Researchers at the Woods Hole Research Center, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Survey created the map pictured above, an inventory of the United States’ concentrations of biomass. The darkest greens on the map show areas with the densest and most robust forest growth.

According to the NASA Earth Observatory, the map provides perhaps the most detailed “view of forest structure and carbon storage ever assembled for any country.”

The purpose of the map is to take an accurate, current inventory of the nation’s forests in order to know how best to manage and preserve forests.

Trees fill our air with oxygen. They provide shade on sunny days, prevent erosion and slow a harsh wind. They provide us with raw materials, food, medicines and more. What actions have you made in your daily life to protect our forests?

As you may be aware, all SPARQ products are milled in Denver, Colorado using soapstone from manufacturing scraps that were destined for the landfill. Most of the world’s supply of soapstone originates from Brazil, where according to UNICEF, about 42% of children live in poverty with an estimated 1/8 of them living on the streets.

The good guys of SPARQ fame found out it only costs $1 per day to feed a child in Brazil. So, in an effort to support the communities it gets its soapstone from, SPARQ has initiated the Feed a Child Project to feed impoverished children in Brazil. The company’s initial goal is to raise $100,000 by World Hunger Day 2012. That is May 28, 2012! A lofty goal but they know they can do it with your help! AND the help of its many retail partners…

In effort to expand the scope of the project, SPARQ has asked Organic Bug to join the cause by donating $1 of each sale when SPARQ customers purchase products on OB’s website. This is where you can help!

Organic Bug is thrilled to have this opportunity to participate so has agreed to give $1 to SPARQ’s Feed a Child Project for EVERY PURCHASE YOU make on OrganicBug.com. Not just SPARQ products but ANY products you purchase on Organic Bug, anytime between now and May 28, 2012! SWEET!

Organic Bug has sweetened the deal and is offering YOU $5 OFF your order of $50 or more! Just use the promo code SWEET during check out. (offer is valid multiple times by the same user; sale items + quantity discounts are not included; this offer cannot be used with any other promotion)

PeacefulUprising.com

What do you do when you find yourself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to defending the defenseless? It wasn’t all that long ago when environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was convicted on two felony counts for “making $1.8 million in false oil and gas drilling bids at a federal auction,” according to the Associated Press. The 29-year old DeChristopher did so “to run up the price of 13 oil-and-gas leases near Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks,” in order to save them. Tim registered under the name “Bidder 70″ and outbid the oil companies, but was then unable to pay. This same auction was later ruled as possibly illegal, and definitely poorly conducted. He was eventually sentenced to two years in prison; and many supporters are stating the obvious. DeChristopher’s conviction wasn’t about the bids; it was about preserving power (Treehugger).

DeChristopher’s defense team claimed a necessity defense, meaning he had to choose between two evils and bidding was the lesser of those evils to avoid imminent harm. Prosecutors prohibited this defense and disallowed evidence which could have supported his case for the necessity defense. Prosecutor John Huber stated, “It becomes clear that the defendant’s hopes are to have a prominent venue for his global-warming show — a platform from which he could educate the masses.” The overall stance in cases like DeChristopher’s is that it is criminal to educate the masses about the destruction of national parks and the environment in favor of oil. Additionally, Judge Benson, who presided over the case and sentenced DeChristopher to prison for two years, asserted that DeChristopher’s actions were undeserving of comparisons to historical acts of nonviolent protest or civil disobedience, essentially reiterating the hardball stance that the environment is not a valid cause worth federal protections.

The point of these heavy sentences is to deter future environmental protestors to reach out to help stave off the effects of climate change. Activists such as DeChristopher believe the path our earth is headed down will be extremely disastrous. Barriers to solving the environmental crisis are political, not technological. DeChristopher responded to the judge’s statement during his court address:

“The certainty of this statement [that his sentence will act to deter] not only ignores the history of political prisoners, it ignores the severity of the present situation. Those who are inspired to follow my actions are those who understand that we are on a path toward catastrophic consequences of climate change. They know their future, and the future of their loved ones, is on the line. And they know we are running out of time to turn things around. The closer we get to that point where it’s too late, the less people have to lose by fighting back. The power of the Justice Department is based on its ability to take things away from people. The more that people feel that they have nothing to lose, the more that power begins to shrivel. The people who are committed to fighting for a livable future will not be discouraged or intimidated by anything that happens here today.

