If you visited EarthFirst last week, you probably noticed something was amiss.
No longer. Today, EarthFirst is introducing a brand new look: brighter, greener, easier to use than before. Our eco future looks better than ever, and we wanted a community to match. Thanks to the WordPress wizardry of fellow green publisher Chris Baskind and his web team, EarthFirst is now as fresh and dynamic as its readers.
If you’re reading this via one of our feeds — in Google Reader, on iGoogle, or some other RSS client — click over to the main site and take a peek.
Faster, simpler, better
The first thing you’ll see is a cleaner, more open look. We’ve simplified the home page to make finding what’s new much easier. There’s a big, colorful features section right up top with the latest articles. Below that, you’ll see what’s still fresh and green. There’s always a cool video and cartoon in the sidebar, and quick links at the bottom to help you find what you need.
One of the biggest changes is in site performance. The old EarthFirst had gotten pretty sluggish. It’s no fun waiting for a page to load — we’re in a hurry, too — so we’ve done some things to make browsing a lot zippier. Hope you notice the difference. We’ll keep an eye on this in the future.
New ways to comment
We’ve never required you register to add your opinions to an EarthFirst article. After all, it’s a hassle to keep up with all the passwords we already have. Why add another?
Along those lines, we’ve adopted the DISQUS (it’s pronounced “discuss”) commenting system. You’ve probably already seen DISQUS-equipped sites around the web. DISQUS allows you to log into EarthFirst, and display your avatar, using many popular online identities. We currently support:
Facebook
Twitter
Yahoo IDs
OpenID
If you don’t have one of these, you can also create a DISQUS ID by registering here. This will also allow you to effortlessly comment at thousands of other blogs and websites — and keep track of those conversations, all in one easy place.
Not interested? That’s fine, too. You’ll find the usual blanks for your name, email address, and website. Comment away, no registration necessary. We will, however, permit authenticated users (people who have logged in through one of the services above) to post their comments to the EarthFirst without waiting for someone to approve their comment. Authenticated comments containing links may still be held for moderation.
Depending on your settings, DISQUS may ask if you’d like to share your comment and our article on Twitter or Facebook. We’d really appreciate this — it helps grow EarthFirst, and gets the word out about green news and causes.
What do you think?
EarthFirst is still a work in progress, and we’ll be adding more content and features to the site through the coming weeks. What would you like to see? A forum, perhaps? Maybe a marketplace, with EarthFirst-reviewed goods worthy of greening your life? Maybe there’s a topic you’d like us to cover in more details.
We want your feedback. Try out the new comment system and sound-off below!
Judging from its launch press release, the Bloom Box “energy server” is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
And perhaps it is. After months of media speculation, Bloom Energy finally took the wraps off its fuel cell technology last week at a press conference featuring such luminaries as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Heavy hitters, to be sure, trotted out to add credence to company’s claim that their new Bloom Box centers will soon provide “clean, reliable, and affordable power 24/7.” Who wouldn’t want that?
What the Bloom Box does
Bloom says its fuel cells convert a number of fuel sources — natural gas or biogas, for instance — into energy through an electrochemical process. This sounds a lot cleaner and sexier than combustion methods of power generation, and Bloom promises to deliver compact 100 kilowatt units in a footprint not much bigger than an automobile parking spot.
The idea is to build decentralized networks of Bloom Boxes, each powering small groups of buildings. Since power transmission is inherently inefficient, the concept moves us one step closer to the nirvana of an “energy internet,” where nodes share and generate energy, not just consume it.
But wait a minute …
With claims like this (and an optimistic launch report by CBS’ 60 Minutes), it’s no surprise that mainstream media reports have been little short of gushing. But not so fast, says Hank Green of the popular CleanTech blog EcoGeek. Despite Bloom Energy’s rosy press release (linked PDF download), there remain some nagging inconsistencies:
The Bloom cell really only runs on one kind of fuel: methane. Where it’s sourced is irrelevant.
The first Bloom energy servers will be ferociously expensive. Claims of quick returns on investment seem unlikely.
Bloom says its cells are even cleaner than renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy. This is patently false.
