So far, the MuseGreen community has provided funding for the planting of 105 trees and we've a combined Ocean Quotient of 58. Want to help? Simply shop or play for trees or the Oceans and we'll do the rest! Sign-up and make it count!
Cast your mind back about 5 years or so to around the time the ‘National Do Not Call’ registry was created. Public response was enormous and the results spoke for themselves. I’m not sure about you, but the number of telemarketing calls I received went down dramatically and almost immediately, too. It was a triumph for family mealtimes! Well, what if I told you that a similar initiative is being proposed that would result in the significant reduction of junk mail being delivered to our homes? Imagine opening your mailbox and finding only a few, solitary items (rather than the 23lbs of crap most of us have to put up with here in the US). I, for one, relish the thought!
That’s why I was SO excited when I found out that the great folks over at ForestEthics are championing the ‘National Do Not Mail‘ registry, a comprehensive, accessible, totally free AND enforceable registry - aimed at reducing mailbox-fatigue and the giving the planet some well earned breathing space.
There are 15 days left until Election Day. Are you registered to vote?
Hey there, all you procrastinators - I know you didn’t mean to put off your voter registration until the last minute. Here it is though, the day that California voters MUST register in order to vote for our next President and for all of those critical propositions on November 4th. Click here to get to the California voter registration page. Fill it out, print it out and get it postmark for today. (FYI - do NOT use metered mail for it - make sure it gets a USPS postmark or else you risk having it tossed.)
If you need to find out if you’re already registered in California, contact your County Elections Office.
Check out Rock the Vote’s Election Page to find out how you can vote at your college or to get other state registration information. For detailed information on each state’s voter laws, check out DeclareYourself.com. Go to Long Distance Voter to see a full list of voter registration deadlines for each state. You’ve still got a chance to register in the states listed below.
For those of you who have yet to see this interview clip, you’re in for a treat. John Cleese discusses Bush, Obama, Palin (both Michael and Sarah) and FOX News in his open, honest, and of course, funny way…
John Cleese (part 2): Obama, Biden & Fox News
And while we’re talking about Sarah, check out last night’s SNL “Sarah Palin Rap” exquisitely performed by Amy Poehler:
Even when so much is happening in our own lives and to our economy, it’s the right time to be helping others.
October 15 is Blog Action Day 2008. What is Blog Action Day? It’s an annual event where bloggers come together to talk about an important global subject. This year, we’re talking about poverty. The unfortunate thing is that poverty is so far removed from anything that middle-class America has seen that we tend to have a hard time truly understanding the magnitude of this problem. Sure, we want to help people that are suffering. No, of course we don’t want people to starve, die of horrible diseases or live without suitable drinking water. But we don’t really “get” what severe poverty is because it’s not a part of our reality.
I live in Los Angeles, so I see and speak to our neighbors on the streets on a pretty regular basis. I do my best to provide a meal, a few dollars or an item they might need (blanket, umbrella, etc.) whenever I can. Many people accept my offers with gratitude and with obvious need. At other times though, my offers are refused. This shocked and confused me the first time it happened. Why would someone who was walking around with trash bags tied to their feet refuse money and food? He’s easy to describe… he is the spitting image of Robin Williams in The Fisher King (with a little more dirt and a longer beard), and for a second when I met him I thought perhaps it was Robin Williams, practicing for a sequel (it is LA, stranger things have happened). I also considered that he might be mentally challenged as my mind said, “He’s saying no? Well that doesn’t make sense. There must be something wrong…” But after my offer, he smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Not right now. God bless you.” It was the way he said it and the look he gave me that made me believe that he knew exactly what he said and he said what he meant.
A few weeks ago, I took a trip to Tahoe to see one of my favorite bands, KISS. They were playing an outdoor gig at Harvey’s Casino. After the 3 hour trip from home, we finally decided to eat. I had been moaning in the back seat of the car for about 2 of those 3 hours so, at this point, my parents thought it a welcome relief to see the Hard Rock Cafe sign looming ahead in the distance. Being 11, I have the appetite of a full grown man, but I also like to pass the time noodling around with the kids activity booklet and assortment of crayons given half a chance!
Back by popular demand, MuseGreen presents eco-friendly options from The Talk Market. Remember that if you click and purchase through these videos we’ll donate 2% of your purchase to the environment!
The first item is called the “Pearl Divers Booty Bureau” and it is booty-ful! (Sorry, had to.) It’s being offered by BazaardelaPaz, is fairly traded and eco-friendly because it has been made from salvaged woods.
LADWP’s Green Power Program Offers Customers the Ability to Become Independent of Coal and Oil Energy Sources
While Googling another topic, I stumbled upon a link today in the LA Department of Water and Power’s website that allows customers to switch over to green power. There are a few conditions that some would see as “downsides”: a commitment of 12 months, a minimum switch of 20% of your electric to green power and an increase of about $3 $0.03 per kilowatt hour. These conditions seem minimal and worth every penny for the opportunity to switch from dependence on coal and oil to alternatives like solar and wind.
The 12 month commitment encourages our power companies to continue to use these sources of energy. I enthusiastically switched over today to 100% green power, so the 20% minimum certainly doesn’t sounds unreasonable to me. As for the additional cost, even if it means that I’m paying an extra $50 every two months (I have no idea how much it will be, I’ll let you know when I get my first bill), it’s COMPLETELY worth it to me. Plus, LADWP indicates that some of the costs may be offset by some free products and services that they offer. It’s time for all of us to make changes and we need to show the power companies that we want it and will support their efforts to provide it.
If we could just figure out an alternative fuel to power our cars, we could eliminate nearly two thirds of our dependence on foreign oil, but what can take its place and get us standing on our own two feet?
