June 19, 2008 by Mark.

SAVE THESE DATES! YERT will be celebrating the end of its travels with two rockin’ events. The first is in San Francisco on July 11 at the Temple Nightclub. The second is in Pittsburgh on August 9 at the Rachel Carson Homestead. RSVP on Facebook (SF)(P’burgh) or eVite (SF)(P’burgh) and bring your friends!

Dear YERTians,

YERT took a power trip in Arizona—to explore perhaps the cleanest and most plentiful power source available in that desert state.

Our first stop? APS (Arizona Public Service) is a utility company that has opened up the closest thing we’ve found to a solar power playground. Dan Lonetti and Steven Gottfried showed us all around the “APS STAR Center,” where we saw the latest and greatest solar panels being tested in the heat of the Arizona sun. The day didn’t end before Steven (and Flat Stanley) blew our minds with a tour of the Saguaro Solar Trough Power Plant, which uses advanced solar hot-dog-cooking-style technology to heat mineral oil that ultimately powers a turbine—creating electricity!

Our next stop took us on over to Jack Ehrhardt, Planning Director for the Walapi Tribal Nation, who showed us all around the solar powered airport that they’ve established at the lip of Grand Canyon West. We can’t wait to show more of Jack to you. You’ll see why…

Sun of a Gun!

Mark, Ben, and Julie (and Erika)

team@yert.com

P.S. Breadcrumbs! For more information about the topics in this video, check out these links…

• Saguaro Solar Trough Power Plant – From the APS website: “This facility is the first solar trough to combine an organic Rankine cycle turbine engine with a parabolic trough solar field. The plant generates 1 MW of power.” This facility can eventually be coupled with a thermal storage tank that saves the superheated mineral oil underground during the day and recalls it in the evening when the sun has set but demand is still high. Read their brochure about the plant, too.
• Wikipedia includes this generic note about solar trough technology… “The overall efficiency from collector to grid, i.e. (Electrical Output Power)/(Total Impinging Solar Power) is about 15%, similar to PV(Photovoltaic Cells) and less than Stirling dish concentrators.” And more info from the Department of Energy here.
• Scottsdale Green Building Program – Anthony Floyd knows his stuff when it comes to building solar power (and other green features) into a building. He is Scottsdale’s Green Building Program Manager and shares a few words about the city’s green building process here, and a presentation he authored that is overflowing with stats and information here.

Posted in Video, Mark | 1 Comment »

June 10, 2008 by Mark.

After nearly a year of continuous YERTy travel and 49 states to his name, Ben boarded a train yesterday morning in Montana near Glacier National Park to begin the journey home to Kentucky. That’s right, he’s answering the call of his “Dad Duty” and joining Julie to nest at home and prepare for the birth of their first child.

Ben brought an enthusiasm for YERT and all things environmental that never seemed to die, even when it seemed like everybody around him was about to do just that. He always managed to find one more person, one more interview, or make one more call to make the most of whatever time we had in a particular state. Also, as the consummate b-roll hound, there was never a shot that he didn’t get excited about and he would always go the extra mile to get it just right.

And then, of course, there was Ben the comedian. He’d make the YERT team laugh, and he brought that sense of humor to the “stage” and the editing suite as he painstakingly made sure that we had enough laughs to keep folks on board.

There were some tense moments if we didn’t agree about one thing or another, but we always knew that we were all acting in the best interest of the project and we’d ultimately sort things out.

Here’s a big blog high-five and gigantic thanks to Ben for devoting his blood, sweat, tears, and scent to YERT now, then, and well on down the road as we begin the monumental task of finishing the remaining short videos and then embark upon… the YERT Film. (Erika and Mark will be driving up to Alaska for about the next 5 days. Stay tuned, but don’t hold your breath as we hunt for Internet access in the Canadian wilderness.)

Posted in Events, Travelog, Ben, Mark | 7 Comments »

May 30, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

Ben, Erika, and I took a few days in our 48th state– Wyoming– to participate in the age-old tradition of volunteering on a farm for a few days. The farm feeds and houses us, and we provide labor. And it is awesome. We signed up with WWOOF.org to find a farm willing to take us, and find one we did. We’ll be back online by Monday, with plenty of stories to share, but in the meantime we have to apologize for the lack of updates at YERT.com. We have just enough Internet to write this blog entry, but not much more than that.

