Weekly Archive for January 22, 2006 : TreeHugger

Oh, to live in England where they celebrate Potato Day. At Ryton Organic Gardens in Warwickshire, visitors get to purchase from a selection of 80 different varieties of potatoes spanning 150 years of history, right back to Pink Fir Apples dating from 1850. Says Alan Wilson of Watrose: "Come and see the ancient Fortyfold to the silky smooth Maris Piper. And who is Felside Hero? The best eating potato of all?” Also attending is a character dressed as Sir Walter Raleigh will also give a “Potted History of Potatoes”. He will explain that - although he often gets the credit for “discovering” potatoes and bringing them back to British shores - their real history is much richer and dates back to Peru 6,000 years ago. We are amazed that so many varieties are still available- how much more interesting than our supermarket monoculture diet. January 29th and 29th ::Garden Organic thanks, tipster Bonnie!...

Davos, 28 January -- World Leaders Announce Concrete Plan to Eliminate Dependence on Petroleum Fuel by 2010. Following the excellent leadership set by Sweden, the Davos work group issued this statement: "We are letting a valuable resource go up in smoke. Today, we have set a course to preserve petroleum for raw material use only, to retain it's value for medical plastics and products that will allow the next generations to maintain the standard of living we appreciate today." Okay, we admit it is not true. We dreamed of writing this article today, but since the news out of Davos is nowhere near as exciting as that, instead we offer a tip on an artist who conveys very emotionally the question of whether man and technology are curse or cure for what ails our environment. ...

No cat-blogging today so as to leave enough room on the server to handle comments. Window-crash bird mortality is our focus, with the intent of providing some pespective on the near urban-myth status that has been attained regarding wind-tubine caused bird mortality. Historically and presently, the biggest piece of the dead bird pie is, without doubt, attributable to window-crashes. From Audubon Magazine: "Millions of birds perish every year from crashing into glass windows...such small glass kills can add up to big trouble, believes ornithologist Daniel Klem of Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, Pennsylvania". ...

" Traditional tourism, with its exotification and exploitation of the foreign, its strain on delicate ecosystems, and its tendency to exacerbate wealth and power disparities, requires a suspension of social consciousness that more and more people are unwilling to make. In recent years, eco-tourism became the hot guilt-free alternative, growing rapidly as an industry by offering tourists a chance to see wildlife and habitats up close while minimizing the environmental impact." Read this article, full of useful links and sources, by Holly Beck at ::Alternet...

Alberta's internationally recognised "tar sand" reserves are now put at the equivalent of more than 175 billion barrels of crude oil. To extract bitumen from the surface deposits of tar sand, which make up about 20% of reserves, huge excavators scrape away the topsoil and the underlying tar sands are lifted into huge dump trucks. The surficial tar sands are trucked to extraction processes, where they are steamed to extract the heavy, bitumenous oil. The resulting oil is piped to refineries. This first step of tar sand extraction is estimated to result in gasoline that carries a burden of "at least five times more carbon dioxide" then would conventional "sweet crude" oil production. According to the Canada National Energy Board engineering break throughs are anticipated to reduce this carbon dioxide emission burden. ...

An abacus made from a sneaker sole and some pencils; a meccano set using matchsticks and bike valve tubes; a train made from batteries, buttons and drawing pins. These are just some of the fantastic toys Arvind Gupta has made from trash. He makes magical material transformations using what we would normally chuck in the recycling bin. The best thing is that they are very simple and the clear photos on his website allow everyone to have a go. They are especially good for kids, combining lessons on the importance of materials along with the fun of making. He also has a section of simple science experiments. Arvind Gupta has been making Toys from Trash for 20 years with the aim of finding “hands-on attractive means for the kids to learn fundamentals of science”. ...

