It's like Facebook for Social Justice and Green Living

Hat tip to my mother on this one!

World Index for Social and Environmental Responsibility, which is the spelled out version of WiserEarth.org

According to their website,

WiserEarth serves the people who are transforming the world. It is a community-editable international directory and networking forum that maps and connects the largest movement in the world – the hundreds of thousands of organizations and concerned individuals that address social justice, poverty, and the environment.

WiserEarth provides the tools and a platform for organizations, businesses funders, social entrepreneurs, students, organizers, academics, activists, scientists, and citizens to find each other, make connections, build alliances and share resources.

Signing up is quick and easy so you can join 18,000+ others who want to network and learn about all the great stuff people are going in the world to make it a more sustainable and just planet.
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Vote Green (energy)!

I just got an email about PowerVote.org, a non-partisan grass roots effort to support green energy candidates and initiatives in the upcoming election cycle. Join over 100,000 (and growing) Americans who want to see country, and our world, make the necessary turn.

The platform is six simple pillars:

The Platform

1. GREEN JOBS NOW

Invest in millions of new green jobs, strengthen the American middle class and create new pathways out of poverty for millions more. By retooling our factories, revamping our schools, and rebuilding our communities, we can create a sustainable, just, and prosperous future for all.

2. INVEST IN A CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY

Unleash American ingenuity and launch a new wave of affordable clean energy technology. We need more federal and private investments in public transit, ultra-efficient vehicles, and renewable energy like wind and solar.

3. CUT GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION NOW

To ensure our health, prosperity, and security, scientists tell us we must rapidly drive US global warming pollution towards zero. We can and must accomplish this transition to a clean energy future in an equitable and just manner.

4. END OUR DEPENDENCE ON DIRTY ENERGY

Enact an immediate moratorium on new coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear plant construction and infrastructure, while phasing out existing plants and fossil fuel extraction and ensuring a just transition for the workforce and communities

5. RE-ENGAGE AS A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Global warming requires a global solution. We must shift the focus of American foreign policy from military intervention to international cooperation and join the world in pursuing peace and international development, thereby offering assistance to vulnerable and impacted communities.

6. TAKE DIRTY MONEY OUT OF POLITICS

It's time to make government accountable to "We the People." Put voters first and refuse campaign contributions from dirty energy interests.

This election is important for so many reasons. Top amongst them is the prospect to significantly impact the manner in which we embark, collectively as a nation, in this new chapter of American history. There is a phrase often employed by both Palestinians and Israelis to describe the other, in that they "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." The same can be said about the American voter. How blind can a nation be until we wake up and simply establish our democratic right to say, "Enough!"

The waste and grandeur which goes into the election process is sad. In an era where people cannot afford healthcare, education or basic necessities, is it prudent for a candidate to amass over $60 million of the electorate's money? In an era plagued by media distortion and shameful lack of transparency, is it honorable to employ outright lies and baseless rhetoric in the pursuit of supposed leadership? And moreso, is it in the spirit of freedom and liberty that we abide by it and stand idly? There's a reason Thomas Jefferson believed regular revolutions were necessary to keep this nation healthy.

Well, the least we can do, I suppose, is vote green. And how refreshing that we actually may have something to come together as a nation, not because we want to but because we need to. This chance for a non-partisan effort not in the name of parties but in the name of people.

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Bill Nye the Science Guy is coming back to TV

While I no longer own a television, a deplorable percentage of my childhood was spent in front of the television despite my mother's best efforts. One show which kept me engrossed well into my high school years was Bill Nye the Science Guy, recently profiled here. He taught us about simple science by doing fun, wacky experiments in a bow tie and a lab boat.

Well, he's back. Discovery Communications has brought a new network on the air, Planet Green, which touts itself as "the first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network with a robust online presence and community." According to Treehugger.com (great site!), Bill Nye will host "Stuff Happens," a new show premiering in early September that examines the origins of our consumer products.

Bill Nye is going to examine, in his bow tie and lab coat, the chemical and scientific elements of our household consumer items. I think we can imagine what he might find...

