Adrian Grenier (a.k.a. Aqua Man, Vincent Chase) is ditching his HBO posse, and is hitting the streets with an all new, all green entourage for a new TV show called Alter Eco, to be aired on the Discovery Channel's brand new sister station Planet Green.
With the help of green guru Boise Thomas, sustainable style fashionista Angela Lindvall and eco-renovation master Darren Moore, Granier will take on challenges which will include an environmental home makeover and an eco-overhaul of an L.A. hotspot. The green team will pay house calls on Hollywood celebs and average Joe's alike to show how planet positive change can have a low impact on lifestyle.
The 13-part series premieres on Monday, June 9, at 9 PM (ET/PT) on Planet Green. A sneak preview of Alter Eco will air on Planet Green's launch night on June 4 at 10 PM (ET/PT).
After a three year battle the polar bear has won its place on the government's Endangered Species list. But it's a somewhat hollow victory.
Three non-profits, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), first sued the Bush administration in 2005 to secure protection for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. After many hearings, and even more hold ups, the government was compelled by law to make a final decision by January 9, 2008. The government flouted this deadline however, and was subsequently forced to make a decision by May 15 after animal rights activists, again, took the matter to the court.
This delay allowed The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) to complete the first Chukchi Sea oil lease sale since 1991. A press release posted on the MMS' own website boasted that the sale resulted in "667 bids on 488 blocks -- both record-setting numbers -- on the Outer Continental Shelf," with submitted bids "totaling almost $3.4 billion."
The Chuck Sea lies between Alaska and Siberea and is home to one fifth of the world's polar bear population. "Had the polar bear been listed prior to January 9 as the law required, that lease sale could not have moved forward without some substantial additional review of the impacts to polar bears," said Kassie Siegel, who serves as the climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
"After years of delay, the Bush administration was forced to face the reality that global warming has endangered the polar bear and that the polar bear needs to be placed on the Endangered Species Act," said the Republican Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Edward J. Markey in a statement to CNN. "But the administration has also simultaneously announced a rule aimed at allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic to continue unchecked even in the face of the polar bears' threatened extinction. Essentially, the administration is giving a gift to Big Oil, and short shrift to the polar bear."
It's estimated that there are between 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in total on the planet, but the population is expected to decline to less than 10,000 over the next 50 years. Polar bears are only found in the wild in the Arctic. They spend much of the year on sea ice hunting for seals, which serve as their staple high fat diet. But global warming is taking its toll on the Arctic. The region is warming at a rate that is five times faster than that of the earth as a whole. In September 2007, the Arctic ice cap shrunk to a record low, with an additional 1 million square miles disappearing compared to previous years, meaning the polar bear lost an area of habitat equivalent in size to six times that of California.
Despite the fact that polar bears (and the planet) are on such thin ice, the government has its eye firmly on the gas pump, and is far more concerned about the interests of big business. While adding the majestic creatures to the endangered species list, the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, cautioned that the Environmental Protection Act should not be "misused" to regulate global warming.
"Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door to use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources," said Kempthorne. "That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA law. The ESA is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy."
Fortunately for the polar bear, the Bush government will soon be extinct. With even John McCain making environmentally constructive comments in recent days, lets hope they can hold out for a wind of change.
The California Supreme Court has ruled that gay couples should have the right to marry. The Republican-dominated high court voted 4-3 in favor of applying and expanding constitutional race and gender protections to sexual orientation and the institution of marriage.
In his ruling, Chief Justice Ronald George wrote that, "...retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise - now emphatically rejected by this state - that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects "second-class citizens" who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples.... Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional."
With couples already lining up at San Francisco City Hall for appointments to get marriage licenses, the judgment could be a boon to California's economy should it go unchallenged. Unlike other states, California has no residency requirements for obtaining marriage licenses, meaning that same sex couples could flock to the Golden State for ceremonies (though same-sex marriages performed in California may not be recognized in other states).
As comedienne and GLBT activist Margaret Cho pointed out, "just the ice sculptures alone" could be worth a small fortune to the local economy. Living in West Hollywood, the Daily Mantra can think of a new reason to hold on to our tax refund/stimulus payment when it arrives. With the slew of gay marriages that are likely to happen over the summer we anticipate that we'll have to allocate a rather large budget for wedding outfits and gifts in 2008! Yay! We love a good wedding!
Should you tie the knot? Click HERE to try our fast and free compatibility test and find out if your relationship’s destined to be a fun fling or for life.
The British Government recently made formerly classified files on UFO's available to the public for the first time. Much of the data was compiled by Britain's DI55 intelligence service, a top secret Ministry of Defence organization whose primary official function was to gather information on ballistic missiles.
