Five years after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans finds itself at the forefront of affordable green building. In large part thanks to the Make It Right Foundation, co-founded by Brad Pitt, the organization builds safe, sustainable, and affordable homes for working families who were displaced because of the hurricane. The foundation aims to build 150 environmentally friendly homes in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Recently, we saw the Plastiki – a sailboat made out of 12,500 plastic bottles – complete its 15,000 km journey from San Francisco to Sydney. The publicity surrounding this event has been used to highlight the perils facing the oceans and one of them is plastic waste.
Learning how to live an eco lifestyle is an enlightening process that may take months to get the hang of. Learning how to be money-savvy while taking part of green living might take even longer than that. Part of an eco lifestyle is eating healthy, using green transportation when possible, participating in green efforts, and saving energy in any and every way possible.
This is the time of year where universities are bombarded with high school juniors and seniors looking into the universities they want to apply to or have already been accepted to. Parents and students alike come prepared with tons of questions to ask campus representatives. One question that previous representatives haven’t had to prepare was the sustainability question: Is your campus a green campus?
Environmental reforms on climate change have been discussed for decades by the UN, separate countries governments, environmental groups, and individuals. The need for change is evident, but getting a national response, much less an international response, is difficult to see through.
Summer means school and campus life is on break, but that doesn’t mean your eco lifestyle efforts need to go on break as well. Staying active outside and using green living initiatives can help keep your environmental efforts alive and can show friends and family at home your passion for green living.
Traveling by bike is one of the healthiest ways to get around a campus. Many universities that pride themselves on being a green campus promote the use of bikes. Not only do they help decrease emissions of cars or buses, but they help with the personal health of the rider. Nokia has come up with another incentive to bike around campus. While biking, charge your phone!
The Gulf coast oil spill “is an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years,” President Obama grimly reported last night in his first Oval Office speech. After visiting the coast for two days, the president’s speech showed a passionate man out for BP’s blood and aching for progressive environmental reform.
The end of the worst oil spill in American history might be on the horizon with the success of top kill. Top kill was one of the many environmental reform measures brought forth by BP to plug the oil rig leak. Although environmentalism activists are still in shock at the devastating consequences the oil rig has brought on the environment, top kill is the first beacon of hope since the oil rig explosion over a month ago.
Despite Obama’s moratorium on May 14th issuing the immediate halt of drilling new wells and granting of environmental waivers, grants for drilling permits and environmental waivers have continued to be permitted by the federal government, met with skepticism and complaints that the terms of the moratorium are too narrowly defined and have been violated.
More Recent Posts
- BP Oil Leak Halted by Top Kill
- Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Continues
- Oil Spill 2010 Leads to Devastating Environmental Consequences
- A Green Campus Guide from Princeton Review
- 10 Ways to Make Your School a Green Campus
- Green Politics Shines in Obama’s FY ’11 Budget
- Vermont Dairy Farm Converts Manure into Green Electricity
- Food Recycling Law Hits San Francisco
