Across the Ocean on Plastic Bottles

Two men who spent three months on a raft made of plastic bottles to raise awareness of ocean pollution have completed their trip across the Pacific Ocean.

The men traveled 2,600 miles on what they called “The Junk Raft” - a raft made up of salvaged sailboat masts, the fuselage of a Cessna airplane and six pontoons filled with 15,000 plastic bottles.

Melting Artic Ice Sets New Record

Artic sea ice has melted to the second lowest level on record.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center says the amount of sea ice is down to 2.03 million square miles so far this year. The lowest point on record is 1.65 million square miles, but with three weeks left in the melt season, scientists say this year could break that record.

Military Housing Goes Green

The U.S. military is working on its first “zero-energy” homes.

Environmental designers and green architects are meeting this week at Fort Campbell to draw up plans for two duplexes that will incorporate solar panels and geothermal technology. The goal is for the houses to produce as much energy as they consume from the power grid over a year.

Hydrogen Powered Go-Karts

The BBC reports on the first international hydrogen-powered motorsport race, which took place in the Netherlands this weekend.

Colleges Ditch Cafeteria Trays to Save Water

Colleges around the country have found a new way to conserve water and energy - eliminating trays in their cafeterias. Two of the biggest companies that run college cafeterias, Aramark and Sodexo, say almost half of the colleges and universities they work with are dumping their trays.

BRICK Winner may replace Tavis Smiley

Van Jones, a 1996 BRICK Award (now the Do Something Award) winner, may be replacing Tavis Smiley, one of America’s most celebrated and respected media personalities, as commentator on the nationally syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show.”

Do Something saw the potential of this rising star way back in 1996 when he won a BRICK for founding and directing the San Francisco-based Bay Area Police Watch, an organization that assists survivors of police misconduct and brutality.