Due to the volume of documents that have been declassified under the Freedom of Information act, the release will be done in stages over the next four years, giving officials time to redact names, addresses, and other sensitive information. The first wave of files, covering the years 1978-2002, can be downloaded for free (for a limited period) via the National Archives website in PDF format.
France was the first country to make its X-Files available to the public online. The country's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), and its GEIPAN unit, which is charged with the task of investigating unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP) and making information available to the public, launched a website last year which archived GEIPAN's UFO files.
Now that the UK has opened its X-Files, the US government has come under increasing pressure to follow suit. It's not just Sci-Fi fans and conspiracy nuts that are seeking more access to this information however. Many high level government and military officials, including politicians, CIA and FBI agents, former astronauts and NASA employees, are calling for the government to open up its X-Files and reopen its UFO investigations, which were officially halted in 1970. As detailed in the above documentary (if player fails to load, click HERE to view), many very credible people are saying some very incredible things. The truth is out there....
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Hindu groups in India are seeking to ban Mike Myers' new film, The Love Guru. In it, the shagadelic Austin Powers actor portrays a character called Guru Pitka, who is dubbed the "second best guru in India." Unfortunately not everyone is seeing the funny side of Myer's self-help industry satire, and pressure is apparently being put on India's Central Board of Film Certification and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ban screenings of the film in the country.
Bhavna Shinde, a representative of the Mumbai-based Hindu organization Janjagruti Samiti, is quoted as saying that Indian censors should, "stop distributing or screening the movie till Paramount has made necessary changes ... so that it will not hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu community." American-based religious leader, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, has accused the film of "lampooning Hinduism."
Myer's Love Guru co-stars include Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Daily Show funny man John Oliver (as Dick Pants), and Gandhi star Ben Kingsley (as Guru Tugginmypudha). Real life uber guru Deepak Chopra also has a cameo role, and is featured in the film's publicity campaign. Guru groupies can log on to FavoriteGuru.com to vote for the man they'd most like to follow. So far Myer's alter ego Guru Pitka is leading with 62% of the vote, compared to Chopra's 38%, making it more decisive than a Democratic primary (if you ignore West Virgina like the superdelegates are).
Before Myer's started filming The Love Guru, he spent some quality time with Chopra to get the right vibe. In 2006 the double act appeared on The Sundance Channel's series Iconoclasts, and spent the day together in preparation for a symposium on comedy and spirituality that evening.
Chopra explained the need for laughter in spirituality, saying that, "When your soul responds to the paradox of our existence, to the contradictions of our existence, to the fact that wherever there is joy there is suffering, when your soul recognizes this, it can do nothing except laugh."
Myers closed the show, by saying, "Everything that I've read suggests that enlightenment is lightening up." After recent events, he may want to revise that statement.
A senior Vatican scholar has said it's OK to believe in aliens. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published on Tuesday, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, who serves as the director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the possibility of extraterrestrial life "doesn't contradict" the Roman Catholic faith and that ruling out the existence of such life forms would be tantamount to "putting limits" on God's creation.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" states Funes in the article entitled The Extraterrestrial Is My Brother. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical organizations in the world. It was founded as part of the church's efforts to reform the Julian calendar in 1592. Today the organization serves as a bridge between church and science. With its help, the Vatican has adopted a somewhat more enlightened and conciliatory approach to science and its practitioners since the days when it imprisoned Galileo for his heretic belief that the earth revolved around the sun (and not vice versa, as the church liked to think at the time).
During an address to The Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1996, Pope John Paul II famously quotedPope Leo XIII saying, "Truth does not contradict truth." Clarifying the church's position further, Funea states that the Bible "is not a science book," and that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" theory to explain the creation of our universe, though he, of course, maintains that the big bang didn't happen by chance, but was instigated by God as part of his universal master plan.
Funes' recent L'Osservatore Romano interview, which has garnered much press, is not the first time the Vatican has gone on the record with regards to embracing the concept of alien life. A colleague of Funes', Brother Guy Consolmagno, the director of the Vatican Observatory's Research Group, which is based at Arizona's Steward Observatory, published a 48-page pamphlet on the subject in 2005 entitled Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic Belief and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life. In it, he posed many religious and philosophical questions about alien life: Do aliens have souls? Are they were subject to original sin? Do they need to be baptized and have a belief in Jesus in order to be saved? Do they even need to be saved? And if so, do we have the right to evangelize alien cultures?
