Al Gore... Better be Walking to Bali

Not Enough Parking for Private Jets Going to UN Climate Conference

By Noel Sheppard | November 23, 2007 - 16:32 ET

As climate alarmists from all over the world head to Bali to talk about the sacrifices regular folks have to make to save the planet from global warming, it seems certain media will ignore all the private jets clogging the tiny airport.

As if it’s not enough that the United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held at what NewsBusters reported as "a truly beautiful tropical island paradise," the management of the nearby airport has issued a warning to attendees that they are going to have to park their private jets somewhere else.

I kid you not.

As reported by Bali Discovery Tours on November 3 (emphasis added):

Where's Clive Owen Now?

Call me a dirty hippy if you will but if I wasn't at the office right now I'd be balling. With tissues, not dollars.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there is only ONE female Yangtze turtle left on Planet Earth. An 80 year old female who's been living inside the Changsha zoo with all the other turtles is now being kept under tight security within bulletproof glass and constant surveillance. Luckily, scientists have found the last surviving 100 year old male living at a zoo in the city of Suzhou.

In China turtles represent longevity but can these two turtles stand the test to China's rampant development, pollution run off, and uncontrolled hunting that is endangering all wild species?

According to the Sydney Morning Herald the situation in China is grim.
-Almost 40 per cent of all mammal species in China are endangered
- 70 per cent of all non-flowering plant species and 86 per cent of flowering species are considered threatened.
And according to the New York Times, China has already lost half of its wetlands.

Pour some out for the Yangtze, unless Clive Owen comes running to the rescue.

Green Becomes Cool on Wall St.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal's Jilian Mincer covered the trend of green investing which has been sprouting up all over the Financial District. A wave of green advisers champion this effort by encouraging investors to diversify their portfolios by including a number of rapid growth green technology stocks and green mutual funds.

Up and coming Smith and Barney financial adviser Kati Macchiverna says,

"Compared to average market returns, say you were invested in an index that performed pretty close to how the market performs over the course of the year, the returns on that would be much greater than if you were invested in socially responsible funds. They generally have returns closer to that of bonds (3-4%) opposed to market indexed funds (8-9%).

I would really be interested in finding out more about the green mutual funds, and other green indexes, the thing about those, like the article said, is that they tend to be pretty risky. There is so much new technology out there and people jump on these ideas and over indulge (take ethanol). When I finally get started it would be cool to have a bit of a specialization in green funds, I'm going to start checking that out."

Al Gore is one phenomenon, but If Leo makes a movie about the topic, the Patrick Batemans downtown must follow suit because after all, where does he get his glorious organic aftershave balm?



The capitalist financiers are the second to final group the hippies must conquer before dominating the earth with flowers and organic patchouli. Right wing oil thirsty Washingtonians are up next.

--GreenBean

The Rest of the World Has Turned Green... and the U.S.of A. is still Blushing

The Kyoto protocol, headed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a diplomatic effort to join countries all over the world in the fight against global warming. It's objective aims at reducing greenhouse gases which contribute to this frightful environmental threat. As you can see from this map, we are the only country that has outright disagreed with the effort, while Kazakhstan is still lagging.
The key for this map is as follows:

• green - signed and ratified
• yellow - signed, ratification pending
• red - signed, ratification declined
• gray - no position

The treaty states, "The objective of the Kyoto Protocol is to achieve "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."

This past November, 2007, the Kyoto protocol required 36 countries to reduce greenhouse gases to levels specified in the treaty. This is ACTIVE progress towards a better Earth... will someone please tell me why America is not only annoyingly inactive in this effort, but actually counteractive with their refusal to join the Kyoto protocol. If the Bush re-election wasn't enough to make you jump ship, now may be the time to get in line for a long term visa.

According to a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme :"The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this limitation represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions of six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs - calculated as an average over the five-year period of 2008-12. National limitations range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland."

