YERT Urgently Needs Transcribers!

June 23, 2009 by Mark.

(Below, we’ve updated our original “call for transcribers” post from a few months back to reflect our current status and some big news - out trailer is done, and because of some key positive responses, we’ve got a good chance to send this film to Sundance. To do this, WE STILL NEED NEW TRANSCRIBERS, now more than ever…and now we can PAY you if you sign up for at least 3 tapes per week. Can you help us get to Sundance? Send me a note– mark@yert.com.) Here’s the updated post:

We’re making great progress on our transcription project – tackling a mountain of 500 hours (19,000 clips) from our year-long road trip – but we still need more help! We currently have 40 people signed up to help, but we’re looking for 60 more people to lend a hand — for a total of 100. That’s right. 100. This is a big job – it takes about 4 hours to transcribe one hour of footage, so we’re looking at about 2000 people hours to get this footage prepped for the editing process!

And to get this thing to Sundance, we need to finish by the second week of July!

With 100 people on board, each can contribute a very reasonable 8-10 hours per week and we’ll cross the finish line on time. By logging all of these clips quickly, we can make the Sundance deadline, and get this film out to the general public soon and in a big way – and we all know that our lovely planet doesn’t have days to spare.

Think about it: When was the last time you could powerfully help the planet by sitting down to watch a video?? Now you can. Seize the moment and watch a clip for the planet. For more information about volunteering, please contact Mark Dixon at 415-672-5537, or mark@yert.com. We’ll chat for about 30 minutes and then get you logging ASAP!

Thanks for all of your support! We’re thrilled with every little bit of it and want to be sure you know that this project would not be possible without your continued support, both verbal and financial.

Peace,
Mark & Ben

Posted in Events, Ben, Mark | 1 Comment »

YERT: The Film - Trailer

June 22, 2009 by Mark.

Get ready for YERT: The Film. This is going to be the full road trip story you’ve all been waiting for jam-packed into a powerful feature-length film, and this new film trailer is the first real glimpse into what it’ll be like. We’re shooting for Sundance, so spread the word to all of your friends and family - we want this trailer to travel around the world.

We need your help!

• We need transcribers. (you earn some cash)
• We need donations. (tax deductible)
• We need your friends. (and their friends)

Also, be sure to check out the synopsis below for a less-quick look at what the film is all about.

Please Transcribe (we just might pay you!)

We’ve got a tight deadline for the first possible entry date into Sundance, and boy do we have our work cut out for us! We’ve been working to transcribe our footage for months, but still have quite a ways to go, and we need an army of helpers– yourself included. And if you can sign up for at least three tapes a week we will pay you $10/tape. If you’ve ever wondered how you can help Mother Nature, now is the time– and she’s paying cash. Send an e-mail to mark@yert.com for more information.

Please Donate (get your name in the credits!)

We’ve put over $160,000 of our own money towards the YERT project and creation of this film. Now we’re asking you, our favorite planetary supporters, to put your money where your angst is and pitch in $20, $50, $100, $1000, or more to help us finish this film while the planet still stands a chance. We think we’ll need between $60,000 and $200,000 to finish as quickly and professionally as possible. You can make a tax-deductible donation to YERT by making out a check to “Pittsburgh Filmmakers” and noting “Conduiting Program: YERT” in the memo line of the check. Then mail the check to “Mark Dixon - YERT, 327 Denniston Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15206″. All donors who request it will get their names added to the credits of our feature film. For donations of $100 or more we’ll send you a free, autographed copy of David Korten’s new book: Agenda for a New Economy, or you can choose an autographed copy of his YERT-inspiring book The Great Turning. Many thanks to David Korten for donating the initial batch of autographed books to make this offer possible!

Tell 5 Friends (in 10 seconds)

If you’ve ever wondered when a tiny action on your part can make a huge difference to YERT, now is that time! Please tell five friends about this new trailer by simply sending them this link: http://www.yert.com/film.php . That’s all. It takes 10 seconds. You’ve done it before, or maybe you haven’t, but we hope you’re inspired to do it for us right now. Extra points if you “favorite” us in YouTube. Even more extra points if you Digg, StumbleUpon, or share us on Facebook (use the links to the right of the video player one this Trailer Page).