A panel will discuss "environmental blogging" (who has ever heard of such a thing?) on January 31st, 2006, at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. The reception is at 5:30 PM and the program starts at 6:00 PM. I would definitely go if I wasn't 5,000 kilometers away because the panelists are: Our very own ~~Graham Hill~~ Kyeann Sayer (filling in for Graham - see her bio page), Nick Aster (Treehugger collaborator and Triple Pundit blogger), Alex Steffen (WorldChanging) and Siel (blogger from Green LA Girl). Eric Corey Freed is the organizer and Gil Friend will moderate. So if you are around San Fran on January 31st, make sure to go. If I may make a suggestion to the panelists and organizers; record it, and I'm sure it will make for a great podcast. Update: According to Nick, the event will be filmed and the audio might be broadcasted on NPR. ::Commonwealth Club (scroll down to Jan 31st)...

We knew all about Greenloop's Sundance spectacular, but there was more eco-exaltation in Park City this week. Zeitgeist-tapper trendcentral noted corporate promotion of indie directors, actors and films; free and live music; and earth-friendly SWAG (aka "Shit we all get" for ridiculously wealthy trendsetters who don't need free stuff) among the marketing trends at this year's film fete. Check out the greeny hype and freebies: ...

Let's face it. Reclaimed fabric accessories can edge into the dizzyingly girly or funky-bordering-on-garish territories. Llama Yacht steers clear of these frightening fashion waters with its clutches. In the case of nearly every piece, experienced corduroy and been-around-the-block embellishments become simple but eye-catching vessels for your necessities. $48. Continue reading to see more. :: Chocosho ...

This tip came from our friends at The Green Apple who wrote to us about a book that was just released this month called, what else, The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City. This book, written by Ben Jervey, provides simple solutions for the busy New Yorker with tips and strategies on how to adopt a lower-impact life without compromising your comfortable and cool urban lifestyle. It educates the reader about food, energy consumption, recycling and clothing, to name a few, and provides a comprehensive list of green goods and services throughout the five boroughs. If you’re interested in joining and organization or meeting up with people who are committed to a greener city, this is the book for you. Available at Amazon.com for $10.17. ::The Big Green Apple...

“Take one of these; little, yellow, different.” Well, it may not be small enough to swallow, but the MyCar is pretty darn small. Scheduled for release to the Italian market late this year or early next, MyCar is a micro in the same class as the Smart car. Designed by the prestigious Italdesign-Giugiaro design firm, MyCar is the product of the Hong Kong-based company, Innovech, and will be manufactured in China. The MyCar website features a gas and an electric model but is a bit short on details. Fuel economy is not stated, but the diminutive vehicle, a mere 8’ by 4’, has a light plastic body shell and will likely have very good efficiency. I’ll take two. :: MyCar via Green Car Congress ...

In a further attempt to help bolster its green image, mega-retailer Wal-Mart has teamed up with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in pursuit of sourcing all of the retail giant's wild-caught fresh and frozen fish for the North American market from fisheries that meet the MSC’s independent environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The decision will lead to dozens of fish products bearing the MSC's distinctive blue eco-label becoming available to Wal-Mart's North American customers in coming years. While it will take some time for the program to build into the more than 3,700 North American stores, Rupert Howes, Cheif Executive of MSC, said, "An immediate target is to ensure all seafood that already comes from certified fisheries will carry the MSC eco-label in Wal-Mart stores later this year. It is hoped that this commitment to the MSC programme will encourage other fisheries into the assessment process and provide a powerful new route to raise awareness of sustainable seafood choices with the North American public." ...

Late last night, Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and new Prime Minister of the country, was taken to a hospital because of an asthma attack. "Harper has suffered from asthma for most of his life and late last year was forced to go to hospital after suffering breathing problems," Reuters reported. Meanwhile, his party has received the lowest "environmental grade" from the Sierra Club and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reports that asthma rates in children have jumped fourfold. We hope that our new Prime Minister will see the link between his condition and the protection of nature and will reconsider his environmental policies. ::Asthma sends Harper to hospital briefly, ::Asthma rates in children have jumped fourfold: report, ::Election Results: Canada Does Not Go Green, ::Smog + High Fat Diet = Hardened Arteries, ::Pennsylvania to Tehran: Still Sick of Smog, ::Truck Stop Electrification To Fight Pollution, ::Umbra on the Health Impacts of Biking in Traffic, ::Big Brother is Watching Your Emissions!...

