Video Games are awesome; so is harnessing the natural forces of sun, wind, and snow to ensure tundra species like wolves, bears, and oxen survive the harsh terrain. Pocketwatch Games makes hand-crafted video games pertaining to the environment and has created 2007 Sim Game Of the Year Award winning Venture Arctic . Beware, this game is only for players tough enough to handle the task of ensuring species survival. Well, digitally at least.

We had the chance to play Venture Arctic and had mega fun cruising the terrain, doling out sun energy and food, watching animals grow, and restoring habitat to its original pristine condition. Heads up, though: the game is quite realistic and some of the animals do die from man-made factors (climate change) or natural factors (food scarcity.)

Venture Arctic is available online at Pocketwatch Games and at major video game retailers like Circuit City. For less than $20, it is a great way to bring foreign terrain and exotic species into our living rooms, and excite kids (and fun-loving adults) about arctic preservation.

This afternoon I had a chance to head back to the old Sirius stomping grounds to visit with Mario Bosquez on Martha Stewart Radio. Mario is a genius when it comes to the kitchen though this time we decided to chat about innovative ways to combine fashion sense with eco-responsibility. We hit upon a number of themes which I think are crucial for eco-fashion to move into the mainstream: for consumers to adopt green fashion products en masse those products must be stylish, affordable, well-made, widely available, and clearly and credibly labeled. There are plenty of good options for Lazy Environmentalists, but despite the all the hype green has yet to go mainstream. So knowing where to look and what to look for and also adopting some innovative Reduce and Reuse strategies is essential to for achieving style nirvana while saving the planet. Here's some quick links to the companies I discussed today.

Reduce & Reuse
Denim Therapy
Swap Style
Bag, Borrow or Steal

Independent Designers
Crow
Good Society
Melissa Shoes

Major Clothing Labels
H&M
Levis

We also talked about Kaight, a top-notch eco-boutique in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Showcasing the best in modern green design from many of today’s leading sustainable designers, Vivavi has launched an Eco Pop-Up store inside the Riverhouse luxury green condo building in Battery Park City. Set inside a model 2-bedroom unit overlooking the Hudson River, the store features contemporary RC Green sofas and accents, the latest in luxury green lounging from Animavi, a Team 7 sustainably furnished dining room, a bedroom set featuring Okooko’s unique aesthetic and naturally made mattress, an office nook courtesy of Knu Furniture, a nursery outfitted by Oeuf, and loads of others other fabulous pieces from designers such as Amenity, Brave Space, Christian Rathbone, Iannone Design, Knoend, Larson, Lulan, Maku Furnishings, Modern Bamboo, Ortolan, Until Kara and Vers. We also feature the artwork of Sandy Schimmel who transforms tiny scraps of junk mail into visually stunning designs.

Come explore Vivavi's modern green aesthetic, meet our team, and discover first-hand what living in a state of the art LEED Gold rated green building is all about.

The store is located in Unit 8D at the Riverhouse, adjacent to the Sales & Design center, and is open to the public 7 days a week.
Monday thru Friday: 10am to 6pm
Saturday & Sunday: 12pm to 4pm
Phone: 866.848.2840

(Click here for a Google Map and Directions)

Al Gore gave an extremely courageous speech this past Sunday. He called for America to move to a 100% renewable energy economy within the next ten years. Such an audacious goal can easily be dismissed as naïve and impractical. But the more I think about it, the more I inevitably feel that what he’s calling for is what I want to see happen. And even if it sounds impractical wouldn’t you want it to happen? Who wouldn’t? I want it to happen. Now. So I’m speaking up. I really want our government and our country to mobilize behind the big G’s call to action.

The key to consider is that unless you and I have our voices heard nothing is going to happen. If we wait for our political leaders to lead on this issue we’ll wait too long. The reason is that politicians rarely lead. They follow.