Hank is still a big fan of Bloom Energy, and we’re looking forward to seeing how this technology develops, too. Read the rest of his comments at EcoGeek. You can see the 60 Minutes Bloom Box report below.
The death of Sea World Orlando orca trainer Dawn Brancheau has revived the question of whether or not it is ethical — or even safe — to keep killer whales in captivity.
Brancheau died from drowning and injuries sustained Wednesday when Tilikum, a massive 12,000 pound male orca, grabbed the highly experienced marine mammal handler during a public talk at the popular Florida park. Rescue workers were forced to pen and lift Tillikum from the water to recover Brancheau’s body. While park visitors report that the orcas seemed “agitated” prior to the incident, the precise cause of the attack will probably never be known.
Is it time to free Willy?
Captive Orcas are sometimes released back into the wild. Keiko, the performing orca who portrayed the subject of the 1993 movie Free Willy, was returned to the Icelandic waters from which he was taken after an exhaustive effort to make him ready for freedom. Though Keiko eventually migrated to Norway, he never fully integrated into wild orca pods, despite continuing care by wildlife managers.
Whatever Tillikum’s future, it almost certainly will not include release. Captivity takes a toll on orcas, particularly a specimen of Tilikum’s size. Years of concrete walls and steel pens have worn down his teeth to the point that trainers must rinse his jaws each morning to prevent infection, and he’s an integral part of Sea World’s breeding program.
Activist and scientists speak out
Orcas are wide-ranging animals which, in the wild, might swim up to 100 miles per day. The confines of a whale tank — no matter how large — force orcas into sedentary behavior unnatural to their species. Marine mammal specialists believe this cramped lifestyle causes a high degree of emotional and physical distress for killer whales, despite the best intentions of their handlers.
Now Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, and president of the Ocean Futures Society, is speaking out. While recognizing the tragedy of Dawn Brancheau’s death, Cousteau asks whether it is time for humans to how we view killer whales.
“Maybe we, as a species, have outgrown the need to keep such wild, enormous, complex, intelligent, and free-ranging animals in captivity,” says Cousteau in the video below. “[In captivity} their behavior becomes abnormal — even pathological. Maybe we have learned all we can from keeping them captive.”
What do you think? Has our custody of orcas gone beyond scientific curiosity, to mere exploitation? Is it time to set the orcas free?
Want to be a force for positive change – and look good doing it? A company called Wear Your Intention, which creates organic apparel printed with messages of peace, hope, faith and love, is donating 100% of the profits of their Changing the World Limited Edition T-Shirt to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.
The American Red Cross is Wear Your Intention’s Share & Care Charity of the Month. Each month, Wear Your Intention usually donates $5 from the sale of a designated product to a charity or non-profit organization whose work is focused on improving the lives of those in need. But this month, they’ve decided to give even more.
It’s all part of Wear Your Intention’s Force for Positive Change Campaign, which seeks to inspire people to be more positive – and spread that positive energy to others in the process. See the rest of the offerings (including a men’s/unisex “Peace” tee) at WearYourIntention.com.
Walk into store full of gadgets and home goods, and you’re generally hard-pressed to find things like clocks, radios, calculators and lighting made with something other than plastic or unsustainably produced metal. If you do manage to score something made of wood, it’s probably a holdover from the paneling-obsessed 70s – not exactly stylish.
A company called Lexon is looking to put an end to that problem with minimalist, modern gadgets and home goods made from bamboo, corn plastic and LED lights. Items like the Mini Dolmen Radio, Dolmen LED light and Safe Calculator fit seamlessly into modern interiors, and are also purportedly eco-friendly (it’s unclear whether the bamboo is FSC certified, and then there are problems with corn, but we digress…)
Prices aren’t listed, but you can check out the whole collection on the Lexon Design website.
Since “going paperless” has proven to be a difficult challenge for so many companies despite their good intentions, printers are still an integral part of most offices. But even with waste-preventing practices in place, there’s still all that ink and wasted paper.
Enter the PrePeat, a new eco printer that uses zero ink or toner, and doesn’t even need fresh paper. With a special type of coated paper, the PrePeat can print on the same sheet again and again.
