The Department of Energy announced $10 million has been awarded to 16 cities for 40 new Solar America Cities Special Projects. The funds, made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will enable the cities to increase solar energy use in their communities through innovative programs and policies that the government believes can be replicated across the nation.

The cities chosen for these awards came from the group of 25 large U.S. cities that are part of the DOE’s Solar America Cities program, which recognizes the participating cities as partners highly committed to solar technology adoption at the local level. Those cities already have been given millions of dollars in funds and technical assistance to accelerate solar adoption.

To this point, the cities have used the funding to develop solar financing models, improve solar permitting processes, and create training courses for solar installers, among other uses. The DOE said this new award will enable the cities to scale up their most promising projects and concepts to overcome key barriers to urban solar energy use. The DOE plans to share the lessons learned and best practices from these projects with local governments throughout the nation through a substantial outreach effort planned to launch in early 2010.

The DOE has selected the following Solar America Cities Special Projects:

Austin, TX

• Solar Curriculum Development and School Demonstration Projects

Berkeley, CA

• Smart Solar Regional Expansion and Solar Map Enhancements

Boston, MA

• Solar Evacuation Route

Madison, WI

• MadiSUN Community Solar Financing
• Target Marketing Solar to Businesses
• Solar Business Center

Milwaukee, WI

• Solar Hot Water Business Council
• Solar Water Heating Demonstration Projects and Best Practices Manual
• Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing
• Solar School Swap

Minneapolis – Saint Paul, MN

• Solar for District Heating and Cooling

New Orleans, LA

• Third Party Solar Tax Credit Implementation
• Sustainable Energy Financing District Implementation

New York City, NY

• Smart Solar City Data Acquisition System
• Community Solar Financing
• Smart Solar Virtual Community

Portland, OR

• Solar Now! Regional Outreach Campaign
• Neighborhood-Based Volume Solar Purchasing
• Residential Solar Power Purchase Agreement Model for Utility-Bill Financing
• Neighborhood-Scale Distributed Energy Systems

Salt Lake City, UT

• Solar Rebate Program Expansion and Third Party PPA Legal Analysis
• Financing Options for Mid to Large Scale Solar Systems

San Diego, CA

• Solar Financing Options for Multifamily Affordable Housing
• Solar-Powered Fire Shelter Integration into Disaster Response Planning

San Francisco, CA

• Debt-Financed Solar Water Heating Retrofits for Affordable Housing
• San Francisco Sustainable Financing Program (SF²)
• Commercial Solar Power Purchase Agreement Model
• Solar Financing for Public Schools

San José, CA

• Property Assessed Solar Financing through Joint Powers Authority
• Solar Loans for City Staff
• Qualified Energy Conservation Bond Financing for Revolving Solar Loan Fund
• Streamlined Regional Solar Permitting Process
• Solar Train the Trainer Internship Program
• Solar Career Training for At-Risk Youth
• Green Vision Education and Demonstration Center

Santa Rosa, CA

• Clean Energy Advocate

Seattle, WA

• Community Solar Financing through Municipal Utility

Tucson, AZ

• Creative Financing for Municipal Solar Installations
• Solar One Stop Shop
• Solar Integration into Green Building Codes and Infrastructure Planning

From Green Right Now Reports

King County Metro in Seattle has ordered up to 500 diesel-electric hybrid buses from Daimler Buses North America. The first year order includes 93 hybrids, and the transit service took options for up to 200 more buses.

Daimler says the first Orion VII diesel-electric hybrids will be delivered to Seattle beginning in mid-2010.

With the latest orders, Daimler Buses says it will have a total of more than 2,900 diesel-electric hybrid transit buses in revenue service or on order for various transit authorities throughout the U.S. and Canada – making it the largest hybrid provider worldwide.

“Daimler remains committed to promoting clean drive technologies which will shape future transportation,” Andreas Strecker, president and CEO of Daimler Buses North America, said in a statement. “These additional orders for the Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid bus further maintain Daimler’s position as the world’s hybrid bus leader – a position that we intend to retain through product excellence and continued innovative firsts.”

