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

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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 »

June 6, 2008 by Ben.

At the beginning of the YERT trip, I declared that at some point on this adventure we should find a way to do some WWOOFing. WWOOF used to stand for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and recently has been revised to stand for World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms (which technically should be WWOOOF, but we’ll cut the organization some slack). It’s all over the world and it’s really a truly awesome concept and right up YERT’s alley. The idea (at least in the US version) is that you pay 20 bucks to join WWOOF-USA and in exchange for that, WWOOF-USA gives you a WWOOFing handbook that connects you to all sorts of organic farms in every state in the country who are looking for help in exchange for room and board. The farmers get very much needed help and, as a WWOOFer, you get free food, lodging, and some really cool organic farming experiences. In typical YERT form, we’d waited until the 11th hour to explore our WWOOFing options. With Wyoming and Montana our only viable remaining WWOOFing states (and Montana filling up too quickly with other stuff) our options were dwindling quickly and we hadn’t even “joined” WWOOF-USA yet. I put in a desperate call and email to one of the directors of the organization and she was kind enough to fast-track the process and give us access to the online directory of WWOOFing farms. We looked over the list and there were literally dozens of WWOOFing locations in Montana and…exactly 1 in Wyoming. What?!?! Only 1 in the whole state!?!? Fingers crossed I gave them a call to see if they could break WWOOFing etiquette and take us on one day’s notice for only a few days of WWOOFing (most places want you to stay for at least a week or two). To our delight they were thrilled to hear from us and would welcome us with open arms…in about 24 hours. This was exciting stuff - I’d wanted to WWOOF for the past 10 years or so. I had even joined the New Zealand WWOOFing organization with Julie several years ago in the hopes of WWOOFing out there, but we never got around to going. So finally getting to have a WWOOF experience (and in the midst of making an environmental documentary, no less) is fulfilling on a whole slew of levels.

Thursday, May 29th
Around 9:30pm Thursday night, driving from Rapid City, SD, we arrived at our WWOOFing hosts - Mona and Steve Mitzel - outside of Leiter, WY. We’ve spent nights in some pretty darn remote places on this trip, but this is very nearly the middle of nowhere. The entire town of Leiter, WY consists of one small building that houses a post office, bar/cafe, and small motel - and they live on the “outskirts” of Leiter. Trying to make time, we hadn’t eaten dinner, and our sweet hosts were quick to offer us elk steak that Steve hunted and salad while we sat around the kitchen table chewing the fat and getting to know each other. After our late meal, they took us out to our trailer about 1/2 mile down their “driveway” where we’d be spending the next several nights and got us set up. The next morning we’d be working by 8am so we hit the sack pretty quick.

Friday, May 30th
Shockingly, I got up even earlier than necessary - by well over two hours! To be sure, I am generally NOT a morning person, but I should remember that being in the country and in clear view of daylight always puts my body on a pretty wonderful circadian rhythm. In this case my bedroom window was facing due east and my head was facing the window, so I was gently but inevitably awakened by the sun each morning. It’s my absolute favorite way to wake up - getting bathed in early morning light with the sounds of the stirring morning countryside slowly seeping into your subconscious until they pull you out of your sleep. As I caught sight of the predawn glory outside my window at around 5am, I was compelled to leap out of bed, grab the camera from Mark and Erika’s room, and take full advantage of the opportunity to film a really wonderful sunrise out our back door which opens, stairless, about 3 feet above the ground. By 6:30 I was back in bed asleep ’til just before 8.

By 8:10 we were at Mona and Steve’s house ready for our first day of WWOOFing. Donning our work gloves in the Mitzel’s muck room, we headed down the hill for a “barn raising” or, more accurately, a “canteloupe tunnel” raising. Mona is trying to expand her growing season for a few key fruits, so we were going to be helping her and Steve erect a greenhouse of sorts - or at least the ends of the greenhouse. There was a skeletal steel frame in place so we’d be attaching the front face today. The directions told us not to attempt to do this in the wind and, sure enough, the wind was picking up a little by 8:30am, but we decide to sally forth anyway. It should be noted that attaching the front of the greenhouse involved stretching a giant white tarp over a 12 foot tall steel semicircular frame, clamping it down, and tech-screwing it into place while, and this is the most important part, riding 12 feet up in the shovel of their front loader to do all of this. Sweet! Any excuse to ride around in the shovel of a big orange front loader!