Synopsis

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) is a groundbreaking adventure and a celebration of the American spirit in the face of adversity - a thought-provoking, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious, documentary about the courageous and creative individuals, groups, businesses and leaders of this country who are tackling the greatest environmental threats in history. Called into action by the ever increasing threats of planetary catastrophe (from climate change to toxic pollution, from water scarcity to habitat destruction), the three of us - Mark Dixon, Ben Evans, and Julie Dingman Evans - upended our lives, pooled our collective life-savings, and set off on a first-of-its-kind, 50-state, year-long journey of discovery to personalize sustainability and to answer a critical question: ARE WE DOOMED?

On July 4th, 2007, with camera in hand, tongue in cheek, and packing ourselves, our supplies, and our filmmaking equipment like sardines into a used hybrid car, the YERT team set out from the Rachel Carson Homestead in Pittsburgh, PA to document environmental sustainability in every state in the union in a single year. We wanted to find out: What can Americans do to save the planet? What are they already doing? Why aren’t we all doing more? Is it possible that doing right by the planet is more economical, joyful, and fulfilling than not?

But this film isn’t just about documenting change, it’s about living it. We were on a mission to personalize sustainability, and as the National Academy of Sciences pointed out back in 1990, humanity is currently “conducting an uncontrolled experiment with the planet.” So as we traveled and filmed, we decided to BE the experiment - we would never turn on an incandescent light bulb, we would radically reduce our water usage by any means necessary, and, above all, we would attempt to generate zero waste, keeping all of our garbage (and recyclables) with us for the entire year…in our packed-to-the-gills hybrid. To pull this off, all of our garbage each month would have to fit in…a shoebox. We scoured the country, conducting over 800 interviews, amassing nearly 600 hours of footage, and bathing ourselves in America’s unique approach to environmental sustainability - the good, the bad, and the weird. We found everything from a 92 year-old caveman who’s built an entire cave community in the mountains of Idaho to an electrical engineer working to repower America with solar roadways; from outrageous green personalities like Missouri’s Eco-Elvis and Florida’s Earth Man to incredible new businesses like Tom Szaky’s Terracycle in New Jersey that’s making a mint turning garbage into almost anything; from the utter devastation of Mountain Top Removal coal mining in Appalachia to the revolutionary agricultural genius of Wes Jackson and the Land Institute in the Kansas heartland.

Several months in, an unexpected pregnancy instantly and dramatically changed life for all of us (particularly Ben and Julie, who had been told they could never have children) and pushed the team to the brink. Facing the potential derailment of the entire project, the team had to grapple with new challenges and questions - How long could two dudes and a pregnant woman survive in an enclosed space? Would we all be able to finish the trip? Would the needs of the pregnancy wreck the team’s environmental goals and challenges? Were Ben and Mark up for birthing a baby in the Alaskan wilderness? As both Julie and the garbage expanded, would the car actually explode? And as our personal journeys progressed and we dug deeper into the causes of climate change, it became clear that creating a sustainable world is about much more than simply combating global warming. Everything is tied together, and we began to connect those dots. Efficiency, renewable energy, and technological advances are critically important, but we can’t begin to address climate change unless we also address how we grow our food, how we use our water, how we measure our economy, how we approach human health, how we create/protect community, and, ultimately, how we find fulfillment and understand ourselves. Global warming is but the most dire symptom of some very fundamental issues about how our species functions on the planet. As the godfather of green building, Bob Berkebile, reminded us, we must “move beyond the current environmental movement which is about doing less harm. Our responsibility is not to do less bad, but to do something creative, and regenerative, and restorative, and loving.”

It’s taken more than 150 years to get ourselves into this mess, with America leading the way. The science tells us we have 5-10 years to get ourselves out of it. The question is, will America be leading the way or…are we doomed? You’ll just have to watch the movie to find out.

YERTfully Yours,
Ben, Julie, and Mark - Your YERT Team
team@yert.com

Posted in Video, Julie, Ben, Mark | No Comments »

New Video - Earth Hour: Feel Depower

March 26, 2009 by Ben.

