- Emily Pilloton Discusses the Hippo Roller and other Designs for Humanity (Part One)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part Two)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part One)
- Andy Revkin - Climate in the Obama Age
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part Two)
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part One)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part Two)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part One)
Entries for December 31, 2006 - January 6, 2007
Total this week: 131
The Organic Center's "Mission Organic 2010"
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 01. 6.07
As we flip through magazines and read through the news, very rarely do we catch headlines or articles about our little state of Rhode Island. So imagine the surprise when we found out that The Organic Center is located in our little state. Discouraged by the fact that organic food is still only 2% of the total food sales in the United States, the organization launched Mission Organic 2010, a campaign to get the message out about health and ecological benefits of organic food. The purpose is to convince consumers that if they increase their organic consumption just 10% by the year 2010 (that’s 1 out of 10 items in a grocery cart), pesticides will disappear from 98 million daily servings of drinking water and antibiotics and growth hormones from 20 million daily servings of milk. On their site, consumers can sign a pledge and get a start kit, make a donation and learn about developments in the food industry. Via ::body+soul ::Mission Organic 2010...
Palm Oil: A Rainforest in your Shopping
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 6.07
In yesterday's post on palm oil, commenter Dug asked "what is devious about using palm oil to replace hydrogenated oils? " - A couple of things, that we have covered on TreeHugger before. It is being widely used to replace trans-fats, but most of the cheap stuff is palm kernel oil, which is high in saturated fats. Studies have shown that "in terms of blood cholesterol, palm oil is somewhat more harmful than the average U.S. dietary fat and far more harmful than such liquid oils as olive, soy, and canola."(pdf here) The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reccommend: "“Cut back on foods high in saturated fat or cholesterol, such as meats, butter, dairy products with fat, eggs, shortening, lard, and foods with palm oil or coconut oil.” But the health reasons are just the start; The main reason is habitat and environmental destruction. ...
California Houses Go Solar
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 6.07
Noah Berger, New York Times
The main picture in the New York Times article is of a jazzy mansion covered in solar panels, and the article leads off with usual the list of solar-celebs: Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Silverstone, Carlos Santana and Tom Seaver, who have installed solar systems. However the real impact of the 3.2 billion dollar California Solar Initiative is in the mainstream, where teacher Gonzales Yuen can install systems on his 100 year old Berkeley duplex and knocks 3 kilowatts off his meter. If he uses less than it generates then it goes back into the grid. He was the first on the block: “In my circle I’m the eco-nut,” he said. But, he said, less than a year later they are quite common in his neighborhood. “A lot of people are really paying attention and beginning to think about the whole environmental cycle,” he added.::New York Times...
Living Efficiently in Japan
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 6.07
In Japan, people take energy efficiency seriously. In architect Kiminobu Kimura's house, according to the New York Times: Energy-efficient appliances abound in the many corners of his cramped home. There is the refrigerator that beeps when left open and the dishwasher that is compact enough to sit on the kitchen counter. In some homes, room heaters have a sensor that directs heat only toward occupants; there are “energy navigators” that track a home’s energy use. “It’s not just technology, it’s a whole mind-set,” said Hitoshi Ikuma, a specialist in energy issues at the Japan Research Institute. “Energy conservation is almost an obsession here among government, companies, regular citizens, everyone.” The focus of the article, Mr. Kimura, has a fuel cell in front of his house that converts natural gas to hydrogen and then to a kilowatt of electricity, but that is a bit of a red herring in the story, given that the fuel cell costs $ 51,000 and they import their natural gas. ...
Beware The Silver Lining: A Risk Management Review Of Commercial Nanotechnology
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 6.07
Per an aricle in Environmental Science & Technology Online, the ‘wild west’ days for nanotech commercial applications may be coming to an end. The US-EPA has, after being petitioned, decided to require a public risk evaluation for textile applications of silver ion technology. TreeHugger has previously posted on the Samsung SilverCare clothes washer, which dispenses nanoscale silver particles to kill bacteria, theoretically supplanting hot water and bleach to sanitize and, for a period after washing, deodorize clothing. This amounts to adding a bacteriocide to one’s clothing, certainly an untraditional function of the home laundry. ...
Get Real With Travel Offsets: By "Walking On Water"
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 6.07
When our Sami wrote about Climate Care last October he showed us how far ahead of the US British service industries are in taking carbon credits seriously. Now, from the Independent, comes behind the scene details of how elegant Climate Care has become at turning ‘western guilt money,’ exacted from the travel industry, into something that truly transforms the lives of poor in developing nations. And wouldn’t you know, Bamboo comes up as part of the Treadle Irrigation Pump design that is at the heart of the Traveler/Airline/Climate Care/Agricultural link up. See the Walking On Water QT video here. It's very impressive. Have a look beneath the fold for a short excerpt from The Independent; but, keep in mind, we think the entire article deserves a close read....
Green Electronics First in Europe, Now in China. Where is the USA?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 01. 6.07
The EU got the lead out first, publishing a law called RoHS for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. Now China is following in the EU's footsteps (or playing tit-for-tat in a game of global market positioning). What can Chinese consumers expect under China's new law and how will it impact the global market? And when will the USA begin to exercise leadership in the greening of global technology?
The Chinese law, rather mundanely called "Measures for Administration of the Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products" but widely referred to as "Chinese RoHS" will target the same six hazardous substances which are regulated by the EU law, namely the heavy metals cadmium, lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium as well as two flame retardants, PBB and PBDE. The main means of control will be a mark which must be affixed by suppliers to the device sold, or clearly printed in papers accompanying the supplied goods if marking is not possible. The green e with two arrows chasing each other in a circle is the mark of equipment which is free of the targeted substances. The orange symbol exemplifies the marking of the product's "environmentally friendly use period". ...
Greenest Route with SatNav
by EcoGeek.org on 01. 5.07
Researchers at the Lund Institute of Technology are attempting to incorporate green driving options into satellite navigation systems. By including factors like road quality, driving speed and typical traffic flows, the researchers hope to decrease the amount of gasoline needed for travel.
The new system uses existing databases and already has shown promising results. Several test runs have reduced gasoline consumption by an average of 8.2%. Imagine if the entire world had one of these things. UPS is already using similar technology with it's fleet, but the researchers at Lund are hoping to make the product available to all.
However, street quality measurements, and real-time traffic flow data are very hard to come by. Researchers had all of these numbers for the roads where the system was tested, but creating a world-wide database of these factors would be prohibitively expensive.
An 8% gasoline savings for in-city driving could make the system marketable to early adopters in the delivery industry. Which just might bring down costs for the rest of us. Via NewScientist...
TreeHugger Challenges The Helium Report
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 01. 5.07
The Helium Report's target demographic is "independent wealthy consumers" and a lot of what they feature has to do with yachts, mansions, luxury cars and private jets. Not exactly TreeHugger material... But it's not all about excessive consumption: They recently published a guide titled "13 Ways to Give Away Your Bonus" and the suggestions are excellent. Most are for social and public health issues, but #9 is EcoAmerica (who TreeHugger friend Bob Perkowitz founded).
We strongly encourage the Helium Report to keep highlighting environmental issues and organizations. The wealthy have the potential to do a lot of good with their money, power and connections. But doing good is just the half of it: They must also avoid doing harm as much as possible.
Our Friendly Challenge: We're sure that a guide called "How to Live Large on a Small Footprint" would be popular with your readers, Helium Report. We challenge you to create it, and we can even collaborate on it if you need help. Our contact info is here....
High Desert Fine Organic Foods
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 01. 5.07
We received this tip from Daily Candy a few months back and we were finally able to taste test ourselves. Kiva Orchard, located in Colorado, is the certified organic farm behind High Desert Foods. The fruits and vegetables produced from this farm are supremely flavorful. This makes the products they sell online even more delicious. The company started by sampling and selling their produce at regional farmers markets and food stores. They were inspired by their consumers’ enthusiasm and decided that they wanted to make a product that was “shelf stable.” Today, High Desert Foods offers coffee varieties, jams, tomato sauces, nut mixes and, our favorite, smoked dried tomatoes made with organic olive oil and organic lemon juice. We also find the recipes on their site very helpful (the baked brie with apricot lavender “confiture” was a divine addition to our holiday apps). Via ::Daily Candy ::High Desert...
TreeHugger Welcomes New Writer Rachel Wasser
by Rachel Wasser, Beijing, China on 01. 5.07
The Smallest Part is the Biggest Problem: Cell Phone Chips
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 01. 5.07
One of my favorite scientific journals, the Int. J. of LCA reports, once again, on the life cycle impacts of a cell phone. Through a study on two mobile communication systems (UMTS and GSM), results are presented on the life cycle impacts of the mobile phone itself, since it is obviously a component of the overall system. Without getting into the technical details of the two communication systems, it is interesting to see how the cell phone itself performs. The manufacturing phase has the largest impact, which is contributed mainly to a cell phone’s short service life. The disposal phase has negligible impacts even though the study uses a scenario of 20% incineration and 80% take back. The use phase is also pretty low on the impact scale, coming in between 5 and 15%. Why the production phase?...
Convenient Truths: Enter This Weekend!
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 01. 5.07
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 01. 5.07
Do you know what is one of the best things about Green Drinks being so popular? Well surprisingly it’s that you have to wait in line! As we told you 800 people came to the Christmas Party in New York, many of who had to wait on the street to get in. But, as I said to the person waiting patiently next to me, it doesn’t really matter if you are inside or outside the party you still get to meet interesting people! True enough, as that person turned out to be Cem Akin, the director of The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. While we queued Cem told me that the FTPF is a non-profit working to “strategically plant orchards where the harvest will best serve the community for decades to follow, at places such as homeless shelters, drug rehabs, low-income areas, international hunger relief sites, and animal sanctuaries. FTPF's projects benefit the environment, human health, and animal welfare-all at once!”...
Food Fight: Is Corn Food or Fuel?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
Ed Zurga for The New York Times
We quote from our review of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma "If you eat industrially, you are made of corn. It holds together your McNuggets, it sweetens your soda pop, it fattens your meat, it is everywhere. It is fed to us in many forms, because it is cheap- a dollar buys you 875 calories in soda pop but only 170 in fruit juice. A McDonalds meal was analyzed as almost entirely corn." At the same time, we are in the middle of a corn/ethanol gold rush. The Earth Policy Institute says that 79 ethanol plants are under construction, which would more than double ethanol production capacity to 11 billion gallons by 2008. (and more than the industry admits) “This unprecedented diversion of corn to fuel production will affect food prices everywhere,” Said Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute and TreeHugger contributor....
