Hot off the presses (and computer screens) check out a very awesome Green My Apple student action at Columbia University:

Thursday, April 26-- A group of students at Columbia University led by Lauren Valle presented a 4 x 3 foot postcard addressed to Columbia Board of Trustee chair Bill Campbell. The postcard bears the names of 850 Columbia students who signed smaller postcards asking Mr. Campbell, who is also on Apple Inc.’s executive board, to make Apple to cut back on the toxic chemicals found in their products and improve their recycling programs.

Though Campbell was not in office when the students presented the very large postcard, Valle emphasized that the students will not "drop this issue until we get a response." Valle continued, "I understand they [the trustees] have a big agenda and I respect that, but we all have to step outside ourselves and look at some larger issues."

Read the story published in Columbia University's student newspaper (all one line, obviously): http://media.www.columbiaspectator.com/media/
storage/paper865/news/2007/04/27/
News/Students.March.Against.Apple-2884999.shtml

 

Where can you get such a large petition? Start the Green My Apple campaign on your school's campus- email students@sfo.greenpeace.org for more information.  

Maybe I should have posted this last Sunday, on Earth Day, but I was too busy having a picnic with friends at Golden Gate Park (see my new photo! It’s been called “Renaissance-y! " ) on Earth Day to drag out my laptop (and besides, it was Sunday . . .). Annnywaayyyy, I thought that you all might be interested in checking out some of these green living guides. Some of the guides give you easy to implement, helpful lifestyle changes, and some point you in the direction of green businesses in your area. Also, some of the info these guides list repeat, but really, will it kill you to read a few times that you should use compact fluorescent bulbs, not regular light bulbs? Don’t think it will, and you might even do it!

Starting with ours at Greenpeace, here they are:  

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/getinvolved/green-guide – Greenpeace’s Green Guide
http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/  -- Coop America’s Green Pages
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/living/gover.asp  – NRDC’s Green Living Guide
http://www.colby.edu/environ/glpg.html – Colby College Green Living Guide
http://www.mixitproductions.com/prjmisc/guides/greentips/greentips.html – Union of Concerned Scientists Green Tips

 

. . .Now go out and start living greenly! 

  

After just about 5 days, 60 events and more than 500 photo petitions asking Steve Jobs to create a totally green Apple, the Green My Apple Week of Action is coming to a close.
The Week of Action has shown Steve that students across the US support our campaign to make a truly green Apple, and that whatever small environmental improvements he might choose to make in the upcoming weeks will not be enough. The Green My Apple photos are a stunning visual display of green grassroots power! I’ve put a few below, but check them all out at http://www.flickr.com/groups/greenmyapple/

Also exciting is our Apple Skull-pture that is making the rounds in California’s Silicon Valley (where Apple is headquartered and where many Apple employees live). The Skull-pture made an appearance at a San Jose Giants game a little less than a week ago. Metroactive, Silicon Valley’s weekly newspaper, took notice:


Skull and Groans
San Jose Giants fans got more than a double header this past Sunday. They were greeted at Municipal Stadium's gate by Greenpeace activists and a giant electronic skull and bones made from thousands of pieces of junked Apple products. Greenpeace kicked off its Toxic Tech Tour at the game, handing out literature and answering questions about E-waste while the massive skull's computer monitors played videos of children working on Mount Everest-size global trash heaps in developing countries like Africa and China where these discards are sent. During the game, fans watched faux Apple ads from the stadium's JumboTron and were asked to urge Apple to go green. Ashby Marshall, Greenpeace organizer, says they'll be touring Silicon Valley until Apple's annual shareholders meeting in May, where they hope Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce new eco-policies. Greenpeace asked Apple's board of directors to pass resolutions removing the most toxic substances from its products and to offer free take back everywhere Apple products are sold. But our question is: since when did minor league baseball go all Al Gore? "When we asked if we could come to the game," says Marshall, "the San Jose Giants said 'yes' right away and offered us their JumboTron. This campaign is very positive. We love our Macs and Ipods. We just wish they were greener. We're still saving whales, but we're looking at E-waste because it's massive and it's a hazard that's impacting the entire world."

