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POPSShipping Containers Converted into Homes for Urban Poor "Finally, a home of our own" - the foundation of PFNC, whose goal is to provide housing to those who most desperately need it around the globe. PFNC utilizes surplus shipping containers resulting from the United States' consistent trade deficit. The containers serve as the building block of PFNC housing, after an extensive conversion process to make them a home. They designed a galley-style kitchen with a stove, sink, refrigerator and dinette, and a 48 sq. ft. bathroom with a pedestal sink, shower and commode, a bunk area for children; separate sleeping quarters for the owners. A half million people could benefit from such homes in Juarez, Mexico alone. Affordable for the average worker at manufacturing plants in Mexico along the U.S. border...instead of a cardboard shack, a real home, offered as a employee benefit in "a work to own" housing program. PFNC doesn't intend just to build shelter: it wants to build communities.
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POPSYellowstone's Greatest Threat: the Loss of Habitat to Development The world's first national park is concerned about the fate of wildlife in the park: Each year their habitat is slowing disappearing. Yellowstone gets millions of visitors each year, which makes preserving the park even more challenging. Achieving a balance between the ecosystem and the visitors is what was originally intended in creating the park. Congress told the rangers, 'You will conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife in the parks, and you will manage them in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations'
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POPSLesson of the Day: How Our Country Should Live More Like the Amish “In Amish life: principles of compassion, empathy, generosity and selflessness are central. When they run their community this way, it is admirable. When we try to solve our country's problems in much the same way, it is degraded and thought despicable.” “As children we are taught to take turns, to share & to treat others as we would want to be treated. These are basic principles that few people would deny are essential to being a kind, compassionate, moral person, whether a child or adult.” “We apply these principles to our personal lives, but when it comes to our country, our government and our communities, we start hearing things about "no free rides" and about how we mustn't become a welfare state.” "What we teach our children, what we challenge ourselves with spiritually, what we know is right in any other context...it all suddenly no longer applies.”
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POPSThe Fall of Great Cities: America's Fastest-Dying Cities
The former manufacturing backbone of the U.S. is in rougher shape than ever, still searching for some way to replace its long-stilled smokestacks. Where's it worst? Ohio has 4 of the 10 cities and Michigan has 2 cities making the ranking. So far this decade, 115,000 people have left Cleveland. Smaller changes in other regions can be just as painful: People are leaving in the thousands and they are not being replaced by either new babies or new immigrants. These cities face fleeing populations, painful waves of unemployment and barely growing economies... And they face even bleaker futures. Once great centers of business and industry, these cities now are shells of their former selves. They will have to re-shape their image & think outside of the box in order to try to attract future residents and businesses. The top 5 fastest dying American cities: 1. Canton, Ohio 2. Youngstown, Ohio 3. Flint, Mich. 4. Scranton, Pa. 5. Dayton, Ohio
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POPSThe Throw-Away Culture: Do you Own your Stuff? Our new economy may be just the motivation people need to stop and think before they toss. If something breaks our first instinct is to throw it away and buy it new, instead of trying to fix it. But even if we wanted to fix it, manufacturers have made it difficult for us to repair, re-use or upgrade our stuff. Mr. Jalopy urges technology companies to create forums for consumers to share ideas, and pushes car companies to sell patterns so people can create accessories like seat covers....he wants companies to make schematics readily available so consumers can fix and re-imagine the objects they buy.
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POPSGreat Lakes Basin Compact: Protect a Natural & National Treasure The Great Lakes are a finite, non-renewable natural treasure - containing a combined total of 6 quadrillion gallons of water — one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water. The lakes span 10,900 miles of coastline along the United States and Canada. The surface area of the lakes is larger than the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire combined. In 1998, there was a Lake Superior-based company in Ontario that proposed to take water by tanker out of Lake Superior to Asia. This proposal failed and spurred the Great Lakes governors to take action. In 2001, they agreed to a framework to begin negotiating the compact. By 2005, they had a deal to take to their state legislatures...the base for the Great Lakes Basin Compact. It says clearly that the Great Lakes should not be the long-term water supply answer for any other part of the world or any other part of the country.
