Blackwater River State Park, Escambia/Santa Rosa, FL
The Florida Forever Coalition is at it again this year with its annual Take a Hike, Florida! event meant to celebrate and protect public wildlife and outdoor recreation activities throughout the state. This year, the hikes will take place on Saturday, March 26thin the morning (time may vary per county).
In an effort to support and raise awareness about the state’s Florida Forever conservation land-buying program, the Coalition will partner with local supporters this weekend to take part in a day of friendly hiking under the sun.
The event was designed to celebrate Florida’s natural resources and raise awareness of its public land spaces which everyone can enjoy on a regular basis. The hikes will take place across the state and will be open to the public. To find events in your county – choose from Brevard, Duval, Escambia/Santa Rosa, Hillsborough, Lake, Leon, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco, Seminole, Wakulla, and Washington – check out this link: Take a Hike, Florida!
Sand Pond at Trout Pond Recreation Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Wakulla County, FL
With highs set to hit the mid-80sF in South Florida this Saturday, spending the day outside among lush trees, singing birds, and a sweet breeze sounds like heaven to me! Plus, this year, the Coalition has made it a lot easier to collaborate in the fun compared to the form-filling they required last time, when celebrating 20 years of public land acquisition.
Remember to wear comfortable and breathable (cotton!) clothing and footwear (I love and recommend these shoes if you enjoy walking barefoot), biodegradablesunscreen that’s good for you and harmless toward the environment, and bring water in a reusable non-plastic container! Oh, and a photo camera, of course, to snap plenty of embarrassing shots of friends and strangers you can then use to blackmail … I mean, to show those who missed out what a grand ol’ time you had. Clearly.
A view of Jordan Pond in the Acadia National Park of Maine, USA
By Maria Rainier
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, don’t just consider minimizing your carbon footprint during an eco-tour. Consider what more you can do to give back. Many tours and travel experiences that encourage you to volunteer—voluntourism, as it were—are much more affordable than their lounging-on-the-beach varieties. With a carefully planned eco-tour of your own or hopping on the bandwagon with like-minded do-gooders, you can face the new year with your wallet intact, a cleaner conscience, and a cleaner planet.
Cactus at Big Bend National Park in Texas
Stay Local to Mind Your Carbon Footprint
Not only do air fares skyrocket during the holiday season, we leave a hefty carbon footprint every time we step on a plane. Instead, consider riding a train or even cycling to your eco-destination, depending on your location. If you call North America home, consider the Big Bend National Park in Texas. It’s got 800 acres of America’s biggest national park and it’s open year-round, although it may close on Christmas Day. Rather than driving around and pitter-pattering carbon footprints across the park, get out and enjoy the outdoors and camp in one of the three campgrounds, $14.00 a night after a $10 seven-day pass per individual.
If you’re on the east coast, consider the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, North Carolina, where you can bring the whole family (even the dog) and go hiking and fishing, and relax after a day spent outdoors at its gourmet restaurant with its own two acre organic garden. During the summer and fall, guests can learn how to grow, harvest, and cook assorted veggies, herbs, and flowers you might find in such a garden. A room costs $89.00 a night. If you’re planning a holiday vacation here, consider the Christmas Day Buffet Celebration Weekend Package or the Christmas Eve 4-Course Dinner Weekend Package.
Meanwhile, up north awaits the Acadia National Park, from where you can see the Atlantic coastline and the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. You can camp for between $14 and $20 a night depending on the site.
Raspberry bushes at a small WWOOF participant farm in Wattamolla Valley, near Berry, NSW, Australia
Give Back to Save Greens
If you’re feeling more industrious and a little bit like pinching pennies this holiday season or in the coming year, consider bartering your way through an eco-tour. Sierra Club’s Outings program has countless trips ranging from $400 in the U.S. to over $5,000 trips to safaris in Botswana and boat tours in Antarctica. Be prepared to volunteer your time and your muscle, however, as is the nature of true voluntourism. Similar programs include Ecovolunteer, which allows you to participate in efforts to protect nature and its inhabitants through local conservation organizations. Coral Cay Conservation is in the same vein and is also worth a look.