Tomorrow we help with a cattle drive. We can’t wait…

Back Soon!

Mark

Posted in Travelog, Mark | 3 Comments »

May 26, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

Water is one of those topics that keeps surfacing on this trip. But unlike a spring, we appear to be seeing the fall of water availability across the country. With explosive growth in Las Vegas and equally explosive shrinkage in Lake Mead (Vegas’ water supply), the stage is set for interesting times ahead - especially as Vegas begins trying to tap into other Nevada water basins.

We went to the source… of the water… with Dan Greenlee, a field scientist for the USDA’s “SNOTEL” program. SNOTEL stands for “SNOwpack TELemetry,” which is basically a system of sensors at “over 660 remote sites in mountain snowpack zones” in the Western United States and Alaska. This system gives scientists and policy makers a pretty good prediction of water supplies for the coming year.

Then we rolled on to Las Vegas—a city with perhaps the most sensitivity to the water supply. We all know that growing fast in a desert can be a recipe for trouble, but Doug Bennett, Southern Nevada Water Authority Conservation Manager (we met him in Las Vegas), is working hard to put his city on a path towards destruction… of lawns! That’s right, one trick up his water conservation sleeve is a $1.50 payment for every square foot of lawn that residents destroy.

And, of course, we sat down with Elvis at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel to discuss the finer points of water conservation.

In the Flow,

Ben, Mark, and Julie (and Erika)

Your YERT Team

team@yert.com

P.S. Breadcrumbs! For more information about the topics in this video, check out the links below…

• SNOTEL: From their website, The US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service “operates and maintains an extensive, automated system designed to collect snowpack and related climatic data in the Western United States and Alaska. This system… operates over 660 remote sites in mountain snowpack zones.”
• Southern Nevada Water Authority: This organization is essentially waging war against water scarcity, using a barrage of innovative programs including the “Water Smart Landscapes Rebate,” which, according to their website, pays $1.50 for “every square foot of lawn converted to water-smart landscaping.” We even saw dedicated “lawn demolition” companies when we drove through town. Cool.
• We’ve tried a few composting toilets during YERT, and they really don’t smell! And heck, why would you want to put poop into fresh drinking water anyway? For more information, check out the “scoop” on wikipedia, and you can also watch our video “YERTpod24: Non-Invasive Ways to do Holidays in Hawaii” that describes the composting toilet in service at the Lova Lava Land eco-resort.

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Posted in Video | 3 Comments »

May 24, 2008 by Mark.

YERTians,

Just wanted to send a note out to the world to let you all know that we’re still on the road– and we miss Julie’s blogging skills! We’ve got all sorts of blog entries backed up and waiting for the light of day, including…
- Blue Green Alliance interviews in Ohio
- A Subaru plant creating zero landfill waste in Indiana.
- A localvore challenge in Wisconsin, complete with local beer and cheese. And fresh fried cheese curds.
- Eco-innovations, games, foods, and ideas in Minnesota.
- A methane, wind, and solar-powered landfill in North Dakota. And kite surfing on grass.

We’re currently visiting our 46th state (just 4 more to go!), which happens to be North Dakota, and tomorrow we head into South Dakota. Then on to Wyoming, Montana, and then Alaska. Rest assured that we’ll keep at this YERT stuff well after the travels are complete. We still have a zillion videos to edit and we’ll be posting those for months after the trip is done. We’ll be expanding our outreach efforts and work to align ourselves with people and organizations pursuing similar goals. We are also planning to produce “YERT the Movie,” a feature film to share the highlights of the YERT year. And there will be all sorts of fun ways to get more YERTy, like transcribing videos, raising funds, hosting YERT parties, selling YERT ChicoBags, blogging about YERT stories, and, of course, creating a tidal wave of enthusiasm that pushes YERT onto Oprah. Or Letterman. Or Colbert.

