Step Into the Earth Lab

As a person who is always looking for ways to be more efficient, the idea of finding out my exact carbon footprint and ways to reduce it is very appealing. There are carbon footprint calculators galore on the Internet, and in an effort to find more ways to reduce my emissions, I have been perusing many of them recently. A tip from my friend Marah over at The Blue Ocean Institute led me to Earthlab.

Here's why Earthlab is worth a visit:

1. Requires Very Little Patience - As they say on their website, it really does take only 3 minutes to calculate your carbon usage.
2. Covers All the Bases - The calculator evaluates 6 basic facets of how we live - home, energy, commute, travel, work, lifestyle.
3. Score Means Something - Once you are done (let's say during minute 4), you get a score from 150-900 (150 means you are a carbon-saving rock star), and you also are able to compare your score to other people in your city, state, and country.
4. Tangible Ways to Reduce - No matter what your score, there are specific pledges you can take to reduce your carbon emissions further. For example, in the energy section, you can pledge to air dry your dishes, start composting, or turn off lights whenever you leave a room.
5. You Can Track Your Progress (think of it as an alternative to Facebook when looking for a way to procrastinate at work) - You can visit your account at Earthlab regularly to report your progress, update your score, and make new pledges.

Earthlab offers tangible actions that you can start taking today. So stop reading this blog and go save some energy!

A Movement in a Few Parts - The Final Countdown

For those of you following our move (and more importantly our quest to avoid the landfill by creatively disposing of belongings we don't want to cart 3,000 miles...again), we are days away from the arrival of the moving truck.

It should be noted that due to both environmental and budgetary concerns, we have also tried to consume as little space as possible on a carbon emitting moving truck. After some research, I found a company that rents smaller spaces on large trailers, and so we were able to rent the smallest size - 6 x 8 x 9 - further emphasizing the need for "net reduction".

So we've had our moving sale, we've made a few trips to Goodwill, and we've swapped our books, but what about the X-Box player that doesn't work, or the CDs that have long ago been burned into our Itunes library? We don't have room for them in our precious square of truck space, and we still don't want to hit that dumpster.

There are two resources that I have been using constantly to find lists to aid me in my quest. The first is Earth 911's recycling locator. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am a contributor to Earth 911). The locator allows you to find places to recycle anything from fluorescent bulbs(don't throw these in the garbage - they contain a tiny bit of mercury and can be recycled at all Ikea stores among other places) to old phone books just by entering in your zip code. It is one of the most comprehensive databases out there.

The second resource that I often use is a blog by Coop America titled "21 Things You Didn't Know You Could Recycle" with links to recycling agencies for everything from CD jewel cases to appliances.

Here are a few tough-to-recycle items we recycled using the suggestions from the list (and a little creative thinking too!):

Beanie Babies - No idea where these came from. I know they are not mine, and my husband is also pleading ignorance. No matter, we plan to sell them on Ebay. Craig's List is also a good (and free!) place to post items for sale.

Broken X-Box, Stereo, and Speakers - Used Earth 911's recycling locator to find a place to recycle these. Some electronics stores like Best Buy have recycling "events", which are days when all broken eletronica will be accepted for recycling.

Technotrash - In our case, this included CD jewel cases, various chargers, music and VHS tapes, and an old cell phone (cell phones are incredibly easy to recycle as well as useful for someone else - Collective Good refurbishes cell phones and sells it for use in a developing country: 770/856-9021. Call to Protect gives cell phones to victims of domestic violence. For a fee of $30, Greendisk will send you a box that you can fill with up to 70 pounds of technotrash - totally worth it.

Televisions - We were able to sell both of our sets, but with the switch to digital slated for later this year, there will be a lot of people interested in upgrading their sets. Televisions can contain up to eight pounds of lead, and some municipalities have already banned them from the landfill. Start with Earth 911's recycling locator again, and look for a subsequent blog with complete details on what to do with your old television!

Old Athletic Sneakers - When you are a size 12 (yes, dainty me), these add up quickly when you are talking about cubic feet in the landfill! Luckily, Nike will take back all old athletic sneakers and will recycle them into Nike grind, used to make playground and other sports surfaces.

