Susan

Operating on the belief that “children learn best through experience. If their schools are green, children will learn to live that way,” the Center for Environmental Education is an online resource for students and teachers at K-12 schools, bursting with information and how-to’s for greening their environments. Available on its Web site is “Blueprint for a Green School,” which gives suggestions for three levels of action in ten categories: curriculum, energy, environmental health, food, green building, maintenance, procurement, recycling and waste, transportation, and water. Students and teachers can also learn more about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change issues here.

In addition, there’s a searchable collection of reviewed environmental curricula, and a soon-to-come section on demonstration schools, with profiles of schools that are in the process of change.  read more »

In this historic election year, who isn't hypersensitive to what a difference the right candidate can make to any given issue? And when the issue is the environment, the League of Conservation Voters has a tool to make your vote a little more informed.

The organization released last month its 2007 National Environmental Scorecard that rates members of Congress and Congressional committees on their dedication to environmental causes. According to the LCV, due to change in leadership in both the House and the Senate in 2006, last year marked a turning point for the environment, most notably with the passage of the first increase in automobile fuel efficiency standards in a 35 years.

But, as always, there is much more to be done. “This year, LCV urges Congress to pass legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050,” said LCV Legislative Director Tiernan Sittenfeld.  read more »

March 31 – April 1, 2008; University of Utah; Salt Lake City, UT

One of the biggest impediments to achieving sustainability—or any social change—is getting people to behave in a way that will support that change. Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist who has studied how to get communities to change their behavior, called “community-based social marketing,” will be leading a two-day workshop at the University of Utah that will focus on sustainability.  read more »

Although I don’t think the Girl Scouts are going to be selling boxes of CFL lightbulbs instead of cookies any time soon—why change a good and delicious thing?--groups of other stripes are always looking for creative ways to raise money for their organizations. Now your group can choose to sell recycled paper goods, green home cleaners, energy-efficient showerheads, and yes, low-energy lightbulbs through several Web-based green fundraising organizations.  read more »

The Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy is sponsoring a nationwide essay contest for college students between the ages of 18 and 24 asking them to submit a plan on renewable energy, sustainability, and conservation for America. Each of three winners will receive an educational prize of $10,000 to coincide with the celebration of Earth Day in April.

But hurry: the essay is due by February 1, 2008. You can enter online here.  read more »

UPDATE: After we posted this story, we heard from the folks at Divide The Ride, a service that busy parents can use to form carpools for their kids. Parents enter their kids' activity schedule and invite families they know and trust to join the carpool. A carpool calendar is created and families who join the carpool will be emailed a complete schedule and reminders. Divide the Ride claims it's the only service designed exclusively for parents...and what parent couldn't use an extra set of wheels, for free?  read more »

Focus The Nation is an educational initiative on global warming solutions for America occurring at more than 1,000 universities, colleges, high schools, middle schools, places of worship, civic organizations, and businesses, in all 50 states on Jan. 31, 2008.

The teach-in has two goals: to formulate policy solutions that can be implemented immediately; and to explore a new model of collaborative, interdisciplinary education on a national scale, needed to tackle the interconnected social, environmental, and political issues of climate change.  read more »

MonsterTRAK, an online career and recruitment Web site, wants to help you out with that major decision. It has developed GreenCareers, a site for college students and recent graduates listing environmentally responsible jobs and internships. GreenCareers includes entry-level, part-time, volunteer, and internship opportunities at organizations of all sizes that positively impact the environment. These are both "green jobs" and jobs at "green companies." The site also features career advice and articles on living green, green activism, and related news.  read more »

Two members of the New York City Council have introduced a trailblazing bill, Intro. 104, the Electronics Collection, Recycling, and Reuse Act, which, if passed later this year, would be the first mandatory municipal electronics recycling law in the country. It would make manufacturers responsible for collection and disposal of products when no longer usable, instead of leaving this task to consumers, who often simply dump them in the trash.  read more »

Want to find out how much carbon your local power plant—or one in Neyveli, India, or perhaps Duvha, South Africa—is spewing out? Now, you can, using a new interactive map that helps you make informed decisions on which polluters need to reduce emissions.

Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA), a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide, was unveiled last week. It is the first global inventory of a major emissions-producing sector of the economy accounting for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions. Data from CARMA will allow concerned citizens, investors, consumers, and environmentalists to pressure top polluters to clean up their acts, worldwide.

CARMA is produced and financed by the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development, an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Washington, D.C.

To try it out, visit carma.org.