	Vol. 2 No. 1 – Nov 1, 2009
	IN THIS ISSUE: 4th Annual EarthWorks Expo Comes to Denver May 22-23, 2010 WORTH A LOOK! Lester Brown's Plan B 4.0 Green News Highlights • Those Goofy Americans – Belief in Global Warming Declining, Pew Finds • Tesla Motors Comes to Boulder, CO
	WORTH A LOOK! Lester Brown's Plan B 4.0 Few humans alive today can match Lester Brown for comprehensive knowledge of the state of our world. Founder and past-president of the Worldwatch Institute, founder and current president of the Earth Policy Institute, recipient of 24 honorary degrees and numerous awards including the United Nations Environment Prize and a MacArthur Foundation “genius award,” Brown is also author or co-author of some 50 books including four iterations of PLAN B, aptly subtitled “Mobilizing to Save Civilization.” In PLAN B 4.0, released in July 2009, Brown spells out the core challenges facing 21st century human civilization in two broad categories. The first is challenges to land and water resources – including soil integrity, food sufficiency and fresh water availability – brought about by the continuing growth of human population and its insatiable appetites. The second is the interrelated challenges of climate change and energy transition, the absolute necessity of stabilizing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions while also meeting the colossal energy needs of 8+ billion humans by mid-century. He then spends the bulk of the book describing real steps that can and must be taken on a global scale to meet these challenges before time runs out. Make no mistake: Time is short, and the outcome is far from certain. The alternative, Plan A or business-as-usual, in the words of a recent Newsweek essay, “has started to read like the end of the world.” Plan A has almost insurmountable momentum, buttressed by vast quantities of human complacency, ignorance, confusion and willful obfuscation by vested interests that believe, however wrongly, they are somehow exempt from catastrophes that will soon engulf the less fortunate. In the face of this historic peril, Lester Brown declares that humankind has the means, right now, to set things right – if we can muster the collective will and wisdom to act. No magic bullets are required, no divine intervention; simply the disciplined application of tools, technologies and best practices already at hand. Will we, individually and collectively, rise to this epochal challenge? That is undoubtedly the defining question of our time. PLAN B 4.0 can be purchased in book form or downloaded as a free pdf from the website of the Earth Policy Institute. *LESTER BROWN WILL SPEAK ON PLAN B 4.0* IN BOULDER, COLORADO** on Wednesday, November 18, 6 pm in the Wittemyer Courtroom, Wolf Law building, University of Colorado Boulder campus. His talk is free of charge. A book signing will follow.
	QUOTABLE: By what name will future generations know our time? Will they speak in anger and frustration of the time of the Great Unraveling, when profligate consumption exceeded Earth's capacity to sustain and led to an accelerating wave of collapsing environmental systems, violent competition for what remained of the planet's resources, and a dramatic dieback of the human population? Or will they look back in joyful celebration on the time of the Great Turning, when their forebears embraced the higher-order potential of their human nature, turned crisis into opportunity, and learned to live in creative partnership with one another and the Earth? –– David Korten, The Great Turning
	CONTACT: EARTHWORKS LETTER Michael Lindemann, Editor michael@earthworks-expo.com Phone: 970-416-8700

	The Tesla Roadster

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Denver's 4th Annual EarthWorks Expo

A Call to Action! May 22-23, 2010

It's official. Denver’s 4th annual EarthWorks Expo will take place at the Merchandise Mart the weekend of May 22-23, 2010.

This marks a departure from previous Expos that took place during the summer. EarthWorks organizers are confident the new May date will be a popular change.

"We were ready to schedule our 2009 show in May when we learned that Green Festival was coming to Denver in May 2009, pre-empting our plans," explains Expo director Michael Lindemann. "But with Green Festival not returning to Denver in 2010, we have the opportunity not only to schedule our next show in May, but also to establish EarthWorks Expo once and for all as Denver's biggest, most informative and empowering green-living event of the year."

It’s a watershed time for the global movement toward sustainability. Every day brings promising news of advances in renewable energy, green building, green transportation. More nations are stepping up their commitments to fight climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. More companies and organizations are taking meaningful steps to green their products and practices. And millions of individual citizens are committing to reduce their carbon footprint by recycling, switching to CFLs, changing their diets, driving more fuel-efficient vehicles, improving their home insulation, purchasing wind energy, composting and more. But there is also resistance and polarization: between conservative and progressive political factions, between developed and developing nations, between defenders of the status quo and those who are impatient for change. Real progress is slow.

