Frankly Green

Ship of Plastic Bottles to Send Eco-Message

Trek across Pacific will be atop 10,000 empties and dome with shower
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SAN FRANCISCO - You've heard of a ship in a bottle. How about a ship made of plastic bottles? That would be the Plastiki, designed to sail the Pacific on an 11,000-mile voyage highlighting the dangers of living in a throwaway world.

"Waste is fundamentally a design flaw. We wanted to design a vessel that would epitomize waste being used as a resource," said expedition leader David de Rothschild.

The boat is named in honor of the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl, an ocean adventure that inspired de Rothschild.

There's a bit more of a tie-in. One of the Plastiki team members is Josian Heyerdahl, the explorer's granddaughter.

The World Without Us

by Sharman Apt Russell
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Imagine an earth without humans. The how or why doesn't matter -- just poof . We die from disease or simply wink out. The premise of science writer Alan Weisman's The World Without Us is frankly delicious. Okay, sorry, I meant disturbing. Illuminating? Humbling? Insidious? In truth, I am not sure how I feel -- except completely hooked.

Much of the book is concerned with the things we leave behind. What, for example, happens to New York City? Without humans to pump the subways dry, the city floods. Sewer lines plug, pipes burst, streets become rivers. Even skyscrapers topple in this waterlogged mess. In about 300 years, all the bridges have collapsed. Moose and bear swim over to explore a forest of oak and beech. Rats and roaches, which relied on people for food and shelter in the bitter New York winters, are long gone. In New York, as elsewhere in the world, most domesticated animals and plants fail to survive in our absence. Feral cats, however, do just fine.

GrayisGreen.org - The National Senior Conservation Corps

I had the good fortune of meeting Robert E. Lane when my friend Robert Lane (no "E" and no relation to the former) introduced us. They met by chance and by virtue of sharing the same name. When I first met Robert E. Lane, he had the idea for GrayisGreen.org and now, through his efforts and the efforts of others, it has come to reality.

Below is a description of the National Senior Conservation Corps. I love the energy and attitude that they, and their entire generation for that matter, bring to tackling tough problems (and they have tackled a few!).

So congratulations Robert E. Lane and thank you Robert Lane for the introduction.

__________

GrayisGreen.org is a product of the elderly residents of Whitney Center, a retirement home in Hamden, Connecticut. While the generation born in the 1930s may be called seniors, we elderly were born in the 1910s and 1920s. With one exception, ours is an honorable history. We grew up in – and survived – the depression, defeated Fascism, Nazism, and Japanese imperialism, created the United Nations, held steady in the Cold War and, along with our children, defeated the tyrannical Communist system. We have been called the “Civic Generation” because, more than earlier and later generations, we took an interest in public affairs, turned out to vote, organized civic groups to fight for civil rights, civil liberties, and the relief of illness and poverty.

Imagine Earth Without People

The human impact on earth

by Bob Holmes

Link to Article

Humans are undoubtedly the most dominant species the Earth has ever known. In just a few thousand years we have swallowed up more than a third of the planet's land for our cities, farmland and pastures. By some estimates, we now commandeer 40 per cent of all its productivity. And we're leaving quite a mess behind: ploughed-up prairies, razed forests, drained aquifers, nuclear waste, chemical pollution, invasive species, mass extinctions and now the looming spectre of climate change. If they could, the other species we share Earth with would surely vote us off the planet.

15,589 Number of species threatened with extinction

Now just suppose they got their wish. Imagine that all the people on Earth - all 6.5 billion of us and counting - could be spirited away tomorrow, transported to a re-education camp in a far-off galaxy. (Let's not invoke the mother of all plagues to wipe us out, if only to avoid complications from all the corpses). Left once more to its own devices, Nature would begin to reclaim the planet, as fields and pastures reverted to prairies and forest, the air and water cleansed themselves of pollutants, and roads and cities crumbled back to dust.

U.N. Report: Forestry Can Create 10 Million Jobs

By Katy Byron, CNN

Link to Article

The United Nations is urging countries to invest in green jobs working with "sustainable forest management" to address the growing problem of unemployment worldwide.

At least 10 million such jobs could be created, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will say in a report to be released this week.

The report does not mention any countries but is aimed at "mainly regions with substantial rural unemployment and degraded land areas," said C.T.S. Nair, chief economist in the U.N. Forestry Department and one of the authors of the report.

Earth Hour - Saturday, March 28 at 8:30pm

Who: Earth Hour (a global WWF climate change initiative where individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.) and Experience Project (EP)   (the largest site for anonymously connecting and sharing common experiences).

What: Earth Hour and EP have teamed up to urge the public to get involved by sharing their support, stories, and practical tips on going green as part of Earth Hour’s annual event where millions of people spanning 64 countries ban together and turn off their lights for one hour as a statement against global warming.  Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square, will also stand in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

To show support for Earth Hour, EP will go dark. For every 100 points EP members pledge (points are earned by participating in challenges, posting stories etc.), the site will go dark for one second.  The goal is to keep the site dark for as long as possible.

