Please welcome today’s guest poster, Mickey. Mickey is a park ranger at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and as an avid mountaineer, he is well acquainted with wild places.

We focus a lot around here on the things that each of us can do to be better citizens of the planet, to live in a way that doesn’t exhaust the earth, air and water on which we depend, and maybe to reverse some of the damage that we’ve already caused. I guess we do this because it’s what we can do and it’s our responsibility.

But what is it we’re trying to save? Our own welfare, for sure, but believe it or not that isn’t reason enough for some of us; after all, our planet will likely limp along just fine at least until after I expire. So what, through our explicit actions, can we save right now that isn’t expressed in pollutant parts-per-million, tenths-of-a-degree temperature increases, or rates of glacial melt?

Wilderness. The earth as we once knew it. The earth as we still know it, if only in our imaginations.

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We all know that climate change is one of the most serious environmental issues we face today. The question is what we should do about it, and there are several options on the table. One of them is the admittedly radical idea of “shading” the earth, which is a process by which scientists would engineer our climate by scattering dust particles into the stratosphere.

This idea would theoretically cool the earth by replicating the result of a volcanic eruption. All the dust particles gathered in the stratosphere would reflect sunlight back into space, therefore dropping the planet’s temperature.

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Please welcome today’s guest poster, the lovely Dianne of Dianne’s Dishes. Dianne is an expert not only on cooking delicious meals, but doing so in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. 

No matter where you look these days you can find someone talking about eating locally. Some eat local all year round, and I think that’s easier to do when you live in areas of California and Florida that have local produce year round, and others just focus on eating local as much as possible. I fall in the latter category and focus on eating local whenever the opportunity is available.

There are several ways to eat local and it’s especially easy during the summer months! You can eat as local as you can possibly get and grow your own, you can visit a local farmer’s market or you can join a CSA. You can also do a little research and find out what is actually produced in your area and try to buy exclusively from them whenever possible. You can find a local dairy farm or a local mill, etc. You’d be amazed what might be around that you don’t know about before! But what are the real benefits?

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We put the total number of comments from last week’s contest into the Random Number Generator, and the winning number was 7. That means the big winner of Aventura’s eco-friendly clothing giveaway is …

Sally from Living Without Meat!

Congratulations, Sally! I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing information for Aventura. 

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest, and thanks to Aventura for the generous giveaway.

This is your last chance to win an adorable free bathing suit and summer dress from Aventura! If you’re interested, leave a comment here telling us one thing you like about Aventura’s sustainability efforts. If you are a blogger or a Twitter member (Twitterer? Tweeter? What’s the correct terminology for one who uses Twitter?), you can blog or tweet about the contest and leave us a link in the comments below, and that will give you one more chance to win the contest.

One comment per reader per post. Comments that appear to be spam will not be included. On Monday, June 15, we’ll draw a name using a Random Number Generator, and the person whose comment corresponds to the winning number will receive a bathing suit and dress from Aventura. 

I can personally attest to the quality and comfort of Aventura’s clothing. Trust me, it’s good stuff! Good luck!
CONTEST CLOSED

Wolves have been in the news a good bit over the past few months, from the success stories of their reintroduction into the Upper MIdwest to Sarah Palin’s support of shooting them from aircraft. Now there’s a new lawsuit pending in my new stomping ground, the Northern Rockies, which seeks to prevent wolves from being legally hunted in the very areas to which they were reintroduced just a few years ago.

A decision made by the Bush administration and upheld by Obama in April has kept wolves off the endangered species list in Montana and Idaho.  The lawsuit, filed by environmentalists, seeks to prevent the legal public hunting of wolves in these states. They’re still endangered in Wyoming, but the state’s attorney general has requested that wolves be open to public hunting. If his request is granted by a federal judge, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar lawsuit filed in Wyoming, especially if wolves are taken off the endangered species list here.

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Inhabitots is having an Eco-Cutey Photo contest.

Ecollo has a list of 21 things you should be recycling, but probably aren’t.

Wisebread has a guide for buying eggs.

The Green Life discusses fracking (it’s not what you think).

Skepticblog talks about the issues with the efficiency of locally grown produce.

Organic Needle has a list of charities that will take your old stuff.

Inhabitat says scientists have figured out how to grow plastic on trees.

The Good Human puts MacGyver to shame with his solar-powered space heater.

Remember the adorable eco-friendly clothes Courtney tried out for Aventura? Well, the great crew at Aventura is giving away a bathing suit and a summer dress to one lucky Allie’s Answers reader.

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