- 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 March 4, 2007 - March 10, 2007
Total this week: 172
RATE THIS VID!: Good vs. Bad
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 14th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Let there be a Solar Powered Audio Bible
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.07
For all you sun worshippers, we offer the solar powered talking bible, which " speaks all books of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, in a real human voice. You can move from book to book and chapter to chapter with the press of a button....perfect for anyone on-the-go who wants to hear the word of God." Only a hundred bucks here. To be fair and balanced, we note that you can put Richard Dawkins into your MP3 Player from Audible here, but he isn't solar powered. Thank you, ::Sietch Blog...
RATE THIS VID!: Green Kids
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Keep It Green, Keep It Clean
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 14th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
RATE THIS VID!: One Up
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Food Production
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
Open Architecture Network Goes Live
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.07
"How do you get black-turtleneck-wearing architects to interact, other than at a cocktail party?" asks Kate Stohr of Architecture for Humanity.
Architects are used to selling ideas, thats how they make a living. And unless they are Frank Gehry or Rem, they do it locally. Sharing ideas? To use an old phrase, "Does Macy's tell Gimbels?"
Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair think otherwise. As Cameron told Worldchanging: "By the middle of the century, one in three people on the planet will be living in inadequate, often illegal housing," says Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity. "I mean, think about that! The formal architectural profession does not have anything like the capacity to meet people's needs on that scale. Worse, many of the people working in this space are unaware of each other's work. There's a vast replication of effort, not only the same successes, but the same failures. We need millions of solutions, and we need to share them all across the world."
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RATE THIS VID!: Green
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03.10.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 14th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Green Trunk Show in San Francisco
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 03.10.07
If you’re in the San Francisco area this weekend make sure to check out Guerilla Fashionista on Sunday, March 11th from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. This “green” trunk show is taking place in the Mission in the Modernism West Gallery and mezzanine of Foreign Cinema, located at 2534 Mission Street. More than 20 Bay Area designers and artists will offer their unique fashions, jewelry, home accessories, and gift items for men, women, and children. All designers have generously agreed to donate 10% of their sales to: Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), a youth empowerment and environmental health and justice non-profit organization based in the community of Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco. The non-profit provides free hands on educational programs to public schools and paid youth internships in the areas of environmental health, urban restoration, and food access. Thanks for the tip, Heidi B.! Via ::Daily Candy ::Guerilla Fashionista...
The Lazy Environmentalist Goes Live Daily on Lime Radio
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03.10.07
For those of you who just can't get enough of Josh Dorfman's weekly radio show, The Lazy Environmentalist, you be pleased to hear that from this Monday you will be able to get Dorfman daily! Yup that's a whole lot more Josh on your radio waves. He of the cutting edge green design store Vivavi will be bringing his dulcet tones and entertaining interviewing style to Lime Radio’s channel on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 114) every week day morning at 11am EST throughout North America. Josh tells us that this is "the first daily nationally broadcast radio program dedicated to the ideas, trends and innovations surrounding a modern green lifestyle." For the unitiated amongst you The Lazy Environmentalist "covers topics like fashion, design, building, travel, and transportation, offering insight into cutting-edge eco-friendly products and services and interviews with the designers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are at the forefront of the new green economy." Keep your ears out for some high profile guests in the upcoming March programs including Chris Paine - Writer/Director of Who Killed The Electric Car? Mariel Hemingway - Actress and Author of Healthy Living From The Inside Out and Zem Joaquin - Green Editor for House and Garden Magazine and for Ecofabulous.com. While Josh might like us to think he's a 'Lazy Environmentalist' we're not so sure now...5 radio shows a week, whilst also running Vivavi, and writing a book doesn't seem too shabby to us! :: The Lazy Environmentalist...
Not a Book Review: How Green Were the Nazis?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.07
We were intrigued to learn that there is a Bookseller/Diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year. Last year the winner was the best-seller People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves To Unsuspecting Bystanders and What To Do About It, by Gary Leon Hill, soon to be a major motion picture. Leading the pack this year are two books of environmental interest: How Green were the Nazis? by Thomas Zeller, Franz-Josef Bruggemeier and Mark Cioc - the first book to examine the environmental policies of the Third Reich, published by Ohio University Press. We found a review by John Alexander Williams that calls it a "valuable contribution to the ongoing study of naturist ideologies and movements in modern Germany". and concludes that "Intentionally or not, the essays in this volume leave the Nazis looking as brown as ever. The picture that emerges is of a regime that seemed intent early on to protect the environment yet abandoned conservation as soon as serious war preparation commenced in 1936. Only in wartime planning for the postwar imperial utopia do we find a current of arguably green thinking."
