Shades of Green at the Super Bowl and Sundance

While the predominant colors of both of this year's Super Bowl teams are red, white, and blue, a little bit of unexpected green will be seen peeking through as well (and not just on the astroturf). The NFL, whose Super Bowl is one of the largest annual events in terms of attendance, consumption and carbon emissions (teams, fans, support staff traveling to and from game along with the event itself), is making efforts to offset their impact on the environment. According to Jack Groh, the NFL's Environmental Program Director, "If you're going to be over the top in how huge the event is, why not be over the top in terms of trying to address the environmental impact, too?"

"I love you, man. Don't forget to recycle."

And what exactly is in the playbook? In addition to expanding recycling efforts that started 15 years ago (translation - even those those throwing the tailgate parties can find a place to recycle), the NFL is planting 10,000 trees in Arizona, donating leftover food, using renewable energy, purchasing local goods, and operating energy efficient vehicles. The NFL has also partnered with TerraPass.com to offset the greenhouse gas emissions created by team and staff travel, which is estimated to be 500 tons. The event still has a long way to go in order to become carbon neutral, including factoring in fan travel to and from the big game, but raising awareness at such an over the top event is certainly a good place to start.

Another annual event that is making valiant attempts at going greener is the Sundance Film Festival. In fact, the bio-diesel documentary Fields of Fuel received the Documentary Audience Award. For more on the efforts at this year's festival, guest blogger Barndi Kim reports on her experiences there:

Greener Sundance
by Barndi Kim

It's not there yet but working on it. In thinking about which shade of green the Sundance festival is, it is important to remember that the purpose of this annual 10-day festival is not about saving the environment. Ecological responsibility is secondary (at best) to the other agendas here and what eco-actions are implemented stems more from the consciousness of Park City residents, the general greening of today's consumers, and the environmental inclinations of the festival founder. With that in mind, I say Sundance shows both the promise and the will to be much greener in the near future.

Most Obvious: Smack in the middle of Main Street was the Lexus Hybrid Green Lounge. Past the velvet ropes you had your option of hand-massages using Pangea Organic products, see samples from designer clothes sources made from organic cottons, cocktails made with ModMix, the organic mixer, or you could just escape the cold and eat Verve chocolate.

The mob scene outside the Lexus Hybrid Green Lounge waiting to get their swag bag
(okay, not really, but it looks pretty popular). The founder of Bubble and Bee Organics certainly looks happy...

The Booty: an untreated cotton canvas Lexus Hybrid Gift Lounge (LHGL) bag with
- hardcover LHGL book of green locations throughout the world
- LHGL CD sampler housed in paper case
- a teeny sample of Pangea product
- Verve chocolate and

- an organic cotton T-shirt from Cotton Market
AND
- a gift bag from Bubble and Bee Organics

Most Practical: Easy to use, bio-diesel, free Park City shuttles. They start at 7am and go to all major SFF venues.

Most Egregious: As with all things Hollywood, bottled waters from far-flung locals were everywhere. There was a local-glacier water in nifty pack Park City water but only at the LHGL. (http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/01/05/eco-friendly-bottled-water-will-represent-at-the-golden-globes/)

Most Innovative: ChaCha text messaging system. It debuted here and quickly became our BFF. With just standard text charges, you can ask ChaCha anything from "the buzz on Incendiary?" to "ski conditions @ DValley" to "wats open 4 bkfst on main?" My hope is that by SFF '09, all party invites and many other informations will be digitized, saving paper.

Again, there are plenty of areas for improvement (limits on packaging for give-aways, ubiquitous recycling bins for all the empty free energy drinks and water, policing all the print materials, from postcards to movie posters) and the very nature of getting the people, the foods, the swag all there is a giant carbon footprint. But rest assured that baby steps are being made towards a greener festival.

barndi.blogspot.com

GoodReads, Meet The Know-It-All

Let me start with the disclaimer that I am certainly not a know-it-all, although I admit that when it comes to certain topics, I sometimes aspire to be one. I imagine that it would increase my confidence when debating such sticky issues as religion as an excuse for bigotry, or warfare, or stem cell research. On second thought though, confidence often straddles a fine line with smugness, so perhaps it is just as well that I am not smug in the face of these often deeply personal debates. As for the good reads part, while I have yet to publish a book, I do hope that my books are someday described as at least "easy-to," "interesting," or "entertaining" reads. And perhaps I will even make enough of an impact that I will someday be an entry in the good old Encyclopedia Britannica.

For those of you like me that want to increase your knowledge, but don't want to read all 33,000 pages of said encyclopedia, you can vicariously enjoy the ride by reading about someone else who did. In The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, author, A.J. Jacobs recounts his experience tackling the 44 million words contained within the pages of the Britannica with self-deprecating humor and alternating bouts of Britannica-induced hypochondria, intellectual superiority, and poignant reminders of our connections to the rest of humanity.

