The ‘Blue Climate Coalition,’ comprised of sixty-six conservation groups and interests and over 150 marine scientists and professionals, from 33 countries, sent communications addressed to President Obama and the United States Senate.

The letters request the option for marine conservation solutions to climate change to be considered in national climate change legislation and international climate change treaties, and support for marine science research that further explores this concept.

It appears that Gilles Marini, from Dancing With the Stars (and the full frontal shower scene in the Sex and the City movie, ahem), also signed the letters as a supporter of healthy oceans.

Philippe, Jr., and Alexandra Cousteau, grandchildren of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, signed-on, representing their respective conservation organizations EarthEcho International and Blue Legacy International.

A wide range of interests were represented in the coalition letters: environmental conservation, climate change education and advocacy, ecosystem restoration, the dive industry, ecotourism and sustainable travel, carbon offsetting, fishing, and scientific research.

And, for the record, in my selection of image, I took it upon myself to ensure representation for those interested in photos of shirtless men. I hope that it will also somewhat offset the image in the post below.

- John Salley speaking to congress about the importance of vegetarian foods. Salley was joined on Capital Hill by Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich and representatives from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 2009, which regulates the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, will come up for congressional review next year. Here’s hoping that congress make smart choices!

In their continuing efforts to squeak every last bit of affection for the First Family from my veins, the White House tonight will host a star gazing party on the front lawn. According to MSNBC,

“A group of professional and amateur astronomers will set up more than 20 telescopes during the presidential star party to mark the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a celebration of the 400th anniversary of famed astronomer Galileo Galilee’s first use of a telescope to observe the night sky. President Obama, his family and a group of local middle-school students are expected to attend.”

The star party will kick off tonight around 8PM EST with a live address on NASA TV from President Obama. According to a White House press office statement, the star party is aimed at highlighting “the President’s commitment to science, engineering, and math education as the foundation of this nation’s global technological and economic leadership and to express his support for astronomy in particular — for its capacity to promote a greater awareness of our place in the universe, expand human knowledge, and inspire the next generation by showing them the beauty and mysteries of the night sky.”

Thankfully, it looks like Mother Nature is going to give the White House a bit of a break: Tonight’s forecast calls for clear skies and a low of 43 degrees. Good luck with that light pollution.

Here in Los Angeles, we are proud to be making an important contribution to the national goal of cleaner air and “greener” energy. We urge lawmakers in Washington to update federal law and allow a first-of-its-kind emissions reduction initiative like the Clean Truck Program to flourish.”

- Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa discussing the success of the Clean Truck Program on the Huffington Post. Want to learn more about the program and its successful first year? Visit HuffingtonPost.com and read the entire piece.

Earlier this week we told you Michelle Obama would be making a guest appearance on the premiere of Sesame Street’s 40th Season — and now, video has been released giving us a glimpse of her gardening tips for kids.

As the Vegetarian Star points out, TIME magazine has a hilarious take on the First Lady’s appearance on the show saying that she’s doing it only to “continue to spread her radical/Marxist/fascist message about planting gardens and eating vegetables.” Well done.

Nasheed recently took to the Huffington Post to share his ideas about our growing environmental problems and to explain that “for the Maldives, climate change is no vague or distant irritation but a clear and present danger to our survival.”

He explains that in the Maldives, a sea level rise of even a few meters could ruin most of the country. Furthermore, the warming oceans could destroy coral reefs and leave the islands unprotected from the waves.

Mohamed suggests that the world must “wean itself off coal before 2030, and immediately end the deforestation pouring carbon in the atmosphere,” or we could see mass destruction.

We hear you, brother!

To read the whole piece, visit HuffingtonPost.com.

We might not know the name “Jeremy Clarkson” here in the States, but he seems to be a pretty big deal in Britain.

Clarkson is a journalist and best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear. Oh yeah, and he’s not a big fan of the Mother Earth. According to the Guardian.co.uk:

“He has questioned why Britain has so many hills, proposed that great white sharks should be eaten to extinction, been excited at the thought of Birmingham being covered by a glacier, rammed a car into a tree and driven up Ben Tongue, a Scottish mountain, in a 4×4.”

