Eleanor Roosevelt

If you're ever in the New York Hudson Valley area, visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt historic site but also stop by Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill. It is the only U.S. national historic site dedicated to a First Lady. Shop at the Val-Kill Fair Trade Store which sells items such as bags, shirts, wallets, jewelry made by women all over the world. It is a continuation of Mrs. Roosevelt's legacy of social change and commitment to peace and human rights.

Umbrella...ella...ella

My cheap umbrella finally fell victim to the vicious wind and rain in New York City this past weekend. I trooped to Target and found this Eco'brella from Totes. Its cover is made from 100% recycled PET plastic bottles and the frame is from 70% recycled materials. The handle is bamboo. My favorite feature is of course the auto open and close.

Petition time again!

From Environment New York:

What if every new building built in America was a green building?

What if every new home, new school, new office and new factory used no more energy than it could generate itself through solar panels or another source of clean, renewable energy?

Now -- and this might really strain your imagination -- what if our leaders in Congress had the audacity to require all new buildings to be green buildings within a generation?

The good news? A few leaders on Capitol Hill have the guts to push for this remarkable goal. Now you can supply a dose of courage to the rest of Congress -- and at just the right moment, a few short weeks before an incredibly critical vote for our environment.

President Obama has called for a clean energy revolution. Reps. Henry Waxman, Ed Markey and other leaders in Congress are working to deliver on that promise through the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the bill that we hope will drive the creation of a clean energy economy and cap the pollution that's causing global warming.

The bill isn't perfect. But it does reduce the pollution that's fueling global warming and it includes a breakthrough provision that could do more to usher in a clean energy revolution than anything we've seen before: A plan to get every new building to meet a "zero-energy" standard within a generation. [1] Through this single step, we can help America:

• Reduce our country's carbon footprint by a third by 2050, cutting global warming pollution by 250 million tons per year -- the equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the road.
  
• Save families and businesses $25 billion a year -- and more money as time goes on.

The challenge, of course, is that a few big home builders and shopping mall developers hate this provision. They're putting the screws to our members of Congress to get them to kill it before it comes up for a vote on the House floor in a few weeks. Together, we can stop them.

Tell your members of Congress that you want all new buildings in America to be green buildings.

Click here to take action.

Food, Inc.

Stephen Colbert interviewing Eric Schlosser who produced the upcoming film, Food, Inc.

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Found online: A wooden flashlight

Today, we can't exactly have everything we own made out of wood, but it's still becoming a more popular and fashionable material to use in the electronics scene. If laptops can be made with wood (not exactly THE best idea, but oh well), why not smaller gadgets? This flashlight's casing is made from beech wood and makes use of an LED bulb. What do you think: green or not?