Here is a message from the Earth Day Network:
It’s obvious that we’ve got to cap our emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon, and then cut them back as quickly as possible. How we’ll allocate pollution permits is an open question. One good option is a government auction. Many economists believe a carbon tax would be even better* — fairer, most efficient, and easily enforced. The point is, polluters must pay.
But here’s a dirty secret: many coal-burning utilities and oil companies are pushing for a gigantic giveaway. They want “grandfathered” permits to pollute at current levels, at no cost. And unless we speak up, they might get away with it.
Don’t let them. Speak up now, at:
This kind of giveaway is just wrong. It would:
Virtually all climate experts agree that we’ve got to freeze global warming pollution now and then reduce it at least 80% by 2050, with strong milestones along the way.
It’s a good idea to harness market forces, maybe with an auction, to make sure polluters pay the cost of reducing their impact on our climate. To reduce emissions, we can simply put fewer permits on the market each year than the year before. As a result, the price of polluting will go up, as it should.
It’s also important that we use all the revenue from an auction for public purposes, like speeding up our transition to renewable energy, creating green jobs, and helping people, especially those who are most vulnerable, to cope with the impacts of climate change and to participate in a green economy.
But first, we’ve got to stop the giveaway.
Join us today in standing up for a fair approach to saving our climate, at:
We’ll deliver your online statement to your Senators and Representative in Washington.
This Earth Day, there’s nothing more important you can do than to speak up on this. After all, the sky belongs to all of us.
Green Remodeling: Changing the World One Room at a Time by David R. Johnston and Kim Master, LEED AP (New Society Publishers, 2004, $29.95). To purchase this book, visit our online book store.
I’ve been dreaming of living in a green home—sleeping on an organic mattress and watching the electric meter run backwards from solar gain—since my days of renting. When I recently became a homeowner, all I wanted to do was infuse my new nest with every eco product I could think of. I became giddy at the thought of VOC-free paints and renewable-material flooring. The good news? Companies are churning out environmentally-friendly products like hotcakes. The bad? Where on earth was I to begin?
David Johnston and Kim Master’s book Green Remodeling was just the right place. Johnston combines his own expertise, stemming from over 30 years in green construction, with Master’s ten-plus years as an environmental and health specialist.
Johnston begins by outlining his personal home renovation in a daily diary of ups, downs and completed success, before providing a room-by-room examination. The book’s final section is jam-packed with valuable information ranging from construction health risks to plumbing and roofing.
Though it’s not a how-to manual, Green Remodeling is an in-depth guide on building construction, exposing energy suckers like antiquated refrigerators and products like vinyl siding whose manufacturing releases dioxins, then divulging a host of healthy alternatives. Want to give your house a face-lift room-by-room? Consult Chapter 6, which breaks down remodeling efforts from the bedroom to the kitchen, including checklists for every nook and cranny. If you’re more interested in exploring topics such as green energy, insulation or plumbing, skip ahead to individual chapters delving into the nuts and bolts of construction.
Whereas some home reno books tend to read like operator’s manuals, Johnston and Master bring a breezy style to the pages, making it not only entertainingly informative, but qualifying it for the bedside table. They take into account the numerous facets in construction, from the emotional wear and tear on homeowners, and the fiscal drain to the enormous resources consumed and refuse created. Not to worry about the last item—85 to 90 percent of construction waste is recyclable, and you’ll find tips on how to dispose.
What tends to be an overwhelmingly chaotic process, making your living environment healthy and green, Johnston and Master simplify through an easy-to-navigate manual, organizing and subdividing topics into concise sections. They devote 20 pages to indoor air quality, covering issues from carbon monoxide to mold and advising how to minimize or eliminate risk. Each page is chockablock with information outlining problems with current building design and how to change for the better.
Some readers may be annoyed that Johnston and Masters leave out products, stores and manufacturer details, but they do include a handy website resource section listing various organizations from non-profits to government agencies, which can steer you in the right direction (The Green Guide included). For the armchair reader, they devote a chapter to finding eco-friendly architects and remodeling contractors to do the dirty work.
If you’ve ever wanted to transform your home into a green getaway, this book will become your best friend. If you think your house could be more sustainable, but not sure how, this book will tell you. Whether you’re a first-time homeowner or the neighborhood handyman, you’ll find in it a trove of valuable tips and practical know-how.
—Kate Harris
How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table by Russ Parsons (Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $27). To purchase this book, visit our online book store.