Eprida (Earth, People, Research, Innovation, Development, Acknowledgement) offers a revolutionary new sustainable energy technology that could potentially help solve several of the world's energy crises simultaneously. Their closed-loop system removes CO2 from the air by putting carbon into the topsoil where it is needed to nurture and keep it furtile. The process creates hydrogen rich bio-fuels and a restorative high-carbon fertilizer while removing net carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The technology promises to transform woody biomass into a combination of a restorative high-carbon fertilizer and high-energy green diesel fuel, be carbon negative, i.e. store more long-term carbon in the soil than is released, return all of the minerals from biomass crops to the soil, improve soil fertility and restore depleted land, eliminate the need for ammonium nitrate fertilizer from expensive natural gas, provide energy independence, potentially provide additional carbon credit income to farmers and do all of this for a profit. Sounds pretty good (and kind of complicated) to us. How does it work?...

Well, we recommended dumping those Teflon pans last year. Now eight U.S. companies, including DuPont, agreed yesterday to virtually eliminate a harmful chemical used to make Teflon from all consumer products. Although the chemical would still be used to manufacture Teflon and similar products, processes will be developed to ensure that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) would not be released into the environment from finished products or manufacturing plants. ...

Did you know that January is “National Hot Tea Month?” Well, yesterday we brought you Kicking Horse Organic Teas and today we have another tea alternative. Revolution T-Organics offers hot teas that are certified organic and are available in yummy flavors: Scottish Breakfast, Green Earl Grey, Huckleberry Red Herbal and White Chai. And as you sip this delicious tea you can feel good about the packaging too. The leaves are bagged in biodegradable tea bags, called The Pyramid Bag, which allows you to see the leaves as you enjoy them but doesn’t take years to decompose. Additionally, the sleek canisters are recyclable but also re-usable. Each are sold separately ($7.99) but if you can’t decide then you can go with the 4-pack ($28.99). And in celebration of “National Hot Tea Month,” shipping is free until the end of January on orders over $40. Via ::Daily Olive ::Revolution T-Organics...

Shampooing my hair in the shower this morning I realised that one of my favourite eco-products is the one I use almost everyday, but until now one that we haven’t featured on TreeHugger. As thorough and as wide ranging as TH tries to be, every now and then I notice that we’ve overlooked some good staples. Faith In Nature is one of those. They have a great range of eco-friendly beauty products which are really affordable and well packaged, with cleverly designed push-pull caps to prevent wastage. Amazingly this company has been around for thirty years, now a very profitable business it grew from humble beginnings at Rona Rose’s kitchen table in rural Scotland. From the start Faith In Nature has only used natural ingredients in their products, without using paraffin oil, synthetics, artificial dyes or animal by-products. ...

Our mother is an extraordinarily talented baker. We learned the art of cookie making and cake baking at her elbow and have passed that love of baking on to our own children. We don’t know the provenance for this recipe which our mom handed down to us. We do know that when we make it for bake sales, parties or picnics, they are gone in minutes and people ask for the recipe. The recipe is quick, easy and fun for kids to make because you can let them shape the balls and roll them in sugar. See if you find them as addictive as our family does. Joyce’s Ginger Cookies...

We have discussed treadmills and rowing machines that generate electricity while you work out; here is a freeweight that is a gyroscopic generator, increasing resistance in exercising and charging your rechargeables at the same time. Instead of burning those calories and wasting them as heat, it is put to use. "By making a rotary movement from the wrist, the rotor, which is localized in the centre of the Manual Power, is kept rotating. While rotating energy is produced, which can be used via a smart construction for charging a cell phone. And when no phone is connected, the produced energy is stored in a built-in battery. Ready to be used by the flashlight." Build a great bod and generate power at the same time- What could be better?. ::Manual Power forgive the cheesecake pictures via ::Gizmodo...

