April 15, 2009 by Mark.

Here’s an e-mail exchange I had with Colin McCullough, who is about to start an environmental road trip of his own– you can check it out at http://www.ourrenewablenation.org
**************
From: Colin McCullough
To: mark@yert.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:00:50 AM
Subject: wireless mics

HI Mark,

I have decided the best way to go is to use a set of wireless lav mics for our interviews, so we don’t have to worry about cords. I scoped around Ebay and found a set for $700 - that’s a lot! Do you have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,
Colin McCullough

**************

Hi there, Colin!

Wireles lav mics were a tremendous help for us along the way, though it is useful to bring a wired backup of some sort– occasionally you’ll get static in a space and need to proceed with the interview without changing to a new, static-free location. At which point we would switch to a strategically positioned boom as close as possible to the speaker.

We used three pairs of Sennheiser EW 100 G2 receiver/transmitters. They worked out fairly well for us. There are more expensive, better ones, but these worked fine most of the year. I also upgraded the mic to a Tram TR-50 BSET+ lavalier microphone. The default ones that came with the Sennheiser transmitter/receivers were decent, but the Tram mics definitely cut down on the ambient noise while improving the quality of the speaker’s audio. That said, the Trams broke twice on the trip, and they’re expensive to replace– $250 each. I doubt the Sennheiser default mics would break as much as the Trams. Here’s the kit that we bought for YERT.

Here’s a good version of a single wireless lav set. You might also want to be sure it has a camera mount if that’s how you plan to go. Otherwise the receiver will be flopping all over the place. Here’s a version with the camera mount.

Overall, when you get into the wireless lavalier zone, you’re gonna pay something in the ballpark of what you quoted below- . Check on BHPhotoVideo.com for the best rates on NEW equipment. I got burned by other web sites a few times because of poor service or delayed delivery for no reason from OTHER sites. BHPhotoVideo was rock solid every time.

Also, make sure that the lav set has the appropriate connector cables to hook up to your camera.

And, finally, make sure that you fully test and get to know your lavaliers when they arrive– the worst time to figure out the features of your devices is after you already arrived at an interview and something has gone wrong. Fiddle with the gain and frequency settings so you know how to fix them up under pressure on game day.

Feel free to call if you have more questions…

Cheerio,
Mark

cell: 415-672-5537
fax: 415-520-5824
mark@yert.com
http://www.yert.com
http://twitter.com/YERTGuy

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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.

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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!!

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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.

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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!

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January 19, 2009 by Mark.

One of most notable YERT interviews (for me) that we have yet to share with you was with author and activist David Korten, whose work has been an inspiration to me before, during, and after the YERT road trip. Way back in 2006 I picked up his book, “The Great Turning,” after meeting him during a Green Festival in San Francisco, and was blown away by the way it turned my view of history—and the potential of humanity– upside down. His words cut to the heart of social, environmental, and political issues in an innovative, optimistic, and insightful way that will likely motivate you to engage your neighbors in a discussion of all the wonderful possibilities that he presents.

Recent dramatic failures in the financial industry moved Korten to create a new book that brings a startling new context—and noteworthy solutions—to an otherwise miserable financial meltdown. The book is called “Agenda for a New Economy – From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth – Why Wall Street can’t be fixed and how to replace it.” It has already received praise from another YERT hero (you guessed it!), Van Jones, and I have read enough of Agenda for a New Economy to give it my own personal recommendation as well! This book has been rushed to publication and is available for pre-order from the YERT store (thanks to Amazon ;-), available for delivery after Feb. 3. Please take a look!

Peace,
Mark

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January 19, 2009 by Mark.

We’re off to a good start in our transcription efforts– thanks to a small army of dedicated volunteers! 15 active volutneers have transcribed over 10 hours of footage during the last two weeks, requiring about 50 hours of volunteer time. Our most active transcribers are Ange Vesco (PA), with over 200 minutes transcribed, and Dawn Tirschel (NM) logging up over 150 minutes! We have about 490 hours remaining, so if you’ve been hiding your butt-kicking typing skills from us, hide no more! We’d be thrilled to have you join the team– we need 60 active transcribers to meet our goals. Just contact mark@yert.com.

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November 17, 2008 by Julie.