Like Funes, Consolmagno is comfortable with the relationship between the Catholic faith and science, and the possibility of alien life. When asked about "how Catholicism would hold up" if intelligent life was discovered beyond our planet in an interview with the Catholic News Service, he responded by saying it would not mean "everything we believe in is wrong," rather, "we're going to find out that everything is truer in ways we couldn't even yet have imagined."
Sex And The City fans can now enjoy all the pleasures that Mr. Big has to offer. To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Rabbit's cameo appearance on the show, Love Honey, the Manolo Blahnik of sex toys, are offering a limited edition version of the vibrator that turned Charlotte into a recluse.
Tall, dark and handsome, the new vibrator is fashioned after Carrie Bradshaw's on/off boyfriend Mr. Big. What's so special about Mr. Big you may ask. Well the manufacturers tell us that he has "has extra-long rabbit ears, dozens of gyrating pearls and easy push-button controls." Though the new Sex And The City film doesn't promise that Carrie and her man will live happily ever after, like the gentleman he is, Mr. Big always delivers a happy ending.
Have you just found out your partner's cheating on you with your best friend? Did someone just dump you by text message? Are you likely to burst into tears every time you hear "Nothing Compares 2 U" on the radio? Then Hime & Company could be your dream employers, since the enlightened Japanese company is offering heartbreak leave as one of its many employee benefits.
The company's website explains that, "Many companies have maternity leave and claim they are kind to women because of this... People may take sick leave, yet not for heartache. But people would find it harder to be at work in such a situation, making simple mistakes, doing strange things."
As anyone who's ever shown up to work red-eyed and fuzzy brained after a particularly heinous row with a loved one knows, heartbreak leave makes sense not only for the employee but for the employer too. The recently heartbroken are in no mental state to make competent decisions, or deal in a cool and collected way with fellow workers or members of the public.
Employers may also want to consider the man-hours lost as co-workers rally round to cheer up the heartbroken. All those serial heart to hearts by the coffee machine add up, making a day or two of official heartbreak leave look like sound economic sense.
Those with perpetually tragic love lives have their heartbreak capped at Hime & Company however. Those in their early 20's are allowed one heartbreak day a year, those in their mid-twenties are allowed two, while those who are thirty-plus are allowed a full three-days heartbreak vacation. (The Japanese are famous for their love hotels, perhaps they should have heartbreak hotels with classic back & white movies, tissues and chocolate on tap too.)
Interestingly, none of Hime & Company's workers have taken advantage of the company's heartbreak holidays, though another benefit has seen a much higher uptake rate. 100% of employees have taken advantage of the company's "bargain leave," which is offered to workers twice a year so they can take advantage of the sales. This leads us to conclude that companionship from coworkers and retail therapy tops solace when it comes to dealing with a broken heart.
CO2 levels have reached record highs. According to data published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now stands at 387 parts per million (ppm). This represents a 35 to 45 per cent increase compared to pre-industrial revolution levels, which are believed to have remained steady at between 260-280 ppm for the preceding ten thousand years.
This news comes hot on the heels of a report by top NASA climatologist James Hansen, which calls for target CO2 levels to be reduced to 350 ppm in order to avoid the "possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects." The European Union currently has a target ceiling of 550 ppm, which is the world’s most stringent. Hansen, who has repeatedly accused the Kyoto-bashing Bush administration of trying to silence and censor him, fears that unless we take immediate and drastic action, global warming may accelerate at a far higher rate than expected, and life as we know it could end.
He theorizes that a mechanism known as "fast-feedback" will mean that radiation reflecting polar ice caps will melt rapidly, and not gradually as previous models have shown, once a 2-3 degree temperature tipping point is reached. As the ice melts, it will raise ocean levels, meaning that even more of the planet will be covered by heat-retaining water, exacerbating the cycle of global warming.
In the conclusion of a paper submitted to Science magazine last month, Hansen warns that, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
In order to publicize the 350 ppm bar that Hansen has set, Middlebury College scholar and author Bill McKibben co-founded Project 350. McKibben calls 350 "the red line for human beings" and "the most important number on the planet."
"Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means," says McKibben. "The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable."
For more information on the number that will mark our salvation or our doom, go to: www.350.org. To find out how you can become part of the solution, go to: www.wecansolveit.org.
Adrian Grenier (a.k.a. Aqua Man, Vincent Chase) is ditching his 
After a three year battle the 
The California Supreme Court has 
The 
actor portrays a character called 
A senior Vatican scholar has said it's OK to believe in aliens. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published on Tuesday, 
Sex And The City fans can now enjoy all the pleasures that Mr. Big has to offer. To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the 
Have you just found out your partner's cheating on you with your best friend? Did someone just 
