Green Options

From halting tribunals at Guantanamo Bay to accelerating the drawdown of troops in Iraq, Obama is wasting no time as the United States’ 44th president.

The most technologically advanced, eco-friendly, solar powered playground, the first of its kind in North America, is being dedicated in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward today.

The Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans suffered catastrophic flooding after Hurricane Katrina pummeled New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and many of the residents lost their homes.

They also lost something else.

Playgrounds.

What a great way to both help restore a critical ecosystem while teaching young kids valuable lessons about the real world: encourage schoolchildren to grow wetland plants at their schools for later planting in coastal habitat restoration projects.

That’s what Louisiana State University’s (LSU) Coastal Roots Project aims to do. Established in the pre-Katrina days of 2001, the program is now more vital than ever and — happy to say — schools across the state have come on board to join the cause.

What’s the opposite of one of those formaldehyde-reeking FEMA trailers so many Katrina victims had to live in — and get sick in — for months and months? Check out New York artist Paul Villinski’s “Emergency Response Studio,” a solar-powered, refurbished, non-toxic and self-sufficient artist’s studio on wheels.

Set to go on display Nov. 1 as part of the Prospect.1 New Orleans art show, Villlinski’s trailer is a mobile testament to his mission of transforming trash into objects of beauty or functionality (he’s also created butterfly sculptures out of old beer cans and LPs, and wings, jackets, blankets and bags out of lost gloves).

So many hard-working and innovative people have stepped in with projects to help rebuild New Orleans in the wake of the devastating 2005 levee failures, but the Fundred Dollar Bill Project is beyond unique.

The project’s goal is to encourage schoolchildren across the U.S. to create their own version of a $100 bill dubbed a “Fundred Dollar Bill” (a blend of “fun,” “fund” and “hundred”) … for a total of 3 million Fundreds in all. Once completed, those 3 million Fundreds will be collected for delivery to Washington, D.C., in a biofuel-powered armored truck in hopes of receiving in return $300 million in real currency to protect New Orleans residents — kids especially — from the toxic levels of lead found in the city’s soil.

By Janet Larsen

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2008/Update76.htm

Standing before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1987, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives, made an appeal representing “an endangered nation.” That year for the first time, “unusual high waves” in the Indian Ocean inundated a quarter of the urban area on the capital island of Male’, flooded farms, and washed away reclaimed land. Gayoom cited scientific evidence that human activities were releasing greenhouse gases that warm the planet, ultimately raising global sea level as glaciers melt and warmer water expands. The trouble extended beyond small islands; studies showed that rising seas would wreak havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Netherlands, and the river deltas of Egypt and Bangladesh.

Fast-forward through two decades of swelling seas and more powerful storms and the call has moved from the need to study global warming to the necessity of dramatic action to stabilize climate. With small island nations in peril, these days President Gayoom evokes the vision of a United Nations where “name plates are gone; seats are empty.” He does not speak alone: this fall, some 50 countries, including a number of small island nations along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union, are planning to put a resolution before the U.N. General Assembly requesting that the U.N. Security Council address “the threat posed by climate change to international peace and security.” As Ambassador Stuart Beck of Palau has asked, “Would any nation facing an invading army not do the same?”

Here’s a rare but welcome thing: good news from post-Katrina New Orleans. Global Green USA’s first ultra-green home in the Holy Cross neighborhood stood strong during hurricanes Gustav and Ike, both of which caused massive damage in parts of Louisiana and Texas, as well as elsewhere.

Global Green USA’s first house, which currently serves as a visitors’ center,”withstood the storm and is now open and ready to show others how they can rebuild stronger and greener,” said Beth Galante, director for Global Green USA New Orleans.

With this week marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans residents are looking back … but they’re also looking ahead, to a more sustainable and energy-efficient future. (They’re also praying feverishly that Gustav doesn’t head their way.)

In addition to all the green rebuilding efforts underway throughout the Crescent City, existing homes that survived the post-storm flooding are also getting eco-friendly makeovers. Those efforts received a boost earlier this summer, when the New Orleans City Council approved the Energy Smart New Orleans Energy Efficiency Program.

Among the program’s goals

They might not garner as many headlines as big-name corporations when they go green, but many churches across the U.S. are tackling environmental challenges as a way to honor God’s creation.

Among those leading the way are groups like the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCC), whose Eco-Justice Working Group includes participants of every denomination from African Methodist Episcopal to Greek Orthodox and Mennonite. The NCC’s Washington, D.C.-based Eco-Justice Program also provides a wealth of resources to help churches and church-goers take environmental action.

Many of those actions are highlighted in the Eco-Justice Program’s guide to “Bottom Line Ministries that Matter: Congregational Stewardship with Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy Technologies.” Among the success stories held up as examples in the report:

Few U.S. cities can appeal to walkers of all stripes like New Orleans. Even after the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, the Crescent City remains a destination that’s made for pedestrians.

For lovers of historic architecture, what can beat a stroll down one of the streets of the French Quarter or Garden District? And, of course, for people-watching, live music, a few of the good kind of Hurricanes (thanks, Pat O’s!) and general weirdness, there’s nothing like a walk along Bourbon Street, day or night.

I love discovering an occasional gem of a Website during minutes (hours?) of random Internet browsing, and today I found a real diamond: RUBARB, which stands for “Rusted Up Beyond All Recognition Bikes.”

Started by volunteers in March 2006 — about a half-year after Hurricane Katrina and the levee-failure flooding of New Orleans — RUBARB was inspired by a much-repeated experience of hurricane cleanup crews: pulling bicycle after unused, flood-damaged bicycle from the mountains of trash that covered the city. Rather than consign these flood bikes to the post-Katrina dump, these volunteers decided, why not clean them, fix them and then pass them along to residents and other volunteers who need them?