Happy Birthday Earth Day and Green Up Day!

Happy Earth Day!! Not only is today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, it's also the 40th anniversary of Green Up Day in Vermont. Green Up Day takes place on the first Saturday in May across the state of Vermont. Kids and adults alike gather in their communities to clean up liter. If you have ever visited Vermont, you will notice right away the impact this one day of action has. Not only do the roads, sidewalks, streams and trails get a facelift, but new generations learn the importance of keeping our environment clean. As a kid, I participated in Green Up Day with my classmates every year. I learned the importance not only of putting trash in the garbage can, but also the how important it is to recycle and to reduce the amount of trash we create. While scanning the ground, bushes and ravines for trash, I began to notice how our garbage impacts the habitats of small creatures in my community. Suddenly one day of action turned into a year-long effort to reduce trash, recycle and protect the natural habitats in my town.

If you live in Vermont, you can participate in Green Up Day on Saturday, May 1st. If you live elsewhere in the country or world, why not start your own Green Up Day? All you have to do is gather a friend or two, a parent or teacher and get greening!

Eco Boys and Girls Earth Day event!

With Earth Day right around the corner, there are plenty of great opportunities to get involved and learn more about the protecting the environment. On Saturday April 24th there will be a great event at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ that you might want to check out if you are in the area. Fashion designer, former model, artist and Eco-Pioneer Maria Snyder will be introducing her latest project, Eco Boys and GirlsTM with a two hour fun filled adventure and scavenger hunt for children. The event will introduce the children to Ernie Earth©, Lulu Love©, Patsy Peace©, Ray Recycle© and Sammy Sun© who will bring messages of love, peace and environmental awareness. To learn more, click here.

Earth Day Message from the President

Earth Day is coming up April 22!

NRDC Action Fund: Mobilizing America for a Sustainable Future: This Is Our Moment

NRDC Action Fund: Mobilizing America for a Sustainable Future: This Is Our Moment

The living reef...Here today, gone tomorrow?

Coral reefs are home to the greatest diversity of life on Earth. They protect our shores, contribute to our food chain, and provide us with medicines to keep us alive and healthy. Despite how important the coral reefs are to life on Earth, they maybe gone in less than 30 years due to global warming, over fishing, and the acidification of the oceans.

The reefs need your help! Read NOAA's 25 Things You Can Do to learn how you can help the reef.

Give to be green

This time of year the fun and excitement of giving and receiving gifts is often overshadowed by a certain amount of guilt over mass consumption and wastefulness. And it’s not all in our heads; holiday waste increases by 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. That’s an additional 1 million tons a week dumped in our landfills. So how do you reconcile this concern and set an example for your kids while maintaining the tradition of holiday giving? Well, for a start, you and your kids can gather used books, toys and clothing to give to local charities, hospitals, schools or libraries.

Rummage through that closet or toy bin with your child and pick out gently used items that you don't need anymore. Find places around town like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Habitat for Humanity that would benefit from your items or pass them on to neighbors in need. Holding a rummage sale is another option. Earning hard cash will help kids realize that their castaway toys and books still have real value.

Passing on unwanted items to those who can use them is crucial for keeping our lifestyles sustainable. Everything we buy is made from valuable materials from the earth. Harvesting these materials, manufacturing them into products and shipping them around the world take a tremendous toll on our planet both in terms of resources wasted and energy consumed. Giving those items a second chance at life will go a long way in protecting the planet and remembering what the holidays are really about.

check out my non-material gift guides for more great holiday ideas...

what if...

Have you ever wondered what Washington D.C. would look like if the Greenland ice sheet completely melted? Would politicians be able to ignore the threat of global warming anymore? What would happen to New York City, home to the world's largest financial institutions, world class museums, Broadway shows and home to over 8 million people, if see levels continued to rise?

Let's not let leaders and neighbors ignore the problem any longer. Add your voice to the millions around the world demanding real solutions at the Copenhagen Climate Summit this week. Join the movement at Hopenhagen.org.

**images copyright Vanity Fair Magazine, 2006

Recycling 101 and America Recycles Day

In honor of America Recycles Day coming up on November 15th, I thought I'd re-post my handy guide to reducing, reusing and recycling. We could all use a refresher once in a while! To learn more about the day jump over to the Little Green Blog.