Because none of us had actually assembled one of these before, we spent the first hour or so prepping and debating which side of the “tarp” was the front. We ended up putting the exposed zipper side out to face the elements. This, of course, turned out to be backwards (we think), but we didn’t fully realize this until it was well attached and far too late to reverse our decision. Luckily, there was another end to attach to the greenhouse, so we would get another shot on Saturday. Erika and I hopped in the shovel of the loader to attach the top while Mark supported the bottom of the front face and coordinated efforts to line it up. After an exhilarating morning of riding the shovel, negotiating the pesky wind, and attaching clips, we broke for a lunch of egg salad sandwiches. Mark and I spent the afternoon attaching numerous other supports to the greenhouse while Erika ran interference for Mona’s two precious granddaughters (5 yr.-old Annie and 3 yr.-old Jillian) as Mona did some work on one of her planting beds and the active greenhouse. Then we all broke for dinner (pesto pasta and sauteed veggies) and an even earlier bed-time. We had decided to try to beat the wind on Saturday morning, to keep the other face of the greenhouse a little more slack-free, but this would mean starting at 6am. We’d also gotten wind that we would be performing a cattle drive on Saturday - the anticipation was killing me.

Saturday, May 31st
Saturday saw us at Mona and Steve’s house by 6:10am ready to tackle the back end of the greenhouse. The wind was cooperating with us so we got started quickly - attaching this side with the protected zipper to the outside. Mark and I went up in the shovel this time and the back side went up reasonably smoothly without the wind. We spent the rest of the morning finishing up attaching the side supports and Steve set about tech-screwing in a U-track along the ends of the roof frame - an insanely tough task given that the tech screws were woefully incapable of penetrating the steel pipe - this was definitely the most arduous part of the assembly.

Early in this tech-screw process, Steve needed someone to lift him up in the shovel of the front loader. A chance to DRIVE the front loader?!?!? Sure! Next thing I knew Steve was explaining the workings of his front loader to me and I was trying not to tear down the entire greenhouse maneuvering him around 12 feet in the air. It was awesome - and Steve’s still alive! Later in the morning, Mark and Erika worked on helping Mona build a pipe from the river to her current greenhouse while I helped Steve finish attaching the U-track to the greenhouse frame with those blasted tech-screws!

After sucking down some delicious quesadillas at lunch, we got down to the real business of the day - the cattle drive. Normally, we could just drive the cattle across the small river in Steve and Mona’s back yard, but they’ve had such a wet spring in NE Wyoming this year that the river isn’t crossable, which means a four or five mile cattle drive around the “back way.” Steve and Mona brought over two horses to help with the drive and to give us a chance to do it “old school.” With help from Steve’s neighbors we mounted our respective steeds (Steve and I on the horses - Alice and Shawnee, respectively; Mark and Erika on the four-wheeler; and Mona and the granddaughters on another 4×4 called the Mule). Cattle driving on a horse was a totally new life experience for me - and utterly thrilling. Mark and Erika, Mona and the grandkids, and a couple of the neighbors buzzed about on the 4-wheelers keeping an eye on things while Steve, his neighbor Jeremy, and I trotted and cantered around trying to keep the cows together and moving in the right direction. Pleasantly surprised by my modest horse skills, I felt like a cowboy (albeit, a totally clueless one) for about 4 hours as we spent the better part of the rest of the day shuffling the cows (about 100 or so) over hill and dale and several miles down the dirt road to some fresh pasture that Steve has started leasing for the first time this year.

There were a few unforeseen variables that made the cattle drive even more interesting. Half way through, two calves somehow got separated from the herd on the wrong side of some barbed wire and Jeremy, one of the neighbors, had to pull some smart maneuvering to get the calves back to the herd. Shortly after that, we were visited by a thunderstorm that soaked us pretty good and added the wonderful variable of lightning into the mix. Finally, we had to pay careful attention to the bulls in other pastures that were making every attempt to “get with” Steve’s cows as they passed by. This required some serious diligence - nothing like trying to foil foreign bulls from mating with cows in heat to keep you on your toes. Jeremy and I (and eventually Steve) slowly rode the horses back to the ranch which took another hour and a half. A bit saddle sore with knees that were barely functioning after being on a horse for the better part of 5 hours, I stabled Shawnee and headed to dinner, ready for some delicious homemade soup. After dinner it was off to bed before another early morning - this time helping Mona in the large garden across the river.