In hard economic times, it’s no surprise that most of us must focus on the immediate challenge of making ends meet. Nor is it surprising that public concern for longer-term challenges like climate change and peak oil recedes in the face of day to day financial stress. Yet, despite the economic hardships that countless people now face, the need to focus upon the multiple challenges of sustainable living has never been greater or more urgent. Indeed, humankind’s slow and indecisive response to these challenges so far means that, for many, economic stresses will only get worse the longer we wait. It’s high time to take action, for the sake of ourselves and our loved ones, our collective future, and the health of the Earth.

How appropriate that the 40th anniversary of Earth Day will be celebrated worldwide on April 22, 2010, just one month before EarthWorks Expo returns to Denver. Earth Day 2010 will focus global attention on the urgent challenges of climate change, energy transition, species loss, water depletion and other pressing environmental issues in a way that few events ever have before. Then, one month later, EarthWorks Expo will bring to the people of Denver Metro, Boulder County and the Front Range a comprehensive showcase of practical tools, techniques and local solution-providers in renewable energy, green building, green transportation, sustainable gardening and agriculture, resource conservation and Earth-friendly goods and services for home, business and personal wellness.

EarthWorks Expo 2010 will feature up to 200 green exhibitors, 45 or more hands-on workshops including our unique Green Careers Forum, co-presented with the ReDirect Guide; special programs for children, great live entertainment and more, all for less cost than a visit to the cinema.

Plan now to be there. And decide now to heed the Call to Action! Sustainability, like a journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step, and then another, and another. Come journey with thousands and thousands of like-minded, co-hearted, committed citizens who know that the future is in our hands and cannot be postponed. The time is now, and the challenge is clear. Luckily, so are the steps we must take. EarthWorks Expo is your best opportunity to explore the sustainability steps that make sense for you now.

Join us May 22-23, 2010 for Denver's festival of green living, EarthWorks Expo! Find out more at www.earthworks2010.com.

Green News Highlights

Those Goofy Americans!

Belief in Global Warming Has Declined, Pew Research Finds

A new public opinion survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press finds that Americans are far less certain today about the reality of global warming than they were during the period 2006 through 2008. In August 2006, Pew found that solid majorities of Republicans (59%), Independents (79%) and Democrats (91%) all agreed with the idea that global mean temperature is rising. At that time, majorities of Independents and Democrats, and one-third of Republican respondents, also said that warming was caused by human activity. In contrast, Pew's latest survey in October 2009 found substantially lower numbers across the political spectrum. Only 35% of Republicans currently say there is strong evidence of global warming, and only 18% ascribe it to human activity. Among Independents, 53% see evidence for warming but only 33% see humans as a major cause. Among Democrats, the numbers are 75% and 50%, respectively. Across the board, the biggest drop in these numbers has occurred within the past 18 months. Ironically, during that same period, the scientific community has become more united than ever regarding the urgent reality of global warming and its primary source in human activity. See the full Pew report HERE.

So You Want to See/Drive/Buy a Tesla?

The world's coolest all-electric car comes to Boulder, CO

Big news for Colorado electric car lovers in the Tesla Motors October newsletter: Tesla has just opened its latest showroom in Boulder, at 915 Pearl Street (corner of 9th and Pearl). So, if you've wondered what all the hoopla is about, you can now see it for yourself. Bring along enough money to buy, say, four fully-loaded Toyota Priuses and you could even join the line to take delivery, eventually, of the world's sexiest uber-eco-car, the Tesla Roadster.
Tesla Motors wants you to know that this car makes sense in seasonally wintry Colorado. “Teslas are great in the cold,” states the newsletter. “We've performed cold-weather testing on a frozen lake in Arvidsjaur, Sweden… Our electric seat warmers and heating vents thaw drivers on frigid nights. We have two hard top options – including a clear-coat carbon fiber roof popular in Northern climates.” All that plus no gas, ever, and zero-to-sixty in less than 4 seconds. What's not to like?

The 4th annual EarthWorks Expo takes place May 22-23, 2010 in Denver, Colorado.
Visit us online at www.earthworks2010.com. Thank you!