1% of Canada is in the Carolinian Forest Region, an area that "gets its name from the presence of a large number of plant and animal species whose ranges extend into Ontario but are more or less centered on the Piedmont Region of North Carolina." All of this is under huge development pressure and much has been lost already. 50 years ago, as Dutch Elm disease was removing Toronto's green canopy, Norway Maples sprouted everywhere, creating heavy shade and multitudes of seeds, making regeneration of native species difficult....

It's time you admitted it: Treehugging can sometimes be harder than you'd like. So, it's important to take some time now and again to unwind, and treat yourself to a little something. Of course, if your not careful, that unwinding can cut down all the trees you just finished hugging. So, take our advice on these pampering, non-environmentally-hampering items from the past week. :: Lloyd steeped us in Kicking Horse Organic Teas. Kyeann drew our attention to these adorable Little Otsu recycled cards. :: Erin gave her compliments to Rick Bayless, Chicago organic chef extrordinaire. :: Warren wrapped us for winter in Natur + Co woolens. :: Petz kicked up our karma with Bread & Butter's Fashion Fetish for Charity....

After I finished clicking through the beautifully designed web site for the Natural Body Spa & Shoppe, I nearly packed my bags and headed for Georgia (or TN, or NC, or MD, or VA or FL…). It is the place that I imagine when I'm daydreaming of the perfect pampering retreat. The products they use are those earth-friendly varieties that make an eco-chick (or lad) swoon: Jurlique, Naturopathica, Erbaviva, Aveda, and many more. But that's not all, NBS&S is way green…...

Fisher Henney Naturals started up over a decade ago, having a fondness for lush organic cotton goodies, in particular “robes, towels, yogawear, loungewear and sleepwear.” On display here is their fleece robe for men and women. Comes in white, sage and lavender for $112 USD. If you’re not a robe lover, then you might still be interested in their bathroom towels. Available in white and mocha. The hidden beauty of the mocha version is that it’s naturally grown that way in Peru (organically, of course) and no dyes were invoked to create the rich brown hue. It’s a process known as ‘colorgrown', a technique pioneered by Sally Fox. The towels will set you back $40 USD each. ::Fisher Henney Naturals...

Ten years ago I picked up a book called Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth by Williams E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel. A modest volume, but was to have far reaching implications for the future of mankind. In short, the authors suggested that if all humans were to realise the lifestyle enjoyed by those in ‘western’ countries, then we were grossly exceeding the capacity of the planet to sustain life. Indeed they concluded that if we 6 billion lived like westies then we would need another 3 to 5 more Earths. Many said “Don’t worry, science will find an answer.” And how right they were. Astronomers from 12 countries have just discovered another planet that “has several characteristics needed to support life” including a gravity like ours. And the great news is that its 5.5 times bigger than Earth. Woo hoo. Problem solved. But don’t buckle up for blast off just yet. It's a bit further away than the corner shop — 20,000 light years to be roughly precise. And remember to take a scarf and gloves, coz it’s minus 225oC (-337oF) on the surface. Given such hurdles, might we suggest simply taking care of this one precious planet that we do have. (If you want to learn more about eco-footprinting try a simple quiz here, here, or for a really quick one: here.)...

Whether they know if or not, folks in the U.K. can buy green power at rates guaranteed to match what they pay for conventional power from their local utility. The power will come from wind turbines scattered around the country, all built by the company Ecotricity. They call themselves the largest independent green electricity supplier in Europe. The company currently has seven active sites, a bunch more in the pipeline, and thousands of individual customers. They say that 100% of their profits go to building new facilities. Unlike green power suppliers who buy energy credits on behalf of their customers, Ecotricity is aggressively building their own wind farms around the U.K. The power they sell is the power they make. Residential customers are promised green power at rates that match those of their conventional local utilities....

