Author: William Craven

San Francisco: Paper, not Plastic (plus Sharon Rowe & EcoBags)

Written by William Craven on March 30, 2007. Posted in Green Biz. 1 Comment on San Francisco: Paper, not Plastic (plus Sharon Rowe & EcoBags)

EcoBags founder Sharon Rowe joins Betsy to celebrate San Francisco’s decision to ban plastic bags from all supermarkets, which I predict will come to be seen as a shining example of responsible governments (and local governments at that– forget about Bush, contact City Hall!) setting the table for practical, innovative businesspeople to feast on the opportunity to make a sustainable living. Practical, innovative businesspeople like Ms. Rowe, who saw the writing on the wall (or the plastic bags in the trees) way back in 1989. LISTEN (11 min)

Treehugger & Ed Begley Jr.

Written by William Craven on March 30, 2007. Posted in TreeHugger Radio.

Treehugger Correspondent Simran Sethi
chats with noted actor and green lover of life Ed Begley Jr. about mixing business (Hollywood) with pleasure (living on a clean planet), living rather than preaching the message, and learning to love the outdoors as a Boy Scout. LISTEN (9 min)

Peter Gleick: The fate of Billions

Written by William Craven on March 26, 2007. Posted in water.

Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute talks about the connections between water scarcity, climate change, and the fate of billions: "There are a billion people who don’t have access to safe drinking water. There are more than 2.5 billion people who don’t have access to adequate sanitation services. There are hundreds of millions of cases of water-related diseases every year. What we have is a failure of governments and organizations to meet these basic human needs." LISTEN (11 min)

Jeff Gearheart: Toxic At Any Speed

Written by William Craven on March 26, 2007. Posted in Health.

There are certain smells that have become a part of our modern environment, including the oft-celebrated "new car smell." But…what the heck is that? Jeff Gearheart of HealthyCar.org stops by to list the toxic chemicals that together form that odor, and what harmful effects may accompany it. LISTEN (7 min)

Henry Waxman: Washington’s Climate (finally) Changes

Written by William Craven on March 24, 2007. Posted in climate change.

California Congressman Henry Waxman reflects on a week which saw Rep. Waxman himself presiding over hearings on the Bush Administration’s brazen politicization of science; the largest yet (OK, 3,000 is not Dr. King-size, but still) citizen rally in Washington for action against climate change; and the triumphant return of Albert Gore, the man who would be president. Waxman sizes up the momentum, and feels the winds of change at his back: "We have the chance to act. We have the responsibility to act. But we’re not going to be given an indefinite period of time to act." LISTEN (11 min)

Click Here to Create a Better World

Written by William Craven on March 24, 2007. Posted in NRDC segment. 3 Comments on Click Here to Create a Better World

This week NRDC OnEarth magazine senior editor Laura Wright and journalist Lisa Selin Davis bring us environmental activism in virtual space, or if you prefer, Massive. Multiplayer. Online. Roleplaying. Games. Got it? OK. But whereas most games of this sort allow you to behave violently in the most unthinkably violent civilizations, Second Life houses virtual ecosystems, clean water systems, and visions of post-global warming tragedy. While it is a virtual pastime in a world of rather concrete problems, Second Life offers the opportunity to envision many of the various futures still available to us. LISTEN (7 min)

Liza Dalby: East Wind Melts the Ice

Written by William Craven on March 24, 2007. Posted in Books.

An authority on Japanese culture, Liza Dalby has written a memoir that delves into the deepest rhythms of East Asian thought and sensitivity towards nature’s cycles. Structured according to the seasonal units of an ancient Chinese almanac, East Wind Melts the Ice is the perfect antidote to a world which has substituted 24-hour news cycles, fiscal quarters, and March Madness for the natural seasons which have sustained us for all time. LISTEN (12 min)

Treehugger: Parsing Gore, Praying for Rain, Saving Skiing, and “The Happening”

Written by William Craven on March 24, 2007. Posted in TreeHugger Radio. 1 Comment on Treehugger: Parsing Gore, Praying for Rain, Saving Skiing, and “The Happening”

Treehugger Correspondent Simran Sethi looks at allegations that An Inconvenient Truth oversold the threat of climate change, how the environment offers common ground upon which all faiths can pray, the fate all winter recreation, and finally, the new movie "The Happening", a sort of ‘two days after tomorrow’.
LISTEN (8 min)

Al Gore Before Congress

Written by William Craven on March 22, 2007. Posted in climate change. 1 Comment on Al Gore Before Congress

Center for American Progress Senior Fellow (and author of Hell and High Water) Joseph Romm tells Betsy how impressed he was by Al Gore’s performance before the House and the Senate Wednesday. In many ways Gore’s testimony was like a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth— You wanted solutions? Gore gave Congress ten, from mundane to brand-spanking new. Imagine if this guy had been president. LISTEN (11 min)

See Al on YouTube as mentioned on Joseph’s blog.

Bill McKibben: Step It Up 07!

Written by William Craven on March 22, 2007. Posted in climate change.

Bill McKibben stops by EcoTalk’s Green Street studio to tell Betsy about his new book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future and urges you to Step It Up in your own unqiue way as part of the Step It Up global gathering on April 14th. You’ve got about three weeks to read up on how others are stepping it up, and to think about the coolest way possible you can open the public’s eyes to climate change. PART ONE (7 min) PART TWO (12 min)
Picture courtesy Grist