Perhaps the most rewarding and budget-friendly experience is World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which welcomes travelers across America to participate in their daily goings-on. The cost ranges between a $20 and $50 registration fee and transportation fees to the farm—that’s it.
WWOOF has counterparts in other countries; you can go to Tuscan wine country and pick grapes for weeks and not only enjoy some of the most beautiful countryside you’ll ever see in your life, but make good friends, eat good foods, and even pick up a little Italian, too. In this way, you can make this season and 2012 a year of win-wins—for the planet and your wallet.
Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education performing research surrounding online universities and their various program offerings. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
By Philipp Mimkes Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren
By Hunter Richards
Greenwash (verb, \ˈgrēn-wȯsh\): to market a product or service by promoting a deceptive or misleading perception of environmental responsibility.
Companies have been launching major ad campaigns to show off green products and services, but many of their claims are questionable. Greenwashing is threatening the credibility of legitimate environmental marketing and turning would-be green consumers away from the hype.
So how can we know who’s telling the truth about supposedly green products and who’s just greenwashing?
Scrutiny of green business campaigns is reminiscent of the demand to hold corporations accountable for their financial reporting. The U.S. is still a leader in financial accounting, but we need to develop the same infrastructure for environmental accounting to restore credibility.
Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) software is becoming the foundation of this infrastructure, and the market is growing. ECA software enables companies to track and measure all the components of their carbon footprint and find opportunities to lower costs and reduce waste. It’s expanding the potential for corporate environmental transparency.
When the transition fully takes hold, greenwashers could disappear entirely.
For ECA software and environmental accounting adoption to get rid of greenwashers, we need action in five main categories:
Clear government action on regulations
Adoption of carbon accounting principles
Expansion of Scope 3 emissions accounting
Better green business incentives
Demanding, informed consumers
Clear Government Action on Regulations
lncreased coverage of existing new policies and decisive action on new legislation could quickly boost the adoption of carbon accounting and ECA software. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, which requires businesses that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gases annually to disclose their emissions to the Agency, could be strengthened to include smaller businesses. Firm action on new legislation could also help encourage ECA software adoption and end greenwashing.
Adoption of Carbon Accounting Principles
Stricter requirements for disclosure of standardized corporate emissions information, now more feasible with the adoption of ECA software, would provide a precise way to examine a company’s environmental record. When such a measure exists and becomes widely used, one will only need to refer to these numbers to get an impression of a company’s overall environmental performance. It will be a lot more difficult to conceal corporate environmental impact during marketing campaigns.
Expansion of Scope 3 Emissions Accounting
Mandatory inclusion of suppliers’ emissions and other indirect emissions sources in company environmental reports (Scope 3) would prevent under-reporting of emissions; all emissions would be measured and reported without room for loopholes. Requiring Scope 3 measurement would also spread more adoption of general carbon accounting throughout the supply chain. When a business must account for Scope 3, it must ask its suppliers to track their carbon footprints; a chain reaction could quickly increase the number of companies with comprehensive carbon emissions reports.
Better Green Business Incentives
Using ECA software to identify eco-friendly savings opportunities can make it cheaper to truly go green, making it unnecessary for businesses to greenwash in the first place. Businesses often find that shrinking their carbon footprints and minimizing costs can go hand-in-hand. Government incentives can also encourage eco-friendly business practices. ECA software could alert users to new opportunities to take advantage of government incentives as more of these opportunities emerge, ensuring that green sincerity is in the best interests of businesses.
Demanding, Informed Consumers
Demanding the hard numbers from standardized carbon accounting reports, while boycotting the proven greenwashers, forces businesses with green marketing campaigns to prove their sincerity or risk failure. After all, fully informed consumers won’t be fooled. When standardized carbon accounting is required and ECA software is available, companies won’t have any more excuses to conceal their carbon footprint. The final blow to greenwashing will be dealt by informed, rational consumers.
