The Green Life

Sesame Street Goes Green

To celebrate the 40th season of the popular children's show Sesame Street, the Muppets are going green. This season's premiere will launch a two-year curriculum called "My World is Green and Growing," an environmental initiative that will feature segments like the above video, in which Michelle Obama helps Elmo, Big Bird, and the rest of the Sesame Street gang plant a vegetable garden. The series will also teach children about animal habitats, hibernation, migration, and the scientific method. But don't expect a Muppet version of An Inconvenient Truth: "Global warming and deforestation--those are really adult concepts, and it's just too scary for children," Sesame Workshop's Rosemarie Truglio told National Geographic News. Instead, the show's producers hope that children who develop positive feelings about the environment at a young age will grow up to be advocates for the earth. Truglio explained that "when you love something, you want to take care of it."

--Della Watson

For additional green-parenting resources, check out our tips for getting kids outside and our roundup of books about eco-activities for kids.

North America Embraces Conservation

Despite the frustration of stalled talks leading up to Copenhagen, negotiations in North America are moving forward. Last week, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, announced at the 9th World Wilderness Congress a trilateral partnership to address wilderness conservation -- the first formal agreement by nations to cooperate on a continent-wide conservation matter.

The agreement, which was signed by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, will benefit North American wilderness regions during a crucial environmental period. Its intent is that the countries share successful conservation experiences and monitoring and training practices, including financing projects to protect wild places.

Who Makes America's Dirtiest Car?

What makes one car more environmentally friendly than another? Better gas mileage, right? But that's only part of the equation. A greener auto combines fuel efficiency with lower tailpipe emissions of noxious gases like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and formaldehyde.

Drawing from this logic, Forbes published its list of America's dirtiest cars and trucks. The worst? The gas-guzzling, emissions-coughing Jeep Grand Cherokee. Domestic automakers make up most of the entries on the list, with Chrysler alone responsible for five. (Tsk, Tsk.)

Forbes didn't produce a list of the cleanest cars, but hybrids boast excellent gas mileage and many have extremely low tailpipe emissions. The California Air Resources Board maintains a useful site that compares cars and trucks to others of the same year and assigns each a "global-warming score" and a "smog score," similar to how the Forbes list was drawn up.

--Année Tousseau

Green Your Reading: E-Book Readers

Curling up with a good book sounds like a great alternative to braving cold, rainy weather. Since books are made of trees, this week's tips are about how to green your reading habits.

Tip #2: Use an E-Book Reader

Despite the initial cost of electronic book readers and the plastic used to create them, they leave a smaller eco-footprint than paper books. With an e-book reader, you can download books, newspapers, and magazines from anywhere so you won’t have to drive to the bookstore to pick up the paper versions. To increase your green points, you can recycle your reader when you're done with it.

Tell us: What do you think about e-book readers?

Daily Roundup: November 9, 2009

Disastrous Weather: After killing 91 people in El Salvador, Hurricane Ida was downgraded to being a tropical storm and is headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast. Reuters and USA Today

Rest Easy? End-of-the-world fears fanned by Roland Emmerich’s new disaster flick, 2012, have been debunked by NASA. Meanwhile, the filmmakers did their part to avoid planetary destruction by recycling their sets and offsetting their eco-impact. National Geographic and Ecorazzi

A Sea Change: A new ocean could be forming in an Ethiopian desert; a crevasse there closely resembles those found at the bottom of other seas. NPR

More Watery News: Arnold Schwarzenegger signed part of California’s water-legislation package, including a bill requiring that groundwater elevations be measured and another to add enforcement officers to stop illegal water extractions. He’s expected to sign the rest of the bill too, including an $11 billion bond to be voted on in 2010. Los Angeles Times

Wrong Turn: The three Americen hikers being held in Iran are being accused by the Iranian government of being spies. Hillary Clinton responded: “We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever.” New York Times

--Avital Binshtock

Is Environmentalism a Religion?

A recent U.K. court ruling determined that environmentalists could be given the same workplace protections as religious observers. The Employment Appeals Tribunal case involved Tim Nicholson, who claimed he was laid off from his position as head of sustainability at a U.K. property firm Grainger because of his belief that "man-made climate change is the most important issue of our time," reported the Telegraph.

The judge's ruling that "a belief in man-made climate change... is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations" could protect an employee's right to recycle paper or compost his or her lunch. It also raises questions about whether environmental beliefs are science-based or faith-based in the eyes of the law.

Green Fashion Monday: A Recycled-Fabric Hoodie

On Fashion Monday, we highlight a hip, green fashion item. Got a stylish eco-friendly product to recommend? Tell us about it and look for it in an upcoming blog post.

This durable, well-fitting hoodie ($55), by a new, Brooklyn-based eco-fashion company called Playback, was made using leftover cotton scraps from bigger brands like Quiksilver and Levi’s. The company also makes T-shirts ($22) out of old soda bottles and long-sleeve shirts from X-ray film. Already, big-name bands including Dave Matthews and U2 have signed on to use Playback’s recycled-fabric products for their fan merchandise. The company’s founder, textile engineer Adam Siskind, started the business after being inspired by watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. 

--Avital Binshtock

Eating Green Without Going Veg

It can be tough being both an environmentalist and a meat-eater. We know that industrial animal feedlots can produce as much waste as cities and a lot ends up fouling our waters. We know that raising animals to eat requires much more fuel and energy than raising veggies. Recently there's also been uproar about the health dangers lurking in that seemingly innocuous mound of pink, squiggly hamburger meat at the grocery store.

Many people find it easy to go meatless, but what about those of us who care about the planet but can’t shake our deep, abiding love for cheeseburgers and carne asada burritos? Can a house divided against itself stand? Some are saying we can have our steak dinner and eat it too, if we replace conventional beef with local, grass-fed beef.

Green Your Reading Habits: Use the Library

Curling up with a good book sounds like a great alternative to braving the cold, rainy weather this season. Since books and many publications are made of trees, this week's tips are about how to green your reading habits.

Tip #1: Visit Your Local Library

Libraries are great because you can get books without hurting your wallet or creating additional demand for trees. You can also choose from a wide selection of magazines, newspapers, videos, CDs, and audiobooks. To further green your library trip, take public transportation there -- or stay home and download the library’s e-books or audiobooks for free.

Tell us: How do you use the library?

Daily Roundup: November 6, 2009

Fine Dining: Michelle Obama welcomed the cast of Iron Chef the White House garden to film an episode of the cooking show. The episode will premiere on January 3 on the Food Network. Ecorazzi

Poop Portrait: Artist Sam Mahon created a cow-dung sculpture of New Zealand environment minister Nick Smith to protest Smith's stance on dairy farm pollution. The manure bust sold for $2,220. Associated Press

Let's Work Together: President Obama met with 400 tribal leaders to discuss environmental coordination with the tribal nations. ENS

Underwater Matters: Sweden and Finland approved the construction of a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. Environmental groups have expressed concern about the pipeline's impact. Reuters

Less Thirsty: A study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that Americans used less water in 2005 than in 1975. Treehugger

--Della Watson