The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the Environmental Defense Fund, with the support of The Meadows Foundation have developed the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook.

The project highlights that in an emerging green energy economy, green means dollars. There are more than 200 green jobs listed in the guidebook, as well as specific training and education opportunities across Texas, and the list is expected to grow. Green is not a short term trend, but a fundamental shift in political, corporate, and personal decision making, according to those advocating for green jobs.

In Texas, $6 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside for energy and weatherization programs is expected to fuel the green  job market. New bills awaiting review in Congress, such as the existing Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, could further that job growth.

“Texas is the energy capital of America,” said Kate Robertson, author of the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook and an energy efficiency specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund. When most people think of energy opportunities in Texas they think of oil, but that is rapidly changing.  Texas is the number one producer of wind energy in the country, providing opportunities all around the state, especially in West Texas where most wind farms are located. In Austin, solar energy is a fast-growing jobs sector.

From green construction to energy conservation, the green job market is vast, and the jobs listed in the guidebook reflect that, encompassing these areas:

• Clean Energy
• Solar Power
• Wind Power
• Geothermal Power
• Biogas
• Biomass
• Hydrogen Power
• Hydroelectric Power
• Green Building
• Transportation
• Waste Management
• Water Resources
• Conservation and Planning
• Environmental Research and Monitoring
• Advocacy

Also, while many green jobs are relatively new, they typically have strong local ties and cannot be outsourced overseas, providing some job security.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Green news is just streaming out these days, like a ticker tape parade, but without the paper waste.

Carleton College, in Northfield, Minn.

First on my notes, the College Sustainability Report Card people have issued their 2010 list of schools making A’s for green initiatives. Actually, no campus has earned an A yet, but 27 are  getting A-’s for a range of innovative efforts. My native Minnesota has propelled Carleton College, Macalester College and the University of Minnesota into the top ranks. Uffda, that’s exciting.

Depending on your roots and alma mater, you’ll likely find a campus to cheer on. The sheer diversity of activities being launched — from eco-peer training to building retrofits to food co-ops — makes our mouth water for local food and a pesticide-free place to eat it. Kudos to the Gen Y’ers and administrations behind all this.

Now a word about that younger generation. No matter what our age, we can all do something for ourselves and our descendants. We can reduce carbon pollution. Every step we take counts, from our backyard garden to our carpool. But in the U.S., we need to take some BIG BITES out of our out-sized contribution to global warming. And we can do that by supporting cap and trade legislation.

As the President prepares to deliver his State of the Union address, I am waiting for the word: We need action on climate change. Year two. Let’s get on with it.

I know, it’s not perfect legislation, those bills that have been hanging around Congress, gathering mildew and exemptions for polluters. They have prompted vicious partisan battles. (But then hasn’t everything pending in Congress prompted vicious partisan battles?)

But we need something on the books. It could bring fundamental change, or kick the ball in that direction.  If Congress moves in the spirit of creating a greener future instead of looking for ways to insert loopholes for special interests, this legislation could help clear the air, trigger other countries to do the same and help slow climate change.

A politician once promised a chicken in every pot. Not to mix food metaphors, but this law could do much more. It could mean keeping salmon on your plate, weather catastrophes off your doorstep and clean water available for your children.

On one level, cap and trade is pretty simple: Fossil-fuel burning businesses will start paying for their pollution. They will be penalized. Clean energy and clean tech businesses will not. This will have the effect of tugging the economy in the right direction. And because it will be staged in, it does not create economic shock. Many argue, in fact, that it will do the opposite, creating green jobs, spurring innovation and curtailing wasteful practices.

Fossil fuel industries are not happy about this. Duh.

We could spend another 1,000 words on this topic. But I’d like to refer you to someone who can explain it better, an expert at the Environmental Defense Fund.  Watch this video, and if your kids are old enough to read a 6th grade textbook, share it with them. It’s their future.

The Facts of Cap-and-Trade from Clean Energy Works on Vimeo.

