PDS APES 8th Period 2009-10

This is a video I’ve seen that will make you wonder about fuel emissions. Be ready. It’s kind of scary.

Alright, I know I post a lot of stuff on here, but I just spend some time on stumbleupon.com and I stumble upon lots of relevant stuff.

Take this for instance. It is a really helpful model showing how all of our trash ended up in the middle of the Pacific ocean in the gyre. I never quite understood how it all condensed until this model.

Hey guys, I just stumbled upon this cool website about our use of the Great Lakes:

Water life

It’s a bit dramatic and biased, but if you are looking at it for nothing else, it has cool music and graphics.

While we have not directly talked about it in class, we have mentioned how many companies are trying to become more ‘green’ or environmentally friendly because that seems to be what the consumer wants. Here are two commercials that I have seen recently displaying that:

Yall can judge  if you want that I was looking at an aquarium website while I should be studying for my test but I found this recent news about finding in the Great Barrier Reef and it is related to what we have talked about.  They talk about how the reserves on the reef allow the bigger fish to survive and escape commercial fishing to create more offspring, making the reef more dense in fish populations.  It even talks about how these reserves can allow “spill over” into fished areas.  It also talks about some side effects associated with removing key aspects of the oceans predator prey relationships through either bycatch or targeting carnivorous species.  I thought it was interesting and worth sharing.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/02/22/great-barrier-reef-marine-reserves-aiding-reefs-health/#more-15606

So, I’m sitting around recovering from hip surgery and watching a LOT of TV these days…in fact, was watching the ESPN broadcast of the Kansas-Michigan “Green Game” this afternoon. I know labeling things “green” has become the super-hip thing to do over the last 4-5 years, but this was the first time I had seen a college basketball game broadcast labeled this way. ESPN did a few nice features during the broadcast about sustainability efforts at KU. Kermit the Frog even did a little enviro-intro for the game! If curious, you can read more about the good work going on at KU and events associated with the game at these two sites:

http://www.freep.com/article/20091215/BLOG14/91215028/-1/rss07

http://www.wibw.com/sports/headlines/79333402.html

You all (students) may not realize that before about five years ago, green was just a color to most folks. The use of the term “green” (for eco-friendly actions) in advertising and entertainment areas has really grown exponentially since then. For example, I know NBC and Fox networks have each done a “green week” for at least the last two years. They even have popular stars do public service announcements about recycling or energy conservation during commercial breaks. Why? Well, some call it “greenwashing.” What’s that, you ask? Here’s a definition:

Greenwashing is the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy.

So, why is what NBC or Fox or ESPN doing considered sorta sly? Well…do you think the network executives are doing it for the network or us (or both)? You decide…Here are a few websites of big companies that you can check for yourself:

BP or “Beyond Petroleum” is saving the world? Have you seen this slick cartoon ad campaign on TV? Check out the “green” gas station:

http://www.bp.com/heliospower/modularhome.do?categoryId=2210&contentId=7030154

NBC Green Week:

http://www.nbc.com/Green/

Finally, here are a few “watchdog” sites that monitor greenwashing:

Sourcewatch (that’s where I found the definition above):

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenwashing

Greenwashing.net

http://www.greenwashing.net/

Corpwatch:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=102

So, be a smart consumer, not all that is green is good. ANY group can claim to be green-there is no government standard! Love to discuss any of this with any of you here or in class one day…can you think of other examples you’ve seen?

Okay, so I found this website and I think its really cool. It shows what would happen on Earth if humans were to disappear today.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1Rkag4/www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html

Don’t know if any of you remember Colby Anderson (’07), but I got this tweet from him today on Twitter:

APES 8th makes it to Twitter!

What’s next?!