Earth Dance Miami

September 15, 2007, at 7PM EST, nearly half a million world citizens in over 60 countries and 350 locations worldwide will join together for the world's largest synchronized music and dance festival for peace and to support humanitarian causes through the global language of music and dance. The defining moment of each Earthdance event is a synchronized link-up, when every event around the world plays a specially produced song called "The Prayer for Peace" at exactly the same time.

It will be an all day event with tons of music, performance art, yoga, and more. Doors open at 2pm. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and here's the real bargain: get there before 4pm and get in 2 for 1.
EarthDance Miami
EarthDance International

Live Earth or Dead Earth?

The debate, like something else large and round and under our feet, is getting hot out there over the Al Gore's Live Earth worldwide concert on 7.7.07. The word thrown around the most is "hypocritical," especially of the artists who fly around on jets all over the world to line their pockets (and satisfy music-starved fans like myself), but more so on the event itself and the "carbon footprint" (a term getting more and more use lately) of 9 concerts all over the world promoting green initiatives and cutting carbon emissions - all great goals - but I wonder how much emissions were generated simply lighting one of the stages, not to mention the gas emissions from the cars of the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of concertgoers who came to see such acts as Duran Duran, The Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Madonna (who apparently rocked London like no one else), etc etc etc etc etc...

Articles:

Live Earth - Was it Any Good?
BBC's Quickie Live Earth Article
MTV News piece, with quickie Al Gore interview.

Carbon Bigfoot

There has been a lot of talk lately about a person's "carbon footprint" but not a lot of people actually know what it means. According to Wikipedia it means:

Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market.

Now there are a bunch of websites out there than can calculate your carbon footprint. You should check out the sites and maybe learn a few tips on how to reduce your impact.

What's Your Life Impact?

CarbonFootprint.Com

An Inconvenient Truth - Carbon Calculator

The House that Cannabis built

Ok so maybe just the walls...
The Rokeby-Thomas house on Saltspring Island, Canada was built with hemp-bale walls on the main floor.

If this house ever caught on fire I'm sure they would have some party.

Ok so hemp itself is not a drug, but it's a funny thought.

source

Change the World from your Balcony

A Garden City is real in Singapore.

Let's all take note. Even concrete cities with high-rise apartments can grow it all!

As well as reducing air and noise pollution, plants lower ambient air temperatures through evapo-transpiration, and by blocking heat from the sun with their leaves.

Do You Want To Save The World?

It seems that saving the world is on everyone's lips lately. San Francisco just passed a law which would ban plastic bags to be used at supermarkets and other stores. A major solar power plant just opened in Portugal. Restaurants are refocusing their menus on local sustainable ingredients. Countless companies are going green. Biodiesel fuel is available for everyday use. And people are switching to energy saver lightbulbs.

Sounds like people are actually starting to realize the need for change.

Lori just posted a great piece on her blog about saving the planet one plate at a time. She talks about a book called Soul-Full Eating, written by Maureen Whitehouse. Maureen says:

“I’d like to offer people hope,” said Whitehouse. “To deliver the news that there are simple things you can do to affect global change for the better. Yes, responding to Al Gore’s call to action can start as simply as choosing different foods to put on your plate. And you can learn to make better choices more easily when you know how to eat in a way that resonates with your Soul.”

So what can you do today to save the world? Well, first you can go out and get Maureen's book and learn about buying organic local foods. Next, buy some reusable cloth bags to take to the grocery store which will cut down on plastic bag use. Try opening the windows instead of pumping the A/C. Shut off the lights when you leave a room. Find out if your local energy company has any reusable energy sources which you can help contribute towards. FPL recently started a new program called Sunshine Energy where you contribute $9.75 a month towards building reusable alternative energy sources in Florida.

So what else can you do right now? Please share some tips and help save the world!