And now, in order to apparently throw away the most positive result of this election, the arrival of Elizabeth May as a national voice, some Green party members are pushing for her to resign.

Resign... I mean, we're all expecting Stephane to resign, (come on Stephan, its been almost 24 hours already!) But May?  She was a very successful leader.  Sure the Green's didn't win any seats but with the support they got for the debate and other issues this election, Canadians will have a simmering outrage at the unfairness of the Green's being shut out once again.  We need that rage, if we are to push for electoral reform.  Casting her aside now, at such a crucial moment is madness.  In 7 months there will be another election, in BC, and on the ballot will be a referendum on introducing a proportional system, STV.  May will be well placed to push for that and that should be the Green's primary reason to be.

But these Greens are upset because May hinted that strategic voting away from her party was justified to stop Stephen Harper from winning.  The fact that this occurred and that the Conservatives won anyways does not change her reasoning or the fact that she was right.  She was right.  And now you want to toss her because you feel your strategic votes were wasted and it would have been better to vote Green if Harper was going to win anyways.  Well, maybe so, but we can't predict the future can we?  And that bitter anger you feel isn't her fault, its the fault of our flawed electoral process. Get angry, and get out there trying to push for electoral reform.

Here are their 'principles' that supposedly lead these people to the conclusion she should resign (followed by my rebuttal)

• Strategic voting has done terrible damage to the Green party of Canada
  • That's why we need a proportional voting system, it damages all parties, the Greens are the only ones willing to admit it and propose bold solutions, you should be proud of that
    
• The leader of the Green party must not advise Canadians to vote for other parties.
  • She never said which party to vote for, she only said, that it is best for Canada if the Conservatives do not win, which is true
• The Green party leader must not endorse another party leader for Prime Minister
  • Why not?  Is it because you believe it is better to have the delusion that your leader can be prime minister, like the NDP.  It was impossible for the Green party leader to become prime minister this election, so why should she not advise who your party would be most willing to work with?
    
• The leader of the Green party should not have divided loyalties
  • Anyone who thinks Elizabeth May has divided loyalties has never watched her speak.  Her loyalty is to the Canadian public, democratic ideals and protection of the environment.  Parties are groups of people with similar ideoligies who want to improve the country, they are not religions.
    
• The leader of the Green party should want Green party MPs in Parliament
  • She does.
    
• Elizabeth May failed to meet her own stated objectives for the 2008 federal election campaign (9% of the national vote and elected MPs)
  • You can't say she didn't try, if you want to pitch out the most fascinating leader this country has seen in a decade on a technicality then you've got problems.
    
• Strategic voting is an affront to democracy
  • I'm always suspicious of people who are too easily 'affronted'.  What is an affront to democracy is that 38% of the vote is enough to rule without having to form any coalition and that you could get 9% of the vote in many provinces and still have no seats.  Strategic voting is a symptom of  a greater problem.
    
• Strategic voting ignorantly asks Canadians to vote for the lesser of two evils
  • Strategic voting is a not a conspiracy or an organization that asks anything, it a symptom of our horrible electoral 'first-past-the-post' system.  The Greens will never form government under that system because too much clout is given to incumbents and regional parties.  And its not ignorant, its a fact that in many ridings this election vote splitting allowed a conservative to win when in hindsight many Green, Liberal or NDP voters would have switched their vote to reduce the Conservative numbers.
    
• Strategic voting hurts the Green party, limiting its ability to elect Green party MPs
  • False.  The Green party is limited by the fact that its support is spread thinly across the country and first-past-past-the-post does not reward that and they are limited by the fact that the media insists on treats them as a bunch of tree-hugging hippies and still express surprise whenever they say something sensible about the economy or other issues.  The Green party needs to do better at convincing people they are mainstream and right of centre on several issues.  But they will never do well in this system as their support is spread wide and thin.
    
• Strategic voting costs the Green party votes and reduces its financial capacity and long-term viability
  • Again false, Strategic voting is a symptom of first-past-the-post. With STV or MMP there would be no stratetic voting and the Greens would get 15-20 seats nationally.
    
