her contributions as much as we are!

Again, many thanks to all of you who participated in the contest! This was only our first — we'll have many more!

• Vote in order
• Vote on every entry

We appreciate your feedback — it will definitely figure into our choice of the contest winner!

We'll be deciding on a contest winner this week, and your response will certainly play a role in our decision. The winner will receive not only a $100 cash prize, but also a one-month starter contract as a blog columnist — so let us know which writer you'd like to see come back! We'll announce the winner next Monday.

Many thanks to our entrants — we'll have a tough time with this one!

Wow!  It's the first day of February — only a few days until Green Options goes live in all of its glory.  February 1st is also the last day to submit entries to Green Options' "The Lighter Side of Green" contest.  We've received some great entries (yes, we've been laughing), but we're also guessing that a few procrastinators can still tickle our funny bones.

So, if you're a humor writer who's driven by deadlines, get your motor running — today's the day!  We'll post all entries this weekend, and invite visitors to take a look, and let us know what they like. We'll choose a winner during next week's launch, and announce him or her on February 12th.

Crank up the computer and the coffee pot, and get us your entry — we'll accept them through midnight Pacific Standard Time.  Email them to lighterside@greenoptions.com.

Having trouble thinking of a topic for your 250-500 word column? That's probably not because there's not enough material out there; rather, there may be too much! Nothing's off limits: our personal habits and quirks, the statements of politicians and/or activists, or even the statements and actions of green critics are all fair game. We're looking for light humor vs. biting satire; poking fun vs. roasting over the coals.

February 1st, the contest deadline, is getting close — one week from today. Send your submissions to lighterside@greenoptions.com.