Welcome to Planet 100 for August 18, 2010. Here's what we're covering today. WATCH VIDEO: Eat, Pray, Love, and Shop? Eat, Pray, Love, Shop? Elizabeth Gilbert's best selling memoir Eat Pray Love opened on the big screen this weekend with its message that genuine happiness doesn't come from blind consumerism. But Sony Pictures seem to be flatly contradicting Gilbert by unleashing a tsunami of merchandise that suggests we find inner peace through purchasing. From three new Fresh Perfumes to high-end Eat Pray Love travels tours, movie-themed jewelry to ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

No Impact Man: The Documentary chronicles a one-year effort by author Colin Beavan to get off the grid and live in New York City with as little environmental impact as possible. Adding to the challenge, Beavan's journalist wife, Michelle, their toddler daughter, and the family dog get to go along for the ride, forgoing the comforts of electricity, cars, nonlocal food and even toilet paper, and among other things. The film, from independent producers Laura Gabbert (Getting to Know You, Sunset Story) and Eden Wurmfeld (The Hammer, Puccini for Beginners), premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In it, Beavan aims to draw attention to a host of pressing environmental crises while attempting to determine if living off the grid adversely affects happiness. Can individual change... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Welcome to Planet 100 for August 17, 2010. Here's what we're covering today. WATCH VIDEO: LEED Mosque and Community Center Green Mosque and Community Center A controversial new community center and mosque to be erected near Ground Zero, is to become the country's first "green mosque." Ibrahim Abdul-Matin of the Daily Beast reports that the Cordoba House Project will be LEED certified and named Park51. The new name reflects a desire to emphasize the intricate yet widely unknown connections between Islamic teachings and environmentalism. For example, Islam calls upo... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

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A lot of music festivals are playing a greener tune these days, with carbon offsets, recycling programs and the involvement of nonprofits. Think Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, Bonnaroo and others. One music festival you probably haven't heard of, the Oya festival in Oslo, Norway, is being called the greenest music festival ever. The Oya ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Wa... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Beauty pageants—with their glitz, glamor, and gowns—are not known for their environmental friendliness. And it seems that beauty queens would have—can we say priorities?—other than the planet. The women featured in today's top five roundup, however, prove that beauty and environmentalism can go hand in hand. WATCH VIDEO: Top 5 Beauty Queens Gone Green Indeed, though beauty pageant contestants often claim a desire to save the world when at the podium, these top five beauty queens are actually doing it.

5. Priyanka Chopra

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The following blog was written by Philippe Cousteau, thick in Gulf Oil Spill coverage and clean-up from New Orleans: They named him Burke after the sound he made calling for his mother, unaware that he would never see her again. From now on, his would be a life of artificial milk and strangers, a baby walrus who would be raised in an alien land far away from the one into which he was born. The year was 1972 and my father Philippe Cousteau Sr. was filming another episode of the famed series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. This particular installment, A Smile of the Walrus, chronicled the story of a changing Arctic ecosystem and the struggle of the various creatures such as the walrus to adapt. Thirty-seven years ago it was the influx of modern technolo... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Dare to dream. When I was a little kid, I used to hear it all the time. Dare to dream. You can be a lawyer or a doctor or even the President of the United States. I dared to dream. And I became me. Hahahahahaha. Sometimes though, if you dare to dream, things can work out beautifully. I dared to dream of double digit episodes of The Fabulous Beekman Boys. And motherfuckers, it came true. We’re on episode 10. Woohoo, woohoo. Episode 10!!! As usual, the goat scale will be used. Tension in the relationship. Josh lives in the city making the money. Brent lives on the ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

X Japan, the biggest rock band in Japanese history, recently arrived in America, in Chicago, at Lollapalooza 2010. It was their first concert in the U.S., but not their first contribution. Yoshiki, the band's leader/songwriter/drummer and classically-trained pianist, recently launched Yoshiki Foundation America, a California nonprofit that plans to use funds to purchase musical instruments, provide music lessons and send needy kids to rock concerts. He's had a Japanese foundation for years. As if the music wasn't cool enough—X Japan has sold more than 30 million albums since forming in 1982, and Yoshiki has been called the Bono of Japan. He (Yoshiki, ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