CDs - We found a CD store that bought used CDs and sold them - I guess this confirms that my husband has good taste in music. Those that were rejected were listed and swapped at Swapacd.com. You can do the same with DVDs at Swapadvd.com.

Books - Paperback Swap! For more on their services, check out the previous blog.

Lightly Used Litter Boxes and Cat Toys - These went to our local no-kill animal shelter - we cleaned them of course! Animal shelters are in constant need of supplies.

Batteries - Single Use and Rechargeable - We ordered a recycling kit from Battery Solutions.

If you still find that you have items to dispose of after perusing my blog, Earth 911, and Coop America, then post your goodies at freecycle.org or bring them to a local Goodwill.

Off to load (..tightly!) those 432 cubic feet with all of our worldly possessions.

Our Green Relocation - Overture

Who can resist the allure of the parrot poster? It had him at hello.

Countdown! For those of your following this series, we are now officially less than 3 weeks away from our move from NY to Seattle. We have made it our mission to make this move as environmentally friendly as possible. Our first goal has been to reduce as many of our belongings as possible, and while the move is a good impetus for passing on unneeded possessions, the idea of responsible net reduction is one that almost anyone can embrace.

In addition to the usual avenues for reuse - Goodwill, local charities, etc., we have also made it a point to recycle even those hard to deal with items. With the clock ticking towards our departure date, it has become progressively more tempting to dispense with our outmoded possessions at the landfill, but we have been resisting the urge...

Before you deem your unwanted possessions "junk" see if they are treasures for anyone else. Here are a few tips for a successful sale:

• Plan a date when you know people will be around (in our case, this meant the last day of school meetings since we live on a campus)
• Advertise! Send out an email to your friends, those in your community, and/or consider placing an advertisement in a local paper.
• Put up signs. Even if the yard sale has been well-advertised, a little nudge from a sign on the day of the sale, may be just what people need to check it out. And, of course, signs will catch the attention of those passing by.
• Display everything in an attractive and neat manner. You are less likely to buy items in a store when everything is in a heap - the same goes for a yard sale.
• Be prepared to haggle...but not too much. Of course, there are always those looking for a deal - hold your ground with prices only if something has significant value. Otherwise, the point of a sale like this is to rid yourself of excess possessions, so let them go!

Our moving sale was hugely successful - obviously it doesn't hurt to have a feline sales(person?)!

Slacking again? Back to work!

We sold about 2/3 of our "inventory" and all of our big ticket furniture items.

Net reduction strikes again, and with three weeks to go before the move, we continue to avoid relegating anything to the landfill.

To see if our quest to avoid the dumpster is successful, stay tuned for the next installment...

In the meantime, isn't it a beautiful weekend for a yard sale?

The Dad's Day Dish

Ah, the blogosphere, where everyone seems to have an opinion about everything (including me of course!). Rather than add to the bounty of ideas already circulating on the web about what to present on your day of devotion to dad, I have rounded up some of my favorites and compiled them here:

1. Shameless Self-Promotion for the Sake of Others: Wow, is that ever an oxymoron?! Check out the list of Organizations Making a Difference over at tenways.org (a.k.a. my website). Consider making a donation in honor of dear old dad. You can make a do-it-yourself card (on recycled paper of course) with facts about the organization, or you can take the e-card option offered by most orgs.

2. Dad will be Devastated without a Package: Yeah, I hear you. Some Dads want tangible evidence of your love, gratitude, and affection. Fortunately, there are many socially and environmentally responsible companies to choose from. Find ideas at tenways.org (again!!) on the Businesses Making a Difference page and over at Co-op America's Green Pages.

3. Don't Know the Difference Between Biodegradable and Bamboo? Check out the Dad's Day blog over at Earth 911 for some clear ideas and explanations about how to find the perfect gift made out of reusable, low-impact, and/or recycled materials.

4. Freebie! Let's face it, most parents really just want to spend time with their beloved offspring (unless you are one of those unloved children with awful social graces and a penchant for shouting at old people) and over at Live Earth, they have a great blog with lots of ideas about how to spend a contented, consumption-free day. (Beware the slightly weird suggestion at the end though, about talking, but not too much - ha?) Guess I'm too much of a gabby girl to get that one. I think I inherited that trait from my dad!

