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Cecilia Cassini is definitely not your average 10-year-old child. The fifth grader recently founded her own fashion line and is making a profit from selling her unique handmade clothing for kids and teens at Los Angeles boutiques. She's also been filling special orders that are coming in from around the world, according to her mother Michelle Cassini.

Cassini has been dubbed "America's youngest fashion designer," but that's only part of her story. She's a kid with a huge social conscience and a desire to give back. Many of her dresses, for example, are made from old repurposed clothing that she scores from the closets of her older sister, mom, and friends instead of buying new fabrics.

This not only saves her money on materials, but also is better for the planet. Her mother thinks that her dresses are popular in places like Germany, Italy, and France because they are made from recycled materials.

The young fashion maven regularly designs and donates dresses to raise money for charities such as Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, and Clothes Off Our Backs. She also gives her dresses to homeless girls. "I want to give back to the people who don't have what I have," she says. "Every little girl should have a dress so I wanted to donate dresses."

Cassini, who lives in Encino, California, travels to classrooms at other schools to inspire her peers to pursue their dreams and do what they are passionate about. Her message: You don't have to be an adult to do worthwhile things.

According to her mom, Cassini's passion has always been clothing. From the time Cassini could point, she was putting together her own outfits, and she regularly came home from preschool with designs painted or glued onto her clothing.

But it wasn't until Cassini secretly "redesigned" her older sister's brand-new dress at the ripe old age of five that her family fully understood just how interested she was in designing clothing.

She received a sewing machine for her sixth birthday from her grandmother and went immediately to work. "From the moment she got that machine, she has not stopped sewing," says her mom, who didn't expect Cassini's interest to last for so long or turn into a business.

In fact, Michelle Cassini was worried that no one was going to show up at her daughter's first trunk show at Tough Cookies Children's Boutique in Sherman Oaks, California, on November 14, 2009. It turns out her worries were unfounded.

People lined up outside the store before it opened, thanks to some good publicity, including a CBS segment and a front-page story in the Los Angeles Daily News. Her trunk show was sold out and she's been busy filling orders ever since.

Cassini seems to be taking her early success in stride and finds time to sew dozens of dresses a week, maintain good grades, play tennis, and hang out with her friends. How does she do it? She gets most of her homework done at recess so she can come home and sew.

Besides, she doesn't view it as work. The whole process is pure fun, according to Cassini, from the cutting up of old dresses to sewing them into fabulous new "masterpieces" to selling the finished products.

 

 

 

 

All photos courtesy of Michelle Cassini.

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

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Image credit: AP Photo

A small frog that had been declared extinct more than 30 years ago has been rediscovered in Australia. Litoria castanea, better known as the "yellow-spotted bell frog" or the "tablelands bell frog," was found in a creek bed on private property by biologists Luke Pearce and David Hunter.

Hunter, who is a frog expert with the New South Wales Environment Department, commented that "this was definitely the most exciting moment of my career and I will be surprised if I repeat it." He went on to say that the discovery highlights the important roll property owners play in conservation efforts.

He explained:

The property owner at this particular site is extremely excited about having this critically endangered frog species on his land, and is very much looking forward to working with us in collaboration towards the conservation of the bell frog.

The exact location of the discovery will remain a secret to protect the fragile frog population and the homeowner's property.

State Environment Minister Frank Sartor said he was "advised that finding this frog is as significant a discovery as a Tasmanian tiger."

One of the frogs and a tadpole were collected and brought to Sydney's Taronga Zoo where biologists and conservationists hope to establish a captive breeding program.

 

David DeFranza is assistant editor at Treehugger, where this post originally appeared.

 

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Photo: Tony Crider/Flickr

Okay friends, this is as much for me as it is for you. I have become lazy when it comes to using coupons at the store. I don’t spend much time tracking them down. The few I have, I forget to take to the store with me most of the time.

 

So I’m gathering a list of websites to visit while I’m creating my grocery list. These are websites that offer coupons on the foods that I buy — some frequently, some infrequently. You can save up to 30% on healthy staples such as milk, yogurt, meat, and more. Of course, how much you save depends on the prices at your local grocery store. 

 

These are sites that offer access to coupons immediately, but in some cases you need to register to get access. Once you register, you'll likely receive email newsletters, but those newsletters might have more money-saving offers in them.

 

There are many other manufacturers that don’t have immediate coupons on their sites, but they send out coupons in newsletters if you sign up for them. I’ll leave them for another blog post.