Once a year, and only once a year (sadly), civilization gets together to power down…for a whole hour. Started by the WWF (no, not the wrestlers) in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has since become a global phenomenon. Well, almost global. YERT was in DC for Earth Hour 2008 and was pretty unimpressed. One would think that the capital of the planet’s most power-hungry nation would jump at the chance to save a few kilowatts (and greenbacks), even if it meant turning out the lights at the capitol for a few minutes. One would be mistaken. This year promises to be better as DC (as well as over 100 other US cities) has signed on to Earth Hour in a big way. Of course, the proof is in the skyline.

Hopefully the awareness that Earth Hour brings can usher in a new era of Earth Weeks, and Earth Months, and, eventually, non-stop Earth Years. In some ways it’s a sad indictment of our civilization that the notion of turning off the lights needs its own special “day” or, sadder still, “hour.” We’re not quite sure what the concept of Earth Hour implies about every other hour of the year, but it’s probably not good (certainly Earth Hour should not be followed by Anti-Earth Hour, if at all possible). Nevertheless, the idea of Earth Hour is an inspired, if symbolic, step in the right direction. And this year, you can actually VOTE for the Earth. The opponent in this “election” is…um…Global Warming - and your lightswitch is your vote. I know that that in some ways that ballot choice seems very reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential election, so, by signing up for Earth Hour and turning out our lights, we can all do our part to make sure we don’t make THAT mistake again. The “results” will be presented at Copenhagen in December and Earth needs 1 Billion “votes” to “win.” Incidentally, the respective VP candidates in this election are Dennis Kucinich and Rush Limbaugh’s pilonidal cyst.

Lighting Out,
Ben, Julie, and Mark

team@yert.com

P.S. If you’d like more information about saving energy, Earth Hour, or generally powering down, check out these breadcrumbs…
Calculate your carbon footprint here:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

Here’s how much carbon Chicago kept out of the atmosphere last Earth Hour:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-earthhourmar31,0,6746865.story

For those sitting on the fence, here’s a good article with some reasons to participate:
http://saving-energy.suite101.com/article.cfm/earth_hour_lights_out_for_environments_sake

To learn more about the larger issue of powering down civilization in a post-carbon world, check out:
http://www.richardheinberg.com/endorsements/powerdown

Posted in Video, Ben | No Comments »

All The Presidents’ Heads

February 18, 2009 by Ben.

First of all, a Happy Belated 200th Birthday to President Abraham Lincoln (not to mention Charles Darwin) and joyful Early Birthday Wishes to George Washington. Here, on President’s Day Aft Aft and in the very heart of President’s Birthday Week, we present to you a special Presidential Edition YERT video! During our travels in South Dakota, the roadside attraction capital of America, we stopped by David Adickes’ President’s Park for some quality one-on-one time with our nation’s leaders - in all their 20-foot, sculpted concrete glory. Sure, Mount Rushmore may be bigger and more famous, but where else in the country can you come face to GIGANTIC HEAD with every single US president? Actually, Williamsburg, VA (David has a second park there) but we were in SD, so we decided to bust in to catch some “green” pearls of wisdom from everyone from Lincoln to FDR. We even interviewed President Polk….yes, the President Polk. Best of all, we caught a super-sized face-off - a White House solar panels showdown between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan! Watch the drama unfold below:

Presidentially,

Julie, Mark, and Ben

team@yert.com

P.S. For information about the topics in this video, check out these breadcrumbs:

There’s a great documentary coming out soon called “Road Not Taken” about what happened to the solar panels Jimmy Carter put on the White House (and Reagan took down). To watch a trailer and for more on this story, check out these links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/white-house-solar-panels_n_160575.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/jimmy-carter-solar-panels.php

See which Presidents have been the best for the environment here:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/business/the-5-most-environmentally-friendly-presidents-in-us-history/857

Another list of the Best and Worst Presidents for the environment. Oddly enough, Nixon makes both Best and Worst lists of this one. Evidently, as the old saying goes - “when he was good he was very good, but when he was bad, he was horrid.” However, he wasn’t THE worst - that spot is reserved for “you know who.”