• Strategic voting resulted in many Green campaigns getting less than 10% of the vote in their ridings. These campaigns lost their rebate from the federal government which set back plans for the future
  • Doesn't the rebate kick in at 5%.  Well, that is a problem, but again, to blame her is juveneil.  The greens weren't expected to win in very many ridings so you don't know how different it would have been if she'd started every speach like Jack and said she was running for Prime Minister.  You just don't know.
    
• The Green Party of Canada needs new leadership
  • Wrong, you've got the best leader in the country and you don't even know it.  If you cast her aside you lose everything you fought for in this election and many of us who respected you as a party who saw that things need to change.  Maybe you aren't that party.
    

Like every other auto maker worldwide Mopar is facing bad times and sales predictions for the coming year look bleek. Add to that the imminent sale of the company and the picture changes radically.

Chrysler is under pressure to deliver innovative new cars just like every manufacturer, but they have never seemed to have an electric vehicle in the works. This new eco Voyager just might be an answer to their woes.

On Wednesday, Chrysler said its sales in the United States fell by a third in August—nearly twice the industry average. Honda bypassed Chrysler to become the nation’s No. 4 seller of cars. Read more >>

Simply put I'd like to create a small timer, much like a cooking timer, that has both time and gallons of water consumed.  The timer would be secured inside a shower or bathtub with a suction clip and would provide someone with a good estimate of how many gallons of water they use for their 20 minute shower, 30 minute shower and so on.

Obviously the gallons of water would be an estimation but I think it would be somewhat close to the actual consumption.  Additionally we could provide a chart or table that outlined a "water consumption guide".  Something like "20 minute daily shower = 2,500 gallons per month."

What it boils down to is awarness.  If you're not aware of what you consume you will never consciously attempt to reduce it.  The same applies for electricity, food, money etc.  By making people aware of the water they are consuming they may be much more inclined to reduce their usage.

Damien
@DamienH

We are always trying to save money on electricity. No matter what we do, it's not always easy to follow through. We have selected four items that we thing will help you with your eco-friendly project of reducing your carbon footprint. Most of these devices are easy to use and will reduce your bills. Read on to find out more.

My latest from Unplggd...

With WiFi technology you can now control your thermostat from the coffee shop or office. This could come in handy. See the link there may be use for this product the future may be greener after all...

Source... Rob 

I met Matt Risinger today.  Matt is a 5-star green builder in Austin – Risinger Homes.  Matt’s new build on Matthews in Tarrytown was on the AIA tour earlier this month.  Pretty darn fabulous.  Of the 9 homes we toured (we missed 2), it was one of our favorites as far as layout, material choice, and street appeal.  And it had the best wine cellar on the tour.

Matt was a builder in DC and Portland before landing in Austin in 2005.  Risinger Homes focus is green, luxury and central Austin so if that is your profile, put Matt on your list. 

Matt says green is about “high performance” and stewardship of our resources and planet … all, in my opinion, without skimping on design.

www.risingerhomes.com

From Canada Free Press, October 15, 2008

Another Dissenter: Finnish Scientist who was former Greenpeace member says ‘no proof’ CO2 is driving global temps!

Dr. Jarl R. Ahlbeck is lecturer of environmental technology and a chemical engineer at Abo Akademi University in Finland who has authored 200 scientific publications and hold four patents. Ahlbeck is a former member of Greenpeace and the Finnish socialist party DFFF. Bio here

No significant global warming since 1995

by Jarl R. Ahlbeck The writer is D.Sc. and lecturer at Abo Akademi University, Finland

The recovery of the earth’s climate from the little ice age started about 200 years ago, but the concentration of the atmospheric carbon dioxide started to increase significantly as late as in the 1950s, probably due to rapidly increased burning of fossil fuels.