By visiting the EP links below, visitors will have the ability to get proactive in helping reverse climate change through various means such as: a 30 day challenge to turn off all unnecessary appliances, signing a petition to conserve energy, or playing trivia games where accrued points can be used to buy time to keep the EP homepage dark during the day of the event.

In addition, Earth Hour also has a Facebook application where members can earn “Earth Minutes” by sending messages to friends urging participation.  The goal of the app. is to reach 60 friends to achieve 60 Earth Minutes.

When: March 23 through March 28, 2009 
Where: http://www.experienceproject.com/index.php
Pledge to go dark: http://www.experienceproject.com/mk/earth_hour_pledge.php
Access the Earth Hour Facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/ep-earthhour/

Kids Safe Chemical Act

Below is a note that my friend Greg T. sent to all his friends after attending the presentation by Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group last night. Thanks Greg, not just for the great write-up, but for taking action!! And thanks to my friend Marie M. for organizing the event and to all the other co-hosts that made the event a huge success (over 300 people attended!)

There is also a great post on More Green Mom's.

Friends -

The Kid Safe Chemicals Act (KSCA), if passed, will overhaul the incredibly weak Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976.
Please call or write your senator or representative ASAP, and urge them to vote for the KSCA.

I saw a one hour version of this presentation tonight by Ken Cook.   The video is 20 minutes.  It is a must see, for all who care about our children, ourselves and the future of the human race.  Link to Video.

Here is a link to a newspaper article that summarizes the presentation that Ken has been giving all over the country since 2005.

There are now over 80,000 toxic chemicals in products that are strongly implicated in statistics such as:
-        40% increase in childhood brain cancer in the past 20 years
-        62% increase in childhood leukemia in past 20 years
-        Skyrocketing rates of infertility in women under 25
-        1 in 150 children with autism, and NO cases of severe autism in adults, because the chemicals                 causing autism are new
-        3.6% of children with asthma in 1980 and 9.8% of children with asthma in 2000
-        Huge increases in breast cancer, prostate cancer, birth defects, ADHD and on and on

In order to get a new drug approved (through FDA), it takes many years, animal studies, human studies, and many millions of dollars to prove the drug is safe and efficacious.  Even then, all drugs have side effects and some drugs are eventually taken off the market because of hazards that went undetected in 10 years and 10s or 100s of millions of dollars of testing.  In striking contrast, for new chemicals to be sold, there are no health and safety studies required and virtually no disclosures necessary for the chemical to be put on the market.  The entire approval process for a new chemical (through EPA) takes about 3 weeks.  A total of only 5 chemicals of the 80,000 have been severely restricted or banned using the law in the past 33 years.  Amazingly, the law was too weak to get asbestos removed from the market when the first President Bush attempted to do so.

Please call or write your congressional and senate representatives and urge them to pass the Kid Safe Chemicals Act.  And sign the Declaration. We can and must create a tidal wave of support for KSCA, to reverse the horrific wave of human damage caused by unregulated chemicals.

Greg

Women of Influence on Hope to Action

The Hope to Action team is excited to announce our new website, featuring Women of Influence, a community blog of female leaders from across the country who are taking action for a greener planet.

Read exclusive entries by activists Kerry Kennedy, Laurie David, and First Lady of San Francisco, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.  Be inspired by the personal perspectives of members Lisa Bennett, Sharon Kedar and Christine Gardener.

Each one of these women represents the growing movement of Hope to Action.  We serve as a meeting ground and action center for all women and organizations who share the belief that each of us has a vital role to play in shaping our country's green, clean energy future.

Be inspired and take action today!

Soft is Rough on Forests

Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests
By Leslie Kaufman, NYT
Link to Article

Thanks to my friends Eric N. and Marc C. for this article!

Americans like their toilet tissue soft: exotic confections that are silken, thick and hot-air-fluffed.

The national obsession with soft paper has driven the growth of brands like Cottonelle Ultra, Quilted Northern Ultra and Charmin Ultra — which in 2008 alone increased its sales by 40 percent in some markets, according to Information Resources, Inc., a marketing research firm.

But fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests in Canada. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them.

Environmental Issues Slide in Poll of Public's Concerns

By Andrew C. Revkin, NTY
Link to Article

Thanks to my friend Tom P. at Data360 for this article. Be sure to check out Tom's site. It has loads of great data on a wide variety of topics!

A new poll suggests that Americans, preoccupied with the economy, are less worried about rising global temperatures than they were a year ago but remain concerned with solving the nation’s energy problems.

The findings are somewhat at odds with President Obama, who has put a high priority on staving off global warming and vowed Tuesday in his Inaugural Address to “roll back the specter of a warming planet.”

In the poll, released Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, global warming came in last among 20 voter concerns; it trailed issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing the influence of lobbyists. Only 30 percent of the voters deemed global warming to be “a top priority,” compared with 35 percent in 2008.