We are also planning to have a few YERT finale events around the country. Right now it looks like there will be events in Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, and Pittsburgh, PA. We’ll be announcing dates and venues soon.

In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. During our finale events we’ll be sharing stories from YOU, our faithful YERTians, about all the ways that this has been an environmental year for you. Has the YERT adventure caused you to change a habit? Go a little greener? Or not? Whatever the case may be, we’d love to hear from you about it all. We’ll post the best stories to our blog, and may even include some in our videos and film. Send your stories to team@yert.com. Include a photo of you being extra green if you’re extra motivated.

That’s all for tonight. The longer we travel the more challenging it is to stick to the rigors of this road-tripping schedule, so just to keep up we have to sleep a little more. Exercise a little more. Work a little less. Thanks for sticking with us through it all. This is only the beginning…

Cheerio,
Mark

Posted in Travelog, Mark | 1 Comment »

May 7, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

Clear the decks– it is time for spring cleaning! It seems that we have stumbled into the season of things breaking, and so we celebrate by cleaning the car’s nooks and crannies in preparation for the final 3 months of journey. This week we present to you "YERT Blert 3: Breaking In 9 Months Out."

We have some major shifts to discuss this time: Julie leaves the trip to nest and prepare for baby. Mark’s girlfriend Erika joins the team in May, and Ben leaves in early June to make sure he’s home in time for the baby birth. Then Mark and Erika head up to Alaska for state 50 and the official end of the journey. Oh yes, and we have more garbage. See all this and more laid out in plain view in YERT Blert 3.

We also have a few tidbits of news we’d like to share:
1. We have an awesome Facebook group that gets more frequent and informal news than the Official YERT mailing list. If you’d like to get more insight into the inner workings of the project, join our Facebook group here.
2. We have no place to stay in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It is like nobody lives there. Prove us wrong! Send us the contact info of friends and family who live in those states and we’ll send you a free YERT ChicoBag if we stay with them.
3. What was that? A YERT ChicoBag? That’s right. You can buy official YERT ChicoBags at our website. We’ll have free shipping for one week only, so put your orders in right away! (ChicoBag is a reusable and self-stuffable shopping bag. Totally destroys the problem of forgetting your reusable shopping bags!)

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more YERT videos and we’ll check in again at the end of the journey!

Fixin’ to Finish,
Mark, Ben, and Julie, Your YERT Team

team@yert.com

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Posted in Video, Mark | 2 Comments »

April 22, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

We hit the streets of Times Square to find out if Earth Day was on the minds of New Yorkers. Problem is, as any New Yorker can tell you, almost no one in Times Square is actually from New York. Still we did learn a lot about Tuesday and soon found ourselves drawn to Central Park in search of some real Earth Day celebrations. We were not disappointed.

We also have a few exciting announcements to share– the first is that we have re-launched our website! We hope you’ll spend hours browsing around (http://www.yert.com), where you’ll find a handy trip dashboard that lets you check out my mood, Julie’s "preg-o-meter," and Ben’s shower tracker. We’ll be updating the site daily, so you can get the very latest scoop on (y)our journey.

Our second bit of happy news is that we were recently featured on Voice of America! We were contacted by Rosanne Skirble at VOA, who spent an afternoon with us while we spoke to people walking along the Mall in Washington DC. We had a blast with the interviews in every direction, and we think you will, too. She also highlighted a few folks/groups/ideas that we had covered in some of our videos: The Intervale in Vermont (from YERTpod10), Scott Brusaw at Solar Roadways (YERT Conversation 19.1), our Melting Arctic (from Bear Necessities), and bike commuters in Oregon (YERTpod22). We’ve seen text and audio versions of the interview so far. Fingers crossed for the video version coming soon…

That’s all from NYC– next state: OHIO!

YEaRThfully Yours,
Mark, Ben, and Julie

Your YERT Team (team@yert.com)

P.S. For more ideas about Earth Day in New York, check out these websites.

• Central Park Conservancy
• milliontreesnyc.org
• Earth Day NYC
• Official Earth Day 2008 Action Center

Posted in Events, Video, Ben, Mark | 1 Comment »

April 20, 2008 by Mark.