The Bird Island Nature Reserve in Lambert's Bay Western Cape, South Africa
By Louise Baker
Eco-Tourism is thriving and ever growing trend that has the benefits of a vacation combined with the experience of working with or studying the wonders of the world at the same time. Depending on a student’s course of study, certain locations may lend themselves better than others, and some destinations may not be suitable at all. Fortunately, there are some valuable resources like the International Eco-Tourism Society that make researching and choosing the right destination fairly easy. In addition to private tour providers, many colleges and universities sponsor or fund eco-tours as part of their curriculum; these programs are a great way to see some the most fascinating sights on the planet while also helping to preserve and protect them.
Africa
Africa is host to range of eco-destinations covering aspects including humanitarian aid like assisting local villagers with wells, irrigation, disease control, and more, to technological ventures and wildlife management strategies. There are current eco-tours that include counting populations of wildlife, re-introduction of species, and preserving endangered species that allow college students to obtain priceless knowledge firsthand while making a difference in the world at the same time.
Steam at Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park
Yellowstone and Yosemite both have a wide variety of biological and geological features that make them totally unique in terms of geological history and diversity. Many endangered and re-introduced species in these two parks are the direct result of conservation projects that are now open to students and even the public to participate in. Yosemite is a lure for studying the movement of glaciers, rock formation, and even climate and weather phenomena, while the super-volcano that is suspected to be lurking underneath Yellowstone has kept biologists, geologists, and chemists busy for decades with extreme conditions and extreme life forms living in them.
Galapagos Islands
Possibly the most famous eco destination in the world is the renowned Galapagos Islands; the majority of this fame in the eco-tourism arena comes from the sea turtle conservation programs that, over the years, have become increasingly popular. Aside from collecting and counting sea turtle eggs and releasing the young turtles, the Galapagos Islands are also home many other wildlife conservation efforts, and with many of the species native to this area only being found here, it is no wonder why.
Sunrise in Machu Picchu
South America
The South American continent is one of the most popular eco destinations in the world, second only to the famed Galapagos Islands. South America has been hosting tours and trips along the Inca Trail and through the ruins of Machu Picchu for many years, and this area of the world still holds fascinating secrets that waiting to be uncovered. Lush jungles and thick rainforest are home to most of the animal and plant species on the planet, and with threats like climate change and poaching progressing, many South American governments have stepped up efforts to promote eco-tourism and preserve eco destinations.
With so many eco-destinations available, it is now possible to actually travel to remote destinations and touch, see, and feel the actual subject matter with one’s own senses, use the knowledge you have to build more and preserve the planet and its inhabitants for future generations.
Check it out, it's George W. Bush! Wiki Commons doesn't have many cool Halloween photos.
This post was supposed to be part two of an October celebrations series, but it turns out all the fun days came early this month – except for Halloween and one other day, so I’m going to skip the other October celebrations and focus on these two.
It turns out that you can take a National Tour of Solar Homes every October throughout the United States. Not as fun as Halloween, but it’s a start! Click here to find a tour near you, U.S. denizens!
Now, on to the fun stuff. I’m a fat kid at heart, so anything related to candy rocks in my eyes. Of course, I pretty much stick to vegan candy these days, so it’s not so easy to a) eat everything I steal from trick-or-treaters, or b) raid the candy shelves at Walgreens and CVS on November 1st. Really, if it weren’t for costumes and alcohol, Halloween would suck for adults.
So scary. Where's the pumpkin vodka?
I’ll leave the alcohol to you. Meanwhile, here are some eco costume ideas so you can get ready to party with stuff you can find in your own home, borrow, and/or buy for very cheap:
Murder victim: wear a white shirt with ketchup or corn syrup dyed red. Smear red on your face, wear your hair messy hair, and have your kid put grey makeup on your eyes and lips and white or pale powder on face.
Static Cling: Wear one single color from head to toe. Use safety pins to pin socks, underwear, bounce sheets, etc., to your clothes. Optional: spray your hair straight up in the air.
