Mr. Sustainable, Corbett Kroehler

Van Jones is a pioneer in the field of green jobs. Simply put, his work is fabulous and I have blogged about him extensively. His media presence has grown considerably over the past 18 months and he is closing out 2008 with a bang.

Now that the 2008 is in full swing (and not a moment too soon!), let’s pause to remember what makes us grateful. The spirit of gratitude need not be limited to Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day but should permeate our hearts and minds throughout the fourth quarter of each and every calendar year.

The waiting has ended! We now have full details about the United We Stand Expo, successor to the Green Earth Expo. It will take place in August, 2009 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, just outside the nation’s capital.

While I enjoyed Casino Royale, I accompanied my wife to our local megaplex with a sense of melancholy to see Quantum of Solace. Daniel Craig was lukewarm on The Tonight Show a few weeks ago, in his patented underspoken style, and I candidly not know what to suspect. Within the first few seconds of the film, I was enthralled. My hope that the automotive chase/shoot-em-up sequence which we had seen in the teasers was used as effectively in the final cut. I was not disappointed. In fact, the numerous action sequences provide for a pace right up there with The Bourne Ultimatum.

It is with great joy that I announce the formalization of the next annual Green Earth Expo. Jim Griffin, with whom I created the Expo, has worked miracles to relocate himself to Maryland and obtain the monumental commitment to the green movement of the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on the Potomac in the nation’s capital. This is truly huge!

Wondering when the next Green Earth Expo will be announced? The delay has been on account of the fact that Jim Griffin, with whom I created the Expo, has been working very hard to elevate the event to the global stage. He has succeeded!

It is with great joy that I announce the formalization of my status as a Health Maven on Wellsphere.com This means that I not only am a featured guest blogger but will appear on the homepage with wonderful frequency. Click my new badge to the left to see a sampling of the goodness in store for me. I am assure of hundreds of thousands of new readers by the end of the calendar year, likely well over one million!

It’s impossible to be a fan of contemporary cinema without at least respecting Spike Lee. Just as I enjoy the works of John Singleton, I have nothing but good things to say about the directorial efforts of Spike Lee, both on their own merits and for the uncharted waters which Spike navigates. The recent progression of his work behind the camera from He Got Game to 25th Hour to Inside Man has led him to another first, a war film, Miracle At St. Anna.

The visitor statistics are in. My expert blog at Keyboard Culture received more than 34,000 unique visitors in August! This is a jump of about 7,000. I am over the moon. The good news doesn’t stop their, either. This bump occurred without distribution of my podcasts on iTunes. That was supposed to be online by mid-August but it didn’t happen because of a change in submission software. Watch for updates on that point in the coming weeks. As the matter stands now, iTunes may in be gear for me just in time for my 100th podcast on Keyboard Culture. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?!?

As a staunch environmentalist, it will come as no surprise to you that I abhor coal. Sure, it allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place (we wouldn’t have the Internet without it) but the time has come for coal to go extinct. At the same time, I have nothing but compassion for communities which have coal mining as the center of their economic base. I know that they are in no hurry to see the mines close.

Superb films such as Righteous Kill and The Women are capturing most of the press oxygen. Hence, it is a sad reality that Traitor starring Don Cheadle is escaping much-deserved attention. It is a superb film! Once again, Mr. Cheadle has found the means of incorporating the devastation taking place in Sudan as a vehicle for communicating a uniquely American story.

I am not crazy about remakes. There have been a few exceptions of films which I enjoyed and were tributes are adaptations of earlier works. In the case of Bangkok Dangerous, I did not see the original so I figured, let’s give it a try. Besides, I really like Nicolas Cage.

I am very proud to support the Environmental Defense Fund, EDF. Having visited their DC headquarters, I know of the breadth of their good work. One of the areas in which they excel is heralding the message of the need for a speedy response to climate change.

Woody Allen has done it again! The quality of his work fluctuates every few years but Vicky Cristina Barcelona hits the bullseye. Just as he did in Match Point, Woody evokes from Scarlett Johansson the performance of a lifetime.

On Friday over at Keyboard Culture, I wrote about the short-term and long-term effects of Tropical Storm Fay. She was something else! The Kroehler household was fortunate to be spared the worst effects. In fact, since we suffered no flooding, Fay was good to us. Our lawn had been parched because the first half of August was very dry. No longer!

The long, hot days of summer have tested my patience (Tropical Storm Fay didn’t help!) but in the background, wonderful work has been underway at Wellsphere.com – the prelaunch of the latest version of the platform! A few glitches have creapt into the process but it’s almost done and with it will come an explosion of new traffic for me.

My trip to Detroit to meet with the good folks at EDAG, who will construct the Interstate Traveler, was fabulous! Justin Sutton was a most gracious host. He showed us the exterior of his boyhood home. He gave us the big tour of his Whitmore Lake marina. He introduced us to his Detroit office staff and his father!

I wrote about the North Pacific Gyre the other day at Keyboard Culture. I encourage you to examine my thoughts as well as those of the good publishers of GreatGarbagePatch.org.

In my August 1 post at Keyboard Culture, I told you about Al Gore’s powerhouse policy speech on renewable energy. He laid down the gauntlet regarding America’s addiction to fossil fuels. Needless to say, I maintain that he did a very fine job.

Defenders of Wildlife is an invaluable ally in the environmental community. More than any other group, Defenders have taken up the cause of wolf slaughter and achieved many great victories. Now, through the end of November, they are offering a literature prize of $1,000 for the best submission about the author’s positive encounter with the beauty of America’s federal lands and waters.