And neither will I. I will continue to confront the system that threatens our future. Given the destruction of our democratic institutions that once gave citizens access to power, my future will likely involve civil disobedience. Nothing that happens here today will change that. I don’t mean that in any sort of disrespectful way at all, but you don’t have that authority. You have authority over my life, but not my principles. Those are mine alone.”

DeChristopher’s defense team is seeking an appeal. In the meantime, DeChristopher is writing from prison for the environmental blog Grist in order to spread the word about climate change and the urgency with which he hopes others will begin to get involved. He also cofounded the activism network, Peaceful Uprising to spread the word about a sustainable future.

What is your opinion on the Tim DeChristopher case?

Environmental activists against the Keystone XL pipeline protested Sunday at the White House. An estimated 10,000 protesters joined hands to circle the White House in a statement to President Obama, who has taken “full responsibility” for the decision that will be made on the pipeline.

According to Treehugger.com, several celebrities and international figures have spoken out in protest of the pipeline including:

• The Dalai Lama, who sent a letter to President Obama asking him to say no to the proposed pipeline and instead support renewable energy sources.
• Al Gore, no surprise there.
• Mark Ruffalo, who was at the White House protest Sunday.
• Julia Louise-Dreyfus, who urged Obama in a video message to “make good on his word.”

In this video, Mark Ruffalo discusses his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline during the White House protest Sunday.

Here are some more highlights from the protests. Great interviews with everyday people who explain why they attended the protest.

What do you think? Are you on-board with the beliefs of the protesters?

Last week, firefighters in Wausau, Wisconsin responded to a house fire on Tuesday afternoon. While the family had managed to all get out safely, the family dog Koda, a Yellow Labrador Retriever, was still inside.

When firefighters got to Koda, who was in the room that the fire started in from a faulty box fan, they pulled him out of the a blanket of black smoke and began to revive the unconscious dog through mouth-to-snout resuscitation.

The firefighter James Giese said he used a technique that he had only seen on TV. Koda regained consciousness, and today Koda and his human family are all safe and uninjured from the event.

Photo By Flickr User Gabriel Kamener

The future lies in the decisions of the next generations. If this holds true, based on the efforts of some of today’s young adults and college students, the future has promise. Take, for example, the work of Matt Wyatt, the Student Government College of Agriculture senator at Louisiana State University. Earlier this week, Matt drafted a finance bill that asked for funds to support a green composting initiative. Under his plan, the food wastes from the two dining halls on campus would be composted rather than thrown away and sent to landfills. Composting of food items involves mixing brown wastes like paper with food wastes to create the ideal nitrogen and carbon ratio. The waste, under heat from straw, will naturally breakdown and create a fertilizer with the right temperature and aeration technique. The issue Matt and his supporters face is finding the funds to support his initiative. The funding will primarily go towards hiring a composter to transport the food to the compost site and take care of the compost conditions. The student government has yet to vote on the issue, but can you imagine the implications if this passes and other colleges adopt the trend as well? It will be an action that is valuable to the environment as well as to the students who learn the value in composting and reducing waste.

Students in another part of the country are trying to get their university’s football stadium to convert to solar power. Students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have created an online petition urging their school to install solar power in their school’s stadium. While the school has made efforts in the past few years to improve on environmental standards, they have been hesitant to install solar panels. Hopefully this petition can gain enough signatures for the school to look seriously into “greening” their stadium.

Not far from Michigan in Champaign, two students at the University of Illinois have a vision to take old, abandoned buildings and turn them into sustainable, urban farms. The buildings they target are large, industrial structures with a lot of large open space. The mayor of Champaign is interested in exploring the idea.

Jane Goodall preaches the message that today’s youth need hope. Because with hope, it is still possible to change things, to alter the course that our society and natural world seem to be taking towards constantly increasing environmental destruction. These college initiatives show that younger generations do still possess this sense of hope and strong belief that they can take back their future and the future of their children.

Catskills/ Flickr User Maxintosh

In a recent Alternet.com article, Mark Ruffalo: We Can Go Gracefully Into a Green Future, Or We Can Go Kicking and Screaming, But There Is No Choice, actor and activist Mark Ruffalo describes his new organization Farmhearts and how he is fighting to save America’s farmland from industrialization and fracking.

