At first, I just wanted to write about the present-free (or present-minimal) Christmas. It’s something we’ve done in my immediate family, without any formal agreement, for several years now. And let me be the first to say that it’s great. Better than great: It’s amazing — really — everything Christmas or holidays in general should be, in my humble opinion. Because without presents, the focus has to go somewhere else, and the next obvious options — food, family — are what it’s all about. And boy is it fun.

But then I got to thinking about what a present-free holiday means outside of our homes, say, in the world of business and people earning a living from that business (which is pretty much all of us). And I was realizing that Christmas this year (or any other pending holiday that can involve gift giving) just got simpler and more complicated, all at once.

First, the complicated part:

My entire life my dad has owned his own businesses making handcrafted percussion instruments — objects that visually are beautiful and musically are something even more. Not being a percussionist, I’m not the ideal judge, and am obviously biased; but I know from those who do understand — his friends, customers and competitors — that they’re highly unusual in their quality and sound. This makes them almost invaluable to those who use them, yet they’re still far from the staples that people buy regardless of the economy, such as food and warm socks. (Unless, of course, you’re one of those goofy drummer types.)

Being the daughter of a businessman, I get that if people don’t go shopping, business doesn’t happen. And it’s a thorough cycle: When the economy tumbles, people shop less, and the less they shop, the farther the economy tumbles. That's one devil of a problem we’ve got to figure out if we’re going to live sustainably as a species, but that’s a bigger conversation than this post, and frankly, one I’m not yet knowledgeable enough to tackle without making a fool of myself. (You can look for informed coverage of this topic at Rancho Cappuccino.)

So, while I want to tell you about the brilliance of a present-minimal holiday, I also get that if we all stop shopping, right now of all times, that, baby, things aren’t going to get any better. And after a few years of hearing “go shopping!” as the directive following any bad news, the last thing I feel like doing is telling anybody to go shopping. Not to mention that I imagine no number of stocking stuffer purchases is going to be enough to turn around the economy right now. I suppose maybe the point of all of this is just that I feel a little guilty about suggesting that everyone minimize their shopping, and realize that some of these simple decisions can have some rather complicated consequences.

 But, now that the musing and guilt is out of the way, on to the simple parts:

1. People are rightly worried about their jobs and money, so saving money makes good sense (ooh, and I love good old simple common sense!).
2. Present-free and present-minimal celebrations are, trust me on this, really where it’s at. Be there, or be square.

Yes, this list of simple stuff is a lot shorter than the musings on the more complicated aspects — as is appropriate. But those simple bits are really big, and as long as you have food on your table and a roof over your head, the elements that are wrapped up in those two little points are everything. Think friends, family, food, peace of mind, games, laughing, bear hugs* — and don’t forget financial solvency!

Not only do you get more time and energy to focus on what really matters, but research shows that people who give and receive fewer gifts are happier than their more gift-ed counterparts. Just think, you could spend your evenings in front of the fire, rather than in line at the mall. Maybe you would have room in the budget for a great cheese that everyone can enjoy, if you’re not spending hundreds on presents. And when the holidays are gone and the decorations are back in the box, you won’t be facing crazy bills or credit card statements, or the stress that goes with them. You won’t be finding room for items you didn’t really need or want. And this list doesn’t even cover all of the environmental benefits of a less material holiday: less shipping, producing, packaging and disposing.

This isn’t an argument for no presents, though if that works for your family – go for it! I still participate in the gift exchange at my grandmother’s, where we all draw names and purchase one gift. Last year, I saw a stunning ornament that I knew my mom would love, so I gave it to her. But only because I knew she would love it, because I knew she would have room for it and enjoy it, and because it wasn’t going to just add to a pile of stuff or make my bank account suffer. It was exactly as it should be, again, in my opinion.

For more on the benefits of a present-free or present-minimal holiday, check out the Christmas with No Presents blog post from No Impact Man (Colin Beavan), plus read Beavan’s full article on the subject from Yes! magazine.

 *If “bear hug” doesn’t mean anything to you, consider this Christmas the perfect time to check it out. Find the best hugger in your group, give ‘em a two-armed, full-on, full-strength (unless this person is a lot smaller than you, of course) squeeze – and really squeeze! My dad and I have spent years perfecting the bear hug, and while I may be nearly 27 years old, I still get lifted off the ground with a good bear hug. Trust me on this one, too, the holidays are perfect bear-hug season.