Somewhere in between the sleep-away camps, beach excursions and baseball games of summer, kids and parents alike generally see the appeal of the sand-free floors and refrigerated air of a good museum. Institutions across the country know this is a great time to squeeze some education into kid-friendly, entertaining exhibitions; here’s a list of some of the best nature-oriented attractions for vacationers who’ve felt a bit too much heat this month.

Puget Sound Energy announced it has distributed more than 10 million free and discounted compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to its more than 1 million electric customers in Western Washington since the residential lighting program launched in 2002.

The utility said there is now an average of 10 energy-saving bulbs in use for every customer in the utility’s 9-county electric service area. PSE has distributed the bulbs to electric customers through local retailers, events and special promotions.

“Our customers understand that even a decision as small as the light bulbs they choose can make a big difference,” Cal Shirley, vice president of Energy Efficiency Services for PSE, said in a statement. “CFL bulbs will help PSE customers save a collective $430 million in energy costs over the lifetime of these 10 million bulbs, and lower their carbon emissions by the equivalent of 38,000 gallons of gasoline.”

CFL bulbs are 75 percent more efficient than traditional, incandescent types and last up to 10 times longer. For example, a 13-watt CFL bulb can replace a 60-watt incandescent bulb without compromising light quality. Consumers who install CFL bulbs in high-use areas, such as porch lights, can save as much as $60 each year simply by changing five light bulbs, PSE said.

Though safe to use in the home, CFL bulbs contain a small amount of mercury, so used CFL bulbs should be recycled. PSE offers free recycling of CFL bulbs at 14 office locations. Used, unbroken CFL bulbs can be placed in the labeled bins in the office lobbies. Free CFL bulb recycling is also available at Bartell Drugs stores, Home Depot, IKEA, and county and municipal household hazardous waste locations.

You can see a complete list of CFL bulb recycling locations and retailers offering PSE discounts and incentives online or call a PSE energy advisor at 1-800-562-1482.

You know your car is a gas hound. But what about the water it requires?

Keeping a car clean, whether you rinse it off in your driveway or get it scrubbed at a professional wash, uses buckets of agua, more than you might realize.

If you’re careful, washing your car at home might use 10 gallons of water, but probably more like 25 or 50. A car wash can use much more, in the range of 75 to 100 gallons.

The International Car Wash Association says car washes are not a problem because the water consumed at car washes is recycled and reused. Water is properly disposed of via the sewer system where it can be treated and returned to circulation, the association says. (This is not the case with home car washing, which we’ll get to.)

However, just as foregoing paper is more effective at saving forests than using recycled paper, the greenest car wash is the one that doesn’t use water at all.

The cutting edge of the car cleaning biz has been spawning products that clean and polish your car without water, and lately, car washes that do the same.

Take Houston’s new car detailing service and car wash, Eco-Suds Hand Car Wash.

This new service in Northwest Houston, uses a water-based cleaning solution that is non-hazardous and biodegradable. The formula dissolves dirt and the residue is easily wiped off with a microfiber cloth. The process doesn’t scratch because polymers enwrap the dirt. The car is wiped clean and buffed, leaving it smooth and shiny (see photo above), says Kevin Dunn, co-owner of the Eco-Suds Hand Car Wash.

Dunn touts the service as eco-friendly on two counts — it avoids toxic runoff because the cleaning solution does not contain any oil, mineral spirits or kerosene, harmful chemicals that turn up in competitor’s formulas. And, the process is virtually water-less (there’s some water in the solution), saving the community dozens of gallons of water for each car and truck cleaned.

“According to our estimates, we believe we have saved roughly 90,000 gallons since we opened in mid-February,” he said. “Not too bad for one single location in just three months.”

As the Eco-Suds website notes, conventional car washes cannot compete with that level of water conservation because even their recycled water is typically mixed with 40 to 80 gallons of fresh water for each new car washed.

Eco-Suds is frugal with natural resources, but uses significant human capital, employing hand washers. It competes with both mass-market and luxury detailing services, with packages starting at $25 for an exterior wash and interior cleaning, ranging up to $225 for the “platinum package” with various levels in between.

Eco-Suds bills itself as the nation’s “first full service, eco-friendly car wash and detail” — and it is a unique stand alone facility — but it is not the first enterprise to try to create a greener model for the car wash business.