Beginning February 9, new California state laws will take effect that require all electronic waste to be recycled, rather than dumped in the trash and shipped to landfills. According to the state, in 2003, 515,000 tons of electronics were dumped into California landfills; 44% of the waste by volume consisted of CRTs and TV sets. Instead of chucking them, consumers will be required to take their old microwaves, laptops, fluorescent lighting and the like to state-managed household hazardous waste collection centers. Unfortunately, “We have no plans, nor do we have the resources, to go door-to-door to determine who is throwing away what in their trash,'’ says a spokesperson for the CA Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). “Most Californians care about their environment. We feel if we tell them what to do, and assist them, they’ll do the right thing." California's laws, designed to stem the spread of mercury and other toxins, have been in effect for businesses for four years, giving both the state and consumers a grace period, to set up the collection centers and transition into using them. More info can be found at the California DTSC website. ::DTSC via ::Engadget and ::Product Dose...

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Mitsubishi launched its new "i" minicar this week in Japan. Using a newly developed platform with an original rear-midship layout that mounts the engine forward of the rear axle line, the new "i" series includes both 2WD and 4WD models, and continues the trend of small (but safe -- the press release boasts "excellent multidirectional impacy safety"), efficient autos that Japan has been producing for years but the US has only recently begun to embrace. The rear-mounted engine allows for increased interior space and comfort while keeping the efficiency of the small design intact. The i platform is also the basis for Mitsubishi’s recently-introduced Concept-CT series/parallel hybrid. The "i" uses a new 3-cylinder, 660cc turbocharged engine that delivers between 5.56 l/100km (42.3 mpg US) in the 4WD version and 5.43 l/100km (43.3 mpg US) in the 2WD model, with emissions (126 grams of CO2/km) that are 50% lower than the Japanese 2005 Low-Emission Vehicle requirements, making this a pretty clean, pretty efficient little number. No word on whether Mitsubishi will be chasing the Toyota Yaris for US small-car market share; if it did, it would cost between ¥1.3 million and ¥1.6 million; the equivalent of US$11,300 to US$14,000. ::Misubishi Motors Corporation via ::Green Car Congress...

Kefir is a drink with a consistency similar to liquid yogurt, but with a more pronounced, tangy flavor. It has bubbly effervescence and no bitter aftertaste — some call it the "champagne of milk". Kefir grains are a combination of probiotic bacteria and yeasts that are used to ferment milk (including rice or soy milk). The species of lactic cultures used in Kefir are quite beneficial to the digestive system. To make it, you basically add some kefir starter to milk and wait 24 hours, and it is then ready to drink. Kefir starter is available from Yogurt Maker and The Grain and Salt Society....

Make sure to get your vote in for the finalists of our "Dress an Eco-Celeb" Contest . All four "wists" are chocked full of really great green clothing ideas and absolutely worth the minute or so it takes to check them out. Once you are done perusing the "wists", be sure to vote for the greenest, most modern and most stylish entry below. We will tally the vote next Tuesday, January 31st, and send off to the winner a fantasic bag from our friends at HER Design. Our finalists are:

- Marvel Selke (Brad Pitt) - Megan Serenco (Alicia Silverstone) - Jill Danyelle (Cameron Diaz) - Lisa Brideau (Leo DiCaprio)
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TreeHuggers are a thirsty crowd, as evidenced by our numerous posts about breweries and wineries and all the booze they crank out. The best of them not only produce thirst-quenching beers, sippable wines and the like, but also do good and give our planet a helping hand. 1) New Belgium Brewery is doing so much with alternative energy and waste management that they've been featured on these pages twice. 2) Even beer-brewing giant Coors is in the game, converting their brewing waste into fuel grade ethanol for distribution on the Colorado Front Range. 3) Canadian winery Stratus boasts the industries first LEED-certified building, complete with geothermal heating and cooling, recycled materials and composting of vegetal waste. 4) California vintners have gone solar after realizing the sun can do more than grow grapes, and it looks like everyone wants a piece of the sun-powered pie. 5) Finally, do something good for yourself and take the guesswork out of selecting good organic wines. They aren't all blue-ribbon beauties, so leave it to the pros and don't get fooled again....

