The West Tisbury School on Martha’s Vineyard has a very special group of 1st and 2nd graders who are very interested in how they can help endangered animals. Click on the link to see their amazing pictures and hear their voices as they let us know exactly what’s happening to some of the earth’s most beautiful animals and what they and we can do to help save them.
http://voicethread.com/share/841011/

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When the actual meal rolls around there are many ways to have a totally green Thanksgiving.
1.    Buy organic and buy local.
2.    Use biodegradable cups and plates. Whatever you do – don’t use paper or plastic!
3.    When you go to the store buy things that have the least amount of packaging and try to buy packaging that is environmentally friendly.
4.    Donate leftover food to a shelter or a food bank.

And most important SAY THANKS!

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While planning your Thanksgiving and organizing your dinner/party there are many ways to be green!

1. Send eco-friendly, paper-free invitations made of hemp, banana stalks, organic cotton, kenaf or bamboo. To reduce waste and cost, use postcards instead of envelopes. Or better yet, email all your friends invitations!
2. Suggest ride sharing! Include a list of other guests and where they live so people can organize rides.
3. Decorate with organic flowers, branches, dried flowers and (naturally) live poinsettias.
4. Reduce, reuse and recycle. While shopping use cloths bags instead of plastic or paper and use cloth napkins at your dinner.
5. Plant a tree. Winter season is a good time to plant trees and shrubs so take this time to plant a tree and keep the green growing. This could be a really fun activity while you’re waiting for dinner to be ready or in between the turkey and the pumpkin pie.
6. Buy local. Many local turkey farms and bakeries ask that you put your order in early…don’t forget!

Up next? Part 2. A Green Thanksgiving MEAL!

And don’t forget to check out and enter our HUGE CONTEST!!!

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Last Thursday 23 fourth and fifth grade students received a hands on lesson in habitat restoration. They helped James Tucker tackle his six acres of reed canary grass and improve the stream habitat for salmon, by planting about 90 trees in an hour.
Eventually the willow, Oregon ash, western red cedar, wild rose and other trees and shrubs will outcompete the grass and save the habitat.

Killing the invasive grass will also help the salmon population because the grasses block the streams and stop the salmon from migrating.

Every day kids like you can get involved to help the environment, ask your teachers and parents what you can do locally to help out! Better yet, ask local farmers and local green organizations!

Don’t forget to enter our HUGE CONTEST!

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Great Seneca Creek Elementary School is a lot like any other school, with one major difference: it was the first school in Maryland to be certified eco-friendly. Right now a lot of schools around the country are taking steps towards being eco-friendly schools.

It was said best by fifth grader Eddie Graves, “It doesn’t use as much water.” They have waterless urinals, motion activated faucets, cabinets made of wheat board and bathroom stalls made from recycled bottles.

The U.S. Green Building Council has certified or is considering certification for more than 1000 schools across the country.

So find out what you can do to get your school green! Visit the USGBC website today and tell your teachers and principals that you’re ready to help!

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Every year, scientists work for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an organization that works on many projects to conserve all types of animals, ecosystem and plant species, to put together a new Red List. The Red List is an up-to-date list of this year’s threatened species.

For 2008, scientists from Conservation International, another organization that works to take care of important species, landscapes and seascapes on Earth, are working in Barcelona to discover new and old endangered or threatened species.

This year’s list will detail more than 45,000 endangered species! That’s a lot. Even though this doesn’t talk about ALL species on Earth, it gives us an idea about our planet’s health in general! For example the Malayan Tapir has recently been added to the list, their population has declined mainly because of climate change, which is a direct result of global warming.

Things like this growing list of endangered species are just another reason to start paying more attention to global warming and how its affecting everyone and every thing!

Remember just making small changes in our own daily life makes a huge difference! You are a powerful planet protector. Here are a few easy things to do:

• Walk or ride your bike to school.
• Get a reusable water bottle and stop using plastic water bottles.
• Change all of your lightbulbs to CFL (compact flourescents).
• Recycle!
• Eat organic.
• Turn lights off when you aren’t using them.
• Unplug lights, cell phone chargers, printers and TVs when they aren’t in use.