The 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We’ve all heard this catchy phrase. The last R, recycling, tends to get all the credit. Reducing and Reusing, however, are even more important. If you can reduce the materials you consume you will not only create less waste, you also won’t need to worry about what to do with all the things that you buy when you are done with them. Reuse is a great way to make the most of the things that you do buy. Once you no longer need or want something, pass it on! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Buying or trading vintage, refurbished and used items is a fun way to get cool stuff while preventing pollution and saving the earth’s precious resources.

You can recycle up to 84% of your trash simply by taking it out of the garbage can and putting it in the recycling bin. Items made from recycled materials take far less energy and create only a fraction of the pollution to produce than items made from brand new materials. And of course, imagine the natural resources that are saved!

Here are some great ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle:

– Buy only what you need and use all of what you buy.
– Avoid buying things that use excessive packaging and buy in bulk.
– Buy durable things that will last a long time
– When things break, see if they can be fixed before throwing them away.
– Wash and reuse plastic cups, utensils and bags.
– Precycle by buying products whose packaging can be recycled
– And always bring your own bag! If you are just buying a few things just carry them in your hands.
– Complete the cycle and buy products made from recycled materials. When you buy products made from post-consumer recycled materials you are helping to reduce carbon emissions and saving resources.

Did you know?

–If all the other people on the Earth used as much "stuff" as we do in the U.S., there would need to be three to five times more space just to hold and sustain everybody.
– Americans throw away about 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year. Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back nearly 20 times. Recycling an aluminum soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore, and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.
– Every pound of solid waste that goes into a landfill results in 2 lbs of greenhouse gases
– Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
– Every glass bottle recycled saves enough energy for a 100 watt light bulb to be lit for 4 hours.
– You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.
– Only about one-tenth of all solid garbage in the United States gets recycled.
– The average American creates 56 tons of trash every year.

Here’s Your Mission:

Set up a recycling system at home and at school.

1) Ask your local municipality for recycling guidelines and bins.
2) Set up a place in your home for the recycling bins. The garage or big roll–out kitchen drawers are good places.
3) Make a label for each bin clearly listing what items belong in them.
4) Bring your recycling to the curb on recycling day.

Become a fan!

The Green Guide for Kids is now on Facebook!

Visit the page and join!

181 countries...5200 actions...1 message

On 24 October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. Amazing photos came in from around the world. Visit 350.org to see more of them!

My husband and I marched across the Brooklyn Bridge with hundreds of others...in the rain!...to raise awareness on global warming. People all around the world went to amazing lengths to get the word out.

But it doesn't stop here...with the UN Climate Conference a little over a month away, we must continue to speak up and make sure our elected officials around the world hear us loud and clear. If you live in the U.S., search for their contact information here. If you live elsewhere in the world, search for their contact info online.

350.org Day of Action - Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow's the big day. Hundreds of thousands of people from 179 countries (and counting!) around the world will stand together to demand action on climate change. Join one of thousands of actions...there's bound to be one near you! Let us know if you are taking part and where. If you would like to send me photos I will share them on the blog next week. I will be joining Greenpeace and marching across the Brooklyn Bridge. Hope to see a few of you there!

Speak Out Against Climate Change - Oct. 24th!!!

This Saturday, October 24th, tens of thousands of people from 162 countries around the world will make a their voices heard and demand a real commitment from leaders to tackle climate change. The grassroots organization 350.org is organizing this event, in hopes to familiarize the world and our leaders with the number 350. Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.

With less than two months until world leaders meet in Copenhagen at the UN to discuss a treaty on climate change, this international day of action comes at a critical time. Experts believe that the proposals on the table will not be enough to stop the worst affects of global warming.

Please join in the movement and add your voice to the millions of others around the world who demand real solutions!

Tck Tck Tck

The clock is counting down to December 7, 2009, when leaders from all over the world will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. You may be thinking, "what's the big deal about this particular conference?" Well according to scientists, the time to act to stop global warming is now. We need to not only slow the increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, but actually being to decrease them by 2015. That's only 6 short years away! Every year since the industrial revolution, our input of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has increased at a steady rate. If we do not begin to reverse this trend by 2015, the catastrophic course of climate change will already be set in motion.

As of right now, most of our elected leaders are not getting the message that global warming needs their serious attention, and fast. That why we need you! You may not be an elected leader, or even old enough to vote, but you can be a leader on this! Here's what you do:

1) Speak up! Tell your friends, family, school or church community that why this is important to you, and that our future is at stake.

2) Be bold! Call, write or email the elected leaders of your country or state. To search for your country's leader's phone number click here.