By the way, if you’re worried that cap-and-trade legislation is not sufficiently bipartisan, know that the EDF works with many major corporations that support cap and trade as a way to reduce carbon pollution. Many on the left believe a simple carbon tax would be more efficient. This video also notes that it was a Reagan-era cap and trade measure that brought acid rain under control, verifying that this market solution can work.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Here are 10 startling facts we learned in 2009 that underscore the climate threat:

1. A study published in the journal Science reports that the current level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere – about 390 parts per million – is higher today than at any time in measurable history — at least the last 2.1 million years. Previous peaks of CO2 were never more than 300 ppm over the past 800,000 years, and the concentration is rising by around 2 ppm each year.
2. The World Meterological Organization reported that 2000-2009 was the hottest decade on record with 8 of the hottest 10 years having occurred since 2000.
3. 2009 will end up as one of the 5 hottest years since 1850 and the U.K.’s Met Office predicts that, with a moderate El Nino, 2010 will likely break the record.
4. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that while a bit more summer Arctic sea ice appeared in 2009 than the record breaking lows of the last two years, it was still well below normal levels. Given that the Arctic ice cover remains perilously thin, it is vulnerable to further melting, posing an ever increasing threat to Arctic wildlife including polar bears.
5. The Arctic summer could be ice-free by mid-century, not at the end of the century as previously expected, according to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
6. Recent observations published in the highly respected Nature Geosciences indicate that the East Antarctica ice sheet has been shrinking. This surprised researchers, who expected that only the West Antarctic ice sheet would shrink in the near future because the East Antarctic ice sheet is colder and more stable.
7. The U.S. Global Change Research Program completed an assessment of what is known about climate change impacts in the US and reported that, “Climate changes are already observed in the United States and… are projected to grow.” These changes include “increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows.”
8. According to a report by the US Geological Survey, slight changes in the climate may trigger abrupt threats to ecosystems that are not easily reversible or adaptable, such as insect outbreaks, wildfire, and forest dieback. “More vulnerable ecosystems, such as those that already face stressors other than climate change, will almost certainly reach their threshold for abrupt change sooner.” An example of such an abrupt threat is the outbreak of spruce bark beetles throughout the western U.S. caused by increased winter temperatures that allow more beetles to survive.
9. The EPA, USGS and NOAA issued a joint report warning that most mid-Atlantic coastal wetlands from New York to North Carolina will be lost with a sea level rise of 1 meter or more.
10. If we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century, some of the main fruit and nut tree crops currently grown in California may no longer be economically viable, as there will be a lack of the winter chilling they require. And, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. production of corn, soybeans and cotton could decrease as much as 82%.

Copyright 201o, Environmental Defense Action Fund; based on a variety of sources from EPA, NASA, NOAA and other government or science institutions.

About 9,000 large buildings in New York City are spewing out about 1,000 tons of toxic soot pollution every year because they burn the dirtiest heating oils available, according to a new report released today by Environmental Defense Fund.

The Flatiron Building was identified as one of NYC's top polluters.

Eighty-seven percent of NYC’s heating oil soot pollution is created by only one percent of all buildings in New York City, the report said. Soot pollution has been shown to aggravate asthma, increase the risk of cancer, exacerbate respiratory illnesses and cause premature death.

EDF’s study, “The Bottom of the Barrel: How the Dirtiest Heating Oil Pollutes Our Air and Harms Our Health,” shows that the city’s levels of nickel — a heavy metal that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by thickening the walls of arteries — are nine times higher than other U.S. cities.

“Dirty heating oil produces toxic pollution that millions of New Yorkers are forced to breathe every day,” concluded Isabelle Silverman, a co-author of the report and an attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. “Our government banned leaded gasoline in cars and now requires cleaner diesel fuel used in trucks and construction equipment to protect human health, so by the same token, the city government should phase out the use of dirty heating oil.”

The report said that some of the NYC’s most iconic structures burn No. 6 oil in their boilers, including: the Flatiron Building (at 5th Avenue and 23rd St. in Manhattan), San Remo (at Central Park West between 74th and 75th streets), The Dakota (Central Park West at 72nd St.) and The Beresford (211 Central Park West).

EDF said it has launched a web site — www.edf.org/dirtybuildings — that allows tenants to check if their building is burning dirty heating oil and offers advice on how to convert their building if it does so. Most burners that were installed during the last 15 years can burn any of the three heating oil grades (No. 2, 4 or 6) or natural gas. Low income buildings can apply for boiler and burner replacement funding available from the U.S. Department of Energy, EDF said.