To see what kind of “Green New Deal” our current President is conjuring, go here:
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2236134/obama-green-stimulus-dissected
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2236575/obama-stimulus-bill-green
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/21/barackobama-usa-environment

Check out how Carter tried to fix Bush’s environmental/energy mistakes nearly 3 decades before Bush made them. Carter’s “malaise” speech (in which he actually never uses the word) is not terribly uplifting, but it couldn’t possibly have been more prescient then or more relevant today. Check out the speech (and dozens of other fascinating presidential speeches) HERE.

Posted in Events, Video, Issues, Ben | No Comments »

Pittsburgh “LEDs” Up Our Life!

February 10, 2009 by Ben.

THIS JUST IN:
YERT’s dear friend and Pittsburgh City Councilman, Bill Peduto, yesterday proposed that the City of Pittsburgh become the first city in America to be lit by LED lights. Check out the full article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette HERE and feel free to call or contact Bill and give him some major props. WAY TO GO, BILL!!

Posted in Issues, Ben, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Groundhog Day with Kentucky Family Robinson

February 2, 2009 by Ben.

So here we are in Louisville, KY in the wee morning hours of Groundhog Day and in the wake of a devastating ice/snow storm that has felled countless massive trees, killed a dozen people, and knocked out power to nearly a million residents of the bluegrass state - some of whom won’t have it restored until mid-February. It just so happens for the past week or two I’ve been editing (or struggling to edit, weather permitting) the short YERT video about, you guessed it, Kentucky. The irony is almost as thick as the sparkling inch of ice coating everything in sight - though I will confess, I love interesting weather and it is certainly reassuring to see winter rear her head in such a memorable way.

Luckier than most of our neighbors, we were only fully without electricity in our house for a little over two days, the second of which we spent at a friend’s house. Still, even twenty-four hours without power in 15 degree weather while in charge of a new baby is enough to make you start to feel a little like Swiss Family Robinson. Ordinarily a massive power failure is a wonderful excuse to turn off the TV, unplug the computer, light a fire and play some cards or some other pastime that calls for actual human interaction. It humbles us before mother nature and reminds us of our shared humanity in a beautiful way. But unfortunately our fireplace here is not functional these days and, for whatever reason, we’ve been a little too stressed to fully appreciate “going camping inside.” So the cards and Pictionary stayed put away and we busted out the hand-cranked LED flashlights and simply tried to stay warm and sleep…and tried to get some work done when we could.

Mostly (almost inevitably) the spectacular beauty and devastation wrought by this ice storm - and it has produced both in spades - has me thinking about how much of this “life without readily accessible power” is in our collective future. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of the current economic climate, or maybe the actual climate climate, or maybe it’s the next door neighbor’s diesel generator running 24/7, but lately every natural disaster that temporarily debilitates our electrical grid feels like a dress rehearsal for the “real thing.” It’s as if nature keeps offering us chances to come face to face with our hypnotic dependence on “cheap and easy power” - to finally snap out of it and overhaul our backward power-hungry “civilization” while we still can - but we’re all too clueless to see it for the wake up call it is. Certainly, it’s been encouraging to witness and experience neighbor looking after neighbor and to know that even during trying circumstances the ability of a community to improvise and muddle through is inspiring. But I do wonder if we’re really ready as a species for the long haul that awaits humanity when most fundamental things that we take for granted start disappearing or falling apart. Is it too much to hope that natural disasters will put us in touch with the boneheaded mistakes we keep making again and again until one day we finally stop banging our head against the wall and learn enough from them to reform our selfish….wait a second, isn’t there a movie like that?

Which brings me to Groundhog Day - one of my favorite movies of all time - and quickly becoming one of my favorite holidays. How can you not love a holiday built around forecasting the remaining length of winter based on a large rodent popping out of its hole (or, these days, being plucked out) and either seeing or not seeing its shadow - with, I might add, 39% historical accuracy (that’s 11% worse than simply guessing)? The forecast calls for clouds tomorrow/today in Punxsutawney, PA. So, what’ll it be, Punxsutawney Phil - an early Spring? These days, that sounds like a blessing…and a curse. Of course, I can take solace in the fact that there’s a 61% chance little Phil is wrong, and winter soldiers on for another six weeks - which, these days, sounds like a curse…and a blessing. For now, it’s time to crawl back into my little Kentucky Family Robinson hole here and try to get some sleep. Power’s back on…for now. Which, these days, sounds like a blessing…and…you know…

warmly,
-Ben

Update 1:32pm:
This just in: A baby named “Yert” - yes, YERT - is being born on Groundhog Day as we speak. I kid you not!! Feel free to post congratulations to the lucky couple (Josh and Mary Kate) on their new-parent blog, Procreation Station. What are the odds?

