The Green Life

Daily Roundup: November 25, 2009

Goin' to Copenhagen: The White House announced that President Obama will attend the December climate summit in Copenhagen and the U.S. will commit to reducing emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Sierra Club

Pedal Problems: Toyota will repair accelerator pedals on 2004 to 2008 model Prius hybrids as part of the automaker's largest-ever recall. Bloomberg

Good Gobble: President Obama pardoned the White House turkey, continuing a presidential tradition that began in 1989. CNN

Birds on the Brain: Martha Stewart discussed the horrors of the meat industry with vegetarian author Jonathan Safran Foer on her show's Thanksgiving episode. Ecorazzi and Green Daily

Home Grown: The first official state dinner for the Obama administration featured a menu inspired by the White House garden. The meal's arugula was harvested from the White House grounds. Treehugger

--Della Watson

Do Nothing This Holiday Season

Have you checked your holiday shopping list twice? Scoured the internet and newspapers for great sales? Picked out your favorites from this season’s must-haves? Well, you can forget all that this Black Friday.

That’s right. Instead of battling crowds for insane sales, Adbusters’ Buy Nothing Day wants you to stay home and do nothing. The reason? To stop the overconsumption that they claim is decimating the planet.

Buy Nothing Day could be perceived as being a bit extreme. In addition to not shopping, the campaign wants you to turn off the lights, park your car, and shut off all nonessential electronics and appliances. It does, however, help us think about what our lives would be like without consuming anything. Check out the event's Web site to find local events in your area.

--Julie Littman / image courtesy of Adbusters

The Sierra Club's Holiday Survival Guide

Thanksgiving is just days away, and that means lots of food, holiday traditions, and conversations with family members you haven’t seen in awhile. It’s a special time of the year, a time to think about what's important to you and what you're thankful for. But it’s also a time when we tend to butt heads with some of our extended family – you know, the ones who think we’re crazy for composting and driving a Prius.

Don't worry about making it through dinner, though. We’ve put together a handy Holiday Survival Guide that provides answers to common questions that environmentalists get asked during holiday dinners.

Have an uncle who thinks environmentalists are socialists? No problem. A cousin who doesn’t quite understand climate change? We’ve got you covered. How about an aunt who thinks coal is so cool that she actually likes getting it in her stocking? Yep, we got that one, too.

After you read the guide, head over to the Holiday Survival Support Group on Climate Crossroads to share your stories and tips.

You can also share the survival guide with your friends and family by sending them a Sierra Club Holiday e-card.

--Kyle Boelte

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

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.

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.

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?

Green Your Thanksgiving: Gratitude

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 #3: Appreciate the Natural World

Thanksgiving traditions vary, but most celebrations include some form of appreciation for the year's blessings. When expressing gratitude, take note of nature's gifts. You may feel thankful for a beautiful sunrise, a bountiful harvest, clean water, or colorful autumn leaves. By nurturing your connection with the planet, you will energize your environmental activism.

Share your tips: What do you appreciate about the natural world?

What Would You Say to the People of 2110?

What will the world be like in 2110? Will we finally get those flying cars we've been promised since The Jetsons premiered? All joking aside, we know our planet in 2110 will see hotter temperatures, higher seas, and more extreme weather events. But there is still time for our actions to make a difference to the people of the early 22nd century.

If you could leave one message for them, what would it be? Think hard, then go to loveletterstothefuture.com to upload your message, image, or video. The 100 messages voted most popular will be sealed in a time capsule at this December’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, to be opened in a century. 

The project is designed to get people thinking about how our decisions now will help or hinder future generations -- and those among us that will still be alive and kicking 100 years from now. 

--Année Tousseau