BREAKING NEWS – “Clean Coal is an Oxymoron”…DUH!

"Coal. While you might have heard the phrase 'clean coal' during the presidential campaign, it's actually an oxymoron. Wishful thinking. Coal does not burn cleanly and it's hugely expensive to make it burn that way..." Brian Williams

"Coal: the fuel the world burns to make electricity. Plentiful and polluting. A major contributor to climate change." Anne Thompson

Now, I don't agree with everything in this story and anything that suggests that clean coal is even close to being ready on the scale or at the cost needed to make it a reality is misleading. The environmental impact of mining all that coal isn’t mentioned either. Still, it is stunning to see an accurate and honest assessment of what our continued reliance on coal would mean: a crime against the climate. And clean coal? A 50 percent increase in electricity rates.

So -- should America rely on a ruinously expensive, Rube Goldbergian technology that won't be ready for years (decades?) or put our money and our mouths into the cheap, truly clean, safe, and readily available clean energy technologies we already have?

…via: The Huffington Post

Rocko Recycles

Watch Rocko's Modern Life - Zanzibar in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

A flashback from my childhood...about recycling

Green Gifts For The Holidays

Reusable “Gift” Bags
This is one of my favorite ways to introduce others to sustainability. I load up an attractive reusable bag with a reusable stainless steel bottle, organic goodies, beauty products, etc. and gift it to them. A quick trip to Whole Foods will provide you with some wonderful idea. Also, check out reusablebags.com for bags, bottles, etc.

Georgia Organics Membership
Includes a quarterly newsletter, discounts at events, and access to a community of like-minded people.
Georgia Organics
Gift Membership Form (pdf)

Open-Pollinated Seeds
A gift that keeps on giving year after year since, unlike hybrid varieties, open-pollinated seed retain their parent characteristics and can be saved for future plantings.
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange

La Chamba Black Clay Cookware from Bolivia
This collection of cookware/bakeware is hand-crafted from Columbian black clay. They are oven, stovetop, and microwave safe.
La Vida Verde
Gaiam

Adopt an Olive Tree in Italy
You may live in a northern climate that offers no hope of seeing a living olive tree in nature. But adopt an olive tree through Nudo, and you'll get an adoption certificate, a booklet about the tree, a spring delivery of at least 1.5L of extra virgin olive oil, and an autumn delivery of three different tins of flavored oil. You can choose to adopt the tree from one of seven different groves, each with different varietals and different flavors, and should you escape your northern climate, you're even invited to visit your tree. It may not be cheaper than the store brand evoo you've been stocking recently, but the difference in taste will be worth it. (Nudo, about $83)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Membership
Community Supported Agriculture programs are win-win: they help farmers by provided much-needed cash at the beginning of the growing season, even before seeds are planted (and long before crops are ready for the market), and benefit members with weekly deliveries of fresh, local, and often organic produce throughout the growing season. The farmers stay in business, dinner tastes better than ever, and you're no longer spending hard-earned cash on watery, out-of-season fruits and vegetables. (Georgia Organics Local Food Guide (pdf), about $500 for 20 weeks)

Eglu Urban Chicken Coop
Folks across urban North America are discovering the joys of fresh eggs, collected just steps from their kitchen and served up scrambled, fried, or Benedict just minutes later. And while it may be more economical to build a custom run, the Eglu from Omlet makes it easy to get started—and looks really cool. (Please check local bylaws, and, as with all live gifts, make sure the recipient is responsible enough to keep their little feathered friends clucking.) (Omlet, $515 with chickens)

Some gift ideas from treehugger

Post-Election Clean Up – What To Do With All The Paraphernalia

Now that the elections is over, it's time to breathe a sigh of relief and pluck those Obama-Biden (or McCain-Palin) signs off your front lawn. And while you're at it, why not take a moment to compost your Halloween pumpkins before they decompose all over your front steps? Josh Peterson over at Planet Green offers a few tips to restore order to your life, post-election:

How to Recycle Your Election Yard Signs

You might also be itching to get rid of your politically-charged bumper stickers. Then again, Peterson points out, "If your candidate won, you may want to flaunt your '08 bumper sticker for a few weeks before taking it off. In any case, you don't want to be that person still flying a Perot/Stockdale sticker decades after the fact. That sticker has to be removed."

How to Remove an Election Bumper Sticker the Eco-Friendly Way

Source: The Huffington Post

Intro to Organic Farming & Gardening

Lynn Pugh from Cane Creek Organic Farm from North Fulton on Vimeo.

TIMES: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
LOCATION: Cane Creek Farm, Forsyth County, GA
COST: $425 for members of Georgia Organics and $450 for non-members

This intensive training course on organic farming and gardening will meet in seven one-day installments on (roughly) alternating Saturdays. Each day will start with morning lectures, discussions, videos and power point presentations. Afternoons will be spent with hands-on activities in the field, greenhouse or on a field trip.

The course is structured around the curriculum developed by Georgia Organics, Fundamentals of Organic Farming and Gardening: An Instructor’s Guide, and is targeted to adults who want to know more about the science and art of organic growing. Prior experience or education is not required.

Course topics include: basics of organic growing, soils, soil biology and soil management, plant biology, crop management, composting, marketing, certification.

The instructor for the course will be the farmer at Cane Creek, Lynn Pugh. Lynn is an experienced teacher and has been farming for approximately five years. She sells her sustainable produce through a CSA and an on-farm market. Lynn has a degree in Biology, an MS degree in Plant Pathology and an EdS degree in Curriculum Development.

In 2009, class will start in late January and continue on alternating Saturdays through mid-April.

Tentative dates for 2009 are:

January 31st
February 14th and 28th
March 14th and 28th
April 11th and 25th

If you're interested, you may contact Lynn at lynnpugh@mindspring.com

You may register for the course through the Georgia Organics website. Find the course in the Events listing.