Britannica’s Advocacy for Animals site has provided a guide to the views of the U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates on issues related to the environment and animal welfare. Following is a summary of the voting records, official acts, and public statements of Senator John McCain, Senator Barack Obama, Governor Sarah Palin, and Senator Joe Biden on drilling, mining, and energy conservation and development; animal welfare, including the protection of endangered or threatened species; global warming; and environmental conservation.  We’ll offer this guide in four parts, one post daily on each of these four topics.

Drilling, Mining and Energy Conservation and Development

Animal Welfare (including the protection of endangered or threatened species)

Global Warming

Environmental Conservation (link to be added Oct. 9)

California’s official state reptile, the desert tortoise, is under attack yet again. However, this time the attack isn’t based on disease or predators. Despite the tortoise’s protection under both federal and state endangered species acts, the Bureau of Land Management has issued a proposal to transfer 365,906 acres of the tortoise’s natural habitat (the Western Mojave) to the U.S. Marine Corps for bombing, tank training and live fire testing and activities.

The Marine Corps has justified this requisition under the pretenses of national security. Never heard that one before. Yet the Marine Corps have issued no further comments or explanation regarding the land.

The desert tortoise has survived over one million years in the deserts of California and numbers have been crashing due to both natural factors and human interference. Experimental relocation of the animals has resulted in tragic mortality rates.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently put forward a recovery plan that would weaken the little protection the desert tortoise already has. The proposal is vague and the standards for a recovery plan are anything but acceptable.

Scientists have recently identified the Western Mojave desert tortoise as genetically distinct from its relatives elsewhere, making conservation efforts all that more important.

In honor of the 2008 Summer Olympics, we’ve compiled a list of some eco-activist athletes. Go team!

Yao Ming, China’s basketball hero and NBA superstar for the Houston Rockets, is taking the Olympic opportunity to talk about conservation efforts, including ending animal poaching and calling for an end to the Chinese tradition of shark-fin soup.

Aaron Peirsol, the top U.S. backstroker, is collaborating with Oceana on a Race for the Oceans campaign. He’s also been vocal in the media about protecting the oceans and released a PSA calling for a halt to overfishing and ocean pollution.

Steven Lopez, who already won two Olympic gold medals in Taekwondo, pledged to the GreenLaces campaign and is as committed to conservation just like his younger brother, Olympian Mark Lopez.

Olympic rower Tom Paradiso is part of the GreenLaces campaign, pledging to stop shopping with plastic and start bringing reusable bags from home to the grocery store. He also pledged to unplug unused appliances and start his own compost pile.

Soccer forward Heather O’Reilly is playing for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and vowing to protect the planet by pledging to GreenLaces.

Copyright 2008 Easy Ways To Go Green

Sustainable development is an idea that is related to Green Building.



According to GreenBuilding.com, “Green building is a design and construction practice that promotes the economic health and well-being of your family, the community, and the environment. A smart step toward personal economic rewards, Green Building also has positive social and environmental ramifications that assert your commitment to the future and the way we live for years to come.”


Through the organization What’s Working, “visionary green building expert David Johnston has brought together a team of seasoned professionals who have worked in field of green building and sustainable program design since it emerged on the national scene in the early 90s. If your vision is to incorporate sustainability into your next project, give us a call, we have the solution.”




Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green

Easy Ways to Go Green brings you a research guide of available materials on the topic of Sustainable Planning. Culled from articles all over the Internet, this ever-expanding universe of information is a one-stop guide for all things sustainable. Why waste the time finding the articles yourself, when we’ll do the dirty work for you?

Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability
from the American Planning Association, Adopted by Chapter Delegate Assembly, April 16, 2000
Ratified by Board of Directors, April 17, 2000, New York, NY
“There is growing concern for the issue of sustainability – whether the Earth’s resources will be able to meet the demands of a growing human population that has rising aspirations for consumption and quality of life, while maintaining the rich diversity of the natural environment or biosphere.” Discover more findings on the sustainability issue.

