• Gore Unveils Live Earth ‘Seven Point Pledge’ – msnbc
• Whether it’s a reusable bag with a catchy slogan and no green value or the next overhyped gadget – people get over-revved. IPhone Causes Big Apple Swarm – guardian unlimited
• We should also stop putting tariffs on imported ethanol. Huge Sowings Ease Ethanol Crunch in U.S. Corn – reuters
• The grass is always greener in New Mexico. Law Requires State to Grow Its Own Pot – aolNews

Market yourself to the green segment of the opposite/same sex and praise your momz at the same time. These Sector 9 long-board tees are made of 100% organic cotton and emblazoned with water-based inks.

Express your inner organic self on your outer frame.

for the unreasonably low price of $14.99 @ skatesonhaight.com

Win Live Earth Tickets & Curb your Emissions – check it out!

The Windows Live Spaces Eco Trip
An environmentally-minded team is traveling cross-country by train and bicycle from Washington to New York City to get to the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium. They are chronicling their travels on Windows Live Spaces.

To enter to win tickets to a Live Earth concert, contestants should add themselves as a friend to http://spacesecotrip.spaces.live.com/. Two “friends” will be chosen at random to win a pair of tickets, including hotel and airfare.

Wanting to spread the word on what can be done to save our planet, Microsoft/MSN (under their Windows Live Spaces banner) has created the Windows Live Spaces Eco Trip 2007.

What it is: A team of four is traveling across the country over a 5 week period from June 1st to July 7th, encouraging people to live “greener” lives. (more…)

Meet the uber-fridge. We recently took a peek at this poster-boy for efficient, modern, home refrigeration. Pictured at right is the 30″ Liebherr Model #: CS1650. A few, features:

• fully Energy Star compliant
• 11.3 cubic foot capacity
• full stainless steel cabinet and doors with ergonomic handle design and swing function
• 2 dual compressors designed for quiet, if not silent operation,variable speeds and energy efficiency
• thin wall construction – wider interior
• no false back wall – deeper interior
• precise digital controls to conserve energy and preserve food
• dual refrigerator systems to optimize control, save energy, and separate air flow
• BioFresh technology maintains fruits in vegetables in the storage drawers under optimal temp and humidity conditions
• SuperFrost System for quick freezing
• glass door shelves (glass holds cold much better than plastic)
• 2 one gallon storage spaces on the door
• factory icemaker
• doors are field reversible without a kit
• freezer’s FrostSafe System prevents cold air from escaping when door is open
• full 2 year warranty on all parts and labor and a full 5 year warranty on parts and labor for items in Sealed System

American refrigerator manufacturers should checkout the design features of this sleek, European challenger to Viking.
Update: see this post’s accompanying comments for customer complaints and notes.
as pictured $3,699 @ warners’ stellian
more info and dealer locations @ almo specialty products

Gotta stay cool and dream sweet this summer. Beat the heat with Under the Canopy’s “slip nightie” and nightshirt, both in 100% organic cotton.

Don’t sweat the price,
on sale now
slip nightie, $24.99
nightshirt, $19.99
Available @ Spiegel through shopstyle.

More on Under the Canopy, and the designer who coined the term “eco fashion,” here.

• Automakers should not dictate emissions policy. House Committee Defeats Increase to Gas Mileage Standards – enn
• Approaches like carbon offsets delay and obscure the real solutions. Society Needs the Right Chemistry – bbc
• Live Earth Concerts to Deliver Climate SOS: Gore – reuters
• Keeping our eye on our national bird – Bald Eagles, Thriving, Settle into Suburban Life – nytimes
• I love to get back to nature and the bucolic sounds of chainsaws and ATV’s. Clinton-Era Roadless Rule Back in Court – msnbc
• This must explain my-man Matthew McConaughey’s tremendous intellect. Exercise Grows New Brain Cells – livescience

“People all over the world – join in…ladeda…love train.” name that tune and band. Those lyrics seem appropriate for the big love music fest that’s gaining momentum by the minute. Here’s the latest press release to come across my wire:

“Grassroots climate activists to hold events from Singapore to São Paulo — global movement emerging

NEW YORK–Climate activists affiliated with Avaaz.org, a new million-member global online advocacy group, and AlGore.com, former Vice President Al Gore’s personal email list, have organized 5000 parties in 119 countries centered on the July 7 Live Earth concerts, Avaaz announced today.

