In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The formerMicrosoft MSFT +0.6% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles andDavid Koch were behind a product on the shelves.

Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to Koch Industries through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, one of the world’s largest fiber and textiles companies, in 2004 from DuPont).

At the time, Burner created a mock interface for her app, but that’s as far as she got. She was waiting to find the right team to build out the back end, which could be complicated given often murky corporate ownership structures.

She wasn’t aware that as she delivered her Netroots speech, a group of developers was hard at work on Buycott, an even more sophisticated version of the app she proposed.

“I remember reading Forbes’ story on the proposed app to help boycott Koch Industries and wishing that we were ready to launch our product,” said Buycott’s marketing director Maceo Martinez.

Read more on Forbes

They can’t read or write but a couple of brave Bedouin women from Jordan travelled far and wide to help their villages become solar powered. The biggest struggle yet may be with their husbands: We’ve covered this hopeful story of Solar Mamas, Bedouin women from Jordan who went to Barefoot College to learn how to solar power their villages. We’ve interviewed the women from solar mamas, and have reviewed the film Solar Mamas, a documentary movie about their journey.

We’ve even covered their plight as these women face pressures in their village from this “wild idea.”

Not long ago Green Prophet was invited to a Skoll Foundation Conference in the UK. Our resident blogger and documentary filmmaker James met the director of Solar Mamas, the film, and was compelled to review the film for us once again.

Here’s his take on the movie Solar Mamas, and why you should watch it:

As readers of Green Prophet know, I’ve spent a fair amount of time amongst the Bedouin population of the Negev Desert in Israel, exploring various cultural and sociological issues that affect their society, and watching various solar initiatives either developed from within, or as Bedouin-Israeli co-operation projects.

I filmed this story in the Negev Bedouin village of  Um Batin where the gift of solar technology has enabled a father to have medical equipment that will greatly enhance the life of a very sick child:

Read more at Green Prophet

Many conversations about sexuality focus on health. It’s safe and respectable. Builds the immune system? Yep. Good for the heart: check. Relieves menstrual cramps and depression: double check. Sex bonds us through the oxytocin-dopamine cascade: check again. We know healthy people have more sex, and having good clean fun may help you live longer too. Orgasms are great for body and mind, and caresses feed our skin hunger. Check, check, check.

Keep it clinical and we avoid the messy truths of our secret erotic selves.

One of those is this: we are making love in environmental dumps.

That is why I can think of few expressions of love more meaningful than going green. From making love organically, to ending our romance with plastics and falling in love with nature, Ecosex has the potential to revolutionize our relationships.

There’s no single abiding definition of Ecosex, though there’s plenty of juicy talk about the movement. Some activists invite us to view Earth as a lover, one we are madly, passionately in love with. I agree–it’s time we see stars in our eyes when we behold our world.

Having a life long love affair with our blue globe becomes essential to our understanding of holistic sexuality.

For most readers, especially those who’ve never heard the word before (consider yourself deflowered), a practical definition helps: I define Ecosex as the recognition and adaptation of environmentally friendly products and behaviors that benefit lovers and the planet, reduce harm to both, emphasize pleasure without compromise and advocate for healthy alternatives to every aspect of reproductive health and well-being.

Here’s something novel about the Ecosexy Label: anyone can wear it. You can be straight, monogamous and long-time married and care about the planet. You can support alternative sexualove styles and want to make Mama Earth your next lover. You can be a child of God/Goddess, a diehard non-believer, a smitten kitten and a choir singer and get at a fundamental level that we are nature; we are part of this web of miraculous life; and we share one planetary home.

Everyone benefits from greening his or her intimate landscape.

Ecosex revolution

A funny thing happens on the way to Ecosex. You start viewing yourself and the world from a new consciousness. Everything takes on hues of green, blue and earthly delight. You become incredibly self-focused on your private ecosystem, so much so that a miracle can happen.

Viewing your body as a natural wonder changes how you treat the world.

For example, did you know that up to 43 percent of American women experience a sexual dysfunction? Most don’t realize that environmental toxins can inhibit sexual vitality. Few researchers examine sexual dysfunction through environmental lenses. Pharmaceutical companies want to throw pills at our privates.

We are coupling in a toxic soup, hardly a fitting place to express our love.

When you discover that toxins are eating your sex life, you take a meaningful step towards recuperative (sexual) well-being.

The excerpt below is from my eBook, People Planet Pleasure Purpose: Five Meaningful Ways to Embody Eco-Conscious Intimacy:

“Others have reclaimed sexual health through Ecosex. People like Amy Marsh, PhD, author and clinical educator whose miscarriage plunged her into ‘the investigation of toxic chemicals and their effect on human reproduction.’ Her research on teratogens, mutagens and reproductive hazards led her to conclude that, ‘toxins ate her sex life.’