The EDF report recommends a 10-year window for building owners to convert from No. 4 and No. 6 oil to much cleaner No. 2 oil or natural gas. The switch would reduce soot pollution from buildings burning No. 6 oil by 95 percent. Although No. 2 oil is about 10 percent more expensive to buy than No. 6 oil based on today’s prices, the EDF report concludes that best maintenance practices and low-cost efficiency measures can significantly lower fuel usage and save buildings money. Natural gas is actually cheaper to buy than No. 4 or No. 6 oil.

A report released Tuesday by the New York City Department of Health (DOH) showed that buildings using the dirtiest heating oils — No. 4 and No. 6 — are a major cause of the city’s high air pollution levels. New York burns two out of every three gallons of these versions used for heating in the United States. The DOH report shows the worst air pollution in the areas with the highest concentration of sludge-burning buildings. The Upper East Side and Upper West Side are the areas with the highest concentration of sludge burning buildings in the city.

The city has consistently received a failing grade for its air quality from the federal government in recent years. The hospitalization rate of children with asthma in the city is twice the national average.

EcoDriving, a national initiative to promote green driving habits, has won the support of 10 more governors. The Southern Governors Association announced yesterday the latest states to join the EcoDriving movement that was launched a year ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO), the Environmental Defense Fund and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

“EcoDriving was introduced to empower consumers to take green driving into their own hands by adjusting their driving and vehicle maintenance habits,” Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement. “The educational program offers Americans a simple way to be more fuel efficient, and save at the pump.

The newest governors to endorse the program are Bob Riley (R- AL), Haley Barbour (R-MS), Jay Nixon (D-MO), Martin O’Malley (D – MD), Bev Perdue (D-NC), Luis Fortuno (R – PR), Mark Sanford (R- SC), John De-Jongh (D – USVI), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).

That group joins governors Sonny Perdue (R-GA), C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-ID), Steve Beshear (D- KY), Jennifer M. Granholm (D-MI), Brad Henry (D-OK) and Jon Huntsman (R-UT), along with governors Schwarzenegger and Ritter, in supporting for EcoDriving.

EcoDriving is focused on raising awareness of how subtle and easy-to-use driving and vehicle maintenance best practices can improve mileage by an average of 15 percent. The program helps improve the mileage of every single vehicle, regardless of vehicle size and age. The benefits are potentially huge:

• If just half of all drivers nationwide practiced moderate levels of EcoDriving, annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be reduced by about 100 million tons, or the equivalent of heating and powering 8.5 million households.
• If all Americans practiced EcoDriving, it would be equal to 450 billion miles traveled on our roadways without generating any CO2 emissions. That’s 1,500 CO2-free miles for every man, woman and child in the United States each year.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Restaurant Associates have unveiled a guide to green dining best practices, which is aimed at helping corporate cafeterias, museums and restaurants cut costs and spare the environment.

The science-based recommendations have been tested by two Restaurant Associates clients, Random House and Hearst Corporation. The two companies combined will save over $85,000 each year, cut 275 tons of carbon pollution and reduce landfill waste by 60 tons annually, according to early test results.

An earlier survey by the National Restaurant Association found that environmentally friendly equipment and sustainable practices topped chefs’ lists of hot trends and top cost-savers for 2009.

The green dining best practices with the biggest environmental impacts include food purchasing (addressing specific products like meat, produce and seafood), facility operation (improvements in the use of energy, waste, and water), packaging, transportation of food, and the use of toxic cleaning chemicals.

“Consumers today know what they want: delicious food at affordable prices that’s good for them and for the planet. This is a tall order, but it’s one we can meet,” Ed Sirhal, president of Restaurant Associates, said in a statement. “Using these best practices as a guide, we unearthed opportunities for cost and environmental savings that were right there for the taking. We encourage companies throughout the food services industry to do the same.”

Restaurant Associates said it will roll out the green dining best practices in all 110 of its facilities nationwide, and has engaged the Green Restaurant Association to audit and certify those efforts by 2011. The company has also committed to increasing the amount of sustainable seafood on its menus, offering clients “bottleless” water dispensers as an alternative to bottled water, reducing the carbon footprint of the meats and proteins it serves 20 percent by July 2010 and also reducing energy use in its facilities.

Related video:
Environmental Defense Fund and Restaurant Associates officials explain the Green Dining Best Practices program:

Los Angeles County has more businesses than any other county in California that stand to benefit from the state’s leadership on climate change, according to a first-of-its-kind map of green businesses in California released today. The map was released in conjunction with an Environmental Defense Fund report outlining how the Los Angeles area can leverage its environmental leadership to create economic opportunities.