Person Steve Joke!),

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Green TV - It's a Go!

The Discovery Channel's Planet Green went live today. You can check their website or your local listings to find it. With such shows as Wasted where eco-unfriendly households get a makeover, and Battleground Earth where Ludacris and Tommy Lee compete to be the most eco-fabulous reality show stars, it is clear that Planet Green is taking a page from reality TV in order to produce shows that are both loaded with tips AND interesting to watch. It's a pretty big deal that an entire channel is now devoted to the environmental movement, so let's support it!

Watch the shows and offer feedback on their website, which also has many helpful tips.

Our Green Relocation - A Movement in a Few Parts

Yes, we are moving. And like many in our demographic (youngish, no kids, a few moves already under our belts), and despite our vows to do otherwise, we have managed to accumulate too much stuff....again!

Our last move from Los Angeles to New York was certainly not - we drove 2 cars cross country, used a moving company that should have been featured on a Dateline NBC scam expose, and we brought WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.

So this will be our second move across the country, and since we are definitely older, and therefore would also like to consider ourselves wiser, we have vowed to embark on the most environmentally-friendly relocation possible. The bottom line is that our goal is to lighten our load considerably, but also to throw away as little as possible.

In this series of blog installments, I will candidly detail our experience, offering tips along the way for those of you also facing a move (or just looking to get rid of some stuff without the help of the local landfill). Feel free to follow along and find creative ways to reduce and reuse your belongings as well!

Phase One - Net Reduction

I borrow this phrase from a dear friend, and over the next few weeks, we plan to become rock star net reducers, ridding ourselves of anything we don't consider crucial and/or sentimental. I am planning on a few arguments with my husband over the definition of sentimental - he still has a collection of stuffed animals from when he was a wee tyke as well as every cassette mix he's made or received since middle school.

Flock of Seagulls and Men Without Hats?
Together on one mix? Sweet!

We have started the net reduction process by going through our belongings in storage. You know, the ones you forgot you even had and mostly wonder why you kept in the first place?!

Our quest for less began where else - the basement! In our case, not in our basement, since we live in an apartment, but in my husband's grandfather's basement. We got started by making some piles:

1. Keep - see criteria above

2. Sell - still in good shape, but not worth the expense or carbon footprint created by a 3,000 mile transport.

3. Give Away - There are plenty of charities like Goodwill ready and willing to take anything you can't easily sell. There are also several internet groups like Freecycle that allow you to post your belongings for the taking.

4. Recycle - And I'm not just talking about the usual stuff either - paper, plastic, glass etc. I'm talking about cd covers, computer parts, a stereo, and even some of my exercise DVD's.

"Not the comic books!!"

5. Toss - Yes, sadly some products like household hazardous waste and old medications (which somehow always end up stored together) will have to be thrown out. I will cover how to safely do that, too.

Next week, we start the process officially by having a moving sale and swanky stuff swap of all of our "precious belongings" marked to sell or give away. I will detail both of these "events" in subsequent blogs, so stay tuned for more of our green moving adventures!

What's Your Waterprint?

While there has been a lot of attention paid these days to the containers that we choose for holding our water - see my previous few blogs about plastics for starters - awareness is also starting to grow about the planet's water shortage.

There are currently an estimated 1.1 billion people in the world who lack clean water. Why is this? Is there a shortage of water or just a shortage of wells and a lack of infrastructure for transporting safe, clean water?

The answer is both. Only .03% of the water on Earth is potable, and according to Peter H. Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, "As many as 76 million people -- mainly children -- will die from preventable, water-related diseases by 2020 even if current United Nations goals are reached."

So what can we do?

• Help to set up wells and other infrastructures by donating to organizations like Charity: Water and Unicef, which are working to bring clean drinking water to all.

• Help to conserve the precious drinking water we have left by reducing the water you use every day. Here are a few suggestions about how to do so:
  

Get Educated about your water footprint - go to H2O Conserve or Waterfootprint.org (Personally, I'm a sucker for the cartoon characters over at H2O Conserve) to calculate your water footprint.

You will be asked questions about where you live, how much of your power comes from solar or wind energy, whether or not you have low-flow devices on your showers, toilets, and faucets, how much laundry you do per week, etc.

