Digestopia Blog

Plastic Bag Bans: US Update
Reusable bags are becoming mainstream as more and more municipalities follow the San Francisco lead and ban plastic bags. Currently there are hundreds of towns considering bans or taxes in order to reduce or eliminate plastic bags. Plastic bags are considered politically incorrect because of environmental hazards such as pollution, wildlife endangerment and because they are unnecessary landfill hogs.

Plastic Bag vs Paper Bag Facts: What is Best?
Growing concern over the waste of plastic and paper bags has many people puzzled over what is the right thing to choose. Here are the facts.

Plastic Bag Bans Gain Momentum in the US
Across the country, hundreds of municipalities are considering banning or taxing free plastic bags. In 2007, San Francisco became the first major city to ban plastic bags. Even smaller towns, including 30 Alaskan rural villages have banned the bags. In September, Westport CT became the latest in the trend by overwhelmingly approving the ordinance.

Reusable Bags: Green Bag Tips for Choosing the Right Shopping Bag for You
As Americans become more eco-conscious and switch to reusable shopping and grocery bags, it can be overwhelming trying to select from among the dozens of options. How do you find the right bag to fit your lifestyle? Here are some questions to consider.

Plastic Bag Bans: World Update
In the last two years, there has been a striking momentum to reduce or eliminate plastic bags in the US as more Americans become aware of the environmental hazards of these bags. While the US movement is in its infancy, much of the world has already taken action.

Big Oil Fights Plastic Bag Bans
Across the country, from big cities like San Francisco to small towns like Westport CT, there is a movement to eliminate free plastic bags because of environmental issues. This movement is not sitting well with Big Oil, which is fighting all efforts which might hamper this $4 billion industry.

Six Good Reasons for Going Organic
I will freely admit that I devour every article that I can lay my hands on which deals with anything related to gardening. Everyone has something, which they are passionate about in life, mine is my garden. My friends tell me that I am obsessed, and maybe I am. I think my partner is obsessed, in his case it’s golf, but as yet I haven’t heard any of his friends telling him that he is obsessed.

What are GE and GMO Crops?
Most have at least heard about GE and GMO crops. Ever wonder if they’re going to be approved and planted?

What Does Organic Food Certification Really Mean?
The term organic is being tossed around quite a bit lately, and you’ll soon be seeing a big jump in the number of organic choices when you visit your local Safeway or Wal-Mart store. That’s because the demand for organic produce, milk, and meat has been steadily increasing, to the point where the giant retail chains have begun to take the trend seriously. In turn, there will be a growing concern over the certification process as factory-style farms begin to muscle their way into the organic food market as a result of increased demand.

ECO BIZ: Blue Spruce, Cow Power
Methane fuel created from cows’ non-dairy output powers a farm and beyond. Eco Biz is presented by Citi Smith Barney.

ECO BIZ: Interface Carpet
One CEO changes the way he does business when he realizes the harm he’s doing to the environment.

ECO BIZ: Great Eastern Ecology
See how a building consultant that helps restore the natural habitat of cities makes this venture profitable.

ECO BIZ: Timberland
The Timberland CEO talks about how his company pioneered profitable green business practices.

ECO BIZ: Ben and Jerry’s
The Greenest Ice Cream around.

ECO BIZ: Cameron Cole
Environmental consultants help companies walk the green walk.

ECO BIZ: ABC Carpet and Home
Home decor can be beautiful and green.

ECO BIZ: E-Waste
What do you do with your old electronics?

Animal Rights and Welfare
Before you get involved in an animal organization, make sure you understand everything they believe in.

The History of Respect for Animals
Today we see animal rights activists everywhere. From Green Peace attempting to hunt down a Japanese Whaling Vessel to eco-terrorists letting all the animals escape from a Country Animal Shelter and Pound and then vandalizing it. These of course are extreme and yet humans have quite a lot of empathy for animals and nature as well.

No Primate Is Illegal
Did you know that non-humans are supposed to have human rights? Talk about losing the language, but that is exactly what some are trying to establish. The test subject for redefining human is a 26-year old chimpanzee named Hiasl which certain animal rights activists are trying to get legally declared a person.

Preventing Animal Abuse and Neglect-An Introduction
Learn about the difference between animal abuse, intentional neglect and unintentional neglect. Tips on how to identify animal abuse and neglect are included along with information about how to report abuse and neglect.

Stop Prairie Dog Poisoning!
The U.S. Forest Service today released its draft plan that may drastically increase the poisoning of prairie dog colonies this fall throughout the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota and the Oglala National Grassland in Nebraska. Widespread poisoning could kill tens of thousands of prairie dogs, which would jeopardize the continued recovery of the critically imperiled black-footed ferret, the most endangered mammal in North America. The plan would also harm other wildlife that depend on prairie dogs for food or prairie dog burrows for shelter, including rare species such as swift foxes, burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks.

