PHOENIX, AZ, January 8, 2010 – On February 7^th, Everlasting Marks, a local environmental education nonprofit, is kicking off their second annual “Take a Hike!” hike-a-thon fundraiser sponsored by REI. They are currently recruiting participants who find sponsors to pledge funds for hiked miles that can be completed over the course of the 8-week event.  There will be awards and prizes for the most miles hiked and the most funds raised.

Registration for the hike-a-thon ends January 22, 2010 and the first hike is February 7^th. It continues for 2 months with one scheduled hike each week at various mountains in the greater Phoenix area and ends April 5^th.  In order to meet their mileage goals, hikers can participate in the organization’s scheduled hikes, or hike on their own at locations and dates they choose.  All ages are welcome and families are encouraged to participate.

Jaime Collins, founder of Everlasting Marks states, “The ‘Take a Hike!’ program is not just an event to raise funds, but to increase the community’s awareness of the environment through the enjoyment of the outdoors.”

This year’s hike-a-thon is in honor of Tessa Worby, who had a fatal fall while rock climbing Camelback Mountain on February 5, 2009.  While her accident is a reminder of the dangers of hiking and rock climbing, her memory serves as an inspiration to others to live life to its fullest.

“Tessa was passionate about the outdoors, youth and the environment, reflecting the values of Everlasting Marks,” said Collins.  “May we each discover even a portion of her enthusiasm in our own lives.”

Everlasting Marks is an Arizona based organization dedicated to promoting cultural understanding and environmental awareness through youth-oriented educational service projects that involve sustainable construction from recycled materials. Current projects include the development of a sustainable garden and educational facility at Superstition Farm in Mesa. For more information visit www.EverlastingMarks.org

Michael Shuman will be speaking about localism on February 1st in downtown Phoenix, this is sure to be an interesting talk. He will also be in Tucson on the February 2nd at the UA Student Union at 6:30 in the Santa Rita room.

Below is a note from AZ BioDiesel owner Dan Rees about the federal tax incentive that expired this January. AZ BioDiesel is a local Arizona biodiesel producer that makes their fuel from 100% locally sourced waste vegetable oil.

Hi Everyone,

Az BioDiesel is still alive and producing for now without the $1 a gallon federal biodiesel tax credit.

It will hopefully be passed by Feb/March and be retroactive to Jan 1st but there are no guarantees.

For now, we (AZ BioDiesel) can afford to “weather the storm” and wait until the end of January to see if the tax credit will come back anytime soon.

Most plants around the country unfortunately, have closed or severely reduced production as they can’t weather a long wait to get the tax credit dollars.

The word is that if congress doesn’t get around to it before Feb, most of the industry will close and many may not be able to reopen. 29,000+ jobs will be lost very soon. Congress came back Jan 20th from their holiday break. Health care was still taking priority to anything else when they started.

Our industry is the victim of congress’ focus on health care and not having time to pass the biodiesel tax credit extension which helps biodiesel to be competitively priced to the already subsidized petroleum fuels.

Several senators (Dem & Rep) have sent letters to President Obama to get the extension passed quickly but, no answer yet.

Some are saying that Big Oil is behind this. The EPA was going to pass (this Feb) it’s new alt fuel standards which, for the first time, would include a national minimum requirement for 1 billion gallons of biodiesel to get the industry on its feet and growing. The EPA now is saying they may just give the 1 billion gallons to the ethanol industry to add to the minimum requirement they already have since they don’t believe the biodiesel industry can now live up to the new requirement.

Another win for Big Oil and their support of ethanol! The alternative fuel (ethanol) that isn’t a threat to the future of replacing petroleum oil.

It really concerns me that President Obama had the nerve recently to tout the $2.3 billion he gave out to create new forms of energy and add 17,000 jobs while he knows that the biodiesel industry is about to lose 29,000+ jobs and already can produce new energy but no one in congress or the white house seems to care. You’ll notice very little press about the loss of the biodiesel tax credit and it’s potential to bankrupt this industry even if they get around to passing an extension later in the year.

Please help save the biodiesel industry by going to this link and sending emails to our congressmen:

Your Help Is Needed to Reinstate the Biodiesel Tax Incentive
http://www.biodiesel.org/news/taxcredit/default.shtm

With your help, this industry can survive!!!

Thanks,
Dan Rees, AZ BioDiesel

This is a guest post by longtime AzSustainability fan Tomas Carrillo.

Greetings AZSustainability readers. I’ve been in the trenches for the
last few weeks putting the finishing touches on Arizona’s first ever
TEDxPhoenix event which is scheduled to take place this Friday,
November 6th from 6pm to 9pm at the Mesa Arts Center.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with TEDxPhoenix, it’s been
described as a Cirque du Soleil for the mind. Our inaugural event
will feature six of Arizona’s leading experts brought together to
enlighten, inspire, and entertain via ideas worth spreading. For fans
of the environment and sustainability, we are excited to announce that
Urban Farm founder and sustainability guru, Greg Peterson, will be
speaking at the event.

TEDxPhoenix is also a place where you can meet individuals who are
interested in leveraging ideas, technology, education, and design to
help create a better future for the Phoenix-metro communities and
beyond. For more information about the event, I highly recommend
checking out our TEDxPhoenix
Beginners Guide.

I really hope you will join us this Friday, and here are all the event
details for your viewing pleasure:

• Homepage: www.tedxphoenix.com
• Event Date & Time: Friday, November 6th,
  2009 from 6pm to 9pm
• Location: Mesa Arts Center – Google
  Map
• Tickets: $5 – Get your tickets
  here

Sincerely,
~Tomas

Post Scriptum: TEDxPhoenix is a local and independently organized
event operated under license from TED. TED rocks, if you don’t
believe me, check out one of our favorite videos below:

(*Feed subscribers, please visit the blog post if the video
doesn’t appear.)

The new film The Age of Stupid is screening at select theaters worldwide tonight only! I know it is 8pm on Monday but it looks good if you are interested in the environment. Synopsis: “‘The Age of Stupid’ is the new cinema documentary from the Dir. of ‘McLibel’ & the Producer of the Oscar-winning ‘One Day in September’. This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching ‘archive’ footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change while we had the chance?”

Find a viewing in your neck of the woods:

AMC Theatres Ahwatukee 24
4915 East Ray Road, Phoenix, AZ 85044
(888) 262-4386

Cinemark 16 – Mesa
1051 N. Dobson Road
Mesa, AZ 85201 (800) 326-3264

AMC Theatres Mesa Grand Twenty Four
1645 South Stapley
Mesa, AZ 85204 (888) 262-4386

AMC Westgate 20
9400 West Hanna Lane
Glendale, AZ 85305 (888)262-4386

AMC Theatres Desert Ridge 18
21001 N. Tatum
Phoenix, AZ 85050 (888) 262-4386

AMC Theatres Arrowhead 14
7700 W. Bell Road, Suite 1079
Glendale, AZ 85308  (888) 262-4386

Century Oro Valley Marketplace
12155 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 8573

Century EL Con 20
EL Con Mall
Tucson, AZ 85716 (800)326-3264

Century 20 Park Place
5870 East Broadway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85711 (800)326-3264
Directions