Episodes

In the fall of 2010, Groundwork Denver (www.groundworkdenver.org) initiated Take Charge: Student Energy Education and Action, through which high school and college students around the state will become Student Energy Ambassadors to educate their own communities about energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Over the next two years, twenty-four communities throughout the entire State of Colorado will institute the Take Charge! If you are interested in bringing a similar program to your...

Eric Herm’s new book examines commercial agriculture’s strain on our natural resources, delicate ecosystems, and the farmer. As a fourth-generation farmer, Eric Herm deals with the harsh economic realities and complicated legislation facing farmers, as well as the undeniable health impact of GMO crops and excessive chemicals on all living creatures. “Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth” provides ample resources of natural, healthy alternatives that will inspire the transformation of farmers from...

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) provides knowledge to trusted professionals who, with their credibility, amplify messages to national audiences to solve everyday environmental problems. NEEF has a program for students called Planet Connect (www.planet-connect.org), which is giving out grants to high school students to perform local projects to protect wildlife. They are also sponsoring a video contest called, “Show Us Your Ocean Connection,” and the prizes are amazing! In ...

Otis Rolley has already made history. At 29, Rolley was the youngest director of a large city-planning department in America. He shepherded the city’s first Comprehensive Master Plan ever adopted by both the Baltimore Planning Commission and City Council. And now, he’s attempting a new historical first – to become the Mayor of Baltimore in his initial run for political office. With a background in city planning and transit, Mr. Rolley may be poised to enact the plans he crafted if he is elected....

Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) is not messing around when they ask people not to litter in the Lone Star state! In 2010, more than 840 litter cleanup events were held across the state, featuring more than 74,100 volunteers. All told, 6,219 miles of highway were cleared of litter and debris, totaling a little more than eight million pounds of trash! But that’s only one of many outstanding programs run by KTB, and today, we’ll talk with their Executive Director, Cathie Gail. We’ll discuss their educat...

The generation of Americans that will soon be called upon to address some of humanity’s greatest environmental challenges—those currently in our schools—have a limited understanding of environmental issues, our civic system and/or how to develop and implement balanced solutions to natural resource challenges. The problem is not a shortage of environmental information. There is plenty of information with media saturation of environmental stories at an all time high. The problem is that we have no...

Charles Orgbon is one of those kids who makes you think, “I should probably get his autograph now. He’s going to be famous someday.” At 15 years old, Charles is the President and CEO of Greening Forward (www.greeningforward.org), and not only is his organization growing their membership, they are hiring! Greening Forward has entered the Pepsi Refresh Project contest to win $50,000 so they can host environmental leadership conferences in multiple cities across the U.S., with the goal of training ...

Keith Weitz, manager of the Sustainability and Environmental Assessment program at RTI International, will join us for a follow-on discussion regarding technologies that convert waste to clean, renewable energy. The technology has been around for decades, but in recent years, it has been improved and highly regulated by the EPA and regional air emissions agencies. Countries around the world have begun using waste to energy technology, not only for the energy, but also to reduce or eliminate the ...

A lot of products we use everyday come in containers made of #5 plastic – margarine, sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. The problem is that many communities don’t collect #5 plastic for recycling, because they lack a purchaser who will buy that material for another use. Too many of these containers are ending up in landfills, but there IS a solution! A company called Preserve makes products out of #5 plastics, and they have partnered with Stonyfield Farms to create a nationwide recycling p...

A lot of ideologues in the environmental activist community would like to see the U.S. become a “zero waste” society, where nothing is thrown away. It’s a great goal, but realistically, it is unlikely to come to fruition anytime soon. Even in cities with high recycling rates like San Francisco, there is so much waste that they have to truck it to rural communities in California, leaving a carbon footprint along hundreds of miles of freeways that the garbage travels from the Golden Gate to someon...

Most people know that when they throw things away, it doesn’t really go “away.” The trash goes somewhere, and a good deal of it doesn’t biodegrade. In fact, some of what goes into the trash could poison our drinking water, air, and the soil in which we grow food for many generations. Mercury and other heavy metals are found in a number of products readily available to consumers in supermarkets all over the country, and if those items aren’t carefully disposed of, they are known to be extremely h...

What do you do with expired medicine in your medicine cabinet? How do you dispose of pharmaceuticals you no longer need? If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been told to flush them, wash them down the sink, or throw them in the trash. But recent studies show that our unwanted drugs are ending up in our fresh water supplies, and it doesn’t take a doctor or scientist to know that it isn’t healthy for us to ingest medicine that isn’t meant for us. It’s a health risk and an environmental hazard to...

