July 31, 2008 by Mark.

Hey, YERTians!

We’re wrapping up the TRAVEL portion of our YERT adventures with a grand finale party in Pittsburgh. Mark, Ben, Julie and Erika will be in attendance, along with friends and family and much much more. In fact, we’ll be finishing the year at our first stop after hitting the road: the Rachel Carson Homestead. Read on for more details, and the video down below will take you back to the YERT launch and Rachel Carson’s home…

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Your Environmental Road Trip (YERT.com) is headed into Pittsburgh for the finale event of their national road-trip adventure, and they’d love to see you there! Ben, Mark, Julie, and Erika spent the last year traveling to all 50-states, interviewing over 800 citizens and leaders about environmentally pressing issues, then turning the footage into quick, fun environmental videos at YouTube and other sites online. You can learn more and watch over 40 videos at http://www.yert.com. The free festivities begin at 3:00 PM (to 7:00 PM) on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at the Rachel Carson Homestead, and everybody is invited! Read on for more details…

The team brings with them news of the “YERTy-est Awards,” some green tunes, and the fastest comprehensive rundown of the entire trip that you may ever see. The infamous “Bag Monster” will make an appearance for the kids. We’ll also have ALL of our garbage from the year on display for you to admire or critique if you like. All 45 pounds of it– cleaned, of course– they had to travel with it for an entire year. You can get a feel for the YERT project best by checking their latest video about Permaculture.

Contact Mark Dixon at mark@yert.com or 415-672-5537 for more details. The Rachel Carson Homestead is located just outside the city of Pittsburgh at 613 Marion Ave., Springdale, PA 15144. Hope to see you there… and everybody who attends the event will receive a free YERT ChicoBag! (While supplies last)

Here’s the event on Facebook.
Here’s the event on eVite.
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And here’s our launch video, the very first “YERTpod” — YERTpod1: LaunchPod, complete with video from our launch party and also footage of the Rachel Carson Homestead.

See you there!
Mark

Posted in Events, Mark | 1 Comment »

July 28, 2008 by Ben.

Posted in Events, Julie, Ben | 4 Comments »

July 24, 2008 by Ben.

Julie and I are thrilled to welcome Bailey Elise Evans into the world!! She arrived at 11:14 am on Saturday July 19th, after 33 hours of intense labor and, finally, a successful C-section. We had decided to try to have as natural a childbirth as possible and, to that end, availed ourselves of some Bradley “husband-coached childbirth” classes. This made for a very interesting hands on and profoundly participatory birthing experience for myself as well as Julie. In spite of our best intentions, sometimes life has other plans, and because of some extenuating circumstances, after many hours of labor, we were left with no other option but to have a C-section. It may not have been the optimal situation, but when a healthy baby and a healthy mother are the necessary outcome, one’s perfectionism flies right out the window. I have never been so proud of anyone in my life as I was of my wife for those 33 hours - I was literally moved to tears by Julie’s courage, strength, and unbelievable focus during what became a very long and intense labor. What a truly amazing woman. Never have I been so in love…never, that is, until little Bailey showed up.

Bailey arrived as 6.85 pounds and 19 1/2 inches of life-changing wonderfulness - we are completely smitten! Holding a newborn in your arms as she falls asleep on your chest to the sound of your heartbeat has to be one of life’s most sublime pleasures. People always said, “Just wait. Having a child will change your life.” I always believed them, of course, but there really was no way to wrap my mind around the depth of that change and the capacity of my own heart to leap out of my body with love until I cradled that piece of soft innocent magic in my arms for the first time. Then I got it. It just hits me like a wave - completely heartbreaking love every time I look at her. I know there’ll be many more life-changes to follow from parenthood, but I swear I could spend the rest of my life in a rocker with my tiny baby girl and be in absolute heaven.

