On Saturday, October 17th in Western Springs, Lyons Township High School South Campus (4900 S. Willow Springs Road) is hosting a free environmental fair “How Cool is Your Home?”.  To learn more about this free event, visit www.lagrangearealwv.org. There will be speakers, exhibits, children’s activities, giveaways, and door prizes.  Should be educational and fun for all!

Are you a loyal consumer of organic foods?  Calculate the benefits to the environment here:  http://www.organicvalley.coop/organiccounts/.  Not only has the science show they are 25 - even 50% more nutritious, but they also prevent toxins from entering the environment.  Remember, a healthy environment, means a healthy you and vice versa!  This is fun to do with the kids!

Three things to pass along:

1. The Road to Sustainability from Physics World: A cool write up about the sustainable stuff.  Here’s a little intro quote:“Sustainability” is the hottest topic in energy research today, but what does it actually mean? George Crabtree and John Sarrao describe what makes a technology sustainable, and outline the materials-science challenges standing between us and clean, long-lasting energy
2. Newsweek’s Green Rankings 2009: This years marks the beginning of Newsweek’s “green” rankings where they rank 500 of the greenest companies.  Who do you think made #1?
3. Sum Total Being Green isn’t new:

(reposted from MNN Daily Brief, e-Newsletter, September 24, 2009) POLAR MELTDOWN: Ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica are melting faster than scientists previously thought, and some places are experiencing “a runaway effect,” according to a team of British scientists who analyzed laser readings taken by NASA satellites. Some Antarctic ice sheets have been losing 30 feet of thickness annually since 2003, and while many areas are up to a mile thick to begin with, the melting is speeding up - the rate of Antarctic thinning was 50 percent higher between 2003 and 2007 than it was from 1995 to 2003. The problem isn’t warmer air, but warmer water, which wears down the ice from the outside in. “To some extent it’s a runaway effect,” says the lead author of the study, which was published online today in the journal Nature. “The question is how far will it run?” (Sources: Associated Press, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle)

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An amendment proposed by Senator Murkowski (Alaska) is hitting the Senate floor in the next few days.  If it passes, the EPA will no long be able to regulate greenhouse gases.  You know, the ones that cause climate change.  Please call or write your Senators to vote against the Murkowski Amendment.  This link will bring you the the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of all of the US State Senators:   http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

It seems that those Europeans are always one or two steps ahead of those of us in the US. This NPR story highlights one example, European Union Turns Off Incandescent Bulbs. It appears that old-fashioned, “energy guzzler,” incandescent bulbs are going to be a thing of the past.

Yesterday, I heard a piece from NPR about “green” energy programs that are really propped up on energy credits. The piece was called, Search for Green Power On and Off the Grid. This story is interesting as it details some of the trickery with the word “green.” This is part of a larger series called How Green is it?. Might be worth checking out.

The Washington Post reports that GM promises 230 miles per gallon from its new car, the Volt.

Microsofts Hohm Web site is now live. You can follow its progress on the Hohm Blog.

A couple of news notes to pass along.

• Microsoft has released a new Web site, Hohm, which is a free online tool for consumers to use to save energy. This allows consumers to compute their own energy usage and offers tips to save energy. You can get more info at this InformationWeek Article. I submitted my email to join the test of Hohm.
• Here is an interesting Tribune article about the greening of the Sears Tower. They are considering adding wind turbines and solar panels along with other changes such as a hotel to the tallest building in North America.