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POPSOur Trash Circles the Globe: Combating E-Waste in India The fruits of our high-tech revolution are pure poison if these products are improperly disposed of at the end of their useful life. The electronics industry is on the brink of a paradigm shift with respect to cost avoidance v/s risk avoidance. Firms such as Eco-Reco are taking advantage of a booming but hazardous industry, where e-waste is usually dismantled by workers with little protection in recycling plants that have even fewer safety and environmental contamination guidelines. In Mumbai, Eco-Reco will pick up your e-waste and at their plant, the e-waste then goes through a shredder on a conveyor belt, and the components are separated by a metal extractor. Workers then break up the plastic from the metal by hand. The entire system is based on the principles of clean environment and zero landfill.
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POPSIntergenerational School: Empowers Elderly to Stay Active K-6th school in Cleveland welcomes volunteers in their 80s & 90s, some with Alzheimer's or dementia. The founders believe volunteering gives the elderly a sense of purpose and happiness, as well as many health benefits. TIS fosters an educational community of excellence that provides experiences and skills for life-long learning and spirited citizenship for learners of all ages. TIS encourages communities to create new environments that empower learners of all ages, as they become life-long contributors to a society. TIS incorporates community volunteers into the life of the school. Volunteers perform a variety of tasks from painting and setting up classrooms to mentoring young readers and writers. TIS is a free public school. Founder of TIF, Peter Whitehouse, believes when some people are diagnosed with Alzheimer's, they feel shame and withdraw themselves from society, so engagement is necessary for older people who have aging-associated cognitive challenges.
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POPSHow Parking Lots Can Beat the Heat & Gain Energy On hot, sunny days when air conditioners threaten to overload the power grid, solar power generation makes a lot of sense. Parking lots in asphalt-rich cities have great solar potential because the panels can be oriented to optimize power production during summer afternoons when electricity is most valuable. Google, for example, has installed solar canopies on its parking lots to satisfy 30 percent of its headquarters' power demand. Because the parking lots for most commercial buildings are bigger than the buildings themselves, economies of scale for large installations can further reduce the cost of the solar panels. We shouldn't wait until the next heat wave to think about getting solar power from our parking lots.
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POPS12 Ways to Build with a Smaller Carbon Footprint Buildings consume 76% of electricity generated & they create 48% of our greenhouse gases. Main Points: * Every brick in building required the burning of fossil fuel in its manufacture, every piece of lumber was cut and transported using energy * Aim for a complete ban of formaldehyde use in building products * Building demolitions account for 48% of the waste stream (65 million tons a year), renovations account for 44% and renovations account for 8% * A solar water heater can save $ 450 a year and keep a ton of CO2 emissions out of the air; multiply that by 80 million houses in the USA * While smaller is better almost every city has minimum floor area requirements * The losses are higher in AC than in DC because it grounds so easily * The average 1950’s house was 983 sq feet; by 1970 it was 1500 SF; last year it was 2350 SF * We can no longer afford to lose agricultural land close to our cities and towns
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POPSVisual Alchemist & Psychedelic Artist Defined A Generation Alton Kelley, whose psychedelic concert posters for artists like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Big Brother and the Holding Company helped define the visual style of the 1960s counterculture, died on Sunday at his home in Petaluma, Calif. He was 67. Mr. Kelley and Stanley Mouse, combined sinuous Art Nouveau lettering and outré images plucked from sources near and far to create the visual equivalent of an acid trip. They formed Mouse Studios: Mouse said they could work for hours in silence. "We knew what to do, we didn't have to talk." Kelley had the unique ability to translate the music being played into these amazing images that captured the spirit of who we were and what the music was all about. He was a visual alchemist — skulls and roses, skeletons in full flight, cryptic alphabets, nothing was too strange for his imagination to conjure.