While it may turn out that you are indeed a water glutton, take heart because each question serves as a new idea for a way to save more water. For example, not yet letting "it mellow?" Might be time to consider new flushing policies in the household! Post-asparagus voids get an exemption - phieew!

In addition to these standard questions, there are many more that concern your virtual water footprint, one that must be taken into account if you truly want to curb your daily water consumption. According to the recent Discover magazine article "Everything You Know About Water Conservation Is Wrong" by Thomas Kostigen, "Virtual water is a calculation of the water needed for the production of any product from start to finish."

So while it is important to turn off the water while brushing your teeth and to take shorter showers, it is crucial to be mindful of your virtual water consumption. For example, consider all of the virtual water lost in the food we throw out or used in the goods we buy - almost everything takes water to produce.

According to Kostigen's article and Waterfootprint.org, "The virtual water footprint of a cup of coffee is 37 gallons; an apple, 19 gallons; a banana, 27; a slice of bread, 10; a sheet of paper, 3; and a pair of leather shoes, 4,400."

And in the United States, we are really thirsty for our virtual water. Our annual average usage per person is 656,012 gallons, more than double the world average of 328,410 gallons.

So go ahead, install those low-flow shower and faucet heads, buy only what you need, and throw away even less. It will leave a lot more water for all of us to drink.

For more water conservation tips, see "H2O: One Glass at a Time" in this month's Green Guide.

The Pod People

The second stop on my bike tour of UC Davis took us to a secluded corner of campus where the patchouli is flowing freely, but so is the good will. It is another of the housing cooperatives on campus made up of undergrads and graduate students, and it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from The Know it All, by AJ Jacobs. "My favorite reform movement leader is a Frenchman named Fourier, whom this Britannica entry matter-of-factly describes as "more than a little mad." In Fourier's utopian vision, humans would live in cooperative groups called "phalanges," where they would "cultivate cabbages in the morning and sing opera in the evening...Love and passion would bind men together in a noncoercive order."

Sort of a cross between Tatooine and the Shire

Well, these students are not cultivating cabbages or singing opera, but they are living cooperatively in cement domes, which are meant to maximize space and energy efficiency. Each 2 level "pod" houses 2-3 people. The benefits of living in this type of community abound; while the students are still living in campus housing, they take turns sharing meal duties (there are communal outdoor dinners most nights), they all have space to garden, a few of them run an on-site (or should I say on-commune?) bike salvage and repair shop, and everyone gets around by riding a bike. Of course, this favorite local mode of transportation uses no fossil fuels. In short, compared to most co-eds, their footprint is miniscule.

Pod people are kind and handy, but unused to our surface dwelling ways

Because the pod folks' gatherings can get a little cold in the winter, they are in the process of building a community yurt that will be heated completely by solar panels made from salvaged materials. It is a community project as are most here, and on the day we visited, we ran into a graduate student who was doing a few repairs to his home using tools from the communal tool shed. I'm not sure how it all works - I am type A after all and was scanning the area for schedules - but everything seemed to be running peacefully, and there were a lot fewer empty beer bottles than one saw in my college dorm.
New take on an old Mongol idea - The Solar Yurt

Just like at home, the ball pein hammer's missing

While this type of living may not appeal to everyone, as a twenty-something it is idyllic, educational, low impact, and even cheaper than the regular dorms. More importantly, it provides a model for innovation, creativity, and communal good cheer that arises from committing to a shared a goal.

Composting Carnivale

On a recent trip to Davis, CA, a bike-friendly haven just west of Sacramento, I met some very interesting co-eds. A friend, who is doing her post-doc in neuroscience at UC Davis, offered to show me around the campus (on a bike of course).

If there's a way to look cool on a bike, I have yet to find it.

What I found were inspiring microcosms; small, student-run organizations that have formed communities, which work together to effect real change in the world. Rather than just complain about waste and inefficiency, they are changing their lifestyles. I'm certainly down with that.

The first little stop on our bike trek was what I will call composting central; it was located at the back of a few of the houses where members of The Co-op live. In their own words, The Co-ops are "an ecologically-conscious culturally diverse student community dedicated to alternative living. We power our homes with solar energy, we grow some food organically, and love to compost and recycle."

