7 Green Summer Camps Sending Kids (and Future Environmentalists) into the Great Outdoors

This is certainly different from when I went to camp!

We did have "pollution patrol" but this takes it to a whole other level!!!

There's nothing like a week or two at sleep-away camp to get your kids off the couch, away from the Wi-Fi, and detached from their cell phones in favor of hiking, swimming, and exploring the great outdoors. These camps focus on getting kids in touch with Mother Nature -- from working in gardens that provide the camps with food to taking daily walks to look for different plants and animals -- so that they come back more in touch with their environmental side than ever. And though it may be too late to book a trip for this year, it's never too early to start planning for 2011... http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/7-green-summer-camps-sending-kids-and-future-environmentalists-into-the-great-outdoors.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29

Would you send your kids to one of these camps???

Cap and trade dead huh...not so fast!

After the senate put a kibosh on the bill last week, a consortium that represents several U.S. states and Canadian provinces stepped up and said that they were going to adopt new climate control policies; specifically cap and trade, that will begin in 2012. Perhaps this was a response to China announcing that they will start to trade carbon credits next year. Maybe when the most populated country in the world and a clearly emerging financial power announces that they will start adapting to climate change policies others have embraced; its time for Americans to take their heads out of the sand. What do you think?


Cap Trade is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade -

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/cap-and-trade-is-dead-long-live-cap-and-trade/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Floating Pool Concept Could Clean NYC Waters "Like a Giant Strainer

A giant floating pool just off the riverside of Manhattan - for swimming and also filters and cleans the water? Why not? That's what a group of designers and architects are proposing in + Pool, a multi-purpose pool and urban revitalization concept that is in the shape of - you guessed it - a plus sign. They are looking for civic support for what is envisioned as a "giant strainer dropped into the river", which will also serve as a public amenity and ecological prototype. We love the sexy pool images and the clever way water filtration is incorporated into the concept....read on: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/floating-pool-concept-clean-nyc-water-giant_strainer.php

I am still unsure if i would swim anywhere near the East or Hudson rivers. How effective can this possibly be?

CFTC approves green exchange

From Marketwatch.com: Green Exchange got its approval from federal futures regulators this week to launch a trading platform that will list contracts tied to credits and allowances for greenhouses gases.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday it had approved the exchange’s application Thursday. The announcement of its approval comes just one day after U.S. Senate Democrats decided to table a climate-change bill. That bill would have helped spur a much larger derivatives market to help companies offset their carbon emissions.............full story: www.marketwatch.com/story/cftc-approves-green-exchange-2010-07-24

Does having a green exchange make sense even though the climate-change bill didn't pass???

I think so. Speculation will add liquidity to the market.

Climate Bill: Senate Democrats Abandon Comprehensive Energy Bill

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Thursday gave up plans to attempt to pass an energy bill that caps greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, abandoning a priority of President Barack Obama.

Obama had hoped to add a climate bill to the two biggest legislative successes of his presidency, a comprehensive health care bill and a broad reform of the U.S. banking and financial sector.
Read the full article here - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/climate-bill-senate-democ_n_656175.html

This will undoubtedly have a dramatic effect on America's environmental markets. Now is the time for investors to focus their efforts on other regions of the world. Specifically areas that recognize a mandate for climate change based on their laws and policies. At least until the next U.S. election.

The question is: which region globally is best for investors?

Dams stir water arguments

Already the topic of dam construction is stirring strong emotions at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan. Salto Caxias generates 6% of the nation's electricity
The debate, as ever, is centred on the seemingly polarised conflict between the needs for a clean source of energy and the massive social and environmental damage that dams can cause. But the short history of the Salto Caxias dam in Brazil suggests that this need not always be the case. Although construction work on the dam in the state of Parana was finished three years ago, only now has the entire project come online. It now generates 6% of all electricity used in the country...courtesy BBC

We have to consider and develop alternative clean sources of energy otherwise our environment will be depleted. Don't you agree???

Climate wars

Does a warming world really mean that more conflict is inevitable? Read more...http://www.economist.com/node/16539538?story_id=16539538&fsrc=rss

LEED Building

A new program from the U.S. Green Building Council and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation is offering grants to developers to build affordable housing that is compliant with the council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards for neighborhood development...http://www.emii.com/Articles/2633674/Asset-Management/Asset-Management-Articles/Program-Seeks-Affordable-Housing-LEED-Projects.aspx

This past week's heat wave was so intense that it made me want to stay inside and catch up on some reading. However since I couldn't find any juicy news stories that I thought were the least bit absorbing or interesting; I was faced with the fact that yes, global warming is definitely upon us and I am bored!

Here's the lowdown on why it's happening, what's causing it, and how it might change the planet...http://mim.io/18da4