November 30th, 2010

‘Tis the season for giving, but what how does the environmentally-conscious shopper weave a bit of good stewardship into all that holiday generosity?

Before making a list of energy-efficient gadgets or rushing out to buy your spouse a brand new electric car, consider a little more expanded approach to gifting “green.”

For several years now, my wife has given our eco-friendly offspring (and a few friends) a donation to Heifer International. You’ve probably heard of Heifer: They’re the folks who literally provide heifers (young cows), goats, sheep, llamas, rabbits, chickens and geese – among other good chain-friendly creatures — to impoverished families, hoping to help lift them up and enable them to be more self-sufficient.

So how, you may ask, is this green?

These animals help turn dependent people into ones who can provide their own food, which is about as “sustainable” as it gets. In Heifer International’s case, that heifer is a source of milk for children and the potential to sell excess milk to pay for food, clothing and other necessities. With proper planning, the heifer can produce offspring that can help the gift keep on giving over multiple generations.

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May 4th, 2010

The delicate ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico and its coasts are home to a vast, diverse array of wildlife. Sperm whales, endangered sea turtles, bluefin tuna, bottlenose dolphins, delicate birds that live mostly hidden in marshes and barrier islands, migratory birds and even Louisiana’s state bird, the brown pelican, are among the seemingly countless species that live, breed and nest in the gulf. Now, everyone is watching and waiting as the huge oil spill, caused by the rupture of a BP oil well two weeks ago and growing by at least 210,000 gallons of oil every day, drifts around in the gulf’s 600,000 square miles. The slick is contaminating deep waters and threatening the coasts in yet incalculable ways.

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December 29th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The National Audubon Society is kicking off the second year of its Pennies for the Planet campaign, which is supported by TogetherGreen. With a slogan of “Because the planet needs some change,” schools, clubs, groups, and families are encouraged to help threatened ecosystems and wildlife by simply collecting pennies (and nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars, too).

This year’s pennies will help protect three endangered U.S. coastlines:

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December 10th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Ajamu Brown, 32, was raised in Central Brooklyn amongst families who immigrated to the U.S. in search of a better life.

While growing up watching his community suffer from the effects of crack cocaine, AIDS, a failing educational system, and poor housing, Brown decided he was going to make a difference. He headed to upstate New York where he received his degree in speech communications from Ithaca College. After graduating, Brown joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer on HIV/AIDS education and outreach.

“During that time I learned a lot about Namibia’s delicate eco-system. It was difficult to witness the high rate of human and environmental degradation, but I learned how important it was to have bottom-up strategies and community support in solving problems that will create sustainable solutions,” Brown said.

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May 28th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports:

The National Audubon Society has honored six women with the 2009 Rachel Carson Award for their outstanding conservation efforts.

• Dr. Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer, author, lecturer and National Geographic Explorer in Residence whose work has expanded awareness and conservation of the fragile marine environment. Former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Earle is president and founder of Deep Search International. She has led more than 60 expeditions, including the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970. She also set a record for solo diving to a depth of 3,300 feet. Her research focuses on marine ecosystems in the deep sea and other remote environments.

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January 6th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler Green Right Now The National Audubon Society headquarters in New York City has distinguished itself as a builder not just of avian habitats, but of green, sustainable office spaces too, earning a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. In fact, the society’s 27,500-square-foot headquarters at 225 Varick Street received [...]

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December 22nd, 2008

By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now

Geoff LeBaron gets paid to count birds, among other things. And this is an especially busy time of year for him and all bird watchers. From Dec. 14 through Jan. 5 the National Audubon Society conducts its annual Christmas Bird Count. LeBaron has served as its director since 1987.

“It’s neat to be able to work for the National Audubon Society in this [endeavor] that brings birding and ornithology together,” LeBaron says, explaining that ornithologists like himself are trained scientists who study what birds do, while birders are folks, also like himself, who are captivated by watching birds. Not all ornithologists, he points out, enjoy birdwatching as a pastime.

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December 8th, 2008

By Clint Williams
Green Right Now

Horseshoe crabs – believe it or not – scuttle about in Jamaica Bay, a 20,000-acre maze of marshland, islands and water that forms the southern boundary of Brooklyn. There would be more if they could find a place to breed.

Decades of debris have piled up on the bay’s beaches, blocking the path to egg-laying sites for the prehistoric-looking crabs. But things will soon get better for horseshoe crabs in New York City – and blue-winged warblers in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, and marbled godwits along the Mendocino Coast of northern California – because of TogetherGreen, an initiative of the National Audubon Society paid for by Toyota.

The program awarded TogetherGreen Conservation Innovation Grants totaling $1.4 million this fall. The grants, ranging from $5,000 to $68,000, will fund 41 projects in 24 states. As you might expect from Audubon, many of the funded projects benefit birds.

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November 4th, 2008

By Barbara Kessler

Every spring, as sure as the sun warms the cedars and the birds flock back from Mexico, Lee Clauser leads a stealth group of intense adults dressed in khakis and boots to the edge of a wild thicket near his house in north central Texas.

They creep into the brush, quietly unloading their weapons of mass observation.

Putting binoculars to eyes, they look, and listen, for the brilliant Golden-cheeked warbler, and for the reclusive Black-capped vireo. Both songbirds are listed as endangered in the United States, their nesting grounds having been narrowed to a strip of Texas Hill Country that supplies just the right shrubbery and old-growth cedars. The birders, who come from Fort Worth, Dallas, New England, the Pacific Northwest and beyond, know that catching a glimpse of one of these delicate creatures is a rare treat.

“People have come from Europe to see those birds, both species. For birders all over the world, it’s a huge deal,” says Clauser, a retired banker and life-long bird rescue and rehabilitation expert.

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