Sustainable Planning Research Group, Canada
“One of the primary challenges to sustainable development throughout the world involves effectively resolving conflicts among competing stakeholders over the use of scarce resources. One of Canada’s principal contributions to this global challenge has been the development of innovative approaches to land use planning based on the concept of ’shared decision-making.’”

The Airforce Center for Engineering and the Environment on Sustainable Planning
“There isn’t one clear-cut definition for Sustainable Planning. In some circles it’s referred to as Smart Growth, in others, Sustainable Development and in others, it’s planning with nature. Quite simply, it’s “common sense”-doing what is smart in conjunction with the various constraints and requirements that govern planning on an Air Force installation.”

The Essence of Sustainable Planning - A Plan for Liveable Communities
from American Forests, Autumn, 1997 by Jim Schwab
“Planning and sustainability are naturally complementary ideas. It is all too easy, however, to maintain unsustainable practices, whether the issue is forestry, recycling, or urban sprawl. Sustainable development requires community or regional decisions that are considerably more complex than those required of individuals.”

Podium: Planning Sustainable Communities
from The Independent (London), Jul 13, 1998 by John Prescott
“One of the biggest challenges facing this country is how to tackle the issue of household growth while building more sustainable communities. The number of households is continuing to grow, putting pressure on our precious countryside.”

Videos on Sustainable Planning

Sustainable Mobility: The Key to Modern Urban Planning
EV World
39 min 11 sec - Sep 22, 2007

Dean Harrison Fraker of the College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley addresses the Meeting of the Minds conference in Oakland, CA, in September 2007: “Key to Urban Design: Sustainable Transportation.”

Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green

Some people overlook the fact that plastic, like other products with a petroleum base, comes from oil, which is drilled from the earth, piped or trucked and later refined. Some properties of oil are manipulated into five principal types of polymers, during the process by which plastic is made from oil. Plastic bags are made from one of these five types, known as polyethylene, which is a highly manipulate-able material – it’s re-useable, printable, and can be formatted into a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Although the process of making plastic requires energy and may in fact do little else to damage the environment, the negative effects of oil drilling are numerous.

In some ways, plastic bags are no different from paper – including the fact that post-use, they either end up in a landfill or they get recycled. In the landfill, however, it will not compost, and actually interrupts the breaking down of other garbage products with which it is mixed in the landfill. In most cases, to recycle the material, one merely has to melt it down (thereby sterilizing it) and then form it into another shape, for instance, a new bag.

Recycling of plastic bags can take place many times before the material becomes too brittle to go through the process; after these stages of recycling, it can still take on another use as a different functional product.

When plastic is burned during recycling, it can create dioxins and release heavy metals into the atmosphere; the ash from burning plastic is toxic and needs special consideration during disposal. In landfills, plastic does not break down – it always remains plastic, maybe just in smaller pieces that mix in with the earth.

So Which Is Better? Paper or Plastic?

On the plus side, both materials can be recycled, and both materials have multiple uses beyond the initial holding of the groceries. The manufacture of both paper and plastic bags burns through natural resources, and both cause damage to the environment during production. While paper is more recycle-able than plastic, it also results in the destruction of more resources through the process of paper production. I think if you are going to use paper OR plastic bags at the super market, I would say to make sure you maximize the uses you get out of either, and more importantly, be sure to recycle.

Read Part 1 of the 2-part Blog:
Paper or Plastic: The Debate on Grocery Store Bags, Part 1/2

Additional research on the subject of Paper vs. Plastic Grocery Store Bags:
Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?
Article by John Roach for National Geographic News

Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green

Description of Tadasana (Mountain Pose):

Tadasana is the foundation for all standing poses. At least one foot in every standing pose is in Tadasana. Everything builds from the ground up. When you stand firm and tall as a mountain, you can increase awareness of what’s going on in your own body.

Stand at the top of your mat with your feet together or hips distance apart. Make sure your toes are parallel to your mat. Gently lift all ten toes and spread them as wide as is still comfortable, and then set them back down. Each person has an arch on the outside and the inside of their foot; gently lift these arches up. Start to slowly shift your weight very subtly between both feet until you find a sense of balance.