The climate recovery is still an ongoing process today. A natural warming rate of roughly 0.5 deg C /100 years has been the baseline for more than 100 years, but both short (a few years) and long (20 years) fluctuations around the baseline have occurred for natural but highly speculative reasons, for example a rapid warming in the 1930s followed by a cooling period, and recently again warming until about 1998.

According to the UK climate panel IPCC, this last warming period has been forced by increased carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. There is however no proof of that and the theory of how carbon dioxide influences the global mean temperature is complicated and unreliable. And if the global temperature again starts to increase slower than the natural long-term trend of 0.5 deg C/100 years, or even starts to cool, we can be quite certain that the recent faster warming trends have been natural too.

Read the rest, click below link
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5582

Edible Schoolyard New Orleans

A Foodways Curriculum for Kids at Samuel. J. Green Charter School & New Orleans Charter Middle School

The mission of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans (ESY NOLA) is to create and sustain an expansive organic garden on the public school campus of Samuel J. Green Charter School in New Orleans. The Edible Schoolyard is integrating organic gardening and fresh seasonal cooking into the school’s curriculum, culture and food programs. It involves students in all aspects of farming the garden—along with preparing, serving and eating the food—as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.

Description: Started in the Fall of 2006, ESY NOLA is working to revive and promote the rich gardening and culinary heritages of New Orleans while providing hands-on growing and cooking experiences for public school students at Green Charter and Arthur Ashe Charter Schools. Students in grades K-8 participate in gardening and cooking lessons that reinforce classroom coursework in core subjects (science, social studies, language and math). Through the Edible Schoolyard experience, students learn responsibility and respect for the natural world, and that hard work and collective efforts through teamwork yield real benefits in the garden, kitchen, school and in life.

Background: ESY NOLA is based on the original Edible Schoolyard located in Berkeley, CA and is the first sanctioned replication of the successful program founded by Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Foundation. Founded 11 years ago, the Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, CA has been cited as a national model for educators and hosts thousands of visitors each year. According to a study by Harvard Medical School cited in The New York Times Magazine “After one year, students at King, compared with a control group at a similar middle school, showed improvement in behavior and had fewer emotional problems. They were savvier about ecology, and their overall grade point averages improved.”

VISIT THE EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD WEBSITE

From Treehugger:

A company called Marine Current Turbines will be installing a 1.2 megawatt tidal turbine in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough in August. The SeaGen turbine will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin. It will generate clean electricity for approximately 1000 homes. The turbine is a prototype to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship's propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.

Future turbines will generally be rated at from 750 to 1500 kilowatts (kW), and will be grouped under the sea, at places with high currents, in much the same way that wind turbines in a wind farm are set out in rows to catch the wind.

Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen technology.”

I met Martin Vosseler in New York after he walked from Los Angeles to Boston in 7 1/2 months to mobilize the people about solar energy. A former doctor in Switzerland he felt the duty to inspire others and stopped his academic career. A year ago he crossed the Atlantic with a solar boat together with 4 other active scientists and adventurers. He proved that with the energy a hairdryer or a iron needs, you can run a whole boat with two electric motors, the whole technical and kitchen equipment - only with the energy of the available sun-light. After our interview he went back to Europe, but not by plane but on board of a freightliner from Miami to Italy. He said, he prefers not to use the airplane, if not absolutely necessary. In his interview he reveals all about his economical and spiritual approach to live. Watch this inspiring 18th episode of LIFE Voices!

At the Green Charter School's Edible Schoolyard open house Tuesday, Alice Waters' vision became reality: Students proudly serving silver trays of food they had grown on school grounds.

Green's is the first project modeled on the garden Waters established at a middle school near Chez Panisse, her ground-breaking restaurant near San Francisco.

"Edible Schoolyard NOLA," as it is called, "really validates the idea" of such gardens, Waters said. "Berkeley can be easily dismissed as, 'You can only do it in Berkeley.' But to come here and see this school and how it's taken root in this culture, and the set of values, this can be used to transform any school in America.