The manufacturer claims that the thermal printing head can erase the document and, in the same pass, print a new one on the same sheet without degradation in quality. No word yet on price, which will probably be considerably more than most of the printers currently on the market – but hey, once you factor in the cost of paper and ink it’ll probably be a great buy.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) seeks a Commercial Director for its Americas Regional Office [Seattle, WA]. MSC is the world’s leading certification and eco-labeling program for wild capture fisheries. Through its certification and labelling program, the MSC contributes to reversing decline in global fish stocks by identifying and rewarding and creating marketing incentives for sustainable fisheries.
Position Overview:
The Americas Commercial Director will lead MSC’s America’s commercial outreach team to deepen and strengthen the support and engagement in the MSC program throughout the North American seafood supply chain. This includes work with existing partners to improve their experience and satisfaction with the MSC program while also creating new partnerships that build demand for MSC-certified seafood products.
Responsibilities:
The Director is responsible for design, implementation and management of the team’s efforts in the Americas to accomplish this, working with retailers, seafood distributors, foodservice operators, processors and importers.
The Commercial Director will also be required to develop and maintain excellent relationships with other key stakeholders within the conservation community, consumer groups and relevant government agencies.
The job holder will be an integral part of the MSC Americas’ regional team and will participate in the collective management and strategic development and actions of the organization in the region and worldwide.
Qualifications:
This is a tremendously exciting role with huge potential to make a real difference. It requires poise and maturity, exceptional presentational and communication skills, extensive business experience, excellent organizational and management abilities, proven leadership skills, and the ability to manage multiple obligations simultaneously. See MSC for the full job description and list of desired qualifications, including 10 plus years of relevant experience.
Minimum Requirements:
Must have the right to work in the U.S; able to travel on a regular basis, up to 40%, and to work irregular hours.
Compensation: Competitive salary, dependent on experience. 3 weeks annual vacation plus 10 holidays, health, dental, long-term disability insurance, 403B retirement plan, and option to participate in Section 125 cafeteria plan.
To Apply:
Please send resume and cover letter electronically by February 19, 2010.
We’re living in an increasingly green world – but that doesn’t mean the green police are coming to take away all of the fun things in life. Or are they? A series of teaser videos from automaker Audi features dorky green police that bust people for environmentally unfriendly actions – including actual police officers idling in their squad car and drinking coffee out of styrofoam cups.
The videos are a preview for a 60-second Audi commercial debuting during the Super Bowl on Sunday to plug the A3 TDI, voted Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal – a car that’s both green and fun to drive, according to Audi.
High school and college students are more ecologically aware than ever, but a desire to help the earth doesn’t have to mean giving up your passion for art, literature, education and psychology to focus on traditionally “green” careers. More and more colleges are tying the environment to every program of study, including Vermont’s Green Mountain College.
The college’s director of communications, Kevin Coburn, explained it a bit to CTI Career Search:
“We offer the traditional majors and minors that you will find at a liberal arts college, like art, biology, history, education, psychology. If you are majoring in business, you are going to be concentrating a lot on sustainable business practices, like the triple bottom line for instance,” he said. “Every student that graduates has a very deep and broad grounding in environmental topics. Over the years we have developed a student body that takes sustainability very seriously.”
That is evidenced in a number of ways on campus, among them the Renewable Energy and EcoDesign Certificate Program, or REED, which was introduced in the fall of 2009. REED allows undergraduate students of any discipline to explore the renewable energy and green building fields. Like GMC’s ELA curriculum, the program is field-based and interdisciplinary.
While it is helpful to students who plan to pursue careers in the renewable energy or green building fields, it is open to any interested student as a means of enriching their knowledge of environmental and ecological issues. Students, in addition to receiving a certificate, can gain valuable job experience through working for credit on projects with the program’s partner companies, like Solar Energy International and Yestermorrow Design/Build School.
What an awesome approach to secondary education – this is exactly the type of mindset that we need from learning institutions, to encourage unity on issues affecting the earth.
