September 28, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

We’ve got some great news! YERT was featured on this week’s edition of "Living on Earth," our favorite national environmental radio program. You may have heard this program on iTunes or any number of public radio stations across the country. We hope you enjoy the show!

Click to listen to YERT on Living on Earth!

Or download this mp3 file directly.

Also, a YERT friend and interviewee, Tony Kvale, founder of Kvale Good Natured Games, is trying to get ahead in an online competition at Forbes.com. He’s gotten into the semifinals, but needs YERTy help to cross the line in the top five! Can you take a moment to vote for him– and help propel a thoroughly green game company into the minds of Forbes readers? Thanks for your help!

There are two options for voting (takes just a couple minutes):

1) http://boost08.perfectprize.com/voting/
Straight to the ballot itself. Check off Kvale games, submit & follow instructions.

2) http://www.KvaleGames.com/?p=VoteHenry08
Gives an overview of Kvale Games, spells out the voting steps, and only involves an extra click.

And finally, a quick update about the YERT team… Ben and Julie (and their beautiful new baby Bailey) have moved temporarily to Pittsburgh while Ben performs with the Pittsburgh City Theater. Erika continues her work with Ashoka in Washington, DC. In the meantime, Mark has jumped into Pittsburgh’s green community, and is working to secure funding to complete the YERT film and related curriculum and discussion materials. Our primary video camera (Canon XH A1) was damaged by sparks during the road trip, so "she" is in the shop right now, getting ready for new life documenting whatever else we encounter in these early stages of YERT Part 2!

We also have to apologize for the dearth of new videos for your entertainment. We haven’t forgotten about them, but we need a little time to put some cash into YERT and generally sort out our lives before we can continue at full steam. But continue we will! We’re also on the hunt for unpaid interns who are interested in new media, film, and marketing experience– there are plenty of ways that students young and old can get involved and get some cool experience at the same time. Please spread the word to friends and family– and film teachers (and their students)!

That’s all for now. Thanks for sticking with us all these months (and years!), and we’ll be in touch again very soon.

YERTfully Yours,

Ben, Julie, Erika, and Mark (Your YERT Team)

team@yert.com

YERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERT

Posted in Events, Mark | 1 Comment »

September 17, 2008 by Erika.

While in Bismarck, North Dakota, YERT spoke with Roger Johnson, the state commissioner of agriculture, about a crop he feels would be a wonderful asset to North Dakota’s economy. He has been trying to get it approved for many years.  “There are farms just ten miles into Canada growing it and making a profit. We’ve made it legal at a state level in North Dakota, and yet farmers here cannot grow it, as it would be against the Federal law,” he said.

What he was referring to is industrial hemp. His is not a plea we have never heard before, but his voice stands out amongst the “legalize hemp” community.  Sitting in a pressed shirt in front of a bookshelf and an American flag, he looked like the last person you might expect to empty a bag full of hemp milk, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, hemp fabric swatches and hemp balm onto his large desk (which, in fact, he did). But don’t be fooled. He’s a big fan, and carried his support all the way to D.C.

His reason? Reason.  He finds it quite difficult to comprehend how our neighbors to the north as well as most (all?) of Europe has managed to legalize and profit from the growing of industrialized hemp.

It wasn’t always this way.  Hemp, the non-psychedelic cousin of marijuana, has been touted for hundreds of years for its ease of growth and wide array of uses.  It is a source of clothing, textiles, oil, food, paper, biofuel, lotions, soap, rope, conditioner, among many other uses. Some of the first US settlers grew hemp to make a strong canvas for sails, and it is thought that the Constitution was drafted on hemp paper.  Even as late as World War II, the US government encouraged farmers to grow hemp through the “Hemp for Victory” campaign when more than 400,000 acres of US soil was dedicated to support this war effort.

Since then, the plant has become confused with marijuana, though the two plants are easy to identify as distinct plants with the naked eye. The leaves and stalks are different to the trained eye, while even an untrained eye can distinguish the two based on growing height alone.  Roger suggested that he would we able to quickly identify illegally grown marijuana from a plane if necessary.

One of the most common misconceptions is related to the presence of THC in hemp. This chemical is responsible for the “high” induced by marijuana, but is found in very low concentrations in hemp.  As Roger put it, “Sure. You could ‘smoke’ hemp, but the joint would have to be the size of a telephone pole.”

Roger was also quick to suggest the idea of random sampling to ensure that marijuana isn’t growing hidden amongst the hemp plants. The notion that drug dealers might try to “hide” marijuana plants in a field of hemp concerns some, but not Roger. He pointed out that though hemp and marijuana are distinctly different, they do cross pollinate. This would create some very weak marijuana, and bring up the levels of THC in the hemp- making it likely that the marijuana crops would lose their potency, and that the farmer would get caught.

So if hemp is so great, it’s easy to identify, and straightforward enough to regulate it, then why aren’t we profiting from it here in the US?  Politics, red tape, and lobbyists from plastics companies like Dupont.  If you’d like to join Roger Johnson in his fight an easy first step would be to check out the following sites:

http://votehemp.com/

http://www.americasheartland.org/video/315_2_controversal_crop.htm (video)

And send a standard form letter to your representative here:

http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/alert/?alertid=9370876&type=CO

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

September 14, 2008 by Mark.