 

• Arm & Hammer – A while back, home blogger Matt told us how to clean naturally with Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. You can get coupons for Arm & Hammer products after registering on this site.
• Bordon – Organic milk coupon.
• Brown Cow – Register to get e-coupons on Brown Cow’s yogurts.
• Coleman – Complete a quick survey and get $5 in coupons for Coleman’s natural and organic meats. Save around 17% on bacon depending on where you live. 
• Earthbound Organics – You have to work for this one. Take a quiz about organics, score 100 percent, and get a coupon. Save up to 26% on salad mixes depending on the prices at your local store. 
• Earth’s Best – Coupons for organic baby food, infant formula, and toddler snacks.
• Laura’s Lean Beef – Sign up for the newsletter and receive an instant e-coupon.
• Lighthouse – You need to sign up to receive a coupon good for Lighthouse products including organic salad dressings.
• Hill’s Science Diet Pet Food – Natural dog and cat food coupons. Must register.
• Horizon – Sign up to get access to the coupons.
• Marzetti – Marzetti has a line of organic salad dressings and dips.
• Mombo Sprouts – Lots of various coupons for different natural and organic products. Changes frequently.
• Newman’s Own – The site allows you to print coupons twice and lets you know when the coupons will change so you can get the new ones when they go up. You can use 50 cent coupons on numerous products. Count on saving around 25% on lemonade, 20% on salsa, and 16% on salad dressings and pasta sauces depending on the prices at your local store. 
• Organic Valley – Coupons for organic milk, eggs, cheese, and butter. Save as much as 30% on a half-gallon of organic milk depending on prices at your grocery store. 
• Pacific Foods – Coupons for soups, beverages, and frozen foods. I love the creamy tomato soup.
• R.W. Knudsen – Register for coupons for natural juices.
• Santa Cruz – Organic beverage and peanut butter coupons.
• Seeds of Change – Organic rice, pasta, and chocolate.
• Simply Organic – Coupons for a variety of Simply Organic products.
• Seventh Generation – Register and get instant access to coupons for household products. Save up to 27% on dish-washing liquid depending on prices at your grocery store. 
• Stonyfield – You need to register for access to the e-coupons. Save around 20% on a box of organic yogurt tubes depending on prices at your store. 
• Tribe Hummus – Tribe makes an all-natural hummus and an organic hummus.

Remember, any of these sites can change or omit their coupons at any time.

 

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A new report from technology research corporation iSuppli warns that we're facing a global LED shortage in 2010.  Hooray!

Why am I cheering?  Because the reason for this shortage is a huge surge in demand for the energy-efficient lighting in the electronics industry.  Yes, it's bad that the supply is low, but it's great news that the use of more efficient lighting is becoming more mainstream.

The report says that demand for LEDs is expected to rise by double-digit percentages for at least the next three years.  In 2009, 63 billion units were consumed out of the 75 billion unit capacity worldwide.  The worst-case scenario is a rise in prices for mid-range and high-end computers and HDTVs because of their larger displays.

The solution is simple enough though:  increase production.  The two largest suppliers have gotten the hint - Aixtron and Veeco Instruments are doubling their production by the end of this year.

via PC Mag

Volunteers like to see their volunteer hours and precious dollars go far in support of the causes they care about. American Express and Take Part are launching a new campaign to make it easier to magnify each individual's good works.

The Members Project not only will enlist the public to vote on the best charities to receive $4 million American Express dollars annually, but it will donate up to $100 per person who volunteers his or her time.

Despite its name, the Members Project isn't restricted to American Express members. Anyone can suggest charities, vote for their favorites at the Take Part site and take advantage of the volunteer payments.

Neither American Express nor Take Part is new to this kind of cause marketing. American Express launched the an early cause marketing campaign in 1983 to raise the $1.7 million needed to preserve the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and has continually invested in this type of philanthropy over the years. In 2007 and 2008, it let its members determine how the company should spend its philanthropic dollars, and the company donated at total of $3.5 million to UNICEF and to the Alzheimer's Association.

Take Part is the newly launched digital arm of Participant Media, whose mission is to inspire action on a range of pressing issues. Participant Media just scored another win in its efforts with The Cove, winner of the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Food, Inc., another Participant Media film, was also nominated, and you may have heard of a little film called An Inconvenient Truth, another Participant Media production.)

"One of the things we're quite frankly incredibly proud about American Express being a partner of ours is that they are one of the original brands that saw that a brand could do good in the world and should do good in the world," said Chris Gebhardt, general manager and executive vice president of Take Part. "They get credit for creating cause marketing and it stretches back to the Statue of Liberty restoration."