Sunday, June 1st
So far in our WWOOFing experience, the one thing we hadn’t done was some actual organic gardening, but that was about to change. Mona is in the process of becoming organically certified and has been using organic growing methods for several years. Today we would be doing some planting with her.

We started Sunday off at about 7am helping Steve attach the rototiller to his frontloader tractor and then heading into Mona’s greenhouse to soak plant seedlings in a diluted organic fish solution. I still don’t know what exactly fish solution is, but, as expected, it smells totally nasty and fishy. We did this while doing our best to keep the granddaughters happily occupied with a little kitten they’d been literally loving to death the past few days - seriously, if that cat makes it to Christmas, I’ll be amazed.

After loading up Mona’s pickup with seedlings, we took the 5 mile “long way” over to her large garden just beyond the pasture where we’d left the cows the day before - which is only about 200 yards from her house as the crow flies. Mark and I rode over in the Mule 4-wheeler and stopped to shoot some B-roll on the way enjoying a gorgeous view of the Big Horn mountains in the distance and revisiting the cows on the way. The last cow fence was nearly impossible to put back - Mark and I had to both pull together with all our strength for several minutes before we got it back in place. We totally felt like wussie city boys.

In the garden, Steve rototilled the alfalfa field into a great seedbed, while we spent several hours planting seedlings with Mona and little Annie and Jillian. We planted onions, kale, cabbage, and two kinds of lettuce. Erika showed up on the other four-wheeler after the first hour and joined in the fun. It’s awesome digging in the dirt - really one of my very favorite things.

Around 2pm we headed back to the ranch house. On the way back, Mark and I stopped in the cow pasture on the hill overlooking everything to film a short WWOOFing intro and shot some B-roll of antelope. Lunch was leftover soup and then Mark rested his sore back and slept, while Erika did some homework and I caught up on email, did a little trip planning, and finally got to check in with Julie by phone. In the evening, I headed outside with Steve to ride Shawnee again and create a little more horseback B-roll. Shawnee was MUCH more skittish and freaky this time (not sure why), so we cut the ride short. We stabled the horses and then headed out with Mona and Steve to check out a blue heron rookery that they have on their property. We all 4-wheeled our way out to this huge tree further down their river where close to a dozen blue herons were nesting in a tree. It was a pretty unbelievable site. What’s more, the river/marsh itself was also teeming with life - frogs, fish, all jumping and making noise to their heart’s content right around sunset. After we headed back to the house, I interviewed Steve about life in Wyoming - WWOOFing, coal, ranching, environmental concerns. Then, after about an hour, I headed back with Mark to the trailer and, there, we were all greeted by a spectacular thunder and lighting storm. This kept me up until 1am filming. Really a treat. It was a nice way to cap off our WWOOFing experience.

Monday, June 2nd
We slept in - all the way until 8:30 when Erika busted out some blueberry pancakes in the trailer for breakfast. Then we packed up, headed over to the house for a few final interview questions with Steve, and said goodbye to our fine WWOOFing hosts. I have to admit, in retrospect, our WWOOFing experience was all we could have hoped for and more. Great people, great experiences, and a great concept. And, if you ever want to WWOOF in Wyoming - this is THE place…literally. Can’t wait to do it again sometime soon!

Posted in Events, Travelog, Issues, Ben | 1 Comment »

May 20, 2008 by Ben.

Saturday April 19th we had a wonderful “green” baby shower as detailed in the blog post entitled “Showering with 30 friends really can be a clean “green” experience!”

Sunday also proved to be very fruitful as Mark and I headed out to Times Square to probe the minds of New Yorkers (although, as any New Yorker can tell you, Times Square is mostly tourists). After several colorful encounters and reeling from the multi-sensory stimuli, we sauntered over to Central Park for a little Earth Day Celebration in Central Park. Here we found all manner of planting going on, as well as a concert, numerous activities, and booths offering “green” wares and services of all kinds. We could have stayed for hours, but our YERT party was calling us, so we hopped the subway to Brooklyn.