Ruffalo describes his trips through tornado-stricken Joplin and the drought areas of Oklahoma where residents have been hit hard economically. He explains that he understands why some Americans may embrace fracking as a way out of poor economic situations, but, he argues, America’s farmers deserve more. They deserve to see their farmlands preserved and used to feed people, not turned into industrialized areas.

Farmhearts is a nonprofit farm advocacy organization Ruffalo helped create. Farmhearts is “committed to lending a hand to the hands that feed us,” by providing assistance to small family farms through grants, grassroots support and supporting the next generation of our nation’s farmers.

“I’ve become very aware of my relationship to my food, where it comes from, the people who grow it — and I’m really proud of that and I really love that,” states Ruffalo, a Sullivan county resident for almost 15 years. Having witnessed his own neighbors’ needs and how farming has changed for them as well as the challenges they face in the future, Ruffalo is determined to lend a hand to the “travesty” that is small farms dying out.

Ruffalo explains that the issue of hydrofracking and the associated grassroots movement to stop it have helped shed light on the bigger issue: what is happening to these family farms if their only alternative out of hardship is to work with the gas industry?

Read Mark’s full interview on Alternet.

Envirosax La Bohem 5 Reusable Bags in 1 Pouch

The Envirosax company gives a whole new meaning to the idea of a “green” company. Belinda and Mark David-Tooze began the company seven years ago while living on ten acres of Rainforest in Australia with their children. The family lived a very remote life. They used solar power to generate hot water and electricity. They even have  a sewage system that allowed them to recycle wastewater to be used for watering their permaculture gardens. For their organic vegetable gardens, they collected and filtered rainwater.

Envirosax creates lightweight, reusable bags that are waterproof and condense down to a small pouch so they can easily be kept in a purse or a car glove box.

The bags are made from recyclable and renewable products whenever possible. The bags are responsibly made from polyester, and they use eco-friendly inks and dyes. The backing paper that is used in the printing process is also recycled and used for transporting boxes. Envirosax also commits itself to educating the world about sustainable living practices.

Although the bags are made in China, Envirosax periodically inspects the manufacturing facility and ensures it upholds all fair trade standards including making certain no child labor is used, wages are fair and the working conditions are safe.

View all Envirosax products.

Midnight Safari 5-in-1 Pouch

Sage Green Flowers Hemp Tote Bag

Candy 5-in-1 Pouch

The famous Back to the Future II shoes worn by Michael J. Fox in the 1989 movie have been created by Nike. While the laces do not automatically tighten as they did in the movie, they are almost an exact replica. Nike released 1,500 pairs of the shoes–the 2011 Nike Mag–for eBay auctions. All proceeds from the limited-edition sneaker auctions will go directly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

The event launched this week in L.A. with the first pair of shoes being sold for $37,500. All the auction money (up to $50 million) will also be matched by Google founder Sergey Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s mission is to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, the disease which Michael J. Fox has.

Auctions on the shoes are still open on eBay.

The statistics are staggering. They state that glass is one of the very few products that can be recycled over and over. However, glass, along with plastic, takes the longest time to decompose in landfills.

The Green Glass Company, based out of Northern Wisconsin, takes in used glass and creates amazing, usable glassware. The Green Glass Company is the largest producer of reclaimed glassware in the world.

From vases to votive candle sets, they create a variety of unique products. Owners Severine Zaslavski and Oscar Wientjes are committed to keeping the entire glass conversion process environmentally-friendly. All of the bottles they use are from the waste stream.

During the process, the entire bottle is used. The top of the bottle is used as a vase while the bottom creates a tumbler.

The Green Glass Company Royal Collection

Even beer bottles are recycled by The Green Glass Company and made into tumblers. They specialize in Sol, Copenhagen, Red Stripe Light, and Boylan.

"Sol" Tumbler Set

Take a look at all of our Green Glass Company products. You may also choose to donate used glass to the company. Find out what glasses they are looking for.

We look forward to hearing from you about this green company or others. Please leave a comment expressing your opinion of the Green Glass Company or a green company with a similar mission.