You’ve heard about using corn and soybeans and especially palm oil to create biodiesel but they require huge amounts of agricultural acreage, massive volumes of water and chemicals and labor to produce. They also put a tremendous strain on our pocketbooks at the supermarket by driving up food costs.
So what else is there? How about hydrogen powered fuel cells? Well…not really. A bit too volatile and expensive with the price of the car itself and the cost of installing hydrogen fuel pumps around the country.
So lets go back to biodiesel. Engines that run on petroleum diesel can also run on biodiesel and that would mean that we wouldn’t have to replace the whole fuel distribution infrastructure. That’s a big plus economically. So, is there a way that we can produce it?
Sustainable Works is holding its inaugural fundraiser on Thursday, October 16, 2008 in Santa Monica, CA.
Plans for the evening include local, organic food, DJs and dancing, an eco-cool silent auction and raffle items. The following three local citizens will be honored with the inaugural Eco Star award. This year’s Eco Star Award honorees are:
Dean Kubani: Director, Office of Sustainability and the Environment, City of Santa Monica
Genevieve Bertone: former Executive Director of Sustainable Works and the new Sustainability Project Manager at Santa Monica College
Luis Suarez: a Santa Monica College student who has played a pivotal role in sustainable college campus initiatives for the past two year.
What Does Sustainable Works Do?
Sustainable Works is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan environmental education organization that is a project of Community Partners. They are funded by the City of Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Plan, program participants, grants and donations, and from in-kind services from Santa Monica College. The Sustainable Works mission is to foster a culture of sustainability in cities, colleges, and businesses.
Their purpose is to manifest the concepts of sustainability and the actions associated with living a sustainable lifestyle into the daily activities of individuals, institutions and businesses. This is accomplished by providing hands-on, interactive, educational experiences, serving as a liaison between governments, institutions, businesses and individuals and fostering community development. Knowledge is turned into actions that improve quality of life by promoting sustainable practices in the urban environment. The goal of the organization is to ensure a just society, a clean and healthy environment and a vibrant economy for present and future generations.
I recently found a great book by Joanna Yarrow, a UK based consultant and leading expert on sustainable living. The book is called How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and features many fab tips that are really easy to adopt. No brainers, in fact - so easy that even we can do it!
So, with this in mind, I’ve decide to feature a selection of these tips in a ‘treading lightly’ series of articles. The first one deals with how to tread lightly while cooking. Here goes:
Yesterday gave me cause to celebrate - you see I have been in a war against junk mail for a year and I declared a partial victory when only three items came through the slot - and no catalogs or credit
offers. Although I loved getting mail as a child, years ago the daily drop became another household chore, and contributed to unsorted piles and heavy recycling loads. But CatalogChoice.org helped me clear my name off the lists of Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, LL Bean and plenty of others. If ever I want to make purchases from those companies, I’ve learned to make my choices online, then phone in my order so that I can confirm with a human being that I won’t immediately be put back on their mailing lists.
Imagine a world where you can do some good just by interacting. Well, this is a great place to start! We have two special games for you, “sow much for the planet” and “sea change”.
The idea is very simple, for every 10 questions you answer correctly, you directly impact the well-being of this planet by either contributing to planting a tree or by supporting one of our chosen ocean initiatives (depending on which game you chose).
If you want to play anonymously, that’s totally fine by us (it’s all for the greater good, after all) but if you decide to become a member, then we’ll keep your score and you can watch your badges change with each level of accomplishment. The higher your score, the more likely you are to be invited to be featured in our green room.
To add to all that, our highest scores each month will get a little green something as a thank you from us. As you play the games, please be sure to take a look at the offerings from our affiliate friends. You’ll allow us to keep these great game going and you might just find a fantastic eco-oriented product as a result!
So why not give it a go and see if you know as much as you thought you did!
MuseGreen.com officially opens it doors today, providing our MuseGreenies with an assortment of eco-oriented offerings.
MuseGreen is a green blog. Our women writers (and an occasional male perspective) cover topics that include greening your home and family, sustainable and eco-friendly products, vegetarian, organic and sustainable recipes, politics (shocking, we swing left), regional and national news, eco events, green music festivals, how to make the world a better place and random topics thrown in here and there for good measure.
MuseGreen is a place to shop. Clicking into our Shopping section allows all readers of the US and UK to shop for the same items they love and purchase at Amazon.com. Why do it here? It connects to our Amazon store and allows us to make a donation of 2% of your purchase to environmental projects.
MuseGreen is a place to play. Thinking about the things happening to our planet, to our economy, and in our world can be really depressing. We want you to to have a place to learn, have fun and make a difference - that’s why we created The Lounge. Who says playing games are a waste of time? We’ve found a number of fun games and videos - some environmentally-focused and some we just thought were cool. The play area is divided between kids, teens and adults, so pick the section that’s right for you and have some good green fun!
We spotted this video on YouTube today and thought we’d share it with you.
OK, so it features some celeb types, but don’t let that put you off. Now is not the time to procrastinate or to be apathetic in “opposition to the broken left/right political paradigm!”
Oh, and a little warning - it contains some naughty words so parents (and the faint of heart), please be warned.
MuseGreen would like to formally introduce our dear, green friend, Darlene. She tells it like it is, and we think you’ll find her approach refreshing, enlightening and at times a little more than you bargained for.
In this episode, Darlene talks a little bit about the joys of her compost pile. It’s a family affair!
I’m finding myself so inspired by the various video sites that are available these days. One that I return to again and again is GoGreenTube. I’ve rustled up a few videos from their site so you can get an idea of the variety of things they have available…
