Earthspiration

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Earthspiration

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Be Grateful

image courtesy of City Farm House

Have a nice long weekend everyone. 

Weekly Earthspiration

image courtesy of Earth Day Network

Weekly Earthspiration

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Earthspiration

image courtesy of Free People

Friday Earthspiration

image courtesy of Think Outside the Bin

GoodGuide Brings Conscious Consumerism to Your Fingertips

GoodGuide is one of the handiest, easy-to-use apps for people that want to make smarter, greener, more ethical purchasing decisions. The iphone app has a barcode scanner so you can learn about the social and environmental impacts of a brand right while you are shopping. GoodGuide provides a great resource so consumers don't fall victim to greenwashing. The only problem is that it makes running errands take a bit more time...but all for a good cause!

Victor Douieb Sculpts the Invasive Lionfish

source image courtesy of epicdiving

In April, artist and conservation activist Victor Douieb gave a lecture at the New England Aquarium as part of their free lecture series. Victor, who was never formally trained in the arts, started his career as a dental assistant making molds of patients' teeth. As an art enthusiast and diver, he wanted to purchase a sculpture of a hammerhead shark for his home, but was unable to find one - so he made his own! Since he began sculpting in 2008, he has created pieces that portray both endangered species and invasive species. My personal favorite is the pop art rhino: 

Victor also talked about his latest work - sculptures of the Lionfish. Lionfish are an invasive species originally from the South Pacific that can now be found all along the east coast. They are highly detrimental to the habitats they invade because they eat almost anything, and have no predators. So how did Lionfish get here? Most likely they were released by humans into coastal waters - theories target the Atlantis resort in approximately 1985. And because they live in reef areas where many endangered species live, it is incredibly hard for people to catch Lionfish without threatening other fish. While there is no immediate solution to the problem, Victor is bringing awareness to the issue through his art in the hopes that people will take notice and come up with innovative ways to reduce Lionfish numbers.

Happy Arbor Day

source image courtesy of flickr

Movie Night Suggestion

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If you haven't already seen the eye-opening documentary Blackfish, I highly recommend you get on Netflix and watch it ASAP! As a lover of wildlife, I was horrified to learn of the conditions in which many orcas are kept around the globe. While SeaWorld claims that much of Blackfish is false or misleading, the documentary certainly does a good job of making people think of the human-animal relationships in zoos of all types. There are always more than one version of the truth, but an opinion on orca captivity simply should not be made without viewing this film. 

Think Dirty App Simplifies Makeup Shopping

I am obsessed with this *free* phone app. Simply type in a cosmetic product you use and the app will instantly tell you if it is safe or not and why. It is as if you have the entire Skin Deep Database at your fingertips! Think Dirty also has a mechanism for favoriting products so you already have a list of safe products handy next time you hit the drug store!

Kiehl's Collects Old Cosmetic Packaging for TerraCycle

People who purchase Kiehl’s products in Boston can help keep recyclables out of landfills by bringing their empty containers to the store at 112 Newbury Street!  As part of the Recycle & Be Rewarded program, Kiehl’s sends shipments of their collected product containers to TerraCycle on a weekly basis, where they are then recycled into new products. Since 2009, Kiehl’s has recycled more than 1.3 million bottles, tubes and other product containers. Kiehl’s is the only beauty brand to collect used consumer products year-round at retail and recycle them with TerraCycle. 

Boston Green Blog Netflix Pick

source image courtesy of The Washington Post

If you want to motivate your friends and family to do something about climate change, have them over to watch National Geographic's Six Degrees Could Change the World. Narrated by Alec Baldwin and based on Mark Lynas influential book, this movie goes through the causes and consequences of climate change. To be honest, its not the most uplifting film, but it will certainly leave you feeling inspired and itching to do something good for the planet!

Practically Green's Personal Action Plan is Now 'One Small Act"

 Practically Green, the tool that allowed people to create personalized green action plans, has now become One Small Act as part of the NBC umbrella! The great news is that One Small Act has an app and a fun interface.  As people check off tasks on their action plan and gain badges, their sense of accomplishment motivates more action. This is a great way to get some insight if you want to be more sustainable but aren't quite sure what to do or how.

The Story of Stuff

If you haven't watched this influential classic, take 10 minutes out of your day to get caught up!

Daily Earthspiration

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iRecycle App Makes Recycling Easier Than Ever

Earth 911's iRecycle App is awesome. It uses your location to tell you how to best recycle different types of materials. This is a total game changer, because recycling systems are different from municipality to municipality. The app. allows you to quickly and easily learn the closest, proper way to responsibly dispose of almost any item! No more confusion about what items go in what bins!

Chasing Ice is a Must-Watch

Another snow storm is headed our way on Sunday. Make the most of your time stuck at home with a cup of tea and this fabulous documentary! Chasing Ice is the remarkable and inspiring story about a photographer's journey to capture the proof of climate change on film. The movie comes highly recommended, and its easy to see why - the imagery is gorgeous, the message is urgent, and the story is dramatic. Chasing Ice is available for streaming on Netflix.

Captain Planet Revisited

What inspired your interest in environmentalism? For many millennials, it was the children's cartoon show from the 90's, Captain Planet. For today's "Fun Friday" I suggest taking a trip back in time and watching the very first episode:

Enjoy!