Green Thoughts

Daily I peruse various online newspapers from across the continent, as a student of Journalism I feel a certain responsibility to do so. I start with the Globe, move onto the more local Toronto Star or Vancouver Sun depending on the news, and finish up with the NY Times and the Christian Science Monitor. I do not read each paper in length, and regularly skip whole sections, but without fail I make a note to look at my favourite areas, one unsurprisingly being the environment.

While each paper tackles the topic of the environment differently –albeit some much better then others— I have come across a lot of really cool information, websites and case studies from my daily searching’s, and I want to pass along some of them. They all deserve the attention of an independent post, but crunch time has fallen upon me and school has become a literal vortex for the hours in my day.

1) Earth Friendly Schools -- schools across Canada and specifically the United States, are taking action against the growing concern of climate change by instituting sustainable building's and greener policies. A really good example is Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C. While Hillcrest, my old middle school, did have a fish pond I'm pretty sure it could take some notes from Sidwell to reduce its own environmental impact.

2) Conscious Companies -- a website has been developed under the umbrella of Stonyfield Farm INC, that helps consumers like you and me make climate conscious choices when shopping. The idea behind this non-profit is that the power to affect climate change globally lies within major corporations, and subsequently consumers. Climatecounts.org has come up with a point system that ranks various companies on their current level of environmental action. Those which are working towards reducing their climate footprints receive better scores then others who are still failing to jump on the eco-wagon. Scope out companies like CBS, Apple, Motorola and Nike, you may be surprised to find out exactly just who is making a positive difference.

3) Worlds Greenest Museum -- San Francisco, long an environmental haven, and currently ranked 2nd to Portland as America's greenest city, now has another green title to add to its belt –world’s greenest museum. The California Academy of Sciences could possibly the coolest building on earth. [Insert eco-crazy bias here]. Seriously speaking though, the building will house everything from a natural-history museum, to a rainforest with free-flying birds, to an aquarium filled with saltwater pumped in from the Pacific Ocean, all under a green roof that spans 2.5 acres and blends into the local park surrounding it. Dubbed the “Living Museum” this Californian wonder is filled with multiple sustainable features and popsci.com has a photo album for an inside look at a few of them. If your ever in San-Fran, nature lover or not, stop on by I can guarentee you will be impressed.

*note: all bold faced words are links --this is not a note to suggest incomptence, meerly a helpful hint as it took me far to long when reading blogs to notice this.