China is currently the world's largest consumer of illegal "wildlife products" -- 40 percent of the global market. And that number's only going to grow as its economy strengthens. WildAid has gone to the battlements with its Conservation Awareness program, using the '08 Olympics in Beijing as an opportunity to highlight the need for conservation. They'll be enlisting athletes to educate folks about this issue during the games, and have developed a number of PSAs featuring Chinese and other athletes, on view here.

A hopeful Friday note: a significant downloadable report (PDF) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. It was just brought to my attention, but it's from 2004. Its message bears repeating: energy efficiency/technologies have the potential to dramatically reduce energy use while supporting economic growth. This European agency estimates that the E.U. could accommodate a 65 percent increase in energy services by 2050, yet simultaneously use two-thirds less energy than today. In the U.S., the estimate is that we could reduce energy demand to one-sixth of our use today through more efficient technologies.

It's been 50 years since Celilo Falls in Oregon was buried by the Dalles Dam to create 800 megawatts of power, but the memory of the great salmon runs lost live on through the tribes who migrated again this year to the spot to mourn the day. Orion Grassroots Network member group Save Our Wild Salmon opined eloquently in the Oregonian this week about the choices our society made for green power. It reminded me that there is a place near my home called Salmon Falls, on Western Massachusetts' Deerfield River, where Atlantic salmon and shad used to come in …

Do environmentalists unwittingly conspire against themselves? Curt White examines the effectiveness of environmental strategies in the new issue of Orion magazine, and wonders why, even when we are trying to aid the environment, we are not willing as individuals to leave the system that we know in our heart of hearts is the cause of our problems.

The Orion Grassroots Network just screened this new film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil for a capacity crowd, and I'd recommend it to any organizer seeking to stimulate conversation about how to start to getting our communities off of oil. Created and distributed by Network member group The Community Solution, it's a tale of how Cuba reacted when the Soviets stopped sending them oil in 1990. It documents a robust effort to build community and develop renewable energy and sustainable agriculture/permaculture systems, which have sparked many positives for Cuban society. A solid follow-up to The End …

Here in southwest Mass. there's a new local currency issued by a nonprofit that's been making a splash with recent stories in the NY Times and on ABC national news. There are 230 businesses accepting BerkShares already, and there are 140,000 in regular circulation. The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scale -- building the local economy by maximizing circulation of trade within a defined region. They were widely used early in the 1900s, but are now being recognized as a tool for …

No, not the nasty March 17th green beer, nor the greenwashed Budweiser variety: I mean Green Drinks, the green social hour phenomenon now in 197 cities worldwide... Today marks one year that the Orion Grassroots Network has been hosting drinks at a local microbrewery once a month, and it's great fun. Member organizations of the network come by so we can catch up on their programs, green designers and architects turn up, college profs and their students shuffle in, too. It's a great opportunity to interact in real time with the people you know or should know, and it's the …

Despite any economic or structural barriers you may have encountered on the way to a greener lifestyle, now you can try out for the Solar Power Dance Team! Yes, the sexy squad that supports the WNBA's Connecticut Sun is renewable and holding open tryouts this weekend in Wethersfield. Can't you see yourself in this awesome uniform? (Video below the fold.)

Hear ye, hear ye. Anon, find a new web-source for info on biofuels, one that ye can add to and edit as ye wish. It's a wiki, and it's all about sustainability. See the sustainability standards section if ye don't believe. Yeah, it may indeed be possible to bring forth from the good earth both foods and fuels.

There's lots of talk about hunters and fishers being the original conservationists; the venerable publication Field and Stream seems to be walking that talk. They've got a conservation editor now, Bob Marshall, and he's got a lot to say that's good to hear. He writes for the magazine and also has a blog at the magazine's site, the Green Sportsman, where you can read his opinion pieces calling for action on climate change, celebrating the hope that big oil's losing its grip on national energy policy, and lauding labor unions and sporting groups for teaming up to aid wildlife. Say …