So if you dig the big G’s message and you’d like to see the country engage in a massive mobilization to change the course of our destiny and set us on a path to a clean and abundant future, then it’s really up to you to speak up. But let’s be clear, the change the big G is calling for is already happening. You can see it in the thousands of solar power jobs moving into Toledo, Ohio and in the wind turbine factories dotting the plains of Iowa in towns like Fort Madison. The movement to renew and revitalize America through renewable energy is well-underway. What’s most critical to fully understand is that the more we participate in the movement, the more we accelerate it. Because while the solutions are here and happening, what we don’t have is unlimited time to scale them up. That has to happen now, which is why the time to be heard is now.

Moreover, the more we embrace the 10 year plan, the more we’ll create a future that we’re actually going to get excited about. Those solar jobs in Toledo and wind manufacturing jobs in Iowa pay well. They provide good benefits too.

We’re living in a hyper-competitive world. Jobs that are here today can easily be outsourced tomorrow. Not just manufacturing jobs either. There are doctors in India who are reading Xrays of patients in America. There are designers in China who are diagramming next-generation Boeing aircraft wings. Blue collar or white collar, in the globalized world that Thomas Friedman calls "flat" our best chance to keep America thriving is to don green collars and work for green-minded companies that recognize that the greatest opportunities of the 21st century lay in building a clean, abundant economy that operates in balance with nature.

The beauty is that we don't have to start from scratch. Just look at where the smartest investors in America – like the Venture Capitalists in Silicon Valley who funded companies like Google, eBay, and Amazon.com – are placing their financial bets. By 2006, these investors were already funneling more start-up capital into companies that are using silicon for solar panels than are using it for computer chips. The shift to a green American economy has begun. It can go all the way. Fast too. This is not some eco-utopian pipe dream emerging from a groovy night of acid tripping on a mountaintop in the high hills of Sedona. It’s a vision of the future that many of the most successful and entrepreneurial minds in this country are already actively engaged in manifesting. Now it needs you. Sign the Clean Energy Petition at Wecansolveit.org

There’s really nothing better for the environment than leaving the car keys at home, throwing on a pair of sneakers and hitting the pavement. Studies have show that compact, walkable neighborhoods allow people to make fewer trips in their cars, travel less to meet their everyday needs – and thus reduce their contribution to global warming. The question really is- is your neighborhood walkable?

Seattle-based civic software company Front Seat is determined to give you the answer. The grass roots operation has just completed a makeover of its one-year old site, www.walkscore.com, where it has unveiled the top 10 most walkable cities and neighborhoods among the nation’s 40 largest cities. The national walkability list is the first list that looks at 2,508 neighborhoods nationally and identifies the closest grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops and other amenities near a given address. Type in an address and presto, the neighborhood is given a walkability score from 1-100 (100 being the most walkable). The coolest part is that in addition to comparing addresses or just looking up a current address’ walkability score the site now features a walkability “heat map” for each city with green areas demarking highly walkable neighborhoods and red areas demarking unwalkable areas. So not only can you find your own neighborhood’s score you can browse neighborhoods to which you may be thinking of moving or visiting on your next trip.

What could be easier than having easy online instructions to teach folks how to minimize home energy use by merely adjusting their thermostat settings? Well, that was a rhetorical question, but if it had to be answered, one could say a an online video teaching people how to adjust their thermostats and to what levels.

Thanks to Energy Star, this is available here with the video podcast on the right side of the page.

The first annual World Science Festival kicks-off this week in New York City. Bringing together a dozen nobel laureates and Charlie Rose (how sweet is that?!) along with writers, artists and researchers for a four day city-wide celebration of science, the festival will play host to 40 unique events taking place around the city. On Saturday, I’ll host a program exploring the cutting-edge of green design. Joining me will be Mary Lou Jepsen, founding chief technology officer of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), and Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, the hotshot co-founders of Ecovative Design. If you’re in town I hope you'll come on out to join us.

Details are at WorldScienceFestival.com

Here’s the full list of Environmental Programming:

• Celebrated Paleontologist and Conservationist Richard Leakey Sounds the Alarm– The Sixth Extinction (May 30, 8 PM, Columbia University Miller Theatre, $30, Students $12): Featuring presentations of sounds now extinct from the wild, as well as recent video footage from the Arctic, this astonishing and moving picture of the planet today presents in no uncertain terms what's at stake in the fight to preserve our planet's rich biodiversity.