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Welcome to Planet 100 for August 13, 2010. Here's what we're covering today. WATCH VIDEO: Dumpster Pools Cool City Kids Dumpster Diving For the first time ever, New York City invited its residents to swim in pools made from repurposed garbage dumpsters. The occasion? It's the third annual Summer Streets program city where the city closes down Park Avenue to cars. The urban pool are the brainchild of David Belt, president of Macro-Sea, who wanted to experiment with underused space and materials, repurposing them with urban renewal in mind. Good n... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Welcome to Planet 100 for August 12, 2010. Here's what we're covering today. WATCH VIDEO: The Heat is On Wildfires Go Nuclear More bad news in Russia. The fires, which have covered the capital Moscow in a poisonous haze and are hastening a thaw of Arctic ice and are now threatening to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia. Environmentalists say the most dangerous radioactive elements left by Chernobyl are cesium and strontium which with repeated exposure could raise the risks of cance... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Catch crews in pursuit of poachers and black market fish traders on Coastwatch, Fridays at 8/7c. Overfishing—some legal, some not, has wreaked havoc on the environment and other marine life, yet people continue to eat even some of the most unsustainable fish, often because of the nutritional benefits they're told these fish contain. But fish are not the only sources of nutrien... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Welcome to Planet 100 for August 11, 2010. Here's what we're covering today. WATCH VIDEO: Flooding Tops Tsunami Flooding Tops Tsunami On Monday, the UN said that scale of devastation caused by the Pakistani floods have eclipsed that of the 2004 tsunami. A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the 13.8 million affected outstripped the more than three million hit by the 2005 Pakistani earthquake, five million in the 2004 tsunami and the three million affected by the Haiti earthquake in January this year. The United ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Blue August is a month to celebrate, value and promote conservation of our waters in all their forms, and one of the primary places we can help is in our own local watershed. What is a watershed, anyway? A watershed is the area of land where all water that flows off it, or exists under it, moves to the same place. These land areas don’t fall in city, county or country boundaries; they follow natural geologic patterns and come in all shapes and sizes. The U.S., including Hawaii and Puerto Rico, boasts 2,267 watersheds. Why do watersheds matter? It’s important to be aware of the water quality in your watershed so you can keep the land around your home free of pol... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

The artists behind the Green Music Group have been challenging fans for months to take steps to make the world a better place, and win prizes to boot. But you may not have heard much about the winners (unless you were one of the lucky ones). So here's a rundown of who's taken home prizes in the first seven GMG challenges, including their winning pictures. This is to inspire, and inform, since the deadline for the final challenge, from Maroon 5, to connect with a local nonprofit (and document it with a camera), is fast approaching. That deadline is noon on Aug. 13. It's a deadline to meet, because even if you don't win th... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Watch Beekman farm fun live on the goat cam from sunrise to sunset. In the final episode of the season, Josh and Brent fight the battle between spring planting and spring cleaning, and Farmer John lets the goats out to play. But all isn't fun and chores. After their year of sacrifice, Brent prepares a space on Main Street for the very first Beekman 1802 retail store. Josh, however, worries if a year will turn into a lifetime, when a web cam date seems like the only way to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Can their relationship handle the pressure or will it crack under... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

It's official: The Fabulous Beekman Boys, the docu-series following urbanite couple Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell in their attempt to become “gentleman farmers,” is coming back for season two. The second 10-episode season will air during the first half of 2011, with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s World of Wonder again producing for Planet Green. The first season of The Fabulous Beekman Boys originally premiered June 16, inside Planet Green’s VERGE primetime block. The initial season followed Josh, a best-selling author and advertising executive, and his partner, Brent, a physician and former vice president at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, as they left Manhattan behind for... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

As an inventor and entrepreneur, Dean Kamen has dedicated his life to developing technologies that help people lead better lives. He holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. Some notable breakthrough devices include the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from medical specialties such as chemotherapy, neonatology and endocrinology, and the Independence® IBOT® 4000 Mobility System, a sophisticated mobility aid. Dean is also recognized as the inventor of the Segway® Human Transporter, which was designed to provide a clean alternative for short distance travel and enhance people's productivity. One of Dean's newest projects is a water purification system tha... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Dean Kamen is a globally renowned inventor with more than 400 patents, including the Segway, the insulin pump and the robotic prosthetic “Luke Arm.” This fall, the inventor will play the role of investigator—leaving his private island to jet around the world in search of the technologies of tomorrow. In the world premiere original series Dean of Invention, Planet Green joins Kamen on his quest to find the next scientific breakthroughs that will improve life for all mankind. Dean of Invention airs in Planet Green’s VERGE primetime block at 10/9c beginning on Friday, October 22. Dean of Invention follows Kamen and correspondent Joanne Colan as they explore the emerging technologies being developed to tackle the most daunting global challenges of today. In each episode, Kamen and Colan ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

In celebration of Blue August, our month-long water feature, we bring to you programming about our most precious resource. Don't miss a minute of the journey to our different, diverse and unique oceans.