Friday is the last day to participate in Repower America’s campaign to encourage the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide pollution, a major contributor to global warming. Repower America advocates 100 percent clean energy use in 10 years.

Cathy Zoi, Repower America CEO, sent an action alert e-mail urging supporters to post comments, which will appear on the EPA Web site.

The EPA will rule on whether it considers carbon dioxide and other pollutants a danger to public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide if it harms public health and welfare in April 2007.

The court ruled five to four that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act by not regulating new-vehicle emissions standards to control pollutants contributing to global warming.

"EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

Repower America has been critical of the Bush administration for taking the side of oil and coal lobbyists on the issue of global climate change, but thinks the new Obama administration will be more receptive to the public comments.

If you have an opinion on the EPA’s decision, comment by Friday, Nov. 28.

Just because the weather's getting chilly and some species are headed south for the winter doesn't mean your bird watching has to go on ice. Actually, you may be in for your easiest, coziest bird watching yet. The American Bird Conservancy has launched an online channel of bird videos called the Bird News Network (BNN). You can find regular BNN reports, as well as footage of rare and endangered species such as the Cerulean Warbler and the Royal Cinclodes. Their latest video includes interviews with conservationists working to save the Thick-billed Parrot, whose dwindling population of fewer than 2,000 individuals is found only in Mexico.

I shared this find with a good friend who also happens to be an ornithologist, and she offered a terrific recommendation of her own. While anyone with an Internet connection and a passion for birds can find footage of a blue jay or a hummingbird, only the healthily obsessed know where you can find a moonwalking manakin. This little guy moves so fast that researcher Kim Bostwick had to use a special video camera that captures up to 1,000 frames per second just to see his dance. You can read all about it in Jungle Dancers: Kim Bostwick and Manakin Birds.

P.S. Many of you are probably aware that winter can actually be a great time for real-world bird watching. Check out these tips for winter bird watching, plus find out where you can sign up for this year's Christmas Bird Count (begins Dec. 14).

• Winter Bird Watching 
• Join the Winter Bird Watchers 
• Sign up for Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count 

Did you know that myrrh can be used as an astringent or for high cholesterol? In all honesty, I've rarely encountered the herb outside of Nativity stories or holiday candle catalogs, but I love reading about its practical applications — aside from air fresheners — for modern life. While there's no doubt that modern medicine has offered invaluable discoveries and treatments, there's also a real value to natural solutions that have been tested for generations. Our sister publication The Herb Companion has recently published an interesting article about modern uses for herbs that have been valued for centuries as a part of beauty regimens, rituals and ceremonies, and for their hygienic and medicinal properties. Written by James A. Duke, Ph.D., the article discusses both the history of, and modern applications for, aloe, flax, frankincense, garlic, myrrh, milk thistle and turmeric.

For some fascinating, useful reading, check out the complete article, Ancient Herbs, Modern Uses.

In the near future, humanity will be challenged by the converging trends of energy depletion and climate change. It will be necessary for us to transition into a culture that consumes drastically less, and to shift away from the paradigm of perpetual material growth.  As part of this transition, the means for securing food, water, energy and waste management must be re-localized into people’s home communities. As currently more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, it will be critical to make our cities more sustainable.

The book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-It-Ourselves Guide, written by Stacy Pettigrew and myself (South End Press, 2008), is a collection of skills, tools and technologies usable by urban residents wanting to have more local access and control over life's essential resources. Through practical descriptions and wonderfully vibrant illustrations, the book describes how to build sustainable infrastructure using affordable, simple designs that utilize salvaged and recycled materials. In addition, the book promotes radical sustainability, a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnection between ecological and social justice struggles.

Useful ideas for aspiring sustainable city dwellers include:

Make a duckweed pond: Raise duckweed, a tiny, floating protein rich water plant in a kiddy pool. Using only sunlight and nutrients, duckweed can double its mass every other day. The duckweed can then be harvested and used as a food for humans, chickens and fish, or be used as a “green manure” for building soil fertility. 

Raise edible and medical mushrooms on logs: Many urban spaces don't receive adequate sunlight for gardens. Mushrooms only require indirect light and moisture, making them suitable for marginally sunny spaces such as alleys and shady backyards.

