We receive press releases and news stories all day long. These three just grabbed me:

• Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid & Beyond the American Dream – Real-life adventures living with a group of “wild-crafters” in rural North Carolina; a memoir by William Powers.
• Cali Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just announced “the formation of the nation’s first non-profit dedicated to developing comprehensive metrics and standards for everyday products that are safe and healthy for our children, ourselves and the world in which we live.  Named the Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII), the organization, which will be headquartered in California, will transform how companies design, manufacture and use chemicals – driving a new era in research, innovation, economic growth and job creation in the green chemistry sector.  GPII is supported by Brad Pitt, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Terry Tamminen and numerous others, and advances the framework outlined in “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,” the seminal book by architect William McDonough and designer Dr. Michael Braungart.”
• Hitting theaters this May, adventure documentary 180˚ South : Conquerors of the Useless.  The film “follows a band of bliss-seeking surfer-mountaineers as they set out to remake pioneering outdoorsmen Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins’ epic 1968 journey from Ventura, CA to Patagonia, Chile.  Director Chris Malloy’s exhilarating film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson and his buddies on their 5,000-mile trek, capturing the group as they surf unridden waves, summit impressive peaks, and even get shipwrecked off the coast of Easter Island.  The documentary’s defining moment comes, however, when Johnson meets Chouinard (Founder of Patagonia Outerwear) and Tompkins (Founder of The North Face) for the first time, and they share with him the plan of an international energy company to destroy Patagonia’s natural landscape by building massive hydroelectric dams.  Alternating between Johnson’s present day expedition and Chouinard and Tompkins’ 1968 journey, the film tells the stories of both sets of adventurers who now share the same goal:  to protect the wild lands of Patagonia from damming and development no matter the cost.  Director Chris Malloy said about the film, ‘Our six month voyage changed the way we see the world.’”