The Go Green Debate

What is Pangea Day?

Pangea Day is a four-hour film festival of “user-generated films and TED-style short talks from scientists, filmmakers, and global visionaries.” The event will air internationally May 10th, 2008 on television and online.

Below is a video featuring Cameron Diaz urging support for the day & why it is so important.

For more information on how to take part, check out Pangea Day’s official website.

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day, April 22, marks the anniversary of the modern environmental movement in 1970. It is an annual celebration of the environment and intended to inspire awareness of & appreciation for the Earth’s environment.

Earth Day was initiated in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started a “teach-in” to protest the government’s environmental ignorance. This eventually led to legislation including the Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1977) and fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.

AP reports that officials of eighteen states are suing the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in an attempt to force it to comply with a Supreme Court ruling last April that found the EPA has authority to regulate vehicle emission.

In the petition the plaintiffs said last April’s 5-4 ruling required the EPA to decide whether to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA has done nothing.

The petition asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to require the EPA to act within 60 days.

The plaintiffs in the latest court action include Coakley and attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia, plus representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the cities of New York and Baltimore, and several environmental organizations.

The debate continues with the bottled water verse tap water scandal. We all know that tap water is better for the environment, but is it safe? And what about the taste? Check out this 20/20 clip where they break it all down and finally answer all your questions about drinking water.

On Thursday, March 13 at the ECO:nomics conference in California, the president and CEO of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott Jr., clearly stated in an interview:

“We are not green.” - Lee Scott Jr.

However, Wal-Mart has very publicized efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, even dedicating a whole section of there website to this effort.

“Focusing on the environment is key to our mission to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Environmental leadership is critical to our future ability to grow and thrive as a company.” - Wal-Mart

But it is very clear that Wal-Marts focus is to save money, not please environmentalists.

“It really is about how you take cost out, which is waste.” - Lee Scott Jr.

Is coal clean? Is coal cheaper & better than renewable energy? Possibly, in 10 years with a billions of dollars of research. However the coal industry still attempts to sell carbon sequestration technology.

In the small mining town of Ely, Nevada the coal industry lobby for a new construction of “clean” coal plants. The residents resist and are upset that it would double the greenhouse gas emissions of the town.

“In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the democracy crisis.” - Al Gore

At the closing session of the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference (TED) in Monterey, California on Saturday, March 1st, Al Gore delivered a speech insisting that the public become more active and insistent about the environmental problems we are facing in order to force politicians out of their complacency.

“As important as it is to change the light bulbs, it’s more important to change the laws.” - Al Gore

Mary Lou Jepsen gives an awesome presentation on at the Greener Gadgets 2008 conference in New York on One Laptop Per Child.

“By trying to do the right thing and by designing for the poorest people in the world, we’ve made the greenest laptop in the world. And that’s not just the color!” - Mary Lou Jepsen

In the video below, Mary Lou illustrates how the OLPC laptop, also known as XO or the $100 laptop, is a new model for energy-efficient electronics, consuming just 2 Watts of energy.

Rex Murphy talks about his “Point of View” of global warming on the CBC’s (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) flagship nightly news program, The National.

Katie Couric on Primary Questions asked ten leading presidential candidates whether or not global warming is a real and immediate threat.