Minawear - Cool with a Conscience
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 5.07
‘Play hard, rest easy’ is the tagline for Minawear. The latter half refers the fact that their clothing environmentally and socially benign. Eco because they use hemp and cotton from China that is grown, on small family farms, without use of petrochemical based fertilizers or pesticides. The wovens and knits are then shipped by sea to the USA, where the fabric is cut, sewn, dyed and enzyme washed. This is where the social factor comes into play. Factories are selected that provide “decent working conditions and wages for the employees.” The styles are mostly for women, but guys and toddlers do get a bit of look-in too. ::Minawear....
Climate Skeptics In Siberian Self-Exile: The Tunguska Event Stikes Again!
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 5.07
Al Gore has so succeeded with his lead role on the Climate stage, we figured that the skeptics would have to suffer a year or two out of the limelight. But, we were stuck inside the North American box with that kind of thinking. The skeptics, it seems, have cleverly moved their propaganda cheese to a developing nation with big oil pools, where their old tricks are less recognized. The Financial Times (which long ago beat the Wall Street Journal to the rational side of Climate Street), has the story. In "Seasonal Gloom," The FT's Observer From Moscow sets the stage with a description of how lousy Muscovites feel with no snow on the ground to reflect the winter's low light into their eyes. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) amplified by climate change: a first! Here's the goods: "NTV Television, owned by state-controlled Gazprom, hardly helped lift the gloom by screening a documentary suggesting the mild winder was the belated result of global warming sparked not by carbon emissions but by the so-called Tunguska Event of 1908 - when a meteorite or comet is believed to have exploded into the air above a remote part of Siberia with the force of a nuclear blast". The supposedly unaccounted-for solar irradiation increases and the the 'Little Ice Age' are so yesterday, so uncool. Moving on, the skeptics now have their own "Tunguska Effect" to spew uncertainty with (see critique on RealClimate here). Gazprom could teach Exxon a thing or two about the medium being the message. ...
TreeHugger Picks: Prototypical Energy Types for the Future
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 5.07
Following up with our peek at the future with some stunning car prototypes, we gaze into the crystal ball of energy production methods and ideas that have the potential to make the future a much greener place.
1) Wave power has garnered lots of attention as the next big thing in renewable energy.
2) Hydrogen has been the darling eco-energy of the future for awhile, but has yet to
3) Wind power, and specifically offshore wind power, has the potential to power the entire US.
4) Biofuels, like those derived from switch grass, can help wean the world off its overindulgence in oil.
5) Solar power just keeps getting more efficient, and it works great where the sun shines and as a good alternative for where the wind doesn't blow....
Green Man: New Zealand's Organic, Vegan Beer
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 5.07
A vegan friend has to limit her choice of beer to just a couple of brands, ‘coz the majority of beer is filtered through fish bladders, well the isinglass found in such things. She would love Green Man beer. Not only is it brewed from organic ingredients, but is also free of added sugars, in accordance with the German Purity Law of 1516. Remember back that far? Oh, yeh and did we mention they reuse their bottles? That’s right, used beer bottles are collected, washed, sanitised and send out with a fresh brew within. You can choose from a Lager, Bitter or Dark Mild (or go for the pack featuring one of each), and they are even available online via By Nature. Cheers! What’s that? Beer not your scene? Then maybe you‘d prefer to imbibe a carbon neutral wine, also from the land of the long white cloud. ::Green Man Brewery....
Yggdrasil Dishware from GeriljaWorks
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 5.07
Somewhat reminiscent of Papkorn's compostable dishes we posted about way back in 2004, the Yggdrasil set of disposable serving dishes and utensils designed by Norway's GeriljaWorks are made of cornstarch-based plastic that are 100% recyclable. They're sleek, modern, and would have been awfully helpful at all the parties over the holiday season. The set includes a platter, some handy chopsticks and some versatile cups that would help make party time any time; we could see sushi, candies and other finger foods adorning these svelte beauties. Learn more about the tricks up the collective sleeve of GeriljaWorks at their website. ::GeriljaWorks...
More Shopping Bags
by Bonnie Alter, London on 01. 5.07
. We love carrier bags and regularly resolve to carry them around all the time so that we won’t have to resort to using nasty plastic bags at the supermarket. Here is yet another variation on the theme; this one made of vintage fabrics for a country-chic look. Good for the organic farmers' market or the health food store… These bags are handmade in Hastings, East Sussex using strong cotton ticking. They are reversible: lined with recycled home furnishing fabrics such as checkered table cloths, curtains, pillow case ticking or vintage fabric. So two bags for the price of one. They come in different sizes too: for your laptop, food shopping, records or clothes pins. They have various messages on them. There is the standard--Carry a Bag—to help spread the word. But there is also Dig Your Veg; Lick Your Chops and Food Lover. Take your pick of slogan and fabric and design your own. And try and keep that resolution to have one on hand. :: Carry-a-Bag via :: Daily Candy...
Mexican Office Tower without Air Conditioning
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
If one ever needed proof of the importance of design in dealing with our current crises, one might compare these two stories: In the village of Kuujjuaq on the Arctic Circle, 10 air conditioners were installed for 25 office workers. "These are the times when the far north has to have air conditioners now to function," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a leading campaigner for the rights of 155,000 Inuit in Canada, Alaska, Russia and Greenland."Our Arctic homes are made to be airtight for the cold and do not 'breathe' well in the heat with this warming trend," she said. (Independent) Meanwhile, in Guadalajara Mexico, which is a bit warmer than the Arctic, Catalan architect Carme Pinos has designed an office building that is supposed to keep cool without AC through careful shading, natural ventilation, fans and convection. ...
Alaska's Prince William Sound or Brooklyn's Newtown Creek?
by Eric Kane, New York, NY on 01. 5.07
The Exxon Valdez incident will always be etched in the collective memory as one of the most horrendous environmental disasters of the last half century. At the very least, the 1989 oil spill into Alaska's Prince William Sound was a vivid example of one risk associated with our dangerous dependence on oil. However, residents of the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn are quick to note that they are literally sitting on an oil spill of greater proportion that has garnered far less attention....
Conserve Water: Swap Cotton for Hemp?
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 5.07
Such is the call from South Australian leader of the Democrats, Sandra Kanck. And given the vast quantities of cotton irrigation water extracted from the once great, but now dying Murray and Darling river basin, it would seem, at face value, to be a great idea. Only problem being I don’t recall ever seeing any figures that would indicate hemp is radically more water efficient than cotton. Yes, hemp has much going it, like yield has been quoted by various sources as being two to three times greater than cotton, using significantly less synthetic pesticides, while being an ideal rotation crop. But a trawl through my library of hemp books (which generally trip over themselves in their eagerness to list hemp’s positive properties) failed to elicit this water comparison. A government report in the late ‘90s concluded hemp for fibre would be feasible in Australia ... if the costs of retting (separating fibre from stalk) could be reduced. Otherwise hemp would remain roughly a quarter more expensive than cotton. Retting (rotting) uses water to soak the hemp stems. Even if the cost issue could be resolved (steam explosion was suggested as an alternative) the average hemp fibre is about twice as thick as cotton fibres, making it suitable only for medium weight textile products. It should be noted though that, unlike the US, most Australian states have, at least, sanctioned trial hemp crops, to test commercial feasibility. Ecofibre in Queensland remains one of the most active businesses in this area. Via ::ABC Online. (That govt report can be found here in full.)...
Canada's Conservatives Go Green?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
Canadians woke up to these headlines in the National papers today. Remember, these are Conservatives, the Canuck equivalent of the Republican party in the States. Rona Ambrose is out; Pit bull John Baird is in. As Financial Post Humourist Terence Corcoran put it: "Who would have thought that a vote for Harper's Conservatives would turn into a vote for David Suzuki's warped war on modern prosperity. That Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now openly flirting with Suzukiism was reinforced yesterday as he explained his Cabinet shuffle and the government's new environmental focus. He said he aimed to tackle long term environmental issues that have been badly neglected. "Most Canadians simply don't understand how far Canada is behind on major environmental indicators compared to other developed countries -- not the developing world -- compared to other developed countries we are behind." Wow. ::National Post, :;Globe and Mail
...
Upcycling Contest Sponsored by Etsy and Bazaar Bizarre
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 01. 5.07
You’ve got until January 15, 2007 to design and create an object to sell on Etsy made of materials that would have otherwise been thrown away or recycled (new adhesives and fasteners are permitted if required.) Coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braugart in their trail blazing book Cradle to Cradle, upcycling is a word that simply put it refers to transforming trash into treasures. Ecoist bags, made of candy wrappers and rejected printed papers, illustrate the upcycling principle clearly. To conserve resources, we should all be doing more of it....
The Wal-Mart Effect: The Afterword
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
When Charles Fishman was trying to write the Wal-Mart Effect he go no help from his subject. They would not let him into Bentonville; to get an idea of how big head office was he rented a plane to fly over it. The book was put to bed just about when President Lee Scott launched his October Surprise: the speech that changed everything, where Wal-Mart was going and how it was going to change the world, if not just become the biggest single subject of TreeHugger posts. After that, everything changed; suddenly Wal-Mart PR people were calling and offering tours, to open the terrycloth robe, so to speak. (they don't have kimonos in Bentonville). He has followed the changes, wrote about the CFC campaign in Fast Company, and took advantage of the paperback release of his book to add an afterword chapter discussing them. Through no fault of the author, it suffers from the same problem as the original book, in that the subject is going through rapid change and extraordinary convulsions (like the firing of the new marketing VP) that only a blog could keep up with. Nonetheless it is a valuable addition....
Survey: How Much Control Do You Have?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
No to Biodiesel from Unsustainable Palm Oil
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
A year ago we complained that rainforests were being cleared to grow palm oil, for use as biodiesel and in as a cheap and devious replacement in fryers for transfats, even though palm oil is high in saturated fats and not much healthier. In August we noted that the first boatload of Malaysian palm oil was being shipped to Germany. Today we learn that Germany and Britain may not want it after all. There were big plans for a German utility to convert a British power station to biofuel, but they were scrapped, because "the company was unable to guarantee that enough palm oil could be bought from sustainable plantations. “There wasn’t enough palm oil that we could demonstrate was sustainable,” the spokesman said. “The bottom line is: are you contributing to global warming by chopping down rainforest?” ::Times Online via ::Grist...