--GreenBean

--all quotes excerpted from WikiPedia

Green Dream Jobs

Do you cry over wasted paper? Do you want to kick the sleazy sales guy in the face for constantly using Styrofoam cups? Capitalism not really your thing? Check out this awesome website for Green Dream Jobs!

--GreenBean

Graduating Green

Terra Mater, Alma Mater.

How Green Is Your University?

Everyone loves lists this time of year... and recently the Sierra Club ranked the top ten greenest universities.

1. Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
2. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
3. Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, North Carolina
4. University of California system (10 schools)
5. Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
6. Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
7. Berea College, Berea, Kentucky
8. Pennsylvania State University (24 locations)
9. Tufts University, Medford, MA
10. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA

See the original article here

-GreenBean

Recycle Your Cork!

According to the Audubon Magazine, “Corks are 100 percent natural, recyclable, and biodegradable.” Wine and Champagne cork recycling is a common practice in both Australia and Europe, but the U.S. lags behind. A company called Yemm & Hart, located in Missouri, recycles these corks and furthermore they are working to develop new materials from the corks.

Mail your wine corks to:

Wine Cork Recycling
Yemm & Hart Ltd
610 South Chamber Dr
Fredericktown MO 63645

Sources: http://audubonmagazine.org/features0701/habitat.html

---GreenBean

What City Do you Belong In?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

Beautiful Photography I love by Giovanni Mattera

mi ricordo di


---greenbean

To Fax or Not to Fax?

if 1% of all paper faxes sent in the US were instead electronically sent, we'd save 73.5 million trees

check out other great ways to green your office environment at greenisuniversal.com



---greenbean

Icelandic Yogurt-- 5 Active Cultures

all natural siggi'sskyr icelandic style strained low fat yogurt in "pear & mint" is amazing. the only ingredients are skim milk, pear, raw organic agave nectar, organic mint extract, live active cultures (Five total- S. Thermophilus, L. Delbrueckiee Susp. Bulgaricus, L. Acidohphilus, B. Longum, and B. Infantis), and vegetable rennet.

The cool mint flavor was strong and reminded me of delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream. If you run a quick google search on this yogurt you'll find addicts abound searching NYC everywhere for these tasty cups.
To sink your spoon into this pure deliciousness hit up these fine grocers:
In Manhattan: Murray's Cheese, The Bouley Bakery, Dean & Deluca, Eli's, Integral Yoga Natural Foods, Saxelby Cheesemongers, Zabar's, Westerly Natural Market, and my home base the Zeytuna Market
In Brooklyn: Stinky's Cheese, Lassen & Hennigs, Blue Apron, and Marlow & Sons

According to aboutyogurt.com "Researchers around the world are studying the potential attributes of live and active culture yogurt in preventing gastrointestinal infections, boosting the body's immune system, fighting certain types of cancer and preventing osteoporosis... Additionally, the live and active cultures found in yogurt break down lactose in milk. This allows lactose intolerant individuals who commonly experience gastrointestinal discomfort when they consume milk products to eat yogurt and receive the nutrients contained in the milk product without the side effects of abdominal cramping, bloating and diarrhea."
(Brandy! That's great news for you! No more uncontrollable pooping!)

and sidenotes:
According to some woman's random blog...yogurt with lots of active cultures is great for the vagina! It helps prevent bad bugs from growing down there.
lastly, yogurt covered pretzels, while delicious, are not nutritious and include no active cultures.

---GreenBean

Green Investing

“GREEN INVESTING” SPECIAL FEATURE DEBUTS ON

INVESTOPEDIA.COM

Where capitalism meets the forest...

From Forbes News Reports:

New York, NY (Tuesday, November 6, 2007) – Today Investopedia.com (www.investopedia.com), the leading Web site for investor education, debuts a special feature about “Green Investing.” The in-depth package includes a combination of more than 50 articles, commentary, terms and frequently asked questions, providing valuable information and insight about “investment activities that focus on companies or projects that are committed to the conservation of natural resources.” The special feature is available at:

http://www.investopedia.com/features/green-investing.aspx.

