Rallying for a clean energy bill in Massachussetts, noted climatologist Dr. James Hansen told students this weekend that they must take the future in their hands.

Massachusetts Sleep Out (Photo: Ian McClellan)

“Our universe is incredibly unjust and inequitable for young people and future generations. ” Dr. Hansen said.  “Unless someone can change the direction, young people are really in trouble.  Our governments are not taking actions or planning actions that will achieve this.”

Dr. Hansen, known for sounding the alarm about climate change to Congress 20 years ago, appeared in Boston to support students and environmentalists who have been sleeping out to press Massachusetts lawmakers to commit to 100 percent clean energy for the state by 2020.

After sleeping out with the students encamped on Boston Common, Dr. Hansen joined them in lobbying lawmakers today. He testified before an informational hearing sponsored by the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. (And being cited for trespassing by Boston police.)

Others testifying included:  Dominique McCadden, Northeastern University student and participant in The Leadership Campaign; the Rt. Rev. Roy Cederholm, Jr., Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Mass.; Frank Ackerman, Senior Economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Earlier at the Sunday rally, several other supporters spoke, including:

Marla Marcum of the Massachusetts Council of Churches; Linnea Palmer Paton, a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Alex Propp, a student at Amherst College; Steve MacAusland, co-founder of the National Interfaith Power & Light Movement; Ken Ward of the JP Greenhouse; State Representative Will Brownsberger, vice-chair of House Global Warming and Climate Change Committee; and Craig Altemose, a Harvard graduate student and coordinator of The Leadership Campaign.

The Leadership Campaign, which is run by Students for a Just and Stable Future, is coordinating the protests.

What do you get when a scientist and a minister collaborate?

When the subject is climate change, you get a book, A Climate for Change, co-authored by scientist Katharine Hayhoe and her husband, pastor Andrew Farley.

A Climate for Change

The premise of the couple’s book, published Oct. 29, is that before anything can be done about climate change, people need to be convinced that there is a need to do so. Their book, as the subtitle suggests – “Global warming facts for faith-based decisions” – attempts to address questions that Hayhoe and Farley have received in their respective lines of work.

Hayhoe, who is an atmospheric scientist, was a reviewer for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She is a professor in the Department of Geosciences at Texas Tech University. Farley, who also is the author of The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church, is the lead teaching pastor at Eccleisia, a church in Lubbock, as well as a professor at Texas Tech.

“We wrote this book in a non-political way,” says Hayhoe, in a phone interview. Climate change is not a political issue, but how we go about fixing it, is, she says.

“Our book is dedicated to anyone who’s ever asked if climate change is real. My husband and I could find no book that answered the questions that people had. How do we know that it’s humans who cause climate change? What’s the science?

What we do is offer the really basic facts.”

And, as Hayhoe, notes, numbers don’t lie. Sixteen pages of the book are devoted to full color graphics that explain climate change in facts and figures.  One graph shows how the earth’s average temperature has risen from 1850 to the present day. Another shows various sources of greenhouse gases and where the most emissions come from — deforestation is listed at 8 percent; electricity generation is the highest at 21 percent. (Many experts would consider those numbers too low. Among environmental scientists there’s near consensus that deforestation is responsible for about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and that burning fossil fuels for electricity production causes at least 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.)

One particularly fascinating graph shows the human impact on climate change with one line showing the effect of humans on temperatures and the other line shows simulated temperatures without humans. The latter line, the one without humans, has noticeably lower temps.

While Farley is a Christian minister, Hayhoe says their book isn’t just for Christians. The book is for “anyone with any compassion,” she says. “Climate change is hurting our global neighbors. All religions believe in taking care of others who are disadvantaged. The people being hardest hit by global warming are the economically disadvantaged, in part, because they don’t have the resources.”

Hayhoe and Farley use the example of the Inupiaq people of Kivalina, a remote 600-foot-wide reef in northwest Alaska. They have made their livelihood for generations along the frozen shores of the Chukchi Sea. Today the protective sea ice, which used to buffer the island from winter storms, is taking longer to form each year. As a result, autumn storms hit the area before the sea ice can form, causing erosion. Until now, the Inupiaq people have built seawalls to protect their village, but erosion is destroying the area so rapidly that the people may have to leave the island permanently.  Relocating the village will cost between $150 and $250 million, a price that these villagers cannot afford.