2007 According to Dave Chiu: (Project) RED & Beyond
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 4.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Dave Chiu
It feels like so much happened in 2006 that's it impossible to pick one or two major events! More to the point, I feel like every event on every scale was important. After all, big things tend to be made up of lots of little things, like grassroots efforts culminating in policy change, or reduced energy use by millions affecting emissions worldwide.
That said, what I personally found most interesting in 2006, and what I'd like to see more of in 2007, was the introduction of (Project) RED in March....
2007 According to Christine Lepisto: December 31, 2057
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 4.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Christine Lepisto, Berlin, Germany
December 31, 2057.
“Grandma, tell us again about the TreeHuggers and the Green Revolution...”
“Well, it all began back in ‘Aught-7’. That was the year a weblog called TreeHugger reached the tipping point and I was lucky enough to be part of it. Conversation threads amongst committed activists spread into the mainstream (aided, of course, by the realities of global meltdown) and soon more and more people began checking out the site or radio and video podcasts. The six-word rallying cry filled the streets and soon you could hardly buy locally grown produce without hearing “How can I make a difference?” It was the year when humanity saw that it is in our own self-interest to work in the interest of global solutions....
2007 According to Paula Alvarado: The Greening of Buenos Aires
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 4.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thinking about environmentalism and ecology in a country with so many problems like Argentina is hard. So when I started writing for TreeHugger I often focused on Brazil, which is much more developed in the matters of eco-design and sustainability. But this past year I was so pleased to find myself writing more and more about Buenos Aires.
One of the main trends I see in the products and initiatives coming from here are the use of recovered materials. Whether because of the lack of materials or an aim for investigation, designers like Martin Churba, Ana Walsh, Carolina Spago, Marina Gryciuk and Tota Reciclados, just to name a few, have been experimenting with used garments and industrial waste....
'Nanorust' Removes Arsenic From Polluted Water
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 01. 4.07
Researchers at Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) in Houston, Texas, have found a new method to remove arsenic from contaminated water - who millions of people have to drink in India, Bangladesh and other developing nations - using nanoparticles of rust, aka "nanorust". According to Nature (paid subscription required): "The iron present in the rust (magnetite; Fe3O4) binds to the arsenic [and is then removed with a magnet], reducing it to the safe levels stipulated by international drinking-water standards of the US EPA. The team is now working on a cheap and simple manufacturing method using rust mixed with olive or coconut oil as a dispersal agent." One of the benefits of this approach is that it doesn't require high-pressure pumps and electricity, things that are not always available where the arsenic contamination occurs. The CBEN team is working on an approach that "requires no more facilities than a kitchen with a gas cooktop." ::Nature (paid subscription required), ::Cooking up 'nanorust' could purify water, ::Cleaning Water With 'Nanorust', ::'Nanorust' Cleans Arsenic From Drinking Water, :: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water Discussion at PhysOrgForum. Image: Rice U./CBEN....
Daylife Beta Now Online: A New Way to Find Green News
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 01. 4.07
We've been working with the Daylife people on a project for TreeHugger (you'll see it soon!) for a while, so we had an idea of what was coming, but it's still great to see their website go live (in beta, right now). "A new way to explore the world," they say. It's not specifically green, but it can be used to find eco-stories. You can go to the tour page to get an overview of the features. Here's what a search for "biodiesel" looks like. ::DayLife...
The Eco-Efficient Major Event Manual
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 4.07
The Eco-Efficient Major Event Manual was launched, with some fanfare, in the middle of 2006. And the premise is very admirable. It is said to help organisers understand the environmental impacts that major events create. It advises how to implement eco criteria to minimise the environmental loads, serving as a guidebook during the bidding, planning and organising phases. The information it contains is based on based on the experience and data from the 10th International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF) World Championships in Athletics, Helsinki 2005. Our problem is that all we can find are long winded media releases about the manual, but no indication of where an interested party might actually get their hands on a copy. Which is a hassle, because such events can indeed have a significant impact (the CO2 emissions from just that one Helsinki event were equal to 17% of that city’s annual traffic emissions.) So until we unearth where the manual is hiding, we suggest checking out the EcoMass site, or alternatively the Greenpeace report, How Green The Games?, on the Sydney 2000 Olympics. (Disclaimer: this TH writer was an author of the latter report.) Via ::Global Forum for Sports and Environment....
Bicycles Outsell Cars. Again. For the Seventh Year.
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 4.07
I was convinced we’d covered this last year. But could only dust off these one or two related entries from the archive vaults. Anyhow, it seems that in Australia, at least, bicycles continue to outsell cars. For the past year sales increased nine percent to just shy of 1.3 million bikes, which is over 300,000 more units that the total of cars sold. As the Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF) see it, this sales edge “comfortably exceeds the total sales of vehicle market leader Toyota.” They further suggest the growth is not just an increase in bikes for recreation, but also for daily travel. Alas no definitive stats are offered to corroborate this. Though they do say, “There is an emerging trend towards people using bikes as their official company-supplied vehicle in place of the traditional company car,” citing 50 companies operating bike fleets. Globally it would appear the sales split is even greater. Figures provided by CPF indicate, that in 2000, 101 million bikes were manufactured to 41 million cars. But a dormant bike helps no planet. Don’t let yours sit idle, go ride! ::Cycling Promotion Fund...
TH Blog Love – Our Favourite Greens Of The Week
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 01. 4.07
Enviroblog: Frog researcher lectures Mayo Clinic docs on widely used weed-killer by Matthew Fried. ‘Doctors at the Mayo Clinic heard a dire warning on the possible link between a widely used weed-killer and cancer. In a forum usually reserved for medical researchers, amphibian endocrinologist Tyrone Hayes of UC Berkeley talked about frogs, but his message was one with direct implications for human medicine.’
Green Thinkers: Enviro Mighty Mouse? by Nathan
‘According to Macsimum News, Apple has been granted a patent for a hybrid low power computer mouse. Basically, this ‘green’ mouse will use two different mechanisms to track its movement on your desk - an optical tracking sensor and a new feature, an accelerometer.’...
Book Review: It's Easy Being Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 01. 4.07
We gave a few copies of It’s Easy Being Green by Crissy Trask this holiday season. The book is a perfect handbook to anyone looking to start greening their life. It’s simple text contains lists and numerous resources on ways to save money, energy and time while saving the planet as well. Chapter topics include ways to make a difference in your own life through eco-friendly home improvements and how to buy green products both in stores and online. The easy-to-do tips teach how to reduce, reuse and recycle. We really like the very first chapter called “Green Living Myths.” It explores common myths about green living that may help to remove apprehensions for those committing to a greener lifestyle. Available at ::Amazon.com...
Haley's Cleaning Hints: Common Sense and Useful
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 01. 4.07
As Mark Twain once said "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." I received this book several years ago as a gift, and every year since it has come in handy. There are great books that fire the imagination and bolster the spirit, and there are books that are simply- useful. This is one of those useful books, it provides a (not so common) common sense approach to cleaning. Highlighting the power of cleaning with non-toxic 'Household Heroes' such as baking soda, salt, vinegar, toothpaste, and many more. Haley's Cleaning Hints is not directly geared for the green audience, but for any of us who want to clean up our lives without spending hard earned cash on unnecessary, and often toxic, cleaning solutions. Combining this kind of 'back to basics' cleaning and organizing with a few green twists thrown in and you'll be spic and span in no time. ::Haley's Cleaning Hints...
EcoForms Sustainable Planters & Pots
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 4.07
Made from the husks of rice and other grains and starch-based, water-soluble binders and biodegradable additives, EcoForms offer a sustainable alternative to container gardening in plastic and clay planting pots. Containing no wood or petroleum ingredients, EcoForms do not deplete natural resources, and decompose in the landfill when you're done with them. Designed to last five years under normal conditions, the pots are suitable for all climates, all environments and all applications where plastic, clay or wooden containers are used, are resistant to damage from freezing and thawing and won't start to decompose until they're discarded unless you use it for a compost bin. EcoForms offers four styles of pots designed for use with house & patio plants and for commercial growers, and they come in six neutral colors in sizes and dimensions from 3 inches to 12 inches. Learn more about the products, manufacturing process and factory specs from their website, where they can be ordered as well. ::EcoForms via ::Cool Hunting...
TreeHugger Radio 14: New Year’s Edition
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 4.07
As we step into double-0 seven, TreeHugger Radio has asked some of the brightest stars in the green blogosphere about their resolutions for the New Year. We queried Heather Stephenson and Jen Boulden, creators of Ideal Bite; consultant and brainy green hottie Summer Rayne Oakes; Ben Jervey, founder of The Big Green Apple; designer, architecture student, and Inhabitat creator Jill Fehrenbacher; green business guru Joel Makower; and TreeHugger writer Jacob Gordon. Resolutions range from reading more books to eating less meat, from pushing green design to watching Wal-Mart. ::TreeHugger Radio (listen)...
University Presidents Promote Higher Education Climate Commitment
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 01. 4.07
Individual colleges and universities around the globe have been at the forefront of addressing climate change and other environmental pressures. Now, several university presidents want to create a joint effort modeled on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. According to the University of Florida's press office, UF President Bernie Machen has joined Arizona State University president Michael Crow and Ball State University president Jo Ann M. Gora in "becoming the first to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. They hope 380 other presidents and chancellors will do the same by June." According to the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE),...
Globe Hope: Finnish Fashion
by Bonnie Alter, London on 01. 4.07
Finnish fashion has its own aesthetic; warm fabrics, bright colours (in response to those months of cold and darkness), and a slightly eccentric look. Like everywhere else, designers there have started to worry about waste and the state of the environment. In response, Globe Hope was born—Finnish fashion made by redesigning and modifying existing materials such as old hospital textiles, army wear and work outfits. Each article includes the provenance of the fabric. Given Finland’s military history, a martial theme predominates in the source of textiles. A down coat is created from an army sleeping bag, one skirt is made from Finnish army trousers and another from hospital surgery linens. The sources for the accessories are equally off-beat: a pot holder was an army coat in the Swedish army, then decorated with vintage lace and handbags were pockets on an army coat and a sack from the Swedish navy. As the slogan on one of their tee-shirts states: "The world does not suffer from the lack of material but the lack of mind." :: Globe Hope
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This is News? Scientists Slam Exxon for Disinformation Campaign
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
Remember CO2: We Call it Life? Now The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a report looking at the ExxonMobil disinformation campaign covered in TreeHugger many times. They find that "ExxonMobil has manufactured uncertainty about the human causes of global warming just as tobacco companies denied their product caused lung cancer," said Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Director of Strategy & Policy. "A modest but effective investment has allowed the oil giant to fuel doubt about global warming to delay government action just as Big Tobacco did for over 40 years."