Of course, it’s not too surprising coming from Green Mountain College, which is known for being ahead of the curve. GMC already has a “progressive program” in which students define their own educational goals, and it’s also home to the first ever distance Masters program in Business Administration with a focus on sustainable business. (There’s a distance Masters program in Environmental Studies, too!)
Some day, people are going to look back at the Hummer and wonder what the hell 20th-21st century humanity was thinking. This monster of a gas-guzzling “vehicle” favored by egomaniacs peaked during the bloated years of excess just prior to the recession and now, it’s on its way to being just as antiquated as the horse cart.
At least, that’s what artist Jeremy Dean wants to convey with his new project: a $15,000 Hummer H2 annihilated with power saws to resemble “Hoover Carts”, old cars that were reclaimed as horse carts during the Great Depression.
Taking the logic of the past and putting it in the context of our current economic and environmental disaster, I am making my own satirical prediction of the future- Unless we come up with alternative fuel sources and rethink our reliance on a hyper inflated consumption based economy; we may be left with no other options than to hook our cars up to a horse.
Dean hopes to sell the work of art to recoup his life savings, which he spent on the project.
For everyone who has ever flicked off a passing Hummer, the idea of going buck-wild on one with power tools has got to be pretty tantalizing. It’s like a metaphorical castration of greedy, arrogant, planet-killing assholes – a beautiful thing in the eyes of many otherwise peaceful treehuggers.
Airport officials in London will have a really hard time building that planned third runway once Greenpeace is done building their “impenetrable fortress” right smack in the middle of the land intended for the project. The structure, located on one acre of Greenpeace-owned land, will house and protect airport expansion protesters.
But who’s going to design it? Greenpeace is holding a competition to find the right architect for this high-profile green building.
In fact the land is owned by more than 60,000 people. Calling it Airplot, Greenpeace bought the acre and then distributed the ownership which will create enormous legal complexities for the government when they try and expropriate. It’s an orchard and allotment garden now in the village of Sipson. Since the local council supports the anti-airport expansion battle, planning permission for the structure is likely to be granted quickly.
The competition’s brief says “This is a competition to design what could become the next front line in the fight against climate change. We’re looking for a structure that is immovable from which to block the diggers.” Engineers, artists, landscape designers and sculptors will be invited to submit proposals alongside architects. The public has also been invited to contribute their ideas. “Be creative, imaginative, off the wall.”
It’s true that if officials want the expansion to happen badly enough – and they’ve got national government on their side – eventually, they’ll probably find a way to get around this obstacle. But if nothing else, Greenpeace is causing them some major headaches and delays. It’s a fun and creative way to call attention to the issue, which is currently one of Britain’s biggest environmental battles.
Wondering why activists are against the airport expansion in the first place? It’s unnecessary, it will contribute to climate change, and it will destroy a number of communities, requiring the demolition of schools, pubs, shops and at least 750 homes. Learn more at StopHeathrowExpansion.com.
Spend your spring in the sunny Carolinas! Positions are available for you to join an enthusiastic staff of instructors at the Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird. We offer up to 24 different classes in Outdoor and Environmental Education that give children the chance to learn about the environment in a fun and positive atmosphere at camp.
The Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird is located on the beautiful shores of Lake Wylie, SC. The camp is about 15 miles south of Charlotte, NC.
Responsibilities:
Instructors will lead lessons and activities such as aquatic ecology, forest ecology, compass, astronomy, high and low ropes. Instructors will also have opportunities to lead evening programs, assist in curriculum development, conservation projects and staff training. There are also opportunities to become high ropes head facilitators.
Qualifications:
Applicants must possess a BS/BA in Environmental Education, Biology, Education, Outdoor Education, or related field and an interest and enthusiasm for youth and outdoor work!
Compensation: As a member of the EEC staff you would be an instructor/naturalist starting at $240/ week with paid housing and meals, plus a $22/week insurance stipend and a free membership with the Charlotte YMCA. You would start our spring season beginning as soon as possible until May 21, 2010, with potential summer and fall employment available.
Internships available as well! Applicant must be pursuing a degree in the above mentioned fields. Interns earn $175/week with paid housing and meals plus a free membership with the Charlotte YMCA.