“We were given a perfectly designed balance that we have altered,” Hayhoe says. However, the book notes that people have proven in the past that these imbalances can be repaired. The authors point to the original Clean Air Act which was developed in 1970 in response to the acid rain created by coal-burning power plants. They also note that chloroflurorocarbons  (CFCs) were banned once scientists realized that the ozone was being depleted thanks to the CFCs used in air conditioners, spray cans and refrigerators. Most recently prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese government figured out a way to clean the air for the athletes. They did so by shutting down factories and limiting car use. All of these events show that humans can address climate change, Hayhoe and Farley say. It just takes motivation and innovation.

An interesting point that Hayhoe and Faley make is that there is such a thing a good greenhouse gases. “If we didn’t have these good greenhouse gases,” says Hayhoe, “ the planet would be a frozen ball of ice. These good greenhouse gases would keep the earth at about 55 degrees.”

“Unfortunately, we have taken something that is good and then taken too much of it – similar to overeating. We should have some greenhouse gases , but we have now tipped the balance,” she says.

The authors say they by and large, they have received support from both environmental and faith-based groups. “Interestingly, we have had some negative reaction from the environmental community,” Hayhoe says. “They say our book spends too much time explaining climate change; that it’s not urgent enough.”

“Our thought has always been that there is no point in talking about the urgency of climate change unless people understand what it’s about,” she says.

“People of faith have told us this is the resource they’ve been looking for,” says Hayhoe. “Among the questions we have gotten: ‘If we believe God is in control, how can climate change happen? Isn’t global warming just part of a natural cycle?’”

The facts are clear, says Hayhoe.  From 1850 until 1910, temperatures were stable; they rose from 1910 to 1940; then between 1940 and 1970, they were stable again. However, since 1970, temperatures have steadily risen.

And it’s important, say the authors, to differentiate between weather and climate. They are not the same. Weather, as they point out in the book, is the day-to-day condition. Climate is the weather over a long period of time.

Respecting God’s creation is the answer to dealing with climate change, says Hayhoe. Making wise choices while living on Earth and understanding that what we do, affects others, are key. Farley advises readers to act based on the freedom of choice, not out of a sense of guilt. Guilt, he says, isn’t a good motivator. People should act from the heart, no matter what their religion.

Copyright © 2009 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

It’s not just environmental lobbyists who are gearing their words toward strong action at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change negotiations.

At a recent appearance in New Orleans, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, dubbed the “Green Patriarch” by Al Gore,  minced no words about the urgency of addressing climate change:

“We have reached a defining moment in our history…the point where absolute limits to our survival are being reached,” and we “instead of living on income, or the available surplus of the earth, we are consuming environmental capital and destroying its resources as if there is no tomorrow.”

The Patriarch was speaking at the opening address for the 8th Religion, Science and Environment (RSE) Symposium that began Oct. 20.  The RSE, a non-governmental organization based in Athens, began in 1995 with the mission to protect the planet by providing common ground among the worlds of religion, science and the environment. His All Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Christian Orthodox Church, oversees RSE.

The symposiums look at the future of global waters, which cover 7/10 of the planet’s surface. Scientists, environmentalists, policy makers and representatives from the world’s major religions have developed what RSE’s website describes as “a vibrant environmental ethics movement.”

In addressing the symposium, entitled “Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River,” the Patriarch said, “We stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans and all people who seek a better life. And we are present with you to call for a renewed consciousness for environmental responsibility, and an awareness of what such a consciousness entails.”

Blessing the Mississippi, His All Holiness Bartholomew and Cardinal McCarrick

Referring to the Mississippi, the Patriarch said, “this river comprises a microcosm of our planet. In its waters, we observe many of the world’s ecological issues. We are humbled in its presence. We have come to listen to its story, to learn from its history…As the Mississippi links the prairies to the sea, we ourselves form the link between the past and the future.”

The symposium, said RSE spokesman Paul Brown, “was one of the last major gatherings before the critical climate talks to be held in Copenhagen in late November and early December.”

