It could be colder in Boston this time of year. With overnight lows in the upper 40s, it’s not the worst or best condition for sleeping outside.

"Sleepers" gather in Boston

Still, that’s what dozens of college students and environmental activists across the state have decided to do to make a point about clean energy and press Gov. Deval Patrick to promote a bill that would power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

The students, organized through the student-led Leadership Campaign, began their “sleep out” protest this past weekend with about 70 students and community members sleeping out in Boston Common.

Participants came from Harvard and Boston Universities; from Clark University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute and even from Westfield State College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the western part of the state. Community members came from all over the state and included ordained clergy, according to organizers.

The plan: To sleep outdoors instead of in dormitories and houses powered by “dirty electricity”, until a plan is in place to power homes with clean electricity. Monday morning, after the first sleep in, students lobbied legislators at the Statehouse.

How long will the students shiver in the night? They’ll be back every Sunday night in Boston Common, and on other campuses students will continue to sleep out through the week,  until early December, if necessary. The activists want Patrick to introduce and pass a bill before Dec. 7, when global climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen. (Find out more about sleeping out on their website.)

“Massachusetts has already led on this issue,” said protest coordinator Craig Altemose. “When the science said 450 parts per million [of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the safe upper limit], the Legislature passed a bill putting the Commonwealth on track with this target.

“But now the science says 350 is the highest safe level.  We’re now at 390, so we know that the Legislature and the Governor will again step forward and lead us to a clean energy future with accurate science-based targets.”

What the students and activists are asking for is realistic, says Dan Abrams, a spokesman for the Leadership Campaign.

Tents in Boston

“…There have been numerous reports that state that we can get a very high percentage of our energy in Massachusetts from wind and solar alone.  I have read a report that says we can get around 60% of our energy from wind alone. I also have heard of a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists that says we can get 92% of our energy from wind and solar (and that doesn’t include off shore wind or energy conservation),” Abrams said.

But moving to clean energy is not really a choice dictated by how easy or not it will be to shift the infrastructure and electricity generation, he said.

“The science has clearly stated the world needs to cap the carbon in our atmosphere at 350ppm and we must do whatever it takes to get us below that number; 10 years is how long we are giving our government because it’s very scientifically possible to get to this goal much sooner but it is the politics that take a little bit longer.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The 3rd Annual Mass Energy Summit will educate business owners, executives, municipal leaders and others about the wide variety of energy supply choices, conservation methods, and the evolving array of alternatives to fossil fuels. Experts will participate in three panels: Funding Alternative Energy Projects, Economic Impact of Large Scale Renewable Energy Developments Retrofitting & Renovating for Energy Efficiency/LEED Certification.

Ian Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, will be the luncheon keynote speaker. The Central Mass. Green Awards, honoring businesses committed to green and sustainable practices, will also be presented at the lunch.

The cost of the Massachusetts Energy Summit is $55 and includes a networking breakfast and lunch. Register online at wbjournal.com. For more information call 508-755-8004 ext. 286 or email kprosser@wbjournal.com.

Do not underestimate the excitement of Earth Day. Trust us. There is a lot to look forward to this year – the Green Apple Festival and Earth Day Network are making sure of it.

The two organizations have teamed up to put together the largest Earth Day festival in America. The event will take place April 17 to 19 (the weekend before the official Earth Day on April 22) and features simultaneous service events in 10 major cities across the nation including New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Volunteers who help out over the weekend will be given a green gift bag and tickets to attend a free “Thank You” concert in their city. And of course, the national flagship festival “Earth Day on the National Mall” will take over in Washington, D.C. The free festival is open to volunteers and the public and will feature performances and speakers throughout the day.

The “Thank You” concerts serve as a great incentive for rolling up your sleeves and making a meaningful contribution to the planet (check out the line-up below).  But just as motivating is the opportunity to be a part of some really creative and significant projects:

• Like finding out why you should have a worm in your apartment. The Lower East Side Ecology Center of New York City is teaching people how to deal with their smelly trashcan problem by keeping Red Wiggler worms handy. You learn how the Red Wiggler rapidly eats kitchen scraps and turns waste into fertilizer, and then learn how to set up and maintain a worm bin in your own crib and use the compost for feeding plants.

• Or discovering why it’s important that everyone aim for energy efficiency. In Austin, you can help retrofit a house for a family in need. The organization 1 House at a Time is teaching volunteers first-hand about home energy efficiency as they install water and energy conserving fixtures and appliances.

• You could even try to atone for your addiction to oil. Builders and bird enthusiasts are being recruited in San Francisco to help construct a cage, shed and rehabilitation pond for oiled birds in recovery at the International Bird Rescue Research Center.

Across all 10 cities there are opportunities to work in parks, beaches, schools and forests and focus on lasting climate change solutions, but you have to sign up to participate, and you have to sign up soon. Volunteers have until Tuesday, April 14 at 11:30 p.m. to register for a service project in their area. The events are listed on the Green Apple Festival site and from there a link takes you to the PlanetGreen website to sign up.