Highlights include:

· Articles, such as “What Does It Mean To Be Green?,” “The Biofuels Debate,” and “Evaluating Green Equity Investments”

· Commentary, offering perspective on topics like “Five Green Mutual Funds You Need To Know” and “Finding Profit in Hybrid Cars,” among others

· Most popular questions, ranging from “What are green investments?” to “What is a clean tech stock?” to “What is the carbon trade?,” plus more

· Terms to know, including “Green Tech,” “Energy Improvement Mortgage,” and “Sinful Stocks,” to name just a few

For this, and a wealth of invaluable investor and financial information, including Investopedia.com’s special feature on “Subprime Mortgages,” visit:

www.investopedia.com

Wake up and smell the capitalism mixed with shade grown coffee.

--Green

Dove's Inner Beauty

Dove's New 'Onslaught' advertisement is quickly gaining notoriety on the web and in the ad world. It is a part of their "Campaign for Real Beauty," which focuses on making societal changes in the way we define hotness. It's worthy of a hat tip for continuing the fight against Barbie store boxed beauty in size zero fashion trends and it's ending resembles a hallmark card; furthermore, the photography is stunning.
-- click here to see the video & original article in Advertising Age- 'Onslaught'. The article points out a few hypocrisies surrounding the campaign- namely that Dove has a slew of products targeted towards "outer beauty" and the ad agency, Ogilvy Toronto also has Barbie as one of their premiere clients.
Get over it. Not everyone is going to be 100% pure in their agendas to better the world when there's a profit to be turned or bills to pay. The bottom line is their spending money on good deeds. It would be like chiding McDonalds for launching their salad and low-carb menu. A step in the right direction is always a good move. Their focus is admirable and I applaud Dove; furthermore the commercial is rad and I like how their soap smells.

--Green

The balls to walk

I’m truly enjoying the blogging going on over at Slate’s new all-female blog “The XX Factor.” The corniness of the name aside, the writers are raising excellent points across the board. A recent post about Paula Radcliffe by Emily Bazelon has sparked response from her fellow contributor June Thomas about what it means to be a strong woman and how that relates to both Radcliffe and Hillary Clinton.

Bazelon describes the “imperfect Hillary parallel” wherein Clinton breaks “the country's biggest gender barriers,” but in doing so “has to be utterly singleminded, and try to mask her female identity in certain key ways” in order to prove she can fulfill the role of President, a role that in our eyes, necessitates being a man. To clarify, it is not that the American people are so simple as to think that only a man can become an excellent President. Some people would argue that there is value in traits commonly associated with women (compassion, understanding etc.) and think that they might be readily applied to the position. Rather, the real obstacle, as Bazelon points out, is the idea that a man would not be expected to fulfill his other roles (husband, father) as readily while in office as a woman might. The women who impress the public, such as Radcliffe and Clinton often in some way sacrifice their woman-ness for their passions.

People are awed by a woman who has children and is back running on the track before the doctor can cut the umbilical cord. And why shouldn't they be, a woman such as Radcliffe has commit quite a feat. It’s not that I think we shouldn’t applaud Radcliffe for her dedication to her sport, but like Thomas, I still feel uncomfortable with the reason she is an emblem of success. Something about the idea of beating out the femaleness (Ok, no more “nesses,” I promise) out of a mother feels wrong and I believe it's at least partially missing the point of feminism. How can we make room for a myriad of types of women, without marginalizing anyone's choices? I’d like to know how other women answer these questions. How do you reconcile your passions with something like a biological clock?

-gleam

Rupie's face

Hahahaha. That is all.
-gleam

Have we been waxed by a Brazilian?

Bloomberg reported today that model Gisele Bunchen is requesting to be paid in any currency other than our dear greenbacks. This story is obviously the conjuring of a Brazilian reporter doing his best to make deadline on a slow news day. Unfortunately for us, its existence is as much of an indicator of the utter lack of global confidence in the dollar as the fabricated story itself.