Although there are indications that the United States and China hope for success, “many feel that the world’s politicians do not understand the urgency of the situation, or the need for radical thinking and action,” he said.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader to 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, echoed this thought in his opening address, where he spoke of the need for change and for humans to recognize that we are at  “a defining moment in our history.”

Brown said the group hopes the serious tone is not lost on policymakers.

“Climate change,” Brown said, “does not respect national boundaries…Religion and science should transcend national boundaries: both forces need to make their voices heard and galvanize the politicians at Copenhagen into action.”

His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew has led other symposia around the world, featuring the Danube and Amazon Rivers, the Aegean and Black Seas.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

In an effort to bring attention to the nation’s outdated toxic chemical laws, Seventh Generation, the makers of many environmentally safe home products, has partnered with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families in the Million Baby Crawl. This campaign is asking everyone, moms or not, to urge Congress for stronger chemical regulations.

Erin Brockovich

Synthetic chemicals are currently regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This out-dated law still allows the existence of materials that some experts have said not only harm the environment, but cause cancer and many other serious illnesses. Under the TSCA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have the authority to get the information it needs to evaluate a chemical’s risk. The EPA has only been able to require testing on 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds currently in use. The time is overdue for toxic chemical policy reform.

Well-known environmental activist and mom of three, Erin Brockovich has joined forces with Seventh Generation to lead the campaign. Saturday, she called upon some other famous Hollywood moms to join in on her efforts. Amy Smart, Kellie Martin, and Catherine McCord are some of the eco-celebrities that came out to The Little Seed, a children’s boutique for eco-moms, to kick off the Million Baby Crawl campaign.

“I am an advocate for awareness, the truth, and a person’s right to know. I believe that in the absence of the truth, all of us stand helpless to defend our families and our health, which are the greatest gifts we have,” said Brockovich in a statement. “In many instances, our issues may seem to fall on deaf ears, but I’m living proof that when we speak loudly enough, change will occur. I’m urging everyone to join me in the Million Baby Crawl to help make that difference and make sure all our voices, young and old are heard.”

So far, 6,300 crawlers have joined the campaign. You can join the crawl.  You can name your crawler, and even customize his/her skin tone and clothing color.

Do what you can, not just for the environment, but for the health and safety of your family and yourself.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

This Saturday is International Day of Climate Action — a chance for everyone to take a stand on behalf of the planet and possibly participate in one of 4,300 actions that are planned in 171 countries.

With participation numbers like that, the number “350″ is becoming a popular rallying cry.

“We had no idea it would go viral like this. It seems far-fetched that you could get that many people to rally around a scientific data point, but the number just keeps climbing. It shows just how scared of global warming much of the planet really is, and how fed up at the inaction of our leaders,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org.

Added Matt Fitzgerald, a organizer for the group: “We’ve been hearing from the politicians and the corporations, now we’re hearing from the people. And in over 170 countries they’re calling for a Copenhagen agreement that sets us on a rapid path to 350.”

350.org began the International Day of Climate Action campaign not only to wake up politicians, but wake up the world. The group wants everyone to know about and understand the number 350, which signifies the level many scientists have identified as the safe utmost limit for CO2 in the atmosphere, in parts per million.

Here are a few unique events around the US:

Austin

• Get Clean to Get Green

The Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation’s (GNDC) extremely affordable, net-zero energy subdivision is truly raising the bar for local, affordable, community-based development. This large infill project involves subdividing approximately 7.2 acres into four tracts, which will be developed into both multi-family condominiums and single-family homes. Currently the land is vacant, and remediation of the brownfield is starting Saturday. Every unit on this property will have net-zero energy bills. A large portion of these units will be affordable to extremely low-income households. Join in and get dirty.

• Education Stroll

Join in a moving forum that will not only be good for you, but for the planet. Participants will take a walk in their neighborhood or across the city to talk with people about the urgent need to reduce our carbon emissions so we can quickly scramble back to 350ppm. Walkers/educators are asked to carry signs illustrating important concepts and will stop in businesses along the way (where appropriate and arrangements have been previously made) to speak with larger groups. Spread the environmental word.