Hatha is the balance of two sides; the sun and the moon, man and woman, hot and cold — and this pose is the best way to begin to find that balance in your own body. Close your eyes for a minute and breathe. Find the root of yourself as your feet connect to the earth. Try to gain a sense of being grounded as you balance on all four corners of your feet (your inner heel, your outer heel, the big toe and the little toe).

Lift the inner and outer ankles evenly as you draw your knees up. Flex your quads and hamstrings. This will help protect the knees as well.

Gently draw your inner thighs back as you drop your tail bone down towards your heels. Your frontal hipbones should lift up. This will create evenness in the pelvis and allow room for the spine to get long.

Use your stomach and lower back muscles to support your lumbar spine and soften your front ribs down. Elongate through all four sides of the waist, and feel your spine getting long.

Lift the top of your sternum from the inside; broaden across the collarbones and move the shoulder blades down your back and towards each other. Elongate the neck while keeping your chin parallel to the floor. Remember to breathe!

You might want to envision a string connecting the top of your head to the ceiling, in order to keep your head evenly placed on your neck. Your arms hang by your sides, palms face forward.

Now that you’re in your mountain pose, close your eyes and breathe. Feel the connection of your body to the earth and the lightness that can be felt when your body is truly in balance.

Benefits of Tadasana (Mountain Pose):

- Improves arches in feet
- Builds strong posture
- Can help with sciatica
- Builds strength in ankles, knees and legs
- Allows Prana to move freely throughout the body
- Resting posture

Risks of Tadasana (Mountain Pose):

- Generally there are no risks involved
- Unless you have Parkinson’s disease or a spinal disc disorder, in which case you might want to face a wall and place your hands upon it.

Contraindications for Tadasana (Mountain Pose): (Risks that make this posture inadvisable)

- None

Yoga Pose Instruction for Green Eggs and Planet, by Kerrie Cason

Balasana (Child’s Pose)
Virasana(Hero Pose)


Click to Learn More About Kerrie Cason, Green Eggs and Planet Yoga Instructor.


Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green & Kerrie Cason

NEW DELHI: It has been estimated recently that there are hundreds of millions of people, in fact, a billion plus people, currently living in India, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book. It is not a stretch to say that an idea like Sustainable Real Estate, were it to effectively take hold of a population that large, could provide just the right kind of progress to much-needed environmental improvements.

“Sustainable Real Estate Development in India”: A Report

Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, the largest real estate services firm in India, highlights the increasing trend of sustainable development in India, in a recent research report. Citing the various business advantages offered with the construction of sustainable buildings, the firm weighed in on its future intentions.

“Sustainable buildings use design techniques, materials and technologies that minimize a building’s impact on the environment in their design, construction and operational systems while adequately servicing and supporting activities within. Sustainable buildings provide occupiers with several operating cost reductions. Electricity is one of the largest operating expenses for commercial buildings in India. Buildings with sustainable elements can save up to 20 per cent in total electricity costs,” said Manisha Grover, co-author of the paper and Head Strategic Consulting and Research at Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

Read More About Sustainable Real Estate in India

To read more about sustainability in real estate development and the inclusion of green incentives in India, read the whole story at the Economic Times in the India Times.

Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green

Lake Mead, which hedges the border between both Arizona and Nevada, was originally created with help from the Colorado River as well as the Hoover Dam. Tim Barnett and David Pierce, the researchers responsible for the study’s assertion, argue that the cause can be attributed to climate change and the increase in human demand for water.

Lake Mead, Lake Powell and Impending Doom

Between Lake Mead and Lake Powell (bordering both Arizona and Utah), aqueducts stem out and carry water from these systems to a variety of important and notable cities in the western United States and Southwestern communities. These include Los Angeles and Las Vegas, in addition to many others.

Further negative assertions from the recent study include that as early as 2017, we are at a fifty-fifty chance of the reservoir dropping to a depth that is low enough to prevent the Hoover Dam from producing its storehouse of hydroelectric power. The parties responsible for the study have suggested that water conservation policies and technologies need to be instituted now, in order to prevent the worst case scenario.