The Members Project works like this:

Vote
People vote (as often as weekly) for the charities that should receive American Express money. Every three months, American Express will give $200,000 to each of five organizations, every three months. (That's $1 million each round, or $4 million ever year.) In the first round, 49 charities selected by an American Express advisory committee are eligible, but additional charities will be added at the suggestion of the audience.

Donate
The site makes it easy to find charitable organizations that need support. It also provides a platform for communicating one's charitable giving to friends, so that they might inspire them to do the same.

Volunteer
People who register their volunteer hours can earn $5 per hour, up to $100 per year. American Express cardholders can redeem those dollars for rewards, and others can apply money earned toward the charity of their choice. (Any donations made this way would be in addition to the $4 million in direct giving that American Express has promised.)

"The innovative hook here is we've added volunteering and donating into the mix as well, so it's really trying to inspire small steps someone can take," Gebhardt said. "It's not just about donating. It's about volunteering too. The small step can make a big difference."

For American Express, the $4 million commitment, plus the promise of rewarding volunteer hours, is on top of roughly $30 million in annual giving, according to Nancy Smith, vice president of Global Media, Content and Community at American Express. She hopes to see the campaign become a viral success, catalyzing increased volunteerism and philanthropy.

"I think that what's really going to make a difference is for individuals to start telling their own stories," she said. "Now that the social media tools are available, it's bringing that to life."

Get started at Take Part.

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

A new study from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has identified on-road transportation as the most significant overall source contributing to global warming. Power generation, while having the greatest total impact, also includes a large number of compounds that increase cloud reflectivity and provide other effects to offset some of the warming they are responsible for.

In the study, rather than looking at specific chemicals and compounds, the range of airborne pollutants is broken down by economic sector. The study looks at the range of gases and aerosols that are released by each of 13 sectors of the economy, and finds that on-road transportation has the greatest overall effect on global warming.

"Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it. The researchers found that the burning of household biofuels - primarily wood and animal dung for home heating and cooking - contribute the second most warming. And raising livestock, particularly methane-producing cattle, contribute the third most. On the other end of the spectrum, the industrial sector releases such a high proportion of sulfates and other cooling aerosols that it actually contributes a significant amount of cooling to the system. And biomass burning - which occurs mainly as a result of tropical forest fires, deforestation, savannah and shrub fires - emits large amounts of organic carbon particles that block solar radiation."

The intent of this study is to make the information about climate change more accessible and understandable. "We wanted to provide the information in a way that would be more helpful for policy makers," according to Nadine Unger, leader of the research team. "This approach will make it easier to identify sectors for which emission reductions will be most beneficial for climate and those which may produce unintended consequences."

No one should mistake the point of this study to indicate that coal burning and other power-generation and industrial processes are benign and therefore do not need to be scaled back. Although industrial processes mitigate their adverse effects with regard to global warming, the sulfates and aerosols that are beneficial in this one manner are responsible for a range of other, negative environmental impacts.

The paper was published online on Feb. 3 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

via: Worldchanging

The Discovery Channel celebrated its 25th anniversary and the launch of the Life series with an incredible party at New York's Lincoln Center Thursday. How incredible? The New York Pops played the score to the first episode live and in time with every flick of the gecko's tongue, every twitch of the cheetah's shoulder.

"Life" is the next project by the same BBC-Discovery team that produced "Planet Earth." The names of each led to some humorous phrasing throughout the night, as Discovery Channel bigwigs with titles like Executive Producer of Life discussed how impressed they were with building on the success they had creating Planet Earth.

They are justifiably proud. The first episode of "Life" airs March 21, and 10 more episodes will follow after it. Like "Planet Earth," there are unprecedented shots that were made possible only by new digital video technology ... and a tremendous amount of patience. This series is narrated by Oprah Winfrey, who apparently saw some of the footage and immediately signed on.

If I have any complaint about the episode I saw - and it's hard to come up with anything to criticize - it's that the whole thing feels like a magnificent highlight reel of the greatest wildlife footage ever captured. What's wrong with that? The kernels of science and knowledge that Oprah intones seem like almost an afterthought at times, so that you learn very little about evolution, habitats or conservation imperatives. But you are nonetheless awed by the wonders of life on Earth, and invited to gasp, laugh and empathize with various creatures as they try to survive.

