Saturday, June 06, 2009

Serious Money is starting to cluster around Carbon reduction


Inhabitat reported on their blog about the World Wildlife Fund building a new Carbon Nuetral Headquarter. Inhabitat is an architectural blog that follows sustainable design for buildings. The design is news in and of itself, but the money going in to carbon reduction is the real story here. I'm sure an eco-giant like World Wildlife Fund has been wanting to do this for years. Now that the world is more aware of the danger of unregulated carbon, ( or at least those who believe in Science ) the money to do such projects is starting to move in this direction. This should bring a smile to every eco warrior. 

Example called Treebanking shows sustainable business practices; good for man and beast


I found this video from a new website called Ecosector. This video is about 4 minutes long and shows one strong example of how restoration of depleted rainforest can mean jobs for the local community while providing habitat and for animals. The next video titled, "Caterpillar" shows our current idea of growth. It is not sustainable.  

Friday, May 08, 2009

GreenDIg




Social Networking proves time and time again to be a great way to find valuable resources. I can find some very innovative people and groups doing a great job of pulling together initiatives to help get our society moving toward a more sustainable path. Found this new vlog-blog called GreenDig. I plan to make this a regular stop. 

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

A Steven Jobs for the Green Movement: Shai Agassi


Picture: Grist and BetterPlace
Grist pointed me to a new name in the Green movement. Shai Agassi is hailed and the visionary of the Green Movement and the in His blog is "The Long Tailpipe." His company: " A Better Place." He has been featured in magazine after magazine. He was a speaker at TED.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Millennium Promise launches website

I read Jeffrey Sachs' book, "Common Wealth" last summer. It really changed my ideas about the environmental movement and allowed me to see that why I should care about what happens in situations of extreme poverty. It's hard to say in a few short sentences, but in a nut shell, the size of the population on planet Earth matters. Unless we educate people and allow them to improve their lives, the numbers will continue to grow and our planet will soon get to the tipping point where life will not be sustainable. Africa holds the key to our planet's ability to provide for the inhabitants and ending poverty there is crucial for getting population under control. Africa matters, poverty matters. Read the book and see what you think. In the meantime, check out the website. 

Friday, May 01, 2009

April 22 Disney Earth Movie


Disney Nature's new film starts April 22 for Earth Day. Each person that goes on the 22nd will have a tree planted by Disney.  Here is the trailer for the film. 

Got to see the movie Saturday. Spectacular!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Florida will be home to the first "Solar City"


According to Engadget, the first "Solar City" will be built right here in Florida! If all goes as planned, construction will begin 2011. The location is called Babcock Ranch and is on the Gulf side of the state. Fortunately there is a Plan B in case the economy is still in a slump. I don't know if the stimulus money is part of this project or not. Housing here is crawling slowly forward from what I can tell locally. There are some homes being bought and sold but a lot are still sitting on the market. I wonder about building yet more houses when there is a glut of houses sitting on the market. But from what this blog post said, the back up plan was to go ahead with the power plant and sell the electricity to the larger grid. This sounds like a better plan that what is often heard around here which is "Build Nuclear!"

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Earth Cinema Circle - A DVD club

I joined Earth Cinema Circle about 9 months ago. It works a lot like a book club. They send out an "eco-friendly" DVD every other month. It costs $40 every other month. I figured it was a good cause and a way to help circulate into the mainstream, eco-friendly topics. So far I have been moderately pleased. The DVD's selected are more like student projects. They are often too heavy with negative stuff or too "unfocused" to really have a message. There have been a few that were excellent though. I figure I'll stay in it at least a year to "support" the cause and to give them a chance to improve. They are getting better. I think it's only 2 years old. It's a great concept. If more people were making Earth Videos, then it would help educate people. But there has to be a market and this is one way to help create that market. 

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Local Bee Rescue


My brother-in-law is the president of his homeowners' association. He got a call from one of the homeowners who said he had a bee problem and was going to kill the bees in a nearby wall. Al said, "NO! I'll get someone to come out and remove the bees!" He called a bee-keeper who came and rescued the bees. It was a 20 year old colony that had 6 to 8 queen bees in it. The hive had gotten too big and one of the bees was leaving to start a new colony. This is what the homeowner had seen. 

The bees were spared! Everyone pulled together and removed the bees safely to a new home. Happy ending to bee saga! 

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Eco Tuesdays


Now here is a great idea! San Francisco has a networking and learning event designed to bring together green business leaders once a month to share ideas and network. It is in it's 2nd year and is growing to other cities around the country. Great idea and one that is needed in my city, Orlalndo. Hmm...

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Do we need animals?

What will our world be like when 1/3 of all of the other species on our planet are extinct? Does anyone worry about the web of life and the interdependency of all species? In 5th grade, students learn about food webs and the delicate balance between species and natural resources. And yet, we adults, lack the political will to create policies that allow us to live harmoniously on this planet and balance our needs with the needs of mother nature. Here is the article that discusses the impact this biological disaster in the making.