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Does it really "Save the Poudre" to build a reservoir?

It might be called the one feel-good story of the disaster that continues to ravage the Gulf of Mexico: the seemingly unparalleled effectiveness of Dawn dishwashing liquid at cleaning oiled birds. But few if any of the wildlife-rescue veterans restoring gunk-coated birds this summer know just why the soap is so singularly successful.

Dawn's No. 1 Status for Oiled Bird Rescue Remains a Mystery

An oil spill on a website?

Reusable bags have a dirty secret.

The BP Oil Disaster: If it was My home...

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself.

---John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

Earth Day EVERY day!

It's the birthday of writer and naturalist John Muir, born in Dunbar, Scotland (1838).
He fell in love with the Sierra Mountains in California and spent much of his time hiking and camping there. He was largely responsible for the creation of Yosemite National Park in 1890, and in 1892, he helped found the Sierra Club.

The German running shoe company Puma has come up with a shoebox that is also a bag. It's one of those ideas that seems obvious once it's been invented.

"The Cove", a powerful and troubling documentary film, won an Oscar on Sunday. The Director of the film has a Boulder connection.

A new Gallup poll finds that Boulder is the happiest, healthiest city in the U.S.

Tired of receiving all those phone books on your front porch twice a year? You need Yellow Pages Opt Out.

Today is Broomfield Days, and this year the event is going green.

"What they say about France is true: the country has mastered nuclear technology." La Hague: Recycling the French Model. How France has successfully gone nuclear; what lessons can we learn?

Tap water is found to be safer than bottled water... and a lot cheaper.

Last year, a tap water challenge was staged around the country to see if people could tell the difference between plain old water that comes out of the faucet and very expensive bottled water. Tap water won out much of the time.

The Sears Tower is going to receive a green up-grade. There will be wind turbines, roof gardens, and solar panels included in the five-year project, which will reduce the tower's electricity use by 80 percent and save 24 million gallons of water each year.

We are so tiny. Come on people, let's make Earth a better place, even if Earth doesn't give a damn about us and will survive happily with us extinct, thank you very much. Recycle. Don't waste stuff. Give us a kiss.

Can Poetry Save the Earth?

'Anacostia River'
by El'Jay Johnson, written at age 8

Just imagine?
Waking up one day,?
Looking out your window starting to say...?
No bad smells?
No smoke?
No noise?
No trash?
No junk?
No muddy waters.??

Just imagine?
No dead birds because of?
No dead trees because of?
No dead people because of?
No place to play because of??
Be happy!?
Be safe!?
And just imagine a kid?
Living by the Anacostia River.

For many years the city of Boulder has had small circulator buses (The Hop, The Skip, and The Jump). Now it has added The Climb

"The bus has been chugging up and down the mountain connecting Gold Hill, population 210, to Boulder several times a day for more than a month, powered by vegetable oil and leaving a cloud of French-fry scented exhaust in its wake."

Denver is one of 2,800 cities participating in Earth Hour tonight.

UPDATE: Here is a link to what it actually looked like in big cities around the world as the lights went out. There is a neat feature at this link that lets you click the lights off and on.

Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so.

Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and author (b. 1953) and William L. Rathje, archaeologist and author (b. 1945)

A person who drives a less efficient sport utility vehicle rather than an average passenger car will, over the course of a year, use more energy than if he left his refrigerator door open for six years.

Celebrate the holidays in an eco-friendly fashion.

"World's Greenest Museum" opens in San Francisco.

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.

-Alan M. Eddison

Why are some college cafeterias doing away with lunch trays? It may not seem like an environmental issue, but it is!

As part of Denver's green initiative efforts during the DNC, The Sheraton Hotel will give guests wooden room keys instead of the usual plastic ones.

Oceans "dead zones" are growing.

Was Mar's huge surface gash caused by a giant asteroid impact 4 billion years ago?

Bike to Work Day

For the second year in a row the Boulder Parks and Recreation Department is using a herd of goats to graze down the noxious weeds around Boulder Reservoir. Dog owners are being cautioned to keep their pets on a leash during the two-week project.

Denver 42nd in per-capita carbon output.

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

It takes 1000 years for a plastic bag to degrade. Some time back I started bringing my own reusable environmental bags to the grocery store, and I've noticed more and more people are now doing the same.

Colorado's Cache la Poudre river is number three on the "most endangered" list.

Denver hardly plugged into Earth Hour. But I turned off all my lights and read a book with only candles from 8 to 9 PM Saturday night. It wasn't much, but I contributed a little.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is urging Colorado citizens to participate in this year's Earth Hour 2008.Turn off llights and non-essential appliances for one hour on Saturday March 29 from 8-9 PM.

Last year, WWF-Australia organized the inaugural Earth Hour. Creating buzz and turning heads around the globe, 2.3 million residents of Sydney simply turned off their lights for one hour. The result is immediate and gives a stunning visual of just how much energy is being used to power our cities. In that one event alone, Australia saw a 10% reduction in use of its power grid. In CO2 terms, that's the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road for an hour.

EarthHour - Official Web Site
Information about Earth Hour - with video!

The American West was won by water management. What happens when there's no water left to manage?

Can you fund literacy, care for the environment, and get a fair price on the books you want? Yep... BetterWorld.com

The world's largest "landfill" is actually in the ocean.