Our YERT party in Brooklyn was hosted by our good friends Amy and Zach who put on quite the shindig. It was definitely one of the best YERT parties thus far and we managed to hook up with some old friends as well as make a few new ones. One of our new friends, Megan Dietz (sent our way by our new friend Cathy at Columbia), is actually starting a cool new eco web-zine called The Sunny Way. Megan’s a hoot to boot and was nice enough to share some of her environmental insights with our camera. She’s an advocate for the concept of going beyond “doing no harm” or “less bad” and really actively “doing good” for the planet. Inspired. Another friend we made that evening was Tim Murphy, who’s been working on a film about currency, among other things. Having covered a few examples of local currencies ourselves along the road, we eagerly picked his brain which is chock-a-block full of all kinds of insights about the nature of money and how taking control of our own currencies at a very fundamental level is one of the most empowering things humanity can do to become fully actualized and part of a sustainable planet. Tim also helped arrange an interview for us later in the week with Dr. Ari - one of Sri Lanka’s greatest spiritual/social/environmental leaders. Suffice it to say, we had a rockin’ good time.

Posted in Events, Travelog, Issues, Ben | 1 Comment »

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 19, 2008 by Ben.

Today, Saturday April 19th, will be a momentous occasion as Julie enjoys a shower in Brooklyn with 30 of her closest friends. Baby shower, that is. And we’re trying to make it as environmentally friendly as we can - a “clean” shower. Julie’s requested no packaging of any kind on the gifts; no plastic gifts; all-natural and environmentally friendly products, materials, and ingredients; and free, homemade, or second-hand gifts whenever possible. It’s going to be an interesting time to say the least - we’ll certainly let you know what people come up with. For now, here are three interesting eco-baby shower sites I found online.

All Natural Baby

Eco Parti

Crystal Baby Organics

I sure am glad at least one of us is showering today.

And now, a poem:

When you’re loving the planet
As you grow a little “bean”
Nothing feels better
Than a shower that’s clean

peace,
Ben

Posted in Events, Travelog, Ben | 1 Comment »

April 1, 2008 by Ben.

Today in DC we had the rare privilege of sitting down with Ilene Tuderyte, one of President Bush’s senior energy policy advisers, to discuss the nation’s energy future and whether President Bush is still even able to affect US environmental policy this late in his second term. We were surprised and encouraged to find that what we thought was a lame-duck presidency, still has a bold vision of what is possible, and Bush recently appears truly to have turned a corner in his environmental and energy positions. Ms. Tuderyte assured us that the president has a very strong desire to help the country wean itself off of foreign oil - and oil altogether, for that matter. Kudos to him. When we pressed her for specific initiatives, she unveiled one of the most groundbreaking ideas we’ve heard all year.

The following are excerpts from an internal Department Of Energy memorandum she shared with us:

“As a nation, we are seeing increasing rates of obesity across all age groups. Nearly 65% of all Americans are now considered obese - a 50% rise in obesity in the last 30 years - and the rate of childhood obesity is rising three times a fast as it is for adults. When it comes to body fat - the U.S. is the world leader. This incredible surplus of cellulite stored in the bodies of our citizens represents one of the most underutilized natural resources we have - a truly renewable energy source that is INCREASING at nearly 3% annually. Oil prices have recently eclipsed $110 dollars/barrel and will likely surpass $170 dollars/barrel by the end of 2008. As the world’s largest consumer of petroleum, we will soon be facing a shortage in our oil supply while enjoying a record surplus of cellulite - our most plentiful home-grown bio-fuel resource. In the next two weeks, we will be making recommendations to Congress to legislate strong financial incentives for domestic auto manufacturers to increase basic research into the development of a cellulite-powered car engine capable of a minimum of 35 miles per pound of human body fat.

With a sharp increase in the number of elective liposuction procedures during recent years, the future of American body fat as an alternative fuel is indeed strong. On a per capita basis, the average American is 58.3 pounds over weight. With 302 million people in the U.S. this translates to nearly 17.6 billion pounds of excess fat. With current national stores of excess body fat at 17.6 billion pounds and projected to rise to 20 billion by 2010, assuming an average fuel economy of 35 miles per pound, human cellulite has the potential to meet all of our national automotive fuel needs by the end of the decade. Several preliminary joint studies conducted by GM and several liposuction labs in Los Angeles and Miami confirm that efficiencies as high as 40 miles per pound are theoretically possible with more energy dense fat from the buttocks and thighs, while belly and underarm fat yield between 23-31 miles per pound, depending on the individual’s diet. An additional fuel efficiency benefit may come from a decrease in mean passenger weight as individuals’ fat is increasingly used to power their cars. However, it should be noted that this may happen at the expense of domestic fat supplies, in which case restrictions will be required and a national fast food subsidy program may need to be implemented to maintain sufficient national fat supplies.

