Everglades of the North

Hi Everyone!

I'm so excited to let you know The Everglades of the North: The Story of the Grand Kankakee Marsh will be aired on WYIN - Lakeshore Public TV on Nov. 5th 8pm and on WNIT Public TV on Nov 8th at 6pm. Check your channel listings for the specific channel.

The Reason To Live Sustainable!

Hi Everyone!

This is just so Beautiful! Just a lovely reminder why you may be taking the extra time to live a sustainable life! :-)

Make it Full Screen!

Desmond Tutu: "Elders & Youngers"

Hi Everyone!

Take a look at this wonderful article by Desmond Tutu and watch the video! He is soooo right the Elders and Youngers need to get together and take action!

Push The Button

Hi Everyone!

The Climate Reality Project has the Push The Button Save the Planet prewritten letter to the President on the Carbon Pollution Standard. Take just 1 minute and send the President a letter!

Going Plastic Free!

Hi Everyone!

Here is an article in OnEarth ( on Beth Terry who has been on a journey to live Plastic-Free! She has a book coming out called, Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too. She also has a Blog called My Plastic Free Life you might want to check out!

Watch this video of Beth!

Eco-Kitty

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Here is an article on how to reduce your kitty's carbon pawprint! :-)

To the Arctic

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You might like to see this movie as well!

Lynn Henning

Hi Everyone!

Today is Earth Day and I thought in case you were not aware of Lynn Henning's passionate work for the environment in Michigan I'd post a link. Lynn Henning won the Goldman Prize in 2010 for exposing how CAFOs in Michigan were contaminating the environment around them. The power of 1 person initially can make a HUGE difference!

Movie: Chimpanzee

Hi Everyone!

You may like to see this movie! :-)

Green Beauty Products

Hi Everyone!

Daily Candy has a list of 87 Green Beauty Products you might want to check out! :-)

Naperville North's Green Building Designs

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Take a look at Naperville North's student green building designs! Pretty cool!

HGTV Green Home Sweepstakes

Hi Everyone!

The new HGTV House Sweepstakes is a Green Home!!!

Take a look & Good Luck!!!

Your Brain on Pollution

Hi Everyone!

Well there are a number of studies coming in suggesting pollution can cause damage to the brain despite the blood-brain barrier. Researchers at Ohio State University found those who are exposed ot air pollution have learning and memory problems and depression. They actually see physical changes in the brain. Researchers at Ohio State's Department of Neuroscience also found air pollution can cause inflamattion in the body and believe this can influence high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. "Just Say No...To Pollution!" :-)

Greening Your Workout

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Here is a WebMD link on Greening your Workout! :-)

Naperville Composting

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Here is an article on Naperville restaurants considering composting left over food at restaurants. North Central College & Jewel are already composting. Whole Foods have salad bar containers which are compostable. They also mention Pepsi is coming out with a bottle made entirely of plants products.

This is Psychology: Climate Change

Hi Everyone!

I'm sooo excited! :-) I just received an email from the APA which is perfect timing for your Sustainability asgn! Check out this short video series called "This Is Psychology" discussing how Climate Change is in the field of Psychology & mentioning a special issue of the American Psychologist which came out this past May-June devoted to Climate Change. We do not have this publication in our LRC currently. The APA is sending it to me & I will let you know as soon as it is here & available for you to look at if you like. Here is a list of the articles in the issue.

The APA has a variety of resources I would like to offer you. The first is a brochure entitled Society's Grand Challenge: Global Climate Change. The brochure states, "most scientists recognize that human behavior is the main cause of today’s climate crisis. Understanding that behavior, and learning how to change it, is one of our best hopes for a solution. Whether the goal is to reduce carbon emissions or to help vulnerable populations deal with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, it is clear that values, beliefs, thoughts, and social relationships are key." Further we discussed Altruism in our Social Modules. They state "for someone who holds altruistic values, the next step toward pro-environmental behavior is belief—the belief that nature is inherently fragile, interconnected, and threatened by human activity. The combination of altruistic values and an ecological worldview generates what Stern calls a personal norm—a sense of moral obligation to act. The combination of a person’s knowledge along with features of the social situation provide opportunities to act on those norms, resulting in behaviors ranging from turning off unneeded lights to buying energyefficient
cars and home appliances to signing petitions and voting for politicians who share one’s concerns." We have been discussing stress recently and they point out that "psychological research can provide insights into climate-change-related stress and coping that will help individuals and communities deal with changing conditions in healthy, productive ways.
"
The APA has a small article on "Changing Minds To Prevent Climate Change" and in it they describe a Task Force which was put together to "outlines ways psychology can help people adopt more environmentally friendly behaviors as well as ways policymakers can publicize such practices and, whenever appropriate, weave behavioral research into environmental laws and regulations to make them more effective." You may recall the video I showed you with Dr. Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University explaining how people error in estimating the odds of gains and the value of those gains. The task force points out "well-researched psychological principle that people tend to discount future gains and losses plays a large part in their unwillingness to take climate change seriously." This is exactly in line with what Dr. Gilbert explained. They state it is the field of psychology which looks into what motivates, or demotivates behavior, thus changing people's behavior related to climate change. In addition the task force discusses how ignornance of Climate Change & how effectively changing behavior hinders progress and the effects of not making changes will have be "psychologically devestating." It is for this reason the task force "suggests that information about environmental sustainability be infused into psychological curriculum so that budding psychologists are equipped with the right tools to encourage environmentally friendly behavior."

Though all subfields of psychology have interest in Climate Change, here is a short article on specific fields of psychology which are involved, in particular my degree Industrial Psychology. Here is an explanation about what Conservation Psychology is.

Hopefully, after looking at these materials you will understand even more why I have Sustainability as a part of this coursel. I also want you to realize this is will be very vital area of psychology in the future & one you might want to consider! Any questions let me know!

Kids Contest: The Lorax

Hi Everyone!

Whole Foods has a contest for Kids who are helping our planet. "Grand Prize is aA private screening of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax for up to 200 friends and family in your local movie theater the night before the movie’s official release to the public!" Details on the link. Good Luck!