Get some GREEN and be GREEN for the environment by keeping your E-Waste out of landfills.

Recycling is getting easier each year and now there are a few websites that make it painless to recycle your old electronics and some offer you CASH for all your old cell phones, iPods, laptops, digital cameras, GPS and gaming systems.

Here are a few of them you can check out.

Gazelle.com not only buys back your e-waste but also allows you to earn money with their referral program.

Venjuvo.com is one web site that buys back HDTV’s as well as other electronics.

CellforCash.com recycles and pays cash for cell phones only.

TechForward.com allows you to lock in your future trade-in values for computers and consumer electronics today, so you don’t have to guess what your devise will be worth a year or two from now.

MyBoneYard.com accepts only laptops, desktop PCs, cell phones and flat-panel monitors, and gives Visa gift cards rather than cash.

Current market data determines how much these sites can offer for an item. When something no longer has market value and can't be reused, they keep it available for recycling and work with recycling partners that are recognized as among the best in the industry to ensure that everything that comes in is recycled responsibly.

I am only on my third cell phone and I’m STILL using my Motorola StarTAC. This very OLD model has absolutely no market value but is still in perfect working condition, so I will happily just keep using it till it dies.

10:30pm Thursday night I sit down on the couch to watch some TV. I am flipping channels to see if I prefer watching Jay Leno, David Letterman or Nightline. I make my decision, but I still have 5 minutes until the show starts, so I flip over to the Planet Green channel, and low and behold there is Leila Connors on Supper Club with Tom Bergeron. I only caught the last half hour of the show, but I watched the show in its entirety on Friday afternoon.

I have seen all the previous Supper Club shows and have enjoyed some more than others mostly due to the topic of conversation. I really enjoyed this show the most because of just one particular point that was addressed that has had me thinking a lot over the last several months.

The point was brought up during dinner that some people don’t want to be inconvenienced with doing a simple ‘green’ thing like carry cloth grocery bags with them to the store. Host Tom Bergeron commented that these people are not so much lazy, but just struggling to get through the day. Actress Aisha Tyler added that it’s not that people don’t care, it is just not as important to them as compared to their everyday pressures. I totally agree with both of them, and saw this first hand last year when confronted in a grocery store.

I was grocery shopping and I brought in with me as I always do my reusable grocery bags. I only brought in 3 reusable bags and the grocery bagger had filled them up and started to put the few remaining items I still had left in a plastic bag. I immediately told him, please don’t put those few items in a plastic bag, just place them in the shopping cart and I will put them in a reusable bag when I get to my car. I always have a lot more bags in my car.

The woman behind me in line who was about my age, said, “Oh PLEASE! Do you really think that one plastic bag is going to ruin the world?”

I replied, “It’s one plastic bag here, and another there, and it all adds up. It’s no big deal to just bag these few items myself when I get to my car in order to help ensure we leave a healthy and livable planet for future generations. It’s a small sacrifice.”

She boldly replied, “I sacrifice plenty, in fact all I do is sacrifice, my whole life has been one big sacrifice.”

WOW! Bad choice of words on my part, I used the word…SACRIFICE. I didn’t mean to, but I obviously hit a nerve, or what Eckhart Tolle calls in his book A New Earth, a ‘Pain Body.’ You didn’t have to be a psychologist to know that this woman has a lot of unhappiness, pain and negativity inside her. So trying to have a discussion with this woman about the environmental importance of bringing your own grocery bags would have been futile.

The part of The 11th Hour that resonated with me the most was said by Wes Jackson at the end of the film, he says, “The deterioration of the environment, of our planet, is an outward mirror of an inner condition. Like inside, like outside, and that‘s the part of the great work.” I couldn’t agree more.

I was happy that The 11th Hour DVD included in the Special Features Section the Religious Perspective. I completely agree with what Rabbi Michael Lerner says, “The environmental movement has to develop a spiritual consciousness and a spiritual approach…The environmental movement not only has to teach the scientific fact, but about the new spiritual vision.”

The biggest disease on our planet is unhappiness because people perceive they are drowning in either debt, poor relationships, family pressures, job/career stresses, or poor health. They feel they are drowning victims always in survival mode. They have forgotten that they already know how to swim. They just need to be reminded of who they are…they ARE swimmers.

So I was thrilled to hear Leila talk about the premise of her next film which continues on the theme of - What’s going on in the world is a reflection of an inner condition. The film will address the questions…Why are we here? Who are we? What is God?...in relationship to the environment and our survival. I can’t wait for this one to come out.

