In an effort to boost educational opportunities and student achievement, as well as to combat the fight against global warming, last Thursday the House passed a $6.4 billion school modernization bill that would build more green energy efficient schools.

This bill would also provide funds for school districts along the Gulf Coast that were damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The ultimate goal of the bill is to have 100% of the funds go towards green projects by 2015.

Living an eco lifestyle includes going green in every aspect of your life, from using natural cleaning products that work to wearing organic clothing.

But did you ever think that a vending machine, which operates 24 hours a day and consumes thousands of kilowatt-hours of energy each year, would also be able to become a green energy efficient vending machine?

Do you try to practice living an eco lifestyle even though you may live in a bustling city? It’s great if you do, but if you’re like downtown Baltimore dwellers John Cefalone, Tom DeBacco, and Chris Rivera, you may realize that your city is lacking in convenient, eco friendly facilities.

So how did they solve this problem?

Forum for the Future, a charity committed to sustainable development, recently awarded a $75,000 first place prize in its global climate change competition. And the first place winner is…the Kyoto Box, a solar powered cooker that’s helping people in developing countries cook their food and practice living an eco lifestyle.

We recently wrote a blog post on the dozens of U.S. Colleges That are Signing up to Support Earth Hour 2009, but did you also know about the UN participants?

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently announced that the United Nations headquarters in New York will be participating in Earth Hour on March 28, 2009 by turning off all of its lights.

Are you a college student participating in Earth Hour 2009? Do you want to get your entire campus involved in the World Wildlife Fund sponsored event that saves energy?

If you support WWF Earth Hour, which will take place this year on March 28, then you can join more than a dozen colleges who have pledged to participate in the event.

Yesterday President Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus plan that would help get the U.S. economy back on its feet again. One of the best parts of the plan was the $78.6 billion that Obama promised to spend towards clean renewable energy and green vehicles.

Our friend Susan Torres from Environment Massachusetts, a citizen-based environmental advocacy organization in Massachusetts working for clean air, clean water, and open space, sent us this great information…

Wouldn’t it be great if all outdoor parking lots had a nice canopy that could shade your car from the sun’s rays and other harsh outdoor elements, as well as generate electricity for surrounding facilities?

Well, that’s exactly what the employees have at the Agilent Technologies campus in Santa Rosa, California…

Tomorrow is the BIG day: Barack Obama will be officially sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States! This inauguration will be historical for two very big reasons:

• Obama will be the first African American President in U.S. history
• The ‘New Energy for America Plan’ will soon go into effect

If you don’t know what the ‘New Energy for American Plan’ is then you can check out our Green Politics blog post…

Since she was four years old Emily Cummins has been creating very useful and eco friendly products inside her grandfather’s potting shed.

Her interest in helping Third World Countries led her to create a portable solar fridge that can keep perishables cool for days at a temperature of 6c…