Sundance Channel presents THE GREEN
Hosts Majora Carter and Simran Sethi introduce Sundance Channel’s THE GREEN.

Robert Redford presents The Green
Robert Redford and Sundance Channel present The Green.

Robert Redford on THE GREEN
Robert Redford discusses THE GREEN

The Green Online with Simran Sethi: Create
Simran talks forest and furniture.

Look at These Vegetarian Numbers, The Enormous Amount of Resources
Non-vegetarians and vegetarians are starting to ask the question of, -is it really doing any good being a vegetarian? If you are thinking about becoming a vegetarian for the ethical reasons, but you are having a hard time making up your mind, then here are some numbers for you to take in.

Importance of Being Vegetarian
Our earth is bursting with people and stress has been put on food resources. It is getting really difficult to maintain the quality of food in this fast changing world. Hence, more and more people are becoming vegetarians as a solution for their health problems.

Vegetarians at the BBQ
Once viewed as an eccentric oddity, vegetarians have moved from the fringe to the mainstream. However, the truth is, all too often the meatless menu option isn’t vegetarian at all…it’s just a menu item, minus the meat. Unfortunately, a white hoagie bun topped with iceberg lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, and mustard is about as unappealing to the vegetarian as it is to the carnivore counterpart.

Go Vegetarian
Some reasons on why vegetarianism is better.

30 Reasons to Go VEG
Every year, billions of animals (including fish) are killed for food in the United States alone. PETA’s video Chew on This sheds light on animal suffering and highlights many of the other reasons to choose a compassionate, plant-based diet. Vegetarianism not only spares billions of animals from horrific suffering, it also spares your waistline.

THE GREEN Online with Simran Sethi: Fuel
Simran encapsulates the over consumption of oil with clips from the documentary A CRUDE AWAKENING - THE OIL CRASH.

THE GREEN Online with Simran Sethi: Build
Simran Sethi previews upcoming topics that will air on Sundance Channel’s THE GREEN.

THE GREEN Online with Simran Sethi: Cities
Take a fresh look at your waste and how we can make better use of it.

The Green Online with Simran Sethi: Eat
Eating local, how many miles does your food travel from farm to fork?

THE GREEN Online with Simran Sethi: Wear
Eco wear is a beautiful kind of activism.

The Green Online with Simran Sethi: Eco-terrorism
Eco-terrorism? Real threat or red herring?

Green and Environmental Awareness Campaigns Online
Learn how to best leverage the power of the Internet of your environmental organization’s cause. A website can not only get information out, but bring information in and help organize your efforts, all while letting like-minded people know about your cause.

Bring Out the Tree Hugger in You by Becoming Environmentally Responsible
If you’ve ever heard the phrase tree hugger used to describe someone, you may think it is a negative term. Used negatively, the term can be used to describe someone who seems to be too concerned with the environment. Hippies can also be called tree huggers and many people are not starting to associate tree huggers and tree hugging with negative meanings. The opposite is true; tree hugger is actually a positive term for someone who is interested in or participates in environmentalism and conservation. These people are known for doing all they can to protect the environment and encouraging people not to waste our natural resources. If you want to get in touch with your inner tree hugger, take the steps below to improve your own environment and get involved in your community.

Environmentalism
Many of you know that I think that whenever zealously is involved any argument or position is jeopardized, regardless of the kernels of truth on which the initial position was built. The Great Global Warming Scandal is a perfect example of the swing of the proverbial pendulum from the Earth-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket Environmentalist perspective to the more Bush-ian hey-how-could-humans-effect-anything-on-such-a-global-scale.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: Going Green, or Else
This short asks - do you really need to drive 20 blocks to get a pint of ice cream? Vanilla at that. Some people would say no…as well a few others…Going green maybe be not only smarter but forced upon you if you’re not careful.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: How Much Can a Polar Bear?
In this short, due to global warming the polar icecaps are melting, placing pressure on polar bear families in the arctic circle. Here we see how their changing environment impacts directly in the home.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: Wasted
In this short, Milbert experiences a surplus environmental disasters resulting in a lesson that can only be learned cartoon characters.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: Breakfast
Meet Greg, Christian and their favorite crappy diner; then find out why it’s not easy to convince your friends to go to environmental pep-rallies.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: Yung Yeti
In this short, Yung Yeti and his friend Mr. Buck, the raccoon live in the forest and go about their lives being conscious of their environment.

Sundance Channel GREENIMATION: Meet the Banes
In the not-so-distant past, a man named Sterling married a woman named Daphne and conceived an offspring named Carson. Together, they are the most repulsive, insufferable, downright detestable family on Earth. If they are not stopped soon, they will surely destroy our fragile planet. Meet the Banes.