According to the network's site, the premiere show will be on "Breakfast," however, according to Treehugger.com, the sister site of the Planet Green network (I think it's there "robust online presence"), the premiere episode is about the bathroom. [despite the report on the network's website, the network's schedule agrees with Treehugger.com editor's note: A preview airs tonight, August 26, at 9pm Eastern on Planet Green, which focuses on breakfast.]

While I think that the nature of television continues the thoughtless consumer culture that has evolved in our society, the fact that Discovery Communications feels it is in their economic interest to create a television network dedicated to programming about sustainability and ecologically sensitive development shows the consumer demand is rising. Ultimately, the consumer is responsible in a market economy to accept or reject products--for better or worse, corporations can only be expected to produce what we demand. As the demand for ecological sustainability increases, the corporate structure will need to refine and reform accordingly in order to survive. Take, for example, T. Boone Pickens, who is investing the two-thirds of his $3 billion dollar energy empire in wind (which he clearly sits to profit from handsomely, since he owns the largest wind farm in America--an oilman can change to a "windman," but a profiteer is a profiteer).

Traditionally, business has been about growth and consumption. This has ultimately led to a depletion of resources and environmental abuse that is amounting in worldwide catastrophic effect. Yet, even by assuring the good ratings of this network and this program, we can make an inevitable impact.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but, watch your TV and turn your channel to Planet Green!
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Is medical botany the answer to 'Silent Spring'?

In the book that is credited with triggering the American environmentalist movement in the 1970s, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) claimed that the widespread use of chemical pesticides and herbicides were having an irreparable effect on our natural environment and our health. The New York Times reports on Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a research scientist studying medical biochemistry and botany at the University of Ottawa school of medicine.

The article opens:

Diana Beresford-Kroeger pointed to a towering wafer ash tree near her home.

The tree is a chemical factory, she explained, and its products are part of a sophisticated survival strategy. The flowers contain terpene oils, which repel mammals that might feed on them. But the ash needs to attract pollinators, and so it has a powerful lactone fragrance that appeals to large butterflies and honeybees. The chemicals in the wafer ash, in turn, she said, provide chemical protection for the butterflies from birds, making them taste bitter.

Many similar unseen chemical relationships are going on in the world around us. “These are at the heart of connectivity in nature,” she said.

The main focus of the report is on the many uses of trees and the many effects they have on our health and environment. Ms. Beresford-Kroeger has a somewhat radical idea in how we can incorporate medical botany into our urban planning and sustainable development. Again, from the NYT:

She favors what she terms a bioplan, reforesting cities and rural areas with trees according to the medicinal, environmental, nutritional, pesticidal and herbicidal properties she claims for them, which she calls ecofunctions.

Wafer ash, for example, could be used in organic farming, she said, planted in hedgerows to attract butterflies away from crops. Black walnut and honey locusts could be planted along roads to absorb pollutants, she said.

This theory, if researched and implemented correctly could spell the end of the need for chemical pesticides and herbicides, if the same result could be achieved by creative foresting.

Ultimately, the article leaves the reader with the notion that we really know very little. "Dr. Wilson, at Harvard, said that more research into the role of trees in the ecosystem was imperative and that it was alarming how little was known. 'We need more research of this kind to use the things we have, such as trees, to their fullest,' he said." "We," of course, are urban westerners. Indigenous peoples, have incredible knowledge of their native botany and its medical uses.

This knowledge is not lost and we can learn it from others. The important research that Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger is incredibly important for the future of our food production and could be key in producing urban farming as a reality.

Millions of pounds of synthetic chemicals are dropped on our food supply, and therefore into our soil and water, to protect crops from bugs. These chemicals are not harmless. 'Bioplanning' provides an alternative to the wasteful and harmful practice that utilizes our natural ecosystems instead; cycles and processes 'built in' so that our planet functions in balance and order.

Check out the article, it's a good read!
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"To go beyond recycling"

CNN reports about an international community called "The Compact" that has three simple goals (according to their blog):

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

As the article would have it, The Compact is about saving money. This is no small reason to reduce our consumption, but it is not the most significant message of the group's ideology. That would be, "simplify."

The group has a very active Yahoo group and their blog is a regular roll of great ways to contribute, as an individual, to bettering our world, our environment and our lives.

