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TeamEarth

Archive for the ‘News’ Topic

Team Earth Joins Pearl Jam to Help the Oceans

Written by Gayle Levy | July 1st, 2010 | Add a comment

We here at Team Earth are excited this morning to make a cool announcement. We’re one of the many organizations working with Pearl Jam to encourage people to take action and protect one of the Earth’s most precious resources: its oceans.

Why the oceans? They’re incredible. They cover two-thirds of the planet’s surface, provide habitat for about half of the world’s species, and contain 97% of all water on Earth.

And people need oceans to thrive. One in four people rely on the oceans for their main protein source. Some 634 million people around the world are directly threatened by the rising sea levels caused by climate change – including people living on island nations that could simply disappear. Climate change causes the oceans to become more acidic, hurting the human food supply by damaging critical habitats like coral reefs and crucial marine food species like shellfish.

In short, we need to protect the oceans to protect ourselves.

Why Pearl Jam? The great rock band is a longtime friend of the ocean. Check out the work they’ve done to protect sea turtles, or to record songs for benefit albums, or to raise awareness of conservation issues on the radio.

So what’s the gig? Check out the video for the band’s latest single, “Amongst the Waves”:

PJ Amongst Music Video from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.

Or visit the Pearl Jam’s Oceans page at pearljam.com/oceans, where you can explore a vast array of resources that Pearl Jam offers to help you make a positive impact on the seas. And Pearl Jam wants you to check out the amazing work our parent organization, Conservation International, does for the oceans.

You can also take direct action. Sign this petition to make ocean health a global priority. Buy the “Amongst the Waves” video starting July 6 on iTunes, with proceeds going to the CI marine program.  Explore the seas with CI’s interactive “Save a Mile” experience – and please consider making a donation so that CI can continue its incredible work.

We’re so glad to be working with Pearl Jam, along with great environmental and journalistic organizations, on this effort. They’ve joined Team Earth to show that we can all take action to make a difference. Now it’s your turn. Whether you simply visit pearljam.com/oceans, take an environmental action, sign a petition, buy a video, or donate to CI, you’ll be doing your part to save our seas.

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Americans Believe in a Clean-Energy Future

Written by Chris Coletta | June 29th, 2010 | Add a comment
Americans believe we can use clean energy to protect our environment for years to come.

Can the world move to a clean-energy future? A new poll suggests that, at least in the U.S., people overwhelmingly believe that it can – even though they remain skeptical about the health of the overall environment.

Performed by the well-respected Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the poll asks Americans what they think the country will look like in 2050.

When it comes to the environment, the answer is a bit contradictory. According to Pew, 74% of Americans think most energy will come from alternative sources by that date. But at the same time, just 47% of people think the overall quality of our environment will improve.

There’s actually good news in here. People might not realize this, but if we do move toward a clean-energy future, we’ll have a much better chance of improving environmental quality. That’s because energy used for electricity and heat accounts for almost 40% of the U.S.’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Making that energy cleaner would go a long way toward helping the environment, as well as the economy.

So would using less energy – today. The less energy we use today, the fewer fossil fuels we need to burn and the fewer greenhouse gases we’ll be releasing into the atmosphere. That will help prevent climate change (something that two-thirds of Americans believe in, according to Pew). And that’s good for the environment, too.

We can all do our part to use less energy. Team Earth is about lots of people taking those steps – steps like changing our light bulbs, using less home energy, and cutting back on driving. Everyone who joins the team adds to the strength of our movement.

Are you ready to help us build toward a better future? Join us today.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/ | via Creative Commons

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Restaurant Owners Miss the Boat on Energy

Written by Chris Coletta | June 15th, 2010 | Add a comment
Restaurants can use candles for mood lighting -- saving energy and saving money.

Candles. Is there anything they can’t do?

Sorry for ripping off Homer Simpson. But the reworking of Homer’s famous line about doughnuts highlights a simple truth: You can use candles for a lot of different things. Need an old-timey feel in a room? Light a candle. Need to get your honey to snuggle a little closer on the couch? Light a candle. Power goes out? Light a candle. And so forth.

Someone, though, forgot to tell some of New York’s most acclaimed restaurateurs. As The New York Times reports, some restaurant owners are using vintage “filament lights” as accents in their eateries.

These are lights that, as the Times explains, are “energy-guzzling reproductions of Thomas Alva Edison’s first light bulb.” They’re popular because they emulate candlelight, but they can use as much as three times the energy of an incandescent bulb – which isn’t very efficient itself.

We don’t mean to diss businesspeople who want to get just the right visual look for their restaurant. Eating food, after all, uses all five senses. If food looks good, it tastes better.

But if you’re trying to get a candle-like vibe, why not … light candles?

“They’re really cheap,” one restaurant owner told the Times. “They use way less of New York’s energy than a light bulb. A little candle on a table — there’s nothing more old school than that.”

Word.

Candles probably aren’t your home-lighting solution. But you can encourage your own local restaurants to make sure their lighting is efficient. And you can replace your old bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs – something that many retailers, including Ikea, are already doing.

Taking that action will make a difference, and not just in your environmental footprint. About 25 percent of energy used in the average American household comes from lighting and small appliances, so changing your incandescent bulbs to CFLs can make a big difference in your home’s energy use. Less energy use means more money.

Team Earth is a group of people making those wallet-friendly, Earth-friendly choices every day. Are you ready to do your part? Click here to join us.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dctwinkie5500/ | via Creative Commons

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