"I'm proud and I'm touched. And I love that in a way, it's not just a garden in a school, it's a school in a garden. It's helped transform how the thinking in the school has evolved over the past year."

Ronika Harrison, who teaches language arts to fifth and sixth graders, said the garden allows her to "come up with amazing lessons. We did poetry in the garden, using it as inspiration. And this is the area where we come out and do our reading groups. It so encourages teamwork. And patience. It's not like microwave-world."

School founder Tony Recasner radiated joy. Student attitudes about the school and community are much more positive because of the garden, he said, because the environment fosters higher-quality, multidimensional teamwork. Typical playground aggression is lessened because the students know each other as team members, gardeners, cooks, students and friends, as well as athletes.

"Some might say this is a distraction from math and science, but I would say the opposite, that it's a practical way to apply math and science," Recasner said. "And it's so rare in an inner-city school that kids can be out of doors in a positive environment."

The next phase of the Edible Schoolyard is a full kitchen, where children will cook the food they've grown. In the meantime, a donated Viking grill gets lots of use. Grilled vegetables on rosemary skewers scented the air at the event.

"I'm just speechless, filled to overflowing," Waters said. "There are a lot of good ideas out in the world, but unless you have people who can breathe life into them, they're just ideas."

READ FULL STORY

For children raised in inner city New Orleans, access to healthy produce is hard to come by, and growing food to eat is an abstract concept at best. But the students at Samuel J. Green Charter School are getting a hands-on lesson in organic gardening through the school’s Edible Schoolyard program.

Those lessons are leading to what program director Donna Cavato sees as a minor miracle — kindergarteners asking for radishes instead of potato chips at snack time.

“Green was just another failed New Orleans public school before the storm,” Cavato said. “It had a 20-year history of low performance. The school was surrounded by barbed wire fences, there was concrete everywhere and there were boarded up buildings where the playground should be.”

Cavato said what little soil existed on the school’s campus had a level of lead contamination “on par with what you would find in the rest of the city,” but a complete excavation of the school grounds removed contaminants.

“We tore up all the concrete and pulled out all the soil that was there,” she said. “We replaced it all with river sand and topsoil and we built our garden on top of that. We were basically able to dig everything up and start over.”

Taking up nearly every square inch of available soil on the school’s Uptown campus, the school’s sprawling organic garden now boasts rows of plump tomatoes, several varieties of lettuce, radishes, grapes, okra, zucchini, dozens of herbs and an assortment of fruits and vegetables.

The students aren’t just growing the healthy food; they are eating it, and the lessons they are learning in the garden are designed to permanently change the way they look at food.

“What we are trying to do is build a context for the creation of healthy eating habits,” Cavato said. “If the kids have a hand in growing the food, they want to eat it. We are giving them not only exposure to healthy food but the actual food to eat.”

READ FULL STORY

I had wanted to use sustainable concrete forms but sourcing those in Rhode Island was extremely difficult and cost prohibitive. I feel good though knowing that, literally, the foundation of our home is green.

I of course forgot the camera when I went to watch the footings being poured so pics will follow tomorrow.

Can't wait until the flat work is poured so the whole family can put their handprints in the floor of the garage.

Posted by: JMH

In one Tohono O'odham story, there was a boy whose mother loved to play tóka, an Indian game akin to field hockey.

The boy followed his mother to faraway matches, only to be ignored.

Forgotten and lonely, the boy wandered into the desert, crying, and turned into a saguaro that grew strong and stately.

That story is why the saguaro is symbolic of the Ha:sañ Preparatory & Leadership School, a charter school with about 150 students — 99 percent of them American Indian and most of them members of the Tohono O'odham Nation.

For school administrators, the mainstream educational system stands in for the neglectful mother who hasn't nurtured those seeds of knowledge in eager children.

It doesn't take a policy wonk to see that something isn't quite working.

About 13 percent of American Indians have bachelor's degrees, less than half the national average. Indian students also have lower retention rates after one year of college than any other ethnic group.

