The Green Life

Daily Roundup: November 20, 2009

The Replacements: The St. Louis Zoo installed electronic polar bears as stand-ins for deceased bears. The zoo's last living polar bear suffered from cancer and was euthanized this spring. Inhabitots and Huffington Post

Literary Offsets: A San Francisco bookstore is donating 100 percent of the sales proceeds from Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue: An American Life to the Alaska Wildlife Federation. Ecorazzi

Portrait of the Artist: Jeanne-Claude, collaborator with husband Christo, died in New York City. The art duo produced large-scale environmental installations including The Gates in Central Park. Treehugger and Philadelphia Inquirer

Whodunit? Researchers studying ancient lake deposits have ruled out habitat loss due to climate change and asteroid impact as the cause for the extinction of woolly mammoths. The possibility that humans hunted the large animals into oblivion is still under consideration. Los Angeles Times and New York Times

Chatter: Thousands of emails and documents from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia were stolen by a hacker and posted online. The content of the emails has stirred controversy, and global warming skeptics claim that the correspondence shows collusion and data manipulation. Wired and Examiner

--Della Watson

Is it Green? Scan its Barcode to Find Out.

Do you have trouble trying to find the most eco-friendly product in the store? Is it difficult to tell whether companies are greenwashing? Now GoodGuide has put responsible shopping just a few clicks away.

The first iPhone application that scans bar codes to provide ratings on healthy, green, and socially responsible products is here. The app – which is available for free from Apple’s iTunes App Store – allows consumers to compare and research more than 62,000 products by simply scanning the barcode.

Babies Crawl to Take a Stand

Thousands of babies are on a mission to Washington, D.C. They’re fed up with being exposed to more than 80,000 untested toxic chemicals lurking in their homes. OK, so not literally. But the Million Baby Crawl campaign is and they’re taking a stand for those that, well, can’t stand.

The campaign’s sponsor, Seventh Generation, plus Safer Chemicals Healthy Families and celebrities, such as Erin Brockovich, have joined together in support of the Million Baby Crawl. They want to strengthen the Toxic Substance Control Act, which currently regulates only 200 toxic chemicals.

Tomorrow is National Adoption Day

Some say that the decision to have children is the most important environmental choice we make. Even though globally we’re having fewer children now than 50 or 100 years ago, we’re at about 6.8 billion people and set to pass 9 billion by 2050, assuming the trend of fewer babies continues.

If you're planning a family but are worried about our burgeoning numbers, you might want to think about adopting a child instead of having one the biological way. Tomorrow, Nov. 21, is National Adoption Day. Here in the U.S. and around the world, millions of babies and children are orphaned or abandoned; others are waiting in foster care for a permanent family. They all deserve happy, loving homes.

Movie Review Friday: A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Review Friday selections. Each week we review a film with an environmental theme that's currently in theaters or available on DVD. Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a short review and look for it in the next Movie Review Friday.

A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish (2009)
Available on DVD
 

In A Sea Change, retired high school teacher Sven Huseby learns that the oceans are becoming more acidic because they’ve absorbed much of the carbon dioxide we’ve pumped into the atmosphere. He’s worried at the prospect of an ocean without fish – not for himself but for his grandson Elias, a mischievous, whip-smart 5-year-old who loves the sea. Huseby sets off on a journey to learn more about ocean acidification, talking with scientists, lawyers, alternative-energy entrepreneurs, and artists. He sends letters for Elias to read when he's older and can more fully appreciate his grandfather's quest.

The documentary is a solid primer on the science of ocean acidification, a problem that gets less attention than its twin issue, global warming. One of Huseby's strengths is that he doesn't preach what he knows but rather learns along with us. We can relate when we see him squinting in front of his computer at home, Googling keywords like “CO2 + H2O.” During interviews, he comes across as an eager, enthusiastic pupil.

But if A Sea Change only focused on science and facts, it might appeal to our brains but not our hearts. Fortunately, it's anchored in the connection between Huseby and his grandson; it’s one of the most touching depictions of the grandchild-grandparent relationship in recent filmmaking. When we see the pair happily fishing together at the film’s end, there’s a sense of heartache at what could be lost but also hope that we can save it.  

-- Année Tousseau

Daily Roundup: November 19, 2009

Watch This: The California Energy Commission approved the nation’s first energy standards for new high-definition TVs to take effect in Jan. 2011. Los Angeles Times

Warming Worries: Melting ice is diluting the Arctic Sea and endangering sea life dependent on the water's minerals. Reuters

Snail Diet: A Nigerian nutritionist hopes to solve hunger in Africa by promoting a healthy diet of giant snails, currently an invasive species. The snails are more nutritious than (and supposedly taste better) than beef. Treehugger

Greening Baseball: A Maryland minor-league baseball team, the NightHawks, changed its name to the GreenHawks in order to promote a greener baseball team with eco-friendly sponsors and uniforms made of recycled materials. ENN

Fishy Situation: Efforts to stop overfishing in Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific, by encouraging villagers to harvest coconuts have backfired. Coconut collectors earned so much money that they had more leisure time to fish. NPR

--Julie Littman

Buying Greener Gold

A new gold ring may dazzle, but its environmental history isn't very shiny. Many eco-minded people simply opt for other types of jewelry, but some retailers are demanding greener practices in the gold-mining industry. Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and K-mart, recently pledged to source its gold from more sustainable mines, joining 60 retailers in the "No Dirty Gold" campaign. Other high-profile retailers who've joined the campaign during its five-year run include Wal-mart and Tiffany & Co.

World Toilet Day Spreads Word on Crappy Problem

Here's some food for thought the next time you're sitting on the pot: Nearly 2.5 billion people lack access to proper sanitation, which kills 1.8 million people a year. To raise awareness of this messy issue while celebrating the importance of sanitation, the World Toilet Organization designated today, Nov. 19, as World Toilet Day.

The WTO, a global nonprofit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide, established World Toilet Day to highlight people’s right to a safe and hygienic sanitary environment. Lacking sanitation is socially and economically debilitating; diarrheal diseases kill five times as many children in developing countries as does HIV/AIDS, and they also cause people to spend weeks out of school or work.

Recyclops Takes Over The Office

Watch out office workers... Recyclops is on the loose! The character Dwight Schrute from NBC's The Office is part futuristic robot, part green crusader in tonight's green-themed episode. Fans of the show know that Dwight runs a small beet farm, so he's already scoring points when it comes to local foods. But tonight's episode takes it to a whole new level -- a level we don't recommend when you're trying to green your own office.

It's green week on NBC, part of its parent company Universal's "Green is Universal" campaign. Many of NBC's shows are getting out the green message, but we're not sure any of them can match the hilarity of Recyclops.

If you are looking to get your co-workers involved in green workplace solutions, check out our 10 ways to green your workplace and tips for getting your boss on board. 

--Kyle Boelte

Green Your Thanksgiving: Want Not, Waste Not

It's almost time for Americans to visit with loved ones, express gratitude, and eat a really, really big meal. This year, we're providing tips to help you celebrate Thanksgiving with less impact.

Tip #4: Streamline Your Meal

Most people expect to be well-fed on Thanksgiving, but you can reduce waste by considering portion size and guests' personal tastes. If no one actually likes mincemeat pie, don't make it just to satisfy tradition. Fill the bigger platters with local vegetables and serve more carbon-intensive food in a small dish with a small spoon to encourage dainty portions. Keep waste out of the landfill by sending leftovers home with guests and composting food scraps.

Share your tips: How do you reduce food waste during Thanksgiving?