By JoAnn Conroy
Green Right Now

Does knitting make you yawn, think of your grandmother or the smell of snow-soggy wool mittens drying on the kitchen radiator? Newsflash: Knitting’s gone organic, political, subversive, has even entered the realm of “High Art”. There’s knitting on buses. No, not people in buses knitting; buses that are covered with knitting. We’ll get to that.

Want to go organic with your knitting? Read Ann Budd’s newest book Knitting Green, due out May 1 from Interweave Press. The book proved to be quite an eye-opener for me, a long-time knitter and fiber artist. I’ve always regarded knitting, along with quilting as one of the original “green” pursuits because it’s done primarily with natural fibers which for the most part come from the earth, in the case of cotton, and from life in the case of wool and silk.

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From Green Right Now Reports

When the New York Botanical Garden opens its new education center in Midtown Manhattan next month, city dwellers will have better access to horticulture and floral design classes.

The new NY Botanical Society Education Center will be in an 18th Century building near Grand Central Terminal

The New York Botanical Garden Midtown Education Center, located at 20 W. 44th Street (between 5th and 6th avenues), will offer adult education and professional courses that could lead to green jobs or help further the goals of urban gardeners, florists and locavores.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Oceana.org has launched a bright, graphic, photo-rich web game called Ocean IQ Quiz where you and your kids can learn about ocean wildlife and habitats.

And quiz yourself.

The games are suitable for kids or adults. They are challenging. It took two of us, one adult, one teen, to score an 8 out of 10. Maybe we need to spend more time in the Explore section of Oceana website from which the material is drawn.

Try out any Ocean IQ Quiz and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a Wii, a trip to Baja California or Nautica clothing. You must be 13 and up to enter, and a resident of the United States, and you must include the email addresses of four friends to be entered in the drawing for the grand prize, the Baja trip. That trip includes an excursion with the ecotourism group SEE Turtles, which will take you to see turtles, in the sea, see?

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By Harriet Blake

Snowboarding, skiing and skating will be front and center when the 2010 Winter Olympics open in Vancouver this week. But not far behind is another S-word: Sustainability. Sustainability has generated a lot of momentum, so much so that the Olympic website devotes numerous links to various aspects of the subject.

There we find out that hydrogen-fueled buses will transport people at some of the venues, several of the buildings are LEED-certified and many of the medals are made from recycled electronics. And, energy provider British Columbia Hydro has teamed with a local software company, Pulse Energy, to monitor energy usage at the games.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Here’s an early entry in the running for Environmental Quandary of the Year:

Up to his elbows in budget shortfalls and ravenous, under-funded programs, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last year proposed closing 220 of 279 state parks. Faced with staunch opposition by environmentalists and park activists, Schwarzenegger terminated the plan, if not the problem.

Earlier this month, he returned with a different solution: An estimated $140 million could be raised for state parks…if oil drilling off Santa Barbara could be expanded.

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Photo: Charlie Archambault

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

In 2007, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) launched Green Hour, a campaign that encourages children to have 60 minutes of unstructured play outside. The campaign has since branched out into NWF’s “Be Out There” movement. “Be Out There” officially kicked off last October in association with the movie Where the Wild Things Are. Sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, “Be Out There” seeks to inspire and connect children with the great outdoors.

“National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There campaign engages families, schools, communities and policy makers to give back to American children what they don’t even know they’ve lost: their connection to the natural world,” said Rebecca Garland, executive director of NWF’s Connecting People with Nature.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Government bureaucracies aren’t always the conservationist’s friend, but a convergence of federal, state and private funds will allow for an additional 3,200 acres and 10 linear miles of trails at Tennessee’s Cumberland Trail State Park.

Acquisition of the Graysville Mountain area in Hamilton and Rhea counties was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, federal grants and private funds raised by the Cumberland Trail Conference.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

One thing we’ve learned in 2009 is that you can’t wait for big institutions to take the green lead. For every green entrepreneur, there’s a climate change heel-dragger. We’re thinking of Copenhagen, Congress and entrenched fossil fuel interests.

You can, however, do what you can.

And in that spirit, here are 11 ways to lower your carbon footprint this New Year. Adopting even one of them can help reduce the pollution that’s leading to dire consequences. And while some New Year’s resolutions are hard, and cost you money (gym fees aren’t going down you know), these resolutions are likely to save you money, reduce your exposure to toxins and help you lead a healthier life. We’ve included only those ideas that really make a big impact, and scuttled those that we consider to be “boutique green” — those non-starter nice ideas that matter, but just a little bit.

To help make this list something you can really use, we’ve included some nifty online tools that can help you find a greener track in 2010.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Let’s shop green without being obvious about it, OK? You can, you know. There are many ways to tweak the holiday list this year to skew it toward recycled, socially conscious, energy-conserving goods. Of course, we don’t like to advocate lots of consuming. We definitely don’t buy that theory that it’s our patriotic duty to purchase our way out of the recession.

On the other hand, we are going to exchange gifts this holiday season. With that in mind, here are a few humble suggestions for keeping it green (and affordable), subtly.

A TOASTER OVEN

Black and Decker CTO6301 Convection Toaster Oven

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Planning a low-impact, money-saving Halloween is so much more rewarding than trying to turn some other holidays green. You don’t have to argue with relatives about whether or not to have a turkey, or disappoint the kids with gifts to humanitarian causes in their names at Christmas. All you really need to do is think creatively, get holistic about your pumpkin, maybe dust off the sewing machine and take it easy at the store.

Here are our best nine ideas to help you get started.

Halloween Chico Bag

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

As you sort through which Disney character your child will be and find the candy of choice for the trick-or-treaters, add some green to this year’s Halloween. From candy to pumpkins, there are many ways to make this holiday eco-friendly.

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By Tom Kessler
Green Right Now

Adam Archer thinks the world would be a much better place if people would only spend more time playing games on their computers and mobile phones. And he may just be right.

Archer, the founder and CEO of GamesThatGive, has a simple but compelling proposition: You sign on to play casual games on the site, designate a charity you want to support, and then sit back and have 70 percent of the revenue from advertising on those games go to your charity.

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