Just a quick note to say that, unbeknownst to my dear husband, we are going to try one of every kind of fitted cloth diaper i can find. We have bought gdiapers, used kissaluvs with covers and Fuzzi Bunz “All-in-ones,” all fine, but now I am out to find the diapers that rock mine and baby’s socks off, and are the easiest to use, clean, travel, etc…and stay out of the landfill! Stay tuned for complete review in about a month, when I have secured all our purchases and had a chance to try them out…Moms, feel free to weigh in here…

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November 15, 2008 by Julie.

I confess I don’t really remember when i first joined facebook - was it 2005? - when my NYC agent first “friended” me and I “accepted.” I don’t really remember when i started signing on regularly and enjoying people’s “status” lines changing. All I know is that this thing is a social network with wings and I am happy to climb on board. Today one of the virtual “groups” that i joined sent me an email that hints that it so much more than a social network.

Yes, the YERT group on facebook proved mighty useful during our year on the road - Several times we landed a friendly place to stay just because somebody forwarded our message. My babysteps blog automatically posts, which is a lovely thing. It’s super easy to post photos and videos and thus keep abreast of everyone’s happinesses and growing families and accomplishments. Just recently, high school acquaintances have started popping up in my inbox, and I realize I have the opportunity to kindle relationships with people I had not really known in the hormone-laced haze of high school - who I may only now be able to fully appreciate and only now realize that i have important things in common with.

There are some annoying aspects of the network, like the endless applications that show up and seem to multiply within seconds. (I thought they were fun at first and allowed a “green” application called “Lil Green Patch,” an application which asks you to “help take care of so-and-so’s plot - there’s a deer in their yard - you’ve saved 62 square feet of rainforest…” I presently have 237 “Lil Green Patch” requests and I am unconvinced that any rainforest anywhere is being protected from slashing and burning just bc i am watering my friend’s virtual garden of strawberry shortcakes. Call me a cynic, but I have just stopped watering.)

I am, however, intrigued by the Causes application. Today I was particularly elated to find out that one of the virtual “groups” that i joined has actually made a very REAL difference. It may seem small but it is a brilliant example of how, together, making some noise, we really can initiate change. The group was called “Take Back The Filter: Help Convince Clorox to Recycle Brita Filters!” which takes you to this address where people could add their names to a petition asking the manufacturers of Brita filters to take back and recycle their product so that it won’t become more needless landfill. And guess what? It worked!!!
How about that? And probably it wasn’t just facebook - I am sure the website reached many more people in different ways - but that is how I found the petition and added my voice, and I am proud and thrilled to have played a little part. I enjoyed similar satisfaction during YERT when I wrote CamelBak a letter and returned our water bottles due to #7 plastic and BPA and, a few months later, learned that CamelBak was changing its bottles due to consumer requests! We were heard. And heeded.

Ah! My baby is waking up on my lap now so i’ll close but i want to encourage everyone out there that your voice can and DOES make a difference - however you use it - be it a letter, a phone call, your name on an emailed petition, FACEBOOK, what you buy or don’t buy…It’s your VOTE, and it may seem small, but it’s REAL and it’s powerful. Use it!

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November 11, 2008 by Julie.

It’s hard to believe a whole week has passed since America enthusiastically said Yes we can! and elected Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States. This overwhelming vote for change, for Unity, and Peace thrilled most of America to pieces Tuesday night just as it now inspires us for the great hard work we have yet to do. America may be limping, but we just got a new PT and we can do this if we are all ready to walk a bit together. WE must support our new leader by getting off our duffs (apologies to those of us who already don’t spend much time there) and BEING the change we wish to see…there’s so much opportunity here, for our human habitat, for civil rights, for global relations…
So…what exactly do we do? Keep sending money to the Obama team as the new administration? I doubt many people can keep that up. Keep up to date on all the political goings on through our media of choice? Sorry: passive. Keep trying on a personal level to “go green” in our lives? Of course we should, but that won’t be enough. It’s time for each of us to make some beautiful noise, if we haven’t already: contact our local representatives on a regular basis, go to town meetings, become involved in our communities, and support the new administration in its work by letting government AND corporations know that we want things to change, and how.
We now have THE opportunity to make real change happen. Let’s ride the wave!! Don’t let this opportunity pass us by. Let our policy makers know that we care, we are aware, and we EXPECT new and better laws and protections for ourselves, our children and our environment.
President-Elect Obama said we have a lot of work to do. He’s right. But his election proved to a lot of us that things really CAN change so we can all, as a beautiful woman once said to me in the NYC subway, “Be encouraged.” I, for one, feel recharged. Thank you, America. Let’s pull up our boots together and see what we can do.

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