We’ve managed to stay decidedly apolitical this election season, but here’s a last ditch chance to put some green into people’s decision making. There are enough relatives, friends, signs, and robocalls telling you how to vote tomorrow, but how about a little emotion being stirred up for our future? A sample from Supertramp’s “Child of Vision” appears courtesy of my mp3 collection.

Our friends from Episode 3 are going to take over The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco this weekend. Shuteye Unison, Carcrashlander, and other Parks and Records-affiliated bands will be making music for the benefit of the environment and your ears. This all ages show starts at 9pm, Saturday August 30th. Be there or be a drunken oil tanker captain.

This is a cool video in which Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International puts his hoe where is mouth is. Since he had been campaigning for the president to start a food garden in the white house lawn, he decided to take it upon himself to convert his own yard into a garden. Truly an inspiration to all of us who want to be the change we’d like to see in the world. (Via Justin)

This week, we are back with Justin from Episode 9. Justin has worked in the area of sustainable development and the environment in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru and the states. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s always had a book in hand, taking advantage of any chance to read throughout his day. He gives us a run-down of some of his favorite green books which include: Eco Pioneers by Steve Lerner, Plan B 3.0 by Lester Brown, The Natural Step for Communities by Sarah James & Torbjorn Lahti, Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, Permaculture a Designer’s Manual by Bill Mollison, and Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken. All of these books are available at your local library and Plan B 3.0 can be downloaded for free from the Earth Policy Institute.

The NPS has shown that it’s never too late to get into podcasting. Realizing that technology and the environment need to coexist, several parks have put together audio tours and podcasts to entice and educate the public. The survival of the National Park Service depends on an active citizenry enjoying in and voting to protect them in the future. There is no budget for TV ads, and since our nations youth are spending less and less time in front of the TV, it only makes since that the parks go digital.

One of my former coworkers from the Presidio had an idea for rangers across the National Parks to do a Where the Hell is Matt type of video campaign with different rangers dancing in front of iconic NPS sites. Still sounds like a good idea… if you’re reading this NPS.

Here is a partial list of their Podcasts:
(via Podcasting News)

Antietam National Battlefield

Everglades NP

Gettysburg National Military Park

Glacier NP

Grand Canyon NP

Yellowstone NP

Yosemite NP

It’s fairly common knowledge that the first diesel cars were actually made to run on biodiesel. I’ve also heard that the oil companies are withholding cutting-edge battery technology patents from the public and only making them available for production in hybrids. But did you know that the Ford company actually made a car out of hemp? Check out the video from Youtube.

While visiting Portland I met a former colleague of Dr. Tyrone Hayes. Dr. Hayes, a Biology Professor at UC Berkeley, has spent a great deal of his time researching amphibians, but that is just the start. His labs have examined the harmful effects of the herbicide Atrazine. I had never actually heard of Atrazine until I saw this video in which Dr. Hayes raises awareness through the medium of rap. I hope to get him in one of our episodes soon.