When he wrote that April is the cruelest month, I can’t help but wonder if T.S. Eliot was into cooking. It’s about this time of year that, despite my inclination for eating seasonally and locally, my favorite farmer’s market begins to bore me. After months of eating potatoes and parsnips, carrots and apples, my enthusiasm for cooking ebbs like a low tide, and I abandon it in silent protest over the lack of color and variety in my produce bin. Most nights in April, I find myself in line at the Chinese take-out down the street, carrying out sacks of artery-clogging sweet-and-sour chicken or over-sauced noodles and berating myself for indirectly funneling profits into the Styrofoam-container industry.
For that very reason, I was happily plucked from the Chinese take-out line and plopped back into my kitchen after reading How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table by Russ Parsons. Full of creative recipes from a laundry list of notable chefs (Parsons himself is an career food writer and a columnist at the Los Angeles Times), the book had me back in the markets—in April!—seeking out those same crops that had me so bored and whipping up new dishes like roasted beet and orange salad with goat cheese and walnuts and turnip and potato gratin.
Surging interest in locally grown foods has led to a coinciding surge in literature on farm-fresh produce, so a book like Parsons could easily get lost in the shuffle. But How to Pick a Peach is thoughtfully organized and carefully researched, with each chapter focusing on an individual crop or group of crops and detailing its (or their) social and historical background. Particularly helpful for the amateur and professional alike are the chapter conclusions that explain how to choose, store and prepare produce and offer “One Simple Dish” that impatient, bored cooks like myself can tackle with ease. Chapters also contain a subsection on where the featured crop is grown, which segues nicely into regional recipes from across the country, perhaps the book’s most appealing feature. With all the focus on local foods, it’s easy to forget that they aren’t restricted to local recipes. Parson’s recipe for Southern Comfort Soup, one of my favorites, tasted just as good with collard greens hailing from upstate New York as it would have with greens from Georgia, where, he informs us, most collards in American grocery stores are grown.
We don’t all have to buy into Eliot’s lament. Take a page from Parson’s book and inject a little creativity into the cruelest culinary month of your locale. You might just find a way to re-use all those take-out bags.
-Emily Main
Earth Day is coming up this Sunday, April 22nd. The Earth Day Network is filled with all sorts of information.
One if its activities this year is the Live and Virtual Education Days – Earth Day on Capitol Hill 2007 in D.C. through April 20 this week.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets and parks to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Today, with a lack of political will in Washington, Americans must come together again to demand that our elected officials take immediate action on Global Warming.
We demand a greenhouse gas emissions cap — at 1990 levels by 2020, then 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 — and we won’t take no for an answer. To see a full description of our demands, see EDN’s Climate Change Position.
There is all sorts of other information and campaigns for people to participate. Earth Day Network also has a page on how faith leaders are using the pulpit to preach about climate change. Here is some information:
Thousands of faith leaders are using Earth Day to preach and teach on global climate change as a moral issue. Ask your clergy to give a sermon on climate change and sign the Earth Day 2007 Pledge.
Earth Day Resources for Communities of Faith:
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Earth Day Links for Communities of Faith and Climate Change
Earth Day TV
A panel of religious leaders representing four religious faiths discuss the moral issues of global climate change. Watch Religious and Faith Leaders discuss Climate Change on Earth Day TV
The National Campus Day of Prayer and Reflection on Global Warming, April 20th-22nd, 2007
The National Campus Day of Prayer and Reflection on Global Warming is bringing people of all faiths from the different university communities across the U.S. to consider how their tradition speaks to the pressing issue of global warming, and to act as a springboard religious communities to become involved in action to fight global climate change. The National Campus Day of Prayer and Reflection is sponsored by Stanford Memorial Chapel at Stanford University, and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and the Religion and the Environment Initiative at the University of Chicago. To link to the National Campus Day of Prayer and Reflection website, click here: http://globalwarmingprayer.wordpress.com/
Interfaith Power and Light
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The Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) program is working nationally to mobilize religious communities to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. IPL is working to establish Interfaith Power and Light programs in every state. Interfaith dialogues on Climate Change Solutions will take place in communities across the country this Earth Day. To find an IPL program in your state, go to: http://www.theregenerationproject.org/ipl/index.html
–> The Interfaith Power and Light (IPL): program is working nationally to mobilize religious communities to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. Interfaith Power and Light, a program of The Regeneration Project, is working to establish programs in every state. To find an IPL program in your state, go to: http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.htm
National Council of Churches of Christ – Earth Day Sunday Page
Each year, the National Council of Churches’ Eco-Justice Working Group focuses on a particular environmental theme and highlights a number of ways individuals and congregations can celebrate and protect God’s creation. http://www.nccecojustice.org/Earth%20Day%20Index2.htm
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
Coalition on the Environmental and Jewish Life (COEJL) under the Take Action section of their site lists ways individuals, schools and synagogues can address global warming including a How-To Manual for Greening Local Synagogues, Schools and Offices. There are also Action Alerts on the site. http://www.coejl.org/action/ss_globalw.php
UU Ministry for the Earth
Resource for Unitarian Universalists on environmental issues, particularly global warming – this page has extensive resources on becoming a green sanctuary. http://uuministryforearth.org/index.shtml. Earth Sunday Resources Found here: http://uuministryforearth.org/earthsunday.html.
