Light Up Your Life

New solar-powered flashlights that charge during the day and light up rural villages in Africa are making a huge breakthrough. These simple lights allow children to study at night without exposure to toxic kerosene fumes. They also allow doctors emergency light, by providing 7 hours of light with every charge and lasting over 3 years.

Want to help light up the world? For every purchase of these solar-powered flashlights ($25), the company will donate one to the nonprofits that distribute the lights in Africa.

You can find them online at: SunNight Solar.

Say No to the Phonebook

For the folks in the UK, 192.com is a new campaign aimed at opting out of getting a new phonebook. Residents currently get three new phonebooks each year, which is 75,000 tons of paper each year.

If you need a phonebook, then go ahead and get your book, but with the ease and universality of the internet many people find they never use a physical phonebook, but would rather use a virtual phonebook. People are also finding that the phonebook is out of date too quickly and its too difficult to recycle phonebooks, so citizens would rather not have the burden.

To get involved, go to www.saynotophonebooks.com

More PHacts on PHonebooks:

Phonebooks typically have less than 100,000 local records: online directory enquiries search over 17.5 million phone records across the UK
Online data can be updated on a daily basis, phonebook data can only be updated on an annual basis
Laid end to end they would stretch over half way around the world (22,500km)
680,000 barrels of oil wasted in phonebook production (not including the wasted petrol used for their delivery to your doorstep)
2 billion litres of water is used in the production process (not to mention the amount of water wasted in the recycling process)
437 million kilowatts of energy used in the production process (again not mentioning that used in the recycling process)this equates to enough energy being produced to power 112,000 3 bedroom houses for a year

Get Paid to Plant a Tree in DC

For those of you in the District, the District of Columbia that is, there is a shortage of trees. Well not exactly, but there is a big push to plant more trees, particularly shade trees and who can argue with that.

To encourage this planting of trees, Casey Trees and the District of Columbia are offering a $50 rebate for residents that plant and agree to maintain an oak, elm, maple or river birch tree. For more information, see below:


Last call for Casey Trees' spring shade tree rebate. There are just three weeks left to plant a shade tree in DC and claim a
$50 rebate from Casey Trees. May 31st is the deadline to submit rebate requests which can be found online at Casey Trees and are available at many garden centers in the metro area such as: Ginkgo Gardens, American Plant Food, Home Depot off Rhode Island Ave., Campbell & Ferrara, Nature By Design and Shade Tree Farm.

Recipients must plant an eligible shade tree such as an oak, elm, maple or river birch at a residence in DC and agree to water and care for the tree. Smaller flowering and ornamental trees such as dogwoods, cherries and crepe myrtles are not eligible for this rebate program. Spring is a great time to plant trees in DC, but the sooner they get in the ground before the hot summer months, the better. Rebate requests must be mailed by May 31, 2008.

Plant a tree, store some carbon Washington Post home and garden columnist Adrian Higgins has an excellent article, "A New Leaf on Life," on trees and carbon sequestration in the May 8th Washington Post. Great article, excellent graphics. Check it out Washington Post article, 05/08/08. A New Leaf on Life article.

Community Tree Planting application deadline, June 15, 2008.
Apply for a Community Tree Planting in your
neighborhood or community next fall! Applications for our next Community Tree Planting (CTP) grants are due June 15th. Every fall and spring, Casey Trees helps organize community-based tree planting projects in each ward of the city. We work with neighborhood groups and Citizen Foresters to plan these projects, and to then recruit teams of community volunteers to plant the new trees. Read the application for details. Link to the Casey Tree Planting application.

Help new DC street trees survive the summer. More than 4,000 street trees were planted this season by DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration. To help these trees survive, Casey Trees and UFA are recruiting volunteers to adopt and water these trees this
summer. Please join us by volunteering to water one or two trees this summer!


For information on free classes, summer volunteer events and tree care, visit Casey Trees.

Green Grants in the UK

For those of you in the UK....

Green business grants are increasingly sought out. This website now funnels the money into one site where users can search for sources and apply for funding for new green business ventures. Best of luck.

Green Grants Machine.

Save the Clean Energy Revolution with Music

Buying indie music will save the planet -



Hello=

Feist, Of Montreal, Bloc Party, The Appletrees, and some of the other
hottest indie bands out there right now LOVE us. And to show their love they
have teamed up with Green Owl records (an awesome new eco record label) to
put together a hot comp CD that will 100% benefit all the amazing work
Energy Action Coalition is doing for a clean and just energy revolution.

Be one of the FIRST people to have exclusive tracks from some great artists.
Go to Green Owl Records or Democracy in Action to
order your copy (or 3 or 5) of the CD today.

Buying the comp CD will not only help you pack your ipod with some great
exclusive tracks but it will also help you take on King Coal,
progress-blocking politicians, and get your school running on 100% wind and
solar. Not a bad deal.

The CDs are also available at Whole Foods and in local record stores around
the country, but why take your chances with it already being sold out? Order
your copy today online.
Go to Green Owl Records or Democracy in Action to
order your copy (or 3 or 5) of the CD today.

We also need help spreading the word about the CD. Tell your friends about
it, blog about it, brag about it, saturate Facebook with it. Let's make them
print MORE copies of this CD. Let's raise a ton of money to support the
youth climate movement. And let's dance.

To a clean energy revolution that's filled with music,
Aleli, Arthur, Brianna, Jessy, Kassie, Madeline, Ragini, Whit, and the rest
of the Energy Action Coalition team

And read the industry blurb here:

A two-disc CD/DVD featuring previously unreleased tracks from an eclectic
group of artists who've shared their music in order to support the good
works of the Energy Action Coalition. The EAC is made up of over 40
organizations from the US and Canada, founded and led by youth to help
support and strengthen the clean energy movement in North America. They're
currently working on the Campus Climate Challenge, which has committed over
450 college campuses to go climate neutral. They're also responsible for
Power Shift, the largest youth gathering and lobby day on climate change in
the history of the US. All profits from this release will support EAC's
efforts. Artists on this comp include The Appletrees, Feist, Muse, Of
Montreal, Pete Yorn, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, Satori, and many more.