In an unexpected U-turn, the U.S. Senate has agreed to continue to back research for the next generation of hydrogen cars - funding that the Obama administration had earlier proposed to cut.

The move came last Thursday as Senate members voted to commit $187 million to hydrogen research, almost as much as was promised before the indecision.

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The time has come to make a CHOICE. For the economy, future generations and for the sake of nature!

We must decide who will reign the title of the 2009, Green America People’s Choice Award!

“The People’s Choice Award is a celebration of the leaders of the green economy, and a challenge to corporate America to follow their path.”

In order to get nominated these businesses must pass Green America’s screening process. Green America only chooses businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible.

So, without further ado;

Meet the Top 10 Nominees…
(Listed in alphabetical order.)

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The Demeter Egyptian cotton is super-soft, absorbent and breathable. Plus it’s the rarest, most luxurious fabric in the world. Both individuals and retailers are invited to shop online for baby clothes, toys, diapers, and women’s menstrual pads.

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I just finished viewing all three videos which are under 2 minutes each:

Energy X Prize: Reduce Home Energy - This idea has communities competing against each other to reduce energy consumption. The winning community would get a hefty prize.

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With Election Day less than 24 hours away, Leo wants you to know that now is your chance to vote (the environment).

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“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation” - Nelson Mandela, Make Poverty History rally, Trafalgar Square, London, UK, February 2005

What makes a political leader to be great? What makes a generation to be great? To think of it, one word defines it - sustainability. Would this, then, be a moral issue or an economic issue?

Does the world’s population today — both older and younger segments — understand the social dilemma that the next generation of leaders just on the threshold of global influence find themselves in?

Yes, next generation of leaders. Because we can no longer hedge our hopes and beliefs and inspirations on leaders who are stuck in the time warp of old politics.

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Believe it or not, inspiring and effective political personalities do exist. Not only that, but they are the sort of figures a country should expect to lead them.

With the US presidential election on the doorstep, both the candidates are bandying promises of “change.” This week’s spotlight, Political Leaders You Can Believe In, will seek to reveal politicians who have already succeeded in delivering on the promise of positive change. In doing so, we hope to raise the bar for the US presidential candidates and encourage voters to hold the candidates to some of the following pledges.

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Look at how gorgeous these TOMS wrap boots look:

Recently we did a feature called~TOMS Shoes for Tomorrow, Giving Gifts to the Poor as You Shop …and their amazing cause to bring shoes to poor children in Africa.

Now we are back on this topic because they’ve been nominated for the Cooper Hewitt People’s Design Award. Here is a message from TOMS: “Last year, TOMS Shoes was fortunate enough to be recognized with the Cooper Hewitt People’s Design Award. This year we got lucky again“,

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The successful presidential candidate will be responsible for leading his/her nation in reducing its carbon emissions, increasing its fuel efficiency standards, and developing its nascent clean energy industry. The president will also be charged with responding to parts of the country hit hard by climate change conditions, like droughts, fires, and storms.

Fortunately, voters won’t have to make their decision in the dark. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), a non-partisan organization that describes itself as "the independent political voice for the environment," has compiled a reference chart to show voters where candidates stand on climate change.

The following are the top five presidential candidates of 2008, based on the issue of climate change. In order to assess how serious candidates truly are about the issue of global warming, they are organized below according to how well they scored out of 100 on an overall evaluation of their environmental policies, starting with the highest scorer. (And no, Steven Colbert didn’t make the list, no matter how much natural gas he provides.)

Barack Obama (96) supports:

• 80% reductions of CO2 production by 2050.
• 50 mpg fleet-wide automotive standard by 2025.
• 25% renewable electrical energy standard by 2025.
• 50% reduction in energy intensity by 2030.
• Investing in liquid coal if it reduces carbon pollution by 10%; will consider standards that ban new conventional coal plants.

Dennis Kucinich (92) supports:

• 80% reductions of CO2 production by 2050.
• 40 mpg automotive standards; supported 33 mpg automotive standard in 2005.
• 20% renewable electrical energy standard by 2010.
• General energy efficiency, although he has no target specified.
• [Has no articulated position on new coal plants and liquid coal.]

Hillary Clinton (90) supports:

• 80% reductions of CO2 production by 2050.
• 35 mpg fleet-wide automotive standard by 2017.
• 20% renewable electrical energy standard by 2020.
• 10% reduction in energy consumption by 2020.
• Investing in liquid coal if it reduces carbon pollution by 20%.

Joe Biden (84) supports:

• 80% reductions of CO2 production by 2050.
• 40 mpg fleet-wide automotive standard by 2017.
• 20% renewable electrical energy standard by 2020.
• 10% reduction in energy consumption by 2020.
• Rejecting investment in liquid coal.

Bill Richardson (82) supports:

• 80% reductions of CO2 production by 2050.
• 50 mpg fleet-wide automotive standard.
• 30% renewable electrical energy standard by 2020 and 50% by 2050.
• 20% increase in energy productivity.
• A ban on new coal plants unless they capture and store emissions; he opposes liquid coal.

Readers may note that all of the preceding five leaders on environmental stewardship are members of the Democratic Party. They will be competing against one another to win their party’s nomination over the course of the primary elections, which will run from January to September of 2008. Make sure to register to vote several weeks prior to your state’s primary elections in order to vote to nominate your choice of presidential candidate.

