When grocery shopping, do you use paper or plastic? Beginning January 1, 2010, both choices will cost you in Washington, D.C.

The Potomac River continues to struggle with pollution from waste and disposable bags. As a partner in the Trash Free Potomac Watershed Treaty, the District is focused on reducing trash in the Anacostia River, a major tributary to the Potomac River. Given out in virtually every supermarket and convenience store, disposable bags make up over 20 percent of the river’s trash. A new law will reduce the amount of throwaway bags used in the city.

DC Mayor, Adrian Fenty, signed a law in July of 2009 that will impose a $.05 fee for every plastic and paper disposable bag customers use. To prepare for the law’s January 1, 2010 effective date, Mayor Fenty and the District Department of the Environment have announced an education campaign targeting District residents.

Titled, Skip the Bag, Save the River, the campaign will help citizens make the transition from using disposable bags to using reusable bags. To ensure that everyone has access to reusable bags, the government will hand out 122,000 reusable bags to low-income families and senior citizens. CVS/pharmacy will distribute an additional 12,000 sacks and offer an incentive coupon program to customers with reusable bags. For individuals who still use disposable bags, the majority of their fee will go toward the Anacostia River Protection Fund. The rest of the money will allow businesses to offer a $.05 rebate to customers who choose reusable bags.

This program is only the beginning of the efforts to make the Potomac River clean again.

For more information on the Skip the Bag, Save the River campaign go to:

http://green.dc.gov/green/cwp/view.asp?a=1248&q=463102&PM=1

The gleaming lights of New York City’s Times Square and Military Island are an iconic landmark of the Big Apple. We see those images in movies, photographs and on television. The number of billboards and the amount of energy consumed rivals Las Vegas. What would it take to make the Times Square neighborhood more energy efficient?

While some of the area, including the Times Square Arts Center, is already more energy efficient, many of the billboard spaces still use a significant amount of power to run all day and night. The greening of Times Square, as one of the most heavily trafficked intersections in New York, would send a powerful symbolic message locally and globally.

Today, Earth Day Network announced its use of a mobile campaign in Times Square to call for support of an initiative asking companies who own signage in the iconic Manhattan district to “go green” by Earth Day.  The goal is for companies to pledge to make their billboards more energy efficient. These commitments are part of Earth Day Network’s Billion Acts of Green™ campaign to collect significant actions from individuals, corporations and governments to reduce energy consumption as part of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2010.

The Times Square mobile campaign calls for passers-by to text “earth” to 23000 in support of this Earth Day challenge. The sign space, located across from the AMC Theaters, was donated by Earth Day Network sponsor, University of Phoenix, and will appear through November 30.

For more information about Earth Day Network’s Billion Acts of Green™ campaign, go to www.billionactsofgreen.org.

This week, Earth Day Network and Thurgood Marshall Academy (TMA) Green Club took a White House Kitchen Garden tour. In growing efforts by First Lady Michelle Obama and the White House kitchen staff, tours have been opened for DC schools to showcase the garden and raise awareness about the importance of homegrown, organic, healthy food. White House Assistant Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator, Sam Kass, led the tour. Sam oversees the Kitchen Garden and prepares daily meals for the Obama family and their guests.

The White House Kitchen Garden, planted in April 2009, is pictured at #23.

While wandering between the beds, peeking into the huge compost bins filled with kitchen scraps from White House dinners and standing next to the buzzing beehive, we learned about heirloom seeds, seasonal vegetables, honeybees, pollination and even met White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. Sam also introduced us to plants grown from Thomas Jefferson’s seeds at Monticello and we tasted some of his tasty lima beans. The White House Kitchen Garden has already yielded nearly 1,000 pounds of food in just seven months.

At the garden’s beehive, maintained by White House carpenter and Official White House Beekeeper, Charlie Brandts, we learned about the honey-making process. Michelle Obama presented this honey to G20 spouses attending the 2009 Pittsburgh Summit this fall.

This photo, from obamafoodorama.blogspot.com, shows the garden during its summer production peak.

TMA’s Green Club has been involved in schoolyard gardening for more than two years, and with the help of Earth Day Network, has expanded their school garden to include a dozen vegetable beds, spices and vegetables used in the school cafeteria. They have also been involved in school, community, and local events featuring gardening and healthy food, including DC School Garden Week.