You know about Bread & Butter's Fashion Fetish for Charity, but there's more yummy stuff going on in Berlin this week. Ciel's AW06 collection will be featured at the Milk and Honey Studio section. The UK eco-style leader is also now in the spotlight at Sundance, and counts Cate Blanchette, Sienna Miller, and Zoe Ball among its devotees. Designer Sarah Ratty describes the new Fall/Winter collection as:...

It's a Chicago tradition to dye the River a bright green on St Patrick's Day. No environmental symbolism intended: just an aquatic parade route decoration that disperses into the suspended solids. These days Chicago's most prominent green, however, is more along the lines of plants on rooftops, solar power, and LEED certified public buildings. Her latest experiment, deploying a totally new design of wind turbine by Aerotecture on the legendary "Big Shoulders", is an attention getter that surpasses the fluorescein dye. We think the tourists are going like this one all year...and the hoteliers, and the Chamber of Commerce (recently turned into a band of TreeHuggers we suspect). Check out the streaming video of a prototype of this turbine via local news station [Windows OS only]. And, please read on for excerpts from coverage by the Sun Times....

After we wrote our post about Kicking Horse Coffee, they graciously sent us some samples of their tea. After 12 seconds of moral dilemma about accepting freebie samples and wondering why Smart Car never sent us anything, we tried it. This treehugger has just taken to tea recently as the health benefits of green tea become more apparent. We tried various organic fair trade teas others labelled organic but not necessarily fair trade; All were lovely and calming. Our spouse, a confirmed tea drinker, said "Strong flavours. They don't taste like floor sweepings"- fine praise indeed. Available online at ::Kicking Horse Coffee...

The more information and ideas, about how to make our lives greener, the better we say. Which is why we like the New York based Sallan Foundation. This organisation was set up to focus attention on improving the urban environment through innovative green ideas. Their mission is to follow trends, consider current thinking and push interesting proposals into the spotlight. They do this by reporting on topical green issues, commissioning focus articles, promoting green events, as well as hosting forums, salons and lectures. They aim to disseminate information to as wide an audience as possible believing that 'the urban environment must become a key to the solution of a sustainable future'. The Foundation has also initiated The Sally Prize to encourage environmental research in institutes of higher learning in New York City. To keep your finger on New York’s green pulse click here. ::The Sallan Foundation...

Otsu is a Japanese word meaning "strange; quaint; stylish; chic; spicy; witty; tasty; romantic." At its storefront in San Francisco's Mission District, and online, the Otsu store offers a quirky array of fairly-made, eco-friendly (and not-so-eco-friendly) animal product substitutes. (You may remember our featuring the controversial Necknoosh last fall.) The Little Otsu Print Products represent a collaboration between Otsu and artists and designers to create: "outstanding useful print products [...] that are valued for their artistry, functionality, and use of recycled and alternative materials." We like their, well, otsu choices a lot. If you would like to find out how to submit ideas, take a look here. You can snag Kate Sutton cards here. :: Otsu...

As our Dress an Eco Celeb contest makes plain, we love covering those celestial bodies in earthly garb. Well, so does Greenloop. Only, those smarties are doing it in the flesh, with some of the best eco-threads around, at Sundance this week....