Build a floating trash island: Inspired by a natural phenomena, floating trash islands create habitat for plants and microorganisms to assist in purifying contaminated storm water runoff — a major urban problem. They are made buoyant by floating debris, such as bottles and polystyrene, stuffed into a giant life-ring. Water plants are zip-tied onto the island’s surface, and develop an extensive submerged root network that hosts water cleansing critters.

Cook with an old satellite dish: When the parabolic curve of a satellite dish is lined with a mosaic of mirror shards and aimed at the sun, it can focus the sun’s rays onto a pot of water and bring it to a boil in minutes!

Construct a small scale biogas digester: Using a five gallon bucket, organic matter such as plants, chicken manure and dead leaves can be turned into methane gas. The gas then can then be stored and used for cooking and heating. Why pay money for natural gas when you can make it in your back yard?

Clean up contaminated soil with compost tea: Made with worm castings from a vermicompost box, compost tea can be used to help clean up toxic soils. The multitude of hungry microorganisms in the tea can help speed up the degradation of certain pollutants in city soils.
 
All these systems, plus many others, are described in much further detail in Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. (You can find the book at www.radicalsustainability.org.) 

About the authors:  Stacy and I are co-founders of Austin, Texas’ Rhizome Collective, a non-profit urban sustainability project. Toolbox is a culmination of eight years of research and experimentation at Rhizome. In addition, they are the organizers and teachers of R.U.S.T., The Radical Urban Sustainability Training.

Welcome to a new chapter in climate change! On Tuesday, Nov. 18, more than 600 climate change leaders from around the world gathered at the Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles to discuss climate issues and prepare for next month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

While President-elect Barack Obama did not attend — “the United States has only one president at a time” — he addressed those in attendance through a short video, still promising to establish a federal cap-and-trade system, reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and invest $15 billion a year for clean energy.

Of course it won’t be easy, but finally there’s going to be someone in office that refuses to ignore climate change: “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.” And that’s reassuring enough — for now at least.

Read Obama’s Changing Climate Change for more information. Or watch Obama’s video below.

On Feb. 10, toy manufacturers and retailers are required to stop selling any products that don't meet the new lead standards established by Congress in August 2008 — and many businesses, particularly small- to medium-sized companies, are expressing concern that meeting the Feb. deadline might be then end of their business. (Large companies such as Target and Wal-Mart turn over inventory fast enough that they were able to begin implementing the new standards earlier this year.)

In the face of the deadline, smaller companies can either hope to sell through their current inventories before Feb. 10, or pay to have current inventories tested, at potentially detrimental financial cost. Penalties for violating the new regulations can be up to $100,000 per infraction.

No one seems to be arguing the validity of the standard itself, but rather requesting that the new lead standard not be applied to products made before the standard was set. Some companies would like to be able to sell inventory produced prior to the deadline until it's gone, then replenish stocks with approved products.

While I'm sympathetic to the potential trouble that the deadline might cause for these companies, particularly when paired with sales that are already down because of the current economic situation, it's difficult after last year's scares to be anything but excited — and adament — about the tighter regulation. Plus, the February deadline will allow the vendors to sell their current inventories through the holiday and post-holiday shopping seasons, presumably the biggest sales period for a toy company, relative to the rest of the year.

What do you think? Should toy manufacturers and retailers be allowed to sell through untested inventory purchased prior to Feb. 10? Is the risk too great? Will the date of the deadline, falling after holiday shopping and gift exchanges, effect which products you buy this year?

Read the full Wall Street Journal article, Vendors Urge Relaxed Lead-Safety Rules.

After a long, heated battle with environmentalists, the Navy came out victorious in a Supreme Court ruling last week. The ruling lifted restrictions approved by federal courts in California that limit the Navy’s use of sonar for training purposes.

Environmentalists have long attributed beached whales and internal bleeding in aquatic mammals to the use of sonar radar. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has fought against the use of sonar for years in the lower courts, only to be overturned in appeal. (Watch the NRDC's Lethal Sounds video here.) 

Writing for the majority decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that overall public safety relies more upon the Navy’s ability to conduct sonar training than on aquatic life.

It’s an interesting response, given that the loss of biodiversity is considered by most scientists and environmentalists as one of the top risks to human health, right up there with climate change and ozone depletion.

Over-fishing, by-catch, habitat destruction and climate change — not to mention additional threats such as the effects of sonar on whales — have greatly contributed to the number of threatened or endangered marine life species, which the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List now cites as about 3,000 species.

But who will the Navy have to protect when there isn't enough species diversity to sustain thriving ecosystems — ecosystems on which every living being, including us, relies?

