Throughout human history, we have seen the world’s religious traditions in perpetual conflict. Despite these conflicts, they still all seem to share a deep connection to the earth and a mutual concern about the many pressing environmental issues of our time. “Creation care,” a common term used by people of faith,  can possibly be the catalyst that finally gets our world’s religious traditions to transcend their various theological and ideological divides as they work together to solve the impending environmental crisis.

he GreenZoneOnline is inviting environmentalists from all faith traditions to join us in our endeavor. We are a safe place, where all voices can openly share how their particular beliefs and values have led them to care so passionately about the future of our planet.

Our universal concern about the earth is getting such diverse organizations like the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Coalition of the Environment and Jewish Life, The U.S. Catholic Conference, and the Naitonal Council of Churches to work together in ways we have not seen before. As organizations previously in conflict work toether to save the environment, we may also enter a a new era of reconciliation among our churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples.  T

Whatever the outcome, bringing together the spiritual and secular voices will amplify our message.  We will be a powerful voice that can be really heard by those who have the power to get things done. And by focusing all of our intellectual and creative resources on saving the planet, as a bonus, we may enter a whole new era of reconcililation among the fatih traditions of the world.

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Filed under: Faith and the Environment, Uncategorized |

Imagine hitting up the local pub, sipping your favorite microbrew, and unwinding after a long day. Now imagine that the people you’re drinking with aren’t coworkers but environmental activists and the overwhelming majority of conversation is centered around biodiesel, backyard gardens, and the only debate is whether wind or solar energy is more efficient.  This is Green Drinks.

Green Drinks was started in London in 1989 and has now spread to 51 cities in the UK and 223 in the US. They’ve also got chapters in Canada, Asia, and all around the world. The largest global chapter is in New York City with 10,000 members.   The meetings are usually monthly and members range from non-profit canvassers to government officials.  To find out when the next Green Drinks meeting is nearest you, check out www.greendrinks.org

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Filed under: Green Living |

A bi-partisan group, dubbed the “Gang of Ten”, through compromise and the swallowing of a little partisan pride, has come up with proposed legislation that most Americans can support and is really good news for the environment. And it actually might do everything it’s intended to do: reduce our need for foreign oil, reduce gas prices, and build a stronger economy.

Democrats may not get their way for a “wind-fall” profits tax on oil companies, but the plan still calls for the elimination of $30 billion in oil company tax breaks. Republicans will not get to drill in Anwr, but they will still get to drill 50 miles or more off the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. And though a lot of environmentalists will not be happy with the legislation’s call for the speedy development of nuclear and liquid coal plants, at least the liquid coal plants will only be allowed if they capture their carbon emissions.

This new environmental policy should be aggressive enough to please the most avid environmentalists. It calls for $20 billion to be spent over a 10 year period to transition 85% of American cars and trucks to use something other than gas or diesel in the next 20 years. At the same time, this bill calls for strong conservation provisions, generous consumer tax credits, and for all domestically produced energy resources to stay in the United States. It even calls for the establishment of a National Commission to help overcome any obstacles to reaching it’s ambitious goals.

This is a serious bill and it should develop a ground swell of support from consumers all accross the political spectrum, leaving our politicians with little choice but to embrace the legislation. After all, swallowing a little partisan pride is good for the country. Our representatives in Washington should all do more of it.

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Filed under: Green Politics |

San Francisco developed a plan to enhance bike riding for its residents and create a safer biking environment. In 2004, the city released a 527-page plan with maps, analysis, and a call for more bike lanes and better bike parking. With the improvements, they had hoped to increase bike commuting to 10% of the total commuting in the city

While bikers loved the plan, local citizen Rob Anderson was opposed. He claimed that bicycle lanes would increase pollution. How, you ask? Well, he said that stealing perfectly good street space from cars and giving it to bikes would increase congestion, leading to emissions from idling. Anderson successfully convinced a judge to halt the plan while the city develops an environmental impact report.

On the whole, Anderson sounds like a local eccentric with too much power. He states in his blog that the city’s plan is an “attempt by the anti-car fanatics to screw up our traffic on behalf of the bicycle fantasy.” He ran for a seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors in 2004 and received 332 of 34,955 votes, so clearly the public does not agree with many of his policies. Despite what might be considered cantankerous ramblings, Anderson does have one good point. He complains that bikers often consider themselves above the law. I would have to agree.

I live in a city with numerous bike lanes and merely moderate traffic. I bike to the library weekly and walk wherever I can. But the city’s cyclists often ignore rules put in place to make everyone safer. They often run red lights while riding in bike lanes. Daily, I’ll see them riding on the sidewalk in broad daylight (relegating my dog and me to the grass) while a spacious bike lane exists five feet beside it. And rarely do they wear helmets, even when cycling with their helmeted children.

It’s difficult to imagine that bike lanes could increase congestion, but I would certainly love for the police to enforce cycling laws as often as they enforce them on motor vehicles. I’ll give you that one concession, Mr. Anderson. But I will continue to live with a personal “bicycle fantasy.”

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Filed under: Climate & Pollution, Eco Travel, Transportation & Alternative Fuels |

Walking through a plot of fresh grass in your bare feet feels glorious, right? But what if you could saw a patch of grass into your flip flops? Would you do it?

I don’t think I would be game for such footwear, but apparently the creators over at Krispy Kreme – yes, the guys behind the glazed doughnut – thought otherwise.

That’s because when they interviewed a more than 1,000 workers throughout the United Kingdom, 81 percent of them said a walk in the park makes them feel more at ease.

So, the doughnut empire thought, “Well, why don’t we just combine the two, giving people a stroll through the park 24/7?”

But wait, there’s more: Purchasers of the flip flops also get to grow their own grassy kicks, waiting three weeks for their shoes to sprout more than 5,000 blades of grass. The bonus, however, is that once the grass grows, it can last up to four months if it is watered on a regular basis.

The eco-loving footwear has yet to hit the market, but Londoners are receiving free pairs to test out during their commutes to work.

If grass under your feet is not the earthy approach you are seeking, then you may want to test out one of these other, less literally “green,” shoe options:

*Simple Shoes: All shoes are made from recycled, earth-friendly materials.

*Hemp Oasis Shoes: Shoes made from, you guessed it – hemp!

*Patagonia Footwear: Comfy, environmentally-friendly shoes.

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Filed under: Green Business, Green Humor, Green Living, Sustainable Cities, Transportation & Alternative Fuels |

This article about the Sahara being green several thousand years ago gave me a fresh perspective on climate change. It turns out that climate change is, after all, a natural and cyclical process our planet undergoes every few thousand years or so. Deserts becomes forests and vice-versa. Rivers dry out and new ones appear in another hemisphere. Now where do we stand on all this? For us these shifts may mean wars, starvation, billions of lost lives, destroyed economies…

If miniature changes in the planet’s orbit cause such changes on its surface — how small and vulnerable do we have to be to call the latter “big?” It is exciting and frustrating at the same time: we are powerless in face of the grand proceedings, but at least we now have the tools to record and analyze some of them. The fun part about being small is that everything around you is so big!

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Filed under: Climate & Pollution, Water Issues |