When I was in Washington D.C. for the YP4 Summit, I stopped briefly in front of the White House to speak to the people camped out across the street from it. When I got there, late at night, the guard was changing. Concepcion Picciotto was just arriving to relieve William Thomas, cofounders of the White House Anti-Nuclear Vigil. I spoke to them a bit about what they were doing there and they offered me some photocopied literature--two articles written in 1981 and 1988 respectively--about their 26 year long protest. They also maintain a website for those who are interested: http://prop1.org/conchita/index.html I asked if the White House had ever acknowledged their presence, and was told that no President has ever acknowledged them, though they have been arrested many times which is, of course, a form of acknowledgment. Upon taking my leave, I told them that I very much admired their work, which I do. I then circumnavigated the White House for the first time in my life. It's smaller than I thought it would be.

Looking around a news stand this past month you would have thought that all of American has gone green.  Issues of Glamour, Sports Illustratted, Vanity Fair, Vogue and countless others all published information about how to green practically everything in your life: home, office, make-up, clothes, vacation, television shows.  Celebrities like Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio are on the front lines spreading the message.  Domino, a home and decorating magazine, profiled more than 100 businesses that now provide environmental friendly products and green advice.  It seems that every house by the end of the year will be green --all except the only two that matter--the House of Representatives and the White House.