Their mission, in my own words, appears to be this. Reuse as much as possible. Buy local. Acquire less. Eliminate unnecessary consumer spending. How are these related? We all know how ridiculous our consumer culture has become. On my walk to the market to buy local, organic vegetables last week, I encountered a line of people outside the Apple Store (they weren't there to buy local, organic apples). They were there to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a new toy that most people were sure to be disappointed with, meanwhile making rich people even richer (and poor people poorer, by effect--that's capitalism, baby!). The Compact seeks to end the phenomenon of lines for Apples, and any other product, and would much rather you buy a local, organic apple (than an Apple iPhone.)

What we forget is that when we buy unnecessary consumer goods we enter into a cycle, and a chain of production. If you haven't seen it, The Story of Stuff will tell you a little bit about the cycle of consumerism. The Compact reminds us that it is simple to avoid being party to this destructive trend. To quote a woman referred to in the article, "You don't just go out and needlessly shop as a hobby."

By opting out of the capitalist, consumer "grid" we create a paradigm and a model for a society that is not blind to the affect of its foreign policy, which serves primarily to sustain the corporate consumerism that has grown in our country. Buying local is a way to support the US economy, and support real people. No stimulus package or tax-refund can do for our pocketbooks what localized economic habits can.

Next time you need to fill the fridge, skip the grocery store and go to the farmers' market, there's even meat sold at most markets today! Simply google "farmers' market" and the name of your town or city. The next time you need to replace some clothes, try going to a resale shop--there are high end grabs in many (if you look hard) and you're not directly supporting child and sweatshop labor. Instead of throwing away old furniture, see if you can reuse it for other things; or donate it instead of throwing it away.

For many, many more ways to step away from consumer culture check out The Compact's blog and look for the link to your community on their webpage!
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Saving the World one wrapper at a time...

There are a number of people who I have been blessed with meeting who have been a significant and concrete positive impact on my life. One of those people is Scot Quaranda.

"Every time we purchase something, we are
voting with our dollars and my vote is for a
healthy planet and for a world future generations
can love and enjoy."

Aside from being an all around great guy, and pretty damn smart, Scot has taught me an incredible amount about the role we play as a consumer in today's world. Our purchasing matters, and it has direct impact on our environment. One way that this is clear is in the amount of paper we use in our society. As we all know, paper comes from trees, and trees, well, let's simply say trees are pretty darn important.

Scot is dedicating his professional life to saving our forests. He works as a campaign director for the Dogwood Alliance, a non-profit based in Asheville, NC that focuses on saving US forests in the South by reducing non-sustainable forestry, lumbering and milling.

"recycling is the third R after reduce and reuse
which are better alternatives whenever possible"

The primary message of the group today is to use less paper, and when we do use, choose 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) products. Dogwood Alliance celebrated a major victory in 1999 by urging a study to be conducted by the US Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

the study showed that the Southern United States produces more timber than any other country in the world and paper is the number one wood commodity produced in the region. It also confirmed that Southern forests are some of the most biologically diverse and endangered in North America.

According to the Dogwood Alliance website, 90% of the forests in the Southern US are privately owned. This "private property" (as if such a thing could actually exist...) happens to be home to some of the most diverse forests in the country, and even the world, and, in addition to other aspects which you can read about when you go to their website), the highest concentration of wetlands in the US--which serve as an integral part of the eco-system for purification and water storage,

"the safest type of packaging for our
forests is 100% post-consumer recycled
packaging which ensures no new trees
were cut down in the production of that
packaging"

and also are home to countless species of birds, aquatic life and mammals. In 2002, the Dogwood Alliance, in coordination with ForestEthics was able to get Staples (yes, the office store Staples) to commit to phase out paper sourced from endangered forests and invest in PCR products.

The campaigns that the Dogwood Alliance are focusing on today include continuing their work with the office supply industry and packaging reform. The amount of waste we produce because of unnecessary and wasteful packaging (think grocery bags, plastic bags, take-out packaging, online shopping) is unfathomable and "symbolizes the disposable society we have become," as the group's website so aptly puts it. The group, along with Campaign to Protect the Southern Forests, is targeting fast-food, and has a great website at www.nofreerefills.org

"If we work together to solve the packaging problem,
more of our forests will remain standing, meaning more
wildlife habitat, healthier communities and more valuable
land to sequester carbon thus helping to mitigate the climate crisis.

