Green Sexy

Ansel Adams: An Artist & Conservationist

We all know Ansel Adams as a gifted photographer who is best known for his stunning black and white photographs of Yosemite National Park.  What you may not know is that Ansel Adams was also an ardent environmentalist and conservationist whose involvement in the Sierra Club furthered the success of that organization and of its environmental initiatives nationwide.   In 1919 at the age of 17, Ansel started off as custodian of the Sierra Club's headquarters in Yosemite National Park.  In 1928 he became Sierra Club's official trip photographer.  In 1930 Ansel became the assistant manager of Sierra Club's annual outing.  His artistic career was furthered when "his first photographs and writings were published in the Sierra Club Bulletin.  In 1934, Adams was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, a role he maintained for 37 years."  A volume of Ansel's photographs of the King's River region was instrumental in influencing the Interior Secretary and President Franklin Roosevelt to create Kings Canyon Park in 1940.  "In 1968 Adams was awarded the Conservation Service Award, the Interior Department's highest civilian honor" and "In 1980 Adams received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for 'his efforts to preserve this country's wild and scenic areas, both on film and on earth.' "  So thanks to Ansel Adams, we can appreciate the beauty of nature in the pictures he took and in the parks he was instrumental in helping to create.      

Here's a beautiful excerpt from a letter Ansel wrote to a friend, as revealed on Ansel Adams American Experience on PBS: 

"A strange thing happened to me today. I saw a big thundercloud move down over Half Dome, and it was so big and clear and brilliant that it made me see many things that were drifting around inside of me; things that relate to those who are loved and those who are real friends. For the first time I know what love is; what friends are; and what art should be. Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things...Friendship is another form of love -- more passive perhaps, but full of the transmitting and acceptances of things like thunderclouds and grass and the clean granite of reality. Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is a recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the interrelations of these."

Discovery Channel: Planet Green!

On Wednesday, June 4th, 2008, Discovery Channel will be launching Planet Green, an all-new, all-green-focused channel!   In an April 7th, 2007 press release, Discovery Communications Chief Executive David Zaslav announced that Discovery Home Channel was going to be reborn as Planet Green (as if I didn't already love Discovery Channel enough already!).  Corporate is throwing $50 million dollars into original programming, so expect exciting new Earth-friendly shows, such as:

-Supper Club is a show hosted by Dancing With the Stars' Tom Bergeron.  Each week Tom will sit down with four famous people to discuss pertinent green issues over an expertly-prepared dinner by a world-renowned chef.

-In WA$TED!, host Annabelle Gurwitch audits environmentally-unfriendly homes and helps the owners institute changes in their lifestyles that will equate to tangible financial savings.  "Each household's 21 days of results are then tabulated into the estimated savings that going green for the entire year would bring, which is awarded as a cash prize."  Sign me up!  

-The G Word, hosted by MTV's SuChin Pak and CBS News correspondent Daniel Sieberg, is a daily hour-long show that highlights a plethora of green topics!

-Renovation Nation, hosted by Steve Thomas (of This Old House), will explore green-building practices, from the homeowners who are "greening" their houses to the factories that produce green building materials...AND MORE!!!

This is just a brief introduction to this new and exciting channel.  To find out more, tune into Planet Green tomorrow and experience it for yourself!

Whale Wars

Animal Planet will air a program entitled Whale Wars this fall.  Whale Wars is about Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's members' efforts to interfere with Japanese whaling expeditions.  In one episode, members toss rancid butter onto the deck of a Japanese whaling vessel to make the decks slippery and to spoil the whale meat and two even boarded the vessel, creating an international incident.  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's actions are not always condoned by other conservation organizations; The International Whaling Commission, a society that protects whales, has been critical of Sea Shepherd's dangerous actions. 

The show is one-sided---there's no attempt made to get the Japanese side of the story, but how can one possibly justify whaling in the modern world?  What, are we trying to get oil from their blubber to light our lamps at night?  It is true that there are many fish in the sea, so concentrate on catching fish, not whales, which are highly-intelligent mammals!  Do I condone Sea Shepherd's radical tactics that they employ in the defense of whales?  If their actions help bring an end to whaling, then yes. 

If you're still wrestling with the "Well, what about people's livelihoods?" argument to whaling, then watch this video from my previous post "Japanese Whaling---Killing a Mother and Calf" and then tell me what you think! 

HDTV Conversion---A Potential E-Waste Disaster?

In an effort to provide more programming options, offer a clearer picture, and to free up the airwaves for emergency responders, all U.S. television stations will cease their analog broadcasts in favor of a digital signal.  This switchover to the digital signal will occur on February 17, 2009.  In order to still use an old analog television, you'll have to either buy a converter box (which is estimated to cost $50-70 dollars) or pay a cable or satellite company for their digital signal.  Otherwise, you'll have to buy a digital television. 

In any case, this changeover will cost television-watching Americans money.  In an effort to lessen the financial burden this may have on some people, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is offering a TV Converter Box Coupon Program, in which consumers can apply online for a $40 government coupon that can be used to purchase approved converter boxes. 

Another, and much more detrimental effect this changeover will have, is the potential environmental impact of people throwing away their old analog television sets.   Environmentalists' concerns over this potential e-waste disaster are growing as the changeover date quickly approaches.   No, not everyone responsibly disposes of their lead-filled analog television sets, thus adding to the ever-increasing e-waste problem. There are, however, environmentally-safe ways to recycle your analog television sets (and other electronic waste)---check out mygreenelectronics.org, and type in your zip code to find a local business that will take your e-waste. 

Hopefully broadcasters, television manufacturers, and our government will do their part in educating the public on how to properly dispose of their analog television sets.  Only time will tell if we'll get a "clearer picture" of how the digital switchover will affect our environment.

Invention Nation

Discovery Channel, Discovery Health, HD Theater, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, The Military Channel, and The Science Channel---sometimes I feel as if I've learned more from watching the Discovery Channel and its offshoots than I did in all of my science classes in high school.  Watching these channels negates somewhat the guilt of watching television because you are actually expanding your knowledge base on a variety of scientific topics.

Imagine my delight when I came across a show called "Invention Nation" that airs at 10 p.m. on Monday nights (Eastern Time) on the Science Channel.  What's so great about this show?  Well, the show is all about inventors of green technologies and what means they used to make their ideas a reality.  The show is "hosted" by three like-minded friends---Nobu, Chris, and Micah---who decided to follow their green convictions and modified a van so that it ran on used vegetable oil.  Then they drove that van from New York to California in search of green inventors.  And they've found some winners!  In one episode, they visited a plant that converted construction site waste to energy.  In another episode they met two ladies who want to install energy-harnessing revolving doors in high-traffic office buildings.  I read on the Invention Nation website that one inventor created solar panels from used CDs?  Now, I must've missed that one, but I'm dying to see it!

You've got to check out this show!  Go to the Discovery Channel Website and check out this and other awesome shows that I'm sure to blog about in the future!