Trees for the Future (TFTF) –www.treesforthefuture.org- is a nonprofit organization that was around long before “going green” was cool. Since their inception in 1988, they have planted 65 million trees in strategic locations around the world. They train local farmers to plant, care for, and sustainably utilize trees. Among their many success stories, TFTF was responsible for the reforestation of an area in the Philippines that had been stripped by illegally logging and left barren for over 100 y...

Everywhere we turn, there is another news story about carbon emissions and efforts to reduce them. But for the average town, small business, school, home or individual, reducing carbon emissions is a bit of a mystery. How do we know how much carbon we are emitting? Where can we cut carbon from our operations? Is there a way to offset the carbon that we cannot reduce? Until recently, answering these questions was imprecise at best. But now there is a company with reliable and easy-to-use tools th...

Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) is not messing around when they ask people not to litter in the Lone Star state! In 2010, more than 840 litter cleanup events were held across the state, featuring more than 74,100 volunteers. All told, 6,219 miles of highway were cleared of litter and debris, totaling a little more than eight million pounds of trash! But that’s only one of many outstanding programs run by KTB, and today, we’ll talk with their Executive Director, Cathie Gail. We’ll discuss their educat...

A lot of products we use everyday come in containers made of #5 plastic – margarine, sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. The problem is that many communities don’t collect #5 plastic for recycling, because they lack a purchaser who will buy that material for another use. Too many of these containers are ending up in landfills, but there IS a solution! A company called Preserve makes products out of #5 plastics, and they have partnered with Stonyfield Farms to create a nationwide recycling p...

Today we are joined by New York City’s “Guru” of urban gardening, Gerard Lordahl, who serves as the Director of the Open Space Greening Program for GrowNYC (www.grownyc.org). GrowNYC is a nonprofit organization that has existed in partnership with the Mayor’s office for four decades, and improves New York City’s quality of life through environmental programs that transform communities block by block and empower all New Yorkers to secure a clean and healthy environment for future generations. For...

The generation of Americans that will soon be called upon to address some of humanity’s greatest environmental challenges—those currently in our schools—have a limited understanding of environmental issues, our civic system and/or how to develop and implement balanced solutions to natural resource challenges. The problem is not a shortage of environmental information. There is plenty of information with media saturation of environmental stories at an all time high. The problem is that we have no...

You can call California a bellwether state for environmental policies, or you can be accurate… and call it the rock star state for bold environmental movements. In 2006, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB32 into law, which aimed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and move toward a clean energy economy. It gained worldwide attention as one of the first large economic forces in the world putting “green” on the front burner. But as he prepares to term out of office, an initiative bac...

Though tap water in the United States is much cleaner than in many other countries, it is not perfectly healthy. Recent studies have shown that rivers throughout the U.S. are contaminated with pharmaceuticals, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that our children shouldn’t be drinking water with medicine in it. Many families have turned to bottled water, assuming it is safe, but in fact only one person at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the responsibility to oversee the safe...

Recon Recycling is a disabled veteran owned small business located in the Barrio Logan community of San Diego. Recon believes in applying the principles of sustainability, economic development, and social equity to their business practices. Richard McCaskill started the company three years ago with no capital, learning the basics of recycling from the homeless and utilizing guerrilla military tactics learned in the Marine Corps special forces. Currently the company provides waste reduction and r...

Everywhere we turn, there is another news story about carbon emissions and efforts to reduce them. But for the average town, small business, school, home or individual, reducing carbon emissions is a bit of a mystery. How do we know how much carbon we are emitting? Where can we cut carbon from our operations? Is there a way to offset the carbon that we cannot reduce? Until recently, answering these questions was imprecise at best. But now there is a company with reliable and easy-to-use tools th...

Though tap water in the United States is much cleaner than in many other countries, it is not perfectly healthy. Recent studies have shown that rivers throughout the U.S. are contaminated with pharmaceuticals, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that our children shouldn’t be drinking water with medicine in it. Many families have turned to bottled water, assuming it is safe, but in fact only one person at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the responsibility to oversee the safe...

Give them the tools, the training, and a mission – these Veterans have what it takes to help America transition to a green, clean economy. On today’s episode of Go Green Radio, we’ll talk with Garrett Reppenhagen, former sniper in the Army’s 1st Infantry Division stationed in Iraq, and now the head of the Veterans Green Corps, overseeing teams of Veterans who are working outdoors to clean up wetlands, conducting forest fire mitigation projects, building woodland trails, and preserving our nation...