Several have gone eco by switching to greener cleaning ingredients and polishes and adding water recapture capabilities, but they’re still using large quantities of water.

A few select car washes are getting more aggressive about water use.

The Eco-Pit in San Diego is another virtually water-less car wash that uses a line of Earth-friendly products.

Seattle has Advanced Mobile, a car detailing service that uses biodegradable soaps and comes to clients, washing their cars at their location and reclaiming all the water used. The mobile aspect of this business throws a wrench into the process of assessing its carbon imprint (would it be more or the same as a drop in car wash?), but the EPA was impressed enough with its water conservation to award it a Water Efficiency Leader award in 2006.  Advanced Mobile also has outlets in Portland and Chicago.

In Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water Authority promotes car washes that reclaim or recycle their water on its Water Smart program by offering coupons to these businesses on its website.

Now, about washing your car at home. The Environmental Protection Agency and some state agencies warn against it. At least, they tell us not to wash the car or truck in the driveway because the runoff is hazardous to  the environment. The phosphates in some soaps can harm fish down the line, because they act as fertilizers, making algae grow and choking off oxygen for aquatic life. And that oily sheen you see in the rivulets running toward the storm drain (from undercarriage goo and petroleum distillates) can be a real problem for many life forms.

If you must wash at home, park on grass or gravel, so the runoff can be reabsorbed by the soil, the experts say. And use a phosphate-free soap.

It’s better to use commercial carwash, the EPA notes, because that water can be recycled and will be cleansed by local water treatment facilities before being returned to the water system or the environment.

Charity groups should do the same. Instead of setting up a DIY venture in a school parking lot, school and church groups should operate on grass or gravel, or partner with a local commercial car wash.

Even better — work with a commercial car wash that doesn’t use water.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

America’s urban centers are becoming ever greener, with the National League of Cities holding its first ever Green Cities Conference last month. While many cities have recently taken up environmental causes, some have been carrying the banner for years.

Seattle, home to such earlier innovations as the ’60s Space Needle, Microsoft, and grunge rock, is one such green leader.

In 2008, Seattle was anointed the nation’s leader in LEED-certified buildings by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), culminating an eight-year-old sustainable building policy calling for city-funded projects to be LEED-qualified at the silver level.

Seattle also can boast about its:

• Impressive bike trails system with about 30 trails and 20 bike lanes, making bike commuting commonplace in Seattle, home to the Cascade Bicycle Club, which claims to be the nation’s largest bicycle club

• Community-based home energy efficiency program, called SWITCH, that started last year and has sent neighbors door-to-door with thousands of CFL light bulbs.

• Climate initiative, begun in 2005, which sets city targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who was elected in 2002, is a strong advocate for environmental stewardship. He introduced the city’s Climate Protection Initiative after the federal government chose to not participate in the Kyoto Protocol target for reducing climate pollution. That target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

“I felt there was an opportunity for us to take action at a local level,” said Nickels in a recent interview.

The mayor says his “aha” moment came in 2004-05. “We had a very warm winter that year, and there wasn’t much snow in the mountains. That impacted our water supply and our power, since we rely mostly on hydroelectric power. It occurred to me that global warming affects every corner of the globe, including ours.

“This is something we urgently need to address for our future, and our children’s,” he says.

In 2006, Mayor Nickels asked other mayors to join him in the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Beginning with nine mayors, the group now numbers 910. These mayors represent more than 82 million people from all 50 states and are a “real political force that will continue to impact national policy,” he says.

Seattle CAN

Seattle Climate Action Now, or Seattle CAN, also began about this time. The city-led program partners with local businesses and organizations to provide residents with the tools needed at home and work to put an end to global warming. The Seattle CAN website helps citizens calculate their carbon footprint with a link to ZeroFootprint Seattle. Here residents can sign in and learn steps to reduce their family’s carbon footprint.

The site provides commonsense advice, such as driving less; replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones; turning off and unplugging computers and cellphone chargers; changing furnace and air-conditioning filters regularly; installing weather stripping anywhere there is a draft; turning down the thermostat at night and when away from home; insulating the attic; running the dishwasher only when full; installing water-saving devices such as low-flow shower heads; and reducing the size of trash by recycling and buying less stuff.