Chicago

• Chalk Walk

Columbia College Chicago will be celebrating the arts and bringing awareness to the environment. The college will demonstrate how one can make their own paper by reusing old paper and turning it into pulp. Later, each person will be given a piece of chalk in to use to trace their “carbon footprint” on the sidewalk. Participants will make a pledge, write something meaningful, and decorate their footprint however they would like. There will be volunteers and organizations showcasing art and visual displays along the walk. There will be art stations, tables, and anything else participants want to use to express themselves.

• Go Go Green

The 2009 Go Go Green 5K will raise awareness about the urban ecosystem and educate the community on eco-friendliness on Saturday at Diversey Harbor. People of all ages are welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring household recyclables, old batteries and gym shoes to the race. The race begins at 9am.

Dallas

• Boomer Green Teams

Volunteers will be saving money while saving the environment for area senior citizens. Participants will be installing free compact fluorescent light bulbs for low-income senior citizens. This simple task will reduce electricity consumption and carbon emissions.

Los Angeles

• Eat Locally, Think Globally

Enjoy socially responsible fine dining, with locally sourced foods and wines at unique sophisticated venues. Created and produced by Chef Rico Mandel & Helen McHugh, their new concept “Restaurant without Walls” blends the social consciousness of environmental awareness with a luxurious gourmet culinary theme at specially contracted, interchangeable locations.

New York

• Dance to Save the World: Studio 54

Join 250 movers and shakers at Studio 54, for StartingBloc’s second annual Fellow-run fundraiser, BLOC PARTY II. This year they will be celebrating “social innovators”, presenting an inaugural award to Majora Carter, an environmental justice and green jobs pioneer from the South Bronx who has worked on climate change initiatives most of her career.

• Climate at the Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine invites the community to come join in ringing bells, delivering messages and taking photos to commemorate IDCA. The cathedral will ring its iconic bells 350 times.

Anywhere

• Twitter Hour

Maybe you do not have a couple of hours to get out this Saturday. It is OK. You can still make a difference from the comfort of your own home. Twitter has swiftly become the new communication tool for people everywhere, even celebrities and politicians. So TWEET it.

President Barack Obama is one of the people with the most power to create a positive outcome at the upcoming Copenhagen meeting. Let him know that 350 ppm target is the only way to stop the planet tipping into climate crisis. From 12-1 EDT, send “USA MUST formally adopt the 350ppm CO2 target at Copenhagen 09 – the ONLY WAY to prevent runaway climate change NO EXCUSES!” All the tweets sent to President Barack Obama need to contain the same message, to create maximum impact, according to 350.org.

It is not too late to join an event or even register your own. Either way, make this Saturday about something much larger than yourself.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

As the Nobel Prize Committee noted in awarding President Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize last week, the world is in a better place than it was a year ago.

The world also is in a better place thanks to six young people who are being honored on Tuesday for their heroic environmental efforts. The 2009 Brower Youth Awards, sponsored by Earth Island Institute, will be given to:

• Sierra Crane-Murdoch, 21, of Vermont, for helping unite the movement to fight coal.

• Adarsha Shivakumar, 16, of California, who has put into place a biofuel solution in rural India.

• Diana Lopez, 20, of Texas, who started an organic food source in San Antonio.

• Hai Vo, 22, of California, for transforming food purchasing at the University of California.

• Robin Bryan, 21, of Manitoba, whose project protects 1 million acres of forest in Canada from industrial logging.

• Alec Loorz, 15, of California, who initiated Kids vs. Global Warming and is the youngest presenter of Al Gore’s “The Climate Project.”

Each award recipient will receive a $3,000 cash prize and be recognized at 10th annual Brower Youth Awards Gala in San Francisco. The Earth Island Institute, which sponsors the Brower Youth Awards, is a nonprofit group that recognizes people who come up with solutions to protect the planet.

Sierra Crane-Murdoch

The common thread that connects the six winners is their youthful idealism and  shared passion. As Sierra Crane-Murdoch said via e-mail, “It’s our idealism that energizes our ideas, and it’s comaraderie that makes our ideas succeed.”

Crane-Murdoch says she became an organizer when she arrived at Middlebury College and joined an environmental forum called The Sunday Night Group.

“I’ve always loved the outdoors,” she says, “but I actually started to really care about the environment when I began to understand the human component…and realized that climate change is affecting disadvantaged communities that haven’t caused the problem in the first place.”

