"The Three Rs" by Mitchell Musso

My six (soon-to-be-seven) year old son Xander showed me this kids vid. Reduce, Re-use, Recycle.
So very Metro Green. Enjoy:

Grand Canyon Goes Solar

Some may consider this blog unduly Arizona-centric and they may have a point. If it is so, (and surely it is), doubtless it's because I live in Tucson in the southern part of the Grand Canyon State and am particularly attuned to Metro Green activities here in my own back yard.

Here's a cool one:

Having been a professional musician for many, many years and having played at virtually all the lodges in Grand Canyon Village (including Bright Angel, Maswik and El Tovar), the following news item in this morning's paper caught my eye and struck me as particularly Metro Green:

Arizona Daily Star: Business
Grand Canyon goes solar
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.19.2009

Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Co. has installed 84 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center and on ground-mounted platforms next to the building.
The panels will produce 18 kilowatts of electricity, enough to offset 30 percent of the center's power needs. APS, the state's largest utility, said the site creates the opportunity to educate more than 4.5 million visitors to the Canyon's South Rim each year about renewable energy.
Funding for the project came from APS customers through a state-approved surcharge for renewable energy programs.

House OKs $6.4B for schools that are greener

It's a start!

Associated Press: WASHINGTON — The House passed a multiyear school construction bill Thursday with the ambitious goals of producing hundreds of thousands of jobs, reducing energy consumption and creating healthier, cleaner environments for the nation's schoolchildren.
Opponents, almost all Republicans, objected to the cost associated with the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. The cost would be $6.4 billion in the first year with similar outlays approved over the next five years.
It passed 275-155, and now goes to the Senate, which did not act after the House passed similar legislation last year.
The situation has changed this year. While then-President George W. Bush threatened to veto the measure, objecting to a costly new school construction program, President Obama made school improvement projects an element of his economic stimulus initiative.
The bill would provide states with money to make grants and low-interest loans so school districts could build, modernize and repair facilities to make them healthier, safer and more energy-efficient. The funds would be allotted under a formula based on a district's share of students from low-income families, but the bill guarantees that every district that receives federal money for low-income students will get at least $5,000.

Transition Town Japan: Hidetake Enomoto

Hidetake Enomoto: A very soft-spoken, sensible and forward thinking young man.

Transition Town Japan: Hidetake Enomoto from UNUChannel on Vimeo.