There’s also an events calendar for climate-related events like Seattle’s Celebrate Summer Streets festivals.

A recent poll shows that three out of every four Seattle residents are taking actions to lessen their carbon footprint, says the mayor (center of photo at green event this year).

“With our ‘Climate Action Now’ campaign, Seattle is making great progress engaging and motivating our residents and business to fight global warming,” Nickels says. “Last year, we distributed more than 10,000 home energy kits to our residents. Our electric utility was successful in distributing more than 1.4 million compact fluorescent bulbs to Seattle homes and businesses.”

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

MORE FROM GRN

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Learning not to waste – whether it’s food, electricity or water – is not only good in these economic times, but even more important, it’s beneficial for the environment.

The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study, released this week, ranks the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas on wasteful behavior. San Francisco led the group with the least wasteful habits, while Atlanta ranked at the bottom.

The survey of 3,750 people, commissioned by Nalgene (the maker of reusable water bottles), looked at 23 waste-focused habits of city dwellers ranging from recycling and use of public transportation to shutting off lights and eating leftovers. The results were weighted, says Eric Hansen, senior business manager of Nalgene-Outdoor. “We gave more credit to behaviors that had an immediate and significant impact on the planet, such as reduced driving and recycling trash.”

One conclusion of the study is that the easier and more convenient an action, the more frequently it’s practiced. Convenience trumped prudence, the report says. Shutting off lights was easier to do than hanging clothes on a clothesline.

“This study highlights habits that our society has adopted out of convenience, but on a whole can have a huge impact on the sustainability of the planet,” says Hansen.

The survey also notes that despite the economy, saving money is not the main reason urbanites are changing their wasteful ways. More than half of those surveyed said it is their responsibility to ensure the health of the planet for future generations. “Being frugal and helping the planet, these behaviors tend to go hand in hand,” says Hansen.

The top five least wasteful cities were San Francisco; New York City; Portland, Or.; Seattle and Los Angeles. The five most wasteful major cities were Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, Houston and St. Louis.

The good news, according to the study, is that urban Americans are increasingly taking everyday steps to cut waste. The top five areas where most people comply: saving leftover food to eat again; shutting off lights when not in the room; turning off water when brushing teeth; using energy efficient light bulbs; and recycling glass, metal, plastics on regular basis.

The areas where people are less likely to be concerned with wasteful ways: avoiding drying clothes in a dryer, using a rain barrel, composting, taking public transportation and not driving a car for trips that are less than two miles from home.

These latter five areas are what the top cities had in common. For instance, San Francisco residents were not only good about turning off water, but also excelled at not using their car for short trips. The cities that did not score well, were not energy efficient with even the simple things such as recycling. In Atlanta, residents threw out more than two bags of trash each week and didn’t use as many energy efficient light bulbs.

The study, which was compiled over two months by the independent research firm Greenfield Online, also had several recommendations for folks – urban or not – on reducing waste:

• Small changes such as reusable containers and water bottles (not surprising, since that is what Nalgene manufactures) or walking instead of driving.
• Compost yard trimmings and food leftovers. The EPA estimates that 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream is made up of yard trimming and food leftovers. Composting avoids filling the landfills and is environmentally beneficial.
• Rain barrels. Even in the city, rain barrels can be installed in a building. They save money on water that can be used to water the yard.
• Bikes. Help the environment and get some exercise by skipping the car.
• Public transportation. Even if using public transportation a few times a week, this has an impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
• Buy used or Freecycle. Thrift stores, libraries, used book stores are all good ways not to waste and to support local businesses. And if there’s a Freecycle group in your zipcode, that’s another good way to avoid waste.

