EarthFirst.com is Getting It’s Party Groove On Tonight With The Sierra Club and Lightbulbs for Leadership

We’ve written about the Sierra Club’s Lightbulbs to Leadership campaign a couple of times but wanted to do something more tangible to help them bring awareness to the cause.

So we’re joining a few tens of thousands of people throwing a party tonight to bring people together to speak up about the necessary action we need to take to fight Global Warming. We’re so excited that we’re actually throwing two parties- the EarthFirst.com (mid)West crew will be throwing down the green groove in Chicago and I’ll be having an East Coast party in my backyard tipi here in Maine (as seen in a rave I recently threw in it in the photo above). Our friends at Ecorazzi are joining in on the fun with a party in Miami.

The premise of the Lightbulbs to Leadership campaign is that changing our lightbulbs is not enough. It’s a great small step that We The People are taking, but isn’t enough to really turn things around. For that we need our politicians and leaders to get in line and start getting some laws in place to drive change.

So we’ll be focusing on how people can take real action in prodding politicians to action. We’ll be talking about Global Warming, the need for higher fuel efficiency standards, investments in Green Jobs, cutting worldwide emissions, and then capping it all off with some good ol’ fashion letter writing. There will be a conference call with Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope and Green for All President (and EarthFirst.com’s #2 Hottest Guy in Green) Van Jones thrown in the middle for good measure.

Check out the video we shot earlier this week:

Find a House Party near you over at Lightbulbs to Leadership and get out tonight to help save the world from ourselves.

Link [Lightbulbs to Leadership]

Photo credit: Flickr user pokpok313

Rain-Swollen Lake Bursts Bank and Disappears

Nature doesn’t mess around. One look at this photo makes it clear how much power the forces of nature really hold, and how helpless we can be to their destruction. The photo shows two employees of Tommy Bartlett’s Water Show trying to clean debris and dead fish out of the empty bed of Lake Delton in Wisconsin, which was once a picturesque 267-acre vacation destination.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Weekend rains of biblical proportions dumped so much water into Lake Delton that it literally burst its banks.

Tens of thousands of gallons of lake water barreled through the woods, taking with it a roadway, several houses, boats, fish and lake bed. It emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River and was gone in hours.

On Tuesday morning, some 24 hours after the catastrophe, the massive lake is nearly drained. The lake is a muddy moonscape of cracked earth. Fish bake in the sun, flopping until their deaths. Mounds of dead fish are piled high. The shoreline is jagged and cracked. Boats hang in the air suspended by what is left of the docks. In parts, the little water that is left meanders like a silent brook. The roadway and earth that held the river back is now a grand canyon.

Lake Delton was formerly a lively scene of water skiing, fishing, and other recreation. State officials have vowed to refill the lake as soon as possible, but residents are afraid the lake will never be the same again. And it may not – the lake was artificially created by damming Dell Creek. Sounds like nature took things into its own hands and turned the man-made lake back into a creek, as it was originally.

Link [Chicago Tribune]
Photo credit: Chicago Tribune/ E. Jason Wambsgans

Chicago Plans New Harborside Green Space with ‘Eco-Bridge’

Chicago may just become America’s greenest city before long; they’re already working on a green roof program and a green alley project. Now, the city is working on an ambitious plan to provide residents with green space via an ‘Eco-Bridge’. The Eco-Bridge will be a semicircle around the Monroe Harbor, serving as a breakwater that will give Chicagoans calm waters for sailing and rowing. The bridge itself will also serve as recreational space, containing public parks and fountains.

More details from Inhabitat:

The Eco-Bridge was originally conceived in the early 1900s as part of the 1909 Burnham Plan of Chicago. The bridge is now being designed by hometown firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The Eco-Bridge is the last of the major recommendations drafted by the master plan to provide recreational opportunities, views of the city, and calm water for rowing and sailing. The two-mile bridge will connect opposite ends of the city center and Grant Park.

To give a modern and sustainable twist to the original idea, wind turbines will also be incorporated in the project to add economic value and show Chicago’s dedication to sustainability. An observation tower will be placed at the center of the bridge, providing spectacular views of the lake and city. The bridge also provides a chance to showcase the ecology of the Great Lakes and provide a safe environment for fish and water plants.

Chicago hopes that the Eco-Bridge will further enhance their bid for the 2016 Olympic Games - they hope the observation tower will be used to house the Olympic flame. It’s really a wonder why it’s taken so long to get this going, it seems like a great idea to promote the city’s sustainable initiatives, add recreational space, and create a draw for tourists.

The bottom photo shows the original 1919 plans for the Chicago City Center.

We’re proud to see this great city lead the nation in eco-friendly initiatives (EarthFirst headquarters are located in Chicago) and look forward to seeing more exciting things from the Windy City!

Link [Inhabitat]

Greenfest Chicago Followup: Silverleaf Resorts Snookered Organizers to Promote Timeshare Resort with Cruiseship Giveaway

What a week! I have felt down-right journalistic these past few days as I’ve poked and prodded my way though a story that first popped up during Chicago Greenfest a few weeks back; a story about Silverleaf Resorts, a very-NOT-green timeshare company giving away an even-less-green Cruise vacation smack in the middle of Greenfest Chicago.

We got their main booth rep Michael Stevens on camera saying that there was nothing green about Silverleaf Resorts or their promotion, that they were there “talking to all the people that love green”, and that they were just “marketing for our resort”. I was given a rambling, semi-incoherent answer to my very simple question “how are you green?” that wandered into the absurd. Apparently, in Silverleaf Resorts world, having 300 acres of land makes you Green.