On Saturday, President Bush holds a summit of G-20 leaders where trade and agriculture policy, such as farm subsidies, are sure to come up. The global economic crisis will be a major topic, and a likely proposed solution will be for the countries to come to reach a conclusion on the Doha trade negotiations, which could affect American farmers. The current Doha Development Round is part of a World Trade Organization trade agreement.

A Reuters article by Doug Palmer quoted Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John Veroneau as saying, “I expect there will be some expression of support for the global trading system and the value and benefits of concluding the Doha negotiations as soon as possible.”

The last attempt failed in July, partially because of the Farm Bill that had just passed. The president vetoed the bill, in part to facilitate negotiations, but the U.S. Congress overrode the president’s veto. The bill provided the largest subsidies ever to U.S. farmers — a topic of contention with other countries, who feel this put them at a disadvantage in the global market. Their complaint is that subsidies allow U.S. farmers to sell goods at lower prices than farmers from countries without subsidies.

A main objective of Doha is to reduce global trade barriers, such as tariffs. But developing countries, such as India and China, see large farm subsidies as a barrier as well, because of the unfair advantage they create in the global market.

G-20 countries account for 70 percent of the world’s farmers and 26 percent of the world’s agricultural exports.

The conclusion of Doha would likely benefit American farmers because it would expand and increase their trade options, but because they benefited from the Farm Bill subsidies, negotiations could stall once again.

The recent global economic crisis might make the world leaders put their differences aside and develop a conclusion for the Doha agreement. Such a move could boost global economic confidence and take one issue off the plate of President-elect Barack Obama.

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Heading to the doctor or hospital can be a daunting experience,  from choosing a physician and wading through dense paperwork to scrutinizing long lists of treatment side effects. To help you wade through the process, Time magazine posted a slideshow of 10 Medical Missteps. It offers some pretty eye-opening suggestions and warnings about common medicines, being informed, navigating the system and things you shouldn’t ignore when it comes to everyday health.

Pollution kills more people in Southern California’s San Joaquin Valley and South Coast Air Basin then motor vehicles according to a recent article in Time magazine. In 2006, the California Highway Patrol recorded 2,521 deaths related to motor vehicles in the two areas, while there were 3,812 respiratory-related deaths linked to pollution.

Researchers at California State University-Fullerton released a study showing that if the state met federal ozone standards, Californians in these two areas could save $28 billion annually in health care costs, missed work and lost income potential from unexpected deaths. That’s $1,600 per person in San Joaquin Valley and $1,250 in the South Coast Air Basin each year. And if the regulations were adopted within the month, the savings in health care costs could be $68 billion by 2020.

The study was released just in time too as the California Air Resources Board considers reducing the amount of diesel truck emissions. The problem is a regulation like this could cost 170,000 business owners $5.5 billion. Last time I checked, though, businesses need living employees and customers to run smoothly. They will have to start cutting back on emissions eventually — so why not do it now while those whose lives are at stake are still around to participate?

We filled out this worksheet in my environmental studies class today, and I thought I’d share with everyone. It’s a way to roughly calculate your carbon footprint and think about things you can do to reduce your personal emissions.

If nothing else, I think it’s great that schools are encouraging students to at least think about areas in our lives that contribute to carbon emissions and ways we can adopt more sustainable, conservative practices to mitigate some of the effects of these emissions.

The Facts

• Sixty percent of man-made contributions to global warming comes from carbon dioxide emissions; 75 percent of which comes from burning fossil fuels.
• Worldwide, each person emits an average of 1 ton carbon dioxide each year.
• The average American emits 20 tons each year.

The Calculations

Note: If math isn’t your thing, try the online carbon calculators provided by the following organizations: EPA, Climate Crisis and SafeClimate.

Car emissions

Estimate the average miles you drive each year and your car’s average miles per gallon. The worksheet says to use 20 mpg if you’re not sure, but dividing the number of miles shown on your gage when it’s about empty by the total number of gallons in your fuel tank should get your pretty close. (For example, I know I need to fill up my Ford Focus when I get around 280 miles for my 12 gallon tank, so my car’s mpg is about 23).

