Updates: Conservancy, Successes, Eco Articles

Including: PETA, National Conservancy & The US Voting

So, staying up-to-date with my information, I'm going to try to have a post daily.


National Conservancy has some awesome new videos. The first is a video about their new Campaign For A Sustainable Planet. It's a quick 2 minute documentary on the Great Lakes and informs the watchers about the lifeforms that freshwater supports and what life would be like without freshwater. It shows how we need to conserve the Great Lakes and how it's a priority for protection. So the main point is:
Conservancy isn't a luxury. It's a necessity.
Other informative videos include Assignment Earth: The Flint River Project, Spying on a Wolf, How Owls Fly and Hunt, Scott Wiedensaul Owl Banding, and my personal favourite Design for a Living World.


Just out of curiosity, who did you vote for? I hope that you all voted Obama, because Sarah Palin is anti-friendly!


The amazing Stella McCartney received the first Green Designer of the Year Award EVER! She refuses to use fur and leather and is light years ahead of her time. She told Women's Wear Daily in 2006, "I do want to show that accessories can be made from a more ethical viewpoint—and be sexy and cool." She's also included in the book, One Can Make A Difference.


SEGA the gaming giant recently pulled the ad for Samba De Amigo which used a real chimpanzee. After receiving numerous letters and emails from PETA and the PETA followers, they immediately removed the ad and promised to keep all great apes and chimpanzees from its future advertisements.


PETA also has a new Podcast called The Story of a Downed Cow. It's a sad and tragic story about factory farming. It'll definitely make you look at your meat differently!


TreeHugger Articles:
Teens Build Buterfly Houses:
Based on the article: "Michigan Teens Build Butterfly Houses and Plant 26,000 Native Plants through the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project" by Sara Novak; Columbia, SC; Oct 26th/08

As part of the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project in Marquette, Michigan teens are protecting Monarchs and other pollenating insects by building dozens of butterfly houses and planting 26,000 native plants! They did all this over the past summer. This project is working towards helping pollinators such as the #1 and #2 pollinators, bummblebees and butterflies. Although pesticides, climate change and other man-made impacts are suspected causes for the decrease in pollinators, experts aren't 100% positive. Without these important pollinators, the world wouldn't have vegetables, flowers, fruits, and other plants. The houses are made of white cedar and lined with bark, and provide protection, rest and reproduction safety. They're positioned for the migratory butterflies that stop in this area every year on their way to and from Mexico. The 26,000 plants planted are to restore native plants to the barren and polluted Sand Point on Lake Superior. These native plants will help pollinators, for example bumblebees, because exotic vegetation can cause death to the insects or to their eggs. How can you help? Simple. Try to reduce the amount of chemicals that you use in your garden and be careful about what kinds of pesticides/insecticides you use. In fact, most Americans use too many chemicals on their lawns and contaminate the ecosystems! Why not try a organic fertilizer instead?



Moving Towards Vegetarianism:
Based on the article: "On Moving Toward Vegetarianism" by Kely Rossiter; Toronto; Oct 24th, 08
Over the years, vegetarians have become much more common and nowadays, are viewed much less as freaks but as innovative and strong-willed. Vegetarians meals are available in restaurants, grocery stores and especially at home. More and more people are moving towards vegetarianism, especially in the under 30 age group. However, many people still refuse to go vegetarian. I know that it's incredibly hard to do, but when you think about it there are many benefits: environmental, health, animal friendly, etc. Start by cutting out red meat and just eating fish and chicken, then try cutting down on those meats too. The challenge for this week is to eat one, JUST ONE, meal without meat in it. Try substituting a chickpea salad sandwhich for tuna, or don't have the meatball with your spaghetti. :) Also, want a reason to go vegetarian? Check out PETA, meat your meet, etc.

From Cardboard to Caviar:
"Lessons in Biomimicry - Part 2 Natural Systems" by Leonora Oppenheim; London, UK; Oct 28th, 08
"Last week I reported direct from Schumacher College in Devon, where I was attending a course entitled Biomimicry: New Directions in Sustainable Design. The first part of the programme discussed natural forms using examples such as the Eden Project. Today I continue with part 2 of Michael Pawlyn's course examining natural systems and tomorrow you can read the final part in this series which looks at natural processes. Biomimicry as the study of natural systems can help design and architecture work more effectively, but it can also work on social development and business structures."
As much as I would like to try and summarize this article, I read it over again and I realize that I can't summarize it. Just READ IT. It's a great article and it explains a lot of scientific stuff and how cardboard ultimately turns into caviar.

Are new Macbooks as green as they claim to be?
Based on the article: "New Macbook Pro: What's the Eco-Impact of Building a MacBook from a Single Piece of Aluminum?" by Jaymi Heimbuch; Central Coast, California; October 14th, 08
It turns out that Apple has created a way to make a MacBook using only 2.5 pounds of aluminum. The unibody unclosure is made from one piece of aluminum, then the pieces are removed to create the structure. By using this process, MacBook Pro uses 50% fewer parts. They start with 2.5 pounds of aluminum, and 2 pounds is cut away from the MacBook Air. They are free of BFR, mercury, PVC, arsenic. Also, they comply to the Energy Star standards, have a LED screen, and use 30% less energy. The MacBooks also use 37% less packaging and have earned an EPEAT Gold rating. Yes, this is all good, but the question is: what happens to the 2 pounds of aluminum?
Apple reports that throughout each stage of manufacturing, they clean, collect and recycle the material. Since aluminum is easy to recycle, recycling plants love it although it uses up about 5% of the energy it takes to make something out of new aluminum. Recently, a mini-docucumentary was shown to a crowd at an Apple event and Engadget deemed the process isn't wasteful. Although quite a lot of energy goes into the recycling of the aluminum, it's great that the notebook has been improved so greatly and has so enormously reduced its total footprint.

That's all for today, see more articles tomorrow.

The world is in danger, we need to be its superheroes.
Love,
TreeHugger