No point in having a dreary Earth Day, so spice things up this Tuesday with a few YERT videos! Whether you’re presenting Earth Day information to a school, getting together with friends, or even planning your own eco-film fest, we’d love to help you keep it entertaining. Consider this an open invitation to show YERT videos at your event– just do your best to let us know where you present them! We’d love to know how it goes…

And we think you’re likely to enjoy these particular vids:

YERTpod24.5: Revolutionary New Energy Source
http://www.yert.com/video.php?post_id=798798#SignTop

Bear Necessities
http://www.yert.com/video.php?post_id=163256#SignTop

YERT Conversation 19.1: Solar Roadways
http://www.yert.com/video.php?post_id=602928#SignTop

Chico Eco Elvis
http://www.yert.com/video.php?post_id=565364#SignTop

Happy YERTH Day!
Mark

P.S. If you’d like to download higher resolution version of any videos on the site, let me know which ones and I’ll send along the links. In the meantime, here are links to higher-resolution versions of most of the vids from above:

Bear Necessities
http://www.yert.com/video/BNwCreds8_640×480_3.mp4

YERT Conversation 19.1: Solar Roadways
http://www.yert.com/video/SolarRoadways_HD3-SD24p.mp4

Chico Eco Elvis
http://www.yert.com/video/ChicoElvis3-SD24p.mp4

Posted in Video, Mark | 1 Comment »

April 16, 2008 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

There are all sorts of things brewing here at YERT, thus the gap in videos– but there is no gap in news! So we must update you…

- THIS SUNDAY: YERT Party in Brooklyn, NY
- EcoDaredevil Award
- New YERT.com Website
- YERT Earth Day. YERT HDAY? YEaRTh Day?

THIS SUNDAY: YERT Party in Brooklyn, NY

It is true! We’ll be gathering with good friends at 3pm on Sunday, 4/20/08, at 224 Degraw Street, Apt. 1 (garden apartment), Brooklyn, NY. You can check out the eVite here or the Facebook event here. Please RSVP because we’ll be preparing food and we want to make just the right delicious amount! See you there!

EcoDaredevil Award
We recently connected with awesome oceanographer Dr. Wallace J. Nichols and found out that he’s putting together a cool new environmental award called the EcoDaredevil award. He’ll be co-presenting it with Evil Knievil’s granddaughter, Krysten Knievel, at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment on Earth Day (April 22!). One brave Duke student, living on the dramatic edge of environmental activisim, will receive the award. We hope that this snazzy prize will spawn the creation of countless new YERTful innovators around the country, and we can’t wait to learn about them. YERT is a sponsor of the award and we’ve included additional information about it at the bottom of this e-mail. Take a look!

New YERT.com Website
We’re in the final steps of launching a new YERT website, with maps and schedules and shopping and blogs and more YERTy information than you could ever want to know, all in one place. The new site can grow better than the old one, so we hope to share more gradual improvements with you as this project expands. You’ll see it show up sometime during the next week or two, and we hope that you’ll be gentle with us as you try it on for size.

YERT Earth Day. YERT HDAY? YEaRTh Day?

Earth Day is coming up on April 22 and we recently realized that YERT videos could make for a great way to celebrate this aweseome planet of ours. Dr. Nichols will be sharing YERT videos with his audience at the Nicholas School (see the press release below), and our shorts will be making EarthDay appearances all over the country for a few lucky viewers. If you’d like to show some YERT videos for some friends (or even larger audiences) but want to do it with high-quality video, send a note our way– we have all the videos available online in 720×405 resolution (16×9). We’ll let you know where you can find them. In other Earth Day news, Voice of America will be airing web, radio, and TV stories about YERT as a part of their Earth Day line-up. Some portion of their 100 million viewers/listeners around the world will get the scoop on YERT, and we can’t wait to meet them. Our partnership with Care2 is also kicking into gear leading up to Earth Day, and they’ll be showing some YERT ads on their website to spread the word. You can check out our Care2 group here.