Her work with the Sunday Night Group led to Step It Up and 350.org, founded by Middlebury professor and environmentalist Bill McKibben, which she includes among her many mentors. She says that environmental organizing was considered their “5th class” at Middlebury, but “when Power Past Coal came along, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to commit entirely to the project and take classes.”

So Crane-Murdoch took a leave of absence to go live in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia and learn about the issues of dirty coal. She now has one more semester at Middlebury, after which she plans to return temporarily to Appalachia. She is a 2009 Middlebury Fellow in Environmental Journalism, which is directed by McKibben. Currently she is reporting on former union coal miners who are standing up to mountaintop removal coal mining.

Adarsha Shivakumar

Two years ago, at the age of 13, Adarsha Shivakumar of Pleasant Hill, Calif., co-founded Project Jatropha. The organization promotes the plant, Jatropha curcas, a small perennial shrub with oil-rich seeds. Shivakumar says the plant can grow on marginal lands without diverting valuable land from food production. It’s considered an ecologically friendly and economically profitable crop for the farmers of rural India.

Shivakumar says every year he and his sister spend time with their grandparents who live on a farm in south India. “During that time,” he says, “we regularly visit the nearby villages…to see the work done by Parivarthana, a non-governmental farmers aid organization.” Many of the villagers grow tobacco for a living, but to do this the farmers must burn large amounts of firewood to cure the tobacco leaves. Because the farmers do not have a lot of wood on their land, they have turned to cutting down the trees of the local national park.

“My sister and I realized that if we do not make an effort to wean the farmers off tobacco, then the whole forest and all of its incredible biodiversity would disappear,” Shivakumar says.

Shivakumar’s group collaborated with Parivarthana and a plant biotechnology company, Labland Biotechs, to convince farmers that Jatropha seeds could be converted into biofuel.

“Carbon dioxide emissions are local,” says Shivakumar, “but their effects are global.” Though the project is based in India, he hopes it will influence others to help curb global warming and decrease dependence on fossil fuels.

Diana Lopez of San Antonio got excited about social justice and the environment after one of her high school teachers introduced the class to the Southwest Workers Union. The union had a youth chapter that focused on living wages, youth organizing, environmental justice and border global organizing.

Green Right Now

Halloween is still a few weeks out, but for farm animal advocates, it is time to talk turkey.

Ginnifer Goodwin at the Farm Sanctuary (Photo: Ryan Pfluger)

That is, if you want to save a turkey this Thanksgiving, instead of eating one (or instead of eating a factory-farmed animal), the sign up is underway. The Adopt-A-Turkey Project, run by the Farm Sanctuary, has announced its latest sponsor, Big Love star Ginnifer Goodwin, and the details of its program to rescue factory-farmed turkeys.

The group, which has rescued more than a 1,000 turkeys over the last 20-plus years, wants people to consider what they’re eating for the holidays, and also to adopt a rescued bird (for $25) at either of their two shelters in New York and California.

Turkey adopters or sponsors (”sponsored” turkeys stay at the farm) get a certificate with a color photo and fun facts about their gobbling friend. Those who want to actually rescue a bird (they’re said to be sensitive and friendly) can apply to provide a lifelong home for one of 500 rescued turkeys through an adjunct program called “The Turkey Express.”

This year, as in years past, appealing rescued birds will be trotted out as turkey representatives to “vie for the hearts of potential adopters.”

These special ambassador turkeys are Bubbles, Mello, Rhonda, Gideon, Olive and Hawthorn. They will help deliver the Farm Sanctuary message that factory-farmed turkeys are typically raised in tight confinement in dark sheds where they are de-beaked and de-toed without anesthetics and raised so that they “gain weight at an unnaturally fast rate.”

Or as Bubbles notes on the website: “Friends don’t let friends eat turkey at Thanksgiving.”

To learn more, and possibly select a turkey to adopt, see the website, adoptaturkey.org, or call 1-888-SPONSOR.

To find a turkey alternative at the holidays, see the Tofurkey options. The makers of this popular soy-based faux turkey have put together an interesting fact sheet about why eating vegetarian is healthier for the environment and how producing meat uses more resources. They point out, for instance, that 90 percent of the soybeans and 80 percent of the corn raised in the US is used to feed livestock.