• Designing Green– Greengenuity (May 31, 5:30 PM, NYU - Lecture Hall, $12): Join "Lazy Environmentalist" author Josh Dorfman and pioneering green innovators and inventors in an exploration of the ever-expanding marketplace of products and ideas that can help individuals reduce their carbon footprint and battle climate change.

• Join Environmental Reporter Andrew Revkin for an Electrified Town Hall – Powering the Planet (May 31, 7 PM, NYU - Kimmel Center for University Life, $25, Students $12): The shock of climate change has spurred a worldwide quest to power the entire planet with clean, renewable energy. But is this goal realistic, and if so, how fast can such a dramatic transformation be achieved? Scientists at the vanguard of clean power research and leading policy thinkers headline this forum.

• Sustainable Solutions, Radical Designs – Future Cities (May 30, 8 PM, NYU - The Kimmel Center for University Life, $25, Students $12): Urban Planners, Architects, Environmentalists and Microbiologists lay out radical blueprints and innovative solutions as they imagine housing, feeding, transporting and sustaining city dwellers of the not too distant future. Moderated by Walter Isaacson, noted journalist and president of the Aspen Institute.

Whereas most eco-aware denim jeans brands are premium priced at or above $150 per pair, Good Society delivers high-style, fair-trade certified organic cotton jeans in the sub-$100 range. Not only is the styling clean and sharp, but every pair purchased helps provide fair wages for those growing and sewing them in India. When we think about “going green,” we’re typically focused on reducing our environmental impact. When we can also affirm – through fair-trade certification – that the people making the products we depend upon are not exploited in the process, we’re helping to create a web of positive change, i.e., a good society. This is the vision of Good Society’s co-founder Aiden Dingh whose original organic cotton denim line, Sling and Stones, hovers in the upper pricing designer stratosphere. With Good Society, Dingh is aggressively working to make eco-chic clothing accessible to a broader audience. You can shop the collection at Urban Outfitters as well as at numerous boutiques across the country. The good doesn’t stop there either; Good Society also gives back 10% of profits to environmental causes.

For eco-fashion label CROW, making eco-chic clothing for men and women more affordable means selling items using a sliding price scale. CROW sets the minimum and maximum price range for every item and then lets you decide how much you’re willing to pay. The hope is that green consumers who can afford to pay more will do so in order to allow green consumers on tighter budgets to pay less and thus enable greater numbers to participate in positive environmental change. For example, the Three-Way Shirt for women is offered on a sliding price scale between $30 and $65 and comes in a selection of organic cotton, bamboo or soy fabrics. The versatile piece can be worn off-the-shoulder for disco night, with cowl in front for professional office meetings or flipped around to reveal your back for evening charity functions or gallery openings. The Three-Way Shirt exemplifies CROW’s philosophy toward sustainable design. Not only is it made of eco-aware fabrics, but its multi-function versatility also enables women to achieve more looks with fewer items, a great strategy for clearing out closet clutter and saving some cash. You’ll also find graphic tees, hoodies, dresses, accessories.

For some entrepreneurs business as usual mean business as boring. The chance to create something completely ground-breaking is seductive. nvohk is a surf-inspired, eco-clothing company aiming to develop a very close relationship with its customers, so close in fact that its customers are the one who collectively decide what the clothing looks like. Launched in December, 2007 and based on a business model called crowd-funding, nvohk is creating a participatory framework for its customers to be involved with every major business decision such as company logo design, product designs and advertising. Essentially for $50 per year, customers – or members as the company calls them – call the shots and management implements the decisions. Members receive a 25% discount on all products and also collectively share in 35% of all net profits via reward points which can be redeemed as products. There’s room enough for 40,000 members in the model. The plan doesn’t go into effect until 5,000 members have registered via the company’s website, Projectnvohk.com, at which time they will all receive an email inviting them to pay.

nvohk's business model is like market-based supply and demand economics traveling at mach speed, cutting out the middlemen and channeling customer preferences, i.e., demand, directly into manufacturing decisions, i.e., supply. Like any new idea, nvohk will surely have its detractors. However, many people are already jumping at the chance to participate on a deeper level with a company that will help build the green economy and also donate 10% of net profits to environmental organizations. To date, 2759 customers have already registered through nvohk’s website. From nvohk’s perspective, there is perhaps no better way to develop brand loyalty and an evangelizing customer base than to give customers a direct say in business decisions. Good luck, nvohk. There are more than just green-minded folks watching.