Yes Leila, you can pull this off.


You can still see this episode of Supper Club on Sunday August 10th, and on Monday August 11th. See schedule HERE.

More than 265 teenagers from 44 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces will meet at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff this week to participate as finalists in North America's largest high-school environmental-education competition, the 2008 Canon Envirothon.

The Canon Envirothon is an annual competition in which winning state/provincial teams compete for recognition and scholarships by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management. The teams, each consisting of five high school-aged students exercise their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

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The teams will be tested on their knowledge of soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. Last years environmental issue was Alternative/Renewable Energy, so the competing teams focused on the efficient use of energy generated from traditional sources and the development of renewable energy resources. This year's topical issue is the Effects of Recreation on Natural Resources, which addresses a challenge central to Arizona's tourism-driven industry. Students will analyze long-term and short-term environmental, social and economic factors relative to recreational impacts upon natural resources and their management.

Participants will compete for a share of more than $125,000 in educational scholarships and Canon products. The competition is organized by the National Association of Conservation Districts in the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.

The mission of the Canon Envirothon is to develop knowledgeable, skilled and dedicated citizens who are willing and prepared to work towards achieving and maintaining a natural balance between the quality of life and the quality of the environment.

Hopefully more and more high schools will compete in this competition in the future. I LOVE reading stories about the worlds best young scientists and thinkers who get to change the world for the better.

Our very good friend’s daughter represented Arizona last May at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta where over 1500 high school students from 51 countries competed for nearly $4 million in scholarships and awards.

Her research project was on a very current environmental topic: Toxic FEMA trailers from the formaldehyde in the particleboard. In her topical project, “Effective Formaldehyde Testing of Particleboard in Comparison to the Standard EPA Level.” she built a chamber and added water and particle board (to simulate the hot humid conditions of Louisiana & Mississippi) and found that without a polyurethane coating and primer/sealant the board had higher than regulatory levels of formaldehyde. Adding the coating and sealant helped bring levels down.

Unfortunately, she did not win anything, but she did get noticed by the judges. I am happy to see that almost half the contestants were girls, and the top 3 Grand Awards all went to girls.

When I was in high school and college back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, my father would always try to encourage me to go into computer science. He would say to me, “Computer Science will be the next BIG thing, trust me.” Well, I never followed by dad’s advise, I was always one to follow my own heart, and I never regretted it.

Today, I can hear parents encouraging their kids to go into a green collar job and research fields that prepare them to identify and solve sustainability challenges. Here’s to all the future Bill Gates’ of the world who will revolutionize the way we do things. We need you. Thanks! 

Box up & mail CFLs, batteries and electronics with Think Green® From Home recycling kits.

The nation's largest waste-management provider launched a new program this week that allows consumers to recycle household wastes like compact fluorescent lightbulbs and batteries without leaving their homes.

Eventually, the program will be expanded to include small electronics, such as iPods and cellphones.

Waste Management Inc.'s ThinkGreenFromHome.com is an online service that allows residents to order - for $14.95 - a prepaid-postage kit in which they can dispose and recycle their CFL bulbs and batteries.

The lightbulb kit holds up to 15 10-watt CFLs. When full, it can be mailed back to the company, which will turn the CFLs over to one of its divisions that already recycles such materials for commercial businesses.

"Waste Management is looking at a lot of things as it relates to recycling materials and keeping certain items out of the waste stream," said Don Cassano, director of public affairs for Waste Management of Arizona.

Because CFLs contain mercury, government agencies have been trying to discourage residents from placing them in their trash and sending them to landfills.

Options for recycling have been somewhat limited, one could take their bulbs to one of several private businesses for disposal.

Late last month, choices expanded when the Home Depot announced their National CFL Bulb Recycling Program where they would collect CFLs free of charge. Customers can bring any used, unbroken CFL bulbs to the return counter. The store will package it and transport it to a facility for recycling.

Waste Management's program gives consumers another option by allowing them to recycle without leaving the comfort of their home, so long as they're willing to pay the fee.

"The real key is to make it convenient for consumers," said Don Cassano


For more information on the Waste Management program, visit www.ThinkGreenFromHome.com

Source: The Arizona Republic

Parents and Kids Want Goods to Sell That Do Some Good

For decades, children have hawked candy and cookie dough to friends and family to help fund extracurricular activities and school playgrounds.

Now a handful of entrepreneurs have set out to change that paradigm, offering ecologically friendly products for kids and parents to sell for school fund-raisers. From recycled wrapping paper to fair-trade coffee, the business owners are pitching the products as viable fund-raising alternatives for schools.