No more guilt over scrapping your broccoli

What's more, some of these students run Project Compost, which is a student-run and funded initiative that both educates the university population about compost through free composting workshops, and picks up over 1000 pounds of food refuse daily from all over campus.

Sign Reads: "Crank Lever to Mix Content"
Leigh: A+ (Nice Form!) Steve: F (At least hold the sign!)

True to their mission, the composting area was both educational and functional. It had several different types of bins along with explanations about how each system worked. Some required sifting, rotating racks, or spinning, and we were happy to get down and dirty with them all.

"Behold, the composting power of worms!"


"Holy Hell, that is a stinky business!"

Where does all of this nutrient-rich (and alarmingly bug-infested) compost go? Right next door - to The Co-ops bountiful organic gardens.

So if these college students can pull this off, why can't those of us with a college diploma do the same thing? And most importantly, why are so many of us still dumping biodegradable matter into the landfill where it creates methane emissions (yes, that's one of the types of gases that causes global warming).

Lastly, with the cost of food ever on the rise, why not start growing a little bit of your own? For more info on the UC Davis composting program, visit the website. If you are a college student, look around at how much food waste is being generated each day - I guarantee you will be horrified - and then consider starting one of these projects at your school. I'm sure the UC Davis crew would be happy to offer some pointers. They do attend an agricultural school after all, and these students obviously have been staying awake in class.

Earth Day Extravaganza

On this Earth Day Eve, "eco," "enviro," and "green" have become common parlance in almost everyone's vocabulary. Pick up almost any magazine this month - my personal favorites are the Discover Magazine issue and this week's New York Time's Magazine - and you can read about the latest environmental news and find easy ways to become more eco-active. One of my favorite new how-to resources is National Geographic's, Green Guide, which is a quarterly publication dedicated to "consuming wisely." You can even subscribe to the full magazine online - yup, that's definitely green.

Perhaps a bit too enthusiastic

Of course, Tuesday, April 22nd is Earth Day, and I admit that Earth Day festivities make me kind of giddy because of the many opportunities to raise awareness, take some action, and have a good time. Yes, I fall into the category of another new environmental buzzword - eco-geek.

However, you do not need to be "eco-anything" in order to join the Earth Day fun. Here are five easy ways to get involved:

1. Visit the Earth Day Website to locate events, get informed, and find ways to take action. Be sure to join the Earth Day Network campaign tomorrow in which thousands of people (you!) will call their representatives and senators and ask them to enact fair climate change legislation.
2. Plant a tree. If you live in the NYC area, visit Million Trees for more info about how to enjoy more greenery and clean air pronto!
3. Check out Earth911 for "Eight Ways to Green Your Earth Day," or the Green Guide's "Earth Day Tips 2008." For the record, these two articles offer a total of 15 tips. Challenge yourself to try out at least 5 suggestions for the rest of the year. Let us know how it goes...
4. Watch TV - Check out The Discovery Network's new Planet Green, or The Sundance Channel's The Green. Thanks to one of my readers, who turned me on to the Planet Green show, Wasted. The show's first stop? A fraternity house, but not for the reasons you might think. Definitely a must-see.
5. Talk to your friends tomorrow about what you, and by association they, can do about climate change.

Apocalypse?

It is either spring or the apocalypse - how do I know? Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton just joined forces with Al Gore to make a commercial about climate change.

I know, they make strange, uh, er bedfellows -Sorry, I couldn't resist, and if there actually is a hell, I am pretty confident that I am already going anyway. Apparently, these two religious leaders feel so strongly about the need to protect the environment, regardless of religious beliefs or political affiliations, that they have made this spot to promote unity and action.



While these two could use a little work on their comedic timing, their message is clear - get more involved...now. All jokes about the apocalypse aside, the world is at a crucial point with regard to climate change.

