Green Options

Earth Hour 2009 is coming up at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 28th! What started as a call to action in Sydney, Australia two years ago has grown into a global event.

This year, over 64 countries and territories are participating. With a projected one billion participants in over 1000 cities this year, Earth Hour 2009 is sending a message that people are ready to pull together and fight global warming. According to their website, “Earth Hour aims to demonstrate unprecedented solidarity and provide a visual mandate for action on climate change.”

Check out their moving video promoting this year’s event:

Claiming that it secured necessary protections, the Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on President Bush’s proposal to weaken mining regulations. The previous regulation, enacted in 1983, banned waste dumping within 100 feet of a stream or river whose water quality could be adversely affected.

The We Campaign, a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Al Gore, recently put together a 30-second TV ad called “Repower America.”  It talks about the benefits of alternative energy. It says right upfront that we are “stuck with dirty and expensive energy” and asks how can it be so? In the end it points out that big oil and its lobbyists are the reason.  It starts to make sense when [...]

A few weeks ago I posted over at Non-Toxic Kids about the new Kid-Safe Chemical Act. This promising legislation would update a 30 year old law that has allowed thousands of chemicals to be used in countless everyday products from baby lotions, shampoos, cosmetics and toothpastes with no research or testing of their safety.

The Environmental Working Group listed these important provisions for the bill, all aimed at making products safer for our kids.

The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act:

New estimates place the death toll in Burma–also called Myanmar by the leaders of its strict military regime–at 100,000. In the initial wake of the cyclone, the brutal Burmese government made attempts to interfere with international aid agencies. In recent days, as reported on CNN, the Burmese government has changed its policies, saying “We are ready to speed up and strengthen our relief effort. We will accept aid from any corner.”

Here, you will find six organizations accepting charitable donations for relief work in Burma as well as five organizations possibly accepting volunteers for relief efforts.

[Update: H.R. 1016 has passed the House by a vote of 278-140. There is a similar version awaiting action in the Senate]

The House is scheduled today to vote on H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation Act. And a broad bipartisan coalition ranging from such groups as the Wilderness Society to Republicans for Environmental Protection, is asking you to call your Representative and demand that they support the landmark wilderness conservation legislation.

H.R. 2016 does not change management of [...]

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission conducted hearings and convened a workshop for scientists, economists, environmental activists and representatives of the leading American retailers of ‘carbon offsets’ and ‘renewable energy credits’ (RECs) to learn more about the rather opaque business models and practices of some companies.

Though the hearings were only exploratory in nature, the FTC was able to address some of the concerns and misgivings the public has about unregulated voluntary [...]

(Author’s Note: As I write this, the current weather conditions in Nantucket Sound [Wed Feb 13 16:41 EDST] are ideal for wind power generation. With wind speeds of 38 knots and gusts of up to 45 knots at the location of the proposed offshore wind energy installation, Cape Wind would have produced 422 megawatts of clean, renewable energy local in the last hour).

1. Do you have an opinion about offshore [...]

Taean Peninsula, South Korea – On Friday, 10 million liters (2.7m gallons) of crude oil gushed from three holes in the side of the Hebei Spirit oil tanker, spilling into the Yellow Sea offshore Taeanhaean National Park. Already the worst spill in the country’s history, its timing and location add more reason for concern. Migrating birds make their winter home in and around the national park. Residents also fear that the fishing and tourist industries that sustain the region will collapse, devastating the local economy.

Mallipo beach, on the Taean peninsula, is considered one of South Korea’s most beautiful beaches. It’s 3 km of white sands call to beach-goers and eco-tourists alike. Today, however, Mallipo’s white sands are buried under a 10-cm thick blanket of black crude that stretches over 50 km of coastline.

The Taean Peninsula itself is listed as one of the top “22 Priority Sites for Conservation” in the Yellow Sea, according to the South Korean-Chinese Government Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem Program. Taeanhaean National Park boasts 250 species of flora, and in the winter the area serves as an important stopover for many species of migrating birds. The area is home to a number of unique species such as the Finless Porpoise and the Bar-tailed Godwit, which makes the longest non-stop migration flight of any bird.

Some of the most delicate wetland ecosystems in Korea are also located on the same peninsula, south of the spill. To date, oil from the spill remains concentrated in the north, around Mallipo beach. However, Nial Moores of Birds Korea, a national birding and conservation organization, warns that it is likely that currents will carry the oil south to the Geum Estuary and the Cheonsu Bay wetlands. There is no current estimate of the consequences this would have for the area’s migrating birds.

A new website is offering consumers an easy way to get rid of unwanted catalogues. With the holiday season approaching, my mailbox has become inundated with catalogues for every product under the sun. Previously, I have sent individual letters to each company, as well as signed up for services that were supposed to stop the catalogues from coming; however, the effects of all these efforts has worn off, and new ones are arriving daily. Now, Click to Continue Reading