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Natural Home Magazine: America's Best Eco-Communities
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 4.07
Natural Home magazine has put together a list of "America's Best Eco-Neighborhoods". The top ten list of the country’s top urban neighborhoods encourage the healthy, eco-conscious, TreeHugger-friendly lifestyle, boasting community involvement; shopping, libraries and schools within a walkable area; public transportation; and locally owned businesses, to name a few. The West Asheville neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina tops the list (the WestFest celebration is pictured left, with Minneapolis' Marcy-Holmes, at number eight, pictured right), followed by South Congress in Austin, Texas (see what TreeHugger's readers think about Austin here), downtown Bozeman, Montana and Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York City. The balance of the list includes neighborhoods in cities mentioned often in sustainable town talk -- like Andersonville in Chicago and Seattle's Ballard neighborhood -- and a few that are more up and coming in the sustainability world: Denver's Highland neighborhood and Fall Creek Place in Indianapolis, for example. All feature environmental and/or social programs; parks, green spaces and neighborhood gathering spaces; farmer’s markets and community gardens; and sometimes alternative-energy programs and green building practices, and, while there doesn't appear to be a math equation or much quantification to the ranking system, each community's unique attributes make it deserving in its own right. See the full list at ::Natural Home magazine via ::3r Blogging...
Squeezing Blood From A Stone: Chemicals In Our Politicians
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
Imagine what would happen in the States if some pinko environmental group went to Senators and Secretaries and asked for blood, to be tested for toxins. Canada's Environmental Defence did just that, and didn't just get the usual treehugging leftie suspects like NDP leader Jack Layton, but the much-reviled Minister of the Environment Rona Ambrose, the Conservative Minister of Health Tony Clement, and prominent liberal John Godfrey. The results were shocking. ...
Organic Food: Making Climate Protection Taste Good
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 4.07
Sometimes repetition is needed to make an important idea sink in. And we mean way down deep in. Stephen Leahy of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists has published a story that reminds us (we covered this last year) that organic crop production, in comparison to traditional cash cropping methods, is a comparatively potent tool for mitigating climate change. There are corollary benefits: - “Organic agriculture's use of compost and crop diversity means it will also be able to better withstand the higher temperatures and more variable rainfall expected with global warming”. The mechanism behind the claim is the relatively high level of organic material maintained in soils used for certified organic production. Hence, as the article explains, “Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and can put it more or less permanently into the soil under the right conditions”. ...
Greenwashing Versus Voluntary Pollution Prevention: A Test Of Global Understanding
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 4.07
According to a Regional USEPA Office-issued press release, a Vishay Intertechnology Company site in Columbus, Nebraska USA (pictured) is ‘getting the lead out’ of its manufacturing process. The lead solder phase out is being done as a industry/government partnership project. Coincidence or not, getting the lead out of consumer electronic devices is a RoHS regulation-driven necessity in Europe: a fact that made it interesting to see the US-EPA press release wording. As posted to the US EPA Regional Office website in Kansas City, the phase out of lead solder was accomplished through, “ The National Partnership for Environmental Priorities Program (NPEP) [which] encourages public and private organizations to form voluntary partnerships with EPA that reduce the use or release of any of 31 Priority Chemicals (PCs)”. Note our bold emphasis of the word “voluntary.”...
Wired: 156 Reade Street
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
Jill Fehrenbacher reprises Inhabitat's coverage of 156 Reade Street for Wired's Green House feature. Geothermal heating is becoming common now, but in 2001 it was pretty radical, particularly in New York City. Ground temperature is even all year round, and heat pumps can extract heat in winter or exhaust it in summer. Architect/developer John Petrarca drilled 1100 feet into the rock for the water loop, then transferred the heat through radiant floors. Ground source heat pumps are wonderfully efficient because one is not making heat but moving it, and water moves a lot more calories than an air-to-air heat exchanger like a traditional air conditioner.
Unfortunately this talented developer/architect only got to live in it briefly as he died of lung cancer a year after it was finished. It was put up for sale for 7.835 million dollars. ::Wired not on line yet....
Warming Warning: Hell and High Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
Tyler Hamilton reviewed and interviewed Joseph Romm, assistant energy secretary in the Clinton admin, about his new book Hell and High Water. "those who Romm calls the "Denyers and Delayers" are winning the political battle in the United States, the world's highest emitter of greenhouse gases and a saboteur of Kyoto talks. Whereas the first third of Romm's book presents overwhelming and disturbing evidence that human-caused greenhouse gases are the primary ingredients behind global warming, the pages that follow offer alarming detail on how the U.S. public is being misled by a federal government (backed by conservative political forces) that is intent on inaction, and that's also on a mission to derail international efforts to curb emissions." ...."The Bush administration, he argues, has engaged in a well-funded strategy of rhetoric over reason, through which the selective seeding of doubt – with help from propaganda experts like pollster Frank Luntz – has been successful in watering down the seriousness of climate change in the public's mind." So everybody read Tyler Hamilton in ::The Star; rush out and watch :;Thank you for Smoking to learn about how PR really works; and read ::Hell and High Water. Our own review coming soon. ...
Recycling becomes Upcycling at the Hotel Basico
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
A much funkier green than yesterday's Fairmont is Playa Del Carmen's Hotel Basico. It is a mix of recycled 50's industrial aesthetic and real recycled materials, like the rooftop pools made out of oil tanks and the cabanas made from the back of old trucks. Bill McDonough's upcycling comes to mind- making something better that what you started with. Charles Jencks' Adhocism also applies. The Cool Hunter says: "In the rooms, no detail is left un-themed. Exposed pipes with fire hydrant-style taps run along the walls. An industrial-strength bath and the king-sized, multi-purpose bed (perched on an elevated palate) sit in the middle of the room. Everything is exposed and raw; the toilet is the only thing in the room concealed. There are rubber curtains on the floor-to-ceiling window and pulley chain detailing throughout."...
Can Architecture Make You Fat?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
We used this image from the late, lamented Sploid before in our post asking if cities can make you fat. Now in the UK we find that architects and planners are beginning to look at the way buildings contribute to a sedentary lifestyle, obesity and ill health. "Tim Townshend, a Newcastle academic and former town planner, is one of those suggesting that our public spaces - our cities, suburbs, shopping centres - are enforcing a culture that consumes energy without expending it, encouraging inactivity and poor eating habits. One of Townshend's more frivolous suggestions is that we make stairwells a more attractive option by fitting them with piped music (although it's this, arguably, that made lifts loathsome in the first place)." TreeHugger fave Will Alsop is, as always, provocative. ""If you really wanted to do something about it," he says, "you could take all the elevators out of all the buildings in London. Then people would be fit."
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2007 According to Sami Grover: Community Solutions to Global Problems
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 3.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Sami Grover, North Carolina, USA
Predicting the future is always a tricky business, especially for an optimist. There’s a fine line to tread between describing what should happen, and predicting what might. Or is there? In the end, all forecasts are only a snap shot of one possible future among many others. There is a valid case then, for predicting what should happen and working like crazy to make it a reality. For me, 2007 is the year that communities will come together to address global environmental problems and, in the process, will start to recreate and revitalise their local cultures and economies. They will seize the opportunity to create a collective vision for how they want their community to look, and in the tackle other problems such as poverty, crime and dislocation. ...
2007 According to Hank Green: Small Groups Changing the World
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 3.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Hank Green, Missoula, Montana, USA
Small groups of people change the world. Usually, that kind of sentiment is spoken to activists and underdogs who don't know quite what they need to do to make that change happen. But the small groups of '07 are well informed and well funded. They're going to change the world and they're gonna do it fast.
Probably the most important small group in the world right now are the folks who are researching, funding, and publicizing green technology. 2006 showed us that people can and do care about the environment, and they will do what they can, within reason. Clean technologies will let people do their part without lowering their standard of living....
2007 According to Timothy McGee: Changing Systems
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 3.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Timothy McGee, Los Angeles, California, USA
For me, the holidays are a swirl of activity and celebration. However, there is a certain moment just after the party has ended when the pine needles are thick on the floor, and the remains of a good meal are scattered about that I get a chance to reflect. This year I was prompted by TreeHugger to consider the past and the future. The question many people started to ask in 2006 was "how can I change the world?" I think the question of 2007 will be "how am I already changing the world?" ...
TreeHugger Picks: Car Prototypes for the Future
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 3.07
With the New Year just a few days old, TreeHugger is taking the opportunity to gaze into our crystal balls at what 2007 could bring in the green world. Prototypes are often the manifestation of these future-looking ideas; while many never see the light of a production line, the forward-thinking experiments, designs and research can help us visualize the future. Here's a look at some automobiles that we'd like to see drive off the computer models and on to our roads soon.
1) General Motors plug-in hybrid prototype will be unveiled at the International Auto Show in Detroit later this year.
2) The General will also put 100 fuel cell prototypes on the road this year to test out their real-world worthiness.
3) The Nexo Project is Argentina's sustainable car system to build vehicles for different uses from a common platform based on a number of similar pieces, which makes it easy to produce and adapt, according to the user's needs.
4) Recy, the recyclable roadster is the first entry into the LA Auto Show's Design Challenge, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design of North America.
5) Audi's R-Zero is an electric muscle car that came from the minds of three students at France’s International School of Design, and is pure EV eye-candy....
Living with Ed: Coming to HGTV on Sunday
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 3.07
Living with Ed might not always be easy, but it sure is green. The new miniseries, airing on Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT on HGTV, follows the adventures of Ed Begley, Jr. and his wife, Rachelle Carson, through their domestic lives. Being the good TreeHugging celeb that he is, Ed wants everything to be as green as possible, from the food they eat to the energy the house consumes to their transportation, and promises to provide an interesting counterpoint to the rampant overconsumption often associated with celebrity. Our pals at Grist recently caught up with Ed to chat about what living with Ed is really like; while the plot and producers seem content to allow Rachelle to roll her eyes at her husband's green antics, Ed certainly cares for our planet and goes to great lengths to reduce his and his family's footprint on it. While the good-natured-eye-rolling wife slant might make for more engaging television for some, we worry that this could marginalize Ed's efforts and make him appear to be more of a fringe-dweller and less of a do-gooding citizen who cares enough about the Earth to use a solar oven and power his toaster with a bicycle. In any event, the show does have promise when it comes to green education, and showing that celebrities can lead effective, green lifestyles; only time will tell if Living with Ed will get HGTV's watchers to think more about green, or write off the efforts of one man as "more hippie than hip" and change the channel. Find out starting this Sunday, January 7 at 10 pm. ::Living With Ed, ::Living with Ed MySpace, ::Grist and ::Hugg...