In addition to watching the concerts, party-goers will take the Live Earth Pledge, committing to personal and political action to combat the climate crisis.

‘Live Earth is the best possible moment to start an unstoppable movement to end the climate crisis,’ said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz.org. “Global public opinion is the new superpower, and Live Earth is giving it an historic jolt of renewable energy.”

Avaaz members have registered to host 2500 parties, including 312 in Australia, 100 in Mexico, 121 in Great Britain, 70 in South Africa, 17 in India, and 58 in Slovenia. While all the parties will involve the concerts and the Live Earth Pledge, each is unique–including:

a dance party at a club in Bosnia
children’s plays about global warming organized in Cotonu, Benin
a climate change festival at the International Peace Museum in Ohio
a Bahai prayer service in Mozambique
Event details can be accessed through an interactive map at liveearth.org. The parties will be “co-hosted” by former Vice President Al Gore, who will appear via an exclusive online video (subtitled into several world languages by Avaaz). (more…)

As an attendee of yesterday’s Day One of a 2-day event at the Javits Center, I was walking the green walk, thanks to Schein Media and NY House, sponsors of the Green Pavilion of the BuildingsNY Show. While the rest of the show was awash with blue carpet, this special section of the show rolled out the green carpet for exhibitors along the long, green, aisle. With a kick-off presentation by Donald Trump, Jr and his sister, Ivanka, and a full program of educational seminars, the conference was abuzz with info and technology regarding New York’s residential and commercial building biz.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Jonathan Schein (President and Publisher), Paul McGinniss and other members of the Schein Media and NYHouse team. Jonathan’s vision and views regarding the green building industry are bright and inspiring — follow along with his “two hot properties” — the beautiful monthly, New York House and his new, sister publication New Jersey and Company, to keep up with all the latest in green building news and product innovations.

My senses were on overload in the convention center, but I managed to glean a lot of solid green info from many of the exhibitors in the hall; here are a few of the standouts: (more…)

Green Mountain Distillers creates this catalyst for summer cocktails for the ever-evolving eco-hipster lifestyle.

Sunshine Vodka is quadruple-distilled from 100% organic grain and pure Vermont spring water. All grain is Certified Organic and GMO free by Oregon Tilth. Small batch fermentation and proprietary distillation processes are used in the creation of this libation. Green Mountain’s hands-on staff selects the grain, distills the spirit and markets the finished product nationwide. Whenever possible, they try to purchase raw ingredients from local farm co-ops. This close integration of field to process to product gives Green Mountain Distillers an unparalleled level of integrity and local, New England character.

Buy local, buy organic, buy American.

purchase online @ D&M.com for $23.99

• If they have to fight to just acknowledge global warming exists – the North Pole will be one tiny ice cube when this legislation takes effect. Senators Reach Deal on Co2 Caps – Climate Change – msnbc
• Greening the Hotel Industry One Eco-Hotel at a Time – enn
• The other gas crisis. 20 Million to Study Cow Emissions and Farm Odors – WETM 18 online
• Someone should alert Congress. Rising Seas to Destroy U.S. Beaches - livescience
• This legislation actually worked. Bald Eagles Coming Off Endangered Species List – msnbc
• Catch Joan Jett and others at a free concert tonight, 7pm, Pier 54, Hudson River at 13th Street – nytimes
• Pool Party at the Holiday Inn, 440 West 57th St, 7-9pm. Watch the sunset and drink for free! – more details here.

