Al Gore advised members of Congress that climate change is reaching a crucial “tipping point” and that the United States should be making movements to forge an international treaty with nations all over the world as soon as possible.
Gore told the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee that a treaty must be negotiated in 2009. More on this, including a video of Gore’s testimony, at CNN.com. A portion of his testimony may be viewed below.
How cool is a bamboo flash drive with your company logo on it? Or a water-powered calculator?
The challenge with promotional products has always been to keep them interesting. Pens and calendars simply don’t cut it anymore in a market saturated with disposable stuff. Eco-friendly promotional products give your customers warm fuzzy feelings about your products from the moment they receive them and give you the recognition that you are hoping for when your advertising dollar is spent on these items.
Just a few places that offer them are:
The Obama government announced earlier this week that it would encourage individual states to introduce tougher fuel efficiency legislation for vehicles. Obama has also stated that automakers will have to adopt new fuel efficiency standards for 2011.
Obama has also asked the EPA to reconsider the case of California, who needed a waiver from the Clean Air Act to enforce its own higher fuel efficiency standards. That waiver was denied under the Bush administration.
Most ladies who have done their nails or had them done for them are very aware of the many chemicals that go into the whole process, such as acetone. Nearly everything used in nail care is toxic in one way or another. In addition to dealing with these chemicals on a daily basis, your local nail salon also puts up with a great deal of sanitary health threats as well.
Now it is finally possible to get luscious fingernails without the accompanying chemical cloud. None of them are 100% pure as the driven snow, but they are the closest that you can get. Nail Polish brands recommended by the National Geographic Green Guide are:
All of them may be purchased through National Geographic’s website.
The United States is laying down the groundwork to ban the import of harmful genetically engineered and modified foods. New measures are being looked into by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the urging of its own audit body, the Office of the Inspector General.
The Inspector General cautioned the USDA to both forge stronger ties with countries where GM research is exploding such as China or Brazil, but warned them to not enact bans where significant trade barriers would be thrown up.
So how do you know if you are eating genetically modified food? This video from the The Massachusetts School of Law tells you how.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8098965482866581381
At this time of year many of us reach for medicated lip balms or Vaseline to keep our lips from getting chapped in the cold weather. The problem is, many of these products are petroleum based and therefore bad for the planet. While petrolatum, the operative ingredient in Vaseline, is not harmful we think you will agree that if we can avoid using a petroleum based product, we should.
All-natural alternatives used by the writer have included pure shea butter scented with lavender, but we’re not all lucky enough to have a local shop that makes sure they get in fairly traded shea butter and make such custom products. Here are a few alternatives:
Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm
A Whole Page of Product Suggestions From Pristine Planet
A $20 Billion dollar bill to inject some cash into the US clean energy industry is nearing the finish line. The US House Ways and Means Committee approved the measure, which includes tax breaks to renewable energy companies among other measures. The bill is part of Obama’s plan to create “green jobs” and stimulate the economy while saving the environment. With Senate approval, it will be on his desk to sign by February 16th.
Measures that the bill includes are:
For more on the story, visit MSNBC.com.
Scotch lovers rejoice – your favourite drink just got environmentally responsible. Scottish authorities recently gave a consortium of scotch distilleries the go-ahead for a biomass-fueled heat and power plant in Speyside, a major centre for scotch makers.
The new biomass-fueled plant will use by-products from the distillation process such as wood chips to generate enough power for 9000 homes. The $48 million dollar plant, dubbed “Greenswitch”, will also supply organic fertilizer to local farmers.
Shea nuts only grow in one area of the world – West Africa. This wondrous plant has been used as a salve for insect bites and as a skin moisturizer since ancient times by local women. These same women are now being exploited as shea producers for less than a dollar a day.
Shea butter is present in many products from shampoos to conditioners to skin creams. The following companies use fairly traded shea butter only:
OK, so everyone reading this blog knows that global warming is real. Apparently, some people don’t and they like to point to Antarctica’s cooling period as solid proof that all of science is wrong. Well, seems like they can’t do that anymore.
Researchers have now proven that the continent has been growing steadily warmer since the 1950′s. This even takes into account the colder spots that apparently would be warmer if it weren’t for the gaping hole in the ozone layer that is still there.
Still-skeptical global warming skeptic types have claimed that the data cited in the report does not match the data gathered from satellites.
This video gives you a good idea of how fast everything is melting. It doesn’t really take a satellite to see what’s going on down there.
