Last week Danny wrote about the Donor’s Choose Blogger Challenge. Now we’re throwing our pixels into the race.  We chose 7 awesome projects in high-need schools that need more $$$ to get off the ground.  Let’s be honest, funding cuts for education are on the rise and schools were already feeling the budget pinch before our financial sky starting falling.

TakePart and help fund these 7 school projects before October 31st.

Looking for other ways to support the blogger challenge? :

1) Post our challenge on your blog and/or social networking site

2) Send an email to friends and family with this link: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=19219

Thanks so much!

I think we’re all pretty familiar with corporate greenwashing, in which toxic companies attempt to downplay their destructive habits by touting any little green effort they can muster.  But as we move towards a green economy, we must be wary of businesses that try to pass of their pollution-based operations as beneficial for the planet.  One such effort is underway from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry front group that has spent $1.3 million in ads leading up to this year’s presidential election, which suggest that using coal power is “environmentally responsible”.  Despite this ruse, and efforts to create “clean” coal technology, the reality is that this dirty, destructive, and limited resource is not the answer to our worlds energy needs, and definitely not the solution to climate change.

As John Grant writes in his book, The Green Marketing Manifesto:

You can’t put a lettuce in the window of a butcher’s shop and declare that you are now ‘turning vegetarian’.

And for a good laugh, check out NRDC’s parody of the coal industry.
takepart by joining the Stop Global Warming Virtual March.

This hurricane season brought an above average number of storms, and Mexico, with storms on both coasts, can attest that it ain’t over yet.  Tropical Storm Marco, approaching hurricane strength, touched down in the east, forcing evacuations of schools and oil platforms near Veracruz.  Fortunately, no major damage has been reported yet.  And in the west, Hurricane Norbert moves northeast growing in strength, and is expected to touchdown around the Baja Peninsula around Saturday.

takepart with Wecansolveit.org and see what can be done about climate change.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Photo: Washington Post

The economy and the planet breathe a sigh of relief as the House-approved bailout now includes renewable energy tax incentives for the solar, wind and bio-diesel industries.  While the bailout package apparently required some peculiar padding to pass, including tax exemptions for rum, arrows, and a racetrack, the green energy credits offer great hope for a sustainably powered future.  Renewable energy companies and environmentalists have been wringing their hands for months as the House and Senate played catch with the tax breaks, which were set to expire at the end of the year.  Some people were even fantasizing over what could be done if the entire $700 billion went towards renewable energy.

These measures will provide essential credits for building more energy efficient homes, purchasing electric cars, installing solar panels and wind turbines and ultimately removing our dependence on dirty oil.  One of the other incentives including in the package will allow employers to  help employees buy and maintain bicycles for commuting.  The House and Senate should be applauded for taking this step towards a cleaner and safer future.

takepart with Wecansolveit.org

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

According to a study released by the National Research Council efforts to protect the Everglades have failed due to bureacratic delays, a lack of Congressional funding, and overdevelopment.  The Council warned that without quicker progress more species from South Florida’s subtropical wetlands will die off and “the Everglades ecosystem may experience irreversible losses to its character and functioning.”

Hope remains, however, as Congress takes steps to streamline the approval of improvement projects and increase spending to protect this vital resource.  Let’s hope they can keep the momentum going before it’s too late.

Photo: Milfodd’s Flickr Photostream

takepart by helping to protect this ecological treasure with The Everglades Foundation.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of The Day

Florida To Buy Sugar Maker to Restore Everglades

After three years of declining deforestation rates, Brazilian authorities announced that logging rates in the Amazon have increased between two to three times since last year. Incra, the Brazilian government’s land reform agency, now faces criminal charges for allegedly handing over rain forest to logging companies and creating fake settlements to avoid environmental regulations.

Photo: Paulo Santos/Reuters

The Amazon represents more than half of the planet’s remaining rainforest, and serves a vital role of absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.  Deforestation of the rainforest not only contributes to climate change, but leads to significant losses of biodiversity and threatens indigenous tribes, some of which have not had contact with the outside world.

takepart by helping the World Wildlife Fund protect the rainforest and keep an eye on Brazil’s proposed plan to end deforestation by 2015.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Amazon Rainforest Deforestation is Rising for First Time in Three Years

De-Forestation: Less Eco-Friendly Than You’

Cowboys to the Rainforest Rescue

Inspired by Al Gore’s call to action, a high school senior in Palo Alto, California has launched The Inconvenient Youth, a non-profit designed to educate and inspire young environmental activists.  Using on-line registration and text messaging to “maximize the collective power of youth to generate change”, the group has received enthusiastic responses from youth around the country.  They even have a band to help them inspire young people to become leaders in their communities.

takepart to join the movement or to share it with a young person in your life.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Analyzing the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, scientists from the United States Geological Survey found the extensive storm damage has left the Gulf Coast vulnerably exposed.  The erosion of marshland and barrier islands caused by successive storms puts inland areas at risk for further storm damage and possible flooding, particularly as sea levels are predicted to rise.  The loss would threaten human lives as well as the widelife that takes refuge on the islands.  While much of the damage has been caused by the storms and other effects of climate change, federal dredging projects are also deteriorating the protective coastline.

takepart and learn more about protecting our coasts with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Photo: U.S. Geological Survey

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Tropical Storm Kyle is approaching hurricane strength as it moves North along the Eastern Coast of North America.  New England and Canada’s maritime provinces have been put on alert, as the storm could hit land along the Northeast and Canada as a category 1 hurricane by Sunday.

Puerto Rican Authorities have reported the storm system has been responsible for at least four deaths over the past few days.

takepart with wecansolveit.org

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

The European Union’s Parliament voted for mandatory cuts of CO2 emissions for cars, despite pressure from Europe’s powerful auto industry. The laudable law demands that car companies to reduce carbon dioxide output by 17% within 4 years and 60% within 12 years. According to the BBC:

“Environmental group Greenpeace said the law change could become ‘the first effective EU law to limit our impact on the climate’.”

Photo: said&done’s Flickr Photostream

takepart to discover other ways we can reduce our impact on the climate.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day