Schmaltzmobiles Coming Soon
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
Harold Bate's Chicken Powered 1953 Hillman "Chicken Coupe"
In Missouri two nice boys, Jerry Bagby and Harold Williams, are making biodiesel from schmaltz, Yiddish for chicken fat, which used to be considered a yummy treat to spread on toast. The Tyson Foods plant nearby makes tons of it, and they mix it with soybean oil, hoping to make up to three million gallons of biodiesel per year. Believe me, better in your car than in your arteries. The Rockford Registar Star notes: "Today, only a tiny fraction of U.S. biodiesel is made from chicken fat, but that seems likely to change. The rising cost of soybean oil — which accounts for roughly 90 percent of all biodiesel fuel stock — is pushing the industry to exploit cheap and plentiful animal fats. The nation’s biggest meat corporations haven taken notice. Tyson Foods announced in November it has established a renewable energy division that will be up and running during 2007. Competitors Perdue Farms Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc. are making similar moves."(and Smithfield has a lot of the unkosher stuff) via ::ecosherpa...
NY Times on Organic-ish Packaging
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
It is hard to read even if you click to enlarge Ross MacDonalds illustration, but the bottom line on the box is "For today's healthy lifestyles ~ and for de-icing driveways". This sets the tone for a wonderful article about how deceptive the packaging of "organic-ish" food is, entitled Be It Ever So Homespun, There’s Nothing Like Spin. "A bag of natural Cheetos seemed so much more appealing than the classic cheese puff. Why? Was it the image of a subdued Chester Cheetah rising gently from a farm field bathed in golden sunlight? Like clues to a murder that suddenly point to a single culprit, the mystery in my shopping cart revealed itself. Wheat sheaf by wheat sheaf, sunrise by sunrise, the grocery store shelves had been greenwashed." The article discusses a design shorthand of colours and images that the public identifies with organic and healthy food. "If the package does its work, then the food inside doesn’t actually have to be organic, only organic-ish." ...
Food from Clones has Questionable Benefits, Certain Drawbacks
by Union of Concerned Scientists on 01. 3.07
Just this week, the Food and Drug Administration announced it intends to lift a voluntary moratorium on selling products from cloned animals to consumers. The Union of Concerned Scientists is urging FDA to conduct a more comprehensive safety review of food products from cloned animals and their offspring and develop a labeling system for cloned food if it is allowed to market.
The potential gains from cloning particularly productive animals come at the expense of a potential increase in animal suffering. Most attempted clones are grossly defective and are lost early in development (cloning success rates generally range from zero to 20 percent). Defects among cloned animals include overly large fetuses, placental disorders and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Although defects occur at a higher rate among cloned animals than with other assisted reproductive technologies, FDA dismissed animal health concerns because the defects are not unique to cloning. ...
Schwazenegger Proposes $95 Million in Research Funding
by EcoGeek.org on 01. 3.07
The governor of California is at it again, this time "reaffirming California's position as a world leader in advanced research and innovation that creates jobs while preserving the environment." The research package includes $30 m for a new facility for UC Helios Project. The Helios Project has exactly one mission, to provide sustainable, carbon neutral sources of energy.
Another $40 m will be used only if a California school is awarded BP's $500 m energy and bio-sciences grant....
Green Theatre for Kids
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 01. 3.07
How to reach kids who hate being in class but have a creative streak inside? That's the focus of the Green Kids Inc program, aiming to use theatre to inspire kids to be more environmentally friendly. This years theme is "Happy Birthday" focusing on a scientist and his friends who are striving to put together a green birthday party for their good friend Envirosaurus Rex. Along the way they have to confront what type of environmentally friendly shopping choices they will make, what foods they will choose to buy, and strive to help a toy manufacturer change his over-packaging ways. Schools throughout Canada can engage in the program, which ultimately aims to show kids from elementary through middle schools that even the seemingly small decisions we make every day can really add up when we work together to make the world a better place....
Klean Kanteen
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 01. 3.07
Picture: Stickeen Photography - Guest Post By: Wendy Dembo, Cool Hunting
A few years ago college kids started to use colored hard-plastic bottles to carry water as a more eco-friendly alternative to bottled water. The plastic in deli water bottles is not stable for multi-use purposes and never degrades in landfills. Now there are concerns about hard-plastic bottles leaching toxins, especially into hot water. The hip kids in college have recycled their plastic bottles and replaced them with Klean Kanteens, which are made out of ultra-light stainless steel.
The “Kanteens” are sleek, non-leaching and durable. They come in a myriad of sizes from 12 OZ ($17.95) which is perfect for little hands, or your purse, 18 OZ ($15.95) which is great for the gym and the jumbo size 40 ouncer ($23.95) when you are really thirsty....
Most Huggable
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 01. 3.07
A confidential European energy plan proposes a 50% emissions cut by 2050… A bike lift on a steep street in Trondheim, Norway takes riders over the hill. (video)… Groovy Green reviews a new tomb tome: Grave Matters, From the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial… In Argentina, tossed soda bottles and candy wrappers make bricks for low-income homes… LEDs in the kitchen: long-lasting white light for under the cabinet… ...
Convenient Truths: Driving Your Way to Lower Carbon Emissions (and a Great Contest Video)
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 01. 3.07
The video submissions to Treehugger and Seventh Generation's Convenient Truths contest continue to roll in, and now you can even take a look at what others treehugging videographers are sending us. Will one of these submissions earn a portion of the over $30,000 in prizes? Hard to say... we haven't seen your video yet! Keep in mind that the timing of your submission might matter also, as you may be able to score a phone conversation with contest judge Daryl Hannah if you are one of the first folks to submit a video(s) in 2007!...
Bamboo Bra from Shirts of Bamboo
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 01. 3.07
We decided to start 2007 off by hitting the gym (along with many other folks who apparently have the same resolution). New gear always motivates us a bit more so we started searching. We love this bra, made of bamboo and organic cotton, found at Shirts of Bamboo. The racerback style provides support with three layers of fabric and wicks better than cotton to keep us dry while running (ahem, walking) on the treadmill. The price can’t be beat either at $20. ::Shirts of Bamboo...
Pro Cyling Goes Carbon Neutral
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 01. 3.07
With large events such as the 2006 World Cup, the 2006 Turin Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics going carbon neutral, the time may be ripe for smaller sporting organizations to do the same. The first American sporting team to become carbon neutral has arrived, and it may come as no surprise that the sport involved is professional cycling. The (deep breath) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (whew) is poised become the first American pro sports team to go carbon neutral by purchasing 460,600 kWh of wind power credits. KGPCTpbSNBC, as Grist dubbed it, not only plans to offset its team travel emissions for the 2007 season, but also for the support vehicles used in races and each team members’ home electricity usage. After all the frequent flier miles, it seems as if even a seeminly green-friendly sport such as cycling can turn out to be somewhat less than. So, kudos to the awkwardly named KGPCTpbSNBC - let’s hope other teams and sports follow their lead (paging NASCAR). ::LOHAS via ::Grist...
Treasures of Wasteland
by Bonnie Alter, London on 01. 3.07
SECCO and The Treasures of Wasteland is the name of a Helsinki shop selling recycled goods, from clothing to computer-key magnets, to belts made out of car seatbelts. It is a surprise to find this place, nestled amongst vintage shops, hair dressers, and grim bars, in the Design District of Helsinki. This treasure chest is chock full of funky, unexpected and innovative design products. There are mittens made of brightly coloured recycled fabric, hot plates made of computer ventilators, with feet of mouse bearings and shower shoes made of UNICEF blue and white fabric; all perched on a stand of stacked car tires. We spoke to the CEO, Nina Partanen, who came up with the idea for the shop. She saw that there were so many good and interesting designs for products made from recycled materials but they were prototypes, or made by students with no hope of production. ...
Climate or Weather? Who Cares, It is Changing
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
Robert Oullette, ReadingToronto: Riverdale Park on New Years Day
We are always told not to confuse climate and weather, but no matter what you call it, it is weird in Canada. Robert Oullette at ReadingToronto says "We quipped yesterday that there is no need to go south this year - southern temperatures have come to us. The image of this glider trying to launch himself from the slopes of Riverdale tells the story of yesterday's weather." Meanwhile, at the Globe and Mail, Roy MacGregor says that this year in Canada, weather was the big story. Storms are hammering British Columbia, almost taking out Vancouvers' Stanley Park. Summer storms "left enough downed trees in their wake to turn the Northwest Passage into an eco-tourism boardwalk." Up on the Canadian Shield, people are canoeing instead of snowmobiling. ...
Moby Duck
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
Everyone knows the story; a containership loses a few boxes in a storm, and soon 28,000 rubber duckies are floating in the gyre, showing up all over the world, with scientists tracing their path. A schoolteacher in Alaska wrote about it in the SItka Sentinel and it went viral in the nineties newsprint fashion, showing up in the Guardian, the New York Times and on TV and then "swirling around the maelstrom of the Internet." Except they weren't ducks. They became the nautical equivalent of an urban myth- "the metamorphosis of happenstance into narrative and narrative into myth" ...
Scottsdale Princess Tries to go Green
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
We first learned of the Fairmont Hotel chain's environmental policies when we toured the roof of Toronto's Fairmont Royal York this summer, and talked then about its Green Partnership, introducing sustainable best practices to the hotel industry. In Arizona, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort just won a “Good Earthkeeping Award” from the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association for adopting a desert tortoise named Monty and other green practices. We find this interesting because this ain't no eco-b&b, but a big, honking expensive mainstream hotel. It is a daunting task to be a green hotel in Scottsdale- there is little water and it is very hot in summer, but they have gone a long way:
-changing the landscaping to feature less thirsty greenery and converting golf carts from gas to electricity;
-adding sensors to lights on all closets and storage areas;
-recycling almost everything-paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass and plastic.
They also promote conservation programs and run an eco-tour, which spotlights desert flora and fauna and ends up at Monty the tortoise’s habitat. The Fairmont also tunes in guests and employees to the needs of the desert by adopting a mile of highway, promoting guided hikes and other programs with the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, and offering group talks and presentations by Adobe Mountain Wildlife, a rescue and rehabilitation center.