So what to do, if you are not a former Vice President or prominent religious leader? Here are 4 simple ways to get more involved:

1. Join We Can Solve It. This new organization offers ideas for action and solutions to help heal the climate crisis. After you have joined, encourage your friends to do the same.
2. Pledge to cut back on your carbon emissions. Earth Hour and Facebook have teamed up to offer a Zerofootprint Carbon Calculator that not only allows you to calculate your yearly emissions, but also offers suggestions for ways to reduce them.
3. Attend or host an Earth Day Event. Founded in 1970 by a senator and his small staff, Earth Day has grown into a global day of awareness and action. Find an event near you here.
4. Join forces with 350.org, Author Bill McKibben's latest campaign to stop global warming. What is the significance of 350? McKibben explains that "350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth."

If Al, Al, and Pat can put aside their differences and join forces in what may be the oddest threesome yet, it is clearly time for all of us to follow suit.

5 More Reasons to Get Excited About '08 (In Other People's Opinions)

I have received a lot of suggestions and ideas about other great reasons to get excited about '08. This coupled with my own normal blog browsing convinced me that there are so many ideas, it is worthwhile to devote another weekly way to other people's lists. It is January after all, and we have many reasons to be full of hope. Here are a few more -

1. Foodies Rejoice! The February Issue of Bon Appetit is the green issue. Look through their section on the best eco-friendly restaurants, or browse their picks of the best organic dark chocolate. Drooling yet? They also have an article about an earth friendly dinner party as well as one about a retreat in Siena, Italy, which is all about the food. Click below for the goods.

2. Looking for an idea every day? Check out the Living Green Page-A-Day Calendar with ideas from the mundane (how to reduce your daily gas mileage) to the unexpected (what to do with your worn down bar of soap -hmmmm...). I'm intrigued, and all I had to do for the answer was to skip ahead to July.

3. Whether you are still looking for a resolution or have decided to find one you can actually stick to, Sierra Club's List of 5 Simple Things You Can Do About Global Warming is a good place to start committing to changes that are good for everyone.

4. The New York City Council just passed a bill that requires big retail stores to collect and recycle plastic bags. This is a big step forward in reducing plastic bag consumption. Of course, no matter where you live, you can do more to close the loop by bringing your own bags to the store. My favorite continues to be the ultra compact bags from ReusableBags.com that fold up into a miniscule pouch and easily fit into my vegan purse from Matt and Nat.

5. On January 31st, Focus the Nation educational symposiums will take place throughout the country. They will be "national teach-ins on global warming solutions for America—creating a dialogue at over a thousand colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, places of worship, civic organizations and businesses, and directly engaging millions of students and citizens with the nation’s decision-makers." For more information and to find a focus group near you, visit their website.

Nature + 21st Century = We Have the Technology

Technology has been getting a bad rap these days. People are becoming disconnected from each other, kids are being raised on television and learning bad "IM-ing" grammar, and humans are creating pollution of all sorts at alarming rates. Oh yes, and we are running out of potable water. It seems that while a return to nature might be necessary to heal many of these woes, this solution by itself is not altogether practical. Instead, it is clear that it is time to look to the wisdom of nature and the innovation of technology for answers to pressing environmental problems.

The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York has done just that. The Institute broke ground earlier this month on the Omega Center for Sustainable Living. The Center, which will include a constructed wetland, classroom, greenhouse, water garden, and laboratory, will get all of its water from collected rain, employ a roof garden and geothermal technology to help regulate the temperature of the building, and generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic panels. According to Executive Director Skip Backus, "For thirty years Omega has been a leader in holistic, sustainable living. As an environmental steward, Omega is launching the center to address a growing concern – the lack of fresh, clean water.”

Everyone's Digging the New Center!
(Photo by, Andy Milford, courtesy of Omega Institute)

One of the most impressive features of the new building is the Eco Machine, a state-of-the-art water filtration/recycling system. It will have the capability to recycle 35,000-40,000 gallons of wastewater into clean water each day using plants, bacteria, algae, snails, and fungi. According to John Todd, the initial developer of the technology used to construct the Eco Machine, "The Omega Center for Sustainable Living will be the first education center of its kind in the United States to combine the latest in green building and wastewater treatment technologies under one roof. It will be built with the most cutting edge technology currently available and will demonstrate how we can live in harmony with nature rather than destroying it."

Sounds like a good plan to me.

For more information on how the Eco Machines work and for other innovative water planning ideas, visit John Todd Ecological Design.