Although White House Kitchen Garden tours will be unavailable until Spring, interested local schools can apply here. To learn more about the garden, check out this video featuring Sam Kass and Michelle Obama. If you are interested in starting your own school garden, visit the Food section of Earth Day Network’s Green Your School Guide for lesson plans, background information and student action plans on gardening, compost, healthy food and more.

NBC, home to some of the most popular shows on television, including The Office and 30 Rock, captivates millions with their programming every day. This week, however, viewers tuning in will get an eco-friendly twist on many of their favorite shows. This fall, NBC’s Green Week will integrate environmentalism into shows such as The Today Show, Heroes and Community, showing audiences that being green is something everyone can fit into their daily lives.

NBC’s Green Week began as an annual fall event to encourage viewers to make changes in their everyday lifestyle that were more environmentally friendly. In April 2008, NBC celebrated Earth Day with more than 100 hours of green-themed content across multiple channels. That celebration resulted in a semi-annual effort to raise awareness about environmentalism through broadcast content.

However, being environmentally conscious doesn’t stop when the director says cut: many shows are making an effort to be more eco-friendly in production. According to Beth Colleton, vice president of the “Green is Universal” campaign, the “30 Rock” set has removed disposable water bottles, drives hybrid transport vehicles and uses chemical-free cleaning products. Additionally, NBC Universal is now using an innovative closed-loop recycling process to make 100 percent post consumer recycled paper cases from the 30 Rockefeller Plaza office trash (which yields approximately 10 tons of paper per week).

More than anything, NBC is promoting the belief that even though Earth Day only happens one a year, every day is an opportunity to increase environmental sustainability.

Last Friday, November 6, Earth Day Network’s Education team carried out a successful “green makeover” of William C. Overfelt High School, in San José, CA. The highlight of this event was the installation of a 2.2k/W solar panel system that will save the school an estimated $30,000 and over 112,000 lbs. of carbon emissions over 25 years. Earth Day Network also provided the school with an educational energy monitoring system so teachers and students can keep track of energy generation and savings.

Other features of the makeover included a large student-designed eco-mural, “smart” powerstrip swap-out in computer labs and library to reduce energy usage, and the installation of an edible garden, orchard, and rainwater collection system. Local volunteers from the University of Phoenix enthusiastically joined Earth Day Network and Overfelt students and teachers to carry out these projects.

The afternoon also featured a keynote assembly with several San José Councilmembers commending the school’s improvements, along with an Earth Fair convening a dozen local environmental groups and engaging students in a scavenger hunt and other hands-on activities. Students also decorated recycling bins, which will be distributed to classrooms around the school.

Earth Day Network will continue to work with teachers and students at Overfelt through our National Civic Education Project grant program, and the school’s Green Academy will integrate the solar panels, garden, and other facets into their multidisciplinary environmental curriculum.

This event was part of Earth Day Network’s “Green Schools Campaign.” Click here to learn about some of Earth Day Network’s other school greening projects and contact the Education Department to learn how we can green your school!

Today, three members of Earth Day Network’s Education Department arrived in San José, CA, where they will work this week to prepare for the “green makeover” of William C. Overfelt High School, this Friday, November 6. The event is a part of Earth Day Network’s “Green Schools Campaign,” and will include the installation of a 2.2k/W solar panel system with educational monitoring equipment, energy efficiency upgrades, an eco-mural and an edible raingarden.

The event on Friday will include several greening projects carried out by staff, students and volunteers. There will also be an afternoon Earth Fair, convening a dozen local environmental organizations, kicked off by words of commendation from several key San José community members and representatives.

After planning and communicating for several months, they were glad to finally visit the school, meet the Overfelt team, and began to make final preparations for the projects. Earth Day Network is extremely excited to be working with the wonderful staff and students at this diverse urban school who are dedicated to demonstrating green technology and environmental education to their students and community.

Click here to learn about some of Earth Day Network’s other school greening projects. To find out what you can do to green your school, visit the Green Your School Guide for information, lesson plans and student action plans on all things related to green schools!

As the 40th anniversary of Earth Day approaches, we wanted to start this school year thinking green! Earth Day Network held a back-to-school Student Climate Change Solutions Contest for K-4th graders inspired by the “think green for kids book,” Planet Earth Gets Well by Madeline Kaplan.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all who submitted entries to our Student Climate Change Solutions poster contest!