Can’t  give up the poultry habit? Find an heirloom, pasture-fed and humanely raised bird through Local Harvest.  You’ll be eating a more nutritional product, full of Omega oils if the bird was pasture fed, and you’ll be supporting more humane treatment of animals.

Mello may or may not be down with that.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

January Jones, star of the Mad Men TV series and an ocean advocate, went to Washington this week to lobby for the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 and stronger US leadership for saving the ocean’s top predators.

January Jones (Photo: American Movie Classics)

“We should be scared FOR sharks, not of them,” said the Golden Globe nominee. “The survival of sharks and the health of our oceans depend on it.”

Jones met with various members of Congress, including Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The actress, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the critically acclaimed Mad Men series on the American Movie Channel, became a spokesman for Oceana’s Save Sharks campaign earlier this year.

Sharks have survived in the oceans since the age of the dinosaur, but today some species are nearly extinct due to overfishing and killing some sharks just for their fins, Oceana reports. As the ocean’s top predators, they play a critical role in keeping ecosystems healthy; their decline is causing potentially irreversible changes in the make up of the seas.

The Shark Conservation Act would outlaw shark “finning,” in which the animals fin is sheared off at sea with the body discarded. The law would require that all shark brought in to land would be whole.

The Act was introduced by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in April. A similar measure introduced by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), passed the House of Representatives in March.

For more on sharks and why their survival matters see the Oceana website. There you can also find out about Ms. Jones’ recent trip to swim with sharks (no, that’s not the same as the Washington tour).

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Midway into Ken Burns’ new ode to American history, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (starting on PBS Sept. 27), the filmmaker tells how the nation’s early park caretakers realize that wildlife is integral to preserving the parks.

You’d think this would have been obvious. But it came as an epiphany in the 1930s, decades into the development of the park system.

Oddly, until then, the public had been so busy ogling mountains and gaping at the exotic canyons of America’s national parks, that the animals seemed secondary, even incidental. Wildlife appearances were welcomed, of course. Bison wandering through a Rocky Mountain meadow enhanced the mountain vista beyond. Mountain sheep verified that one was high in the Rockies and the faithful appearance of the Yellowstone bears at the “bear dumps” or roadside feeding stops made an excursion to see Old Faithful complete.

Meanwhile, though, the wolves, bear, foxes, deer, elk and moose were still vigorously hunted, even on public lands. Government logging continued, degrading some of the very areas being preserved. And those Yellowstone bears were becoming a public menace, through no fault of their own, living on public handouts.

It took some new people in Washington to see what was wrong with this picture. One was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a champion of conservation who added national parks to the system nearly as fast as he added government programs to shore up the ailing 1930s economy.

Another key figure was George Melendez Wright, the first chief of the Wildlife Division at the National Park Service.

Wright saw what most others, at least those in the federal government, had failed to see: That leaving the wildlife alone to thrive in the parks without human interference would strengthen the ecosystems and assure the park’s sustainability.

He saw the nearly extinguished Trumpet Swans, for instance, not as potential hunting trophies, but as a species to cherish and be preserved in the wild. He understood the need for predators in the parks, and to balance the rampant recreational use of the parks to keep it in harmony with nature.

Tragically, this forward-thinking man, died in his early 30s in a car accident near Big Bend. But before he did, he pushed his philosophy forward enough that the parks were never viewed quite the same way again.

This is just one vignette in Burns’ monumental six-part, 12-hour series, which begins on PBS channels nationwide on Sept. 27 and will make Sunday evenings learning about National Parks the next best thing to going there. The film, five years in the making, is directed by Burns (who previously gave us the definitive epics, The Civil War, Jazz and Baseball) and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Needless to say, the cinematography rocks (and not just the footage of the Rockies), and the collection of historic photos and clips presented is awesome. (Thank Burns and his chief cinematographer Buddy Squires.)

Burns excels at homing in on the poignant moments and historic pivots, and there are plenty here, as he and and Duncan tell the sweeping history of the parks through a series of smaller stories about the people who started them, shaped them, revered them and dwelt in them.

We hear about the odd, but visionary, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, whose love of Yosemite Valley (”the grandest of all the temples of nature”) created the concept of national parks. Later, there’s Teddy Roosevelt, who vigorously promoted the idea of parks preserves but also hankered to nab a cougar whilst visiting Yellowstone.

