The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

YouTube video link. Ah, the plastic cycle of life! Heal The Bay produced this advocacy video, the message of which is: put an end to plastic pollution. The short-form "nature mockumentary" is narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons and tracks the "migration" of a plastic bag from a grocery store parking lot to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean.

California Bill Seeks To Ban Plastic Shopping Bags!!

California’s Senate will vote today to determine if the Golden State will become the first in the nation to ban plastic bags at grocery, drug and certain convenience stores. The ban, which passed the Assembly in June, already has the support of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said he would sign the bill into law. “We are taught to reduce, reuse, recycle in that order because we can’t recycle our way to a better world,” said Assemblywoman Julie Brownley, who authored the legislation. “This bill gets to the root of our litter problem by reducing our use of disposable bags.”

Several N.C. coastal counties have already banned plastic bags. How can make N.C. the second state to ban plastic bags?

You Don't Need To Spend A Lot Of Green To Live A Green Lifestyle!

Sure, buying a hybrid car or installing solar panels on the roof of your house are big ways to be more eco-friendly. But you also can make a difference with easy, lower-cost changes, whose savings can add up over time.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency the average home is responsible for twice the greenhouse-gas emissions as the average car. The average household spends $2,200 a year on energy bills. You can save about 30% of your energy cost and qualify federal tax credits. (Visit energystar.gov/taxcredits for more information) You can also visit Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for a list of utility rebate programs

Consider doing the following;

Use a programmable thermostat. You can save roughly $180 a year on energy bills with a programmable thermostat.

Get an annual check-up. You should have your heating and cooling systems checked annually to ensure that they are running properly.

Replace filters for your systems at least every 90 days.

Seal and insulate. The average home has holes that expose it to drafts equivalent to leaving a window open all year round. Make sure you caulk around your windows and seal up...around doors, walls and in the attic. Doing so can save you as much as 20% annually on heating and cooling costs, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

Welcome Back Students!

I originally posted this video over a year ago. It is worth posting again.

Charles Moore and Dirty Talk about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch! Everyone should be required to watch this video. It will change the way you think about plastic and our “throw away” society. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

The Los Angeles Public Works department removes debris caught by booms from the L.A. River after a storm. Photo courtesy Algalita.org.

Music Festival -A Model for Raising Awareness About Sustainability

Appalachian State University graduate and local entrepreneur Jimmy Hunt ’09 manages a local music festival that operates as a model for raising awareness about sustainability, while also providing Appalachian students with invaluable on-the-job training to complement classroom lessons.

Music on the Mountaintop is an ecologically driven, large-scale music festival that features several popular bands and musicians and specializes in providing educational awareness on current environmental issues. Hunt worked with the Center for Entrepreneurship to launch the first annual festival in 2008. “We are very proud of what Jimmy has accomplished, and continue to work with him to this day,” says Bryan Toney, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship.

To learn more click here.

Student Showcase 2010

Student Showcase is an annual event where students present projects that they have produced throughout the semester. A wide range of topics are presented from biology to early childhood development to sustainability efforts. Lucy Stone and Amanda Norris presented "Green Revolution at Peace" to a full classroom. To view the presentation click here.

Scrap to Sculpture Contest

The Peace College Green Team has created an entry for Cameron Villages Scrap to Sculpture Contest. Immie Miles and the Green Team designed and assembled a peace sign using scrap material. Stop by Talbots at Cameron Village to see the art!

Peace Green Team and Stunt Night!

Stunt Night is an annual Peace College tradition where students create skits and parodies of life at Peace that year. In this clip students portray the "Green Marches" that the Green Team frequently go on around campus catching faculty and staff off guard! Click here to see the video.

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Peace College Community; Leaders in Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Congratulations to the entire Peace College Community for ranking number 68 out of 267 participating colleges in RecycleMania 2010! For 2009 year Peace College finished at number 119. RecycleMania is a competition between colleges and universities in North America to reduce waste. Every spring, students across the country compete for national supremacy to determine which school can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste.

Our reduced waste stream and increased participation in recycling is a credit to all the staff, students and faculty at Peace College. Particular credit and thanks goes to goes to the Green Team and its enthusiastic leader, Immie miles.

Sustainability Leader

Walmart the largest private employer in the U.S. announced it would squeeze 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, the retailer rolled out Supplier Energy Efficiency Program (SEEP) with the goal of helping its suppliers save electricity and money, in turn bringing down the price of products.

The premise behind SEEP is simple -- share with its suppliers the expertise it has accumulated through making its own fleet of clubs and super stores more efficient. The program gives suppliers access to a slew of proven energy efficient technologies in the areas of lighting, HVAC, building envelope and building controls -- at the same prices Walmart pays. The results are very good!

In addition, Walmart also is promoting its Sustainability Product Index, a guide for rating the sustainability of products. The project will be rolled out in three phases, starting with a survey of all of Walmart's suppliers around the globe. The survey consists of 15 questions in four categories: energy and climate, material efficiency, natural resources and people and community. Suppliers were asked to complete the questionnaire by October 1, 2009. The Supplier Sustainability Assesment can be found here.

Visit the Walmart Sustainability web site to learn more.