It's good timing, as schools race to eliminate junk food in the face of rising childhood obesity rates, and state and local governments crack down on junk-food sales in schools. At the same time, green is in, and parents and teachers are paying more attention to energy use and pollutants.

Corinne Dowst, head of fund raising for the Parent Teacher Association at Henniker Community School in Henniker, N.H., says she was looking for new fund-raising ideas after her school's disappointing holiday sale of ornaments and related items last year. Concerns about children's products made in China helped put a damper on that sale, she says.

When Ms. Dowst saw an ad for Greenraising, a start-up fund-raising company that sells eco-friendly products, she was hooked. The school organized a spring sale around Earth Day, and circulated copies of the Greenraising catalog, which features such products as recycled gift-wrap paper and reusable water bottles. The result was the school's most successful fund-raiser in nearly three years, grossing about $2,500, Ms. Dowst says.

To date, Greenraising has helped about 500 schools and nonprofits raise money, says Lisa Olson, who founded the Agoura Hills, Calif., company last year. The company asks schools or nonprofits to distribute its catalog, from which customers then buy directly. For an item that costs, say, $20, Greenraising keeps $12 and returns $8 to the school or nonprofit. The company has grown to five full-time employees, Ms. Olson says.

Kids hear conflicting messages in today's complex society, Ms. Olson says, and too many school fund-raisers add to that confusion. "We're telling the kids about obesity and selling cookie dough," she observes. "We're telling them about global warming, and they come home with this big catalog of wrapping paper with no recycled content."

Parental Guidance
Some eco-friendly fund-raisers have come to another realization as well: It's the parents who are taking on more of the fund raising -- largely because of fears about their kids' safety -- and they'd rather buy and sell products that they want to use themselves.

"We learned whom we're selling to -- the kids' moms," says Corey Berman, president and co-founder of Green Students Fundraising Ltd., a Toronto-based company he started after graduating from college in 2006. "My friends would never buy these products, but I talk to people like moms and it's a different story."

Green Students began by selling energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. But as more mainstream retailers began offering them, Mr. Berman says, the company wasn't able to compete on cost and knew it had to diversify. So, the company started selling stainless-steel water bottles, which got a lift from the recent outcry against bisphenol A, a chemical commonly found in plastic water bottles. Green Students also sells dryer balls, a reusable product that softens clothes while reducing drying time. The company, which relies on a focus group of area moms who test potential new products, became profitable in May. It uses catalogs to sell its goods and tries to keep prices under 20 Canadian dollars (about US$19.80).

One challenge these companies face is coming up with products that parents and friends will purchase year after year. Both Greenraising and Green Students say they plan to periodically change the items in their catalogs to keep them fresh, as well as offer products such as environmentally friendly household cleaners that consumers may want to purchase repeatedly.

"Every successful fund-raising company offers something that's fairly low-priced and offers frequency of purchase," says Tim Sullivan, founder of PTO Today, a Wrentham, Mass., magazine for parent-teacher organizations. "Like gift wrap," Mr. Sullivan says. "Every family uses it."

Strong Brew
Lots of families also buy coffee, which is something that led eco-minded schools to contact Chris Treter, co-founder of Higher Grounds Trading Co., a fair-trade coffee roaster in Traverse City, Mich. Fair-trade coffee is a concept begun a few years ago by small producers that wanted to show consumers their coffee is produced under conditions beneficial to workers and the environment. Schools looking to incorporate lessons about the environment and labor standards will call and ask if they can purchase the coffee for a fund-raiser, Mr. Treter says.

Today, school and church fund-raisers represent about 10% of Higher Grounds' business, Mr. Treter says, and that number is on the rise. So far, it's mostly the organizations that have reached out to him. For no money upfront, he supplies coffee to the school or organization, which then sells it at retail prices. The seller then reimburses Mr. Treter at the wholesale price of the coffee.

For a company that's not primarily in the fund-raising business, he says, the format is cumbersome. Higher Grounds has to come up with individualized order forms for each school to give to students, and explain the ordering process to teachers and administrators. "It's a lot more time-consuming than going into a grocery store that orders every two weeks," Mr. Treter says.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The business section of the Arizona Republic today featured a real success story about a local Phoenix man, Justin Baumgartner, who in 2006 started his own company Laughing Giraffe Organics, which produces raw, vegan, organic products, including macaroons and granola.

Earning $50 a day at a local farmers market is a tough way to make a living, and it's hardly an incentive to start your own business. But it didn't deter Justin Baumgartner.