Younger students also fare poorly — for example, 82 percent of Arizona's Anglo fifth-graders passed their reading exams last year, compared with 47 percent of Indian fifth-graders.

Although academic results so far have been mixed, educators at Ha:sañ (pronounced HAHshun) say their innovative approach shows great promise.

At the foreign-language requirements are met with two years of Tohono O'odham language training, though Spanish is offered as well.

The students learn traditional native art and traditional tribal songs and grow traditional crops, such as squash and beans, in a school garden.

The students still learn American history — it's a standard required by the state — but teachers understand there's going to be some resistance to hearing about what happened on the colonial frontier. In learning the material, students are asked to consider history from the native perspective, since those voices aren't always heard in textbooks.

Half of the teachers are American Indian, and all of the teachers spend one hour of professional development a week integrating language and culture.

READ FULL STORY

A new education option could be available to Fairbanks students as soon as fall 2009.

A plan for The Watershed School, a proposed charter school, will be voted upon at the Oct. 7 Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board meeting.

John Carlson, chairman of the Watershed School Academic Policy Committee, said the K-8 school’s concept is place-based. Students will use Fairbanks and the Interior in their education. For example, students could learn about the water cycle by studying the water cycle of the Tanana Valley.

“They will be learning by finding high-interest things around here,” he said.

Carlson also said place-based education uses the community as an educational stepping stone for students. After they understand how their community works, they can apply that knowledge to learn about the United States and the world.

The school will be an open-enrollment charter school with a student population of 150 to 190 and no tuition charge.

The Watershed School’s curriculum will focus on cultural studies, natural sciences, the public process and the local economy. Fifty to 70 percent of the curriculum will involve life skills or the outdoors. Carlson said the school will actively promote outdoor activities and will have the children explore and participate in outdoor activities as much as possible....

READ FULL STORY

This morning I made 2 great bags to carry your groceries home. They are so much cuter than the ones you can buy at the store. One is Blueberry fabric and the other is Tomatoes. You can get the pattern at Stitches n Stuffing in Naperville, Il They sell it for only a dollar! This Christmas you can make them for everyone and help Green our Country up just a bit more! You can reach Stitches at 630.420.7050 or their web is www.stitchesnstuffing.com I will post pictures later on to show you the bags---you will love them! The pattern for the bag is called The Mighty Bag.

These adorable jelly fish are from Jiji Punch. Her sister's page can be found here.

What about a Harvest Fair?

We'll be there at the Harvest Fair in Newton Centre.

Please come meet Barry, Ken and some of our best people at the Think Preservation table, right around the corner on Union Street.

We'll be giving away little spruce trees to show our appreciation to you, and our commitment to helping green our community.

Fair Information

Newton Centre Green - at Langley and Centre Streets. Our table is on Union Street. Dates are Saturday, October 18, 2008 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday, October 19, 2008 11 AM to 5 PM

There will be lots of great things to see and do at the fair. Here's the web site www.newtonpride.org/harvestFair.html

WE'RE HELPING OUR COMMUNITY GROW GREENER!

So when I heard a Louisville MOMs Group is having a Recycle, Repurpose, and Reuse theme at their next meeting, I knew my shop would fit the bill.   The Louisville Brightside organizer coming to speak on things to help in Louisville and they always prepare a packet to give to each mom. Since they might be interested in my products with Christmas coming up, and going green being such a hot topic, I am sending them my cards with vintage ribbon attached.  I have also donated these folk art postcard and magnets for a door prize.

Hope they have a great meeting and I certainly look forward to hearing from them.

Labyrint [ole kristensen via Computerlove]

Holy Green Tower Batman! [TR Hamzah & Yeang Sdn. Bhd. via Inhabitat]

A little piece of India from Russia [86era via i love typography]

That's one way to deal with the financial crisis [Eyebeam reBlog]

Upgrade [Tomas Kral via Dezeen]

1.2 MegaWatts: World's Largest Tidal Turbine To Be Installed : TreeHugger