Green Daily

Aside from adding a bunch of those sweet fake bullet hole decals, what could possibly make the Hollywood sign more iconic? Are tree-huggers ready to laugh at themselves? Are you comfortable paying $50K for a glorified golf cart? Today's Eco-Beat has got the scoop on all the latest green news and tips.

Hollywood Sign May Get Solarized The movement to add grid-connected solar panels to the iconic Hollywood sign is growing. Sure, the revolution has been met with some resistance, but now it's got a Facebook page, so it's totally official.

Mike Judge Takes Aim at Tree-Huggers We know that Mike Judge can create a hilarious caricature of conservative, suburban family life. Now, he's launching a new series that will make us laugh, cry, but mostly laugh about an eco-conscious suburban family just trying to make a difference: The Goode Family.

The Official Results are In According to Disney, 2.7 million trees will be planted as a result of Earth's opening weekend ticket sales. 2.7 million tickets = 2.7 million trees planted by the Nature Conservancy in Brazil's Atlantic Forest!

Congressman Backs Cap-and-Dividend Bill When it comes to cap-and-trade, Rep. Chris Van Hollen has a solution that all the fence sitters can understand: a bribe. He wants to divvy up the proceeds and send Americans a monthly check. Before I take a stand, how much might that check be?

Tesla's Model S Gets First Test Drive The Model S has officially been test driven by someone who doesn't get a Tesla paycheck. I'd say the review wasn't exactly glowing. The writer described the Model S as "more like a glorified golf cart than a harbinger of tomorrow tech." Ouch.

Green in a Flash:

• Want an easy way to recycle your households CFLs?
• Fed-Ex Paris is adding pedal powered trikes to its fleet.
• Chrysler's filing for bankruptcy may bring about a greener fleet.

What energy-conscious ride is Jessica Alba driving these days? Which veggies are the most pesticidey? Who would win in a water conservation contest: You or your dishwasher? Today's Eco-Beat has all the latest and greatest green news and tips.

Hollywood Hotties and Their Green Rides Wanna know what all the gorgeous ladies of Hollywood drive? Here's a slide show. It's kinda like an old fashioned bikini babes car calendar with a green twist ... and without the bikinis. Or the calendar. Hmm, maybe that's not the best analogy.

Tesla Models S on Letterman Tonight Tesla CEO Elon Musk will show off the Model S sedan on the Late Show tonight. Will Letterman get to test drive the awesome seven-seater clean machine around the studio? Will he make a joke about Elon's name? We'll have to wait and see.

Which Veggies Should You Buy Organic? It's always a little creepy when you stop and think that the delicious bell peppers you're snacking on are covered in pesticides. To find out which veggies you should always buy organic, check out this list of the "12 Vegetables with the Most Pesticides."

Are You an Efficient Dishwasher? It's the classic dishwasher versus hand-washing debate, but there seems to be a hands-down winner (pun intended). Feel no eco-guilt next time you decide to kick back and let the machine do the work.

Disneynature Already Scheming for Earth Day 2010 So, you didn't get a chance to go see Earth this Earth Day? Maybe you're just not that into the beasts of the land. After the resounding success of Earth, it looks like Disney will release another documentary next Earth Day called Oceans.

Green in a Flash:

• The world's largest solar power tower went on line in Spain.
• Want to track the swine flu outbreak on a handy dandy Google map?
• Will Arlen Specter's party switch help bring a US climate bill?

As you know, today is a very special day for the planet, so be sure to wish it a happy Earth Day. To help you do just that, today's Eco-Beat has all the news and tips you need to get your Earth Day party on. Rock on, planet earth!

Plant a Tree Without Even Thinking About It Disney said they'll plant a tree for every ticket they sell to their new eco-documentary, Earth, throughout opening weekend. Grab a ticket, enjoy the show, and plant a tree while you zone out to the mesmerizing images.