The California Green Economy map features more than 2,200 businesses statewide in four categories — energy generation, energy efficiency, green building and transportation — that are likely to grow as California transitions to a low-carbon economy.

Southern California alone has more than 1,000 green companies, according to the Los Angeles Greenprint report, which details how the implementation of Green LA and Solar LA initiatives proposed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are expected produce high-quality green jobs for people living in the Los Angeles area.

Companies on the map can be sorted by city, county and congressional district. The top five counties are:

1. Los Angeles County, 398 companies
2. San Diego County, 208 companies
3. Orange County, 202 companies
4. Santa Clara County, 173 companies
5. Alameda County, 131 companies

“To our knowledge, this is the first time that a map of California’s green companies has been published online, creating a visual dynamic resource for people to better understand what a green economy looks like,” Tim O’Connor, an attorney and California climate change analyst at EDF, said in a statement. “As Congress considers a federal climate bill modeled after California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, this map gives local members of Congress a preview of the footprint of the green economy, both statewide and in each district.”

Implementation of Green LA will be overseen by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest public power utility in the country and the utility that uses the most solar energy nationwide. The plan calls for fighting global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 through the use of renewable energy, conservation, new green building standards and strategic land use planning. Solar LA calls for growing the region’s green economy by adding 1.3 gigawatts of solar power by 2020, enough to meet 10 percent of L.A.’s energy needs and more than is currently available nationwide.

“Los Angeles and Southern California are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of existing pollution problems, our coastal setting and overstretched water supplies,” said Erica Fick, an EDF clean energy fellow based in Los Angeles, who co-authored the report. “Green LA and Solar LA will be a shot in the arm for the entire Southern California economy, creating a lasting upswing in the manufacturing, construction, technology, and ‘green’ service sectors.”

One success story cited in the LA Greenprint report is Suntrek Industries, a company in neighboring Ventura County that specializes in solar pool heating, solar heating and electricity. Suntrek has six offices located in California. Today, Suntrek serves more than 200,000 customers, employs nearly 80 people, and has increased its sales by 300% since 2007, according to its President and CEO Roy Heine. Even in these challenging economic times, Heine has been able to expand his business and hire new employees. Suntrek employees attribute the company’s growth to large rebates available for solar energy through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the newly extended federal tax credit for residential solar and the progressive initiatives laid out by Mayor Villaraigosa in his Green LA plan.

In addition to describing the economic and environmental benefits of Green LA and Solar LA, the Los Angeles Greenprint urges the city to establish a dedicated climate team to implement the plans and measure progress towards the 35% greenhouse gas emission reduction goal. The Greenprint also calls on the city to maintain a high level of transparency and accountability as it proceeds with all 50+ Green LA measures and all three components of Solar LA.

For most of us, walking into a seafood store is an exercise in both ignorance and hope: we’re ignorant of what’s available but we hope we’ll leave with what we want. We all know fish come in two colors: the red one is salmon and the rest are white. Here is what you should know about fish:

Mark Musatto, a partner at Airline Seafood in Houston, says “There are three basic feelings I want every customer to have when they enter my store: they should feel, smell and see the freshness; notice that fresh fish has a sheen and a translucency and I want customers to tell me how they plan to cook their fish and we can talk about the best fish for that method.

“Some fish are better for grilling, others for sautéing, and others for frying.”

There are some basics to consider and ask about when you shop for fish:

• Do you know the store to be safe and reputable?

• Is the seafood fresh or “previously frozen”?

• Where was it caught — Is it local or shipped in from afar?

• How was it caught — is it from open waters or farm-raised?

• And, the increasingly vital question: Is the store selling varieties of seafood that are endangered?

A seafood store must have some basics that make it a good, safe place to shop. The smell should be clean, not too “fishy”; there should be constant filleting of fish so the fish is always fresh, not dry or brown from exposure to the air; fish must be left on the bone as long as possible and those handling the fish should be able to answer any questions you have.

A question to help separate the average shop from the superior one: Is this a store where restaurants buy their seafood? The answer must be “yes.”

How to tread lightly when dining on seafood

The word “seafood” doesn’t define only fish. Seafood includes scallops, lobster, oysters, clams, mussels, crawfish, crab, shrimp and other non-fish creatures. And among these are endangered varieties.

