Article Source: CS Monitor

Written by - Amy Farnsworth - March 4th, 2009

Many farmers' markets no longer shut down in cold weather.

Pawtucket, R.I. - Inside a long corridor of a renovated mill on a cold January morning, a young brown-haired woman slices handmade ricotta and feta cheeses and lays them out on wooden cheese boards. Around her, baskets of fresh bread and homemade pies line rows of tables and locally harvested oysters poke through clusters of ice. Although ice and snow cover the sidewalks outside, the cheerful sounds of a string band warm the makeshift marketplace in Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, R.I.

The scene at the Rhode Island Wintertime Farmers' Market is not unlike those found in towns and villages across the country each spring and summer. What's unusual here and in growing numbers of communities is what was once small and seasonal is now bigger and year-round, a response to the growing demand nationwide for locally grown and locally produced foods.

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Article Source: CNN

Written - March 2nd, 2009

CNN) -- When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can't help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin. "Out here, you can see the wind turbines from 10 miles away," she said. "Think about how far you'll be able to see when you're at the top." So, partly out of curiosity, partly because she wants to be part of something new, the 51-year-old is leaving behind a career of odd jobs and oil-field work. She's going back to school to become a wind turbine mechanic -- one who'll have to scale the turbines to make repairs.

Across the country, people like Bryer are looking to the renewable energy sector in hopes its "green-collar jobs" will offer them stability in this shaky economy. Some are signing up for community college or apprenticeship programs that train students to be wind turbine mechanics, solar panel installers, fuel-cell engineers or energy efficiency experts.

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Arricle Source: The London Times

Written by - Camilla Cavendish - February 6th, 2009

The President's bold speech on renewable energy has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the world's leaders

The green race is on. Did you notice? Barack Obama fired the starting gun a week ago, but most Europeans were looking the other way. Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, is on the track, but has no one to hand his baton to - his colleagues in the Government are off expanding Heathrow and coal power. Coming up behind him are people who saw dollar signs flashing in President Obama's strident words about oil last week. Going low-carbon is no longer a seminar subject for caring greens. It's a real live competition to beat the oil regimes and make profits, in which the new environmentalists will be alpha males.

The President's speech was astonishing. “America will not be held hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes and a warming planet,” he said, on his sixth day in office. The US would no longer “bankroll dictators” but would create its own energy from the Sun, wind and soil. Unchecked climate change would lead to “violent conflict, terrible storms and irreversible catastrophe”. It was wrong to deny the science, he said. It was wrong to think that clean energy would damage prosperity. This was not the lukewarm language of appeasement, aimed at the green lobby. It was the language of wartime: a declaration of war on fossil fuels.

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Article Source: The Positive Observer

Written by - Maggie Connor, - January 2009

So you say you love nature and the environment? Take a moment and read the following information. See how long it takes each of these items to biodegrade into our lands and precious oceans.

Newspaper         1 Week

Banana                 3 Weeks

Cotton Rag          5 Months

Wool Sock            1 Year

Tin Can                  100 Years

Aluminum Can   200 - 500 years

Plastic Jog            1 Million Years

Styrofoam             Forever

50 - 60 billion tons of new plastic is manufactured every year.