Shrink Your Footprint, Get a Free Missy Higgins Song In honor of Earth Day, Missy Higgins will let you download an unreleased version of "Where I Stood" for free. All you've got to do is pledge to reduce your eco-footprint by 2%. Remember people, your word is your bond.

AOL's New Energy-Saving Toolbar is Here! Looking for a way to reduce your computing footprint? A brand spanking new toolbar from AOL can help you save electricity, printer paper, and keep you plugged in to the latest green computing technology.

Do Earth Day on the Cheap! Our friends at WalletPop put together an awesome slide show that gives you 16 ways to reduce your footprint while saving some green. Most of them are pretty simple, but you've gotta check out the Chinese carpenter who built a DIY solar water heater out of beer bottles!

Screw Earth Day? You read that right. Grist says Earth Day is for wimps ... but even so, they're having an Earth Day sign-up special. Register with them and get a free download of their book and a chance to win tix to Bonaroo.

Ed Begley Jr. on QVC Today! We knew Ed had mild super powers, but apparently he is a master at the art of eco-tasking. Not only is he appearing on The Price Is Right today, but then he'll magically fly across the daytime TV universe to give us green demos on QVC!

Need Some Earth Day Snark? It's OK, everybody gets fed up with people constantly telling them how to live. Watch this Howcast about how to have an 'Extreme Earth Day,' vent your frustrations, then get back to saving the planet.

Green in a Flash:

• Is your town one of 'The 10 Best Cities to be in for Earth Day?'
• Take a photo journey through Colorado's renewable energy revolution.
• Watch some awesome eco-documentaries and learn more about the challenges that the planet is facing.

Looking for a slightly underachieving, yet effective and inexpensive way to make a difference for Earth Day? Then Disney's got a deal for you. They've offered up a bribe to all nature documentary addicts and/or lovers of the planet to get them to pack into theaters for the opening weekend of Disneynautre's ode to the planet: Earth. If you'll plant your butt in a seat, Disney will plant a tree in your honor.

Pretty cool eh? The trees will be planted in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, a place that Disney's conservationists have identified as a global conservation hot spot, since only 7% of the forest remains in tact. Disney's savvy box office bribe might help moviegoers that are on the fence decide to brave the opening weekend crowd and catch what Disneynature's Dick Cook calls "an entertaining and unprecedented view of our planet, with some of the most astonishing imagery and exciting natural drama ever presented on the big screen."

Will Disneynature's Earth rival other monumental planet documentaries like Planet Earth? Find out when it opens on Earth Day, April 22nd.

[via Ecorazzi]

First, we brought you a glimpse into the Sundance Channel's environmental series, The Green, in an episode all about eco-friendly business practices.

Now, 'cause we like you so much, we're giving you a look at tonight's brand new episode before it airs. In this episode, you'll see how animals' diets and habitats are beginning to reflect humans' greener lifestyles.

Afterward, stick around and check out The Great Warming, a film directed by Michael Taylor and narrated by Alanis Morrissette and Keanu Reeves that explores how climate change is affecting the lives of the world's inhabitants. Scientists and other key media figures comment on the public interest that the movement has generated, and why America needs to step up its leadership in this crucial time.

See clips from both The Green, which airs at 9pm EST, and The Great Warming, which airs at 9:35pm EST, in the gallery.

Before we began burning fossil fuels, there was an "eons-long" balance between carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and the earth's ability to absorb them, but now the planet can't keep up, according to a report in Nature Geoscience. The study looked at ancient Antarctic ice bubbles going back 610,000 years.

Climate scientists have suggested that a type of natural mechanism, known as feedback, regulates the temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This feedback has been thrown out of whack by the steep rise in CO2 emissions from the burning of coal and oil, said Richard Zeebe, a co-author. In the way past, excess CO2 came from volcanoes, which gave off very little compared to what we are doing now. The excess CO2 would be taken in by mountains, washed into oceans and buried in the deep sea.

According to Zeebe, human activities are putting CO2 into the atmosphere about 14,000 times as fast as natural processes, but the natural feedback mechanism will eventually absorb the carbon dioxide. Doesn't sound so bad. But here's the bad news, it's going to take hundreds of thousands of years to absorb it all.