Scottsdale in summer is the most bizzare extreme mix of extravagance and waste, where one can barely move outside of the bubbles of hotel to air-conditioned car to mall. Frank Lloyd Wright had the good sense to get out of town and go back to Wisconsin each summer. We are pleased to see that at least one of these big artificial bubbles is trying to do something. ::East Valley Tribune and ::Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
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Wired: Panel House by David Hertz
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 3.07
We have often joked that as houses get more and more energy efficient they will eventually closely resemble walk-in coolers. David Hertz is already there, using the super-insulated panels designed for industrial refrigerators. There is a little more glass than in most coolers, but according to Wired, it is "smart Glass"- not what you want facing west but that's where the beach is. However it has a reflective film to reflect the heat and a low-emissivity coating to hold it in at night. Other neat tricks include an automated window washing system that cleans the water through reverse osmosis, (can't have streaks, can we?) collects the water and uses it for the landscaping. Toss in a pneumatic elevator and a rooftop surf-cam and it is definitely wired material, if not quite Natural Home. Wired says "when the house gets cool-or warm- it stays that way. Now [owner] Ennis lives in a very large, very comfortable thermos." ::David Hertz via ::Wired not online yet, also see ::Inhabitat...
THTV: Los Angeles Organic Vegetable Express 2:00
by Damien Somerset on 01. 2.07
Ford and Volvo to Show Concept Ethanol Hogs at the Detroit Auto Show
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 01. 2.07
The upcoming International Auto Show in Detroit will put the latest trends of the car world up on rotating pedestals, possibly even drape them in equally trendy human models. General Motors has announced it will unveil a plug-in hybrid prototype—an enticing rebuttal to the popular impression of GM as the EV1’s executioner. Ethanol and flex-fuel vehicles will also certainly be a common sight in the green car department. Both Ford and Volvo will be strutting ethanol-optimized concept cars. Ford’s Interceptor concept is a “powerful masculine sedan” with the heart of a Mustang. The E-85 fueled, rear wheel drive, 5.0-liter V-8 is intended to be an aggressive but family-friendly biofueler. No word on mpg, but 400 hp isn’t a promising sign. Volvo’s XC60 concept is an SUV with an ethanol optimized 3.2-liter powertrain. The Volvo pulls a less than admirable 19.2 mpg. Both Volvo and its parent company, Ford, are companies that have demonstrated genuine eco-ingenuity, but neither of these two contributions to the future of sustainable transportation offer much to get excited about. Hopefully what appears on the floor of the Detroit Show will push the envelope with more vigor. ::Green Car Congress (Ford, Volvo) ...
Monitor The Environment Through Gene Expression
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 01. 2.07
The water flea, Daphnia magna, is the canary of environmental toxicology. Scientists have found the flea to be sensitive to a wide array of toxic conditions. Unlike a mine, a river can contain multiple toxins, and a wide range of reasons why a Daphnia magna may kick the bucket. In an effort to devise a system of monitoring more subtle changes in toxicity, Dr. Chris Vulpe, associate professor of nutritional sciences and toxicology at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources, has pushed environmental toxicogenomics to new heights. By looking at which genes are 'expressed' (turned on and off) by the water flea in response to sub-lethal toxins, Dr. Vulpe can get a good idea of what chemicals, metals, or other agents are present in the river, and how they might result in poor health. This combination of genomics (gene expression) and environmental toxicology is a rapidly growing field, and will enable us to better determine which chemicals or toxins may have lasting health effects on us and our environment. ...
Convenient Truths: Join Our Google Group!
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 01. 2.07
Take the first step forward into 2007 on an inspired, creative, and light carbon foot by joining a little experiment of ours, a Google Group for Eco-Filmmakers (Filmmaking skills not required!). Right now the focus is on our Convenient Truths contest, but we hope that this will be a mainstay forum for anyone interested or already involved in using the power of film/video to effect sustainable solutions. Just look at THTV’s positive influence!
Join the discussion here and enter Convenient Truths. The deadline is February 28th!...
EU Automakers Now Required to Take Back Any Year of Car
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 01. 2.07
As of January first, automakers in the EU are now required to take back any year of dead car for recycling. The End of Life Vehicles directive (which previously required the take-back of any car made after 2002) has been expanded for 2007 to include any year of car. The original passage of the measure was a response to a drop in the value of scrap metal. Whereas scrap yards once paid motorists for their junked cars, they now charge a fee. The result was a spike in the number of ditched autos. The End of Life Vehicles directive has set of a goal of an 80% recycle rate for reclaimed cars. ::Hugg (littledonkey) via Ecolocal via BBC ...
Colorado State Government Honing in on Renewables
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 01. 2.07
Yesterday, we highlighted Iowa's focus on renewable energy development in the coming legislative session; as one commenter noted, the Hawkeye State isn't the only one looking to greener energy for environmental and economic boosts. In fact, the situation in Colorado is very similar to that in Iowa, as incoming governor Bill Ritter also made renewables a centerpiece of his campaign. The incoming legislature seems warm to Ritter's goals. Calling his plan "Colorado's New Energy Economy," Ritter has established several areas of focus, including:...
2007 According to Jessica Root: The Green Bubble
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 2.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Jessica Root, Brooklyn, NY, USA
It took me a full year of living in Park Slope, Brooklyn to realize I was living in a progressive, green bubble. As I discovered more about my new neighborhood, I came to relish the fact that I live only a handful of blocks away from eco-boutiques Green Jeans and 3r Living, local, organic eatery Applewood and the Park Slope food co-op. I smiled so wide it hurt when I found out my neighborhood yoga studio participated in MoveOn.org's recent screening party of An Inconvenient Truth, and just a few days ago, my new landlord (without yet knowing that I work for TreeHugger) chatted my ear off about how she's moved to New York to get a degree in green architecture. That same day, a new neighborhood friend e-mailed me a link to his new website, greenbrooklyn.com. I thought to myself, "Finally, it's all happening."...
2007 According to John Laumer: The Year Of Many Pendulums
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 2.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
John Laumer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
2007 - Year Of The Many Pendulums
When our editor suggested we writers make some predictions I froze. Scenario planning is something I've done professionally and for fun on TreeHugger. Rule #1 of Scenario Planning is to accept that no one person is better at predicting the future than any other. Predicting an end state for even a single small trend is mostly futile. Hence the writers' block.
At the other extreme, professional "predictors" throw out as much mud as they can, and then sit back and wait for some to stick. Later, they direct our attention only to the predictions that came true. Scenario planning and thinking are quite democratic and more scientific by comparison; and, for that purpose, identifying "future drivers" is a prerequisite. Here's an example of some plausible scenarios. ...
2007 According to Kenny Luna: Green Education
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 2.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY, USA
To Dream In Green…
If I can have just one wish fulfilled this holiday season, it is that 2007 be the year in which each of us here in America and across the globe becomes inspired to literally dream in green, and in the process inspire others to do the same as well. For me the year gone by was an amazing adventure, as I really first started to reach out and dream of the possibilities a greener future could hold for each of us. ...
Wal-Mart's Fluorescent Bulb Commitment On Track
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 01. 2.07
In October, we filled you in on Wal-Mart’s push for compact fluorescent bulbs: The retail giant has the ambitious plan to slip them into at least 100 million homes, a plan now starting to look realistic. In today’s issue of The New York Times, we hear more about what this actually means. First, the green facts: A compact fluorescent, the article reports, uses 75 percent less electricity, lasts 10 times longer, produces 450 pounds fewer greenhouse gases from power plants and saves consumers $30 over the life of each bulb, despite a price tag eight times as expensive as a traditional bulb. ...
Wall Street Journal To Kill Fewer Trees In New Year
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 2.07
According to a FAQ sheet offered by the Wall Street Journal (subscription only), "The new Journal is about 20% narrower but the same depth. It is being produced on a 48” sheet of newsprint, or web, compared with the 60” sheet used before. The new size is the emerging standard in the newspaper industry". NPR is reporting today that projected savings to the Journal is approximately US$18 million per year in reduced expenditure for newsprint. Following in the steps of the oldest newspaper in the world, which we recently reported on here because it will save 100% of it's paper expenses by going all digital, the Wall Street Journal has found a way to reformat that will kill 20% fewer trees and make them more money. Good for business, customers, and environment. The bad news: many billions more trees would be better able to withstand the ravages of Climate Change through this Century, had the Journal's editorial stance on climate science been rational for the preceding decade. Image credit: de-inked newsprint pulp beater in Manitoba Canada, by Mixing Systems....
Great Video of Underwater Turbines Being Installed
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
We covered "Lunar Power" back at the design stage; the New York Times has an interesting video of the installation of two turbines near Roosevelt Island in New York City- one is a test device to monitor fish and conditions, the other generating power. "Tide-powered underwater turbines are a new kind of renewable energy technology. They look like windmills, but use tidal currents to make electricity." Watch "Tidal Turbines" at ::New York Times the video on Understanding Light Bulbs is interesting too. ...
"Stormblade:" The First Truly Quiet Residential Wind Turbine
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 2.07
Being of newborn prototype, Stormblade, we think, deserves appropriate background music. So, just imagine "Riders On the Storm" playing now, if you will. We found little Stormrider spinning away on "engineer - live" whose motto...you've got to love this...is "for engineers, by engineers." So, in the foreground, we must also supply with our imagination, some engineers with very sexy pocket protectors. Stormblade, works by accelerating the wind onto the blades and is therefore more efficient at low as well as high wind speeds. Accordingly, "Bird and bat friendly, the design does not have the mechanical noise often associated with commercial wind turbines and, as a result, is very silent in operation. It has fewer parts and higher generating capacity than other models and can theoretically, operate at any wind speed...Stormblade Turbine can convert up to 70 per cent of wind power into electricity, double the current average. Operational wind speed is expected to be 7mph to120mph, double the current average range ...". The Stormblade project has a website here.
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Not a Good Week For Wind Power
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
The NIMBY's fighting wind turbines in Ontario are taking a leaf from the Creationists and the climate skeptics: wrap it in phony science. According to the Globe and Mail, "The fight against wind development from residents who live near planned projects has taken on a life beyond the usual NIMBY (not in my backyard) complaints. Wind opponents are now using broad arguments about wind reliability to bolster their other concerns over noise, bird safety, vibration and destruction of natural vistas. That's going to accelerate in 2007, said Tom Adams, executive director of Toronto energy watchdog Energy Probe. “The NIMBYs are going to be more capable [and better able] to analyze and bring serious arguments, rather than just aesthetic concerns, into the discussions.” The big argument is that gee, the wind doesn't blow all of the time, and often isn't there at peak hours when it is needed most. We heard this from the New York Times last week. In Alberta, concerns about consistency have led to limits on growth of wind power out of fears that it will destabilize the grid. Of course, they have the oil sands and take a different perspective. In Ontario, the Government has frozen offshore development until it "thoroughly examines the environmental impacts." Of course, when it comes to energy, this government is just gutless. Not a good week for wind. ::Globe and Mail...