(Also, our apologies for the belated announcement, but the C-section made life a little more interesting and even less restful than we had anticipated. We’ve just returned from recovery in an internet-free hospital and have each had a total of about 14 hours of actual sleep in the last seven days…literally. Julie and I had no idea that after 3 days of zero sleep you actually start hallucinating - now we know.)

That said, enjoy these pictures from Bailey’s first couple of days. Lots of love to all the YERTians! And now….sweet slumber…..

delirious with joy and sleeplessness,

Ben & Julie

PS - Julie’s breastfeeding right now, or I’m sure she would have written this blog. Poor thing is a nursing machine :).

Posted in Events, Travelog, Julie, Ben | 2 Comments »

July 22, 2008 by Erika.

Bike/Walk to Work DayWe are still in catch-up mode as we excitedly welcome Ben and Julie’s new baby into the world and rev up for the next phase of YERT.  Bear with us as we work to get you caught up on where we’ve been and what we’ve seen! Now to spend a couple more blogs wrapping up Minnesota . . .

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Many people recognize Portland, Oregon as one of the most bike and public transit friendly cities in the nation.  The city is so well known for its mass transit efforts that help the environment, in fact, that YERT’s Oregon green video is centered around this theme.  But would you have guessed that Minneapolis- a city known for its chilling winters- would come a close, unofficial second?

On the Twin Cities’ Bike/Walk to Work Day walkers, bikers, and the sun were all out in full force.  The parks scattered throughout downtown help to break up the high rise buildings and the Greenway- a bike/pedestrian path that extends for twenty miles- provides a straight pathway for commuter cyclists riding to work downtown.  We camped out at the Greenway and stopped a few riders for some of our ‘peeps’ on the street. For some, even the chilling winters were only a small worry compared to the benefits of saved parking fees, additional exercise, a shorter commute (in some cases), fresh air, and smaller carbon footprint.

Also while in the twin cities area we interviewed Ari Ofsevit with hOurcar, a car sharing service in Minneapolis.  Like most car sharing programs, the concept is simple- rather than drive a car of your own, you reserve one online for only the hours you need it. Pick it up at a designated neighborhood spot, drive it around for the hours reserved, then return it to the same spot when finished. Gas is included in the hourly price.  It offers a lot of convenience without a lot of hassle.  Unlike many of the larger car sharing services, however, hOurcar is a nonprofit, dedicated to the mission of promoting environmentally sustainable communities.

Here are some ideas and tips that might make a carefree, car-free lifestyle a bit easier.

Buy a great book- Who wants to sit in traffic, anyway?

Carpool- Yeah, you’ve heard this one before, but this time actually do it!

Pimp your ride- Take pride in your bike. Get it ready for a trip to the grocery store, for transporting papers to the office, and for riding after dark by outfitting it with side bags, a light, and a basket.

Hitch a ride- Type “ride share” into Google to find a bunch of sites that offer ways to meet up with others interested in carpooling or dividing the expenses and driving of a longer trip.

Live near work- Probably the easiest way to cut down on the amount of driving is to live, work, and play in the same area. If having all three isn’t a possibility, at least try to live near where you work, as commuting accounts for 734 billion miles driven by Americans each year.   

Posted in Erika, Travelog, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

July 19, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

I just received a very happy text message from Ben and Julie– their brand new happy, healthy baby GIRL, Bailey Elise Evans, was born at 11:14 AM today, July 19, 2008. Feel free to add congratulatory comments to this blog entry, or e-mail them directly at ben@yert.com and julie@yert.com. More details coming soon…

Cheerioio,
Mark

Posted in Events, Julie, Ben | 7 Comments »

July 14, 2008 by Julie.

haha well…

just thought i would check in since we have bypassed both of the projected “due dates” and I am sure there are some people who are wondering if we just neglected to make any announcement.