National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE)
National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE) is an alliance of independent faith groups: the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches U.S.A., the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network that have come together using both common biblical beliefs and their own traditions to offer religious resources for the protection of the Earth. http://www.nrpe.org/.
Interfaith Climate Change Network
A resource for communities of faith interested in global climate change with climate change statements, resources and links. http://protectingcreation.org/.
Climate Crisis Coalition Interfaith Initiative
The Climate Crisis Coalition is working with faith communities to broaden the circle of individuals, organizations and constituencies engaged in the global warming issue. Read the CCC Interfaith Call to Action at: http://www.climatecrisiscoalition.org/mayer-call-to-action.html and find out about their broader campaign at http://www.climatecrisiscoalition.org/.
Interfaith Works
Interfaith Works is a non-profit organization that partners with religious organizations to do good works by integrating environmental stewardship with community outreach. IW works with congregations to help connect their faith, their community and the environment. http://www.interfaithworks.org/.
Evangelical Environment Network
Evangelical Environment Network page on climate change/global warming lists a briefing for religious leaders, climate change as a Christian challenge, and fact sheets on environmental issues. http://www.creationcare.org/resources/climate/.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The USCCB is an assembly of the Catholic Church hierarchy who work together to unify, coordinate, promote, and carry on Catholic activities in the United States. To read their statement on global climate change of the go to: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/globalclimate.htm#introduction.
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s open-hearted engagement with the world is expressed through expanding programs in the United States and Asia. Through BPF, Buddhists of many different traditions are developing individual and group responses to socially conditioned suffering. www.bpf.org.
Quaker Earthcare Witness
Quaker Earthcare Witness is a spiritually-centered movement of Quakers and like-minded people seeking ways to integrate concern for the environment with Friends’ long-standing testimonies for simplicity, peace, and equality. http://www.quakerearthcare.org.
Indigenous Environmental Network
The Indigenous Environmental Network is a network of Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous Nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice and maintaining the Sacred Fire of their traditions. http://www.ienearth.org/.
Resources on Global Warming
Energy Action Coalition
The Energy Action coalition unites a diversity of organizations in an alliance that supports and strengthens the student and youth clean energy movement in North America. The partners of Energy Action work together to leverage their collective power and create change for a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future. The work of Energy Action is focused on four strategic areas: campuses, communities, corporate practices, and politics. http://www.energyaction.net/main/
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
USGBC is the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to worship, live and work. Their more than 7,200 member organizations and network of more than 80 regional chapters are united to advance their mission of transforming the building industry to sustainability. http://www.usgbc.org/
Stop Global Warming
An online campaign to educate people about the effects of global warming and mobilize community members to take action. http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/default.asp
Greenpeace International
Greenpeace International detailed information on cost savings of electricity through usage of energy saving devices. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change
Climate Ark-Climate Change
Climate Ark-Climate Change Portal has climate change links to sites dealing with aspects of climate change through policy and programs. There are some international links. http://www.climateark.org/links/Advocacy/
Climate Solutions
Climate Solutions is a site geared for the Northwest. But solutions section is applicable no matter where you live http://www.climatesolutions.org/
Energy Star
Energy Star is a government backed program that educates individuals and businesses about preserving the environment through efficient energy usage. http://energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=about.ab_index
Energy Star page for congregations on using energy efficiently and links of interest http://energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=small_business.sb_congregations
I am on the planning committee for the 16th Earth Jam in Salt Lake City on this year’s Earth Day. I am helping to organize the children’s area, Kiddie Village. Here is a photo of a banner I’ve started making for the event:
We will be having all sorts of crafts and children’s activities in this area for families who bring children. One thing we will want all people to do is to come by and decorate a fabric swatch with their favorite earth day message to be hung around the park, beginning in the children’s area.
Earth Jam will be held on SUNDAY April 22, 2007, at Liberty Park 700 East 1300 South. This event is free, and open to the public. This is a family festival filled with music, dance, and Earth Day awareness information.