After much delay I’ve finally assembled a new survey to share. Inspired… or should I say, concerned by recent chants at the Republican National Party’s convention to drill, baby, drill, I have decided to open the topic for discussion on this blog. What do you think we should do about the apparent shortage of oil and/or our dependence on foreign oil? You can vote in our handy poll below:

Apparently I’m not the only one who is confused by the chant, particularly that it was hollered with pride, as if this “so last century” technology will lead us into a new era of prosperity and innovation. It won’t. But Thomas Friedman puts it much better than I could in his Op-Ed Piece in the NY Times:

“As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”

Ponder that. Then let me know if you’d like to change your vote.

Posted in Issues, Mark | 1 Comment »

September 6, 2008 by Erika.

. . .Or, “If BMX racing is now an Olympic sport, why not snowkiting?”

To Cross the Moon, also known by the hip acronym “2XtM”, is a wind energy awareness project started by Sam Salwei. An avid snowkiter, Sam decided to use his passion for snowkiting (a growing outdoor sport where a person in skis or a snowboard is pulled by a kite) to promote another passion— wind power.

Through two expeditions, Sam and friends have used the awesome power of the wind to pull them across the winter landscape of North Dakota, holding educational seminars with community groups along the way. Together, they have informed around 10,000 people about the potential of wind power in the state, demonstrating just how much power there is in the wind, and how foolish it would be of us not to take advantage of it. According to the 2XtM website, North Dakota is ranked as the number one state for wind energy potential.

Ben, Mark, and I were swept away one afternoon when we met with Sam and his girlfriend, Kathryn. Literally, swept away. Because it was the middle of summer, we each got to try kiteturfing, same idea as kitesurfing, but on land. After a quick lesson and getting strapped in, the kite took off, and so did we. Ben probably got the strongest impression of how strong the power of the wind truly is, by getting dragged across the field by a runaway kite. (His clothing bore the holes and grass stains to prove it.) Mark, the runner of the group, wouldn’t let the kite get the best of him, and rather than have it pull him down, he would run after it, with Sam laughing and shouting, “Where are you going?!”

I also had the chance to take on the wind with a smaller handheld kite that was still incredibly powerful. It kept flying away from me; I just couldn’t hold on tight enough. Every now and then I would feel in control- even if only for a moment- and experience a balance of tug-and-pull. Feeling the wind pulling the kite, literally harnessing its power with my two hands, was incredible. Right then, I realized, that there is power- energy- embodied in every gust of wind, power that we are wasting by not taking advantage of it. It felt clean, powerful, and abundant.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

September 1, 2008 by Erika.

Last night I went with a friend to try some new vegetarian fare. It was okay, but lacked lustre. Why is it so difficult to find decent local, organic grub?

Actually, we found that it’s not as difficult as it may seem. We found it so easy, in fact, that after some deliberation, we have decided to change the name of YERT from “Your Environmental Road Trip” to “Your Everyday Restaurant Tour.” Each day, we will bring you the latest reviews of mom n’ pop diners and Ruby Tuesday’s chain restaurants from interstate exits from across the nation. Well, not exactly, but with all the experience we have from the hundreds of restaurants we’ve dined in throughout the year, we probably could!

One restaurant really stood out as a champion of local, fair-trade, eco-friendly, and downright delicious food- and we almost didn’t go. We’ve heard the hype before (“You’ve got to go to such-n-such restaurant”) and have been impressed, but never so much as at Common Roots Cafe in downtown Minneapolis. Thankfully, Rebecca Lundberg and her daughters insisted that we go, and treated us to a meal.

When we walked in, we expected a quick meal before darting off to other engagements, but we were so impressed by the end that we chatted with owner Danny Schwartzman. This restaurant is truly leading the way for all restaurants striving to be all. At any given time, the food- from the flour to the vegetables to the cheese to the honey-is at least 50% local, and the combination of local, organic, and/or fair trade ingredients hits a soaring 89%. The tables are made from recycled barn doors, and the counters from pressed sawdust. The coffee is fair trade, and the wine and beer locally sourced. The restaurant itself is a haven for knitting groups and green drinks meetups from around the city. The freshly made pasta is superb. So good, in fact, that we went back the very next night. We highly recommend Common Roots if you are ever in the Twin Cities area.

Other Favorite Green/Local/Organic restaurants:

Galactic Pizza, Minneapolis, MN

Many of the ingredients for the pizzas at Galactic Pizza are locally sourced, some of the profits go to charity, and if you order from home, your pizza will arrive in an electric vehicle in the hands of a delivery person dressed as a superhero. Metallic tights and organic cilantro anyone?

Local Burger, Lawrence, KS

Fresh, organic, and local fast food. Their grass-fed elk burger (you read that right!) and homemade veggie burger pose a big threat to our national icon, the Big Mac.

Ivy Inn Restuarant, Charlottesville, VA

The Ivy Inn does an incredible job of weaving local ingredients into its menu, including naturally raised pork from the nearby Polyface Farms (another YERT favorite!).

Posted in Erika | 1 Comment »