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/04.18.07/fly-0716.html

 

 

 

 

 

It’s only Tuesday but the Green My Apple Week of Action is already way underway. Students at campuses across the country are taking photo petitions to send to Steve Jobs and we've already got over 250!  The pictures look amazing! I’ve put a few on this blog, but there are more here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/greenmyapple/ Before this Week of Action is over, people with Green My Apple speech bubbles are going to be as ubiquitous as people with I-pods!

 

 

 

 

get pumped-- pretty soon you'll be reading about exciting updates from the Apple Week of Action, not to mention updates from Kimberly-Clark's shareholder meeting and Apple's shareholder meeting. In the meantime, satisfy your thirst for all things Greenpeace by checking out these awesome Flickr pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/greenmyapple/

While you may have been on the rocking Green My Apple Conference Call last night, you also may not have been. Worried that you missed out on a great thing? Well . . . no worries because—yes, that’s right—I’m going to tell you about it right here, right now.

The call began with background on the Apple Campaign that highlighted what it’s about, how it started and the worldwide impacts of Apple’s toxic electronic waste (e-waste). From there we went into the student aspect of the campaign, specifically what it means to be a Greenpeace Campus Coordinator. We talked a little about the Greenpeace Student Network, what it has been doing for this campaign, but also about Greenpeace Student Network victories. This group of dedicated environmentalist students have fought for the University of California system to “Go Solar” and schools to stop buying disposable tissue products made of endangered, virgin forests. The exciting part is that students have won good portions of these fights. In 2003 (a day before my birthday), the University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously in favor of a Clean Energy and Green Building policy, and in 2006 and 2007, American and Rice University both have stopped buying Kimberly-Clark products.  

What’s next for the Greenpeace Student Network? On the call we discussed the Green My Apple Week of Action that’s coming up right next week. So far, 60 campuses have signed up to participate. Last night we talked about some of the technical parts of the event, such as getting permitted space, setting up a Flickr account, and getting materials ready. We also chatted about doing publicity and media for your Week o’ Action. To generate the most publicity, talk to your friends, put up flyers (or put them down, taped to the sidewalk), and don’t forget to talk to campus newspapers so they can have a story about your event.

Learn more here: http://members.greenpeace.org/event/launch/247/

 

These people were in Russia, and not on the conference call. But if they were in the US, they would have been-- I swear!  (photo by Thomas Struth)

 

Greenpeace has recently released a new Guide to Greener Electronics. While there are some nice developments— Lenovo, once ranked last in our 'Green Ranking,' has shot up to first place—there are some areas of non-improvement. Apple continues to lie listlessly at the bottom of the “electronics barrel.” We at Greenpeace and I’m sure you out there are wondering: if Lenovo can turn things around, what's stopping Apple from turning green?

Though I can’t answer that question for sure, I can say that likely leading to Lenovo’s decision to do environmentally better was competitive pressure, an ongoing dialogue with Greenpeace campaigners, and consumer expectations. With your help, Apple can join these greener companies.

From April 16th to 20th, students on more than 50 campuses across the US will be asking Apple to clean up their computers and score a perfect “ten” for the environment. All you have to do to participate is set up a table and take digital pictures of students hugging Macs and/or holding comic book style speech bubbles that tell CEO Steve Jobs Steve to “Take the Lead, Score a Green 10." We’ll upload these photos to our flickr account and once we've collected at least 500 pictures we'll deliver all of them to Steve Jobs and Apple's Executive Board. Our week of action is strategically timed to take place just weeks before Apple’s annual general meeting. Email students@sfo.greenpeace.org for more information about this campaign and how your school can play a role in helping us win it. We’re also having a conference call about the Week of Action on Tuesday, April 10th at 9 PM EDT. Email Sam at students@sfo.greenpeace.org to get more information about joining the call.

Read about our findings on our website, or on Grist, http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/04/05/

 

Hey- want to see the longer YouTube version of the recent New York City Kleercut activity? Go to: http://kleercut.net/en/letitout -- let it out and check it out

 

 

 . . . apparently, Oasis has a "Let it out" album! Great minds think alike . . . if you can call Kleenex and Oasis great minds . . .

Interesting story on Gore and Apple from CNN Money.

Read it! http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/02/news/companies/pluggedin_Gunther_Gore.fortune/?postversion=2007040309