-gleam

Click to Give

All you have to do is click on this text... select each new tab and hit the "click to give" box-- and instantly, you are donating to save the world. GOOD FOR YOU!

Safe Sex, Not so Safe Fashion?

Brazilian Greenpeace activist turned fashion designer, Adriana Bertini has spent the past ten years creating dresses, skirts, and suits made entirely from quality test rejected condoms.

Props to Adriana for using condoms that would otherwise end up in a land fill and simultaneously raising AIDS awareness.

On whether or not she'd actually wear the dresses:
Katita says,"id love to say i would....but i dont think i could wear a condom dress"

Meet up for drinks with other Environmentally Bent Buddies...

The 2nd Tuesday of every month say Cheers! with others in the green community of NYC

Events:

Tuesday November 13, 2007 at "THE PARK"! 118 West 10th Ave at 18th street. see website for more info: www.theparknyc.com, a favorite venue of green drinkers! Come on down for a great evening of mingling and networking in the Atrium and Red Room
Tuesday Dec 11th for our BIG GREEN HOLIDAY PARTY at BLVD! 199 Bowery Street at Spring. See website http://www.blvdnyc.com/ We found a fab space big enough to hold everyone with many smaller rooms to mingle and mill about. We will have a Silent Auction and give away free Raffle prizes and organic appetizers. Great music and networking with your favorite Green Community in NYC.
Tuesday January 8th, 2008 at EyeBeam from 6-10pm
Tuesday February 12, 2008 from 6-10pm at "Greenroom", 205 Mulberry Street between Spring and Kenmare in Soho, NYC tel: 212.334.0288 see website : www.greenroomsoho.org

See greendrinks.org for official details
Greendrinks works with the venue to be sure the event is as green as possible from cups, napkins, signs, all from post-consumer content, to being a carbon-neutral event ( like last year). The food is donated from local organic restaurants, and the venue is cleaned with non-toxic cleaning products before and after the event.

Bartiromo proves all PR is good PR

Bill Carter of the Times writes today of the rapid ascent of Maria Bartiromo's career in the midst of the controversy surrounding her little jet ride with Citigroup CEO Charles Prince.

Though I'm currently feeling tender towards her as a woman who has risen to the top of a previously male-dominated career, as well as being a target of gawker's snarky wiles (and who isn't eventually) I'd also like to let her know that I am fickle and will revoke all prior tenderness should she make the slightest misstep, as I have been known to do for Hillary, Lohan, J. Reno and people with French botanically-inclined names...

-gleam

Turn down the thermostat and turn up the heat!

Green Sexy Toys

A few fearless ways to feel a bit more eco-friendly in bed

Ever thought about the toxins in your sex toys? Check the ingredients on your next anal beads purchase. Most sex toys are made with phthalates, a substance used to soften hard plastics like toxin releasing PVCs and provide that jelly feeling you may crave.. Recently there's been quite a stir over the toxicity and health risks of phthalates as they are currently banned by the EU in the manufacturing of children's toys and even more important minute levels of some phthalates have been linked to sperm damage in men. Tony Levine, founder of Big Teaze Toys, says he's made his products -- including the cutely discreet, soft-plastic vibra "I rub my duckie"--is phthalate-free from the start. "While working at Mattel as a toy designer, I was made very aware of the concerns of using only safe materials for children's products," he says. "This training has stuck with me ... We take great pride in using only the materials which meet strict toxicity safety standards for both the U.S. and the E.U."

Herbs to Spark the Passion: ginseng, kava kava root, damiana leaves, kelp, tribulus, ginko biloba, rhodiola rosea, and of course horny goat weed

Double click your mouse for other fabulously safe toys:

1. The rabbit, made famous on Sex&theCity -all new and made with eco-safe materials
2. A whole slew of safe products on SmittenKitten.com
3. Organic lube


(from treehugger.com and various other news sources)