Watch a preview of our exciting Oceans Blue event.

Episode 1 - Sea of Cortez, premiering Saturday, August 8 at 9/8c The shallow sea of Cortez, located between mainland Mexico and the Baja peninsula, is one of earth's most unusual ecosystems. Technically part of the Sonoran desert, it is ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

It’s Episode 9 already? My God, The Fabulous Beekman Boys is so great it feels like it’s episode 3. We only have a few left. I think I’m going to cry when it ends. For real. I’m going to cry. As usual, for this recap, I’ll use the goat system to rank what I see, and it will indicate whether I will follow the Beekman Boys’ lead and leave New York City. It’s still winter. I hate winter. It’s cold. There’s nothing growing. You have to sit around inside all the time. Brent decides to use the time to come up with ideas for expanding the business. I’d rather go to a movie. There are no movie theaters in the country. One goat. Cheese. The Beekman Boys have been Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

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You’re the victim of an earthquake, buried under tons of shattered concrete and rubble. Who will find you—and how? You’re an American soldier, trudging for days in a hostile environment carrying more than a hundred pounds of gear. How can you be ready to fight for your life when you’re serving as your own pack mule? Dean of Invention provides the answer: robots. After years of being relegated to characters in fantasy and science fiction, robots are finally becoming crucial players in solving real-life problems. The twist is that they won’t be our peers. They’ll last longer. They’ll be stronger. And they’ll meet challenges human beings simply can’t. More On Dean Kamen ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans die on the operating table or in recovery from surgery. Surgeons are among the most intelligent people on the planet, but the reality is that the tools they use are large and crude. Medical instruments are more often suited for cutting and tearing than healing and mending, especially when it comes to the most delicate areas of the body—the heart, the brain and the eyes. But what if we had tools that were molecular in size? Could we develop a medical technology that would let us repair the body at the cellular level? DEAN OF INVENTION explores a new age of medicine that is upon us, an era of tiny robots with enormous power, including “nanobots” that are able to enter the bloodstream, find cancerous cells without anyone’s guidance and kill ... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

After a century of dependence on fossil fuel, the flexibility and power of electric technology can open the door to revolutionary new ways of living and moving—mobility on demand. Electric cars are quickly evolving into cutting-edge and sexy next-generation realities that include cars that fold in half and even drive themselves. Innovative engineers and builders are ready to redesign not just what we drive, but how we live, because one thing is for sure: Right after freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, Americans prize freedom of movement. Dean of Invention explores what it takes for Americans to find a way to make the needs of tomorrow fit with our need for mobility. More On Dean Kamen Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Now more than ever, there is a great need for limb replacement. More than a thousand soldiers have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan missing an arm or a leg—a higher percentage’ than in any previous conflict. And every year 100,000 diabetics in this country suffer the same amputations. But new advancements in prosthetics are changing the definition of what it means to be disabled. Dean of Invention asks, are we entering an era of bionic humans, when disabled people become hyper-abled? More On Dean Kamen FIRST Robotics Competition

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Joanne Colan has seven years experience hosting, writing, co-producing and creating broadcast television and radio for major networks and cable channels across international markets. Her focus over the past four years has been in the area of new media, science, health, and sustainability. As the host of Rocketboom from 2006-2009 Joanne became a recognized name in New Media in a position which allowed her access to influential personalities and organizations worldwide that have changed the way we think about technology and our future, including Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, Arianna Huffington, Chris Anderson of the TED Conference and others. Joanne also used the video blog platform to promote eco awareness, bringing attention to organizations like Architecture for Humanity, Earth Day... Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

Scientists are working to project human consciousness into the infinite virtual realm of the Internet. Can we give speech back to people rendered mute by illness or trauma? Will it be possible to link our minds directly to vehicles, from cars to fighter jets, or restore bodily freedom to those who are shackled inside paralyzed bodies? Someday, will we be able to send data from computers back into the brain, giving people a wealth of abilities still unfathomable to humans? In this episode, Dean of Invention explores brain-computer interface (BCI), whereby the intentions and desires of the human mind can be read—and translated into action. BCI has the potential to unlock vast new potential powers for humankind. More On Dean Kamen Read the full story on Planet Green read more »

This week on The Fabulous Beekman Boys, Josh and Brent's goat milk cheese is put to the ultimate test when Josh cooks for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, a world-reknowned chef. Will Beekman Blaak cheese make the cut onto Jean-Georges' menu? Find out if the boys' cheese makes it on the menu in this week's episode, premiering Wednesday, August 4 at 9/8c. For now, take a sneak peek: Read the full story on Planet Green read more »