Given that effective public relations management of this unorthodox proposal is essential during the coming months, the DOE will be working closely with American car manufacturers on initial product marketing and positioning. Several preliminary campaigns are:

“Having trouble burning off those extra pounds…FORD’s here to help. The new FORD Fatster.”

“A Lean, Mean, Lard-Driving Machine…the 2009 Chevy Cellulite.”

“Dodge Dimple - Now you can ride on the most durable spare tire of all…yours.”

“Drive your way to thin with a Lincoln Lipid SX.”

“Not a car, not a truck, not an SUV - It’s a Blubber. The Blubber B3 - a vehicle as big as you are.”

“People used to call me Porky, now they call me an environmentalist. - Come check out the all new 6-cylinder Mazda Muffintop.”

“Get it off your butt and into your car - Fat makes America run.”

In short, we believe that a strong national energy policy begins and ends with a triple cheeseburger, milkshake, and side of extra large fries - it’s time we recognized our national obesity “problem” for the energy independence answer it is. And it’s time we replaced high prices at the pump, with live humans hooked up to the pump. We have the need, we have the supply, and we have the technology - liposuction/filling station hybridization. It’s time to get off of oil - and onto cellulite. Time to declare our energy independence. America’s Energy Future Is Fat and Free.”

Oh, and…
HAPPY APRIL FOSSIL FOOLS’ DAY!

Posted in Events, Travelog, Issues, Ben | 3 Comments »

October 10, 2007 by Mark.

California is YERT’s 17th state. Just 33 more to go! Woah!

YERT is winding its way through California in October and we’d love for you to be a part of this leg of the journey. You’re invited to a giant eco-bash (eVite event is here, Facebook event is here) with three easy instructions:

1. BYOB: Bring Your Own Bowl! And silverware, cloth napkin, cup, etc. We are trying to produce minimal waste at this event. Bring your most colorful dinnerware to show off…
2. Bring a local or organic food item! This is a potluck, so bring something tasty and healthy to share with the tasty and healthy guests, and let me know what you plan to bring…
3. Bring a story! Bring one anecdote about a change that you made in your life this year to reduce your planetary impact. Even one CFL bulb will do.

We’ll have photos projected on the wall, you can see our year-to-date garbage, and we’ll all be able to share stories about this crazy eco-movement. Also, if you know friends in SF, send them the link! We’d love to meet and make new friends.

• Location: Jeremy’s Flat, 698 Missouri St., San Francisco, CA 94107
• Time/Date: Wednesday, October 24, 7:00PM
• RSVP: Please reply via eVite or Facebook.
• Questions? Contact Mark Dixon, 415-672-5537, mark@yert.com

That’s about it! Carpool if you can… vote against coal… catch your rainwater… eat less meat… recycle… buy less crap you don’t need… and enjoy the process of letting go!

Festively Yours,

Mark

mark@yert.com

YERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERT

Posted in Events, Mark | 1 Comment »

September 14, 2007 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

We hit the pavement and joined a state-wide march to Re-Energize New Hampshire with carbon-free energy. This “non-political” event was filled with messages to and from the politicians who care about their survival in the New Hampshire primary season. Oh yes– it was also a lot of fun…

Just click here or the picture below to watch "YERTpod9: Voting With Your Feet in New Hampshire"

One of the most carbon captivating speakers at this event was author and environmental activist Bill MicKibben, who created the “StepItUp2007” event held nation-wide on April 14, 2007. People gathered in creative ways all over the country to demand that legislators adopt the following key climate priorities:

• Cut carbon dioxide 80% by 2050
• Conserve energy use 10% in 3 years
• No new coal-fired power plants
• Establish a Green Jobs Corps

YERT happily got a little time alone with Bill, who informed us that there will be a StepItUp2007 part 2 coming up soon, so mark your calendars for November 3rd and click here to find an event near you! (In his "spare" time, Bill writes great books, including one in the YERT mobile library: Deep Economy. Highly recommended!)

Supporters for most of the Democratic presidential candidates were also out in force at the rally, and we spoke with fans of Obama, Clinton, and Kucinich. We had a tough time finding supporters for Republican candidates, but we hope that they’ll come around with encouragement from groups like the Republicans for Environmental Protection. Who is our favorite candidate? We’re not sure yet, but with the help of sites like this one we hope to figure it out before long.

Enjoy the Road Show!

