This page is an index of articles and other written resources, including reports, interviews, book and anthology excerpts, PowerPoint presentations, and presentation transcripts for authors and speakers with last names starting with “C.”

Don Carli

Going Paperless: Not As Green As You May Think. Article by Don Carli. “Please consider the environment before printing this email.” This seemingly well-intentioned plea suggests that digital communication is greener than paper based communication. But is it? If your goal is to save trees or do something good for the environment, the choice to go paperless is not as green or simple as some would like you to think. Article >>

Michael Castleman

Are Marine Mammals the New Canaries? Pollution Targets the Immune System. Article by Michael Castleman. In the Baltic Sea during early 1988, more than half of the harbor seals - some 25,000 animals - suddenly died. The die-off, the largest ever recorded for seals, was caused by a virus very similar to the one that causes distemper in dogs. Environmentalists immediately pointed to the cause - industrial wastes. Article >>

BUG OFF! Alternatives to DEET Insect Repellents. Article by Michael Castleman. The widely used bug repellent, DEET, has a downside. It may be hazardous to some children. There's no reason to panic, but this summer, you might try one of the growing number of non-DEET alternatives. Since 1961, a handful of medical journal reports have blamed the chemical for confusion, convulsions, brain damage, and even three deaths in children. Article >>

The Lead Hazard: The More We Learn, The HEAVIER The Problem Looks. Article by Michael Castleman. Not long ago, the threat of lead poisoning seemed far removed from the middle class. Scientists believed that lead, a highly toxic mineral, affected only children so poor that hunger drove them to eat lead-laced paint chips peeling from inner-city tenement walls. But no one is exempt from the lead hazard any longer. Article >>

Rob Caughlan

Damn the Torpedoes & Torpedo the Dams. Article by Rob Caughlan. Four hundred miles of California's fabulous beaches are starving for sand, but surfers and other beach lovers have the muscle to bring them back. "We know why they're starving and shrinking, and we know how to rescue them." Article >>

Dan Chiras

About Energy-Efficient Home Insulation. Article by Dan Chiras. Choosing the correct amount and kind of energy-efficient home insulation, and properly installing it in the walls, ceilings, floors and foundations of new and existing homes will make your home more energy efficient and economical. If extra insulation is paired with airtight home design and cost-effective, passive-solar heating and cooling, you can greatly reduce, even eliminate, the need for additional heating or cooling. Article >>

Build a Solar Home and Let the Sunshine In. Article by Dan Chiras. Practical suggestions for building a home that employs passive solar features at little additional cost but with great savings in both energy and money. Article >>

Buyer's Guide to Solar Heating. Article by Dan Chiras. A basic overview as well as buying and installing tips for solar air and water heating systems. Article >>

Design Your Home Using Passive-Solar Heating. Article by Dan Chiras. Designing your dream home using passive-solar heating could save you thousands of dollars. Including simple, passive-solar features in any style home can cost next to nothing up front and save you unbelievable amounts over the long-term in reduced energy bills. Millions of homes easily could be designed to capture free heat directly from the sun. But instead we are burning — wasting — huge amounts of oil and natural gas every winter. Article >>

EcoKids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth. Book excerpt by Dan Chiras. EcoKids presents a coherent plan that helps parents foster love for nature, teach children the importance of environmental protection, promote environmental values, and inspire actions that will last a lifetime. Book Excerpt >>

Sunshine From a Tube. Article by Dan Chiras. Tubular skylights provide natural lighting and offer cost-savings. In commercial spaces, where lights often are on eight or more hours per day, one 10-inch tubular skylight providing 4,200 lumens of light for eight hours a day will save a business owner about $70 per year on the electrical bill. Article >>

Dennis Church

Building Sustainable Communities: The Historic Imperative For Change. Article by Siegfried Brenke, Dennis Church, William Hansell, Edward Vine & Richard Zelinski. The history of humankind is a story of change -- sometimes the slow change of "evolution," and sometimes the traumatic change of "revolution." The first Earth Day increased our appreciation of the value of the natural world – an evolutionary shift which began to improve our stewardship of the Earth's resources. Today we must ask if this evolutionary improvement is good enough. Can we afford to change slowly, or is the accelerating pace of environmental degradation a threat of such significance that it demands a "revolution" in our relationship to our endangered Earth? Article >>

Building Sustainable Communities: An Opportunity and A Vision For A Future That Works. Speech by Dennis Church. Today, many resource economists and scientists fear that mankind may be consuming and destroying the living and non-living natural foundation upon which our lives depend. While I firmly believe that apocalyptic predictions are both inappropriate and unfounded, any rational person must acknowledge the tremendous risks involved in what we are doing to our one and only planet. Speech >>

Core Concepts of Sustainability Advocacy. Article by Dennis Church. Just as with democracy, we're likely to get the future that we deserve. Nobody else will save us. We must save ourselves. This follows directly from the near total dysfunctionality of our institutions and the failure of our elites to take responsibility for the general welfare of society. Perhaps, more carefully stated, the only way to return our institutions to the functionality we need is to fix them ourselves. Article >>

The Economy Vs The Environment: Is There A Conflict? Presentation by Dennis Church It is a deeply held view that protecting the environment constitutes a net expense to our economy. To the extent that environmental concerns have faded in economic hard times, and they have, it is a reflection of the fact that most of the public and most of the leadership still believes that protecting the environment represents spending money rather than saving it, represents consumption rather than investment. Presentation >>

Living Beyond Our Means. Article by Dennis Church. The idea that we humans may be growing beyond – or overshooting – the capacity of the natural resources we depend upon to sustain us has a long history. It has proven premature when previously asserted, but now appears increasingly realistic. Article >>

New Paradigm For Local Government. Article by Dennis Church. The pressure on governments at all levels to change they way they do business is growing steadily. Public confidence in governmental institutions is low. Polls show many people feel a deep anxiety about the future. People no longer take a better future for their children as an article of faith. Article >>

Steps To A Sustainable Energy Future For Albuquerque. Speech by Dennis Church. Albuquerque’s potential for development of wind, geothermal and solar resources is nothing less than fantastic. You have first rate wind resources within a stone's throw, your geothermal resources are mind boggling. New Mexico experiences more hours of sunshine per year than most other states. So just how does sustainability apply to Albuquerque? Speech >>

Toward A Sustainable City: A Report On Natural Resources And The City Of San Jose. Report by Dennis Church. Humanity's total environment is a synthesis of man-made and natural systems. If we are to consciously shape our future, we must learn to manage our total environment -- to reconcile the conflicts and contradictions between man-made and natural systems. It is a false and tragic dichotomy to pit economic prosperity against environmental resource conservation. Report >>

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