If you’ve been waiting for the Democratic Congress to take the obvious step toward tougher automobile emissions standards, you can wait a little longer. No they have not been vetoed by the Bush administration they have been slowed by a fellow Democrat – old-school Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich), who represents everything that’s wrong with provincial, old-school, pork-barrel politics.

Congressman Dingell, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, first took a seat in Congress way back in 1955 and has been faithfully defending his Detroit auto industry constituency ever since. Recently Dingell’s committee created a draft of an energy bill designed to limit states such as California from instituting tougher emissions guidelines than the Feds while cloaking the restriction in mpg standards that called for 36 miles per gallon for passenger cars after 2021 and 30 mpg for trucks after 2024. Not exactly a rush to change.

Dingell is quoted as saying that “vast gridlock” would ensue if automakers have to comply with differing state and federal emissions guidelines. Tough! The gridlock we are experiencing now is choking our environment and handing innovative foreign automakers, like Honda, our proverbial lunch. Fortunately Speaker Nancy Pelosi drop-kicked the bill back to the committee for revisions. The real question is why Pelosi gave a Rep from that black-hole of emissions and incompetance, Detroit, the committee chair in the first place. Seniority, politics as usual and government by compromise are are not the mandate the Democratic party should be following.

By dragging their feet on emissions standards Congress is endangering our national security, ignoring the obvious environmental threats and protecting an American auto industry that is fast-tracking its own extinction by fighting the transition to more fuel efficient technologies.

The Senate has their own plan which is tougher viewed even more negatively bythe auto industry which will fight it tooth and nail.

Go to Congress.org and let your reps know how you feel, that’s supposed to be how democracy works.

This is the third installment of our Wenesday post-swap with that great, green site, NaturalPath.

If your cells don’t function well, then you don’t function well; and if these building blocks of your body are tired and stressed, then you, the sum of these tiny parts, will feel the same way. Many people interested in being healthier and feeling better choose a periodic dietary and lifestyle detox to power their cells with nutrients and rid them of the heft of burdensome toxins. Some report that a good detox helps them feel better, have more energy, sleep better, and even lose weight.

These toxins can originate from stress, hormones, sleeplessness, or difficulty in digestion. They can also sprout from external pollutants, such as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and even what touches our skin. But the greatest assault of daily toxins often comes from the food that we eat, particularly our ingestion of sugar, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and chemicals – what nutritionist and detox specialist Dr. Elson Haas calls “SNACCs”.

A carefully-planned detoxification program is a chance to take a break and relieve your body of many of these stresses. The goals of the program are to remove SNACCs from the diet entirely (or to the best of your ability), and to replace them with nutrients that help the body function and repair at optimal levels, either through supplements or highly nutritious foods.

Choosing a Cleansing

There are as many detoxification programs as there are practitioners, but here are a few of the most common. Note that these can be undertaken independently or combined. (more…)

You may have seen Ed Begley cooking with his solar oven on HGTV’s “Living With Ed”, or maybe your eccentric uncle Dwayne has shown you his latest solar oven design out behind his yurt in Santa Fe, regardless — solar cooking is actually a reality.

Wikipedia gives a pretty good description of some of the different designs (solar cookers and solar box cookers) and sites like solarovens.net sell cookers and ovens while solarcooking.org provides faqs, forums and a broad overview of all things solar-cooking-related, as well as instructions for building your own.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised that there isn’t a sexier marketing push behind the solar cooking movement. Sure it takes a little longer, but the energy and emissions saved, (not to mention the novelty) in cooking this way add a lot of sizzle to the concept.

Pricing varies from $99.95 for the HotPot Solar Cooker (my favorite – which donates a portion of each sale to subsidize distribution of the cooker to Latin American and Africa) to the catch-ily-named, top-of-the-line, SolarHybrid w/4 Pots for $219.95. Inexpensive, portable and supremely earth-friendly. Maybe the time has come for you to relax, slow down and do some all-natural cooking.