Sprenzy Shopping Blog

Over the past several months, I’ve been watching episodes of Planet Earth on TV. After each episode, I am amazed at the beauty of our planet and I’m completely in awe of the wildlife footage captured in this BBC series. Words cannot describe the magnificent scenery and intriguing animal behavior in these DVDs, so check out the video below for a preview.

“This astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you’ll ever experience from the comforts of home. The premiere episode, “From Pole to Pole,” serves as a primer for things to come, placing the entire series in proper context and giving a general overview of what to expect from each individual episode. Without being overtly political, the series maintains a consistent and subtle emphasis on the urgent need for ongoing conservation, best illustrated by the plight of polar bears whose very behavior is changing (to accommodate life-threatening changes in their fast-melting habitat) in the wake of global warming–a phenomenon that this series appropriately presents as scientific fact. With this harsh reality as subtext, the series proceeds to accentuate the positive, delivering a seemingly endless variety of natural wonders, from the spectacular mating displays of New Guinea’s various birds of paradise to a rare encounter with Siberia’s nearly-extinct Amur Leopards, of which only 30 remain in the wild.”

I have always enjoyed watching animal behavior and was fortunate enough to go on safari in the Serengeti several years ago. Watching Planet Earth is almost as good as watching the animals in person, sometimes it’s even better due to the night vision and super slow motion video captured.

One of the most amusing clips is the mating displays of New Guinea’s birds of paradise. This video is pure entertainment…

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series is available in standard DVD-Video, HD-DVD and Blu-ray. This is a great gift for anyone who enjoys the outdoors or loves animals.

Last week, a broad group of companies, government agencies and Yahoo! launched the 18Seconds movement. The environmental initiative is named for the average time it takes a person to change a standard light bulb to an ENERGY STAR labeled compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL).

Lawrence Bender, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, stated in a Yahoo! press release…

“This movement is about empowering the individual – to say to every person in America that with one easy step, they can become part of a movement that will literally change the world. I believe the CFL is the Trojan horse into the minds of the American public. Once you get somebody who feels good about making a difference and at the same time saving money, you have them thinking about what else they can do.”

In conjunction with the 18Seconds movement, Yahoo! created a site, 18Seconds.org, which ranks states and cities based on the number of CFL bulbs purchased since the beginning of the year. From 18Seconds.org…

“A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is a light bulb that uses less  energy than a standard bulb to provide the same amount of light. Those bearing the government’s ENERGY STAR label use 1/3 the energy of a traditional bulb, can last up to 10 times longer, and save $30 or more in energy costs over their lifetime. You can find ENERGY STAR CFLs most anywhere you currently shop for light bulbs.

What kind of difference can one CFL make? Consider this:  If every American swapped just ONE bulb for an ENERGY STAR labeled CFL, it would collectively save more than $8 billion in energy costs, prevent burning 30 billion pounds of coal, and remove 2 million cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions from our atmosphere. Just imagine the difference we could make if we replaced all of the lights we use most!”

18Seconds.org has additional information on why and how to switch to CFL bulbs and more importantly, how to recycle CFLs, which contain a small amount of mercury. On the site, you can also spread the word by creating a badge like the one shown above right.

Currently, San Francisco is only the 83rd ranked city in the number of CFL bulbs purchased. So I’m calling on my friends and neighbors in San Francisco to do our part and make the switch to CFLs. We can do better than 83! It’s a simple step to help save our environment and it only takes 18 seconds.