Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Treating "Earth Day" like a "Birthday"

I hope you are having a great Earth Day!

Here's what I'm doing to celebrate...I'm treating Earth Day like a Birthday!

You know how you feel on your birthday, how you hope your friends and family will do something nice for you, take it easy on you? Well, that's how I'm treating the Earth today...like it's the Earth's birthday. I'm using less water, less energy, and doing my best not to throw anything in the garbage that will end up in a landfill. I'm doing little things to give the Earth a little break today.

I'd love to hear how you celebrated Earth Day! Tell me all about it!

Greenly yours,
Jill Buck

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Day Before Earth Day in Beijing - One World, One Dream

It’s so easy to fall in love with the Chinese people. This is my third trip to China, and my experiences have always been wonderful – I’ve always been warmly welcomed and treated with extreme kindness. But today, I put China to the test…would I be as warmly welcomed if I were not accompanied by a Chinese guide, and if my arrival went unannounced? The answer is absolutely yes!

Tomorrow I will speak on Earth Day at the 2nd Annual Summit of Green China Businesses, but today, I was a tourist. I set out in a cab by myself to tour the venues of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was a bright and breezy day, and though I could only use hand gestures and a friendly smile to communicate with the Chinese people I met, I didn’t have a problem finding anything or getting where I wanted to be. Everything was labeled in both Mandarin and English…even the uniforms of the security officers. I found that very interesting, and I have to say, it made me feel welcome.

In 2007, I was invited to serve on the International Appraisal Committee for the Daonong Center for Enterprise, a think tank formed by the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC). It has been my honor to work with the business leaders of China to develop standards for green business, and to watch their rapid progress toward those standards in such a short time. At last year’s Summit, the Chairman of the CEC put forth an audacious and exciting goal: to make China’s economy carbon-free. I’m thrilled to be part of that vision!

Now, you might wonder why this California mom of three is spending Earth Day in China, but the fact is there is something in it for my kids. My youngest child has asthma, and 30% of the air pollution in California can be traced to China . As the Chinese move aggressively forward in reducing their carbon emissions and air pollution, the air in my hometown will be cleaner. We’re all interconnected, and by helping one another, we all win.

As I always say…the wind blows, and the water flows.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Here I Am @ Beijing's Olympic Stadium-the Bird's Nest

I was in Beijing for the first time in Nov. 2007, about 6 months after I started working with the China Entrepreneur Club to help develop green business standards for Chinese companies and multinational companies operating in China. At that time, I only got to see the Bird's Nest under construction from a tour bus window. But now, I'm going inside!!! I'm so excited!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Go Green Initiative Schools Save Natural Resources

In this photo (courtesy of Alan Greth Photography) you see a student at the very first Go Green Initiative school, Walnut Grove Elementary, bringing recyclables from home to school. The local waste hauler, Pleasanton Garbage Service, pays the school a significant portion of the market value of the recyclables the school collects. To learn how to negotiate a similar arrangement with your local waste hauler, download the Planning Guide from the homepage of our website, and see the Appendix entitled, "Negotiating with Your Waste Hauler."

Each quarter, our top-notch schools turn in QPR's (quarterly progress reports), so that the Go Green Initiative family of schools can keep track of just how much great work they are accomplishing. Our latest recycling numbers are incredible!


Here's what our schools have kept out of their local landfills:



  • 7,454,879 lbs. of paper

  • 873,756 lbs. of cardboard

  • 95,831 lbs. of aluminum

  • 160,954 lbs. of plastic

  • 589,842 lbs. of mixed recyclables

  • 242,406 lbs. of food waste

The environmental benefit to all that recycling is:


  • conservation of 1.4 million gallons, or 33,720 barrels, of oil

  • conservation of 26 million gallons of water

  • conservation of over 63 billion BTU's of electricity

  • conservation of 3,721 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions

  • conservation of 13,738 cubic yds. of landfill space

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Should Environmentalists Embrace Nuclear Energy?

Normally, I’m a real stickler for hosting Go Green Radio live on Fridays from 9-10 am PST, but this week, I’ll be celebrating Good Friday with my family at that time, so we pre-recorded the show this morning.

My guest, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore from Irvine, California has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for lifting the moratorium on building new nuclear power plants. He’s been featured on numerous TV and radio shows, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle and many more publications. As America moves to limit our carbon emissions to the greatest extent possible, can we do so without nuclear energy? Or is nuclear our only viable, domestic energy option for a clean, green future?

Assemblyman DeVore did a FANTASTIC, and thoroughly educational, interview with me on this topic. Be sure to tune in on http://www.voiceamerica.com/ this Friday at 9 am to hear what he has to say. If you can’t listen to the show Friday morning, don’t worry! You can catch the podcast at the following link: http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1303

Monday, April 6, 2009

Showbiz Icon on Go Green Radio

Think about your favorite ABC Afterschool special, and chances are, my guest on Go Green Radio either wrote it or produced it. Virginia Carter began her career as a physicist in the aerospace industry and in the Air Force. But thanks to a serendipitous friendship with the wife of Norman Lear, Virginia has become an incredible force for good and social change through media. She was awarded an Emmy and two Peabody Awards for her work on the immensely popular American situation comedies All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, The Facts of Life, and Diff’rent Strokes. She assisted in the production of the top five most highly rated television shows in the United States during the 1980s. Virginia now does pro bono work for Population Media Center, which aims to improve the health and well-being of people around the world. http://www.populationmedia.org/

This was one of my favorite interviews in the past year of Go Green Radio. It was truly an honor to talk to Virginia, and we’ll have her on again soon. In the meantime, check out the podcast of our conversation at: http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=37510