“Roosevelt will always baffle people who don’t hunt, because he loved the animals and he loved to hunt,” notes one of the many historians and park rangers who narrate this documentary. (Park rangers who are eerily eloquent like Gerard Baker, a Native American ranger, Detroit-native Shelton Johnson, who missed his calling as a writer, and former Ranger Nevada Barr, who did become a writer.)

We learn how George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society (and yes, that’s his real middle name), helped save the bison from extinction. And how onetime Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, described as “ruthless, unethical and highly effective” public leader abolished segregation in the National Parks and fended off special interests to create more protected spaces.

This hall of fascinating figures includes both the virtuous champions of the cause and those who undermined it. We meet defenders of rare birds and the nefarious absconder of ancient artifacts from Mesa Verde. The fun folks elevate the story so far above the “travelogue” that critics were worried would emerge, it doesn’t even bear fretting for one minute more about that.

Burns, master of his craft that he is, does not forget the common man/woman. Somehow, he has unearthed precious home memoirs of park aficionados dating back to the turn of the century. We follow one brave couple from Nebraska, Edward and Margaret Gerkie, as they tent alongside their car in various developing parks . We meet another man, a Japanese-born artist Chiura Obata whose spiritual connection to the “Holy Mountain,” Mount Rainier, leads to his life’s work painting scenes from the national parks. And naturally we meet Ansel Adams, photographer extraordinaire of the American West.

Just as the U.S. bureaucrats finally remembered to include wildlife in their plans for the nascent national parks, Burns remembers to put the people into his chronicle, turning what could have been a grand, but monotonous travelogue into a spirited exploration of our social and natural history, our culture and values.

But we would expect no less from our de facto national documentary filmmaker as he expounds on our nation’s presumed “best idea”.

About that claim, some will argue that America’s best idea was something else; something like, say, modern democracy (if you leave the ancient Greeks out of it) or representative government (skipping over the Iroquois here), or great TV sitcoms (a possible contender).

But Burns and team make a good case that the parks, set aside for all to enjoy, are uniquely American and embody our democratic spirit and more.

“The country (and therefore the parks) belong to the people. They are not for the rich alone,” says FDR, in a segment about how this nature-loving president, unable to hike or even walk far, greatly expanded the number of parks including some remote places.

Burns’ mega documentary, all 12 hours of it, is carefully organized, following the chronology of the parks from their inception in the 1800s, spurred by naturalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir, to about 1980 (a little disappointment there, given there are so many parallels with current park issues).

But his execution is multi-layered, creating a nuanced version of history with a panoply of interesting byways, detours and surprises.

He presents the parks as they were first viewed – as amazing spectacles that any American would be lucky to see and follows them though their various incarnations as vacation spots, points of education, and finally as core of our identity.

Our string of magnificent National Parks, concludes Sierra Club executive president Carl Pope, seems to suit a nation of immigrants, giving us places of peace and land that endures:

“They are the meaning of home for many of us.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Coastal residents, surfers, fishers, beach combers and sea lovers – get ready to pay it back this September by participating in the largest single day of trash collection along waterways at the annual International Coastal Cleanup.

The Coastal Cleanup, set for the third Saturday of every September, brings out hundreds of thousands of volunteers worldwide, who cart away millions of pounds of debris.

Last year, nearly 500,000 volunteers took part in the ICC, charting a take-away of 6.8 million pounds of trash. The volunteers cleaned up 6,485 sites in 100 countries and 42 US states in 2008, according to the event’s sponsor the Ocean Conservancy.

This year the Earth Day Network also is helping support the clean up. Volunteers will earn points toward EDN’s “Billion Acts of Green” campaign that aims to engage people around the world in flurry of actions leading up to next year’s 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day.

Cleaning up the beach view is a no brainer, but it’s also critical to helping marine life. Remember the damage to dolphins from those plastic six-pack holders? And lately, some institutions are rethinking polystyrene and plastic containers because as trash, they never fully break down and are inadvertently consumed by fish and birds. (For more on plastic debris, see this alarming and enlightening TED conference talk by Capt. Charles Moore about how plastic debris is killing Albatross chicks and polluting the oceans.)

