More Hip Than Hippie # 85 - Fasten Your Greenbelts

Go Greenbelts! Not the kind you wear, the kind around urban areas! Greenbelts are areas of open space around cities that provide a barrier to sprawl and give you a place to get some fresh air. Dori and Val give you the low down on why they are important and what you can do to join the movement!

Beer and Chocolate:

Beer: USDA certified organic Stone Mill Pale Ale from Green Valley Brewing.

Chocolate: 61% Santa Catarina from Seeds of Change.
Hip News and Finds
Finds:

• More Hip T-shirts available for purchase! Order yours today!
• Order your organic bouquet from By Nature. London based company By Nature announced the launch of their organic flower delivery service.

News:

• Divestment campaign moves into US mutual funds. Activists are urging mutual funds to stop investing in Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed as a result of a brutal genocide in Darfur.
• Go with the wind. Airtricity, a Dublin based wind developer, announced plans for a European supergrid that will be a network of over 2,000 off shore wind turbines in the North Atlantic.
• Going green brings big profits. The business community is finding opportunities to create profit while attempting to solve the world's biggest pollution problems.
• Shining the spotlight on CFL's. California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine has introduced the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" that would ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012.
• Go Gore! Vice President Al Gore has earned a nomination for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work drawing attention to the problem of global warming. We're pulling for you, Al!

More Hip Book Club

 

Pretty soon we'll be starting our second book, Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Greenbelts

Get your Greenbelt on! Greenbelts are a lot more than just open space. They give city dwellers a place to enjoy nature, help limit urban sprawl, offset global warming, and may lead to world peace. Learn more at:

• What Good are Greenbelts?
• The Greenbelt Alliance
• The Green Belt Movement
• Urban Growth Boundaries Fact Sheet

 

Listener Emails

Once again, we have a bunch of great listener emails. Keep 'em rolling in at hip@greenfeet.com. And don't forget to post articles, links, and speak your mind at our MHTH forum!

• Tom bought himself a pack of the Japanese toilet paper made from recycled juice cartons. He sent us some pics so we could see how soft it was!
• New listener Beth is interested in learning more about essential oils. Val recommends Aromatherapy for Dummies and the Encyclopedia of Essential Oils.
• Eat healthy, eat organic. Heather discovered Mighty Foods, a blog about natural and organic foods. She also recommends checking out the 100 mile diet. The idea behind this diet is to only eat food that came from within 100 miles of where you live.
• Lumberjacks go underwater. Mr. Designer found an article about the Sawfish, an underwater chainsaw that operates by remote control. It is being used to cut down underwater forests created by the flooding that occurs when new hydroelectric dams are built.
• Shoo flea! When Becky moved into her new apartment, she quickly learned it had fleas. To stop the bites, she recommends taking garlic capsules.
• Vegetarians are crossing over. As organic and free-range meats have become more widely available, some vegetarians are giving meat a chance. Tom found an article on the BBC about some of the vegetarians experiencing a change of heart.
• Ahead of the curve. According to an article sent to us by Dee entitled "Big business is already acting on the climate threat and waiting for Washington to catch up". As businesses seek to adapt to the impact of climate change, Washington seems to be taking the 'let's sit back and see what happens' approach.

Email us at hip@greenfeet.com. Don't forget to vote for us at podcastalley.com and podcastpickle.com. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Don't have Skype ? Get it - it's free!