“A clinical sexologist, Dr. Marsh insists that professionals ‘need to ask our clients about occupational exposures and toxic product use as part of our intake process.’ She acknowledges that research is still lacking. ‘We don’t have studies to rely on yet, but this kind of scrutiny in a clinical setting may be of use to clients who present with vulvodynia, vaginismus, low libido, “allergies to semen,” and other problems.’”

Pleasure and planetary stewardship

Ecosex is a new direction in raising global eco-conscious awareness. When you get that, you become a different kind of consumer. Funky chemical names become puzzles to be deciphered in the name of pleasure and planetary stewardship.

Appreciation for nature is re-born and environmentalism is re-affirmed because your sexualove depends on it.

Read more at Elephant Journal

Sad but true, as we get older, we choose economics over the environment. What can we do to change this? Share your thoughts below!

I recognize that I do not see a random sample of young people by teaching graduate students in environmental policy and sustainability management at Columbia University. I also confess that my visit last week to Portland, Oregon to meet with sustainability management students at Willamette University is influencing my mindset. Portland has been working on sustainability for a long time, and it shows. Caveats aside, I find that more and more people born since the mid 1980′s have internalized aspects of an environmental ethos, and that awareness will soon have a major impact on American politics. While Gallup continues to poll on what I consider the false tradeoff between economic growth and environmental protection, even their data reports growing environmental awareness, especially among young people.

A Gallup poll last week reported that:

“For the fifth consecutive year, more Americans are interested in protecting economic growth than in protecting the environment when the two goals are at odds. This year’s 48 percent to 43 percent split represents a relatively narrow advantage for the economy, similar to last year’s reading. But the latest result contrasts with 2011, when a record-high 54 percent chose the economy as the higher priority.”

The question is based on a false premise and asks survey respondents to react to this question: “With which one of the following statements do you most agree? Protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth; or, economic growth should be given priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent”. The connection of environmental quality to economic growth, a central tenet of the concept of sustainability management is ignored by this question. Environmental protection is not something you must sacrifice for economic growth; it is a key source of economic growth. This is a lesson that China is rapidly learning, and some Americans learned when we spent hundreds of billions on toxic waste clean-up.

When the environment suffers, it costs money when we eventually get around to cleaning it up. If we had not damaged it in the first place, the money devoted to clean up could have been used to do something else. Moreover, essential environmental resources such as air and water cannot be used once they are poisoned. If these resources are damaged they must be filtered before they are used, and the cleansing process requires a lot of energy and money. The Gallup poll question treats the “environment” like it’s a visitor from outer space, instead of the air, water and soil that human beings require to remain alive. While short run corporate profits can be made by exploiting natural resources, real economic growth requires high environmental quality to both attract investment, and keep our food and water prices affordable.

It is clear from the Gallup data that when the economy is doing well, more people favor breathing healthy air and drinking clean water. When the economy falters, people favor economic growth over just about anything. Until the economic crash of 2008, Americans always favored “environment” when asked this question. The trade-off choice was just as false then, but the response to the poll is certainly statistically valid and is an accurate measure of the public’s response to that question.

While Americans are willing to tradeoff the environment for economic growth, the response to this flawed question varies significantly by age. Young people, between 18-29 favor the environment over economic growth by 49 percent to 45 percent. As Americans age, they increasingly select the economy over the environment with the oldest Americans, those 65 and older, favoring economic growth by 53 percent to 37 percent.

Gallup has also polled about government’s role in protecting the environment, and has found:

“Americans tilt toward the view that the government is doing too little to protect the environment — at 47 percent — while 16 percent say it is doing too much. Another 35 percent say the government’s efforts on the environment are about right. These views have not changed much since 2010, although Americans in most years between 1992 and 2006 were more likely than they are today to say the government was doing too little to protect the environment.”

While the responses still indicate that average Americans would like to see a stronger government role in protecting the environment, it is not clear if the question is measuring attitudes toward environmental protection or attitudes toward government. The poll reports that 27 percent of all Republicans believe that government is doing too much to protect the environment as compared to 2 percent of all Democrats. I suspect we would find this poll would find a similar gap between the parties on the role of government in many areas of public policy.

In my view, the questions posed by Gallup are not tapping into the change that is underway. My sense is that many young people have a deep fear that the planet they will inherit from the rest of us may be damaged beyond repair. They do not necessarily see its repair as a function of government, especially our national government. Instead, they are looking for change at the community and municipal level. The fact that young people are moving away from suburbs and back to cities is in part a rejection of a lifestyle that they suspect may not be sustainable. The cars, lawns, and costs of cooling and heating large suburban homes are replaced by biking, walking, mass transit and smaller apartments where heating and cooling costs tend to be lower.