To help “convince” Clarkson that the changing environment is a big deal, earlier this week seven women from the group Climate Rush dumped six bags of horse manure on his drive and front lawn.

“Clarkson was not there but we left several steaming piles of manure and a message saying ‘this is what you’re landing us in’,” said Tamsin Omond, one of the activists from Climate Rush.

How anyone can still believe the jury’s out on climate change is beyond me.  Here’s to hoping he gets the point!

photo credit: guardian.co.uk

McKay is a singer, songwriter, actress and activist who’s latest album, Obligatory Villagers, is on our top favorite list.

Last year Ecorazzi featured an exclusive interview with the musician who told us to “please vote and don’t listen to celebrities because my toaster was just on fire about a half hour ago and my whole building didn’t know what was going on.”

McKay is once again encouraging people to vote (but hopefully staying away from the toaster) with her latest PSA endorsing New York City Council candidate Yetta Kurland.

Now we know that not everybody lives in New York, but Kurland is exceptionally awesome and we can’t help but showcase her greatness. A warrior for human, animal and environmental rights, Kurland has a long history of taking action for her community and we endorse the hell out of her.

Check out the video below to watch Nellie’s PSA and then visit YettaKurland.com to find out why we’re glowing.

Sure, we got all excited when it was revealed that the White House kitchens were pushing a new, major composting system — but this latest news has us giddy.

While unlikely, President Obama mentioned yesterday that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were looking into setting up a small farmers market just outside the White House. “One of the things that we’re trying to do now is to figure out, can we get a little farmers’ market—outside of the White House? I’m not going to have all of you all just tromping around inside—(laughter)—but right outside the White House—(laughter)—so that—so that we can—and—and—and that is a win-win situation,” he said.

Presumably, you might see some produce from the official White House garden in that market — which we know would probably fly off the shelves faster than anything else. This farmers market reveal was part of a larger answer on physical fitness for children and nutrition in schools. As we’ve covered, there’s been a strong push to increase the nutritional value of school lunches. Tobey Maguire recently wrote letters to top-ranking Congressional leaders urging an update to the Child Nutrition legislation — while a new ad campaign around D.C. features a young girl asking the question, “President Obama’s daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don’t I?”

“When it comes to food, one of the things that we are doing is working with school districts,” said the President. “And the child nutrition legislation is going to be coming up.  We provide an awful lot of school lunches out there and—and reimburse local school districts for school-lunch programs.  Let’s figure out how can we get some fresh fruits and vegetables in the mix.  Because sometimes you go into schools and—you know what the menu is, you know?  It’s French fries, Tater Tots, hot dogs, pizza and—now, that’s what kids—let’s face it, that’s what kids want to eat, anyway (Laughter.)  So it’s not just the schools’ fault.”

“A, that’s what kids may want to eat.  B, it turns out that that food’s a lot cheaper, because of the distributions that we’ve set up. And so what we’ve got to do is to change how we think about, for example, getting local farmers connected to school districts, because that would benefit the farmers, delivering fresh produce, but right now they just don’t have the distribution mechanisms set up.”

via Grist

Putting aside the fact that Brad Pitt isn’t even eligible to run for Mayor of New Orleans (you must be a resident for five years, he’s got almost four under his belt), a growing chorus of supporters nevertheless have been campaigning on the actor’s behalf; going so far as to even sell an incredible amount of “Brad Pitt for Mayor” tees.

During an interview with media-buddy Ann Curry on NBC’s Today show — which took place in one of the green homes the actor built through his Make It Right org — Pitt put the rumors to rest after the reporter asked him if he would serve as acting Mayor if called upon.

“Yeah, yeah,” he joked.

But then Pitt went on to say that his liberal stance would most likely be his undoing — despite the fact that he’s been one of the main drivers of rebuilding in New Orleans’ especially hard-hit Lower-9th Ward. “I’m running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform,” Brad said. “I don’t have a chance!”

When pressed by Ann, Brad said again. “I don’t have a chance,” he explained. “It’s not what I do best.”

Truly a platform I can get behind. Now where do I get one of those t-shirts? Check out the full video below: