/Earth_Day

20070422
• Earth_Day - Environmental - Science - Consumer - US - Iraq - Terrorism - Fuel - Earth - Climate - Ocean - "Seeing the Green in Earth Day: Businesses big and small are learning that not only does environmental friendliness feel good, it can turn a profit, too." ... "[Andrea] Wilson is the Prius-driving, tree-hugging, vegan owner of Green Earth Office Supply, a purveyor of such items as clipboards and three-ring binders fashioned from defective circuit boards, cafeteria utensils made of biodegradable vegetable-based plastics, and, of course, 100 percent recycled paper goods. As fuel costs soar, environmentalists like Wilson say, America's consumer culture will downshift and clean energy sources will be developed." ... "Already, Wilson can see the great awakening in her sales. Thirteen mostly lean years after the former corporate accountant launched Green Earth from her home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, sales are soaring -up 250 percent last quarter compared with the first quarter of 2006, and on pace to bust the $1 million-a-year mark for the first time." ... "The sentiment surrounding this year's Earth Day is palpably different, say "green" entrepreneurs like Wilson and others working to bridge the cross-purposes of profits and environmental protection. Concern over man-made causes of climate change, pollution and the degradation of oceans are driving factors, they say, while terrorism and the Iraq war grimly underscore the pitfalls of an economy based on fossil fuels." ... "No longer just a feel-good niche or a marketing angle, the clean-and-green movement now includes corporate leaders targeting environment-minded consumers and renewable energy sources." ... "But [Eco Design Resources, store manager Scott] Farmer and Wilson say consumers should be wary of companies and products that indulge in "greenwashing." The phrase, a play on whitewashing, refers to environmental claims rooted more in salesmanship than science. Many companies and many products, they say, make exaggerated claims about their ecological virtues." -By Scott Duke -MercuryNews

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20070327
James Inhofe - Al Gore - Music - Entertainment - Global - Climate - Science - Politics - Environmental - Legislation -  - Earth_Day - History - US - Okla
• "Inhofe vows to put brakes on Gore’s ‘Live Earth’ concert at the Capitol." ... "Fresh from his face-to-face tussle with former [Democratic] Vice President Al Gore, [Oklahoma Republican Senator] Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla. [Republican-Oklahoma]) is vowing to stall Gore’s hotly anticipated Capitol concert to draw attention to global warming." ... "Inhofe’s belief that climate change is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” is common knowledge in the capitol, and environmental groups cheered the new prospects for carbon-capping legislation when he ceded the Environment and Public Works Committee gavel this session. But Inhofe’s parliamentary powers can block indefinitely the resolution that would permit Gore to choose the capitol’s West Front for the [United States] U.S. leg of his seven-continent Live Earth concert tour — a collaboration between Gore and promoter Kevin Wall, who masterminded previous blockbuster charity concerts Live Aid and Live 8." ... "“There has never been a partisan political event at the Capitol, and this is a partisan political event,” Inhofe said yesterday." ... "Chad Griffin, an adviser to Live Earth, was taken aback by Inhofe’s objections to using the Capitol to promote environmental health. The West Front was used to inaugurate Earth Day in a 1990 event, for which Gore, a former senator, sponsored the authorizing resolution." ... "“This is a totally non-partisan event,” Griffin said[.]" -By Elana Schor -TheHill.com

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20050422
• -  - Earth_Day - "On Earth Day, environmentalists debate future of movement." ... "As the world marks the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, environmentalists are debating the future of a movement that seems to be losing the battle for public opinion." ... "President Bush's re-election, the failure to slow global warming and the fact that large numbers of Americans seem to dismiss them as tree-hugging extremists has green leaders looking for new approaches." ... "Some think it's a message problem — that environmental groups simply need to improve their communication with the voting public. Others are calling for more fundamental changes in how the groups operate." -By Terence Chea -AP via -SFGate.com 

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20050421
• -  -  -  - Earth_Day - "Earth Day: The environmental movement's midlife crisis." ... "As Earth Day turns 35 Friday, the environmental movement is in the throes of a midlife identity crisis. In despair over the Republican victories in the November election and riven by internal tensions, activists are certain of neither their strategies nor their audience. What are environmentalism's major growing pains, and how can its troops avoid committing movement suicide?" ... "The first Earth Day in 1970 didn't necessarily constitute the "birth of the modern environmental movement," as Earth Day Network, an awareness-promoting group, likes to claim. When the inaugural event took place, many key laws, like the National Environmental Policy Act, had already been passed. Still, the national teach-in that took place on April 22, 1970, drew 20 million Americans into the parks and streets. The action that day helped kick off a decade in which Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency and, along with the states, passed wide-ranging environmental and public-health legislation." -By Paul Sabin -Slate 

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• -  -  - Earth_Day - "Earth Day challenge: e-waste: Activists target electronic devices." ... "When Earth Day dawned in 1970, environmentalists predicted emerging technologies would help reduce reliance on coal, oil, insecticides, and other pollutants. But 35 years later, a big part of the problem appears to be technology itself." ... "Tons of computers, monitors, television sets, and other electronic gizmos that contain hazardous chemicals, or ''e-waste," may be poisoning people and ground water. Activists say" -AP via -Boston/Globe

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20030422
• -  - "Corporations co-opt Earth Day." ... "Earth Day, which began 33 years ago today as a nationwide rally to clean up the planet, has become the latest victim of the corporate takeover." ... "While some in advocacy circles consider the commercialization of Earth Day "greenwashing" (think Earth Day Inc. or McEarth Day), others, including the day's founder -- former Sen. Gaylord Nelson -- consider the melding of Wall Street with Mother Earth proof of the celebration's success." -By Dina Capiello -HoustonChronicle.com 

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