From Finning to Shark Fin Soup
In Eastern Asia, there is a culinary delicacy that is known to be popular, especially at weddings and important business dinners; it is the shark fin soup. The problems related to sharks are related to a cruel fishing technique called finning. Is such a pricey soup worth the carnage?

Here are Some Types of Sharks that are Virtually Harmless to People
Thanks to the movie Jaws, sharks ended up with a bad reputation as man-eaters, which could not be further from the truth. Let’s study some of these virtually harmless types of sharks.

Are Sharks Predators or Preys of Humans? Maybe It Has Something to Do With the Shark Anatomy!
According to Hollywood, humans are preys to sharks. Reality says that for each person victim of a shark attack, huge numbers of sharks die because of humans. Who is the real predator? Who is the prey?

Shame on You: Shark Finning
Video created by OceaNEnvironment about the senseless killing of sharks for their fins. Special message for Alibab.com - who serves as a e-commerce platform for the trade of shark fins.

Sharks: Stewards of the Reef
Sharks: Stewards of the Reef, examines escalating threats to shark population including habitat destruction of reef ecosystems and over fishing that are causing Pacific reef shark populations to plummet. This film examines the most brutal assault threatening shark abundance: that of finning sharks for shark fin soup. Compelling interviews with leading marine biologists and conservationists reveal these driving forces behind the drastic reduction of many shark populations.

Shark Finning on the Frontier
In late 2006, I was invited with photographer Justin Ebert to what may one of the last truly wild places on the planet: Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Located off off the western tip of Papua New Guinea, Raja Ampat covers an area of roughly 7,000 square kilometers and is loaded with forested limestone islands, mangrove ringed lagoons, bays and reefs. It is the reefs in particular that make this place so special. Raja Ampat is believed to have the richest marine biodiversity of any place on the planet.

You are Contributing to Global Warming and Miserable Doing It
Are you trudging along with the polluting mainstream? Seek a healthier and happier lifestyle instead and improve your environment as well. Do you want road rage or a new age?

There’s No Doubt About It: Humans are the Cause of Global Warming
What do YOU think is the major cause of global warming? Or should I say - WHO? Global warming is affecting our world and the people and creatures who live on it in unimaginable ways. What should we, as humans who are able to think and reason, do in order to stop global warming from doing its worst?

Will Bushanol Help Global Warming?
Will Bush’s emphasis on ethanol really help or is this just another way to help the oil companies?

Christian Right and Global Warming Debate
Many of the top Christian TV Evangelists has joined the Global Warming Fear Motif. Some have asked what do the Christian Right TV Evangelists have to gain by doing this? Well some say they will have more access to the major media news outlets. Previously they could only get on TV with pro-Conservative news shows. By joining the environmental, Al Gore Global Warming debate they can have it all.

The Great Global Warming Swindle
This short program, produced and shown in England, destroys the arguments put forward by Al Gore and the human caused Global Warming activists.

Global Warming: Point of No Return?
James Lovelock says Global Warming is now at point of no return. Other top climate scientists are more hopeful but say we only have less than 10 years before it’s irreversible and time is running out. Bush Administrations been accused of asking top climate scientists at NASA to STOP speaking out about the climate crisis and of altering scientific journals reporting on the phenomenon. We all need to speak up NOW or the Human Race will join the MILLIONS of other Species that will be extinct by 2050 from Global Warming.

Lou Dobbs: Global Warming
Lou Dobbs discusses Global Warming with 3 guests. Lou wants to get going with solutions to fix this problem, and stop the false debate.

Earth Day: A Brief History and Plan
Earth Day, one of the less celebrated holidays, which is quite a shame as it’s also one of the more important ones. You might be wondering where Earth Day came from, as it certainly doesn’t have nearly as much information abounding around about it as other more popular holidays.

What Is Earth Day?
Even though it’s been around since the 1970’s many people really do not know anything about Earth Day. They have no idea what Earth Day is or through it how many accomplishments we have made to make our world a better and safer place for all of us to live.

Earth Day: April 22 a Day of Environmental Awareness
Proof of the media’s impact on the world today, it was not until the full throttle report put out by the New York Times that the environmental awareness sought by Senator Gaylord Nelson really took on some steam. For seven years prior to the actual Earth Day grassroots movement, Senator Nelson had tried to gain the proper respect and recognition he felt the environment deserved.

Earth Day: Good News for the Environment
As Earth Day 2007 approaches, there seems to be good news on the environmental scene, which should come as welcome change to anyone concerned about the state of our Earth. That’s in stark contrast to the first Earth Day, back in 1970.

Happy Earth Day!
Authors of Trash Talk share easy ways to celebrate Earth Day.

Earthships 101: Part 1
Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy and integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills. Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.

Earthships 101: Part 2
Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy and integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills. Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.