With all of today's talk about going green and saving the planet, it might be a good time to check in and find out -- just how much do you actually know about this planet you're supposed to be saving? For instance, is it 400 million years old, or 4.5 billion? What percentage of the Earth is covered by water? (Hint: it's more than you think.)

If you think you're savvy about the planet, take our quiz to test your skills. Or, even if you don't know the first thing about Earth and its inhabitants, you'll still take away a host of fun facts that you can use to impress your friends. Check it out!

Yesterday Disney announced a new green initiative -- just in time for Earth Day. But while some organizations are "going green" by recycling paper or planting trees, the entertainment mega-giant is taking being eco-friendly one step further -- by creating an entirely new, green-focused company. Called Disneynature, the new production banner promises to "go to the ends of the earth to produce major big screen nature documentaries."

I think the Earth might have been speaking it's mind about its Day over the last couple of them in the Washington, D.C. region. Boy, did it ever rain on whatever parade may have been planned. And I just feel the need to pile on a bit. Turns out, the Earth very well might have been testing us. And we very well might have failed.

First, it's great to think that some might be inspired to make changes beginning today that impact our planet in less harmful or even beneficial ways. It's great that some might learn a whole lot about doing that via this web site and blog posts from me and my various colleagues who contribute to Green Daily 364 days a year plus today. But there's tomorrow too. And the next day. And every day after that.

The efforts we write about aren't about celebrating a day. They are part of a way of life that will preserve our planet for our children.

The Captain and his minion are an obvious choice. Fighting the eco villains with his captains-in-waiting - Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart - there was no environmental disaster they couldn't solve. No tsunami too strong! No factory too smooty! But like all superheros, the Cap'n had his weaknesses: pollution, radiation, toxic waste, and smog. So when faced with these challenges, the green-mulleted man used any of his vast array of powers (telekinesis, blowing hurricane-force winds, or whatever superpower seemed to be appropriate to the disaster at hand) to save the earth. The show even featured "Planeteer Alerts," mini public service announcements designed to alert kids at home to the actual environmental crises facing the Earth.

But in the face of eco-strife, one fact remains certain: "Heart" is by far the wimpiest, dorkiest superpower. Ever. Hands down.

Skip ahead

Did you know?

• Almost 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered in water. Of that, 97 percent is saltwater. Less than 3 percent is freshwater.
• About 2 percent of freshwater is frozen in ice caps and glaciers. Only one percent of all the water on earth is fresh drinkable water.
  
• There is a freshwater shortage. Globally, one out of six people do not have access to safe drinkable water.
• In the US, almost 80 percent of water is used for irrigation and thermoelectric power. On average, each person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. Most water use results from flushing the toilet.
  

Apparently our egos have been a little inflated here on Earth thinking all this global warming stuff was all because of us, because in fact there are other factors at play in the universe. Researchers at Duke University have found that a significant chunk (as much as 10-30%) of the global warming we've experienced over the past 20 years can be attributed to the sun's slowly increasing output. So it's not all our fault.

Science may know that the sun is partly to blame for warming us up so much, but what they don't know is what the future of that trend looks like. So I guess while we wait for them to figure that out we should just keep doing the best we can with our part in the equation, meaning continuing to reduce our carbon footprint on the world by being as green as possible.

Perhaps it is easier to think that the climate changes and melting ice caps are doing damage to the Earth rather than facing the fact that we are going to kill ourselves off first. Shirley Siluk Gregory at Suite 101 points out this obvious fact that I myself have been grappling with.

The Earth can take quite a beating. Think of continental shifts, volcanoes, asteroids, and the Ice Age. The Earth changes and keeps on going but not all living creatures do. The environmental problems that we face are entirely all our own. Mother Nature doesn't care about rising sea levels and she's not obligated to protect us. Think about this next time you see an article with the Earth as the victim. It's simply not true. This planet will outlive humans by many, many years.