READ MORE


Baumgartner said that he made about $70,000 in profits by his second year, but that it took more than farmers-market sales to do it.

In 2007, Laughing Giraffe received a $20,000 loan from Whole Foods' local producer-loan program, which provided the capital for Baumgartner to get his products into grocery stores.

His is one of 29 U.S.businesses that have received a chunk of the $10 million that Whole Foods offers annually through its local producer-loan program. "Without the loan, we wouldn't have the business - not to this extent," he said.

Launched in February 2007, the loan program is patterned after a similar Whole Foods project that supplies loans to farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

"We've made a big effort to have that support for local producers," said Jenny Brown, administrator for the loan program.

Growing local is a key part of sustainability efforts nationwide. Whole Foods traditionally has served local growers and producers by selling their goods in its markets. Arizona Whole Foods Markets features more than 50 local growers and producers from the state, including Laughing Giraffe Organics.

Brown said the loan program is a way to give additional support to those grass-roots businesses that are trying to produce natural food. The 5 to 9 percent interest earned on the loans is used to finance the program, and loans range from $1,000 to $100,000, she said.

"We recognize the unique challenges in the natural-food industry, and we can see that, sometimes, there are other things at play besides the numbers that you might see on someone's balance sheet," Brown said. "We're able to offer folks a sympathetic ear."

That's what Baumgartner needed because he couldn't get a bank loan. "If I had walked into a bank and said I wanted to make raw granola . . . " he said, laughing. "It's good to have (a lender) that is familiar with food instead of crunching numbers."

He credits the loan program with enabling him to establish a successful business. "I get very emotional when I really think about how Whole Foods and this loan have changed the course of my life," he said.

Read Complete Article HERE.

I wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie WALL-E ever since I saw a trailer for it last January. I saw this sweet and charming film yesterday and just LOVED it. I highly recommend seeing this film no matter what age you are.

All the top film critics are raving about WALL-E. Here is what some of the other film critics are saying.

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News
WALL-E is probably the sweetest movie ever made about humans destroying the earth.

Stephan Whitty, Newark Star Ledger
WALL-E is a surprisingly moving parable of what we waste, and what we should cherish -- and wrapped in a romance so absurdly moving it could wring a tear or two even from Gort and Robby the Robot. Or a parent and child.

MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
WALL-E is art. Hell, it's philosophy -- it's practically religion.

Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Inteligencer
WALL-E, an animated robot love story with an environmental message and a slapstick delivery, is a charmer of a film and a delightful piece of storytelling.

Austin Kennedy, Sin Magazine
Not only is this a great Sci-Fi film, it's also easily one of the most romantic! Dismissing this as just another kid’s film is not only unfair to the movie, it's unfair to you.

James Rocchi, Cinematical
Too many kid's movies are created to give kids things to buy; WALL-E is a kid's movie that might, perhaps, give you and your kids pause to think about what things truly cost.

Carla Meyer, Sacramento Bee
Offers a touching robot romance, visuals as artful as they are state-of-the- art, and vital messages about environmental and personal health.

David M. Kimmel, Worcester Telegram & Gazett
...an immensely appealing film for all ages.

Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
WALL-E is not only a triumph in terms of style, it's also a triumph in terms of story. There's a real emotional resonance and depth to this material

Ken Fox, TV Guide’s Movie Guide
It can hardly be called a children's film, but a masterpiece of feature-film animation for all ages.

John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
The genius of WALL-E is how so many disparate influences...are incorporated and evoked while creating something unique...What a wonderful world it would be if the talents they manifest here could somehow be marshalled to address real-life problems.

Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
By turns sad, hilarious, exciting and, ultimately, hopeful, this is a film of Great Truths masquerading as child's play.

Erik Childress, eFilmCritic.com
Not since Titanic will you have heard two prospective partners cry out each other's names with as much longing (and frequency) and if there's any karma, fate, or pure love out there to believe in than WALL-E will equal its attendance and then some.

Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
While the film's social message comes through loud and clear, it never detracts from the heart of the picture--the unlikely romance between WALL-E and EVE.

Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com
Though perfection in film is a highly unlikely proposition, WALL-E indeed has become 2008's first perfect film and one of the best Pixar projects of all time.