Orange County, CA, will soon be home to one of the largest metropolitan parks in the country. Larger than Central Park in New York, the Orange County Great Park will be nearly 5,000 acres of meadows, wildlife, recreation, and cultural areas, including sports parks, a museum, a cemetery, and an amphitheater. A two-mile-long canyon will traverse the park, connecting its various areas. Landscape Architect Ken Smith was recently picked to design the enormous master plan, which will sit on the site of the abandoned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Ken Smith is a notable New York landscape architect we have written up before for his contribution of a plastic garden to the roof of the MOMA. Among his many ambitious proposals are hot air balloons and a fleet of orange community bicycles for in-park transport. :: Orange County Great Park...

We love Whole Foods, but it is expensive. Alternet's Stan Cox found that a basket of food that cost $ 262 at Wal-Mart cost $ 564 at Whole Foods. While we don't shop at Wal-mart either but somewhere in the middle, we are still surprised. "Is it possible to eat well without breaking the bank? Our correspondent goes shopping at Whole Foods and comes away hungry." ::Alternet...

Patagonia clothing company recently completed the installation of a large solar photovoltaic carport project at its Ventura, California headquarters. The system incorporates 360 Sharp solar panels rated at 185-watts for a combined output of 66.6 kW. The panels are on three custom-built carports erected in the parking lot. The eye-catching structure produces an amount of energy equivalent to the energy used in approximately 60 California homes during peak usage periods and also shades cars during the day, according to the project's designers....

Hats off to Rick Bayless, the celebrity chef who has expanded his role as a sustainable foods advocate to that of a sustainable business advocate. Bayless, owner of Frontera Grill in Chicago recently hosted a workshop for area restaurateurs interested in greening their establishments. Participants were encouraged to use biodegradable and recycled materials for packaging to-go containers, increase recycling, serve more local and organic foods, use safe cleaning products, be more energy efficient and much more. Forty of Chicago's top restaurants attended the event, which was co-hosted with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. ELPC plans to publish a guide based on the workshop called “Going Greener: Opportunities to Improve Your Restaurant’s Environmental Practices.”...

This is an excellent and highly practical book. It's the first step-by-step green building guide that I've seen. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs showing each step of the building process. The authors, Clarke Snell and Tim Callahan, explain techniques like Earth Plastering, Straw Bale Construction, Living Roofs, Cordwood Building and Cob Building. At over 600 pages this is a hefty book and highly useful for anyone wanting to see the nitty-gritty details of green building. The author's web site is Think Building Green. Available from: Amazon or Powell's...

Q. In the Emigrant Wilderness (next to Yosemite) you cannot use ordinary soaps or shampoos to wash up with in or near the waterways. Not like you'd want to, because even in the summer the water is frigid, having been snow about 15 minutes before. Sometimes though, it's nice to wash up, and the water will definitely wake you up (and cause a serious brain freeze when you dunk your head in it). My question: are there any body cleaning products that are 1) lake and stream friendly, and 2) able to work in such amazingly cold water? Thanks, Chris. A. Thanks for asking, Chris -- good question. First, let us offer this little disclaimer. Though some soaps are better than others for this kind of thing, we can't recommend anything to actually use in the fragile waterways of places like the Emigrant Wilderness. It's best to practice proper "Leave No Trace" techniques: Wash at least 200 yards from any water source, drip soapy water onto durable surfaces like rock or gravel, and dispose of the graywater far from springs and streams. Okay, now on to the soaps....

When we read about this book for the first time in Men’s Journal, we were intrigued by the reviewers words: “Reading Lost Mountain is like grabbing a hot electrical wire – it fills you with fire, and makes you want to scream like hell.” It was added to our must-read list. The coal mining industry has long been the economic backbone for families in a region that is hard-pressed for job opportunities. But a new type of mining has been introduced called “radical strip mining,” in which a team employing no more than ten men and some heavy machinery literally blast off the top of a mountain, dump it in the valley below, and scoop out the coal. Erik Reece, a first-time author, takes us through one year, from October 2003 through November 2004, of how strip miners sheared away the top of Kentucky’s Lost Mountain. Early American hunters would get lost in this great forest, among the songbirds, fox, deer and other wildlife. Now, Lost Mountain only exists on outdated maps because, well, it’s gone. The summit was blasted off and the coal was sucked out and Reece chronicles the year that he spent witnessing the death (or murder) of this mountain in Appalachia. “At least 700 miles of healthy streams have been buried,” Reece writes. “Creeks run orange with sulfuric acids and heavy metals and thousands more have been polluted.” This is one book you don’t want to miss. Available at ::Amazon.com Via ::Men’s Journal...

