Searching through the news stories this week I found lots more good news, news that at least some of us are caring for Mother Earth.

Earth Hour
I switched off my lights for Earth Hour and apparently lots of others did too. The Environmental News Network is hailing Earth Hour as a vote against climate change. According to The Scotsman, participants included folks at a base in Antarctica and, for the first time, in China. Did you put your lights out? What do you think of the whole gesture? My hubby told me that using a candle instead of lights wasn’t a good option so instead we used just a couple of LED flashlights to light our family game of National Park Monopoly.

President Obama and the Green White House
Several news sites are reporting on President Obama’s signing on Monday of protection for 2 million acres of wilderness. The bill signed yesterday by President Obama is called HR 146. I was curious about exactly which wilderness areas are being protected and whether any areas of Kansas are affected. I was brave. I went to the Library of Congress site and looked at the details. Here is what I found:

• West Virginia will benefit with protection for the Monongahela National Forest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness addition and the Roaring Plains West Wilderness Area.
• In Virginia the Jefferson National Forest will benefit.
• Oregon’s Mount Hood National Forest will receive protection and part of the Siskiyou National Forest is being designated as the Copper Salmon Wilderness. The Oregon Badlands Wilderness and Spring Basin Wilderness have also been established.
• In Idaho a research center is being established know as the Owyhee Science Review and Conservation Center. River systems are also being protected under the national wild and scenic rivers system.
• The Sabinoso Wilderness in New Mexico receives protection from mining.
• In Michigan there will be a new protected area called the Beaver Basin Wilderness.
• California will get new or expanded wilderness lands in the form of the Hoover Wilderness, Owens River Headwaters Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, White Mountains Wilderness, Granite Mountain Wilderness, Magic Mountain Wilderness, the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness, Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness, South Fork San Jacinto Wilderness, Santa Rosa Wilderness, Beauty Mountain Wilderness, Joshua Tree Wilderness, Orocopia Mountains Wilderness, Palen/McCoy Wilderness, John Krebs Wilderness, and the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness.
• Colorado gets parts of Rocky Mountain National Park designated as wilderness. Utah gets the Zion Wilderness.

I think you get the idea. There is other good stuff in there to do with extra protections for public lands. Lots of good news! “And what does my beloved Kansas get?”, you hear me ask. Not one single mention. Poor little Kansas, the word doesn’t even appear in the whole, giant, HR 146 screed which had me reading pages and pages. OK, I’m wiping my eyes and getting back to the job at hand, which was to report good news to you. Too bad I can’t enjoy all those lovely new wilderness areas without producing a giant cloud of CO2, or I’d be packing my bags to head off and enjoy them.

That whole wilderness screed was a pretty big distraction, I must say, from getting to grips with the latest news that affects us.

• According to MSNBC The White House is already pretty green. Nonetheless, they are finding some things to tweak. If they can do it, so can we!
• Fuel efficiency requirements are about to be increased, though apparently not to a level as stringent at that proposed by our previous president. Interesting.
• Treehugger reports on what President Obama was saying to business leaders regarding being green.

Other News
The Los Angeles Times reports increased interest in green careers among college students. 2009 Farmer’s Market and CSA grants are now available according to Mother Earth News. Also at the Mother Earth News website, A Renewable Electricity Standard would create nearly 300,000 new green jobs. MSNBC reports on new emission control standards for US ports, the EPA is clamping down on mountain-top removal, and concrete is being remixed with the environment in mind.

My favorite of all, a significantly large population of Orangutans has been discoved in Borneo. Now, if humans can just leave them alone… I live in hope.

What is your green news for the week?

Related posts:

1. Weekly Earth News
2. Weekly Earth News 03/24/09
3. Weekly Earth News