Chimp Greetings, The Wave, and An Inconvenient Truth: Remixed

Back Row Seats. Who could say no?

On July 7th, my husband Steve and I headed out to the Meadowlands to see the New York (or more accurately New Jersey, which many of the performers and presenters -most notably Bon Jovi and Zach Braff, writer and director of Garden State- pointed out) Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium. An estimated 65,000 people showed up along with us on the second Saturday in July. The purpose of the concerts was to launch a movement to address the global climate crisis. More than 10 million people watched the concerts live or on television. Eight concerts took place in New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, and Hamburg. While the concerts served as a giant launch party for the cause, this is just the beginning of a global movement to help repair and sustain a climate in crisis. The Live Earth website offers many tangible ideas for both reducing one's personal footprint and encouraging others to do the same.

While my husband and I were pretty much as far back as you could get while still being in Giants Stadium, we were grateful to be able to see all of the performances and speeches in person. Our seats also gave us a good vantage point for checking out the rest of the crowd from around the world.

Knew the words to every Kelly Clarkson Song...Best fan ever

Some of the highlights included performances by Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, Roger Waters, and John Mayer. My four favorite moments were Melissa Etheridge's performance of music and words (here is the link to the first part - be sure to check out the second part on youtube as well), Jane Goodall's speech complete with two chimp greeting calls, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s speech about what we can do to promote effective and sustainable environmental policys, and the audience-generated wave.

While many of the other moments mentioned above were broadcast internationally, the wave was one of the most moving moments of the night. It began as a spontaneous rumble somewhere on one of the lower tiers of the stadium and turned into a musical movement of its own, as each section waited like an instrument in an orchestra to stand up and cheer at the appropriate time. The wave traveled through the stadium several times, picking up volume and synchronicity with each pass. It was a profound representation of what can happen when thousands of people make a collective decision to work together. While the moment passed as soon as Cameron Diaz came out to introduce The Police, we were all left with the knowledge that no matter what differences exist between 65,000 people, we all have the power to work together to shape the future of the home we all share.

Please Drive Responsibly

Memorial Day is right around the corner, and this 3-day weekend brings with it the promise of summer: long, lazy days at the beach, vacations, road trips, and an average national gas price of $3.10 a gallon. Gulp, Guzzle - that means my fairly fuel-efficient 2003 Toyota Corolla cost exactly $34.58 to fill up this week - ouch.

Given the high price of gas this summer, and the well-established negative effects that carbon emissions have on the environment, it seems to be obvious that we should drive as little as possible, and when we must drive, we should operate fuel-efficient vehicles. According to edmunds.com, these are the 10 most fuel-efficient vehicles produced in 2006:

1. Honda Insight— 60/66
2. Toyota Prius— 60/51
3. Honda Civic Hybrid — 49/51
4. Volkswagen Golf TDI — 37/44
   Volkswagen New Beetle TDI — 37/44
5. Volkswagen Jetta TDI — 36/41
6. Toyota Corolla— 32/41
7. Scion xA — 32/37
8. Hyundai Accent— 32/35
   Kia Rio — 32/35
9. Honda Civic— 30/40
10. Pontiac Vibe — 30/36
    Toyota Matrix — 30/36

If a new car is not in the budget right now, you can also ensure that your vehicle gets the best fuel-efficiency possible by taking simple steps such as making sure your air filter is changed on a regular basis, keeping your tires properly inflated, using your air conditioner sparingly, and avoiding idling. For a full list of tips on how to achieve optimal fuel-efficiency, check out eartheasy.com.

Lastly, you can utilize the power of your dollar by buying your gas from the most responsible of the oil companies and boycotting the rest. According to Fortune, Exxon-Mobil made over $36 billion in profits in 2005, the largest profit of any company in the world. They achieved this number one status due to the hefty increase in gasoline prices. In addition, according to The Sierra Club, their environmental record places them at the "bottom of the barrel" when ranked with seven other major U.S. oil companies. You can sign a petition at coopamerica.org urging Exxon-Mobil to invest some of their record-breaking profits in renewable energy. The two highest ranking oil companies on Sierra Club's list are BP and Sunoco. You can read the complete environmental lowdown on all eight companies at sierraclub.org.