Here’s the formula:

Average miles/year                   x          Average mpg                =          Gallons/year

Burning one gallon of gas emits 9 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So to calculate your driving emissions:

Gallons/year                 x          9 kg/gallon        =          Kilograms of Carbon dioxide/year 

Electricity emissions

Estimate the amount of kilowatt hours you consume each year. You can do this by either looking at your most recent electric bill and multiplying the amount of kilowatt hours you were charged for by 12, or go with the typical amount of 3,000 kWh per year.

One kilowatt hour of electricity produced from a coal-fired plant is equivalent to 1 kg of carbon dioxide emitted into the air. So your average kilowatt hours of electricity per year is equal to the kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted for its production.

See our Electricity Quiz to find out more about electricity consumption and emissions.

Natural gas emissions

Estimate the average amount of energy you use each year to heat your homes (also known as British thermal units, or BTUs). The worksheet gave 60 million BTU/year as the typical amount if you don’t know yours. However, just as calculating the electricity emissions, find your last heating bill and multiply the units by 12 to get your yearly consumption.

100,000 BTUs is equivalent to 5.5 kg of carbon dioxide. Here’s the formula:

BTU/year         ÷     100,000 BTU   x   5.5 kg =    Average natural gas emissions/year

Airplane travel emissions

Estimate the number of miles you traveled by airplane last year. On average, one mile traveled by plane equals 0.23 kg of carbon dioxide emissions, so:

Number of miles of airplane travel            x       0.23 kg     =     Airplane travel emissions

For more information about travel emissions, see Tips for Eco-Friendly Travel.

Totals

Add the carbon dioxide totals highlighted in bold.

Car emissions     +      Electricity emissions       +       Natural gas emissions   + Airplane travel emissions

Food emissions

Multiple the carbon dioxide totals calculated about by 2. The worksheet said the carbon dioxide we emit indirectly through purchasing food and other goods and services is twice the amount we emit in the ways calculated above.

Total from above          x          2          =          Total carbon dioxide emissions: kg/year

Conversion

Convert kilogram/year to metric ton/year:

Total carbon dioxide emissions   ÷    1,000 metric tons/year        =  Metric tons/year of carbon dioxide emissions

Then the worksheet tells us to compare this number with the average per capita carbon dioxide emissions globally and nationally.

Is your total carbon dioxide emission greater than 1 ton/year? Is it greater or less than 20 tons/year? Where do most of your emissions come from? How could you lower this amount?

I’d never calculated my emissions total before, but now knowing mine as it currently stands (a number the author cares not to share out of embarrassment) has really made me see where I need to make improvements and how much carbon dioxide I alone contribute to the global total.

Before calculating my carbon footprint, I think I applied the term "emissions" nationally, presuming my carbon feet couldn’t possibly have as large a print on the nation’s total. But with my number being so … unsatisfactory … it puts the term, and the problem, into a perspective I can relate to.

Listen to Mother Earth News Publisher Bryan Welch discuss the magazine, self-reliance and the Mother Earth News way of life in a recent interview on Periodical Radio. You can also read a complete transcript of the interview. 

The Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce — the only statewide green chamber of commerce in the country — will launch its first local chapter, located in Phoenix, next week.

The chapter already has a number of objectives for accomplishing the state chamber’s mission “To promote the success of businesses committed to environmental and social responsibility.” These objectives include fostering networking between green businesses, educating businesses and the public on sustainable practices and providing the public with local resources for businesses committed to sustainability and environmental-responsibility.

The Green Chamber of Commerce has members in 16 different cities in three states. The chamber claims to speak for the “new voice” in commerce, which promotes “a future where businesses work to protect our planet, not corrupt it.”

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No, it’s not the pesto sauce. A 2-year-old pizza parlor based out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., uses only purely organic ingredients to make its pizza, purchases renewable energy credits to off-set their power consumption by 100 percent and recently purchased a fleet of hybrids for all their deliveries. Pizza Fusion has locations in three states, with restaurants opening soon in 10 additional states. The business has spread along the East Coast all the way to states like to states like California and Washington. The store was the brainchild of Michael Gordon and Vaughn Lazar, who met in college and decided to join the ranks of entrepreneurs through their own, eco-friendly method of customer service. The company’s mission:  “To uphold the highest level of integrity in all we do, from the quality and origin of our food to our care for the health of our customers and the environment.” Pizza Fusion is up for the 2008 Co-op America People's Choice Award for the green business of the year, which goes to the business that receives the most community votes. The other contenders for the title are Alter Eco, Babyworks, Frontier Natural Products Co-op, Gaiam, Inc., Kate’s Caring Gifts, Mountain Rose Herbs, Mountains of the Moon, We Add Up and West Paw Design. The winner will be announced at the Green Festival in San Francisco, Calif., on Nov. 14.

