In Chicago, a group of 13-year old kids are spending their summer not singing campfire songs or tying lanyards, but learning about geothermal heating and cooling, greenroofs and other elements of sustainable design.

The best part?  The program has inspired these teenagers to draw up plans and make recommendations for how to green the cultural center building where they meet twice a week, turning their summer learning into sustainable action.

Earthkeeper hero Elizabeth Redmond spent a day with these teens last week to talk alternative energy and share her POWERleap technology, resulting in a great hands-on, active learning experience for everyone.

Elizabeth shares more photos and her thoughts about the day over on Changents.com.  For more coverage of POWERleap, check out this recent blog post on EcoGeek or last week’s alternative energy program as heard on the Boston-based National Public Radio show, Here and Now.

Big Green Bus blogger Andrew Zabel notes, however, that even the simple pleasure of skiing down a snowy slope on a sunny day is not without guilt:    “… the carbon dioxide emissions from lifts, or in the case of our July adventure, an SUV, reduce the likelihood that we’ll get to enjoy a similar experience in the future.  In a warmer world, mountain snowpack in the Rockies will rarely if ever last into July.”

The good news?  The experience left the bussers relaxed, rejuvenated, and all the more committed to their journey in the name of alternative fuel education.

Click here for more breathtaking snow photos and here for the rest of the blog post about the Big Green Bus team’s summer ski adventure.

At least that’s the notion behind The Canary Project – one of our Earthkeeper Heroes – a husband and wife team that use artwork and visual media projects to convey the impact and urgency of climate change.

The Canary Project in Spain

Susannah Sayler and Ed Morris have traveled all over the world (recent trips include Antarctica and Madrid), photographing both landscapes that are being impacted by climate change and those working to either adapt to it or mitigate it.  The result is powerful, thought-provoking images intended to raise environmental awareness and inspire action through a medium that is universally understood.

Ed and Susannah’s most recent excursion took them to southern Spain, where they photographed the Abengoa solar installations and learned first hand about the 300 megawatt platform currently under construction which, when complete, will be the largest in Europe – drawing enough energy from the sun to power the entire city of Seville.

The solar receptor tower at the Abengoa’s solar plant

Learn more about the Canary Project, their climate-inspired journeys and the artwork they create at Changents.com.�

Rural Tennessee in mid-June is not necessarily someplace you’d want to spend a day outside. Night time isn’t so bad, but during the day it’s fairly punishing. I think that the people who put on the Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival know this.

But they’re in a tough situation. If they waited until later in the summer or later in the year then it would be hard for upwards of 80,000 (mostly) high school and college students to carve out the time between school and jobs to get to Manchester, Tennessee (which, during the Festival, apparently rises from a speck on the map to being the sixth largest city in the state).

Timberland’s “Bonnaroo Crew,” 2008

Still, while the blazing sun is beating down on the colorful “county fair”-fashioned Bonnaroo site, you really have to want to be there. And the tens of thousands of people who attend every year most definitely do want to be there, which is why it continues to be one of the most popular and engaging music, film and comedy festivals in the U.S.

Timberland has been a part of the Festival’s backstage/artist hospitality area since the Festival’s second year, and we returned for our sixth time in 2008. With a crew consisting of myself; four members of our PR team and some great young college students we hired to help out (thanks, Jaysson and Matt), we were able to get some of our new spring and summer footwear on some great influencers, ranging from established entertainers like Chris Rock, O.A.R., Robert Randolph and Ben Folds, to on-the-rise artists such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Alana Grace and metal shredders the Sword.

Aside from the product we bring every year, our main goal is to engage the people who come to the booth. The reason that we choose Bonnaroo each year isn’t random: we go there because the artists who perform there tend to be socially-conscious and aside from loving their music, we feel that they are great people to talk to about some of the things we are doing as a company. On-site, the Clean Vibes crew worked tirelessly to make sure that attendees, artists and crew recycled and composted at every turn, which was also a great service and they deserve special props for the work they do there each year.

Because of the Festival’s green/eco-leaning ethos, we are able to talk to artists from all genres – from singer/songwriters to hip-hop innovators – about Timberland’s corporate social responsibility agenda; our long history of community service; and our eco-conscious approach to footwear and apparel, which continues to make great strides as each season goes on.

