Top 10 Signs You’re Not Running a Green Campaign

kbutler — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In this workaday world, it’s hard to please all voters on all issues. And green candidates have their work cut out for them. The following is a tell-tale list of signs that might make green voters reconsider their options.

TOP TEN SIGNS YOU’RE NOT RUNNING A GREEN CAMPAIGN

10. Your slogan is: “Trees are lame.”

9. You’ve pledged a bigger, better, smokier Industrial Revolution for America.

8. Your only endorsement is from a former director of FEMA.

7. You say things like “We’re good. It’s not like there really is a Mother Earth.”

6. The only people who have heard of you live on Superfund sites.

5. You’ve made the Nature Conservancy very upset. And you don’t want to see the Nature Conservancy very upset.

4. You have to ask your spouse to stand beside you when 60 Minutes discovers a cache of whale oil, several endangered pandas, and billions of dollars from an oil company buried in your back yard.

3. In the debates, you ignored all questions with the words “save” “the” and “earth” in them.

2. Your campaign promises to show the positives of global warming. “After all, who really likes winter?”

1. Your plan for economic recovery makes people glow.

Want to learn more about Eco-Politics?

Check Out Obama’s Global Warming Plan

See What McCain Will Do About Climate Change

Hillary Clinton on the Environment

New Report: Doubts Grow About Global Warming

There’s More Than One Way to Hug a Tree

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall… Who’s the Greenest President of Them All?

Credit Cards That Give Back Some Green

jconner — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

With all of the buzz about our quickly-eroding eco-system, many of us are wondering how we can contribute to its preservation on a daily basis. Several banks and non-profit organizations have created credit card options for consumers, allowing a fraction of their purchases to be donated towards environmental preservation. In addition, other online shopping sites are bringing vendors together to support the larger environmental cause.

San Francisco-based Working Assets was founded in 1985 and currently offers a Visa card program that donates 10-cents to an array of non-profit groups such as the ACLU, Ms. Foundation For Women, Doctors Without Borders, and Earth Justice. Encouraging consumers to remain conscious about their decisions and not passive, the organization's website also accepts donations online. Working Assets also publishes Credo Action, a blog that lays out how to contact Congressional representatives in order to make your voice heard.

The Nature Conservancy also offers a Visa card that directs a fraction ofconsumer purchases toward wildlife preservation, and the GreenPay Mastercard reduces the amount of carbon-dioxide in the air. Additionally, GreenPay offers a members a new account bonus of removing 10,000 pounds of CO2 immediately following one's first credit card purchase. In November 2007, Bank of America announced its offering of the Brighter Planet Credit Card and stated that every 1,000 points earned with consumer purchases will fund about 1-ton of carbon offsets.

But how can consumers be sure that they are also going tothe right vendors for their purchases? ClimateCooler.com is an online shopping website that calculates the total amount of greenhouse gases that was used to make and ship each product that is ordered and then charges each vendor a fee which is then used as an investment geared to eliminate greenhouse gas pollution. The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment recently launched an online shopping site, Shopbcue.org , that connects environmentally conscious consumers with stores that share their views. For food items, and the like, one should never forget to connect to LocalHarvest.org in order to find out more about the closest CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or to find out where to get the freshest produce.

With these options, none of us have to rely so heavily on governmental policies to change the world.

nature conservancy

Top 10 Signs You’re Not Running a Green Campaign

Credit Cards That Give Back Some Green