The Environmental Defense Fund has put together a Seafood Selector (available as a pocket guide) that will tell you everything you want or need to know about the status of fish and seafood stocks around the world. They have grouped seafood into three categories: Eco-Best, Eco-OK and Eco-Worst. But there is always a dispute among fishermen, governments and private organizations about which varieties of seafood fall into which category. And restaurants don’t always abide by the warnings about over-fished species.

For example, Chilean Sea Bass is on just about every Eco-Worst list but it’s still on many menus. Bluefin Tuna, the staple of sushi, is also on that list but every sushi bar in the world serves it.

Some Salmon are endangered, some not. Some trout are threatened, others not. Ask your fish-seller and your restaurant waiter if you have any doubts or questions. Don’t fall for something that is out of season (”wild” Alaska Salmon in winter) or is a substitute for the real deal (farmed White Bass or Catfish for Grouper).

(Note: Chilean Sea Bass, Bluefin Tuna and Atlantic Salmon are all considered in jeopardy, and they’re fish that tend to carry high mercury concentrations, so staying away from these varieties provides a double benefit.)

Get ready for a new ad campaign pushing for a carbon cap. This one, though, comes not from policy wonks in D.C., but is a direct appeal from the steel belt. And it will yank at your heart strings.

The United Steelworkers and the Blue Green Alliance, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, have assembled four video spots featuring steel workers appealing for a carbon cap. Yes you heard that right.

The cap, these workers say, will free their industries to pursue clean energy and thereby put people back to work, this time making wind turbines, which require a lot of steel, as well as solar panels.

It’s certainly true that wind is fueling huge job growth. The latest figures from the American Wind Energy Association report that the field now employs some 85,000 Americans.

As for the carbon cap and the sticky question of how to place a price on carbon emissions — through cap and trade, which critics argue is complex and unwieldy, or through a carbon tax, which could be so unpopular as to be untenable — look for much continued debate as lawmakers inch closer to taking action.  Global warming legislation has a history of freezing up Congress.

These new ads, however, argue that we can’t afford a stalmate — individually or collectively.

Here’s one of the spots. There are three others on You Tube.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, by the way, is a Harvard-educated native of the area.

The TV spots and print ads will run in “swing” states, including Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Virginia and in Washington D.C.

For a discussion on the debate over cap-and-trade vs. a carbon tax, see the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

President George W. Bush smiles after delivering his remarks on U.S. Ocean Action Plan last September at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. President Bush has now protected more of the ocean than any other president.

Green Right Now reports

President George W. Bush today announced the establishment of three underwater monuments that will protect a vast area of the central Pacific Ocean that spans nine tropical coral islands and their surrounding waters.

The action was cheered by conservationists and environmental groups, including the Marine Conservation Biology Institute and Environmental Defense Fund, which each worked with the administration to establish the protections.

The Marianas Marine National Monument, Pacific Remote Island National Monument, and Rose Atoll National Monument, at approximately 195,000 square miles, represent an area larger than California.

“Today’s announcement marks an enormous step in conserving the biodiversity of our planet. These new marine monuments rank right up there with our nation’s greatest national parks,” David Yarnold, executive director of Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement.

The action adds complexity and new shades to the portrait of President Bush, whose administration has often been at odd with environmentalists. But after creating the first U.S. marine national monument in 2006 with 139,797 square miles in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, President Bush has now protected more of the ocean than any other president.

Marine Conservation Biology Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund worked with the Bush administration to nominate and develop scientific and public support for two of the three areas. The Pew Charitable Trusts developed the case for the areas off the Northern Mariana Islands.

Yarnold said that 200 leading scientists from EDF and other organizations identified the islands and their surrounding ocean waters as some of the few remaining, relatively pristine islands left on Earth.

“President Bush has laid the foundation for a national system of ocean reserves just as Theodore Roosevelt laid the foundation for our national park system,” said MCBI vice president for government affairs, William Chandler. “The islands will be havens for all kinds of marine life, and a bulwark against the degradation and decline of the tropical Pacific.”

“President Bush is giving the world a Texas-sized gift,” Diane Regas, associated vice-president for oceans at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a press statement. “These are places time forgot. They still look as they did hundreds and even thousands of years ago.”

