Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series. Beneath the fold you will find *news and notes*, *community announcements*, and our *eco-diary roundup*. Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter. Tonight's editor: boatsie
A Happy Halloween Picture by John Whitehead
Tonight's editor's pick is Joan McCarter's Oct 26 Making GOTV fun: Trick or Vote post, in which she reminds us:
According to a 2001 Yale study, face-to-face interaction is the single best way to get someone to vote. Knocking on doors increases voter turnout by a whopping 8-12%, more than any other method. If knocking on doors is the best way to get out the vote, what is the one day each year people expect a knock on their door? Halloween. And when does Halloween happen to fall on the calendar? Always a few days before the election. So, while you may be too old to Trick or Treat, you’re never too old to Trick or Vote..... Trick or Vote began in 2004 in Portland, Oregon and in 2008, it had its breakout year. That Halloween, with involvement from 30 organizations operating in 35 cities, costumed volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors on that single night, reminding people to vote, distributing nonpartisan voter guides, and generating both grassroots and media awareness just before the election. Campaign & Elections Politics Magazine’s Reed Awards recognized this historic effort as the “Best GOTV Plan & Execution” in North America. Trick or Vote 2008 was a raging success, and that’s why in 2010 we’re going to go even bigger.
OMG. Attack!
Halloween Bento Box Some frighteningly good ideas HAPPY GREEN HALLOWEEN TO ALL suggests using pillowcases for candy collecting (Americans use more than 380 million plastic bags and more than 10 million paper bags every year and paper bag production consumes more than 14 million trees annually in the U.S.), designing and creating your own costumes and sticking close to home for trick or treating. Eco-Friendly Halloween Costumes
Dress Green this Halloween.
1. A divot. Yep, as in the chunk of grass you replace when golfing. This costume involves rolling around in the dirt, wearing neutral clothing, and then affixing a small amount of grass (from your garden or the plant store) to a hat on your head. Bizarre, yes. But charming, and waste-free. 2. Your favorite TV character. Our favorite is above, but that costume is particularly height- and body-type specific. For more versatile ideas, put on some fake glasses, blue jeans, and a button-up and call yourself Liz Lemon. Go Michael Kors in a black blazer, jeans, and black T-shirt. Be Blair Waldorf in a headband and preppy dress. Invoke anyone from Lost in a dirty old pair of jeans or cargos with a ripped T-shirt and some bronzer on your face. 3. Rewear your costume from last year, but be dead this time. If you were Snow White last year, be zombie Snow White this year by adding some blood and tears. If you were a football player, be a dead one on a rampage, etcetera. To achieve the "undead" look easily and affordably, grab a bit of flour or pale mineral makeup to whiten your face. Maybe toss a little in your hair for a grey streak or two. If you have any dark lipstick or black eyeliner around the house, use that on your lips. For fake blood, combine corn syrup with a little red and a little blue food coloring, a drop of milk, and mix.
(image of a man walking in front of an orange wall removed at request of rightsholder)
Orange mood ... Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome by Pensiero (Stefano Corso) Chipotle rolls out some scare tactics for Halloween Grist's Food Editor Bonnie Azab Powell notes that Chipotle Mexican Grill "Food with Integrity" is partnering with Jamie Oliver this October 31. If you visit an outlet after 6PM dressed as a processed food, you'll receive a 'boorito' or other entry for just two buck. The proceeds of all sales (expected to reach $1 million) will be donated to Oliver's Food Revolution campaign to improve food in America's schools.
Must...stop...eating... Why oh why did I buy candy corn for my house so early? By Shutterbug Cel No Trick Treats Maps Healthy Halloween Candy
Unless you want to be the "granny" on the block handing out apples or silver dollars (hey, not judging), the sweet treat element of the holiday need not get lost. There are cool alterna-sweets out there, cool homes in your 'hood passing them out for your little goblins and a first of its kind website making all of which easier to locate. It's called NoTrickTreats.com. The website was designed for treat-getters and treat-givers sensitive to kids dietary needs. Enter your address on the site's Google map to locate nearby homes, apartments and businesses opting to treat, not trick, with vegan, organic, raw, nut-free, kosher, sugar-free, gluten-free treats and more. Making a pledge to pass out more mindful goodies this year? Enter your house on the map. I entered in my Brooklyn yoga studio as I'll be handing out (OK, and snacking on) Nature's Path Organic Peanut Choco Drizzle Crispy Rice Bars that I snagged from Whole Foods.
The Top 13 Environmental Disasters Halloween Edition
witch crash ... slowly approached this Halloween accident scene and discovered it was more monster than witch O: by Dan Anderson From Love Canal and Romania's Baia Mare Cyanide Disaster, to Karina, the Exxon Valdez and the Philippine's Southern Leyte rock-slide/avalanche and the BP Oil Spill and the Union Carbide cyanide gas leak in Bhopal ... which would you rate #1?
In the spirit of both Halloween and Environmental Awareness, I hereby offer thirteen environmental horror stories of anthropogenic origin. I have chosen to narrow my sample field to the post World War II time period. I have also excluded nuclear weapons tests and chemical weapons usage (such as agent orange use in Vietnam) as these tests/uses are intentionally meant to cause widespread devastation. This exclusion is not intended to underestimate the potentially severe environmental impacts of these events.