Earlier this week I had a chance to meet with the co-founders of E-Fuel, a company with a paradigm shifting product that could change the way we think about fueling our cars. It’s called the EFuel100 MicroFueler, and it makes creating and pumping your own ethanol fuel at home about as easy as running the washing machine. Hook-up the plug-n-play MicroFueler to a water source and a power source – just like the washing machine – dump in the pre-packaged combination of sugar and yeast, and then carry on with your day while the MicroFueler goes to work producing renewable, affordable & clean fuel for your car. Once it’s ready, place the fuel pump in your fuel tank and let it ride.

So say goodbye to futile searches for gas stations offering the elusive E-85 fuel (a blend 85% ethanol & 15% petroleum). You no longer need the pump. In fact, you no longer need a flex-fuel car to run on higher levels of ethanol blended fuels. Researchers have found that standard cars can perform well on blends of up to E-55 or E-65 (see Motortrend.com for details). The power to create your own ethanol fuel and run it in your current automobile is now right in your hands.

The MicroFueler embodies the original vision of Henry Ford. When the Model-T first rolled off assembly lines in the United States about 100 years ago there were no gasoline stations. Ford envisioned car owners fueling up with homemade ethanol, which is exactly what they did. That is, of course, until an oil baron named John D. Rockefeller successfully got prohibition laws passed through Congress and made making Ethanol for any kind of consumption, including fuel consumption, a crime.

Those days are long gone now, but the dream is back. The MicroFueler empowers consumers to make a healthy choice for their wallets and for the planet. Producing a gallon of ethanol using the MicroFueler costs about $1. The list price for the machine itself is $9,995, no doubt a little on the steep side. However, consumers who purchase one receive the same federal tax breaks as corporate ethanol producers which knocks about $3,000 off the price. Score one for the little guy.

Visit E-Fuel’s website to learn more.

As lazy environmentalists we like to go green in ways that are easy, stylish, and affordable. That’s because the more green choices fit our lifestyles, the more likely we are to actually make them. For Earth Day I got together with Wal-Mart to show consumers a few simple ways to go green in easy, affordable style. Our satellite media tour enabled us to chat live with local morning talk shows around the country from our television studio in NYC. Check out the video and visit Walmart.com/earth to discover numerous eco-aware products that will fit just about any budget.

Water may cover four fifths of the globe, or less (I actually have no idea how much of the globe water covers), but the stark reality is that fresh water scarcity is becoming a major environmental challenge for communities worldwide. Populations in both developed and developing nations are being affected. Effectively addressing the looming challenges requires hundreds if not thousands of strategies, some that can be coordinated on a global scale and others that can be implemented locally. Fortunately, those solutions are already underway.

Check out this sneak preview clip of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Water" airing tomorrow night on the Sundance Channel, and tune in to see what activists and visionaries are doing to provide for the long-term abundance of this vital resource.

From G-Spotting:
“All praise the t-shirt gods for inspiring American Apparel to release more colors in their organic cotton collection. We were beginning to think we'd have to wear oatmeal v-neck tees for eternity.” Read More…

This Thursday evening I’ll be co-hosting a green event here in New York City with the fabulous Celia Chen of Notesonaparty.com and an all-star lineup of green lifestyle experts, event planners, and entrepreneurs. The evening will emphasize how easy, attractive and downright decadent throwing your own environmentally aware event can be. The city’s top event planners, social home entertainers, green change agents, and press will be on hand to experience gourmet organic catering, eco-friendly cocktails, beautiful tabletop and stationery design, modern green décor, digital music styling, online invitations, and all other must-haves required to throw a stylish and sustainable party!

For more information visit Notesonaparty.com and check out newly launched Pingg.com to see the future of online invitations.