RIP "Green" - Lake Superior State University Reports It Should Be Banned In 2009
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 1.09
Image credit:National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, "Concrete Is Green"
'Green' as a term of popular culture is on life support and barely hanging on: not just because some academic said so, and not because few "green" magazines of 2008 stayed around, and not only because of advert abuses (as pictured above), but because people are screaming to have Green taken off life support. Lake Superior State University, which, since 1971, has published an annual list of words or terms that need to be "banned" from the English language, reports that "green" was the number one balloted word to be rid of in 2009.
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With approximately 3.9 million infants dying within a month of birth each year throughout the developing world, and 25 percent of those deaths due to complications of being born prematurely like heat and water loss, a group of innovative engineers at Design that Matters are finding a way to recycle cars into infant incubators and hoping to ensure that millions of kids live to see their first birthday as a result of their efforts.
The big day is over and you've got a pile of wonderful and 
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As part of an outreach program to help parents better understand the effects of lead on their children, there’s a great group of folks that deserve a bit of recognition this holiday season for their efforts to educate and protect kids in California from lead poisoning.
It turns out they’re working off part of a $1.5 million settlement between major toymakers and the state of California after the public outcry over lead in toys that turned into a nightmare for parents, legislators and toymakers not so very long ago.
And in particular, this group of educators from the Center for Environmental Health is focused on those who need the most help understanding what all the fuss is about when it comes to lead in toys by working to educate parents who often don’t speak English by taking their lead testing equipment to the streets in locations they often frequent.
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It has been said that the pictures taken on Christmas Eve forty years ago created the environmental movement, that for the first time people really could see that we really were all together on one little boat floating in space. This was the first, the black and white shot. Historian Christopher Riley 
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When you think of success in any endeavor the simple truth is that a grade of “C” is rarely considered top-notch. Mediocre is perhaps more like it, but that’s just what Coca-Cola, called the top U.S. beverage maker, received when As You Sow, a corporate watchdog group, released their findings recently as the result of an investigation into the recycling practices of the top 23 U.S. beverage companies. Unfortunately, many more failed, with 16 of the 23 surveyed receiving an "F." Did your favorite beverage maker top of the “somewhat nice” list? Find out below the fold.
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If you’re looking for a more eco-friendly way to create a festival of holiday lights in the future, consider what Pennsylvania homeowner Jim Berroth has taken on as a more environmentally friendly approach to dealing with holiday decorations that’s stopping traffic in his neck of the woods. It’s a unique twist on your tired old Christmas tree, and his six grandkids, already schooled in the necessity to recycle what once filled landfills, call the creative display "Pap's pop can trees."
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I remain a fan and subscriber of Dwell Magazine. It was the biggest promoter of my previous gig, prefab housing; it almost invented modern prefab with its 2001 issue covering the subject. For full disclosure I will note that I have been quoted in it a couple of times and was a speaker at two 
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This poem is offered to encourage joining the "good fight" for sustainable development (SD). Done in good spirits, with credit to 
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Photo Credit of Henry Paulson: Goodman/VanRiper Photography
The economy is crashing all around us, but the green movement is offering a bright ideas to rebuild the United States. But should we trust the call for a green economy? The last ten years saw a rebirth of excitement for the environment as huge amounts of debt mounted. Maybe the two are connected - and the brave new green world is a promise we can't cash. ...
Dayak woman dancing the hornbill dance in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Hornbills are one of the bird species that appear to be impacted by rising average temperatures in Southeast Asian rainforests. Image credit: Jeanine Pfeiffer.
In Tibet, sacred glaciers are melting and alpine medicinal plant populations are disappearing. In the Borneo rainforest, Dayak tribes report unusual alterations in wildlife seasonal patterns: native birds aren't showing up in their usual places, or at the usual times. In Central Africa, changing rainfall patterns have altered stream flows, making it harder for the Mbaka (pygmy) women to catch fish.
In Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia, milder winters are decreasing lichen populations, a key food source for both wild and semi-domesticated reindeer. For the first time in history, Sámi peoples have to search for fodder to feed their reindeer herds. ...
When a children’s author can sell 13,000 copies in just a month without the support of mass-market booksellers there’s reason to believe this one just may be a hit with your kids. And with Christmas just around the corner and a price tag of $15.95 there’s no doubt the price is right as an eco-themed stocking stuffer to round out your list.
But what’s this suddenly hot selling children’s book about?
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While the city of Louisville has been known for many things over the years, citizens of an area consisting of various chemical plants and commonly referred to as Rubbertown have put up with strange odors, burning eyes and fears that their every breath might contribute to asthma, cancer or other illnesses.
But that began to change about a decade ago, after a minister from the predominantly African-American neighborhoods around Rubbertown organized protests, demanding aggressive government action to clean up the toxic air and reduce the chemical emissions from factories.
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If you’re somehow attached to or involved with the green building movement it’s certainly worthwhile to note that the EPA is urging professional and student architects, builders and product developers to submit designs for green buildings and building materials for its third annual Lifecycle Building Challenge competition.
Essentially, they’re seeking design entries for buildings that minimize waste, reuse materials, cut greenhouse gas emissions and support cost-effective disassembly by anticipating the future reuse of building materials, and they’ll also accept designs for innovative green building materials that cut down on waste that goes to landfills.
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Faced with the stark truth that the numbers of U.S. students pursuing careers in science are dwindling rapidly, the EPA and the City College of New York have announced a joint effort to encourage and produce environmental scientists of diverse backgrounds to pursue their dreams in the field of environmental science and potentially wind up working for the EPA.
Of course, there’s always the reality that a career at the EPA may not fit the economic aspirations of such driven individuals, but there’s certainly cause for hope that the program through CCNY just may help fill the void at the EPA.
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