We haven’t forgotten. (How could we??) We’ve had “false labor” a couple of times now but are patiently waiting to see when little one wants to come out. I have stopped making predictions but I have heard that very many babes are born during the Full Moon, which would be Thursday/Friday of this week. Surely, she isn’t waiting to be a Gemini!!! haha. I have had to put the Baby Book I am building on hold…

We have been walking 40 minutes twice a day, and have tried quite a few natural labor “enhancements” but, so far, baby just seems pretty darned comfortable in there. And, frankly, I am pretty comfortable too! Fortunately, our midwife thinks our baby is not so big…so far…(though I keep thinking that the longer she is in there…the bigger she gets!)

We will keep posting. Bags have been packed for 2 weeks already, and everything seems to be ready at home…cloth diapers ready to go!!! OK baby, you are good enough to wait for. xox your mama

Posted in Issues, Julie | 1 Comment »

July 4, 2008 by Ben.

50 States in One Year? CHECK.
Happy 4th of July, 2008! So here we are - one year later, one year older, and one year wiser. We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last 366 days - through 50 states and nearly 45,000 miles of travel (excluding the ferry from Alaska and the plane to/from Hawaii), we’ve logged over 450 hours of footage and interviewed more than 800 people. And we’ve only accumulated a mere 43 pounds of trash & recyclables over the course of 12 months - including junk mail! We’ll be taking suggestions of what we should do with it - perhaps sculpt it into a giant “garbage unicorn.”

Life-Changing? CHECK.
We left on our 50-state YERT adventure on the 4 of July, 2007 and, my oh my, how our worlds have changed in just 12 months! Julie and I are expecting our first child any day now - conceived and “baked” on the YERT trip. Mark, through this adventure, met Erika, who valiantly jumped in for Julie and me as baby duties took over in these final weeks. And we’ve all gained some really good new habits and learned an incredible amount about how better to live on Planet Earth - all of which we will continue to share with you over the coming months. We still have all sorts of fun videos to create before we declare this project complete, and our first priority is to finish at least one video per state. So to those of you out there in Ohio, Texas, Alaska, and the 25 or so other second-half states: HANG IN THERE! Your videos will be coming out ASAP. We’ll be targeting one video per week, with a few breaks built into the schedule.

World-Changing? CHECK.
While our lives may have changed, the world around us has also changed dramatically. Gasoline prices have risen about 50% in the last year from an average of $2.93/gal in PA when we started to $4.57/gal in CA today (and $4.07 in PA). Oil futures have more than doubled in the past year from about $70 to $145 per barrel. Only San Francisco had banned publicly funded bottled water when we started - ten days ago, a majority of 250 US mayors voted to “phase out” government use of bottled water. Only one US city (San Francisco, again) had banned disposable plastic bags when we started - now that movement is spreading across the globe and numerous cities and organizations around the world have either severely curtailed or begun to ban the use of plastic bags. Numerous “green” TV channels, shows, and environmental initiatives and legislation have taken off in the last year - “green” is going mainstream…big-time. This country is finally turning a corner, and it’s been exhilarating to witness this over the past 12 months - to “hang 10″ on the “green wave” as it sweeps the nation - and to have helped turn the tide in some small way. It hasn’t been a perfect process, and huge challenges lie ahead, but there are certainly encouraging signs that people everywhere are starting to wake up.

Party! Party! Party!? COMING…
To celebrate the completion of the road trip, YERT will be holding two finale events, and you’re invited to both. You can expect stories and videos and photos and fun, at special venues with unique environmental features.

The first is a shindig in San Francisco at The Temple – the perfect location for a sleek meet and greet. It kicks off at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, July 11, at this renowned club with its very own sustainability coordinator and a slew of groundbreaking initiatives in place and on the way. And the place just looks cool. Please RSVP on eVite or Facebook.

The second is our Grand Finale in Pittsburgh at the Rachel Carson Homestead – Join us for our final gala at the home of the famous author of “Silent Spring,” on Saturday, August 9 at 3:00 P.M. Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book opened the world’s eyes to the unintended consequences of chemical pest management and essentially jump started the modern environmental movement. YERT’s first stop was her home, and it will be our last stop, too—at least on this particular adventure. Please RSVP on eVite or Facebook.