You can read the original post here, watch the video for the full dirt:

After I got back from Chicago, I started zipping around emails to the two main orgs behinds Greenfest Global Exchange, Co-op America, and their PR firm Organic Works Marketing for an explanation on how Silverleaf Resorts got their booth. Did someone at Greenfest drop the ball in the screening process? Did Silverleaf “mis-represent” themselves in the application process?

It turned out to be a little of both- a small dash of the first and a heaping measure of the latter. Jim Kinsella of Silverleaf Resorts snookered to the organizers of Greenfest. Someone at Silverleaf Resorts verbally told the Greenfest screeners that they had two sites that were built with green materials and practices. I have yet to find any evidence of anything green from Silverleaf Resorts and they have failed to respond to my request for comment/clarification. But it’s clear that whoever was in charge of screening the Silverleaf Resorts application was too trusting and didn’t do the necessary footwork needed to verify their green claims.

Silverleaf Resorts promised the screeners that they would only exhibit information about one of their green facilities and made no mention of the cruise give-away.

During the Friday setup, the Greenfest Floor Manager didn’t see the giant Cruise banner SIlverleaf Resorts later put up and apparently didn’t do a walk through on either Saturday or Sunday, when I saw it up behind their booth.

If I had to wager, I’d guess that most of the exhibitors at Greenfest fall squarely into the Kind Greenie category of people. They’re mostly nice crunchy kind folks who don’t try to lie and cheat on their exhibitor application. I can see how it’d be easy for the organizers of Greenfest to get complacent.

I hope this serves as a wake up call to the great people running Greenfest. There are lots of Jim Kensellas and Silverleaf Resorts in the world and more of them will be trying to get into our space. Don’t make it easy for them- they’re welcome when they actually green themselves up, in the meantime we’ve got to keep beating them back down.

Rooting Out The Non-Green Booth at Greenfest Chicago: Timeshares, and Cruises, and Greenwash… Oh My!

I spent the last weekend in Chicago meeting up with the rest of the EarthFirst crew (they are in Chicago, I’m in Maine) and attending Greenfest. This year the event was held on the lake on the Navy Pier and I rolled into the event on Saturday to scout out things ahead of our planned Sunday shoot.

I was looking for things to riff off- any out of place companies or greenwashed marketing pitches, something that makes you think of that Seasame Street song “One of these things is not like the other…”.

It didn’t take me long to stumble on the holy grail of the Greenfest Greenwash, or should I say- the un greenwash. The people at this booth were either too stupid or too lazy to even throw a coat of green paint on.

The culprits: Silverleaf Resorts, a big ol’ timeshare resort corporation. They have resorts and facilities in six states and have thousands of acres of resorts, big ass hotel and event facilities, and even a waterpark in their portfolio. There is absolutely zero about them that is green. Zip, zilch, nada, nothing.

Silverleaf Resorts was at Greenfest to give away a Cruise vacation in exchange for giving them your contact info. The last I checked, modern cruise ships are big floating dirty cities that discharge their waste directly into the ocean, burn up scads of fossil fuels, and bring wandering, camera toting hoards to ecologically sensitive places all over the world.

So let me get this right- some very non-green company was in the middle of freakin’ Greenfest, promoting a ‘couldn’t be less green’ prize giveaway.

And their booth was mobbed!

W. T. F.

When I first found their booth I asked them what they did as a company to be green. One of the ladies behind the booth started prattling on about how they have 1,000 acres of land.

Yeah, and….

That was it, they have 1,000 acres of land. That was green to her. Then she stammered around saying something about CFL bulbs and reusable shopping bags. I got the distinct impression that it might have been the first time she had heard the term “green” in this context.

When we came back to Greenfest on Sunday with our camera crew, we set off to hunt them down and ask them what the fsck they were doing at Greenfest. Here’s what we came up with, enjoy the video:

Like our hipster host Jacob said, I hope Silverleaf Resorts does not show up at Greenfest next year. If we find them, I can’t promise we won’t unleash our full armament of green snark and sarcasm. It could get messy.

Extremely Phallic, Clean Techonology Skyscaper makes our Editorial Intern Think Dirty Thoughts

Caroline likes…

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture of Chicago are working on a new wind-powered skyscraper that will make you need to cross your legs.

The curved tip of the building will be covered with a photovoltaic helmet, and turbines up and down the (ahem) shaft of the proposed structure will direct the windy cities’ wind inward for power and insulation. The eco-ingeniousness alone is enough to make you want to rub up against it. Then, you take a look at the slick, strong lines of the building and there’s no holding back. Seriously, the building looks exactly like a skyward-pointing, throbbing male organ complete with glorious mane of lush, green pubic hair. Can’t wait until it’s erect..ed.

Link [TrendHunter]

Is Helix A Green(er) Film Production? Will Be Shot In One Take

Writer/Director Aram Rappaport is shooting a movie in Chicago and he’s doing it in one take. His 100 minute thriller Helix, will be filmed in one continuous shot five different times, once a day over five days. I’m guessing they will pick the best take and release it, though if they were smart they’d include all five takes on an ultra lux special edition DVD.

Film sets have pretty large environmental footprints- they suck up energy running lights, equipment, and trailers, burn through diesel running trucks and generators, and pump pollution into the air with explosions and stunts. Limiting shooting time to five days vastly reduces the environmental impact of your standard movie. Post production consists of a few guys in an editing suite running Final Cut Pro on a desktop Mac and will be particularly light on Helix considering there won’t be any cuts in the movie. They’ll do some color correction, sweeten the sound, and add the titles and credits and export it out ready to rock.

I hope the movie doesn’t suck, I’d like to see more like this.

Link [Wired]