Here is list of the entertainment on the various stages (subject to change)
The Earth Stage
1:20pm Gypsy Superstitious
2:40pm The Crossing
4:00pm Goddess Sabrina Blackburn
5:20pm The Polaroids
7:00pm Blues 66
8:00pm Jinga Boa
9:00pm Incindiary Circus
1:20 pm Ben & Garret
2:00 pm Consensus of One
2:40 pm Emme Packer
3:20 pm Buddha Pie
www.myspace.com/buddhapiemusic
4:00 pm John Bean
4:40 pm Derek Bentivdgna
5:20 pm Dwayne
6:00 pm Rene
6:40 pm House of Cards
7:20 pm Timmi Cruz
I am serving on one of the organizing committees for Earth Jam 2007. For more than 15 years, Earth Jam has been a tradition in Salt Lake at Liberty Park. This family festival is free, and open to the public and is filled with music, dance, and Earth Day awareness.
This year there will be no fee to vendors. The goal is to provide an extensive network amongst people and communities who want to build a better world. I plan to develop the Green Earth Fest section again, with a focus on building a larger “kiddie village” – an area that will focus on earth education for children.
This is a call to anyone or organization who would like to participate in this year’s Earth Jam. Go to the website and check it out and feel free to contact me if you’d like more information or would like to participate.
Yesterday Earth Jam organizers held a thank you picnic in Salt Lake City for participants in the 2006 Earth Jam. Everyone brought food and organizers gave each participant strawberry and other assorted plants. Everyone had a chance to speak to the group about their experience in Earth Jam. Earth Jam organizers were very pleased with this year’s event. About 3,000 people attended. Earth Jam Productions plans to pursue non-profit status this coming year and will be holding events and actions throughout the year to raise money for next year’s Earth Jam.
Here are some photos:
Continue reading
The Earth Day Network is the offical earth day organization that promotes Earth Day each year and provides tons of resources to advocate for a healtheir environment.
EDN is participating in “Charity Buzz” through May 9 in the Third Annual Chevy Chase Earth Day Auction for Healthy Kids, Smart Kids. It’s an online auction where you bid for special rendevous’ with celebrities in whatever it is they are offering. For example, auctioneers can bid on:
There are 65 auctions. Charity Buzz is an organize that helps nonprofits prosper by using innovative branding and fund raising strategies.
You can read more about their principles at:CharityBuzz About us.
Here is a “snippet” from that page:
Founded by Coppy Holzman, a recognized pioneer in e-commerce trends, online cause marketing and a senior retail executive with the best brands in the business for over 25 years, the charitybuzz brand embraces the following core principles:
(only one ishighlighted here)
We have a social conscience. We strive to present relevant observations and encourage political and social discourse. We will attempt to be non partisan but know that we can never stand on the sidelines regarding the critical social issues of the day. Well placed passion is a virtue and engaged dialogue is a catalyst for positive social and political change.
It looks like you probably have to be willing to spend some significant bucks for this, but if one has that, it looks like a good thing to do for an organization that helps so many of us around the world plan and implement earth day events and educational activities.
Worldwatch Institute has published a list of 10 things people can do to promote a more “green” lifestyle at work and at home. I’ve listed those things here, but visit the website to see more information and tips on each green step you can take:
1. Re-route your commute.
2. Buy used.
3. Buy local.
4. Compost your food scraps.
5. Change the thermostat setting and install energy saving devices.
6. Skip the bottled water at the grocery or convenience store.
7. Make your own cleaning supplies.
8. Think twice about new electronics.
9. Add one meatless meal per week.
10. Use your local library and other public amenities.
Yesterday I spent all day at Earth Jam, where the Desert Greens, the Nationally Affiliated Green Party of Utah, held its Green Earth Fest. Our main activity was a children’s table where children (of all ages!) made bracelets out of cut cardboard tubes, hats, molded things out of clay, made bubbles with a homemade bubble mix, and hula-hooped!
There were two areas – our area (Green Earth Fest)with children’s activities and a stage and the main area where there was another stage and exhibitor booths.
It was beautiful and fun day. We had lots of folks come by our table to get literature, talk and sign up for our mailing list. We had a reduce, reuse, recycle area where we had rummage sale items for donations.
We even got time to speak on the main stage about our party. Here are photos:
Tabling
Children’s Area – Desert Greens Green Party Organizers prepare the children’s area, followed by children having fun
Speaking to the crowd – Shane Cutler, a Co-Coordinator with the Desert Greens Green Party of Utah, speaks to the Earth Jam crowd about Earth Day and how it is up to we the people to “clean up our own messes. The government isn’t cleaning up its messes and” his kids will be billed for it. Shane stated that the Green Party wants to change electoral politics so that the government does clean up its messes and so his kids kids won’t have to keep paying for it. Shown with Shane are his children, Michael and Eli.
The crowd
Artwork
Music
“War on Terror” Band – provided the sound equipment for the stage in the Green Earth Fest area
Local news coverage of Earth Day events:
KSL Channel 5
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 