Update 11:04am:
Punxsutawney Phil has officially “seen” his shadow which means we should have six more weeks of winter. That is, there’s a 39% chance that we will have six more weeks of winter…and a 61% chance that we won’t. Oh, whatever.

Posted in Issues, Ben | No Comments »

Inspiration On The Eve of History…

January 19, 2009 by Ben.

Here we are on the eve of history, January 19th, 2009, near the stroke of midnight - galvanized and ready to serve! Tomorrow (or today, for some of you reading this) America will officially swear-in its first African-American President and turn a corner that is an inspiration to all of humanity. Hope and vision and compassion are making a comeback in the halls of our nation’s capital tomorrow, and not a moment too soon. The challenges before us as a country are immense, but the groundswell of selfless service and American ingenuity building behind the new leadership in this country is palpable and awe-inspiring. People everywhere are feeling empowered again and tapping into their own inner sense of purpose and passion for a greater good.

One of the clearest voices in this “call to arms” on behalf of the planet and humanity has been the incredible and visionary Van Jones, Director and Founding President of Green For All. We were lucky enough to see him speak at Bioneers in 2007 and were moved by his impassioned presentation of a green “wave” that “lifts all boats.” Here he is, as inspiring as ever, speaking before Congress this past week:

As if Van Jones and an historical inauguration weren’t inspiring enough, for those of you who haven’t seen it already, here’s a fantastic new project by a company called CH2M Hill developing Solar Potential Maps for 25 US Cities - the first of which is for San Francisco and can be found HERE. It’s worth spending some serious time noodling with this map - they’ve done some major leg-work to remove many of the hurdles standing in the way of a solar-powered future by showing just what’s possible and where in an incredibly intuitive way. God bless the power of Googlemaps, CH2M Hill, and the internet. The other 24 cities are: Denver; Houston; Knoxville; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Orlando; Philadelphia; Sacramento; San Antonio; San Jose; Santa Rosa; Seattle; Ann Arbor; Austin; Berkeley; New York City; Boston; Madison; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City; San Diego; and Tucson.

Treehugger has a couple great articles on the development of these solar maps HERE and HERE. It’s simply a fantastic idea whose time has certainly come - no surprise, then, that it won the 2008 Renewable Energy Innovation Award.

Finally, we found plenty of inspiration on our YERT travels. Here are a couple samples featuring folks from future YERTpods:

And on today of all days, don’t forget to check out the ultimate inaugural address we caught from our good friend Wes Jackson at the Land Institute here:

Our bank accounts might be taking it on the chin as our national “stuff” hits the fan this year and we face some hard realities, but, who knows, 2009 could be a great year after all!

Happy Inauguration, Mr. President! Here’s to our nation’s future!

-Ben and The YERT Team

PS - For a last tasty morsel of inspiration, check out Mark’s blog about David Korten’s new book below. Best of all, you can pre-order it from the YERT website HERE!

Posted in Events, Video, Issues, Ben | No Comments »

YERTpod31: An Epiphany of Three Wise Men in Missouri

January 6, 2009 by Ben.

Snazzy YERT ChicoBags are back in stock and make perfect post-holiday gifts, and they’re free with any $10+ donation! Check them out in the YERT Store.

Dear YERTians,

On the 13th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me…an Epiphany!  OK, so there are 12 Days of Christmas (the 12th being January 5th), but the coolest day of all is the day AFTER the 12th day - January 6th is Epiphany!  It celebrates the arrival of and the giving of gifts by the Magi (Three Wise Men).  We fully expected Missouri, being The Show Me State, to show us some epiphanies, but we had no idea just what kind of hidden gems and geniuses awaited us.  Of course, the first thing Missouri showed us was an ice storm in Kansas City, but here in the heartland, even in the face of the harshest circumstances, a creative spirit of rebirth and renewal persists.  And so, in honor of Epiphany (the day), epiphany (the experience), and the holidays in general, we celebrate three Missouri wise men and their gifts in…