While A.J. may not have measurably changed the world with his endeavor, he certainly learned more about it, which is indeed one of the first steps towards solving any crisis or dilemma. My friend Robin's brother Gus recently put it like this, "I think that reading a book is the best thing you can do with your time." And what struck me most about this statement was the surety of his tone. He offered no qualifications or disclaimers, and he was not afraid to issue his now seemingly unconventional view in the age of text messaging, instant messaging, and broadcast messaging. Perhaps, then, it is no coincidence that Gus (and his sister Robin, who follows this advice), is one of the smartest people I know.

So what would it be like if we all made a little more time to read a book? Many of you may already have a stack of books at the ready from numerous gluttonous trips to your local bookstore (yes, that's me too). Thanks to Robin the Reader, as I will dub her for now, I have upgraded my bibliophilia to the Internet Age through Goodreads.com. Goodreads offers a free service where you can keep track of the books you are reading (and want to read), read writer recommendations and reviews, and share your literary pearls of wisdom with friends. Basically, regular visits to this site will not only improve your literary IQ, they will also ensure that you never go book hungry again - So what are you waiting for smarty pants? Go feed that brain!

Gus & Robin - The Smartiest of Pantses

How to Recycle Your E-Waste

Many of us find our post-holiday consumption bliss being tempered by the stark reality that we are now surrounded by electronic waste. Suddenly, you find yourself with a new MacBook, flat screen TV, or iPhone - but what to do with your PC, Razr Phone, and 30-inch Sony TV?

If you answered, "Throw it away," consider this - According to Earth 911, "Electronic waste accounts for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste that you currently find in landfills. In addition to valuable metals like aluminum, electronics often contain hazardous materials like lead and mercury. When placed in a landfill, these materials (even in small doses) can contaminate soil as well as drinking water."

Yikes! There has to be a better way...

The Daily Green, one of my favorite blogs, offers many tips for recycling your e-waste in their blog, "How to Recycle Your Used Electronics," including very useful information about how to recycle by brand. In addition to their recycling programs, companies from Apple to Sony now offer trade-in programs that give credit towards an upgrade.

The Consumer Electronics association runs a website, mygreenelectronics, where you can search for recycling drop-off locations by entering in the type of electronics you would like to recycle and the zip code. A similar resource is offered by The Electronic Industries Alliance and Earth 911.

Cell phones can often be recycled or donated to charity. You can find a donation box near you by visiting Wireless Recyling, or you can send your cell phone, pager, or PDA to Collective Good and choose which charity will benefit from your donation.

As for what makes those products so exciting, or at least utilitarian, those gadget support systems need to be recycled too! Printer cartridges, batteries, CDs, and DVDs can all easily avoid the landfill. Go to Battery Solutions to recycle single use and rechargeable batteries. Recycle Place pays for empty inkjet and laser toner cartridges, as well as cell phones.

If your television, DVD player, or VHS tape is simply the victim of an upgrade or new interests, remember the old yard sale mantra, "Your trash is bound to be someone else's treasure." Consider posting a giveaway on freecycle.org or try selling it on Craig's List or Ebay.

So clearly there are better ways. In fact I began my research expecting there to be a dearth of options, and in fact I found just the opposite. It is fitting after all that the minds behind the technology that sends words, pictures, and music through space resulting in a "smaller planet" should also help to provide the technology that we need to make sure that there is still enough clean room for everyone.

5 More Reasons to Get Excited About '08 (In Other People's Opinions)

I have received a lot of suggestions and ideas about other great reasons to get excited about '08. This coupled with my own normal blog browsing convinced me that there are so many ideas, it is worthwhile to devote another weekly way to other people's lists. It is January after all, and we have many reasons to be full of hope. Here are a few more -

1. Foodies Rejoice! The February Issue of Bon Appetit is the green issue. Look through their section on the best eco-friendly restaurants, or browse their picks of the best organic dark chocolate. Drooling yet? They also have an article about an earth friendly dinner party as well as one about a retreat in Siena, Italy, which is all about the food. Click below for the goods.

2. Looking for an idea every day? Check out the Living Green Page-A-Day Calendar with ideas from the mundane (how to reduce your daily gas mileage) to the unexpected (what to do with your worn down bar of soap -hmmmm...). I'm intrigued, and all I had to do for the answer was to skip ahead to July.

3. Whether you are still looking for a resolution or have decided to find one you can actually stick to, Sierra Club's List of 5 Simple Things You Can Do About Global Warming is a good place to start committing to changes that are good for everyone.

4. The New York City Council just passed a bill that requires big retail stores to collect and recycle plastic bags. This is a big step forward in reducing plastic bag consumption. Of course, no matter where you live, you can do more to close the loop by bringing your own bags to the store. My favorite continues to be the ultra compact bags from ReusableBags.com that fold up into a miniscule pouch and easily fit into my vegan purse from Matt and Nat.

5. On January 31st, Focus the Nation educational symposiums will take place throughout the country. They will be "national teach-ins on global warming solutions for America—creating a dialogue at over a thousand colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, places of worship, civic organizations and businesses, and directly engaging millions of students and citizens with the nation’s decision-makers." For more information and to find a focus group near you, visit their website.