The Dominoes That Fall Given the Decline of Lake Mead

Lake Mead is man-made; its drying up or total disappearance would set off a domino of negative scenarios in that region of the States. Beyond just the supply of water to major cities and communities in that part of the country, power from the water source and its systems also keeps the lights on in those cities. Doomsday scenarios suggest a picture of a major city like Los Angeles or Las Vegas, on the hottest of hot summer days, with the air conditioner barely working and insufficient water emanating from the tap in the kitchens of every household. Not a pretty picture, by any stretch.

Barnett urged in a recent statement that “…this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest,” and further added that “we are at or beyond the sustainable limit of the Colorado system.” It should be noted that the water level of Lake Mead has been steadily dropping for years.

Further Negative Implications of Lake Mead by 2014

The negative version of this already potentially bleak picture, according to the study, is that by 2014, with a ten percent chance of probability, Lake Mead could go dry. Interested parties will be able to view the full report, published in Water Resources Research (a journal of the American Geophysical Union).

For conducting the study on Lake Mead, the researchers used material and figures stemming from the last one hundred years. This data included rates of evaporation, predictions of climate, demand for water, projections of future water levels and demands, and more. Worst part? The researchers claim the potentially disastrous findings are weighted to the conservative side.

Breaking Down the Bad News on Lake Mead

In terms of raw, actual numbers, the Colorado River system (of which Lakes Mead and Powell are both a part) is running a one million acre feet per year deficit. This unit of measurement (one acre foot of water) equates to the amount of water that it takes to cover an acre of land by a foot; this represents enough water for eight million people, as well. With the predictions in mind regarding the reduction and evaporation or decline of Lake Mead, the water supply of as many as thirty-six million people could be affected.

The bad news on top of the bad news? Given mitigation factors and conservation efforts (which currently exist in a minor capacity but would need to be increased dramatically and then implemented across the board), the researchers behind the study urged that even these measures just might not be adequate to protect the Southwest portion of the United States from drought and water-shortage problems.




Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green

How Solar Water Heaters Function

Solar water heaters typically run off of a two-part system that includes a solar collector as well as a storage tank. While passive solar water heaters do not have circulating pumps and control, active solar water heaters do. The storage tank must be insulated well, and often includes two tanks — one where the heating element preheats the water, and a second conventional water heater tank. Other systems run based off of a single tank, combining the two-tank functionality into one that includes both the solar storage unit and the heater.

The U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division has created an extremely helpful guide which features details about solar water heaters work, the mechanics involved, how best to select a water heating system, estimating and comparing costs and system installation tips.

Additional Solar Water Heater Resources
Check out the website of SolarRoofs.com, manufacturers of attractive and easy to install solar water heating collectors and systems.

You’ll find information on installation, specific units and state and local programs that may assist you in financing your solar water heating system.



Find an article here from MotherEarthNews, entitled “A Homemade Solar Water Heater” by William J. Weber. Weber discusses how he devised “a simple and inexpensive water warmer that [he] knew ‘[…] regular folks’ would be able to build.” And what’s even better — all of the benefits of solar water heating, in only three simple steps.


Here’s more details available to the consumer, who will be well served by educating themselves before purchasing: brought to you by Toolbase.org. According to Toolbase, “Solar energy can meet part or all of a home’s domestic hot water needs. Geographic location, system design, collector orientation, and collector size will determine how much energy can be provided for domestic hot water heating.” Find out more on their informational page.

For a comprehensive breakdown of which solar water heating systems are right for any type of climate, visit the website at Solar Direct, who offer a Guide to Solar Water Heating Systems for consumers.


City and Local Program Information on Solar Power Systems

Many local and state-level government agencies offer attractive incentive packages for city dwellers, both commercial and residential in nature, for the implementation of successful solar power units. A simple search, for the most part, of some keyword combination of “solar your city name” should be a good start. For instance, take a look at the top notch program run by the City of Santa Monica, called Solar Santa Monica.




Copyright 2008 Easy Ways to Go Green