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POPS"...I Dream Things That Never Were & Say Why Not" Remembering Robert F. Kennedy... June 5, 1968: After midnight, shortly after winning the South Dakota and California primaries and announcing " ... now it's on to Chicago," Kennedy is shot in the Ambassador Hotel by Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian immigrant. He dies the following day in Los Angeles. This speech is Ted Kennedy delivering the closing part of the eulogy at the funeral of his brother Bobby, using excerpts from Bobby's famous speech to the students of a South African university in 1966. Bobby's speech to the students is one of the most beautiful speeches I have ever heard...I am glad that Ted Kennedy read it because it represented the kind of man his brother was and the great leader that this country lost. To read the entire eulogy: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ekennedytributetorfk.html
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POPSNavajo Nation Fights Past & Present Threats of Uranium Mining There's money to be made in mining uranium, but last April, the Navajo Nation Council voted to ban uranium mining on Navajo land. For almost 40 years, beginning in the late 1940s, large quantities of uranium were mined on their land. Many Navajo still suffer related physical ailments: the cancer rates among Navajo living near mine tailings are 17 times the national average. The U.S. government did not begin to provide relief to the Navajo miners and their families, who suffered exposure to radiation, until 1990. But clean up is still not complete because no one has officially taken responsibility for the contamination. The bureaucracy is overwhelming: Five federal agencies alone are involved, along with tribal and state agencies. Since the 1990s the Navajo have been fighting Hydro Resources, Inc., who have been working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get a license to mine the land.
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POPSYouth Court: Teen Offenders Allowed a Jury of Their Peers...Other Teens With more than 1,270 youth courts in 49 states: Youth courts are one of the fastest growing ways to prevent juvenile delinquency. Youth courts, also called Teen courts or Peer courts, are unofficial, alternative courts in which first time, teen, low-level offenders, are diverted from the juvenile justice system and agree to be judged by other teenagers. The teens don’t decide guilt or innocence they are there to only hear out the defendants, ask questions and hand out sentences. Not harsh sentences, but alternatives for these kids to come back into the community and become better citizens: such as completing community service, a drug awareness program, a mediation program, or a job interview program…one sentence included writing an essay on where he expects to be in 5 years. Youth court offers a win/win situation: It lightens the overburdened juvenile court system, educates its student officers and tries to rehabilitate offenders by building on their strengths.
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POPSWhat Ideas Will Shape our Future? The 10 Ideas of the 21st Century "More than money, more than politics, ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on." "The 21st century will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The 20th century saw the end of European dominance of global politics and economics. The 21st century will see the end of American dominance too, as new powers make their voices heard on the world stage." "The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passé the very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources." "The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet." "6.6 billion people living in an interconnected global economy producing an astounding $60 trillion of output each year."
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POPSFather of India's Green Revolution Prepares for Evergreen Revolution “In every crisis is an opportunity” Swaminathan is once again agitating for revolution -- this time a perpetual one. In the early ‘60s, India grew 12 million tons of wheat every year. Starvation was rampant and the country imported much of its food. Swaminathan, an agricultural geneticist, developed new strains of high-yield wheat for his country and the programs that led to an India that exports food. Today, India grows some 70 million tons of wheat and has become the world's second-largest wheat producer. He says that today India has reached a plateau in production and productivity because a problem of under investment in rural infrastructure. His M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development follows a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.
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POPSHow Does San Francisco Keep 70% of Their Trash Out of Landfills? “When we look at garbage, we don’t see garbage. We see food, paper, metal, glass.” The 70 % diversion rate includes recycling, composting and source reduction (meaning reusing things instead of throwing them out.) The city has 12 recycling streams, or programs, devoted to different materials, including regular garbage, construction debris, furniture and paint. For example, much of the concrete from demolished buildings is recycled in new sidewalks. Unwanted paint is blended it in 55-gallon drums: resulting in 3 colors — off-white, beige and green — are packed in 5 gallon tins and sent to local nonprofit organizations, schools or charitable institutions in Mexico. They can collect scrap paper to re-sell because of low levels of glass contamination. Garbage trucks can compress mixed loads of paper, cans and bottles without breaking the bottles. Compare 2006 diversion rates: Chicago 55%, New York City 30.6%, Milwaukee 24%, Boston 16% and Houston 2.5%.