Related story:

• See the full list of America’s least wasteful cities

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

1. San Francisco, CA
2. New York City, NY
3. Portland, OR
4. Seattle, WA
5. Los Angeles, CA
6. Denver, CO
7. Minneapolis, MN
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Boston, MA
10. Philadelphia, PA
11. Chicago, IL
12. Baltimore, MD
13. Detroit, MI
14. Pittsburgh, PA
15. Orlando, FL
16. Cleveland, OH
17. Sacramento, CA
18. Miami, FL
19. Tampa, FL
20. Phoenix, AZ
21. St. Louis, MO
22. Houston, TX
23. Indianapolis, IN
24. Dallas, TX
25. Atlanta, GA

From Green Right Now Reports

Green Apple Festival and Earth Day Network have released the 2009 line up for the free “Green Apple Thank You Concerts” for volunteers in major cities across the country over Earth Day Weekend (April 17 through 19).

Performers at the flagship event “Earth Day on the National Mall” in Washington D.C. will be announced soon, festival organizers said.

This year’s Green Apple Festival has grown to 10 cities and will focus on environmental volunteerism. Volunteers who participate in the activities over the weekend will be given tickets to attend the free “Thank You” concerts.

Here are the artists announced for each festival city:

• Atlanta, GA – Galactic & Friends with opener Victoria George at Variety Playhouse
  Galactic is a leading funk and jazz instrumental band from New Orleans, Louisiana. George is a country/rock singer/songwriter.
• Austin, TX – Travis Tritt & Friends at Antone’s (on Monday April 20)
  Tritt is a Grammy Award-winning Country star who has charted more than 30 singles on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five #1’s
• Boston, MA – Soulive & Friends at Paradise Rock Club
  The funk/jazz trio originated in Buffalo, New York, and is known for its solos and catchy, upbeat songs Chicago, IL – Cracker & Friends at The Metro Cracker is an Alt-rock favorite founded by former Camper Van Beethoven member David Lowery with Johnny Hickman
• Denver, CO – Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk & Friends at Cervante’s Masterpiece
  Led by Ivan Neville, a member of legendary Neville family and his popular funk band from New Orleans
• Los Angeles, CA – The Hotel Cafe Presents Cary Brothers & Friends at The Roxy
  The Hotel Cafe venue in LA helped launch the careers of top singer/songwriters, including Brothers, an indie rock singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee
• New York City – Deep Banana Blackout featuring Fred Wesley & Friends at Bowery Ballroom
  The Soul legend from the James Brown Band joins this long-time NY funk favorite
• San Francisco, CA – BassNectar & Friends at Slim’s
  BassNectar is an electronic music freeform project based in San Francisco, known as a top DJ and collaborator
• Seattle, WA – The Blue Scholars & Friends at The Crocodile
  The Northwest’s Top Hip-Hop group will be playing their hometown
• Washington, DC – artists will be announced soon for Earth Day on the National Mall

If you’d like to volunteer, go to www.PlanetGreen.com to sign up.

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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

While the vast majority of Americans are car bound, rising numbers are getting on board with public transit, commuter and light rail, trolleys and buses.

Those riding the rails and buses took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, a 4 percent increase over the number of trips taken in 2007, according to a ridership report by the American Public Transportation Association.

During the same period, the number of vehicle miles traveled on roadways declined by 3.6 percent, the group reported, citing the U.S. Department of Transportation.

While the road miles driven could simply reflect fewer people commuting to work combined with lower driving levels resulting from last summer’s soaring gas prices, the APTA sees the increase in ridership as a continuation of a longer term trend.

“Public transportation use is up 38% percent since 1995, a figure that is almost triple the growth rate of the population (14 percent) and up substantially over the growth rate for the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on our nation’s highways (21%) for that same period,” the association explained in a news statement released Monday.

In sheer numbers, the 2008 ridership was the greatest since 1956; though today’s higher population means the percentage of riders is still much less than it was at that time.

APTA president William W. Millar noted that those switching to public transit can save themselves more than $8,000 a year in gasoline and car maintenance costs, as well as helping lessen their carbon footprint.

“Now, more than ever, the value of public transportation is evident and the public has clearly demonstrated that they want and need more public transit services,” Millar said. “Public transportation is good for the economy, good for the environment and good for energy independence and now is the time for the federal government to increase its investment in public transportation.”

Light rail — which includes trolleys and modern street cars — saw the biggest percentage increases in ridership.

The city of Charlotte, with a light rail system that opened in late 2007, saw an 862 percent increase.

Charlotte was followed by New Orleans’ light rail system, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, with an annual increase of 218 percent.