Plastic Free, Extreme Weather, Climate Science – It’s a wRAP, February 4, 2011

“Plastic Free” …four days and counting! That’s when we jump on board on the Rodale.com Plastic Free Challenge. Are you going to join us? Theresa Loe, from Growing a Greener World lays it “on the table” as she tells us that failure is an option when factoring in the kids, life and eating. For a walk on the “irreverent side”, check out our Video Peek of the Week, dance and sing along to the latest “rap” on single use plastics..

In the News this week we look at some of the extreme weather taking place around the world, and also right here at home where rain, ice and snow have been pummeling our nation, week after week. As we scramble to get coverage for our kids who are at home for yet another “snow day” a parallel world seems to be unfolding in our nation’s capital as a new Congress tries to tie the hands of the regulatory agencies that are charged with protecting our environment. A group of eminent US scientists, including 8 members of the independent US National Academy of Sciences called on the US Congress to take a “fresh look” at the strong scientific evidence linking human activity to climate change.

Want to help scientists with their work on climate research? In a recent article in the New York Times, two interesting projects were identified where scientists are looking to you for help in collecting data. Check out Data.Rescue@Home, a program where you can help digitize data collected decades ago. A similar project is OldWeather.org, where you can help scientists recover world wide weather observations by helping to transcribe old Royal Navy ship’s logs. Share these links with the kids in your life, they may want to get involved too!

We are already in reruns! In Climate Mama News watch our TV Network Debut on Lifetime TV.