More from GRN

Read the official White House briefing

Now that you’ve worn off the magnetic strip on the credit card buying presents for everyone, gotten the letter that your health insurance premiums are doubling and your job is being “redefined,” it’s time to think about those year-end donations. Sigh.

While environmental groups will likely have an easier time on Capitol Hill next year talking policy with a new Administration that sees global warming as a real threat, they paradoxically could be facing headwinds with donors.

Consider first that some of their large contributors may have been dragged down in the Bernard Madoff securities/Ponzi scheme, which savaged many charitable foundations. While the extent of that damage is being assessed, it’s safe to assume that even nonprofits that escaped that five-alarm fire, have been singed by the economic meltdown.

This holiday season, their biggest time to collect donations, finds them pressing for money from corporations and individuals who may be more flushed with worry than flush with cash.

Will a public that’s financially fragile have anything left over to help feed Pandas? Preserve forests? Save tigers? Support Darfur refugees? Buy back rainforests? Rescue polar bears? Stop mountain top mining?

Let’s hope so. The work list is long. The causes are legit. And climate change demands urgent attention.

Should you be making donations this season, here are links to some of the top environmental organizations. They all have worthy projects.

Defenders of Wildlife
I fell in love with this group when I heard about how they organize volunteers to ride Western ranges as part of an effort to help ranchers and the gray wolves live side by side in, if not harmony, détente. It’s just one of many innovative projects they support.

EarthJustice
Lawyers are the front lines when it comes to assuring everyone follows the rules under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and other protections that only work if they’re enforced. Earthjustice provides free legal counsel to environmental groups large and small, because, as their motto goes, “the earth needs a good lawyer.”

Environmental Defense Fund
An alliance-building group that lobbies for protections for nature and we human inhabitants, from coordinating a drive to clean up school bus emissions to advocating for wind and solar energy projects. (If you can’t donate, consider buying EDF President Fred Krupp’s book, Earth: The Sequel, an informative primer full of real life anecdotes that examines our green energy options.)

Environmental Working Group
Scientists working with EWG have screened our water, food, furniture and cosmetics for toxins, creating valuable tools like the Dirty Dozen list of fruits and veggies most doused with pesticides, and Skin Deep, a database where you can check your body lotion for harmful additives. Their reporting helps us show us how to clean up our home and natural environment.

Greenpeace
A strong advocacy that works on behalf of endangered wildlife, marine life and forests around the globe. Known for their visual stunts, boycotts and blockades, Greenpeace takes action and makes news, helping raise the profile of many enviro causes.

Nature Canada
This group is working to save our Northern wildlife such as the caribou (Santa’s reindeer), as well as one of earth’s largest land carbon sinks, the Boreal Forest. It may be in Canada, but it is of global importance.

The Nature Conservancy
The conservancy works to protect land, rivers and marshes around the world, relying on a staff of 700 scientists to steer work in the right direction. They’ve also begun a campaign to Plant A Billion Trees in the Atlantic rainforest in South America.

Natural Resources Defense Council
They’re also covering the planet, working to mitigate climate change and preserve habitats. A new fund drive invites people to donate $10 to plant a tree to help Revive the Rainforest in Costa Rica.

National Wildlife Federation
The producer of Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard magazines focuses on AMerican wildlife and nurturing a love of wildlife and the outdoors in children. One way to donate is through their “adoption” programs.

Sierra Club
The oldest and largest American environmental group has a membership of more than 1 million and works to save natural spaces. Want to see the national parks protected? Look to Sierra Club. But they also have their hands in the urban environment, working with the Cool Cities project to tamp down carbon emissions and make cities greener and cleaner. Read about founder John Muir, who started Sierra in 1892 to “make the mountains glad.”

World Wildlife Fund
Where to begin? WWF has wildlife saving projects in place from the Congo to the Arctic to the Galapagos Islands. They also have a wealth of information on their website, and adopt-an-animal donor programs. (Big givers can adopt whole acreages of imperiled habitat through the Partners in Conservation program.

Union of Concerned Scientists
At the forefront of energy and climate science, this venerable group helps link the latest scientific thinking on energy, climate change and invasive species into policies that makes sense and preserve our world.

Worldwatch Institute
Someone’s got to study, analyze and explain the problems facing the globe so we can find the right solutions. That’s Worldwatch, helping dissect the issues that stand between us and a just, sustainable and less-toxic environment.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media