Planetsave

Our love lives can be physically, emotionally, and environmentally taxing. You’re on your own with the first two issues; I’m here to offer suggestions for the third…

Step One: Meet
You’ll save precious time if you know where to find an equally environmentally-conscious mate. Some suggestions–head to your local farmer’s market or Green Drinks chapter, you’ll likely find a same-age/same-beliefs lover there. Other suggestions include your local library, bookstore, or Whole Foods.

Step Two: Think
After a bit of courting thoughts may turn to the bedroom. Plan for this! Even if you leave your house thinking “there is no chance I am getting lucky tonight!” Plan for ‘it’ anyway. Bring protection! Children are wonderful, especially when two people who love one another bring one (or more) into the world. So unless this is your mate for life and you are both well prepared to love your child/children together forever–bring protection (more on this below).

Wondering why this is a green tip? Visit this site.
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The New Economics Foundation tells us that “as the G8 prepare to meet in Italy this week, the second global ranking of the ecological efficiency with which the world’s nations deliver long and happy lives for the people who live there - the ‘Happy Planet Index‘ - reveals a surprising picture of the relative wealth and progress of nations.”

The Happy Planet Index 2.0: “Why good lives don’t have to cost the earth” shows that Costa Rica scores number one at the top of the Happy Planet Index 2.0 as the ‘greenest and happiest’ country with Latin America toping the Index overall.  Out of 143 nations surveyed, the USA ranks 114th and the UK 74th. Read the rest of this entry »

This quick and painless 15 question quiz will shine an LED light on your environmental personality. Do you think you are a Planetsaver? Find out below.

1. Cycle:
a.motor b.bi c.water

2. Take:
a.more b.a seat c.action

3. Vehicle:
a.SUV b.C-A-R c.B-U-S

4. Media:
a.TV b.radio c.book/mags

5. Bikes:
a.for kids b.for exercise c.for most trips
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Americans eat lots of meat. So much so that livestock is now one of the leading contributors to global warming, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions as measured in a carbon dioxide equivalent.

A recent United Nations report concluded that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems — that means all of the globe’s cars, trucks, planes and ships combined.

Kathy Preston poses an important question for meat-eating Americans concerned about the effects of global warming: what are the effects of going vegetarian for just one day? Here are her astounding statistics about how going vegetarian for a single day can help prevent global warming:

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Do you want to limit the amount of trash you produce and help make your backyard soil healthy and productive? One of the easiest solutions to these problems is to compost your food waste. It requires little personal energy, and you will benefit from the rich compost resulting from the breakdown of your kitchen scraps.

The only thing you really need to do is create a suitable bin for your soon-to-be compost. There are alternatives to the overpriced, plastic compost containers that some garden supply stores hawk to customers. You can make your own using recycled shipping pallets for less than $20, or even free if you have some of the few necessary supplies.

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As a former teacher of students with autism, a current and lifelong fear-er of cancer, and an avid environmentalist, I always saw a link between these three “interests” of mine. Many types of cancer can be/have been linked to the various environmental toxins introduced into our environment by major polluting industries (plastics, chemical, coal, oil, to name a few major offenders).

Yet, with autism, the link has long been mentioned, studied, and brushed aside due to lack of evidence. I’d imagine that if you had a line chart with three lines, one for the rate of environmental toxins 1900 to present, and the other two with the rate of cancer and autism cases during that same time, the three lines would ride the same “hockey stick curve”.

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A startling new WWF study has revealed that people living in Hong Kong currently use twice as many resources as residents in China, more than double the sustainable level.

To feed the vibrant city’s massive demand for natural resources, and absorb the CO2 emitted, residents need an area of land and sea larger than 250 Hong Kong’s, an incredible seven-fold increase since 1965.

According to Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network, “Although small geographically, Hong Kong not only has significant resource demands, but it also has an over-proportional influence on the world.

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This holiday season, you can save a cloud forest, adopt a tiger and remove 1 ton of CO2.  Although none of it will fit in a box or under the tree, Changing the Present makes all these things possible by giving consumers access to a variety of charitable initiatives so that they can give the gift of hope, health and happiness for a world in need.

Some perks include not having to go near a crowded mall, finding something for everyone on your list, and no lines, returns or exchanges.  Best of all, you’ll be making a tangible difference in the world with the cause of your choice, and it’s something that will last long after the latest retail trends fizzle out.

Changing the Present features more than 1,500 meaningful charitable gifts that users can browse by cause or nonprofit to find the perfect gift for friends or their own charitable giving.

Building on a commitment to changing the social norm when it comes to gift giving, and seeking to spark positive change in the world, Robert Tolmach, CEO of WellGood LLC, spearheaded the team that implemented this important effort, and was kind enough to share more details about the program with me in a one-on-one chat about the future of giving.

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Hello, again! This job search post will be formatted slightly differently than usual. Instead of detailing my job search experience over the last few weeks, I will provide an extensive comparison between my old resume and my completed resume in order to point out where I was falling short and how I have corrected my mistakes.

This is the resume I was using about two months ago:

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[Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of Michael's search for an entry-level job within an environmentally-focused non-profit or NGO]

Make sure to read my last update on my job search if you missed it. On a whim, I ended up speaking on camera to a college newspaper writer in Chicago about my troubles finding a job that meets my qualifications.

Life is funny—that interview ended up leading me to a seriously useful job resource. I had agreed to the interview because I felt bad for the journalist, who seemed to be struggling to get responses. But the video wound up on the internet, where Wendy Freeman, the director of career advising at Evergreen State College, stumbled across it. Excited to help with a search for a green job, she contacted me quickly.

She recommended that I focus my search on the east coast, specifically the Washington DC area, and said that she will work with me until I find a job that fits me perfectly. She has been a wealth of knowledge and information that could help anyone else in a similar situation to mine.

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