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Thanks to the Ideal Bite, we now know a bar of soap is best! Instead of using a bottle of liquid soap try a bar; they’re more eco-friendly and cheaper.

• They use less packaging. Packaging waste makes up about 31% of waste sent to landfills; a bar of soap will make that less.
• They cost less.
• Liquid soap builds up in your pipes and eventually clogs your drain!
• A bar of soap, even if more than one person uses it, gets you just as clean as liquid soap.

Some people just use a bar of soap to wash their hair, which believe it or not is actually better for your hair than shampoo!
Some bars of soap we recommend are down below. We like them because they’re organic, biodegradable and NOT tested on animals (and smell really good)

• Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta Bar
• Kiss My Face Olive and Honey Bar
• Toms of Maine Natural Body Bar
• Dr. Bronners Almond Organic Bar

So the next time you’re at the store with your parents, ask them to buy you a bar of soap to keep you, and our planet, clean!

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Okay, so we know that you can’t actually vote in this November’s presidential election, but you can still make a difference!

We’re going to make a little assumption here. We assume that you are reading this blog and visiting our website because you care about the environment, right? Well, as you may have guessed, we care too. And that’s why we’re voting for Barack Obama.

He truly cares about our planet, and his plans to help the environment when he becomes President of the United States say this loud and clear!

Just some of the things Senator Obama will do as president:

• Promote energy alternatives like solar and wind power.
• Work on recycling programs.
• Make all products safe from heavy metals like lead and mercury.
• Protect animals.
• Support children’s rights to a safe and healthy planet.
• Safeguard the natural wonders of our country: The Great Lakes, the national parks, the forests, the oceans…

So, how can you make a difference when you can’t vote? Here are some ways (and please send us more ideas if you have them!)

1. Do your own research: read articles about the candidates and watch the debates!
2. Tell people old enough to vote who you would vote for and why.
3. Write a letter about who you would vote for and why to your local newspaper.
4. Explain to people why the environment and policies to protect it are so important.
5. Wear shirts or buttons with your candidates name or face clearly displayed.
6. Volunteer at a local campaign office or event – even if it’s just by bringing those hardworking volunteers some cookies!
7. Always speak up for what you believe. Your voice and your passion can and will make a difference!

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We just went to a cool event here on Martha’s Vineyard. Officially, it was the fall festival, and it was called Living Local. Local farmers and artisans had fresh farm veggies, prepared food, wool, art, herbal remedies and more. There were workshops and demos including a glass behive and a honey extraction demonstration. Very interesting to watch!

The festival also featured experts, business people and installers of alternative energy, sustainable living solutions and more eco-friendly goods. We talked to a solar energy specialist, who gave us some really great information. We would like to become 100% solar in our home, but it’s fairly expensive, so he suggested some things we could do to reduce energy use and costs in the meantime. We’ve decided to put the money we save from these adjustments towards our solar panels.

Here’s a great project you could do this weekend!

1. Go into your basement and have the adult working with you find all of the pipes that are warm or hot to the touch (be careful! Some of them are really hot!).
2. Measure the length of the pipes and record the total length of all of the warm pipes.
3. Find your local hardware store and buy enough insulation to cover all of your pipes and some strong tape.
4. Head back home and wrap your warm pipes!

This insulation will keep the heat in, so less energy will need to be used to keep the hot water inside hot. Because your house is not kept as warm as the hot water needs to be, this easy fix is great all year round.

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So, Kids…we’d love to hear from you. There is a lot of talk about Wii – the video game that ‘gets you moving’…you hold onto two sticks, one in each hand, and make real movements that then appear on your TV screen. You can play football, go bowling, dance, etc.

Have you tried the Wii? What do you think?

As part of our efforts at Bonobo Kids, we want to see kids out in the world doing real things – being active in your bodies and your communities. If you plant a garden with your Wii, on your television, does that count? Can it help the bonobos? Great apes? The Planet????

Leave a comment on this blog with your thoughts and ideas…can’t wait to hear what you think!!!

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