I am pleased to enter into this group and enjoyed reading perspectives in your posts. I am from Louisiana and sympathize with the question whether to re-build low lying areas threatened by continued problems with climate change. Having life long friends in New Orleans and family in low lying lousiana, it pains me to admit that a small part of me agrees that we have to face the rising seas with intelligence and let the ocean take back land as it rises. We cannot hold back the water indefinitely.

Video made by New York Director Shaky Jones.

Amongst immense controversy, the designers of the mosque being built near ground-zero in New York City are seeking LEED-certification. If they get this certification, it will be the first LEED-certified mosque in the country. Read here to see how religion and the environment have come head to head in this interesting story:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/controversial-nyc-mosque-leed.php

In an interesting turn of events, Wal-Mart and Seventh Generation have reached an agreement whereby Seventh Generation products will be sold at 1,500 Wal-Marts nationwide. This is certainly a change in behavior for Seventh Generation, who used to refuse to sell their products at Wal-Mart because of the giant's unsustainable practices and poor working conditions. This is the most recent in a rash of moves by Wal-Mart to appear more sustainable, the most notable of which is their new Sustainability Index. Their ability to sell Seventh Generation products in stores and online will certainly paint them an even deeper shade of "green", but what is in it for Seventh Generation besides a larger market share? To learn more and read statements by heads of both companies, check out this story on treehugger:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/7th-generation-1500-wal-mart-sto...

Yesterday, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that he would be increasing the number of buildings with white roofs for DOE and other buildings belonging to the government. This is part of the promise by the Federal government to reduce their emissions by 28 percent by 2020. White roofs are so effective because they reflect the sun's rays rather than absorbing them, thus cooling the inside of the house. In cities, it can also help cut down on the urban heat island effect. This effect occurs in cities where the landscape is dominated by dark roofs and pavement, and it creates a rise in temperature comparative to the surrounding, non-city landscape. If the transition was made to more and more white roofs our cooling costs could be reduced tremendously. The DOE itself has claimed to have already installed more than two million square feet of white roofs, claiming a savings of $500,000 a year in energy consumption. To take this a step further, in the video below, Steven Chu explains how if we were to retrofit all existing buildings with white roofs, and replace dark paving materials with light, it would be comparable to removing all automobiles on the planet for 11 years in terms of carbon emissions. Check it out:

Check out this great article by John Collins Rudolf in the New York Times' "Green" blog:

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/is-the-tide-turning-on-defores...

On Tuesday, General Electric, in partnership with four prominent venture capitalist firms, announced a $200 million competition for clean energy innovation funds. This competition is called the "Ecomagination Challenge", and is aimed at speeding up the development of a true "smart-grid". This smarter electric grid could reduce overall energy waste and the nation's carbon footprint through improved control and efficiency of the energy grid. The competition runs from now until September 30th, and aims at budding smart-grid entrepreneurs.

Its easy to point fingers at big corporations, factory farms, and China when trying to wrap your head around the global problem of climate change and increased carbon emissions, but none of us are perfect. Being critical of these point sources of pollution is important, but so is taking a look at our own impact. This list (link below) from Millie Jefferson shows some simple steps that everyone can take to lower their impact, and maybe live a simpler, happier life. Read the list, keep it in the back of your head.