“Trash on our beaches and in our ocean and waterways is more than an eyesore,” said Dianne Sherman, Director of the International Coastal Cleanup, in a statement. “It threatens marine wildlife, undermines tourism and other economic activities, and poses a risk to human health.”

This year’s event, set for Sept. 19, will ask volunteers to  remove debris from beaches, lakes and rivers (yes, in-landers can participate) and also track what they remove on data cards. The Ocean Conservancy will use this data to catalog marine debris, breaking it down by country and state, so that residents and leaders can divine solutions to littering, such as re-thinking certain types of packaging.

To find the nearest 2009 Cleanup site, visit the Ocean Conservancy website’s clean-up page, where you can search on a town or zip code.

(Photo of volunteers picking up litter in Russia, NOWPAP; divers helping entangled seal, NOAA.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Oceana raised nearly $900,000 at last weekend’s second annual SeaChange Summer Party, where it honored celebrities Glenn Close and Morgan Freeman.

The gathering supporting the ocean protection group was star-studded. Attendees included Oceana board member Ted Danson, last year’s honorees Harrison Ford and John Picard; Kate Walsh, Aaron Peirsol, Lauren Hutton, Anne Heche, Jeff Goldblum and many others.

Actress Close works with Arbor Day programs in her native New York City and has been a longtime supporter of human and animal rights, including assisting the Fountain House in New York City, a recovery facility for people with psychological disorders.

Freeman, an advocate for fighting global warming, has been active in the recovery efforts related to Hurricane Katrina. The Memphis native helped co-found PlanIt Now, a non-profit focused on hurricane preparedness.

Glenn Close has been nominated for five Academy Awards for her work in Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, The Big Chill, The Natural and The World According to Garp.S he won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for her role as ‘Patty Hewes’ on Damages and is a three-time Tony Award winner.

Freeman won an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2004, and was nominated for an Oscar three times before for acting turns in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy and the Shawshank Redemption. He has narrated many movies including March of the Penguins.

Oceana has been cited by Kiplinger Magazine as among the nation’s most effective environmental groups.  The summer party took place at a private residence in Laguna Beach. The event had a long list of sponsors, including Lugano Diamonds, the Harriet E. Pfleger Foundation and many national and local businesses.

]]> http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/26/oceana-honors-glenn-close-and-morgan-freeman-at-summer-fundraiser/feed/ 0 http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/11/california-teen-starts-kids-vs-global-warming-group/ http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/11/california-teen-starts-kids-vs-global-warming-group/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:50:03 +0000 Harriet Blake http://www.greenrightnow.com/?p=4453 By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now

At a time when most 15-year-olds are thinking about sports, learning to drive and dating, Alec Loorz is trying to stop global warming.

The Ventura, California teen is the creator of Kids vs. Global Warming, a non-profit group dedicated to getting youth involved in the fight against global warming. “As young people, we are the ones who have to face the consequences of global warming,” he says, in an interview from his home. “We need to get involved now.”

Alec says he was 12 when he was first introduced to the topic. His mom, Victoria, had rented An Inconvenient Truth. “She tried to persuade me to watch it. I thought it was going to be a boring documentary. Instead, it changed my life forever. I watched it two more times, including the special features.”

“I knew then that I wanted to do something about it. The next day at school, I talked about the movie to my friends. One of my friends said, ‘global warming was a hoax and Al Gore is a psycho.’”

Just to prove his friend wrong, Alec went home that night and researched everything he could about global warming. “That was when I realized that I could do something about it.”

He applied to be trained as a presenter for Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth programs, but they rejected him. “I was still 12 and you had to be 14,” Alec says. “It bugged me a little, so I decided to do it on my own.”

Alec began giving his own global warming presentations to area schools, churches, colleges and adult environmental groups. A few years later, Alec says, “Al Gore personally invited me to his next training session in Nashville. He felt bad. He had learned about my rejection.”

Like many environmentalists, Alec agrees, that by not becoming president, Al Gore has made a bigger impact on the world. “If he had become President,” Alec says, “I’d probably still be playing video games.”

Now, at the ripe old age of 15, Alec has met the former Vice President five times. At a presentation in San Diego, Gore brought Alec up on stage with him. “Whenever I’ve been with him, he always includes me in his presentations.”