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POPSCool Globes Public Art Exhibit: Hot Ideas For a Cooler Planet "Cool Globes" is public art with a purpose – to increase awareness about and motivate people to implement simple solutions in their day-to-day lives to help combat global warming. I am showing you the 2007 Globes from Chicago: To remind you that from April 17 to September 1, 2008, a selection of globes will once again be on display in Chicago, Washington, DC and San Francisco. Cool Globes debuted in Chicago on June 1, 2007 with over 100 sculpted globes. Cool Globes was launched in Chicago because of the City's leadership and dedication to promoting environmentally sound policies. For the 2007 globes, there was a charity auction of select large and mini-globes from the Cool Globes exhibit. The auction raised $500,000 to fund the expansion of environmental education programs.
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POPSItaly Works To Relieve Stress: 2008 Roman Pillow Fight Do you ever have one of those days where all you want to do is smack someone? Rome, Italy - April 27, 2008: Over 300 people met in Piazza Santa Maria, in the Trastevere neighborhood, to celebrate the 3rd annual Roman Pillow Fight. Of course, to make all things fair, this pillow fight started exactly when the piazza’s clock tower chimed 6 pm… and then BAM! Feathers everywhere! The purpose of the annual Pillow Fight is to relieve stress and anxiety…and have some fun! Pillow Fight Fever is spreading and becoming a worldwide phenomena so if you want to start your own pillow fight next year, International Pillow Fight Day is March 22! Or visit http://www.pillowfightday.com/index.php to see is your city already participates!
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POPSCity Slickers Turn Tropical Entrepreneurs: An Eco-Adventure Imagine going after your dream business…on a tropical island. What does it really take to build an island resort? In 2002, four city slickers set out to build their dream business in the Panamanian rainforest: called Tranquilo Bay. All of the buildings at Tranquilo Bay—are constructed from steel, virtually unheard of in that corner of Panama: but they wanted to protect against termites, sea air, and earthquake damage. Jim Kimball and Jay Viola knew nothing about construction before beginning work on the buildings. They learned everything they needed from the Internet during Sunday visits to the mainland. “We built Tranquilo Bay inside the rainforest overlooking the Caribbean Sea and the beautiful Panamanian Jungle. Our central location within the archipelago of Bocas del Toro permits us to explore some of the most biologically diverse areas of Panama and Central America: an archipelago of some 68 tropical islands” http://www.tranquilobay.com/home.htm
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POPSUrban Gardener Thinks Higher: A Rooftop Garden for Room to Grow Why should you consider a rooftop garden? * Increase access to private outdoor green space within the urban environment * Support urban food production * Promote individual, community, and cultural diversity * Improve air quality and reduce CO2 missions * Delay stormwater runoff * Increase habitat for birds * Insulate buildings * Increase the value of buildings for owners and tenants alike * Create job opportunities in the field of research, design, construction, Iandscaping, gardening, health, and food production
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POPSOklahoma: Home To The World's Largest Switchgrass For Energy Field Oklahoma has made an aggressive establishment of 1,000 acres of switchgrass: the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. The fields also will serve as a "living classroom" where agricultural producers, policymakers and the general public can see and experience these crops, which will play a key role in the United States' energy future. A unique "living laboratory" to understand the production and long-term impact of bio-energy crops, as well as experiment with new production techniques and critical harvest, collection and transport methods. This dedicated land will allow us to demonstrate the advantages of switchgrass. A cellulosic bio-refinery currently being constructed by in Hugoton, Kansas (less than 35 miles from the fields) to process the switchgrass into bio-fuel. “Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, and the wavin' switchgrass can sure smell sweet…”
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POPSWoman Challenges Putin and Saves World's Oldest & Deepest Lake Environmental activism is growing increasingly hazardous in Putin's Russia. With growing limitations on freedom of speech in Russia, if you oppose a state company, you can expect to come to the attention of the state security services. But Rikhvanova, a biologist and veteran environmental crusader, was devoted to saving Lake Baikal, she won even Putin's ear after organizing protests, petitions and flash mobs. (Last year her adult son Pavel was one of 20 people arrested after an attack on her group's environmental encampment). Baikal, also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia", is the world's oldest and deepest -- and largest -- freshwater lake, home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Rikhvanova is now organizing to block the expansion of a state-run uranium enrichment facility at Angarsk, just 50 miles from Lake Baikal, where the Russian government is planning to import nuclear waste from around the world
