On American Beach on South Amelia Island, Florida lives MaVynee Betsch, a woman of substance. Known by locals as "The Beach Lady," Betsch has made it her full-time mission since 1975 to preserve and protect American Beach from development and destruction.
It is possible to stand in the midst of a rainforest in Belize, surrounded by dripping trees and the cries of howler monkeys, and think that you’re in a particularly unspoiled corner of Costa Rica. Or maybe Brazil, before that country’s air was choked with smoke from burning trees and the ugly scars of clear-cuts. Possibly because of its small population of 200,000 scattered among 8,876 square miles of coastline, mountains and dense forests, Belize has escaped the headlong development that has marred so much of Latin America’s natural beauty. Even its largest metropolis, Belize City, is home to no more than 60,000 people.
Okay, okay, we’re interested in exploring the world out there, but does that
Okay, okay, we’re interested in exploring the world out there, but does that mean we have to receive 17 America Online trial discs in a week, each in its own unique shrink-wrapped plastic-and-cardboard package?
No doubt about it, home is where the danger is. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 50 percent of all our illnesses can be traced to indoor pollution, which is 10 times more toxic than its outdoor counterpart.
Tired of feeling helpless in the seemingly futile struggle to slow tropical rainforest destruction? Try buying some wood–“certified” wood that is–guaranteed to come from an environmentally “well-managed” forest.
Is there anything out there in cyberspace that’s really useful for businesses? The Internet is still a slow, bumpy road for companies trying to find information to help them become cleaner and greener. But there are a few worthy destinations out there.
Every year, the average American kid watches 40,000 TV commercials. Against that barrage of messages, the tiny but determined voice of The Media Foundation–otherwise known as the Culture Jammers–is struggling to be heard.
You’re settled into your seat in a darkened movie theater, watching Rocky III. Sylvester Stallone and his young son are at the breakfast table, and the camera moves in on a prominent box of Wheaties. "You gotta eat the breakfast of champions if you want to grow up big and strong," says the fatherly Stallone.
A few years ago, a company called Space Marketing, Inc. (SMI) came up with a plan to send a mile-long billboard into space. Coated with reflective plastic, the billboard would beam down a corporate logo that appeared as large as the moon, and as it orbited the Earth, would be visible to every single person on the planet.