We also had another important goal which relates directly to this blog – to let Bonnaroo artists and visitors know more about the just-launched Earthkeeper Network. We had some laptops in the tent for people to explore all the different aspects of the Network (Facebook page, YouTube brand channel, this blog, and the Changents site), and people were clearly interested.

In addition to our own tent staff, we were fortunate to have several members of the Big Green Bus stop by each day. Andrew Zabel and his group of merry travelers were a great addition to our Earthkeeper Network discussions and people appreciated being able to talk to them in person about their impressive quest to teach the world, one city at a time, more about the viability of using sustainable and recycled fuel sources.

We also had the chance to introduce Andrew and his crew to some of the “talent” that we were talking to in our booth, including Willie Nelson’s longtime musical collaborator and harmonica player Mickey Raphael and the group State Radio (themselves part of the Reverb organization, another of our Earthkeeper Heroes), who Andrew and Arch from BGB had a chance to interview for their own blog.

All in all, our four days there were chaotic, never-endingly busy, but very fulfilling. We helped strengthen our bond with the great people of Bonnaroo (many thanks to Festival founder Victor Waryas, as well as the Robyn, Chad and Rich at Superfly Productions for making it another great year) and we continued to get the word out about our products and about how Timberland is deepening its dialogue with consumers and making us all think about our own footprints.

There might not have been too much running water or shade there in Manchester during the afternoons, but the good vibes and great people kept us cool until the sun set each day.

Brian Coleman, PR Manager
Timberland

With every stop, the Bussers are spreading the good green word and growing their fan base.  There’s something undeniably friendly about a bright green school bus — packed with bright, enthusiastic college students — that invites onlookers to come closer, take interest, and listen to the story of this passionate team and their effort to educate America about the importance of alternative fuel, one city at a time.

Sadly, we don’t have enough vacation time banked to join the Big Green Bus team on their summer tour.  But we’re following their every move through their blog, video posts and podcasts on Changents.com (and now you can, too).

And we’re not the groupies following from afar …the Boston Globe has taken a shine to the Bussers and their mission as well.  Click here for the Globe’s feature story on the “Big Green Machine Dream Team,” and follow their ongoing coverage through the Globe’s travel blog.

Roll on, Bussers.  Here’s hoping for a smooth ride, copious veggie oil and greener days ahead.

This was the topic of conversation in our office this morning – nostalgia inspired by the new video Reverb posted on their story board at Changents.com.

The answers to the question ranged from Dire Straits (1979, Providence, RI) to the Charlie Daniels Band (1982, Oxford, Ohio) to Boyz II Men (1994, Philadelphia). Regardless of the band, the venue or the date, our team of concert-goers agreed that their first concert was a rite of passage into the wonderful world of live music. And that on one hand, the experience of going to a concert hasn’t changed much over the years; on the other hand, it can be and often is a much more enriching experience that transcends the music.

Reverb is one of the driving forces behind the trend to educate and engage both the musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainability. This summer, at concerts featuring John Mayer, Jack Johnson and the Dave Matthews Band, the bands are using bio-diesel to fuel their buses and generators. The on-site caterers are using biodegradable products and among many other things, there’s a commitment to both waste reduction and recycling.

As for the fans, if they carpool to a DMB or John Mayer concert this summer they could win DMB and John Mayer prizes. Through a partnership with PickupPal, Reverb supports this program in a fierce acknowledgement of the fact that 80% of the carbon footprint of a concert is from fans driving to and from the show. Once they arrive at the show, fans are greeted with a festival-like atmosphere in the Reverb Eco-Village where they can learn about green technologies, local and national non-profit groups dedicated to environmental sustainability, and carbon offset programs. Fans can also register to vote, participate in Eco-Trivia contests and sample eco-friendly consumer goods.

Whether you cut your concert-going teeth on hard rock, a little bit of country or something in between, there’s something uniquely powerful about a live music concert. Hats off to Reverb for realizing the opportunity to add environmental sustainability to the playlist — yet another wonderful addition to the 21st century music experience.