Readers who align more closely with the Republican Party may also be interested to know which Republican presidential candidates are offering solutions to climate change. Most ‘08 Republican candidates have as strong a record of opposing environmental protection legislation and/or have no stated positions about the country’s energy goals and issues related to climate change. However, some Republican candidates are looking to support legislation that would benefit the climate. John McCain and Mike Huckabee lead their party on legislative forsight to address climate change. Even still, Mr. McCain has opposed fuel efficiency legislation and neither candidate has a stated position on coal. The only other candidate from this party to offer some hint of beneficial legislative promises on climate change is Mitt Romney, although he opposes fuel efficiency standards "as a stand alone measure," has no position on renewable energy, and supports liquid coal.

For more information on the positions of the 2008 presidential candidates on the environment, the energy industry, and climate change, see the resources listed below or visit the LCV reference chart for presidential candidates on climate change.

References and Resources:

Where the Candidates Currently Stand | League of Conservation Voters, Heatison.org

’08: On The Record | League of Conservation Voters

Presidential Candidates weigh in on Energy Policy | Solarnation

The Candidates | League of Conservation Voters, Heatison.org

Mike Garofalo’s Blog on the presidential candidates | GO

Photo Source:

White House Back | US Government

If our goal is to encourage environmental protection legislation, it is our responsibility (indeed, our exciting privilege) to educate ourselves on the environmental impact of local and state propositions and vote accordingly. If our goal is to support elected officials who serve our interests as citizens (such as clean air and water), we have to make our interests known and hold officials accountable with our power to vote them in or out of office. Voting is possibly the single most important way to ensure strong civil liberties, government accountability, and policies that protect the health of the environment in which we live.

For one source of information on the environmental policies and view of the 2008 presidential candidates, take a look at Mike Garofalo’s blog on GO, which addresses each candidate one by one. The League of Conservation Voters also offers a quick reference database of the candidates for president, graded by their response to a series of questions on the environment.

We need no reminding that in this 2008 presidential election, there is a lot at stake. With President Bush spouting off about World War III, and with the U.S. still refusing to acknowledge its share of responsibility on climate change, it may even be an understatement to simply say that there’s a lot at stake. If you are a citizen of the United States, you can be assured that your decision to vote has the power to affect change — potentially positive change — the world over.

Here’s the good news: in the 2004 elections, voter turnout was higher than in the 2000 elections by 3.6%. With any hope, in 2008 the numbers will be even greater. The sad news, however, is that even in 2004, still less than two thirds of the country performed their civic duty of voting: 58.3%. Of people age 24-44, only 52.2% voted in 2004 and for the age group 18-24 just 41.9% voted. (U.S. Census Bureau)

So what gives? Do people not know that they have a "Get Out of Work Free" card on voting day that requires employers to let employees out of work long enough to vote? This alone should be enough to motivate us to head to the polling booths in droves whenever there’s an election. Do people cavalierly forget when voting day comes around? Or does half of our population actually think that they can’t make a difference by voting and recklessly forfeit their suffrage?

Maybe you know somebody who desperately wants positive reform in this country and a change of political agenda, but who suffers from voter apathy: the apathetic rebel. The apathetic rebel imagines that s/he’s doing something extraordinary by not voting — that s/he’s somehow taking a stance against the status quo by brushing off democracy. But how can a person change the system when s/he won’t tell the system how it should change. We do this by voting.

So wherever you are, register to vote. You can register at your local post office and your registration must be up to date with your current address. By doing so, you are sending a strong message that you care about the course of environmental, social, and political events at home and abroad. It’s easy to put off registering and the primary elections are coming up fast. Maybe you vote Republican, maybe Democratic, maybe Green. However you vote, the most important thing is simply that you do vote. As John Lennon said, "We came here to show and to say to all of you that apathy isn’t it, that we can do something!"

References and Resources:

Home | Rock The Vote!

Earth Trends: More Democracy, Better Environment? | The World Resource Institute

Mike Garofalo’s blog | GO

Presidential Profiles, 2008 | The League of Conservation Voters

Voting and Registration | U.S. Census Bureau

Photo Source:

Your Vote Is Your Voice | Flickr

Twenty-eight states have introduced hemp legislation and fifteen have passed legislation; seven, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, West Virginia and North Dakota have removed barriers to its production or research. Of those five, only North Dakota has set into motion a state regulatory system administered by the state’s agriculture department. It placed into law strict guidelines concerning the cultivation and harvesting of hemp seed and oil, and a licensing process that makes it completely legal under not only North Dakota Law, but federal law as well, to grow industrial hemp and harvest the sterilized seeds and oil for sale in the marketplace.

But no matter what they’ve done, it’s still a catch-22 situation. The farmer’s intent doesn’t matter in the eyes of the DEA, plant one stalk of industrial hemp and the DEA can charge you with growing and possessing a controlled substance, fine you, and possibly take away your property.

Two North Dakota farmers, State Representative David Monson and Wayne Hauge have done something no one else has apparently done in the country, sue the DEA, asking it to make a distincting between industrial hemp and marihuana.

I spoke with the attorney who filed the suit in Federal Court in Bismark, North Dakota, Tim Purdon, a member of the Vogel Law Firm in that city. He explains the lawsuit.

Other sites of interest:

H.B. 1009 in PDF

Vote Hemp

Washingtonwatch