Nature - Environment (Upcoming blog)

Spring 2010 is approaching and there’s a lot of buzz around topics like the economy, taxation, global poverty, restoration in Haiti/Chile, and lastly, green awareness. With spring, Earth Day also draws nearer (April 22nd); as individuals, we must remember and realize the importance of global warming and all of its implications. Subsequent topics discussed as of late include space travel/burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and green building. As nations like Haiti and Chile prepare for rebuilding and new construction, there are many things to consider when advancing. Moving towards cleaner, greener infrastructure is vital in ensuring a successful restoration campaign.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(3)(c) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everybody. It’s one of the many organizations playing its role in green progression. Heavy discussion lies on green topics, especially the more recent ones like space travel; others include deforestation, green crops, clothing, energy, and much more. It’s important that we as individuals/citizens stay up-to-date on important global topics like warming. As organizations like the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), AFH (Architecture for Humanity), and the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) conducts sustainability campaigns and enforce strict green constraints, our world will continue to become a better, cleaner place. Machines behind the CGI, Doug Band

The team at TGF feel quite passionately that we should all try and grow your own!  Even if it is only a window box full of herbs, or a full allotment, we think that people should be applauded for their achievements.

Kids in particular should be encouraged to start the habit from a young age.  Personally I think that all schools should have a working garden that the children themselves are responsible for.  It teaches children about different types of fruit, vegetables and flowers.  Eating in season, and teaches them to take pride in what they are creating.  Studies have shown that kids who grow their own fruit and vegetables are more likely to try it!

With all this in mind, I have been searching out some gardening kits that kids could use, which would make great gifts for upcoming birthdays.

Grobox Vegetable Garden in a Box, available from Ethical Superstore for £7.50.

Children's Garden Voucher, available from the Jamie Oliver site for £35.

Flowerbunch Seed Pack, available from Farm Toys Online for £3.25.

Sunflower Seed Growing Kit, available from The Garden Factory for £1.74.

Creativity for Kids Mini Windowsill Garden, available from Crafts 4 Kids for £9.34.

I Can Grow Buckets, available from The Urban Garden with a choice of beans or tomatoes for £6.39.

If you have tried any of the above or have other great suggestions, please get in touch and share them with us.

Last year before the tragedy happened in Haiti, Wyclef Jean was announced as one of the Timberland Earthkeeper Heroes.  He was teaming up with Timberland to forge a partnership that will last for a long time to come.

The Timberland Earthkeeper website has been a focal point for people wanting to keep up to date with the news from Haiti.  You can sign up on the website to become a Timberland Earthkeeper, they want to get one million people signed up and working together to forge a more sustainable future.

Part of the original partnership with Wyclef Jean, was to get the Yéle Haiti Foundation involved in supporting the reforestation of Haiti, but given the severity of the disaster in Haiti, they are now directing all their efforts to providing support and relief to the citizens of Haiti.

For every pair of Earthkeeper Yéle Haiti Boots sold a donation is made to the Haiti fund and now on sale are the specially designed t-shirts, that feature the designs of students from a small art school in Jacmel, Haiti.  All profits from these t-shirts will go directly to the Yéle Haiti Foundation.

If you have not yet signed up as a Timberland Earthkeeper, then now is the time to do it.  It is a worthwhile cause and one that is deserving of our support.

An open invitation to Earth Hour 2010. Tell your friends!

Last year on Saturday 28 March at 8.30pm local time, the world switched off its lights for an hour.

It was the biggest call for international action on climate change ever seen, and it was called Earth Hour – organised by the international conservation charity WWF.

And nearly 1 billion people joined in, signed up and switched off.

Now in its forth year, Earth Hour 2010 is taking place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm, and it needs to be even bigger. After the disappointing lack of commitment in Copenhagen last December, Earth Hour is our chance to show we’ve not given up.

Getting the attention of world leaders is never going to be an easy task, but Earth Hour is becoming impossible to ignore. So far, 579 cities and towns have signed up in 77 countries. And the list of iconic landmarks that will be plunged into darkness is growing longer and more impressive by the day.

The Las Vegas strip, the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the Empire State building, the Pyramids of Giza, the Acropolis, Tapei 101 tower in Taiwan, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye are just some of over 1000 monuments and buildings across the globe that will be switching off.

The UK isn’t exactly famed for its long, hot, blue sky summers, is it? In fact, it’s not known for its weather at all. And why? Because the weather is largely dull and cloudy. It rarely gets ridiculously cold, it rarely gets ridiculously hot. In fact, the British have decidedly unremarkable weather. This might go part of the way to explaining the, as yet, comparatively poor take up of solar panel installation in homes in Britain. But is solar panel installation worth it in a cloudy climate? Do you get any value?

The short answer is yes. Now of course solar panels will perform at their optimum under a blazing sun and cloudless sky. But you will still get functionality in a cloudy climate. Look at Germany, for example. It is the world’s leading installer of solar photovoltaic panels and has a very similar climate to Britain.

What many people fail to realise is that the UK gets 65% of the radiation that Spain gets and 55% of that you’d experience on the equator. So, although we Brits rarely experience the ‘perfect summer’ weather, we still get more than enough radiation here for solar panels to generate electricity or to heat your water. In the UK, solar panels can typically generate up to 90% of the electricity required to run an average occupied home on a ‘normal weather’ day. A Solar Thermal system installed in the UK can account for around 70% of a home’s hot water needs.

by Aaron Turpen, Cheyenne Green Living Examiner

Recently, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Outdoors Editor Shauna Stephenson published an article about recent changes to energy rules and regulations from the nation's Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and how they would affect both Wyoming's energy producers and the conservation groups that fight them. (Yes, we need energy, but not at any cost)  Stephenson failed to ask the one fundamental question that should be driving this debate and instead focused on the partisan issue at hand.

The driving question should be: why is it Washington's decision what Wyoming does with our energy?

Being something of a tree hugger, I understand the issue of sustainability and conservation, but I am practical enough to understand that the forces at work here are not what they pretend to be.  A generally free market, Constitutional understanding of the issue immediately tells me that government, especially centralized control in Washington, will do little to "conserve" anything and a lot to bring new hazards to our great state's future.