If you don’t live in one of these 10 cities, don’t worry. You can visit Planet Green’s Green Guide to Volunteering to make your own Earth Day plans.

You can also use the EDN green event locator.

Thank You Concert Lineup

Atlanta, GA – Funk and jazz band Galactic & Friends with opener country singer Victoria George at Variety Playhouse.

Austin, TX – Grammy Award-winning Country star Travis Tritt & Friends at Antone’s (note: this one’s on Monday April 20).

Boston, MA – The funk/jazz trio Soulive & Friends at Paradise Rock Club.

Chicago, IL – Alt-rock favorite Cracker & Friends at The Metro.

Denver, CO – Funk band Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk & Friends at Cervante’s Masterpiece.

Los Angeles, CA – The Hotel Cafe Presents indie rock singer-songwriter Cary Brothers & Friends at The Roxy.

New York City – The Soul legend from the James Brown Band Deep Banana Blackout featuring Fred Wesley & Friends at Bowery Ballroom.

San Francisco, CA – BassNectar & Friends at Slim’s.

Seattle, WA – Hip-Hop group The Blue Scholars & Friends at The Crocodile.

Washington, DC – Artists to perform on the National Mall have not yet been announced (it’s all about the suspense).

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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“e” inc. is proud to be the official Boston host of The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival — the largest environmental film festival in the United States. Created eight years ago by a small group of riverkeepers in California, in conjunction with the Patagonia Company, The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is designed to inspire citizen participation in a wide array of environmental issues. The cost for admission is a tax-deductible donation to the work of “e” inc.

Next month we celebrate Earth Day, the calendar hub of environmental action in the United States and around the globe.

The event, launched back in 1970, has enjoyed enduring life, inspiring countless mid-April tree plantings and “trash offs.” No doubt many adults today remember canvassing a ditch for soda cans and paper litter sometime during their childhood.

Lately, Earth Day has been enjoying a resurgence as green aspirations break out in corporate offices, Jaycee meetings and kindergarten classrooms everywhere.

But with the movement focused on April 22, you might be asking yourself, is it too late to sign up?

Not at all, says Raquel Garcia, communications manager for the Earth Day Network. “It’s never too late. We encourage actions no matter how small. There are many things you can do. You can plan a community event, maybe with just your neighbors. Maybe you call up your representative or senator or state official and ask them to put pressure on the federal government to help curb global warming by cutting carbon emissions.”

Garcia had other suggestions when we spoke Wednesday, noting that you also could:

• Search for an event on the Earth Day Network and sign up with something already planned.

• Watch an Inconvenient Truth

• Pledge to not eat meat for a month, which would have a tremendous effect on reducing global warming, according to Garcia, pointing out as many experts do that producing meat is resource-intensive.

• Organize a day at school to teach children about renewable energy.

“The actions are really infinite; there are so many things you can do,” she said.

Last year, EDN, based in Washington D.C., sponsored events in eight key U.S. cities. This year, they’ve increased that to 10, though the tenor of the events will be a bit different. There will still be a full day-long festival on the National Mall in D.C. But instead of a day-long festivals in the other cities, the Earth Day weekend celebrations (April 17-19) will focus on volunteer projects; a “nationwide weekend of action”.

Yes, that means you’ll gather with others to work — cleaning up parks, laying garden beds, scouring beaches, planting trees or perhaps helping weatherize low-income housing. (We might be unemployed in America, but we’re not out of work!) The details have not been announced yet, but soon. Look for more at the Green Apple Festival site.

Participants at the ten sponsoring city events will be treated to a free concert that Sunday. Again, watch for details. We’ll keep you posted here as well.

So if you live in one of the ten sponsor cities: New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, get ready for a busy weekend.

If you dock your boat in a smaller hamlet, you can check out planned events at the Find An Event search area on the EDN website.

You also can register community or group events, large or small, with the EDN.

Garcia is certain that even with the focus on work – which seems in keeping with the times this year – Earth Day will enjoy tremendous turn out. She sees more mainstream involvement than ever, having recently fielded calls from places not always associated with environmental action, such as military bases and a New York branch of the Homeland Security Office.

People are realizing that protecting the environment is not partisan and it’s not particular, she said. The environment is, by definition, all that surrounds us. It’s clean air, healthy food, unspoiled land and a future for our children. We all have a stake.

“We’re very happy to see more and more people seeing that (for) one, we don’t have any more time to waste. If we keep waiting for a miracle to happen, it’s not going to happen. We better stop reducing (our emissions and waste) now, or we’re going to go to the point of no return a lot sooner than a lot of people realized. ”

(Sponsors for the large city events include: Disneynature Earth (the movie opens in theaters April 22); Timberland: Join the Earthkeepers^TM movement; Motorola, Inc.: Offering the first carbon neutral mobile device, MOTO^TM W233 Renew and Clear2GO^TM: Drink Clean & Go Green.)

Photo credit: Justin Kase Condor, Noofangle Media,

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media