I love watching nature programs, but hate how they always end with dire warning about how the beautiful places and incredible animals you have just spent an hour watching are on the brink of being wiped out by the relentless march of industry. Dum, dum dum…. Blurg! Add whaling, and air pollution, the plight of flightless birds and evil agricultural overlord Monsanto… its enough to leave this greenie feeling blue. But every now and again we like to remind ourselves (and you) just how far we have already come and just how much things are changing for the better. Here are some stories that will leave you with the sweet sweet feeling that humans are pretty cool after all. (That includes you, you awesome green warrior you!)
Kid Power
The kids at San Rafael, Calif.’s Sun Valley Elementary School started a petition on Change.org to ask Crayola to recycle their markers. To date, the petition has 85 000 signatures! The petition caught the eye of marker manufacturers Dixon Ticonderoga who decided to take the kid’s advice and started a “take back” program simply because it’s “the right thing to do,” according to CEO Timothy M. Gomez.
Edible Packaging
The ubiquitous disposable coffee cup, wads of Chinese takeout boxes and plastic wrap are permanent features of our environmental landscape and are now forming continents in our seas. But inventor, David Edwards is working to change all that with his edible packaging. This Harvard professor is the proud inventor of WikiCell which provides food with packaging made from vegetable cells and calcium. This means your burger will come with a ‘peel’ just like an orange or banana, except that you will be able to eat it. Awesomeness.
Alt. Ctrl Repeat!
To save old computers and TVs from the landfill, CompuCycle dismantles them and recycles valuable components and precious metals. Not only do they do a great job of recycling, they also use their recycling program as a source of employment for Americans with disabilities.
Oh the Humanity!
When Saatchi and Saatchi launched their new Prius campaign in Britain, they decided to look on the positive side of life, asking Britons to come up with ways in which they could improve the lives of their compatriots through random acts of kindness. Toyota Positive is: “The movement brightening Britain with a car that runs on electricity, fuel and positivity. We want to inspire uplifting gestures and selfless acts of thoughtfulness by combining the good-natured public spirit with the positive power of our new Prius Plug-in Hybrid.”
People can post their ideas on the site, and then the Toyota Prius helps to make these dreams a reality.
Random acts of kindness for the environment (and the people who live in it) no matter how small, make a big difference. When we add all these little victories together, they effect real change that will one day preserve this beautiful planet we live in for the generations to come.
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