In a recent press release, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced that it is ready for President-elect Barack Obama — especially after the Bush administration ignoring international progress on climate change for the past eight years. Not only does Obama argue for progress, he says he wants to find a common solution to our energy, environmental and economic problems. To do that, he says he wants to build a clean energy economy which will create millions of new jobs, expand capital investment, stop the nation’s dependence on oil, and prevent global warming.

To start, Obama’s cap-and-trade policy would require all permits for emitting carbon dioxide to be auctioned off, with proceeds going towards clean energy, habitat protections, and other transition relief for families. Last month, six of the 10 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative states in the Northeast raised $39 million doing just that, and if that price holds, the auctions could yield more than $500 million a year.

The soon-to-be President also has outlined plans to reduce global warming emissions by 80 percent by 2050. He’s pledged to make 10 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025. According to UCS analysis, if just 20 percent of the nation’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020, it could generate 185,000 new jobs; gain $66.7 billion in private capital investment; give $25.6 billion to rural landowners for leasing their land for biomass and wind energy production; and create $2 billion in new local tax revenues. On top of that, consumer electric and natural gas bills would reduce by $10.5 billion in 2020 and $31.8 billion in 2030.

And when all of this happens, it would reduce global warming emissions in 2020 by 223 million metric tons a year — the same as taking 36 million cars off the road. Now, that’s a change I think everyone could handle.

In February 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that Antarctica was the only continent that did not show signs of climate change. However, recent studies published by Nature Geoscience prove that global warming has in fact made Antarctica warmer.

After comparing 100 years of Arctic temperature data and 50 years of weather records from 17 Antarctic weather stations, scientists concluded that arctic temperatures have warmed about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and Antarctic temperatures warmed about 1.8 degrees. But Antarctica could be even warmer than that. Researchers may have underestimated the temperature change due to readings from the cold continental interior — where there have been observations of cooling in the spring and summer months as a result of the ozone hole.

According to an article in Scientific American, one quarter to one half of the Antarctic coastline has shown substantial warming. The Larsen B and Wilkins ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula have already collapsed. If the eastern and western shelves melted completely, sea levels would increase by as much as 230 feet. Unfortunately, while the consequences of global warming are starting to be addressed, things will still get worse before they get better.

The Sierra Club urges people to send text messages reminding their friends to vote.

The director of conservation, Greg Haegel, encouraged people to text messages such as, “Dnt 4gt 2 vote 2day! D planet needz u!” and to visit TXT Out the Vote, a mobile polling Web site.

The sponsor of TXT Out the Vote, CREDO Mobile, released a study with The Students PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) New Voters Project in cooperation with the University of Notre Dame. The study concluded that reminder text messages sent on Election Day increase voter turnout by 4.6 percentage points.

Polling places around the country typically close between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., so there is plenty of time to text reminders to your friends.

UMBERTO

Although the election campaigning has left some Americans feeling divided, there’s one campaign this week that everyone can get behind.

You guessed it. This week is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (launched in 1996 by The Human Society of the United States), and there are many different ways you can show appreciation for your local animal shelter in this special week of recognition, from donating a few dollars to organizing an appreciation event in your community.

Eco-Libris takes the guilt out of the guilty-pleasure of reading for some environmentalists.

Books today can be made of recyclable material, but chances are, the new best seller you’ve been waiting for is printed on virgin paper (meaning it’s never been used before). In fact, each year, 30 million trees are cut down to supply the paper for books sold in the United States alone.

However, Eco-Libris offers an alternative, so you can still read those new releases with less of a guilty conscience.

The company lets you off-set the paper used for your book by paying for trees to be planted in its stead. The system works on a relatively equal proportion - $1 for 1 book plants 1.3 trees. (I know, how can they plant 1.3 trees? The company does this so that for every $10, 13 trees will be planted in case some don’t make it to maturity). Eco-Libris calls this “balancing out” your book and sends you a sticker, printed on recycled material, to put on the book. The trees are planted in developing countries by a series of planting partners within a year of the purchase.

Eco-Libris started almost a year and a half ago, and has already contracted book publishing companies to balance out the companies’ books, the newest addition being Flux. Their goal: plant 1 million trees for 1 million books by 2009.