Facebook is about to go public. Founder, Mark Zuckerberg stated in a letter to its shareholders, “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected. We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do. We think a more open and connected world will help create a stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services.”

OK, so Facebook’s good for business. Now how can we leverage it then to create a healthier, more just world for our children, and our children’s children?

From Mother Jones

If you read this blog regularly, it’s likely that you were a fan of The Lorax, Dr. Seuss’ cherished 1971 classic. It’s a story about a little orange guy devoted to protecting the Truffula trees, but it speaks more broadly to the threat that industry poses to the natural world. Now The Lorax has gone Hollywood, with a new film version from Universal Pictures due out on March 2. And it appears that fans of Seuss’ environmental message aren’t very excited about the release.

The trailer for the film prompted the students of Ted Wells’ 4th grade class at the Park School in Brookline, Mass. to start a petition asking Universal to revive the tree-hugging themes of the book. Over at Change.org, they’re requesting that the company at least add more educational materials to the film’s website and promotional materials. Wells notes that his students thought the trailer made the movie look “more like an adventure and romance, like it had totally lost its message about helping the planet.”

“Currently, the movie website, trailer, and story summary have no mention of helping our planet!” says the students’ petition. “This is a missed opportunity. There are big problems in our natural world and we need more and more people helping out.”

They have collected more than 50,000 signatures since they launched the petition in December. Here’s the trailer, which makes me think the kids are right on:

See the trailer here

Purveyors of conventional and genetically-modified (GM) crops — and the pesticides and herbicides that accompany them — are finally getting a taste of their own legal medicine. Minnesota’s Star Tribune has reported that the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently ruled that a large organic farm surrounded by chemical-laden conventional farms can seek damages for lost crops, as well as lost profits, caused by the illegal trespassing of pesticides and herbicides on its property.

Oluf and Debra Johnson’s 1,500-acre organic farm in Stearns County, Minn., has repeatedly been contaminated by nearby conventional and GMO farms since the couple started it in the 1990s. A local pesticide cooperative known as Paynesville Farmers Union (PFU), which is near the farm, has been cited at least four times for violating pesticide laws, and inadvertently causing damage to the Johnson’s farm.

The first time it was realized that pesticides had drifted onto the Johnson’s farm in 1998, PFU apologized, but did not agree to pay for damages. As anyone with an understanding of organic practices knows, even a small bit of contamination can result in having to plow under that season’s crops, forget profits, and even lose the ability to grow organic crops in the same field for at least a couple years.

Read more

Wanna move a movement? Rachel Gutter of the U.S. Green Building Council presents ten strategies in this YouTube video. She describes her work with the Center for Green Schools, and how she helped turn a great idea into a successful, inclusive and expansive movement. The time is now. Start today.

From our friends at Growstone.

Unfortunately, many things have declined in our economy in the last few years. But one thing that hasn’t is the amount of toxins released into our precious and fragile atmosphere, especially in the last few years.

According to the EPA, an astounding 3.93 billion pounds were released into our atmosphere in 2010. It almost takes your breath away thinking about the potential damage and harm those toxins do to our planet and every living thing upon it.

These toxins enter our oceans, rivers and streams multiplying their damage. They enter our food chain so we not only get to breath them, but eat them.

Their effects will be perhaps unknown for many years but at the very least they will harm in some manner everything they touch.

Here at Growstone, we see things differently. We see that conscious creation of products can achieve impressive results while treating our environment with care and respect. We call on every person and every producer in America and around the globe to reassess and rethink the way they do things so that in the years to come, the reduction in toxin release will be even more impressive than current increases.

Then, we’ll all not just breathe better, but eat and live better and ensure the future for all the future generations to come. How are you breathing easier?

From our friends at Living Green Magazine

Experts say that the most successful New Year’s resolutions are those where an action is practiced regularly to achieve an important goal. What could be a more important resolution than to make your life (even) greener and reduce your impact on the environment.

Here are six simple actions you can take for a greener 2012.

Educate yourself about the environmental concerns important to you. Pick one environmental topic you want to know more about (climate change, renewable energy, organic food, etc.), and make a commitment to educate yourself about that topic. Start reading books on the subject that you find at your local library, or go to your local bookseller for books. Search for nonprofit organizations and green news sites that provide information on your topic.

Use your knowledge to get involved. Contact your elected officials when an environmental issue will affect you or your community. Join the local chapter of a nonprofit organization that works on your area of concern and help them be successful.

Eat healthy, with less meat and sugar, and more fruits and vegetables. I’m not just talking about the usual January resolutions to lose weight. I’m talking about developing new healthy habits and eating more vegetarian. Have you tried meatless days, using beans and rice for your protein? How can you add more fruits and veggies to your meals?

Reducing your meat consumption has a positive effect on the environment, and for the animals too. Livestock production accounts for nearly 20 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, and about 25 percent of all global water used in agriculture. Websites such as Meatless Monday and Eating Well offer numerous vegetarian recipes that are healthy for you and the environment. (To see some of our recent vegetarian articles and recipes, visit LG’s Food & Health Section.)

Go on a low-carbon diet and cut your energy use. We each have to take personal responsibility for the energy we use each day—and the estimated 20 tons per year of carbon dioxide we generate daily. Replacing your light bulbs is a start. Rethink the use of your car(s), make public transportation more of a daily feature in your life, and walk whenever possible. Insulate and caulk your home to cut heating and cooling bills, and turn out the lights around your home and business.

Adjust your thermostat to save energy and money—or do it automatically with a programmable thermostat. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that consumers can save up to 15 percent on heating and cooling bills just by adjusting their thermostats. Turning down the heat by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours can result in savings of 5-15 percent on your home heating bill.

Cut your consumption, and recycle everything you can. Before buying anything, think about the environmental impact of that purchase—from the use of raw materials and water and energy to make the product, to the transportation and packaging—and whether you really need it. Make it easy to collect and take your paper, cardboard, and containers to your nearest recycling bins, which are often located in grocery store parking lots. Give used clothing, furniture, and toys to Goodwill or another charitable group.

Rethink your need to own a car if you live in a city with a car share service. Already more than half a million people in the U.S. are sharing instead of owning.

Strive to eliminate plastic from your life. It’s estimated that 10 percent of all the plastic created each year eventually ends up in an ocean, where it harms marine life that accidently eats it. Set a goal today of not accepting a single store bag with a purchase. Then avoid bags for a week, a month, and the rest of the year. Take your own reusable containers to a restaurant for your leftovers.

No more bottled water! Americans use an estimated 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour! The bottled water industry made nearly $11 billion in profits in 2010—money that could stay in your wallet if you used tap or filtered water and your own containers. Only about a fourth of plastic bottles are ever recycled. Recent studies have found that bottled water often contains more pollutants than city tap water. Fill up your glasses and reusable water bottles with filtered water from your kitchen.

Get involved with like-minded people in your community. As one of our 1776 patriots noted, “We must all hang together, for surely we shall all hang separately.” Margaret Mead long ago noted that we should “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Many people like your are looking for ways to connect with others to solve local, regional, and global environmental problems. Each geographic community has numerous eco-oriented groups, and myriad ways of finding out where they are. So what are you waiting for? Join your local Sierra Club, Green Drinks group, or another nature-loving group.

OK, what’s your green resolution that matters? We want to know!