Fall on the Missouri River...2007 By Daisy Mai-ling This Halloween, Environment Missouri wants you to fear... water! You can always count on advocacy groups to issue bummer press releases the week of Halloween that start off like, "You think ghosts and goblins are scary? Well, have you ever thought about the chemicals that are sprayed on your broccoli?" Environment Missouri knows what time it is, so it's posted a list of the Top Ten Frightening Facts About the Missouri River on its website. Some of the highlights include: * In 2007, over 11,000 pounds of pollution was dumped into the Missouri River within this state alone, according to the EPA. * That same year, Bayer CropScience shat 342 pounds of cancer-causing chemicals into the Missouri River. * More than 2.5 million Missourians get their tap water from stream-fed sources that may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. Think your Brita filter is tough enough? * Last year, Tyson Fresh Meats was fined $2 million for pumping steaming, frothy hog and cattle waste into the Missouri River upstream from Missouri's borders.
Ten tips to green your Halloween
the girl who lived (not quite hermione granger) by Jesse Draper 1. Distribute Fair Trade chocolate, or organic sweets to 'trick or treaters'. Information about fair-trade products can be found at http://www.fairtrade.net/ 2.Collect the sweets in re-useable cotton bags or pillow cases, instead of plastic bags. 3.Make costumes with re-usable or recyclable materials such as bed sheets. 4.Use the waste generated by pumpkins, leaves and other organic material for compost. 5. Reduce paper wastage by sending party invitations by email. 6.Use recyclable and bio degradable plates and cups to serve food if real crockery is not practical 7. Serve locally sourced party food 8. Use organic or non-toxic face paints, these are available to buy at www.amazon.com 9. Make decorations using natural, recyclable or unwanted resources such as leaves or discarded paper plates. 10. Create ambiance and save electricity by using candles rather than leaving lights on all night.
WarrenS made a New Year's Resolution to write a letter advocating climate action every day. The result is over three hundred letters to congresspeople, newspapers, President Obama, and more. Warren has even had letters published in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Learn Warren's letter writing technique here. Be sure to steal his stuff and visit his blog.
Month 10, Day 29: The Auteurial Imagination.... The Modesto Bee, a small California paper, notes that film director James Cameron has come out against the odious Proposition 23. That is to say:
It’s good to hear James Cameron joining Governor Schwarzenegger in opposition to Proposition 23 in the last few days before the election, when the Koch brothers and their collaborators from the extractive industry sector are pouring surreal quantities of money into the campaign to suspend AB 32, California’s excellent climate change law. We recognize these conscienceless billionaires in two of Cameron’s creations: they occupied the Titanic’s most luxurious staterooms, and they’re the principal shareholders of “Avatar’s” RDA Corporation. These latter-day robber barons ignore the crucial truth that global climate change is likely to trigger a “domino effect” of infrastructural collapse, which would surely be bad for business. The worst-case scenarios suggested by climatologists can be summed up in one word: Venus. A film based on that planet would challenge any directorial imagination: hot and empty. Nobody to buy oil. A defeat of Proposition 23 will benefit the Koch brothers and their allies, too. Warren Senders
It's MINE and you can't have it! By ucumari
Annoucements
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(All times Eastern!)
eKos diaries from 10/29/2010 |
Diary |
Author |
Time (Eastern) |
Tags |
Unprecedented Tropical Storm Tomas Forms off S America |
FishOutofWater |
19:46:54 |
Recommended, weather, eKos, environment, climate change |
Vote Sanity: you're mad, they're CRAZY! |
A Siegel |
15:35:47 |
ekos, vote sanity, gotv |
Defeat Texas! |
LaughingPlanet |
15:11:24 |
CA-Prop, Proposition 23, Prop 23, California, clean energy |
Improving the Harvest, From the Soil to the Market |
NourishingthePlanet |
12:53:28 |
Ekos, Nourishing the Planet, CARE International, Tanzania, Water |
Gulf Watchers Friday: GOTV-All Politics is Local: Kamala Harris/CA-AG: BP Catastrophe AUV#416 |
ArthurPoet |
12:51:38 |
Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Macondo, Gulf of Mexico |
NCAR Predicts Possible Extreme Drought In Next Decades |
Something the Dog Said |
11:46:52 |
Climate Change, Drought, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Global Warming, Water |
eKos diaries from 10/28/2010 |
Diary |
Author |
Time (Eastern) |
Tags |
Could the stakes be higher? |
A Siegel |
22:38:56 |
ekos, climate zombie, energy, environment, rant |
Stupid Goes Viral: Toomey's Not A Witch, Either |
RLMiller |
20:09:16 |
eKos, climate change, global warming, climate zombies, 2010 |
World Bank this morning: let's count the environment |
jakbeau |
19:20:48 |
environment, bio diversity, eKos, World Bank |
Great Power Race: Global College Competition, ARPA-E, and Automotive X-Prize |
gmoke |
16:01:37 |
DOE, ARPA-, 350.org, Boston University, X-Prize |
Texas' Fight Against Coal and Coal Ash |
Bruce Nilles |
13:18:21 |
eKos, coal, coal ash, Texas, White Stallion |
Village Green: A family copes with the unexpected costs of sprawl (video) |
Kaid at NRDC |
12:18:07 |
eKos, cities, sprawl, commuting, housing costs |
The Corporations Want their Country Back! BP funding Tea Party Climate Zombie Campaigns |
worldforallpeopleorg |
12:01:28 |
BP, climate deniers, zombies, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh |
The GOP has identified the number one threat to our "Fredoms"... |
Renzo Gasolini |
02:55:50 |
Recommended, socialism, infrastructure, science, ekos |
Photocredits: tonight's moon by Ashley A Happy Halloween Picture by John Whitehead Attack! by lomoD.xx witch crash by Dan Anderson halloween bento box by luckysundae enviously green by Danz in Tokyo the girl who lived by Jesse Draper Must...stop...eating... by Shutterbug Cel It's MINE and you can't have it! by Ucumari