Eco-Consciousness Links at The Zoo Fence

Here we post links to “eco-conscious” websites that we hope will be of interest to visitors to The Zoo Fence.

We are happy to consider other, similarly inclined sites for inclusion in this list. For information about how to inform us of those, please click here.

eCo Wheelz at http://www.eco-wheelz.com/ sells battery-powered electric bikes, scooters, and mopeds. The site offers a variety of styles, including kits and parts, as well as links to other "green" eco-friendly websites and other resources.

Nature Publishing Group at www.nature.com is the publisher of Nature, a magazine devoted to a wide range of scientific matters. The website offers a free digital version of the current issue, a newsletter, and lots of other interesting, good stuff.

2Recycle at http://www.2recycle.org/ and myGreenElectronics at http://mygreenelectronics.com/ are websites offering information about how and where to recycle pretty nearly everything, including automobiles, computers, printer ink cartridges, DVDs, and plastics. Here are links to recycling sites associated with a few specific States in the US: Maine, Hawaii (the Big Island), Vermont. (If you know of others, tell us, and we'll add them here.)

The EverGreen Home at www.TheEverGreenHome.com offers organic products for the home. Besides items for sale, the site features a few articles of interest on subjects related to organic products as well as “green” consulting services. We wish there were more articles about “green” subjects, but the site appears to be new, and perhaps other, similarly useful and interesting pieces will be added over time.

Why Flowers Have Lost Their Scent is the title of a brief article at http://www.independent.co.uk/ which opens with this ominous observation: "Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperiling food supplies". The site offers links to several other pages where various aspects of this phenomenon are considered.

Washington Monthly magazine at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.torture.html offers an interesting series of articles about the use of torture, particularly as practiced by the United States in the current “war on terrorism”. At The Zoo Fence, we are convinced that one of the most fertile sources of pollution is our own misguided perception of ourselves and our relationships with others. Accordingly, we perceive the use of torture to be an expression of our own failure to understand who and what and where we are. The articles in Washington Monthly are not really about that, of course; at least not on their face. All the same, we believe they deserve a read.

The Breakthrough Institute at http://www.thebreakthrough.org/index.shtml describes itself as “a small think tank with big ideas. Breakthrough is committed to creating a new progressive politics, one that is large, aspirational, and asset-based. We believe that any effective politics must speak to core needs and values, not issues and interests, and we thus situate ourselves at the intersection of politics, policy, philosophy, and the social sciences.” We have heard on television two of its members speak, and it is pretty impressive, even potentially exciting, stuff.

Green For All at http://greenforall.org/ is, in its own words, “a bold effort to harness the growing power of the green economic revolution to fight the war on poverty. By securing job training for 250,000 workers from urban communities for the emerging green job market, the program will provide new avenues of opportunity for those who have traditionally been left behind by the nation's economic growth. It will also give the crusade against global warming a broader social base, extending the green revolution to the neglected streets of cities like Oakland, Detroit, Baltimore and New Orleans”.

Commercial Free Childhood at http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/ “is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration. We support the rights of children to grow up — and the rights of parents to raise them — without being undermined by rampant consumerism”. We have chosen to include this link at TZF's Eco-Consciousness feature figuring that a good part of ecology is a healthy citizenry, which in turn depends upon a nation's youth being protected from as much pollution as possible -- physical and mental -- while they are growing up; in a word, being properly fed and well-nourished in every sense of those words.

Stop Global Warming at http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/default.asp is “ is a non-political effort bringing Americans together to declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act. “

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at http://www.ipcc.ch/ was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is open to all members of the UN and WMO. The role of the IPCC is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

Animal Diversity Web at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html is a wonderful online database presented by the University of Michigan of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology.

Byrd Polar Research Center at http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/ is all about scientific investigation of the polar regions. A lot of it is over our head, but it is fascinating nonetheless.

Perelandra Center for Nature Research at http://www.perelandra-ltd.com/AB1473/index.cfm?&did=8, is a difficult site to define. Here's part of what it says about itself: Perelandra is “for everyone who wants to take charge of their health, their environment and their life in simple, new and extraordinarily effective ways. It consists of forty-five acres of open fields and woods in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The research and development has been going on since 1976, (and) has resulted in a new science called 'co-creative science'. Traditional science — commonly known as 'contemporary science' — is man's study of reality and how it works. Co-creative science is the study of reality and how it works by man and nature (nature intelligence) working together in a partnership, as peers”.

The Shaman's Apprentice at http://www.theshamansapprentice.com is the story of Dr. Mark Plotkin, who traveled from Harvard to the Amazon in search of a cure for diabetes, and there discovered the shamans, “the most endangered species in all the Amazon”. This site is about his effort to save the shamans’ tradition, their wisdom, and the Amazon itself, for the benefit of the region and its inhabitants as well as all the rest of us.

The Blue Planet Run Foundation at http://www.blueplanetrun.org/ seeks to provide safe drinking water resources to the one in five persons on the planet lacking it. The organization is sponsoring an around the world relay foot race scheduled for 2007 to which every nation on earth has been invited to send a team. The plan is to leave “a trail of clean water: implementing permanent drinking water solutions along needy sections of the route”.

Global Research Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) at http://www.gracelinks.org/. GRACE works to form new links with the research, policy and grassroots communities to preserve the future of the planet and protect the quality of the environment. Among its projects is the GRACE Factory Farm Project which was established to eliminate factory farming in favor of a sustainable, economically viable and environmentally sound agricultural sector. The Factory Farm Project can be reached directly at www.factoryfarm.org.

The Jane Goodall Institute at http://www.janegoodall.org. The Jane Goodall Institute advances the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things. In Dr. Goodall’s words, “Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved”.

Tolerance.org at http://www.tolerance.org. A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tolerance.org encourages people from all walks of life to “fight hate and promote tolerance”. Through public service announcements and the web site, tolerance.org hopes to awaken all of us to the problem of hate and intolerance, equip us with the best tolerance ideas and prompt us to act in our homes, schools, businesses and communities.

Messages from Water at http://www.wellnessgoods.com/art_wat_messages.html. Here are a set of extraordinary photographs and accompanying information demonstrating the effect we have on water! It is the work of Masaru Emoto, a creative and visionary Japanese researcher, and the author of “The Message from Water”. If you have any doubt that your thoughts affect everything in and around you, this material will convince you.

Nature Conservancy at http://nature.org/. This well-known, non-profit organization defines its mission as, “To preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive”.

Life on Purpose at http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/. Visitors to this website are invited to undertake a “purposeful path” in a “world of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity, where there’s no question that there are ample and abundant resources for expressing and fulfilling your life purpose”.

Celestopea, City of Dreams 2011 at http://www.celestopea.com. This interesting site is about “creating ecologically balanced, floating ocean communities and terra-formed, permacultured islands, grown from the mineral-rich waters of the tropical oceans”.

The Good Life Center at http://www.goodlife.org/ This website is dedicated to the memory and continuing work of Helen and Scott Nearing and their homestead “Forest Farm”.

Earth on Edge at http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ Recently American public television aired a program presented by Bill Moyers focusing on the impact human beings have had, and continue to have, on their own life-support system, the earth. This site is about that program.

Turning Back at http://www.zoofence.com/open0069.html This short article by a TZF visitor poignantly portrays civilization’s impact, outer and inner, on the planet and on ourselves.

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