If you LOVE to work outside, have a sense of humor, enjoy working with children and being part of a team, know how to PLAY and have fun, join us!
To Apply:
Please send your cover letter, resume and 4 references (email preferred) to Annie Gresko.
Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird
5 Thunderbird Lane
Lake Wylie, SC 29710
The ocean is swallowing their home – and it’s all due to the greenhouse gases emitted by oil, power and coal companies. So, the Alaska Native village of Kivalina wants Exxon, BP and others to pay the price for their sacrifice.
As the city of Kivalina makes plans to move two miles away because of the encroaching seas, they believe that those who caused climate change in the first place should pick up the $400 million tab. The village was protected by sea ice, but higher temperatures have caused the ice to form later and melt sooner, allowing storm surges to erode the coastline.
The villagers filed a lawsuit against two dozen defendants in 2008, which was dismissed by a federal court in San Francisco last year – but they’re not giving up that easily. Their attorney, Mike Pawa of Boston, is appealing the decision.
Kivalina’s case was based on the notion that the defendants not only directly contributed to climate change in a major way, but also intentionally misled the public about the consequences.
Bin Laden is not exactly a figure that we environmentalists want on our side, but we can’t argue with his assertion that “drastic solutions” to global warming are necessary, and “not solutions that partially reduce the effect of climate change.”
Unsurprisingly, the terrorist mastermind doesn’t have a reasonable and rational suggestion, declaring that we must bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a grinding halt – something that probably involves explosives.
Of course, the insinuation that Bin Laden gives a shit about the environment and its people is laughable – it’s all a power ploy to lure the secular world into his extremist flock. Something deniers have been saying about Al Gore for years. Dun dun dunnnnn!
Of all the bacteria that we know by name, E. coli is among the most reviled – second only to, perhaps, methicillin-resistant staph (MRSA). It’s a nasty little bug, causing serious illness when transmitted to humans through food. But this deadly bacterium may just be the key to a new type of biofuel made from agricultural byproducts like wood chips.
California researchers, along with biofuel start-up LS9, claim that they’ve achieved a breakthrough in using genetically modified E. coli to convert non-food biomass into fuel.
Next week, LS9 will announce the planned location of a demonstration facility in the U.S. to convert sugar cane into biodiesel using an existing organism, said Stephen del Cardayre, the vice president of research and development at the company. That plant, which will use an existing microorganism, will open this summer and pave the way for large-scale manufacturing and sales in 2012, he said.
Its research with the University of California and the Department of Energy also focuses on a single-step biorefinery process. But researchers tuned another strain of e. coli that can work with different feedstocks, such as straw or wood. Those cellulosic feedstocks are typically harder to convert into fuel through fermentation than sugar cane or corn, but offer the potential of lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Considering the major drawbacks of growing plants for use as biofuel, innovations like these could transform the entire industry – if they work. It’s pretty amazing that we’ve been relying on fossil fuels all this time when we could have been using bacteria and waste products.
How many times have you purchased a new refillable pen, only to lose it within days, forced to buy a new one? Writing instruments are all too easy to misplace, and disposable pens and markers are still a big source of waste. We may not have an easy (and non-dorky) fix for losing pens, but we can give them a second life – thanks to a new recycling program from Terracycle.
Terracycle, the company that repurposes waste items like chip bags and juice pouches into new items like reusable bags and flowerpots, is now accepting used Paper Mate®, Sharpie® and Expo® writing instruments.
The company has “Writing Instrument Brigades” all over the country in places like office buildings and schools. For every writing instrument collected at each center, two cents will go to a school, community group, charity or non-profit organization of the collector’s choice.
Pretty cool, huh? It will be interesting to see the new products that come out of the program. Meanwhile, check out all the cool stuff already available at Terracycle.net, including non-toxic home cleaners in recycled soda bottles.
In another minor effort to appease critics of wasteful, petroleum-based plastic bottles, Coca-Cola Co. has introduced a new packaging alternative made from 30% sugar cane-based materials. The other 70% is made from – you guessed it – petroleum-derived polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Coca-Cola says it plans to shift to this packaging for all beverages it produces, and insists that the packaging is better than regular plastic bottles because it uses fewer non-renewable resources.