YERT’s Feature Film? COMING…
It seems that there are few better ways to tell a story these days than in the form of a feature-length film. So for as long as we can scrape up enough money to pay for food, we’ll be working to compile our footage down into a feature-length film with YERTy zip and eco-fun built into every moment. We’ll need plenty of help for the film, so if you’d like to volunteer for a role, make yourself known by writing to us at team@yert.com. We’ll need outreach coordinators, video watchers, musicians, editors, and some angel investors - not to mention things that we don’t even know we need yet.

Start Spreading the News!
If you think that YERT’s story is worth spreading around, we’d love it if you did just that—spread it around! We’ll be presenting audience comments at our finale events, and we’d love to include yours. Just send a note to team@yert.com. You can also help us enter film festivals, screen our videos at your school, tell all your facebook friends about us, or invite us to give a presentation to your community. We’re open to ideas and want to share, so drop us a line. Make it YOUR Environmental Road Trip.

Thanks to YOU!
This trip wouldn’t have been what it’s been if you hadn’t been a part of it - if you hadn’t tuned in, given us suggestions, helped us when we needed it, inspired us, fed us, housed us, and given so generously of yourselves in so many ways. If nothing else, this year on the road has reaffirmed our faith in the incredible goodness of the American people and of humanity in general. As we heard recently in the New Mexico video, “we’re all in this together” - and together we can meet any challenge. This entire journey has done nothing but confirm that. Our deepest gratitude to all of our YERTian friends out there who have helped make this entire project possible made this adventure truly special. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! And stay tuned - this is just the beginning…

sincerely,

Ben, Mark, Julie, and Erika - Your YERT Team

Posted in Events, Erika, Travelog, Issues, Ben, Julie, Mark | 5 Comments »

July 1, 2008 by Ben.

It’s been a wild fortnight for gas prices. They’ve been getting high faster than Amy Winehouse at a crack convention, climbing so steeply, according to a report from MasterCard, Inc. (and really, who better to report on our driving habits), Americans’ demand for gasoline has fallen by a whopping 2.7 percent since the same time last year. I’m sorry, WHAT?!?! Americans are driving LESS?!?!? Have we no shame? Do we really want to play with fire? This kind of outrageous behavior puts us SQUARELY AT RISK of cleaner air, more efficient roadways, and a marked depression in the asthma rate. What are we thinking? If we want our children to have even a chance of experiencing the quality of life that we’ve come to take for granted - plentiful traffic congestion, a bounty of ailments, and smog as far as the eye can’t see - then, dagnabit, we owe it to them to start poking holes in the arctic wilderness and tapping the gulf coast for black gold fast, so we can get some more cars back on the road!

Don’t these heartless spendthrifts have any idea what it costs to pay the mortgage on just ONE of Rex Tillerson’s mansions, let alone all nine of them? And what if this becomes a habit? What if people realize they don’t actually NEED to joyride alone in their Escalades? Then what? Carpooling? Will funding for highway expansion be siphoned off for railroads or light rail? Will people start moving OUT of the suburbs? Will we completely degenerate into a world of bike-riding freaks? NO, we have GOT to get a grip on this dangerous descent into sanity. If those crazy environmentalists won’t let us drill for more oil, then we’ll just have to find another fuel source that’ll keep us lazy, sick, and blindly “patriotic.”

In other news, my exclusive coverage of the Bush Administration’s plan to keep America fat and transform our cellulite into auto fuel (see April 1st blog) is apparently starting to turn some heads these days. Alternet and Huffington Post contributer, Barbara Ehrenreich, has since joined the ranks of the converted, and not a moment too soon. Have you heard? Gas prices are through the roof!

Posted in Issues, Ben | 1 Comment »