3) Call or write to your members of congress. Tell them you want them to take bold action on climate change. Search here for their phone number and address.

4) Visit tcktcktck.org to learn more about the Climate Conference in Copenhagen, and New York City Climate Week, which is a series of events and actions to get the attention of the leaders at the United Nations in town to discuss climate change this week.

5) Sign up to attend or host an event for 350.org's Day of Action on October 24th. More on this event to come!

GreenOpolis

Girl Scout Troop 151 of Las Vegas is kicking off their year long greener living initiative with a “green living fair” called GreenOpolis. The fair is open to the public on September 12th from 10am-1:30pm. Registration is required before the event. If you are in the area, I hope you and your family can stop by!

Climate Change Activist Bill McKibben on National T.V.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bill McKibben
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

Click here to learn more about 350.org.

White is the new green

Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives

Have you ever touched a black car that's been parked in the sun? Hot tamale! Dark colors like black absorb heat while light colors like white reflect heat. That's one reason why apartment buildings with black tar roofs heat up like an oven in the summer. That's also why you can cook an egg on pavement on a scorching hot day. As people replace heat reflecting and carbon storing forests, streams, and valleys with heat absorbing and carbon producing cities, roads, and strip malls, the Earth gets warmer and warmer. One way to help counter the problem is to paint flat black rooftops white, which is exactly what President Obama is encouraging us all to do. White roofs are a double benefit. They reflect heat away from the surface of the planet and help keep buildings cool and therefore reduce energy use from air conditioning.

President Obama is even taking this idea to the street. He is encouraging painting cars in light or cool colors to make them more fuel efficient by reducing the need to turn on the air conditioner. Pavement will also be made a cooler color, so we'll have to stick to frying our eggs in a pan.

If your family owns your home, encourage your parents to go white. If you are like many city kids who live in a building with many families, talk to the building owner about going white to go green.

Too Young to Vote?

You might have been too young to vote in the recent presidential election, but don't let that stop you from voting with your light switch for Earth Hour 2009. On Saturday, March 28 at 8:30 PM, as many as 1 billion people around the world will turn off their lights in a universal vote to stop global warming. The World Wildlife Fund will present these votes at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this year. At this important meeting, governments from all over the world will gather to decide how to fight global warming.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007. 2.2 million home and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. The following year, Earth Hour went global, with 50 million people world wide sending a powerful message against global warming. Important landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Sydney Opera House, Rome's Colosseum, and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all went black.

This year, you can VOTE EARTH just by switching off your lights. Visit Earthour.org to sign up so that they can count your vote.

From Florida to China...Lilly Tougas goes green

Lilly Tougas, a young girl from Florida, has done extraordinary things to educate her community about going green. She is a great example of how one small person can make a big impact. Last year Lilly was invited to travel to China during the Beijing olympics to paint a mural with the artist Wyland and with children from all around the world to raise awareness about taking care of our oceans. I was lucky enough to get an interview with Lilly to ask her about her quest to go green.

How old were you when you learned about what it means to "go green?"

When I was 3 at my Montessori school, I would sing a song "the Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her" and I took it very seriously. When I was 6, my Mom and I read a book called "Hold Your Water" by Wyland and Steve Creech. At the end, I took a pledge, like a check off list of things and learned a lot about what to do.

Click here to read more of  Lilly's interview

Pennies for the Planet

What do colorful seabirds on a rocky island off the coast of Maine, an ancient swamp in South Carolina and a vast sagebrush habitat in Wyoming have in common? They all need your help! Pennies for the Planet is making it not only possible, but easy for you and your friends to to make a real contribution to help conserve these threatened creatures and habitats.

Pennies for the Planet is a nationwide campaign that taps into the amazing power of kids to help critical conservation projects. Working in their classrooms, clubs, scout troops and other groups, kids have been collecting pocket change to help save wild species and wild spaces.

Visit their website makes it easy to get involved with a downloadable educational kit, containing a poster, an educator’s guide, four reproducible activities, a newsletter for kids, and a participation form.

Volunteering...The New Patrotism

There has been quite a lot of buzz in this election season about volunteering and serving our communities. People all over the country are getting excited to be apart of one movement or another to make the world a better place. Protecting the environment is one area where we can use all the help we can get.

To find out how you can get involved and volunteer in your area, visit the website Service Nation and join the movement. Once you sign up, you can do a search for volunteer opportunities in your community in a variety of areas. I did a search for environmental and animal opportunities and found 300 different places where I could volunteer!