Calendar of Climate Change 2007
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 01. 2.07
So, we are 2 days into the new year, time to put up a new calendar if you haven’t already. Here’s an eco one that doesn’t show you shocking pictures in order to get you to save the world but still tells you everything you need to know and can do against the biggest issue of out time. Environmental publisher Flipside Vision’s Calendar of Climate Change 2007 has beautiful photos (the cute polar bear is definitely not missing) for each month and is full of energy saving tips, climate facts and web links. It’s carbon neutral and printed on 80% recycled paper with vegetable-based ink. It’s available for €17,27 in the UK from Flipside Vision. ::via o2balance ::Flipside Vision
more 2007 calendars on TreeHugger: Gary Larson Whale Nation...
Another Buenos Aires Designer Joins the Social Action
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 01. 2.07
Argentinean well known and talented designer Maria Cher has joined the group of local designers concerned by poverty and exclusion through her project “Cosiendo Redes” (Knitting Networks). The initiative started when the designer was discussing with colleagues how hard it was to find seaming workers to develop their collections. Moved by this need and the Argentinean context -with high poverty and unemployment indexes-, she and her social worker mother developed a project that aims to teach low resources women and men between 18 and 60 years an occupation related to the textile industry, and through it, to return them to the work market. The workshops they developed include themes like Seaming and Micro Entrepreneurship, but also introductions to the concepts of Self Esteem and Incorporation of Work Habits. “Cosiendo Redes” operates along with Fundacion Paz and has already ended its first year capacitating workers in Barracas neighbourhood. They plan to expand the program to other parts of the city next year. On the other hand, Maria Cher has also taken advantage of her advertising campaigns to raise awareness about women violence. We’re glad we have more reasons to take a look at the designer’s amazing garments. ::Cosiendo Redes ::Maria Cher
“Cosiendo Redes” works with volunteers. If you want to get involved, contact the organizers through their website.
Via Clarin....
It's A Wrap
by Bonnie Alter, London on 01. 2.07
Wrapping vintage furniture with fabric is quite a trend this year. Ugly and unloved chairs are transformed into unique pieces straight from the magazines. The "Mummy" chair was a beach chair in its first life. Frances Basham takes African fabrics and applies them to old, unwanted pieces of furniture from local junk stores. She upholsters tables, chairs, stools, bookcases, shelves, plant stands, hat stands, desks, dressing table mirrors, lamps and even antlers with vintage, African or retro fabrics. The process is similar to decoupage, wherein small pieces of fabric are bonded to the furniture and objects by hand. Then they are varnished to seal and protect them; giving new life and uses to the old. There are trays covered with vibrant red West African cloth, and tables with curvy legs have bright yellow and blue swirly patterns applied. Cheery coloured mirrors and frames add a lively touch and the decorative jugs would look wonderful on a shelf or book case. There is even a 1930’s mannequin for the corner of the boudoir. :: Potassium...
The Wired Home Goes Green: First Pix of Loblolly House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
"Green Architecture is now sleek, sharp and nearly invisible" says the title of the feature section in the January Wired. They have selected seven green projects that are heavy on the technology, and range from the wired through expired. It starts with the first pictures we have seen of Kieran Timberlake's Loblolly House, which we have been excited about for two years. (see earlier post) It looks like a Borg Cube, has almost as much technology, and is as completely alien to construction as we know it. Kieran and Timberlake "realized that architecture needed the equivalent of an integrated circuit. They began to combine glass, drywall, pipe and and wood frames into finished units, each precision-engineered for cost, beauty, and sustainability." Watch for more about this house, which we think will be one of the most important of this decade. "Its not a house, but a new production process for architecture" ::Wired but not online yet. ...
Tom Dixon Does Lacoste
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
Turtle necks in winter, Polos in summer; that is the extent of our wardrobe. Imagine our delight to learn about UK designer Tom Dixon's Eco riff on the classic polo shirt. (Tom is known to TreeHuggers for his Ecowareand his Fresh Fat Chair). Tom's approach was "to question the need for uniformity in the production process and to start a conversation about how to address today"s urgent issues of sutainability." Handmade from organic cotton and natural indigo dye at Lacoste factories in Morocco, then packaged in an embossed box from "recycled materials reminiscent of egg cartons." It is part of a new annual series where a designer from outside the industry reinterprets the classic polo; Tom also designed a bulletproof techno polo which we will take a pass on. Alas, a limited edition of only a thousand pieces with distribution in A-list cities only. ::Lacoste via ::Yanko
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German Prefabs Invade UK
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
It is said that balloon framing populated the west of North America; Without it, western boomtowns certainly could not have blossomed overnight. 'Although lumber was plentiful in 19th century America, skilled labor was not. The advent of cheap machine-made nails, along with water-powered sawmills, made balloon framing highly attractive, because it did not require highly-skilled carpenters, as did the dovetail joints, mortises and tenons required by post-and-beam construction. For the first time, any farmer could build his own buildings without a time-consuming learning curve.' (wikipedia) Almost every house in North America is still built using its successor platform framing, relying still on nails, 2x4's and marginally skilled labour. No wonder our houses can't hold in heat and rot before our eyes. In Germany, they do things differently. ...
New Year's Resolution Update: Shopping Bags
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
Graham should give himself a prize for coming up with the most popular New Year's Resolution- Actually start carrying around a re-usable bag for shopping. It is so true; one doesn't plan every shopping trip, or just forgets the damn thing. To make it easier, TreeHugger has covered many easy-to-tote totes that you won't forget: The Onya bag folds up small enough to be part of a keychain. The Oneless folds up into its own pouch. The "Take your bag for a Walk" reminds you that you can take it with you. And of course women and cross-dressers can wear the shopping bag bra. Who could forget that? Or, you could just move to Australia, where nobody lets you forget. ...
TreeHugger Welcomes Writer Ted Owens
by Ted Owens, New Mexico, USA on 01. 1.07
Hey Mexico! TreeHugger is Looking for a Mexican Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey Middle East! TreeHugger is Looking for a Middle Eastern Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey Japan! TreeHugger is Looking for a Japan Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey Russia! TreeHugger is Looking for a Russian Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey Brazil! TreeHugger is Looking for a Brazilian Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey South Africa! TreeHugger is Looking for a South African Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey Italy! TreeHugger is Looking for an Italian Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey France! TreeHugger is Looking for a French Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey China! TreeHugger is Looking for some Chinese Correspondents (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
2007 According to Warren McLaren: Green Hope
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 1.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Warren McLaren, Sydney, Australia
Hope. Seems a quaint old word. Suited more to generations well passed, than today's era of digitally enhanced 'can do'. Hope. A word taken down from the shelf and dusted off, in times of adversity, when 'happy ever after' outcomes are not assured. Yet in a darkened tunnel, hope is the light at the end. The positive boat bobbing bravely in a sea of negative. After 13 years of working in eco-design, resource recovery and land conservation, 2006 has been the one that has provided the most hope....
2007 According to Dominic Muren: Put the PRO back in Protest
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 1.07
The other posts in this series can be found here. The first one with an explanation of what this is about is here.
Dominic Muren, Phildelphia, PA, USA
My Hope for 2007 :: Put the PRO back in Protest
Treehugger was founded under the belief that environmentalism didn't have to be about purely politics, protesting, and going without. We work hard to maintain as non-partisan a message as possible. And, we try not to get too involved in the protest culture because just the mention of it tends to turn people off. Environmentalism should be about helping each other (plants and animals included) to live fuller, happier, healthier lives in a world that is in balance (or at least as far from complete chaos as possible)...
2007 According to Lloyd Alter: Ethical Design
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 01. 1.07
Happy new year everybody! 2007 is here, and the eclectic team that brings you TreeHugger took a moment to think about the past year and the coming one. This collective brainstorming was a little like good free-jazz; a bit all over the place, not many rules to follow, but very interesting. The only guidelines: Write about things that you are passionate about, what you thought was significant in 2006 and what you want for 2007. It can be about local anecdotes or global trends, idealist or realist in tone, whatever. Just share your thoughts!
Here is the first one. The whole series can be found here. We'll keep posting 3 per day until we run out.
Without further ado, Lloyd Alter:...
Hey Scandinavia! TreeHugger is Looking for an Scandinavian Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
Hey India! TreeHugger is Looking for an Indian Correspondent (paid).
by Graham Hill, New York, NY on 01. 1.07
American Ethanol Production Up 25%
by EcoGeek.org on 01. 1.07
The United States churned out 4.9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2006 due almost entirely to increased demand. As more states mandated some amount of ethanol in gasoline and more automakers created flex-fuel cars. About 25% of Iowa's overall corn harvest was converted to over one billion gallons of ethanol this year, accounting for almost one third of America's ethanol production.
Production of ethanol peaked at 330,000 barrels per day. It seems like a collassal number, but that number represents less than 2% of America's 21 million barrel per day petrochemical thirst. But as methods for producing ethanol from bio-mass are refined, and more of America's crops are shifted to ethanol production, ethanol will become a bigger piece of our energy pie. Mmmm....energy pie...
::GreenCarCongress...
TreeHugger Green Job Board - Free Postings!
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 01. 1.07
Our green job board is undergoing a bit of a transition right now. Jobthread people are working on making the look match our new design, and we want to make it the place to look for a green job, or post a job listing to find employees for a green job.
So effective immediately, posting on our job board are free, and it should stay that way for a while.
We want employers to be able to find people who are really interested in the environment for their green jobs, and there's no better place for that than TreeHugger. We want our readers who are looking for a job that better match their beliefs & interests to have a convenient central location where to look. So use our job board (it's free!), spread the word, and we wish you to find a great life-changing job that is also world-changing!...
TreeHugger Welcomes Franke James!
by Franke James on 01. 1.07
Giant Ice Shelf Breaks off Canada's Ellesmere Island
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 1.07
National Geographic
As the Economist might say, another pesky ice shelf obstructing commerce and energy exploration has broken up in Canada's north. the 66 square km (25 square miles) Ayles Shelf was one of six major shelfs (floating ice connected to land) left in the Arctic. Scientist Warwick Vincent said ""This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," The shelfs are normally held in place by pack ice, but now ocean movement gets at them and they can be broken apart. Geographer Luke Copeland said "Arctic ice shelves are "not as sexy as polar bears, but these are very unique environments, and we just lost one of them." ::National Geographic and ::Corporate Knights...
