Green Festival

If you don't have plans yet for the Labor Day weekend holiday, how about the Hudson Valley Green Festival? The event is sponsored by Rhinebeck's Terrapin Resturant and will be on 04 September at the Staatsburgh State Historic Site. It is a one day festival celebrating alternative energy, local food and drinks, and other Hudson Valley businesses dedicated to eco-friendly practices. There will be a Farmer's Market of Hudson Valley products and a "Green Beans" kids tent. Scheduled to perform this year are the Blues Traveler, Amos Lee, John Brown's Body, The Duke and the King, and many more.

Another Gulf Disaster?

From Environment New York:

BP apparently has a new dangerous plan to drill eight miles under the ocean off the coast of Alaska to tap oil. Unfortunately, that's not the only threat from BP: According to a whistle-blower, BP has another rig in the Gulf with the same faulty safety systems as the Deepwater Horizon rig that caused the spill -- and this one poses three times the risk.

This ticking time bomb in the Gulf is called BP Atlantis. It is enormous, standing in water 7,000 feet deep and capable of gushing up to 200,000 barrels of oil daily -- three times the amount that spilled out of the destroyed Deepwater Horizon well every day. Atlantis was built and drilled under the same lax rules and enforcement that led to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And now a whistle-blowing project supervisor named Kenneth Abbott says many of its safety systems and plans are incomplete and not approved by engineers. [1]

Please sign our petition urging Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to shut Atlantis down until the federal government can prove it's safe.

The same drilling agency that rushed to approve BP's fatally flawed drilling plans for the Deepwater Horizon has known about these problems for over a year and done little about it other than promise to investigate.

Despite vast cleanup efforts in the Gulf, a recent report estimates that 70 to 80 percent of BP's spilled oil is still in the ocean, wreaking havoc with sea turtles, fish, whales and other wildlife. A spill at the Atlantis rig would be even more destructive--and even harder to fix. By BP's own admission, "The water depths and reservoir structure make Atlantis among the most technologically challenging developments undertaken by BP." [2]

Mission Savvy

Here at Green Unlimited, we love it when people strike out on their own and find ways to spread the word about the environment. Jennifer Miller was an animal behaviorist who constantly sought ways to change the world and stumbled upon the idea of setting up a clothing shop to educate people about the environment and animal welfare. Hence, Mission Savvy was born in Charleston, West Virginia. Mission Savvy carries products from various eco-designers such as Kelly Lane and ecoSkin and is set to expand into items such as jewelry and food.

FRAGFX SHARK

Splitfish has released the FRAGFX Shark controller for the Playstation 3, which is said to be a pretty eco-friendly gaming tool, and is also compatible with both PC and Mac systems. What makes it green? Its power conserving technology; you only use 1 AA battery per unit and that alone can give you 50 hours of gaming time and 500 hours on standby.

Save the Earth, Fight Cancer

DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donor center, has partnered with Cell Phones for Cancer in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma. CPC recycles electronic items and donates a portion of its proceeds to help fight cancer. They also accept laptops, digital cameras, ink cartridges, mp3 players, DVDs, among other things. If you have 10 items or fewer, you can mail them to:

Cell Phones for Cancer, LLC
Attn: DKMS
30275 Bainbridge Road
Suite 2A
Solon, OH 44139

If you have a bigger shipment, email dkms@cellphonesforcancer.com to receive a shipping label.

The Green Chamber of Commerce launches second chapter

The Green Chamber of Commerce, a network of businesses dedicated to sustainable business practices and focusing on pushing for greater public policy with regards to the environment, launched in 2007, with its first chapter located in the San Francisco Bay Area. This August, the Chamber is beginning its expansion, with the second chapter based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit their website for more information on the Chamber and on starting a local chapter in your area.

Energy Plus

I got an email from Jet Blue encouraging me to switch to Energy Plus. The company supplies electricity in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Texas. True Blue members can be awarded a one way flight, as well as receiving 5,000 points after 2 months as a customer. They're also offering 2 points for every $1 spent on the Energy Plus portion of the electrical bill.