First Place: Saham Alkaify, 4th Grade, PS/MS 20, Police Officer George J. Werdann, III School in the Bronx, NY 86% of U.S. Energy Consumption is Fossil Fuel!

Second Place: Jemma Kelly, 2nd Grade, Hayshire Elementary School in York, PA My poster shows ideas for solutions to stopping climate change. Recycling helps our planet keep valuable resources and stop waste. We can all work together to recycle many products we all use everyday. My poster shows some ideas for how everyday products can be recycled into new ones.

Please visit www.earthday.net/climatechangesolutionscontest to also view our Honorable Mentions!

As an extension to this contest, check out our “Healthy Earth, Sick Earth” lesson plan based on Planet Earth Gets Well. This book may be purchased at a discounted rate for teachers. Visit http://www.planetearthgetswell.com/ for more information.

Listen to Education Coordinator Brenna Holzhauer and author Madeline Kaplan talk about Planet Earth Gets Well and the Student Climate Change Solutions Contest here!

With developing countries, such as China and India, looking to the U.S. environmental policy guidance and Copenhagen just months away, Congress must step up and define America’s position on climate change.

Other countries “are ready to make some political compromises only if and only when the United States is ready to do that,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after affirming the role of U.S. legislation in global climate change negotiations in a press conference last Monday.

As the only major industrialized to not sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. must earn the trust of the global environmental community before they come to Copenhagen ready to take an active role.

Other nations aside, if Congress does not pass a climate bill before Copenhagen in December, how will U.S. negotiators in Copenhagen be able to voice their opinion on emission reduction targets?

There are countless steps between today and passing our ideal climate legislation, but right now the ball is in Congress’ court: before we can be expected to move forward as a planet our representatives need to get the ball rolling.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_re_us/un_un_climate_change

What do a farmer, an auto mechanic and a garbage collector  have in common? Earth Day Network’s Green Schools Fellow, Jess Myhre, and Education Intern, Stephanie Samaniego, recently visited Phelps Senior High School of Architecture, Construction and Engineering and asked six classes of ninth graders in the Career Technical Education Survey Class that same question. By introducing the concept of a Green Job, they got students thinking about how the decisions they make everyday, whether as students or as a garbage collector, can have a major impact the environment. Students discussed the green economy, thought critically about what it meant to be sustainable in the workforce, and came up with ways that various occupations could become “green.”

They also watched The Story of Stuff and talked about the problems of over-consumption and waste management as a global issue. They related these concepts to their own lives by brainstorming alternative solutions and sought ways to avoid purchasing new and unnecessary items by reducing and reusing. One Phelps student demonstrated reuse in action when he shared that he already uses a shoe box to store video games. As Phelps’ Career Technical Education Coordinator pointed out, students were very engaged throughout, asked probing questions, and gained a deeper understanding of the benefits of recycling and the impact of their day-to-day activities.

For other ideas and information on recycling and waste reduction at school facilities, check out http://www.earthday.net/greenschoolsfacilities. To see how Earth Day Network can get involved at your school, visit www.earthday.net/education or email education@earthday.net.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy hosts the Solar Decathlon in which 20 teams from around the world compete to design, build and maintain the most attractive and energy-efficient house.  College students aim, not only to win the competition, but to educate the public about eco-friendly household alternatives using different sustainable technology. Houses are judged on architecture, market value and engineering.  Below is a look at the 2009 standings.

1st Place: Team Germany (Technische Universität Darmstadt); construction budget	$650,000-$850,000
2nd Place: Team Illinois; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
3rd Place: Team California; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
4th Place: Team Ontario/British Columbia; construction budget	$650,000-$850,000
5th Place: Team Minnesota; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
6th Place: Team Alberta; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
7th Place: Team Cornell; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
8th Place: Team Rice; construction budget	$250,000
9th Place: Team Kentucky; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
10th Place: Team Ohio State; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
11th Place: Team Missouri; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
12th Place: Team Iowa State; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
13th Place: Team Virginia Tech; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
14th Place: Team Spain (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid); construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
15th Place: Team Boston; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
16th Place: Team Penn State; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
17th Place: Team Puerto Rico; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
18th Place: Team Arizona; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000
19th Place: Team University of Louisiana; construction budget	$250,000-$450,000
20th Place: Team Wisconsin-Milwaukee; construction budget	$450,000-$650,000