Epiphany / Wise Man #1: When Dutch Elm disease decimated the trees on Marty Kraft’s street in the 50’s, the loss profoundly affected young Marty who saw the wisdom of encouraging diversity in nature. In 1975, following the death of his father, Marty moved back into that same family home and found himself unwilling to mow down plants and wondering "what length does grass want to be?"  Thus began "The Urban Wilderness" - an experiment in how far you can push your "yard"…and sometimes your neighbors.  Even in the sleet and ice, we enjoyed the heck out of Marty’s wonderfully "overgrown" front yard forest - a unique educational tool and a source of peaceful inspiration for many locals in the heart of manicured suburbia.  Marty’s website is full of goodies related to his "yard" and other projects, like the Heartland All Species Project focusing on local food production and natural no-till gardening.  After our visit, Marty took us with him to a meeting of Kansas City’s Environmental Management Commission, on which he serves, where we met Bob Berkebile.

Epiphany / Wise Man #2: Though he would never tell you, Bob Berkebile is the godfather of the modern green building movement.  It is ironic that one of America’s worst structural disasters would give birth to one of the most important revolutions in architecture.  After the tragic Hyatt Regency collapse in KC, Bob found himself questioning the very nature and purpose of architecture, design, and community.  "What is the real impact of our work on the people we intend to serve?"  "Are we improving the planet or not?"  Inspired by this epiphany and his mentor, Buckminster Fuller, Bob spearheaded the creation of the AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) and helped found the US Green Building Council (USGBC), both of which led to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  Bob’s architecture firm, BNIM, has their fingers in all kinds of great green pies - as the website says, "Deep Design, Deep Green" - and is leading the green rebuilding of the country’s most devastated areas, including the town of Greensburg, KS which was wiped off the map by a tornado in 2007.

Epiphany / Wise Man #3: Finally, St. Louis gave us the eco-creativity mother lode - and another inspiring Bob.  If Bob Berkebile’s epiphany spawned the modern green building movement, then sculptor Bob Cassilly’s spawned arguably the coolest building on the planet when he took a chance, bought St. Louis’ run-down old International Shoe Building for 69 cents a square foot in the early 1990’s, and turned it into the world’s most creative, engaging, constantly-evolving, and fully-interactive work of found-object art known as City Museum. What the rest of us call junk, Bob Cassilly turns into magic.  Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2007, City Museum was recently named one of the 10 Greatest Public Places in the World - and that’s not an exaggeration.  There are no signs in the museum…just an intoxicating maze of caves and secret tunnels and enormous cement dinosaurs and climbable vehicles suspended in midair and ladders and giant slides and a circus, aquarium, indoor train, enormous pipe organ, rope swings, sky tubes…did we mention the caves?…all begging to be explored!  Rick Erwin, the museum’s director, blew our minds with a whirlwind tour - so much so, that we came back for "seconds" the next day, including time with the museum’s fun-loving staff and its unofficial "Ambassador," Charles Whitcomb, who’s been there almost as long as Bob himself.  Remember closing your eyes as a kid and letting your imagination run wild…that place?  It’s in St. Louis, and you simply have to go experience it.  Seriously - GO.

Boy, The Show Me State sure showed US!

Happy Epiphany!

Your YERT Team,

Ben, Julie, and Mark

P.S.  For information about the topics in this video, check out these breadcrumbs!

For context, here’s some interesting background on the often misunderstood 12 Days of Christmas and Epiphany.

Here are some great articles about Bob Berkebile.  The first article traces his personal and professional journey and is particularly good.  (The second article is here). For a fun journey through the history of the Green Building movement, check out the USGBC’s 15 years / 15 stories page.

The concept of Urban Wildernesses may be an idea whose time has come.  In addition to Marty Kraft’s great website, here is an interesting website/blog called the Urban Wilderness Institute dedicated to the advocacy of urban wildernesses and an informative wikipedia entry on the subject.

As if City Museum weren’t cool enough, Bob Cassilly is working on a new project called Cementland - check out this NY Times article - and, yes, it’s what you think it is.  Once you’ve visited City Museum, and you want to hit the other 9 Greatest Public Places in the World, check out the St. Louis Business Journal article here.