Black-eyed Pea: This one’s to encourage healthy eating. Paint one of your eyes black (as if you’d gotten punched in the face) and paint a big “P” on your shirt (or cut it out of construction paper and pin it to your shirt).
Laundry basket – full of clean or dirty clothes: Wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt or perhaps tights and a turtleneck depending on the weather/where you’ll be. Cut a hole in the bottom of a thin plastic laundry basket that you can fit through. Cut the hole small enough so it will rest on your hips after you pull it over your head. Fill the basket with laundry (clean? Dirty? Clean and dirty? There are so many choices!) and use safety pins to pin a few dryer softener sheets to your shirt.
Partly cloudy with a chance of showers: Wear sky blue clothes (maybe snag some surgical scrubs from a thrift store), glue cotton to yourself in patches and carry a squirt gun filled with pumpkin vodka. Okay, I’ve never seen pumpkin vodka but I would totally drink it if it existed. Pumpkin vodka!!
Grapes: Dress in all green or with green pants and a brown top. Blow up purple balloons and pin them to yourself.
For more ideas, check out Eco Fabulous. They even tell you about a nifty black cat flashlight that’s useful when trick-or-treating!
Also, if a costume swap sounds cool to you, go here!
U.S. companies producing algal biofuels may soon rejoice: The U.S. House of Representatives last Tuesday (9/28/10) passed a bill meant to give tax breaks to companies working on algae feedstocks-generated biofuel.
The Algae-based Renewable Fuel Promotion Act (HR 4168) was sponsored by New Mexico Congressman Harry Teague and has a corresponding bill in the Senate that was introduced by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) which is awaiting action after being referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
Teague’s HR 4168 modifies the Internal Revenue Coded such that algae-based fuels can qualify for benefits now going to cellulosic biofuel makers. The bill includes a USD 1.01 per gal production tax credit and 50 per cent bonus depreciation for property employed to produce algae-based biofuel.
The bill defines “algae-based biofuel” as “any liquid fuel which is produced from the biomass of an algal organism (in essence, an organism that is primarily aquatic and classified as a non-vascular plant),” said the Congressional Research Service, Feedstuffs reports.
“[…] The House sent an unmistakable message of bipartisan support to the hundreds of companies, scientists, entrepreneurs and government agencies working to accelerate the development of algae-based fuels, which will create jobs, decrease emissions and reduce our nation’s dependence on imported fossil fuels,” told Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO) trade group, reports BrighterEnergy.org. “The passage of this bill is a huge first step towards our goal of creating parity for algae-based biofuels within the tax code and among various other government programmes.”
This bipartisan bill did not cause controversy and passed without objections and without a roll call vote. It also received backing from Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA), among others.
“Algae to produce green crude can be grown on non-arable land, in salt or brackish water and using carbon dioxide and sunlight as its primary feedstocks,” Teague’s statement said.
“Therefore, algae has not presented the same land use concerns as other biofuels and does not have any of the ‘food versus fuel’ implications that plague some other biofuels. Green crude derived from algae can be refined into drop-in transportation fuels, such as jet, gasoline and diesel, that are entirely compatible with existing infrastructure and engines. Algae can also be used to produce ethanol and biodiesel,” it noted.
His bill received endorsement from the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO), ABO, the Southwestern Biofuels Association, Sapphire Energy, and Algenol Biofuels, Dairy Producers of New Mexico and Farm Credit Services Southwest plus various regional business, civic and economic development organisations in his district.
The bill’s passing coincided with this year’s Algal Biomass Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, last Tuesday.
Have you heard about the “Frankenfish” that might soon hit US supermarket shelves?
Brace yourselves.
A Massachusetts-based aquaculture company has genetically engineered (GE) a salmon that reaches maturity twice as fast as normal Atlantic salmon. AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., has accomplished this creepy feat by injecting the fish with the genes of Pacific salmon and an eel-like fish. Tests – run by AquaBounty, ahem — have shown the salmon’s meat is safe for human consumption, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has thus far unfortunately sided with it.