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POPSPut On Your Thinking Cap: Scotland Offers $20 Million For New Innovation Scotland can shine a spotlight on the critical work taking place in clean energy. Even more importantly, in the tradition of world-changing innovation prizes, Scotland can challenge scientists and businesses around the world to tackle one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century in bringing the vast potential of alternative energy online years sooner than might otherwise happen. The key elements of the Saltire Prize are: * capturing imaginations: challenge that can inspire a revolution in green energy * global challenge: high profile prize open to teams from across the world * relevant to Scotland: relevant to area in which Scotland has strong natural resource and can be demonstrated in Scotland * capitalises on Scotland's expertise: challenge will reflect area in which Scotland has strong technical expertise and people already working * achievable in the short-medium term: challenge ideally achievable within a 2-5 year timeframe
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POPS"A Camera, 2 Kids, & A Camel" The Work of Annie Griffiths Belt "As a photographer I have learned that women really do hold up half the sky; that language isn't always necessary, but touch usually is; that all people are not alike, but they do mostly have the same hopes and fears; that judging others does great harm but listening to them enriches; that it is impossible to hate a group of people once you get to know one of them as an individual." (Annie Griffiths Belt) "A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel" is a photo memoir of her life, that discloses the secrets of a peripatetic life...revealing in often hilarious detail how she managed to juggle two children, bulky cases of camera equipment and everything needed for a nurturing family life as she traveled to far-flung destinations around the world. An award-winning photojournalist and mother of two has lived a life we only dream about...to see and share the world with your family.
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POPSWhy Not Build a Lowe's Store In The Everglades? The 18,000-square-mile "River of Grass" is not a swamp but a unique and vital ecosystem. In 2000, Florida and federal government embarked on a $10 billion, 20-year project to restore the Everglades: This project would work to fix a half-century's worth of draining, diversion and other damage that development had wreaked on one of the world's most delicate but vital eco-systems, and return it to something like its original state. But post-9/11, the Everglades fell down the priority list of the Bush Administration and Congress alike. Today the project is less than half finished, years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Last year Congress had to override President Bush's veto of a $20 billion water preservation bill that included a sorely needed $2 billion for the Everglades. Letting Lowe's build beyond the UDB could diminish the urgency of the Everglades and welcome more developers to push their way in. This is the time to step up and push back!
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POPS16 Of The World's Best Squares: Think About The Details From Mexico to Italy to Iran, these remarkable squares can inspire us all. What stands out most is that design is only a small fraction of what goes into making a great square: small details add up to great places. Historically, squares were the center of communities, and they traditionally helped shape the identity of entire cities. Like the tentacles of an octopus extending into the surrounding neighborhood, the influence of a good square (such as Union Square in New York) starts at least a block away. Any great square has a variety of smaller "places" within it to appeal to various people. The use of a square changes during the course of the day, week, and year. The streets and sidewalks around a square greatly affect its accessibility and use, as do the buildings that surround it. Any community where people want to discover the rewards of public life can make a square its centerpiece.
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POPSThe Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Also Know As The Trash Vortex Sad Picture: No one to blame for this but ourselves. Four fifths of the plastic detritus floating over 2.5 million square miles of ocean surface arrives there from land-based run off: from stormwater, in other words: litter. Sadly - many people take the "out of sight, out of mind" approach. Plastic contamination in the world's oceans is worse than previously imagined and no amount of technology can clean it up. We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic. All succeeding generations will only see an ocean filled with trash. Net a piece of plastic, and you’ll find barnacles and small crabs clinging to it. Not a good thing for fish, birds, and mammals that mistake it for its natural food, such as eggs, jellyfish, or other sea creatures. Most of the plastic will eventually photo-degrade into small, dust-like particles to the point that it will be non-detectable to the human eye, but ingestible by sea mammals, birds, and fish—many of which we then consume ourselves.