We recently shot our 350th hour of footage, and we’re not done yet! In fact, we have nearly 3 months to go before we reach all 50 states. We’re still planning to release more videos throughout the last few months, but once the trip is done we’ll work intensively to release videos for all the remaining states. After we catch up on all of the state-by-state video we’ll embark upon the creation of the YERT film! Stay tuned for more details about that, including ample opportunities to get involved.

Happy YEaRTh Day,
Julie, Ben, and Mark

http://www.yert.com

EcoDaredevil Award!
FOR RELEASE ON: April 15, 2008

Event: First Annual EcoDaredevil Award

Date: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Contacts: Kelly Ricaurte, t: 202.351.0482, m:
415.806.3052, kricaurte@oceanconservancy.org AND Wallace J.
Nichols, Ph.D, m: 831.426.0337, wallacejnichols@mac.com

More information: ecodaredevil@mac.com www.ecodaredevil.com

INAUGURAL ECODAREDEVIL AWARD TO BE PRESENTED ON EARTH DAY DURING
RENOWNED OCEANOGRAPHER’S KEYNOTE ADDRESS

DURHAM, N.C. — Widely-acclaimed oceanographer and Ocean Conservancy
senior scientist, Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D, will announce the winner
of the first annual EcoDaredevil Awards in conjunction with his
keynote address at the Duke University, Nicholas School of the
Environment, on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. [6pm at the Bryan Center,
Duke University, Durham, NC] The award, inspired by the spirit of
legendary motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, will recognize young
people from across the nation who, through science, policy or personal
action, have taken a particular risk and shown exceptional courage and
creativity to challenge the status quo and successfully solve or raise
public awareness for an environmental issue.

Also on hand at the inaugural event will be Knievel’s granddaughter,
Krysten Knievel of Chicago. Miss Knievel is the youngest daughter of
current daredevil Robbie Knievel. Miss Knievel is making the trip to
co-present the award with Nichols following his address.

“I think this is a very distinctive and important honor,” Knievel said
of the award, inspired by her grandfather. “Having lived his life in
Montana and the way he dedicated his own life to taking risks and
thinking outside the box, I know my grandpa would be proud to know he
inspired such a unique award to honor those characteristics in others.”

This year marks the inaugural award, which will be given to a member
of the Duke student community. In the future, multiple EcoDaredevils
will be honored nationwide. The award, currently sponsored by Ocean
Conservancy, Ocean Revolution, Tree Media, Clark Fork Watershed
Education Program and YERT.com is chosen by a committee of individuals
that include members of various national and regional conservation
organizations, students and the scientific community at large. Future
awards will include a call for nominations and be presented at a
different Earth Day event each year. For information visit www.ecodaredevil.com

In preface to the awards ceremony, Nichols will present an Earth Day
keynote address to the Duke University, Nicholas School of the
Environment, titled, “Jump the Chasm: Are you an EcoDaredevil?” A
boyhood reveler of Knievel, Nichols will speak to the need for our
young scientists and policy makers to think and act daringly in order
for our civilization to “jump the chasm” of environmental challenges
in the 21st century and beyond.

Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D. is a scientist, ocean activist, author and a
dad. He’s senior scientist at Ocean Conservancy and a research
associate at the California Academy of Sciences. He works with many
non-profit organizations, youth, fishermen and researchers worldwide
to build an Ocean Revolution. For more information visit www.oceanconservancy.org
and www.wallacejnichols.org.

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Posted in Video, Mark | 2 Comments »

April 1, 2008 by Mark.

That’s right, at long last we’re putting out our digital hat. You can help YERT make bigger waves of green goodness all year long by contributing green green to our project. We’re entirely self-funded at this point and have devoted our savings to the project, so every little contribution helps us out! (You can also make a contribution through our website here.

Click here to make a non-deductible contribution to YERT.

Feel free to send us $10 for a meal, $100 for a room, or even $1000 to sponsor an entire state! If you don’t mind us adding your name and contribution publicly to our website, let Mark know at mark [at] yert [dot] com. (And if you sponsor a state, please note the top three states that you’d like to sponsor. )

Posted in Mark | 1 Comment »