There's incredible footage of a tiny poison arrow frog, about the size of a fingernail, carrying its tadpoles one-by-one on its back up into the forest canopy, climbing as much as a half mile, to deposit each in its own little droplet of water, where it develops safe from predators. There's first-ever-seen footage of three cheetahs working together to pull down an ostrich that would be out of the league of any individual cheetah (and believe me, you will leave thinking ostriches are pretty bad-ass even though this one doesn't survive.) And there is extraordinary aerial footage of dolphins off the coast of Florida, creating muddy circles in the water that act like nets: as the fish become encircled, they leap from the water into the smiling jaws of the dolphins. Amazing.

Little details also catch your eye: Insects seem impressively thoughtful and calculating when filmed in such detail that you can watch their eyes forming (incredibly, like blown glass) during metamorphosis, and their crab-like battles for dominance on a tree branch.

But you don't want to read my impressions. You want to see some clips. Here they are:

From "Challenges of Life," premiering March 21, 8 p.m.:

 

From "Reptiles and Amphibians," premiering March 21, at 9 p.m.:

 

 

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

A recent article from Lawrence Berkely Laboratory suggests that readers should 'Pull the plug. Your battery will thank you.' Researcher Venkat Srinivasan writes about batteries and battery chemistry rather specifically, but without becoming overwhelmingly technical.

He explains how batteries begin to fail and suggests keeping your computer unplugged as a way of extending the life of your battery. I pulled the plug on mine as soon as I read the article, and I'm now writing this on battery power.

On the other hand, if you charge the battery and then pull the plug (so to speak), the battery discharges some, the voltage drops, and these reactions become less of a problem and your battery life goes up. So the best things you can do is to charge the laptop (or cell phone, camera, etc.) and once its charged, pull the plug. Your battery will thank you for it.

This also has relevance for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle owners, whose batteries have the same characteristics. A car sitting in a garage for hours, full charged, is going to be slowly deteriorating the battery. Manufacturers may already be incorporating measures into battery packs to address this problem, but this highlights just one of the many potential issues battery makers need to address in order to keep portable electrical devices functioning.

This week in batteries may not be on everyone's RSS feed right away. But engineers for computer companies, electric vehicle manufacturers, cell phone, and other portable device makers should be following him. While the articles run to the technical, the information is accessible for all kinds of battery geeks.

We change our wardrobes with the seasons, we should be changing our salad ingredients as well. Eating seasonally not only tastes better, but it requires a lot less energy to create.

In wintertime, instead of basing your salad on something light like a butter lettuce, consider something that weathers the cold climate, like endive, escarole or a more common spinach.

Once you’ve chosen your base leaf, move on to the add-ons. New York City-based chef Carlin Greenstein recommends building the salad around the green and in fall and winter, she likes to add a cooked element for those cold days.

Here is her recipe for a winter spinach salad complete with seasonal fruits (pomegranate, persimmon, and pear).

Winter Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of red spinach
• 1 persimmon
• 1 pomegranate
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 Bosc pear
• Olive oil for sautéing
• A handful of thyme

Direction:

1. Spread walnuts on a tray and place them in the oven for a few minutes, until lightly browned.
2. Cut and de-seed pomegranate.
3. Slice persimmon.
4. Slice pear. She uses Bosc rather than Bartlett because it’s firmer and it stays firm when sauteed.
5. Heat saucepan with a coating of olive oil.
6. Once oil is hot, add thyme. The oils naturally occurring in the thyme come out in the hot oil.
7. After a couple minutes, add the pears to the pan. Turn the stove down to medium. You don’t want to darken these, you just want to get them a little bit caramelized which means the sugars in the fruit are coming out.

A pomegranate, molasses, lemon vinaigrette

Ingredients for vinaigrette:

• 1/2 squeezed lemon
• 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pepper
• Sea salt

Directions for vinaigrette:

1. Squeeze half lemon into your hand to catch seeds.
2. Add pomegranate molasses, olive oil, pepper and sea salt.
3. Whisk together.
4. Taste using a piece of spinach.

Directions for putting it all together:

1. Add the greens to the bowl and toss with the vinaigrette.
2. Then add the persimmon, pomegranate seeds and the pear.
3. Sprinkle the roasted walnuts on top.

 

While the focus continues to be on expanding means and methods for generating electricity from renewable sources, the limits of the existing grid to handle that generated power and distribute it to where it is needed are beginning to show.

Last weekend in Texas, wind power reached a record high point of 6,242 MW represented 22% of demand. That's fantastic news, and we love to see that kind of records being broken.

However, utility officials were forced to curtail wind power generation "because the supply of electricity outstripped the capacity of lines to move the power to urban areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth."

Production needs to continue to increase. But this points out what may become a more frequent problem, and dealing with the grid cannot be forgotten either.

image: CC 2.0/ roxannejomitchell