This fall, it seemed like the whole country was excited about America's national parks. Much of that had to do with Ken Burns’s new documentary, and (we’d like to think) some cool Sierra Club projects too.
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
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.
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.
Watch out office workers... Recyclops is on the loose! The character Dwight Schrute from NBC's The Officeis 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.
Across the country this week, people are coming together to watch a new documentary film called Coal Country. There have already been hundreds of house parties during which neighbors, school classes, and faith groups were treated to an advance screening and took action to urge the Obama administration to end mountaintop removal.
But that’s just the beginning. Coal Country premieres on Planet Green this Sat. at 8 p.m. ET; thousands are expected to tune in to see how mountaintop removal damages the environment and harms communities.
Plan to watch on Saturday, and tell your friends, family, and community about it today.
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.
In his 1963 book, Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak used fewer than 350 words to tell the story of a unruly little boy who discovers an imaginary, monster-filled kingdom. Spike Jonze's intimate film is darker and more complex, but the spellbinding adaptation preserves the lean force of the slim text.
Sprawling landscapes and intricately sculpted forts create a hypnotic and otherworldly setting where Max, the newly crowned king of the wild things, leads a group of motley monsters on a spree of vandalism and roughhousing that ultimately fails to cure his loneliness. Max has inherited a world of unlimited possibilities, yet the tenor of relationships in the kingdom can be best described by a monster named KW: "I'll eat you up, I love you so."
Trees, rocks, snow, and dirt bear the brunt of the movie's violence, but the characters' emotional hunger claims victims among the monsters as well. Max's ultimate (and rather abrupt) decision to return home to his family is, in some ways, an admission of failure: He realizes he isn't fit to be king.
Jonze's compassionate treatment of these hopeful, reckless characters resonates beyond the theater. Like Max's kingdom, Earth's shrinking forests, polluted oceans, and soot-filled skies prove that humans can be beastly. But unlike Max, we can't sail home to our mothers. This wild world is all we have; now we must learn how best to love it.
To celebrate the 40th season of the popular children's show Sesame Street, the Muppets are going green. This season's premiere will launch a two-year curriculum called "My World is Green and Growing," an environmental initiative that will feature segments like the above video, in which Michelle Obama helps Elmo, Big Bird, and the rest of the Sesame Street gang plant a vegetable garden. The series will also teach children about animal habitats, hibernation, migration, and the scientific method. But don't expect a Muppet version of An Inconvenient Truth: "Global warming and deforestation--those are really adult concepts, and it's just too scary for children," Sesame Workshop's Rosemarie Truglio told National Geographic News. Instead, the show's producers hope that children who develop positive feelings about the environment at a young age will grow up to be advocates for the earth. Truglio explained that "when you love something, you want to take care of it."
Fine Dining: Michelle Obama welcomed the cast of Iron Chef the White House garden to film an episode of the cooking show. The episode will premiere on January 3 on the Food Network. Ecorazzi
Poop Portrait: Artist Sam Mahon created a cow-dung sculpture of New Zealand environment minister Nick Smith to protest Smith's stance on dairy farm pollution. The manure bust sold for $2,220. Associated Press
Let's Work Together: President Obama met with 400 tribal leaders to discuss environmental coordination with the tribal nations. ENS
Underwater Matters: Sweden and Finland approved the construction of a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. Environmental groups have expressed concern about the pipeline's impact. Reuters
Less Thirsty: A study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that Americans used less water in 2005 than in 1975. Treehugger
At the Sierra Club, one of our icons is John Muir -- he’s our founder, after all. But who knew that Scotland was so fond of the man who made his name in the mountains of California? (OK, we admit that he was born in Scotland, but we think of him as our own.)
The folks at STV in Scotland must have Muir on the mind this fall – just as we did during Ken Burns’s The National Parks series – because they nominated Muir for the title of "Greatest Scot." That’s pretty good for a guy who left the country when he was 11.
There’s going to be a whole series of shows about great Scots, with the episode about Muir airing on Friday, Nov. 13. You’ll be able to watch the show online after it airs on TV.
Ever dreamed of chatting it up with Stephen Colbert? Or, dare we say it, Oprah herself? (We know you have, don’t deny it.) These and other celebrity “dates” and items are up for bidding at the sixth annual Chevy Chase Green School Auction. The proceeds benefit GREEN Community Schools, a program that creates partnerships between schools and communities to help both work toward sustainability.
The bids for some of the celebrity meetings are in the thousands-of-dollars range, but there are less expensive lots, such as a signed T-shirt from Paul Rudd, a signed book from Jimmy Carter, a suit and sunglasses worn by Paul Shaffer on The Late Show, and VIP tickets to The Daily Show. It all goes to a good, green cause, so check out the list of available lots and bid on them here.