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POPSSpain's New Record: Wind Power Supplied 40% of Energy Consumed Wind Power Is an Economic Winner in Spain: Spain is the world's second-biggest producer of wind energy. Spanish companies, both turbine manufacturers and wind-farm operators, are among the leaders in the global wind-power market. Among these are Gamesa Eólica (world's second largest turbine manufacturer), Iberdrola (world's largest wind-farm owner and operator) and Acciona Energía (world's largest wind-farm builder and developer). The industry currently enjoys a 30 percent annual growth.
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POPSRuslana's Wild Energy: Singing Ukraine Into An Energy Revolution Ruslana is Ukraine's biggest pop star: her new album "Wild Energy" represents the energy of the sun, the energy of the wind, the energy of water…. renewable energy and energy independence. Ukraine is among the most energy-intensive countries in the world, but most of their energy comes from Russia. Ruslana is a Ukrainian nationalist, one of the protesters in 2004, during the Orange Revolution. She had a seat in the Ukrainian parliament. Now she's trying to reduce Ukraine's dependence on natural gas imported from Russia. She does not sing about carbon footprints and gas prices; she sings about the wild energy of love. It triumphs over a synthetic world, dependent on synthetic energy. In the video: that world is represented by a pale, metallic-looking woman who gets her strength from a giant machine…. Ruslana's depiction of a woman dependent on fossil fuels for energy. If Ukraine can embrace renewable energy they could break free from their dependence on natural gas…and Russia
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POPSPorridge: A Good Source of Energy For Your Body & Your Factory A FIFE factory is to become one of Scotland’s greenest when it begins generating all its own energy from oat husks. Quaker, which produces Scott’s Porage Oats at its Uthrogle Mills plant near Cupar, is to invest £6 million in a combined heat and power biomass boiler which will make it carbon neutral. The husks, removed from the oats during the milling process, will provide 9,709 MWhrs of electricity and 10,902 MWhrs of steam a year, reducing its emissions by 9,000 tonnes a year. “This innovative approach by Quaker to cut carbon emissions through investment in new low carbon technology will be a powerful signal to other businesses that reducing carbon emissions and looking for sustainable energy sources makes business sense.”
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POPSIncredible World Wildlife Fund Posters From Around the World WWF’s ultimate goal is to build a future where people live in harmony with nature. Here are a couple of the messages: “Preserve your world. Preserve yourself.” “Global Warming is changing the world’s climate rapidly. Icebergs are melting, oceans are rising, nature is revolting. Act now, conserve energy and treat the planet with respect, or we’ll have a world at sea.” “Animals around the world are losing their habitats due to climate change. By choosing a hybrid or fuel-efficient car, you can help prevent this. Take action now.” “Save the world with a few coins” “For Nature, small animals are as important as the big ones.” “A single can of dissolvent, or tin of paint, can pollute millions of liters of water.” “Building a single golf course puts thousands of trees at stake.” “Where is your home?” http://www.wwf.org/
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POPSApril 4, 1968: RFK Delivering News of Martin Luther King's Death A moving speech...I get chills and tears in my eyes when I hear it, but this montage makes it even more emotional for me and reminds me, 40 years ago we lost 2 great men… The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert Kennedy in his bid to get the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. Just after he arrived by plane at Indianapolis, Kennedy was told of King's death. He was advised by police against making the campaign stop which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto. But Kennedy insisted on going. He arrived to find the people in an upbeat mood, anticipating the excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the platform, and realizing they did not know, broke the news. His passionate speech was credited with quelling violence in the city, when other American cities had exploded with violence and anger.