Be sure to check it out and play Packaging Man! I asked Scot some questions about packaging, and what we can do as individuals to make a positive impact.

Click below to read what he has to say. Before you do head over to the Dogwood Alliance (click here!) and say, Thank you!


Justin: what packaging is the safest for our forests?

Scot: The first question you should ask yourself is, “is this packaging really necessary?” If it is, the second question is, “have a utilized a design that produces the strongest packaging using the least amount of material?” After you have answered those questions, the safest type of packaging for our forests is 100% post-consumer recycled packaging which ensures no new trees were cut down in the production of that packaging.

are there any large companies that have made real and meaningful change, have any completely committed to sustainable packaging?
While no company is perfect, a number of companies have taken meaningful steps to reduce their packaging footprint. Companies like Patagonia, Keen Shoes and Timberland have reduced excessive packaging. Companies like Kellogs and Celestial Seasons have committed to 100% pcr packaging. And even corporate giants like Wal-Mart have worked with its suppliers to reduce the overall use of packaging in products they sell at their stores.

for people who try to "reduce their carbon footprint," what can they do to stop using paper goods?
I believe that all efforts small and large make a difference on this front. The first question you should ask yourself is do I really need to use this paper? If the answer is yes, then take steps to be more conscious about it. Always buy 100% recycled copy paper and toilet paper. Buy in bulk whenever possible. Bring Tupperware and reusable mugs with you whenever you go to restaurants or coffee shops. Print on the backside of your paper or double-side your printing whenever possible and increase the margins in order to print on less pages. For more great tips, visit: http://www.shrinkpaper.org/

can't we just recycle it anyways, why does it matter if it's already been recycled or not?
First thing to remember here is that recycling is the third R after reduce and reuse which are better alternatives whenever possible. Recycling is a great step, but by purchasing recycled products you are stimulating the market for the paper you recycle and helping to dramatically reduce the number of acres of forests destroyed, reduce the tons of pollution spewed into rivers and the air, and reducing your overall climate footprint.

Are we better off using recycled paper goods or more, durable goods--even if those goods are plastic or other petro-chemical based product?
Paper versus plastic is a false dichotomy. Each material brings with it destruction associated with resource extraction, industrial processing and environmental degradation associated with our rampant consumption habits in North America. When you need to consume, your best choice is to buy less and buy smart. Every time we purchase something, we are voting with our dollars and my vote is for a healthy planet and for a world future generations can love and enjoy.

Is there such a thing as sustainable forestry?
Though all forestry has an impact on soil, water quality, wildlife habitat, and local communities, some forestry is better than others. Our organization supports Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of forests, which limits the size of clear-cuts, use of toxic chemicals in forest management, and creates no go zones for the world’s endangered forests. It is currently the only credible forest certification out there.

sustainable packaging?
Again here, the best option is the smallest amount of packaging with the highest amount of environmental attributes. Reduce and reuse first, and if necessary make sure the packaging used is high post-consumer content recycled or FSC-certified.

What kind of packaging should I look for?
When you do need to buy something that is packaged rather than in bulk, look for the packaging that uses the least amount of material possible, that is high post-consumer recycled fiber and where this is unavailable, that is FSC-certified.

If real change is made, what will the difference look like in our forests, in our landfills, in our lives?
If we work together to solve the packaging problem, more of our forests will remain standing, meaning more wildlife habitat, healthier communities and more valuable land to sequester carbon thus helping to mitigate the climate crisis. 40-50% of landfill space is taken up by paper and wood products, so by decreasing this load and increasing the amount that is reused and recycled we decrease the amount of land that must be used for landfills, we stop a large percentage of the methane gas released from the decomposition of paper which is a major greenhouse gas emitter and we keep our local communities, usually in the most marginalized regions of our country, healthy and vibrant. Our lives will become simpler and less cluttered and the air we breathe, water we drink and environment we enjoy will be much cleaner and enjoyable. Additionally, research shows that paper mill communities are the most toxic and economically depressed, when we move away from this destructive industry, we open the door for more sustainable economies based on local forest-based tourism and lower-impact factories and industries.