This is not to say that young Americans are rejecting consumption – far from it – but they are looking to consume in a different way. And these emerging consumption patterns reflect their concern over environmental sustainability. The growing number of people biking to work and shopping at local green markets is an indicator of this change. The number of cities, nonprofits and corporations engaged in sustainability initiatives is another indicator of this change. People and institutions are thinking about their use of natural resources and energy and the impact of their consumption on the planet. That trend is most pronounced among young people; and that social change will gain momentum as they age.

When speaking with sustainability students, I am sometimes struck by the combination of pessimism about the current state of the planet, and optimism about the impact that individual lifestyle changes can make in changing the world. Some believe that the answer is to return to the land and become one with nature. Most are more realistic and understand that with more than seven billion people in the world, we have too many people and too little land for that to ever happen.

The data on fossil fuel consumption in India and China, and the hunger for economic development in those nations, coupled with our own high levels of consumption and waste requires institutional action. Individual action is necessary but not sufficient. Government and industry must develop a sophisticated partnership if we are to produce the goods and services demanded worldwide without destroying the planet. No amounts of individual sustainable living will replace that. On the other hand, the cultural change now underway that prioritizes sustainable individual action holds out the prospect of building a constituency for the governmental actions that will be needed.

In the meantime, it would be helpful if Gallup abandoned some of these outdated survey questions, and focused on the way people live and think in 2013. I realize that it is helpful to have longitudinal data in order to report trends over time, but the fact is these environmental questions do not reflect the integration of economic development and environmental protection that is characteristic of the emerging concern for sustainability. People will increasingly understand that the economic growth-environment trade-off is a false one, and the reliability and validity of these survey data will decline.

The generation that grew up in the first part of the 21st century will be coming to power in the coming decades. They have grown up with a concern about the sustainability of our economy and the health of our ecosystem. The issue of environment and sustainability has already moved from the fringe of political awareness and our policy agenda to its center. In the next decade, this will only increase as the sustainability generation comes of age.

Follow Steven Cohen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earthinstitute

Source: Huffington Post Green

In today’s world of processed foods, pollution, and pink slime, you might be wondering how to ensure that what your family is eating is healthy.

Buying organic is a great start, but growing it yourself opens doors to tremendous possibilities. Here’s why:

1.      Avoid Pesticides – Conventional agriculture uses petroleum based chemicals to combat pests in the field, which not only damages the environment, but destroys important soil microbes that help plants grow. In your own garden, you can plant a diverse range of produce, instead of growing acres of one thing. This cuts down on pest attacks and can even attract beneficial insects to the garden to handle your pest problem for you. You can choose organic means of pest control, like soap sprays, hand-picking (the best pest control tool is your hands, after all) or other methods that don’t leave harmful residues on your food.

2. No-GMO Zone – GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or GE (genetically engineered) crops are everywhere you turn. 90% of soy and corn grown in the US is GE. As of this writing, GMO seed is not available to the home gardener, only commercial growers, though companies are trying to legalize GMO corn for home growers as we speak. Growing seeds that are heirloom or open pollinated ensures that those seeds are not genetically engineered, nor can they be patented by corporate seed companies. Buying seeds from companies who sign the Safe Seed Pledge goes further to make sure the seeds they sell have are not GE.

3. Get Outside – Kids and adults alike spend much of their free time glued to the TV or computer. Planting a garden gets everyone outside. Gardening provides exercise, and helps kids learn where their food comes from. Adults can learn a thing or two as well. Dive into the wonders of growing and harvesting potatoes. Watch beans climb their poles and flower into fruit. Learn about the evolution of sweet corn or the science behind composting. It’s fascinating stuff!

4. Lose the Lawn – Many states are being ravaged by drought, and yet we still throw water away every day by watering grass. Can you eat it? Not unless you’re a cow or goat. Vegetable gardens use water wisely to produce food for your family. Using drip irrigation and sustainable methods to capture water on site will put your water to a more valuable use, and you’ll reap the benefits at your dinner table.

5. Get Secure – Food security has become an issue for many who’ve lost their jobs, experienced rising prices, and especially for those living in “food deserts” where fresh produce is scarce. Planting a garden puts food at your finger tips. $1 worth of seeds can grow hundreds of dollars worth of tomatoes, lettuces, and other nutritious vegetables. Since most food travels 1,500 miles to get to consumers, growing your own food shortens the distance and saves gas and energy too.

Christy Wilhelmi is the author of Gardening for Geeks (April 2013, Adams Media), and the founder of Gardenerd.com.

Source: Living Green Magazine

OK, so there are the 5 reasons. Bet there’s 105 more. Share one here and let’s grow a long long list!