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POPS2030 Face It: Reverberate “No Coal” Body Paint Design Winners Students were told to spread the word about the negative impacts of coal on our natural ecosystems and its role on greenhouse gas emissions. Face Color Winner: Emily Bibler, Iowa State University. Face B+W Winner and Metropolis Ad Winner: Jackie Fabella, Cal Poly Pomona. Body Winner: Miles Courtney, Pratt Institute. The Reverberate competition brought together students from a range disciplines to take direct action on the topic of climate change. 4,500 attendees participated in a variety of activities relating to global climate change - ranging from architecture to agriculture; from politics to poetics; from green jobs to green food. Through their involvement, they put their ideals into action. As future environmental stewards, these students have every right to ask: why are we all not doing the same?
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POPSTree Nation To Plant 8 million Trees in Niger: You Can Adopt One! “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless.” - Theodore Roosevelt More than 90% of Niger is in a deserted zone and is the poorest country in the world: To not plant in a deserted area in Niger would be to abandon the best hope of development for the country. Tree-Nation: an online community, where members can buy their own tree and become the guardian of a tree that Tree-Nation will plant in its park in Niger. Members can play an active role in the development of the project online: contributing suggestions, sharing photos and gathering ideas in the Tree-Blog or creating their own projects. Prices range from USD 10 for an acacia to USD 75 for a baobab tree. So far, over 26,000 members have raised money to plant over 19,000 trees...with the goal of a park of 8 million trees in the shape of a giant heart, visible from space.
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POPSIzzy Lane and the Unique Sheep Sanctuary of Scotland Isobel Davies loves sheep - she created a Sheep Sanctuary in Scotland after she found that many sheep were sent to slaughter for various reasons from being male to being lame. She also discovered that farmers were burning the wool sheared from their sheep rather than selling it to manufacturers in other industries. Because 80 percent of the wool used in Britain’s clothing industry was imported, the native farmers couldn’t compete with the low prices—it would actually cost them more to properly shear and sell the wool than it would to just hack it off and burn it. Davies decided to create an economic model that would preserve the sheep AND support the British clothing industry. She created Izzy Lane Sheep-Friendly Clothing!
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POPSPhotographs of a Generation "It's Complicated: The American Teenager" “Whatever their identity or station in life, the young people were candid and poignant in talking about themselves, often revealing estrangement from parents or ostracism by peers, discomfort with their bodies, or worry about the future.” A diverse set of teenagers, less-common subjects, such as a country preacher, a coal miner, a 19-year-old girl in prison, a Maine lobstergirl, a Georgia transvestite, and a 16-year-old female "naturist," photographed nude at a family resort in Florida. Sometimes she was not welcome and "chased out of towns," for asking questions such as "Have you been sexually active?" The New York Public Library has purchased a complete set, along with transcripts of the interviews (not all appear in the book), with the intention eventually to mount an exhibition. Please check out the photo gallery: beautiful photos and emotional quotes: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2008/mar/bowman/bowman_gallery/index.html
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POPSMaryland Zoo Welcomes It's First Baby Elephant! At 290 pounds, he is quite a big baby boy! Mother and son are doing well: "She's been teaching him things already. " Less than 24 hours after he was born, his keepers thought they could already see his personality emerging. "He seems like a very trusting little calf. He doesn't seem particularly nervous," "I feel like he's already thinking, sorting things out. You can see the little wheels turning." I can't wait to see him!
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POPSAppalachian Trail: Maine to Georgia...Could It Be Extended? Benton MacKaye was convinced that the pace of urban and industrial life along the East Coast was harmful to people. He convened the first Appalachian Trail "conference" in Washington, D.C., in 1925. That gathering of hikers, foresters, and public officials embraced the goal of building the A.T. Currently, the A.T. goes from Maine to Georgia, but there is a movement to extend the A.T. to attach to the existing Alabama Pinhoti trail. Such a move would require an act of Congress: to change the wording of the National Trails System Act of 1968 to include Alabama. But --- it is not that easy when you take into consideration Georgia. An extension could siphon hikers and their tourist dollars away. I think that an extension would carry on Mackaye's original vision: He envisioned the A.T. as a path interspersed with planned wilderness communities where people could go to renew themselves. An extension into Alabama would only expand this wilderness escape and national treasure.
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