“There is a reasonable certainty of no harm from consumption of food from this animal,” said AquaBounty.
Wow, that’s reassuring!
Not only this, but the FDA has consequently determined that no label is needed to tell us whether the fish we’re buying is GE or not.
But there is hope for us yet
Alarmed, 24 members of Congress are urging the FDA to stop the approval process of AquaBounty’s GE salmon. They are asking the FDA to wait until it painstakingly analyses and addresses some serious flaws in its approval process and incorporates more public input and scientific data – which it hasn’t been doing because critical information has been kept hidden from the public, such that only the FDA and AquaBounty are aware of key details regarding the fish’s approval process.
“We don’t know if it’s safe for humans to eat and the only research that has been done was done by the company,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of consumer group Food & Water Watch in Washington, D.C. “The FDA is an under-resourced agency that has had so much trouble with the regulatory system for foods – we’ve had tainted eggs, poisonous peanuts and other contaminations – and is now taking on something in a very non-transparent way.”
A major problem is that the FDA has no idea how to go about the approval process because this is an unprecedented event.
“One of the most serious concerns regarding AquaBounty’s application is the FDA has no adequate process to review a GE animal intended as a human food product,” the letter reads.
US Senator Mark Begich, who signed the letter, said it is signed by another 10 senators and is supported by 52 environmental groups, consumer groups, retailers, food businesses and commercial and recreational fisheries associations, such as the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development, Medical News Today reports.
Congressman Mike Thompson, D-St Helena and the other members of the House of Representatives addressed a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg affirming that the Administration should not approve the first transgenic animal for human consumption because the review process is flawed. The government officials argue that genetically engineered (GE) fish put wild populations of fish in jeopardy, as millions of farmed fish have already escaped farms and made it into the wild.
The Consumers Union (CU) rightfully worries the salmon could prove dangerous to consumers.
“Consumers have a right to know that the FDA lacks the means to assess this fish as a genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption. If this product was approved, the resulting consumer health impact could be disastrous,” Food & Water Watch agreed.
A recent survey by consumer group Food & Water Watch showed that 78 per cent of Americans do not want the GM salmon to obtain approval. Not surprising.
Anything GE is unsafe and has the potential to be greatly disastrous to our entire planet – from the environment all the way to us, as we’re intrinsically connected! Anything that harms one part of our planet, of our ecosystem, will come bite us in the bum. You know it.
So the letter describes four grave concerns — that the review method employed is seriously deficient; a lack of data on whether the GE salmon is safe for human consumption; probable irreversible environmental impacts; and that the FDA is not fulfilling its responsibility to consumers by failing to demand a label that states the fish is GE, reports The Times-Standard.
”FDA’s move to approve GE salmon threatens fishing families across the country, native wild salmon, as well as the millions of federal and state dollars invested to restore salmon populations,” said Thompson. “Given the current lack of information, threats to human health, the environment and the livelihood of hard working fishing families, it would be irresponsible for the FDA to approve GE salmon.”
The letter continues spelling out ways in which the FDA has been irresponsibly handing the matter:
“While AquaBounty filed a New Animal Drug application for AquAdvantage salmon with FDA in 2001, the Environmental Assessment compiled by AquaBounty for the FDA is inherently flawed and does not take into account the full and broad range of impacts the approval of the GE salmon could have on the environment. The FDA should have initiated a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and consulted with other federal agencies responsible for managing federally listed Endangered Species,” the letter reads.
Take action
If you agree that this is totally nuts, go here to take action.
Let’s eat/pray/love that the FDA comes to its senses.
Can Wal-Mart be "eco-friendly" if it's not even human-friendly?
Stephen Jannise over at Software Advice has recently begun publishing a series of posts on businesses going green. He’s devised a short survey whose insightful results will be revealed in about a week. Go take the survey!