What are three things people can do to make a difference in this regard?
There are so many small steps an individual can take to make a difference. Three easy steps are to buy less over-packaged products, carry with you Tupperware, canvas bags, and refillable mugs, and when you have to buy packaged good, show your preference for high post-consumer recycled packaging or packaging that carries the FSC label. Of course, you should also support your local environmental initiatives and groups including Dogwood Alliance. And while you are at it, visit www.nofreerefills.org so you can play our environmentally-themed video game, Packaging Man and take a moment to send the CEOs at the big fast food companies an email ask them to support the work to solve the packaging problem.




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Will LA City Council ban plastic bags?

Shoppers of Whole Foods Markets are already used to this trend, but now the city of Los Angeles is taking action--and good thing. When people refer to 'plastic bags,' we are talking about polyethylene bags, a petroleum product. These plastics are made from the same oil as our gasoline and add substantially to worldwide pollution and waste.

The LA Times reports that the City Council of Los Angeles voted today to ban plastic carryout bags in the city's supermarkets and stores by July 2010, if the State of California fails to impose legislation requiring a $.25 fee on each bag requested from a store or market. The city hopes to reduce the number of plastic bags in LA by 30% by 2010.

Estimates say that almost 400 billion plastic mags are manufactured for use in the United States each year, 100 billion are thrown away. The fact of the matter is that plastic bags, while a nuisance and a danger to birds and sea life, are incredibly useful and practical. They are lightweight, compact and reusable--in other words, shipping and producing them is relatively easy. However we all need to be more responsible with how we use our plastic bags.

The simplest way to more responsibly use plastic bags is to use them as sparingly as possible. The most successful and sustainable form of recycling is reusing. By reusing we reduce waste and keep harmful product out of landfills. Plastic bags are great to take to the market to bring home your local fruits, veggies and flowers; they are handy trash bags for small bins and can even be used to dump organic kitchen waste to your backyard compost bin or heap, and then wash the bag and use it again. I just used a number of plastic bags to bundle clothes to donate. There uses are endless, and with so many billions of them being made all the time, isn't it time to stop using and producing new ones? The other way to help get rid of some of these bags is to buy reusable bags that are more durable and made of recycled plastic and/or glass or use baskets.

The LA City Council is taking a positive step to create a serious reduction in the amount of plastic bags in just two years. Regulating citywide business, in this regard, is not a solution. However, the statement to actively reduce the use of plastic bags by a substantial amount in a relatively short amount of time is a good model and sends a positive message.

Thank you, people of Los Angeles, for beginning to reduce plastic bags in our city.
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Winona LaDuke talks about Thunder Beings

One of my favorite people, 1996 and 2000 Green Party vice-presidential candidate and activist Winona LaDuke, has an interview in Yes! Magazine. Ms. LaDuke has made her name with an amazingly impressive and positive resume as an activist for indigenous rights, and environmental and anti-nuclear movements as well. Born to a Jewish mother and Ojibwe father in LA, Ms. LaDuke now lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota, and is the executive director of Honor the Earth and White Earth Land Recovery Project (YOU REALLY NEED TO CLICK HERE!!!), in the interview Winona LaDuke spins a tale of traditional belief, traditional food and how to live and not destroy.

Ojibwe is a language of 8,000 verbs. The word for “work” is a strange construct for us. It doesn’t mean we aren’t a hard-working people, but in our language, the word is anokii, which means that whether you are fishing or weaving a basket, what you are doing is living—which is not the same thing as being paid a wage to do something.
After the harvest, we have a big feast, and we dance and tell stories. The anthropologists watched us, and they didn’t like that. They said we would never become civilized because we enjoyed our harvest too much. We did too much dancing, too much singing.
When you no longer enjoy your relationship to your food, to your plant relatives, to the harvest, to the dancing and singing—when you end up with a harvest that has no relationships or joy, I think that must be the mark of civilization and industrialized agriculture.