Earthship Demonstration
The Earthship is a completely independent globally oriented dwelling unit made from materials that are indigenous to the entire planet. The major structural building component of the Earthship is recycled automobile tires filled with compacted earth to form a rammed earth brick encased in steel belted rubber. This brick and the resulting bearing walls it forms is virtually indestructible.

Earthship Journey
Earthship Biotecture creates buildings that…heat and cool themselves naturally via solar/thermal dynamics collect their own power from the sun and wind harvest their own water from rain and snow melt contain and treat their own sewage on site produce food in significant quantities utilize materials that are byproducts of modern society like cans, bottles and tires.

The World is Not Enough: Calling for a More Ethical Approach to Personal Finance
With the success of the Live 8 and Make Poverty History rallies in bringing ethical awareness to world finance, the public needs to turn the spotlight onto their own personal finances to ensure real change is made.

Socially Responsible Mutual Funds
Investing can have a dark side. There are plenty of shady business ventures, which may not be legally but are definitely not moral. There are people out there who believe that to get ahead in business, investing, and life you have to do unpleasant things.

The Business of Saving the Planet
As the days are getting shorter and the downtown air has finally started to cool off, the dialogue about fighting global warming keeps heating up. All this talk is changing the way business is being done.

The Top 10 Questions for Socially Responsible Leaders
The assets of your business traditionally include property, plant, equipment, and your customer base. Progressive organizations understand that business assets also include their good reputation.

TreehuggerTV: How to Buy Green Produce
This week on TreeHuggerTV we are back in the supermarket shopping with nutriton expert Marion Nestle. You may have caught a previous THTV episode when Marion was helping us to buy green milk. This week we’re in the fruit and veg aisle and Marion is lamenting the fact that lack of labeling means we can’t tell where the apples come from. This is especially frustrating when they are out of season because we can’t tell how far round the world they’ve traveled. Come help us carry the shopping basket and learn more about the pros and cons of selecting organic fruit and vegetables in the supermarket.

TreehuggerTV: Edible Estates
How do you make your front lawn greener? Landscape with food instead. Edible Estates wants to tear out your lawn & replace it with a garden that is both beautiful and functional. What if keeping up with the Joneses meant you had a better tomato bush or a bigger plum tree? Edible Estates wants to make that happen, transforming suburbia one lawn at a time.

TreeHuggerTV: Green Alcatraz, Cool Cob and Toxic Co.
This week TreeHuggerTV brings you something dirty, something clean, and a whole lot of green in between, starting with a look at the Toxic 100 list of the largest corporate polluters. But before you jump to any quick conclusions, we’ll let you know what Toxic 100 company also made the list of Global 100 of the most Sustainable Corporations in the world. In cleaner, less confusing news — the infamous former federal prison Alcatraz gets greener, British schools move towards carbon neutrality, and kids in California celebrate cob ? reviving a traditional building technique to craft modern benches.

Costa Rica, A Paradise For Eco-Tourism
Costa Rica is a great place for eco-tourism with lots to see and do.

South America Eco Tours
Generally speaking, an eco tour refers to an adventure trip that brings about a significant influence to the environment and indigenous folks. Its major objective is to educate travelers regarding certain ecological issues such as the preservation of our natural resources, commonly associated to the target destination. In view of that, eco tour serves as the best way to commune with nature.

Eco Travel World Wide
Imagine traveling to exotic places all over the world while knowing you are contributing to the health of the planet. Your vacations can help the environment as well as help the community you are traveling to. What more can you ask for in a vacation?

TreehuggerTV: HauteGREEN Salon, Part One
The producers of HauteGREEN host an intimate evening of dinner, drinks, and stimulating conversation with the team behind the new Worldchanging book Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich. Drop in on their discussion with TreeHugger Founder Graham Hill and THTV’s Simran Sethi. Topics include the WC book tour, the Whole Earth Catalog and social responsibility efforts One and Red.

TreehuggerTV: Haute Green Salon, Part Two
Is green a fad or here to stay? Get the answers as Worldchangers Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich continue their cocktail conversation with TreeHugger Founder Graham Hill and THTV’s Simran Sethi. Also discussed are the green meme, the Stern Report and successful change movements of the past.

TreehuggerTV: HauteGreen Salon, Part Three
As the salon winds down, eco-chic loft-designer Matt Gagnon walks us through his process for reusing demolition materials in order to reinvent space. Initially tasked with using newly purchased eco-materials, Gagnon calculated that there would be no way to offset the waste generated from the renovation job, so he chose to build a sculptural landfill inside the loft. 80% of potential waste was diverted by using reclaimed sheetrock to construct storage units and other items were given away or free-cycled on Craiglist. Features hostess and HauteGREEN producer Kimberly Oliver, THTV’s Simran Sethi as well as Inhabitat.com’s Jill Ferenbacher who takes us to Matt’s creative roots using recycled paper for furniture.