I checked it out after he got in touch with me about it and really it takes two minutes to complete. The survey results will help us all learn about consumers’ points of views regarding companies that go green, including whether they do it for the planet or to bloat their sales and which aspects of a company-going-green are most luring to green-leaning consumers.
In his post, Jannise writes about Wal-Mart, IBM, Pepsi (these three are among Gartner’s Top 10 Supply Chains of 2010), Whole Foods, and Patagonia and what these five companies are doing in their effort to go green. He sheds light on their progress and asks some provocative questions.
It’s a very interesting topic. In light of Wal-Mart’s treacherous dealings with its own employees and their unions and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s assertion that climate change is a myth (excuse me?!), how green could these companies really go? We’ve got to watch out for greenwashing.
Although he doesn’t cover these points, Jannise looks at the issue from another angle and offers some encouraging words:
“Financial gains may be their real reason for going green, but their success would nevertheless encourage others to follow their lead. Many of the companies implementing these changes have reported a positive return on their green investments, which proves that you can protect the environment and your bottom line at the same time.”
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey believes climate change is a myth.
In this post, I’m going to share with you some special dates for the month of October as well as something we can all practice today, September 28. Show your compassion for the planet and your fellow beings!
Here’s a list of events and celebrations for the next few weeks:
September 28: Green Consumer Day – Of course, the best way to be a green consumer is … tun tun tun … not to be a consumer at all! But if you must succumb, consider purchasing something used or recycled instead of a shiny new (even if “green”) gadget/garment/whatever-you-need. Unless it’s food. You probably shouldn’t buy used food, whatever that would be.
October 1: World Vegetarian Day – This one is particularly special for me, as I’ve been a vegetarian for the past 14 years and an on-and-off vegan. October is Vegetarian Awareness Month, although I’ll admit I’m not sure what that means. Anyway, take it a step further and celebrate Meat-Free Monday too for a happier planet and a happier you! Plus, it’s cheaper if you stay away from fake meats.
October 3/4: World Animal Welfare Day – Look for an event in your area, as this event is celebrated worldwide! I, for one, will be attending an event in downtown Buenos Aires on Sunday. There will be vegetarian food and general super-awesomeness! Here’s some info on events going on in New York City, Venezuela y Argentina. Dates might vary by a day, so make sure you go on the right one!
October 4: World Habitat Day – Held annually on the first Monday of October, the United Nations says this is a day to ponder the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of everyone to adequate housing and to remember our collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
“The United Nations chose the theme Better City, Better Life to highlight our collective vision of a sustainable urban world that harnesses the potential and possibilities, mitigates inequalities and disparities, and provides a home for people of all cultures and ages, both rich and poor.”
If you remember, I discussed the problematic Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which offers eco-certification to fisheries across the globe and has never refused the certification to any fishery that has completed the certification process. Ahem.
Well, it turns out that the independent adjudicator has ruled in favor of MSC last Monday, which means that the endangered Fraser sockeye salmon stocks have been ruled sustainable. Environmentalists are wailing and independent salmon trollers railing.
The certifier will now submit the Final Certification Report to MSC, recommending that the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery be certified as sustainable. The certifier may issue a certificate and MSC would announce certification after a final internal MSC review of the documents takes place.
So what’s the problem?
“This certification could actually result in well-intentioned consumers buying an endangered Fraser River sockeye with an eco-label on it,” explained Jeffrey Young, aquatic biologist with the David Suzuki Foundation, one of the groups who filed a notice of objection to the MSC’s intent to provide eco-certification to the stock.
I would like to reiterate that some Fraser River sockeye stocks harvested in the fishery that is getting certified by MSC are already classified as “endangered” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, whose scientists consider overfishing a key threat to the stocks’ health.
Further, the CanadianDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently set up a commission to study the decline of the Fraser River salmon stock.
This is definitely bad timing for an eco-certification, don’t you think?
Next time you’re shopping for seafood, remember that MSC-certified seafood is probably not actually sustainably fished, and steer clear of Fraser River sockeye salmon.
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