Mark, Julie, and Ben (Your YERT Team)

team@yert.com

P.S. And now for Breadcrumbs! If you want to learn more about the topics in this video, check out these three resources:

• Why no new coal-fired power plants? The answers may surprise you, in all the worst ways. We hate to share downers with you all, but please click here to find some extremely compelling reasons to halt new coal plants. A helpful discussion of the topic can also be found here at the Daily Kos.
• How can you determine the environmental position of a presidential candidate? Grist has taken a fun and detailed look at the candidates with an eco-eye, and we’re looking there to guide many of our eco-pinions.
• Climate change will certainly be on the agenda during the upcoming election, but how do you know if a candidate is serious about the issue? We’ve found that this chart created by the World Resources Institute is extremely handy at cutting through the talk. It visually compares the CO2 reductions mandated by various bills, and checks them against the range recommended by scientists to avoid the worst impacts of human-made global warming.
• We were tickled by the appearance of the PieMobile– a car shaped like a pie graph that dramatically illustrates the budget priorities. That’s right. You read correctly. A car shaped (and painted) to represent a U.S. Federal Budget pie chart. You have to see it to believe it, or at least check out this website. These folks make budget reform fun.

Posted in Events, Video | 3 Comments »

August 28, 2007 by Julie.

Grandmother.
What a wonderful word. What can it mean to realize 90 years on this earth and to be able to look in the faces of 10 grandchildren and 8 great granchildren and see your own parents’ and grandparents’ DNA in iterations of individual beauty? For my grandmama it is to have have bred babies and lost babies, to have worked at home and held down jobs, to have taught herself to cook, to crochet, to do needlework, to have supported her kids through dancing school… to have been a steady and constant wife and companion until holding the hand of her beloved as he passed from this earth, to have moved far from home to be close to her daughters and to have watched her only son pass away before her…
I don’t think i’ve often been in town to share my Grandmama’s birthday, since we’ve lived in different cities for 20 years. So this year, when YERT discovered that we were going to be just a few hours’ drive from her, the boys conspired with me to make it happen. We left Chicago Saturday afternoon and drove directly to St. Charles to meet my St. Louis family. I warned Mark to expect a somewhat raucous reception as there are many women in my family with lively blood. The girls did not disappoint. Jubilant calls greeted us from the street before we even set foot out of the car and were only compounded by sheer numbers once inside my aunt’s house. I love my family.

Grandmama sat in her chair at the kitchen table looking pretty but smaller and paler than the last time I saw her. The skin on her hands, always brown and tan, seemed almost translucent. She looked stunned to see us, and a little confused. “I’m so surprised,” she said, in her still gentle Georgian accent, “I didn’t know you was coming!” Her eyes cried a little, for the house’s being filled up with still more of her dearly-loved ones. And she told us stories that began and began with no endings and moving on to limbs of other stories we might have heard before…

The next day all relatives reconverged on the house and the food came in waves, with presents, cards, and my aunt Karen, Grandmama’s caretaker for many years now, brought a new pink walker out of the garage, tied up with ribbon, complete with a little pink horn and its own headlight. And then there was the cake. The cake was decorated with Grandmama’s portrait, (something I had never seen before) and had 9 candles, one for each decade. When we started singing Happy Birthday, she hid her face in her colorful bib and wept. She tried to talk but could only say that she had only asked for plain yellow cake, which got us all to howling. Aunt Karen asked her if she was sad and Grandmama said, “No, I’m so happy!” And she was.

Still, she cried pretty hard when my mother left this morning with my brother and his wife. Which of course made my mom cry, even harder. sigh. So today I spent all afternoon with Grandmama going through old photos in her room, as I know it is a thing of rare satisfaction for her, revisiting pictures of people she loved and times she remembers. She loves to remind whoever will listen of how we are related and whatever became of Tardy Fensterbush…She doesn’t have her stories quite as crisp as she once did and certain names start becoming interchangeable…but she nevertheless has her wits about her and remembers the most important stuff…who was “a really nice man,” who was “a lovely person,” who “never did have any children…”

After supper, Aunt Karen pulled out a box with more old photos, some of which I placed into Grandmama’s album so that she can see them easily. Her eyesight is no longer what it was either, so she can’t always see exactly the person in the picture, and we are finding her habit of labeling backs of photos in ink a rather useful tool for identifying relatives who died before we knew them.

It is getting late and I’m losing my thoughts so before I wane like the moon outside, I’ll say to the grand matriarch of our family, our true southern belle: We love you, Grandmama, and we hope you know how much we do.

Posted in Events, Julie | 1 Comment »