Want to advise LUCAP?

LUCAP needs a new adviser, since our beloved Rick Yelton is leaving.

Do *you* have what it takes?

Link.

Colbert rips apart ethanol

Stephen Colbert hits upon energy conservation in an April 28 segment of "tonight's wørd." Colbert pokes fun at the fact that it takes over 120 gallons of oil to make 100 gallons of ethanol, suggests CFLs as the solution to all our woes, and suggests that a gas tax holiday is sacrificing our need to sacrifice. Enjoy.

Orthorexia in America

Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, delivers a talk on food vs nutrition at Google. For those worlds healthiest pizza obsessed LUCAPers, this is a very good thing to watch.

Vampire power

If you've been keeping up with environmental issues, you know that vampire power is the power that your electronic gadgets use when they're turned off but still plugged in.

Good Magazine did a great graphic comparing amounts of vampire power used by common gizmos.

Easiest solution to stop losing power to the vampire effect: plug your electronics into a surge protector and turn off the surge protector when the gadgets aren't in use. Or you could get a fancy surge protector that does it by itself.

NOLA residents want recycling, survey says

Over the past few months, the city of New Orleans conducted an opinion poll on attitudes toward a city-wide recycling program. The results are in and they're awesome:

• 10,000 households responded of 120,000 households
• 9,000 (of 10,000) households indicated they would "voluntarily subscribe" to a recycling program.
• When asked how much residents would be willing to pay
• 2,570 would pay nothing
• 2,858 from $1 to $3.50 a month
• 2,127 from $3.50 to $6 a month
• 1,671 from $6 to $10 a month
• 772 would pay more than $10 a month

One would think that Sanitation Director Veronica White would take this information and start a kick-ass recycling program. But no - the City has allocated $500,000 toward recycling, which is roughly enough to fund 6 months of pickup. And don't expect glass or cardboard to be picked up. Link.

98% of Americans Favor Public Transit for Others

Funny and true, yet again the Onion hits the nail on the head with this article.

"Expanding mass transit isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity," Holland said. "My drive to work is unbelievable. I spend more than two hours stuck in 12 lanes of traffic. It's about time somebody did something to get some of these other cars off the road."

Americans love public transportation. They want it readily available, on every street corner, for God's sake. But they sure as hell don't want to ride it.

Green is Universal

Earth Day was this past Tuesday (the same day as our lovely banquet). While watching an enthralling episode of "Law and Order: Special Vicitms Unit" I saw a commercial for NBC Universal's Earth Week. With tv shows that give you tips on making your everyday life more green and ways that you can make a difference, Green Week promotes slogans like, "Big Ideas for a Small Planet," "Green is Universal," and "Awareness. Activism. Results." Check here for more information and their end-of-the-week update.

Happy Greenification!