TreeHugger Welcomes Damien Somerset!
by Damien Somerset on 01. 1.07
Return a Tree
by Bonnie Alter, London on 01. 1.07
This little wooden cube contains a tree seed. The idea is that the box, when planted, will slowly rot, the seeds will sprout, and it will finally grow into the very tree that the cube was made of. Either curly birch, pine, alder, spruce or aspen “trees” are available. The designer Jouko Kärkkäinen works mostly with wood, but usually in much bigger and more elaborate projects. This little tree casing reflects the essence of Finnish lifestyle and design; simplicity, basic needs and love of nature. :: Design Forum, Finland...
MulchFest: Christmas Tree Chipping in NYC
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 1.07
From BicyTaxi to lunar power, there were some pretty good green things happening in New York City in 2006; now Big Apple residents can help the city looking green. MulchFest (we mentioned it last year) provides New Yorkers an opportunity to bring their Christmas trees to designated sites where they can be mulched and spread. The event takes place next weekend, January 6 - 7 from 10:00am to 2:00pm, and participants are encouraged to bring bags to take advantage of the free mulch created from the spent trees. Locations are spread throughout all five boroughs; those marked as a "chipping" location on the NYC parks & recreation site will have mulch for the taking. All the info here. ::MulchFest via ::Apartment Therapy...
SF Recycling & Disposal Artist in Residence Program
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01. 1.07
Featuring a cycle of local artists, SF Recycling & Disposal's Artist in Residence Program aims to use art to inspire people to recycle more and conserve natural resources. The program selects artists local to San Francisco and provides them with a residency, which includes 24-hour access to materials they gather from San Francisco's refuse, along with access to a 2,000-square foot studio, supplies and equipment, a stipend, and a reception/exhibit, held once a quarter; the next exhibit is planned for January 26 - 27, when artists Nome Edonna and Sudhu Tewari. In exchange for the residency, the artists create art for the permanent collection, and talk to students, tour groups (led the third Saturday of each month), and the media about the experience of turning trash into treasure. The 44-acre site is where most of San Francisco's garbage and recyclables are temporarily dumped before going to a landfill or recycling plant. Recyclable items are sorted before being shipped to recycling plants and manufacturing facilities. ::SF Recycling & Disposal Artist in Residence Program via ::Apartment Therapy: San Francisco...
Instructables: LEDs For Beginners
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 01. 1.07
Are you looking to bring some light into to your life this New Year? Well learning how to wire up LEDs might be a good way to start! We’ve enjoyed DIY lessons from Instructables before now. This year we’ve already learnt how to build our own 1000 Watt Wind Turbine and make Microwavable Mitten Warmers. Now this educational website is offering a step by step guide for all eco-lighting designers, students and teachers out there. If grappling with electronics seems a little daunting the online instructor is quick to put you at ease with his introduction: “Never done any work before with LED's and don't know how to use them? Its ok, neither have I. If you have wired up LED's before, this explanation might seem overly simplistic. Consider yourself warned.” Wishing you a brightly lit 2007! Via: Core 77 ::Instructables...
Hillarating and Hypermiling: Mother Jones, January-February
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 01. 1.07
If you don't know either of the H-words in the title, don't worry: both are coinages introduced in the most recent issue of Mother Jones. "Hillarating" was created by writer Jack Hitt to describe the strong reactions (OK, the hatred) elicited by former First Lady, current Senator, and potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in his article on the subject. "Hypermiling" is an activity many treehuggers probably already engage in at some level: tailoring one's driving habits to increase fuel efficiency. Writer Dennis Gaffney reports on a few days he spent with the "King of the Hypermilers" Wayne Gerdes, and the techniques (not all of which we'd recommend) that he uses to achieve miles per gallon ratios that are regularly 50% above average.
Other feature in this issue of MoJo include a profile of "...cable's high priest of populism, Lou Dobbs," a look at highway privatization efforts by Indiana governor Mitch Daniels and financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs, and a breakdown of the financial considerations involved in installing a solar power array on a home. The January-February issue is available at bookstores and newsstands; a subscription costs $10. ::Mother Jones, January-February, 2007...
Iowa Sets Its Sights on Renewable Energy Dominance
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 01. 1.07
Newspapers around the state of Iowa on Sunday were reporting on or editorializing about governor-elect Chet Culver's proposed Iowa Power Fund, a $100 million investment by the state in renewable energy development. Culver proposed the Fund during his campaign, and made it one of the pillars of his economic development plan. Legislators on both sides of the aisle are considering Culver's proposal, but support for renewables seems solid across the board. According to the Sioux City Journal, ...
TreeHugger Welcomes Writer Jasmin Malik Chua
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 01. 1.07
New Years Resolutions from Treehugger
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 1.07
TreeHugger Welcomes Writer Stephen Filler
by Stephen Filler, Tarrytown, New York on 01. 1.07
TreeHugger Welcomes Kristi Piziks
by Kristi Piziks, Detroit, USA on 01. 1.07
Memories are Made of This
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.31.06
It is wonderful to see that the internet and blogosphere actually can work to help designers bring products to market. First Core 77 covered Guido Ooms' memory stick made out of, well, sticks, and Leonora picked it up for TreeHugger and it has been round the 'verse since. Now we learn from the New York Times that it has become a big success. "Mr. Ooms says he has been surprised by the popularity of the memory sticks, which are available at Oooms.nl. He estimates that he has sold 3,000, at prices ranging from about $59 for a 256-megabyte version to nearly $92 for the top-of-the-line, one-gigabyte model. The key to the product’s success, Mr. Ooms says, is the way it makes passers-by do a double take when they see the quintessential information-age accessory, a laptop, paired with the quintessential Stone Age utensil, a wooden stick. Sales have been so brisk that Mr. Ooms is considering hiring some outside production help. Under a program in the Netherlands, he said, prisoners can be hired to perform basic manufacturing tasks — in this case, that would involve drilling the holes and sanding the twigs." ::New York Times...
Fish N' Kids?
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 12.31.06
Well that’s a twist I’ve yet to see on a school lunch menu, but the Marine Stewardship Council is taking their whole new program quite seriously in tackling the Treehuggin’ task of working with schools in the United Kingdom to see to it that the fish kids get to eat at lunch is sustainably harvested. By teaming up with school meal providers and caterers, schools can now source sustainable seafood and proudly display the MSC eco-label on their lunch menus to show they’re doing their part to ensure a sustainable planet.
In conjunction with the program, the MSC is also providing fun and games online for kids, and classroom materials for educators that help teach kids about the fishing industry and why sustainable fisheries are a must for our future. Ultimately, kids are not only educated about sustainable fisheries while enjoying a healthy and sustainable lunch, but also take home the message to their parents that searching for the MSC eco-label the next time they go food shopping together is the best way to preserve the tradition for generations to come. ...
Wal-Mart's Solar Dream
by EcoGeek.org on 12.31.06
Wal-Mart has put out a request for proposals (RFP) to several large solar outfits. Apparently the request is fairly confidential, but Joel Makower seems to have seen the RFP and is making some comments about it over at his blog.
All that is certain is that Wal-Mart seems serious about the possibility, and that solar installers are right now scrambling to put together what could easily be the biggest private solar project in history....
Australia's Prime Minister on Bottled Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.31.06
In Australia, consumption of bottled water has doubled over the past six years, and tooth decay is on the rise as children drink it instead of fluoridated tap water. The Prime Minister is unhappy. In a plea to parents to get their children to drink tap water instead of bottled water, Prime Minister John Howard described the worsening tooth decay epidemic as a national tragedy. "I think one of the things we have to try and do though, is get young kids to drink tap water again to do something about their teeth,"... "It's a real tragedy this. You're starting to see the re-emergence of decay in young kids." he continued- "I grew up in a generation who had bad teeth because we didn't have fluoride, and fortunately my children have all got great teeth," Mr. Howard said. "But kids now who are being born into the bottled water generation are missing out on that." ::Sydney Morning Herald
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Style Will Save Us Lets Us In On Their Kitchen Confidential
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 12.31.06
Those kind folk over at Style Will Save Us have given us their top tips for an eco-friendly kitchen renovation. Their resident Green Guru, Jenney Poyzer, has 'just put the finishing touches on her eco-fabulous kitchen and spills the beans over her prized contacts list.' She says “the kitchen is the most energy-hungry room and also the room that most attracts - or puts off, buyers.” Using recycled, recylable and non toxic materials was the first step towards creating an eco-friendly space. Installing triple A rated electrical products meant that they reduced the energy consumption to below 50% of what the average kitchen uses. Further to that they bought vintage furniture and chose a special colour changing LED lighting system. Read the full post to find out details about the materials and products used. You can also learn more about Jenney Poyser's entire eco-house renovation here. It looks like stylish eco-design will indeed save us! :: Style will save us....
Las Vegas Does The Geothermal Strip
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 12.31.06
Via the Geothermal Energy Association, "Nevada is on-track to be producing more than 1000 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power in the next 3-5 years, a level that would meet roughly 25% of the state's total power needs, according to a new report from the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA)...The report identifies up to 29 new geothermal power projects now under development in Nevada and finds that new power plants would produce as much as 853 MW". Click here for the full report (pdf download). Image credit: Destination360 ...
Sleeping on Stinging Nettles: the Next Bamboo?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 12.31.06
The technique for producing fine cloth and sailcloth from stinging nettles has existed for centuries. Heinrich Kranz is reviving the art for the modern age. Encouraged by a customer to pursue the idea, Kranz founded the firm Stoffkontor Kranz AG, and got rights from the University of Hamburg to grow an oversize version of the common weed. The fiber Kranz produces is a legitimate alternative to cotton, with the advantage that is grows like...well, a weed, without the need for pesticides used in the cotton industry--currently accounting for 24% of the global insecticide usage according to WWF....
Boss Hog: Rolling Stone Gets Down in Pig Manure
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.31.06
Move over, Upton Sinclair and Michael Pollan. Make room for Jeff Tietz, who has written an extraordinary article in Rolling Stone, of all places, about how "America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history" It is a dire and frightening tale. The first paragraph has perhaps the year's longest run-on sentence, designed to convey the scale of the industry and the analogy to human beings is stunningly effective.
"Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year. That's a number worth considering. A slaughter-weight hog is fifty percent heavier than a person. The logistical challenge of processing that many pigs each year is roughly equivalent to butchering and boxing the entire human populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Charlotte, El Paso, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Louisville, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Las Vegas, Portland, Oklahoma City and Tucson."...