In order to test the eco-friendliness of the new packaging, Coke commissioned and funded an analysis at London’s Imperial College to compare if the production processes of the two bottles produced different effects on the environment, says Scott Vitters, the company’s director of sustainable packaging, The Wall Street Journal reports. He said that the production of the plant bottle leaves a 12% to 19% smaller carbon footprint than the production of a regular plastic bottle. These findings have not yet received third-party verification.
In all reality, this packaging really doesn’t have much of an impact on the growing problem of unsustainable plastic packaging. Sure, it’s nice to cut back on the amount of petroleum they’re using, but they’re still plastic bottles, and let’s not even get into the non-eco-friendliness of the products they provide.
No doubt, the company can do better than this. They clearly haven’t put too much effort into developing the most sustainable packaging possible. But when it comes down to it, isn’t Coca-Cola just meeting voracious consumer demand for addictive, syrupy-sweet carbonated beverages in convenient portable containers?
While companies need to take responsibility for the sustainability of their products and packaging, considering the entire life of what they produce and where it will all ultimately end up, consumers need to step up to the plate, too. Cutting back on the consumption of these kinds of crap products in the first place would be a huge step – as would hitting up soda fountain machines, reusable container in hand, when the craving strikes.
Even taking the initiative to recycle bottles instead of throwing them away would be a big step forward, though not an ultimate fix (isn’t it amazing that there are still people who toss plastic bottles in the trash?)
In a perfect world, we would all work together on these things, but bad habits are hard to break. Taking small steps is okay as long as you don’t get too comfortable doing the bare minimum. We need more effort from both sides.
Ray Anderson is known as ‘the greenest chief executive in America’ – but he wasn’t always that way. The founder and CEO of Interface Inc., a carpet tile company, found himself faced with giving a speech about his company’s approach to the environment in 1994 and it really made him think.
He told The New York Times, “I was running a company that was plundering the earth. I thought, ‘Damn, some day people like me will be put in jail! It was a spear in the chest.’”
Anderson is a prime example of how going green can benefit companies financially. Since setting out to make Interface a more sustainable operation in 1995, the company has saved an amazing $336 million. At the same time, according to Haily Zaki of Inhabitat.com, Interface was able to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 82%, fossil fuel consumption by 60%, waste by 66% and water by 75%.
The book gives other companies that would like to see similar success in turning sustainability into a successful business strategy a practical roadmap to the process.
“I think that if I had any advice to give, it would be to make sure your product meets every conventional test of the market and then add the environmentally responsible frosting on the cake,” Anderson told GreenLivingIdeas.com in an October 2009 interview about the book.
“Green for the sake of green may not cut it. In fact, there’s another way to think about that: The brownest product there is is the greenest product that doesn’t work. Not only is it not working, but also it’s giving green a bad name.”
When it comes to organic food, it’s pretty amazing how many of the seemingly small brands at our local health food stores are actually owned by gigantic corporations. OrganicConsumers.org has a chart [PDF] that shows how various brands are associated with each other, something that many consumers aren’t thrilled with.
But is Big Organic the enemy? Dorothee at OrganicNation.tv spoke to Ken Cook, the President and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) during a recent visit to Organic Valley’s Kickapoo Country Fair.
WildEarth Guardians is seeking a full-time Development Director in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
WildEarth Guardians is a regional conservation organization committed to preserving and restoring native wildlands, wildlife and wild rivers in the American West. The Development Director reports to the Associate Director and will initiate and implement development strategies to enable the organization to meet its aggressive and growing budget goals ($2.5M in 2010). These efforts include major donor and capital campaigns, foundation and government grants, and overseeing the planned giving campaign.
Position Overview:
This is a Director position, and as such the Director is expected to provide leadership and be self-directed with input from their supervisor. The Director will work with the Executive Director, Associate Director and Board of Directors to implement the fundraising plan. The person in this position will focus on owning the product for foundation management and major donor management. In addition, the Director will support the Associate Director on events.