Ultimately, Winona LaDuke sets out a very positive look at possibilities. She tells it like it is, and unfortunately, "it" is a depressing tale of how governments, corporations, and pure consumer ignorance has led to the absolute depletion of indigenous food practices and indigenous food knowledge--worldwide. But LaDuke shows us this positive example from her own homestead,

We are growing more of our own food. About seven years ago, we got a handful of Bear Island flint corn from a seed bank and now we have about five acres of it. The corn is higher in amino acids, antioxidants, and fiber than anything we can buy in the store.
The traditional varieties of food that we grew as indigenous peoples—before they industrialized them and bred out much of the nutritional value—are the best answer to our diabetes. A third of our population is diabetic. We give elders and diabetic families traditional foods every month: buffalo meat, wild rice, hominy.
My 8-year-old, Gwekaanimad, and I started a pilot project with the school lunch program after I saw that they were eating pre-packaged food from
Sodexho, Sysco, and Food Services of America. We try to give our school kids a buffalo a month and also some deer meat, some local pork, and local turkeys. We started growing and raising our own. It’s just a start. We had to de-colonize our kids, too, because they got used to thinking that their food was that other stuff.
We plowed 150 gardens last year on our reservation. I’m a big proponent of gardens, not lawns. It turns out in most reservation housing projects you can’t grow food. That spot in front of your house is where you park your car, or your dogs will trample it, or your cousin will drive over it. So we’re putting two-foot-tall grow boxes up there, and you can grow a lot of vegetables in them.
Our goal is to produce enough food for a thousand families in five years. And these foods we are growing in anishinaabe akiing are not addicted to petroleum, and they don’t require irrigation or all those inputs. These strong plant relatives just require songs and care for the soil. And in a time of climate destabilization, that is what you want to be growing. You don’t want to be guessing with some hybrid.

Personally, I'm going to listen to Winona LaDuke about rice LONG before I listen to Uncle Ben.
Really, click above, read the interview, buy some rice and other goods (Minnesota's closer than Thailand or India, even if it isn't local!), but more importantly, you can trust it came from a positive source.

Thank you, Winona LaDuke, for a lifetime of positive action, creation and living.
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One MORE reason to move to Hawaii

The Honolulu Star Bulletin editorializes:

"The 50th state is the first in the nation to require solar water heaters to be installed on new single-family homes,"

and a good thing! Hawaii is setting themselves up as a model of positive development, following countries like Israel--who has had mandatory solar heating on all residences except for towers with inadequate roof-space since the 1970s. This means that 90% of family homes in Israel have solar water heaters.

Why every city in America doesn't do this, is beyond me. But here's one example of someone who took the matter into their own hands--literally.
Or if you're not feeling up to that challenge, they're actually pretty reasonably priced.

I'm writing Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles today. Why not write your mayor, too? Even if you're in Israel or Hawaii! Just to say, Thank you!
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Some healthy competition

The Huffington Post is reporting a totally new take on "beating the jones'." Neighborly competition may be a highlight of human nature. We've all seen those people who build a bigger extension, put up more Christmas lights, buy a nicer car, anything to out-do the neighbors. But now, Bill Nye (the Science Guy, of former child-TV fame) and Ed Begley, Jr. (with a TV and film resume too long to list) have entered into a friendly, neighborly competition that should serve as a model for that competitive bug that resides in every human. Find out what it is...

Ed Begley, Jr. has long been an activist for clean green living. He is a former owner of the GM EV1 (watch "Who Killed the Electric Car?"), has a line of green cleaning supplies and is one of the more outspoken voices in Hollywood against climate change and has been so for at least two decades, long before the green-fad was upon us. Ed Begley and Bill Nye reside in Studio City, CA and when Bill Nye moved in two years ago the two began a "greener than him" competition. The article at The Huffington Post lists all the specs of each actor's green abode, and it is impressive.

Clearly one needs lots of cash to create such a home in today's world, but they can be a model for us all on rethinking competition. Furthermore, some of their improvements, like collecting rainwater for cleaning and watering plants or growing simple garden foods like herbs and greens, are things we can ALL do to reduce our "carbon footprints."

So, while we may not all have the financial ability to challenge our neighbor to a "greener than thou" spat of competition we can each challenge ourselves to make small changes. Bring your own reusable bags to the store to carry off your locally grown produce, re-use your plastic goods instead of sending them to the recycling plant and assume it's all ok (for a good, but out-dated read on the problems with traditional recycling, look here), use green businesses when you can and there's more.

I, for one, encourage the competition between Mr. Nye and Mr. Begley and encourage us all to reduce our own carbon footprint.

Thank you, Bill Nye and Ed Begley, for being a model of healthy competition.

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