Source: RottenTomatoes.com

Just a reminder that GREENSBURG premiers this Sunday, June 15th at 9pm ET/PT on Discovery's new Planet Green channel. The 13-part series follows the green rebuilding story of Greensburg, Kansas after a devastating EF5 tornado traveled through the area on May 4, 2007 destroying at least 95 percent of the city. The series features Leonardo DiCaprio as its executive producer, and will be a behind-the-scenes look into the rebuilding of Greensburg as an eco-friendly community which will showcase as a model for the rest of the world to follow.

I have been feeling a little guilty about looking forward to this new series since a disaster had to happen in order to make this series possible. But now with all the recent disasters happening all over the country with more tornadoes and severe flooding causing people to lose their homes, businesses and towns, a series like this is hitting the airwaves at exactly the right time. The community of Greensburg can give hope now to other people by showing how they turned life’s challenges into personal triumphs.

Since Planet Green debuted this past June 4th I have had the opportunity to watch a few of the shows. My eco-ego has enjoyed watching WA$TED the most. I have to admit that watching this show gives me an air of superiority, in that I feel I’m very green compared to the people they profile on the show.  LOL  

Then I watch Living with Ed and my air of superiority gets diminished very quickly, because my actions pale in comparison to Ed’s actions. I don’t do anything even close like riding a stationary bicycle every morning to generate enough electricity to make toast like Ed does.

Compared to Ed, I’m a very light shade of mint green. 

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something...and that's what counts.




 

The nation’s first School of Sustainability was established at Arizona State University. The university, along with the School of Sustainability at its core, has been mounting an unprecedented comprehensive sustainability effort aimed at finding solutions to the most pressing issues the planet faces, and is committed to guiding humanity from its present course of environmental destruction.

ASU is showing how to walk the talk with plans for installing one of the largest rooftop solar-power plants in the United States. The plan calls for 2 megawatts of generating capacity installed on 135,000 square feet by the end of the year.

That's enough to run 4,600 computers and reduce carbon emissions by 2,825 tons per year, or the equivalent of taking 530 cars off the road for a year. Long-term plans call for up to 7 megawatts of solar-generating capacity to be built at ASU in Tempe, with additional solar installations at its campuses in downtown Phoenix and other locations.

"These large-scale solar installations demonstrate ASU's commitment to achieving carbon neutrality through on-site, renewable-energy generation," ASU President Michael Crow said.

ASU is becoming a major player in solar research and sustainability. This is a real-world showcase of its efforts.

Read More @ The Arizona Republic

  A Movie That Santa Does Not Want You To See!

What Would Jesus Buy? is a serious docu-comedy about the commercialization of Christmas that just came out on DVD. I rented it last night and found it quite hilarious and very thought-provoking as well.

What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!

Bill Talen (aka Reverend Billy) was a lost idealist who hitchhiked to New York City only to find that Times Square was becoming a mall. Spurred on by the loss of his neighborhood and inspired by the sidewalk preachers around him, Bill bought a collar to match his white caterer's jacket, bleached his hair and became the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Since 1999, Reverend Billy has gone from being a lone preacher with a portable pulpit preaching on subways, to the leader of a congregation and a movement whose numbers are well into the thousands. Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland.

Will we be led like Sheeple to the Christmas slaughter, or will we find a new way to give a gift this Christmas? What Would Jesus Buy? may just be the divine intervention we’ve all been searching for.

The Shopocalypse is upon us … Who will be $aved?

I thought the film had a nice mix of serious & relevant information, as well as outrageously funny scenes. The 11th Hour film expert Bill McKibben is featured in the film under the section called “Malling of America.” Bill talks about how he feels in a 100 years from now we won’t be doing the things that we are doing now. We will have figured way more interesting things to do than just go shopping as our main activity. Unfortunately, he thinks we don’t have a 100 years to make that transition. We have to make it more quickly than it would happen naturally or else we will derail the Earth’s physical systems – especially the climate.

One of my favorite scenes is when Reverend Billy and his Choir go Christmas caroling door to door. They sing these popular Christmas songs to families using new lyrics.

Deck the Malls with Folks with Money!
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
Tis the Season to be Dummies!
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA

  AND 

Joy to the World!
In the Form of Goods!
Consume! Consume! Consume!
Bright Plastics This and That’s!
For Screaming Little Brats!
Take the SUV to the Mall
Take the SUV to the Mall

I also loved the part where Reverend Billy hears peoples’ confessions out of a confessional booth that he sets up on a street corner with a sign that reads, “Confess Your Shopping Sins.” Alright, I will come clean and confess my biggest shopping SIN from the past few years. I bought one of those big exercise balls, and only used it twice. It sat in my closet for a couple of years, then I finally gave it away.

I feel much better now that I confessed.