Responsibilities:
* Ensure grant calendar for both reports and proposals is maintained and met
* Research and leverage new foundation grant opportunities
* Interact with conservation staff to better understand and evaluate potential funding opportunities
* Work with Executive Director and Associate Director for foundation content and contacts
* Track foundation giving by program
* Identify, research/prospect, cultivate and solidify relationships with new and established contributors; analyze historic patterns of giving and develop strategies to encourage new large gifts and identify new sources of revenues, as well as increase current contributions; work with the Executive Director and appropriate staff/Board members to arrange meetings and directly solicit gifts from major prospects and maintain relationships through mail, phone, or in-person contacts
* Be able to speak to any of WG’s conservation efforts, engage members and major donors on any WG program
* Understand and participate in member management
* Participate in event ownership
* Work with Executive Director and Associate Director for major donor content and contacts
* Work with Communications Director to ensure coherent major donor and foundation communications
* Coordinate foundation grant writing with development and conservation staff
* Write and proofread fundraising materials as needed by Executive, Associate, and Communications Directors
* Other duties as assigned by supervisor
* Oversee the administrative support for development and membership, including ensuring that donor and member acknowledgements are completed and appropriate records, prospect lists, and mailing lists are maintained.
* Participate in special assignments or projects as representative of the organization.
* Participate in development-related functions, such as marketing, design/preparation of print materials, event logistics, and post-event follow up based on individual skills and office needs.
* Support a comprehensive planned-giving program.
Qualifications:
Some travel around the United States and expect flexible work hours, including weekend and evening hours.
Compensation: WildEarth Guardians offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including full health and dental insurance, paid vacation, health leave and paid holidays. Starting salary will be $45,000.
To Apply:
Please send the following materials electronically: cover letter explaining how your experiences and skills match this position; résumé; writing sample; and contact and relationship information for 3 references to Carol Norton, Associate Director.
WildEarth Guardians works to defend the wildlands and wildlife of the American West.
Additional details and information about WildEarth Guardians can be found on our website.
WildEarth Guardians is an equal opportunity employer and actively works to ensure fair and equal treatment of its employees and constituents regardless of differences based on culture, socioeconomic status, race, marital or family situation, gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical ability, or sexual orientation.
Want to help Haiti in a really direct way – that’s environmentally friendly to boot? EarthSpark International, a U.S.-based charity organization that operates in Haiti, is currently raising money to send solar-powered lamps to the country to assist in disaster relief efforts.
If they don’t have light, they can’t work at night – and plentiful sun during the day makes solar power an ideal way to solve this problem.
“Port-au-Prince is without light or power,” said General Wesley K. Clark, U.S. Army (ret.) in a press release. “EarthSpark and its partners are working to provide thousands of solar lamps and mobile phone chargers. These are a simple and efficient solution that will greatly address both the lighting needs and the security of the devastated communities across Port-au-Prince.”
How many people can benefit from the lights?
We estimate that 20,000 lamps, distributed one per household with an average family size of five, will benefit approximately 100,000 people in Port-au-Prince. Between 300,000 and one million people are homeless, making the need for portable power and lighting solutions even more pressing.
What are people using now?
People are using kerosene and charcoal for cooking fuel and lighting, the use of which has negative health consequences. Disaster relief organizations are operating on diesel generators, but diesel is scarce and expensive.
How will they be distributed?
We are partnering with Partners in Health, International Organization for Migration and other relief organizations to distribute these products on the ground. By partnering with these established organizations, we can ensure that the products quickly and effectively reach those most in need.
A number of solar power companies are ready to send over 50,000 solar lamps, mobile chargers and flashlights to Haiti. 6,500 lamps and 800 mobile phone chargers are already on route to Haiti thanks to the generosity of donors, but EarthSpark needs your help to send more.
Donating is really simple – simply go to the EarthSpark website and click on the number of lamps you’d like to donate. One lamp is $15 – you can donate as many as you want, and pay quickly via PayPal (or send a check if you prefer).
Ray Anderson is known as ‘the greenest chief executive in America’ – but he wasn’t always that way. The founder and CEO of Interface Inc., a carpet tile company, found himself faced with giving a speech about his company’s approach to the environment in 1994 and it really made him think.