YERT

Posted in Video, Ben | 1 Comment »

YERTpod29: Construction Is More Than OK in Oklahoma

December 10, 2008 by Ben.

…AAAAAAAND WE’RE BACK!!!!!

First and foremost, a gigantic YERT shout out to any and all heroic YERTians who are still dutifully tuning in.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.  Yes, it’s been quite a while since our last YERTPod as I (Ben) have gotten sideswiped by fatherhood and premiering a new musical.  Sorry ’bout that.  Oh, how I’ve missed the weekly all-nighter editing sessions!  And so it is that I honor that YERT tradition once again tonight at 4:29am. You had to know that we’d get around to editing Oklahoma, SOONER or later.  Turns out it was later, but here it is…finally.

Once we arrived in Oklahoma City, we went "underground" and "dug in" at Oklahoma City University for a few days, giving ourselves some "constructive" criticism and "building" a plan to ask some "LEEDing" questions over the coming days.  Turns out we didn’t have to look too hard. 

Brad Thomas and Sam Johnson gave us the dime tour of all the nifty bells and whistles on BOLDT Construction’s very cool LEED Silver south regional headquarters building.  We thought it only fitting that a company which offers green construction services have a LEED-certified regional HQ.  And it’s the first private LEED building in OK to boot.

We then spent one cold and rainy day with Aaron McRee of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity and liked it so much, we came back for another equally cold and wet interview the next day with Kelly Parker, President of Guaranteed Watt Saver, a engineering/inspection/consulting firm whose mission is "to assist in creating working and living environments which are durable, healthy, safe, comfortable, and resource responsible through a comprehensive application of building science principles."  Sounds pretty good to us.  Habitat and GWS have joined forces in central Oklahoma to bring energy efficiency savings into the lives of those who need it the most by building "the largest green development in Habitat for Humanity history" - an entire neighborhood of highly-insulated, geothermal-heated/cooled, extremely affordable homes.  We learned that, while it may have been the middle of December and we were freezing body parts off, there’s apparently still enough geothermal potential under the Oklahoma turf to warm even the chilliest home.  And not only is the heat home grown, but nearly everything in the houses’ geothermal systems (from the piping to the mechanical units) are made right in Oklahoma.  Now if only the state made geo-thermal-underwear, they really could have scored some points with us.  Get on that Oklahoma.

Finally, as luck would have it, Oklahoma City is the capital of Oklahoma, so we spent some quality time with OK State Representative, Randy McDaniel (R), who demonstrated to us that caring for the planet really is a non-partisan cause.  And, for balance, we hopped over to the other side of the political aisle and sat down with OK State Senator, Andrew Rice (D), the man looking to unseat America’s most notorious Global Warming Skeptic, US Senator James Inhoff.  Rice may have lost that bid last month, but he certainly gets kudos for trying.  

Oh, and not surprisingly, every Oklahoman we asked knew "Oklahoma," the song.  Apparently there’s this musical…

YERTfully Yours,

Ben, Mark, and Julie (Your YERT Team)
team@yert.com

P.S. If you’re looking for more goodies related to the video, check out these yummy breadcrumbs….

• Wanna find out just how much energy your house is leaking?  Or become a Home Energy Rater so you don’t have to hire someone else to tell you?  Guaranteed Watt Saver can help you here: http://www.gwssi.com/
• BOLDT may have a sweet building in Oklahoma, but the company HQ is actually in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Find out more about the company at:  http://www.theboldtcompany.com/home.html
• Habitat For Humanity does remarkable work.  Learn all about "the largest green development in Habitat for Humanity history" including "20 things YOU can do to reduce your home’s energy impact" right here:  http://www.centraloklahomahabitat.org/HopeCrossing.htm
• Last but not least, here’s a fun and funky website all about the wonders of geothermal heating and cooling.  If you wanna learn about how it all works, this site has everything…and we mean EVERYTHING — http://geothermal.marin.org/
  

Posted in Video, Ben | 3 Comments »

Slideshow of YERTBaby Bailey from week 1 on Planet Earth…

July 28, 2008 by Ben.

Posted in Events, Julie, Ben | 4 Comments »