LEDs are becoming so commonplace we’ll soon have to stop writing about them, because they will have lost their freshness in the design world. But until then here is a companion tool to those roadside emergency flares we covered once or twice, aeons ago. This time around, it is 12 flashing, long lasting Light Emitting Diodes inside a torch (flashlight) that has 3 strong magnets, so it can be stuck to the roof of car, in event of accident. (or maybe if you're late for work and stuck in traffic, you can just pretend you're a CSI car en route to a crime scene!) The torch is also designed such that it can cut through jammed seat belt webbing and be used as a hammer to smash car windows. Oh, and it functions as regular flashlight as well. The world’s third largest lighting supplier has a bunch of other LED models too. ::Osram LEDs...

We TreeHuggers are big fans of the bicycle when it comes to getting from here to there, and when that includes commuting to work, so much the better. It can be tricky saddling up everything to get through the day, and until Armani designs a bike-compatible suit, this includes clothes. Messenger bags are good, though getting a wrinkle-free change of clothes in one can be a tall task. Same goes for backpacks and many bicycle cargo bags. Enter the Commuter Pannier from TwoWheelGear.com. It straps to the back of almost all standard bike racks, and mimics a garment bag in design, to help keep flat things flat and wrinkle-free garments wrinkle-free. No more mid-ride messenger-bag load adjustments; the Pannier leaves your arms and hands free to do more important things (like steer), and at 1700 cubic inches, it's big enough to hold a day's worth of work/bike gear.The website also has some handy tips for bicycle commuters, as well as a list of links for commuters. Available for $130 US from twowheelgear.com. Thanks to Conrad for the tip! ::TwoWheelGear...

Unless I’m mistook, we’ve somehow managed to miss a post on Natur + Co during all this time. The German firm have been in the natural clothing business for ages. They specialise in eco-wool, linen (flax) and eco-cotton. (thought we note they have some Viscose pieces - viscose having generally quite ‘dirty’ production processes.) We are showing here their mainstay, a unisex eco-wool sweater (€70) and their new addition to range: Skirts made from a eco-cotton/linen mix (on special for €28). The company manages to derive 90% of their energy needs from coal-free and nuclear-free sources, with solar and wind being amongst the providers. Plus their plant has a vegie patch, so employees might be partially self-reliant. The products are pollution-free, with even the manufacturing wastes being compostable. Kids clothes, towels, menswear, womens wear, pajamas and more, all made to the same high standards. Their mission is to provide, with some fun and joy, locally made, meaningful, ecological consumer goods. ::Natur + Co...

We remember watching Mel Gibson, before he went nuts on us, squeezing the last drop of gas out of some wreck in the post-apocalyptic Road Warrior. Sometimes we think that some of the new energy schemes being floated would have been right at home in that movie. We read in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal that the town of Hereford, Texas is drowning in cow patties, stacked in ridges around town- 6,300 tons of crap generated per day by the "Beef Capital of the World". Panda Corporation, "one of the nation's leading environmentally friendly energy companies" with 9,000 megawatts of "clean gas technology" under its belt, is building a plant to make ethanol from corn using manure as fuel. "The ethanol produced by our Haskell facility will play a major roll [sic] in securing America's energy independence. By using manure instead of natural gas to power the plant, we conserve another of our country's depleting natural resources." sez the prez. It appears to be a reasonable company outside of a strange interest in wrestling, but this just doesn't pass the smell test.