Although we are just recovering from the rigours of Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month, we are still interested in one of the other titles up for the award, "The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: a guide to field identification," by Julian Montague (published by Harry N. Abrams). Make liked it, and while one Amazon reviewer said Audubon? Peterson? Has-beens! another suggested that "Julian Montague needs to get a life, roaming round the North Eastern states snapping the death throes of shopping carts, indeed." ::BBC...
Permaculture Magazine: Solutions for Sustainable Living
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03.10.07
We have covered the concept of Permaculture before. Like biomimicry, it is basically a system of design that draws influence from natural systems. While it is often thought of as a garden, or farm design system, permaculture design can be used to inform many aspects of human systems, from community planning to housing or business development. The Transition Town concept, for example, which we have covered here, is heavily influenced by permaculture.
For those wishing to learn more about this concept, they could do a lot worse than taking out a subscription to Permaculture Magazine. Published in the UK, but available worldwide, this magazine includes accessible, how-to information on all aspects of green living, from alternative energy, to peak oil, to community planning, to specific food growing techniques and more. Its solutions oriented approach will be extremely appealing to many Treehuggers, and there is almost always a lively but informed debate going on in the letters pages. The latest issue includes an interview with peak oil expert Richard Heinberg and articles on community gardening, DIY rainwater harvesting, planning a woodland, eco-rennovation, and raised bed vegetable gardening. Each issue also includes a news section, product reviews, course listings, a classified ads section, and news from the Global Ecovillage Network.
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World Naked Bike Ride Season Opens
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 03.10.07
Do you feel totally exposed when you are fighting for your narrow strip of earth in a pack of rushing traffic? Well, it is time to take action. Today is the start of the 2007 World Naked Bike Ride events. WNBR promotes human-powered vehiclists all over the world taking it to the streets to make their point: "It's time to put a stop to the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create." If you are a little on the shy side, rest assured. You will not be discriminated against for going only "as bare as you dare". Body painting is encouraged. Alert bystanders today will see rides across Australia and a few other locations with the seasonal conditions for naked bike riding, including Florida and Brazil. If you are shivering at the thought of a nude cruise, then check the WNBR List of Rides to find out if an event is planned in your city in the warmer months of June or July. If not, plan one yourself! And check out the photos on Flickr if you want to see how fun past WNBR days have been!...
RATE THIS VID!: The Commute
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 14th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Aurora City of Lights' Struggle With The Environment
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
My Views on Carbon Offsets [Updated]
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 03. 9.07
Dear reader, as you know TreeHugger is a group effort. We are not a monolithic entity, but rather a diverse group of people from all around the world working together to bring you all kinds of green stories that we found interesting. Over the past two and a half years, we've written quite a bit about carbon offsetting (see Wikipedia article for a primer).
The topic is controversial these days and I'd like to share with you some of my views on offsets. Speaking for myself and not for TreeHugger as a group. More after the jump....
RATE THIS VID!: My World Is Melting
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 14th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Better Late Than Never
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Save Our Planet
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
Most Huggable: Majora Carter Interviewed, Sustainable Art Threads, US Cleantech Leaders
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 9.07
Turn down the music, wax your car, fill your tires with nitrogen. Just a couple of the weirder tips for more efficient driving… PBS and Matt Damon turn on the green programming for Earth Day… Austin is first and San Jose is second among US cities leading the way in cleantech industries… Ecorazzi interviews the amazing Majora Carter, co-host of the Sundance Channel’s forthcoming green programming… Victoria E spotlights Mission Playground, slingers of eco-friendly artifacts of wearable art…...
TreeHugger Picks: Have a Green Weekend
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 9.07
For many TreeHuggers, weekends offer a break from work and a good chance to catch up on some fun stuff; read a book, go out for dinner, or just sleep in a little bit. For others, it's time to do some chores and prepare for next week. Either way, here are some picks for having a green weekend. [Update: TreeHugger Lloyd reminds us to remember to "spring forward" for Daylight Savings Time on Saturday night and check/change your smoke detector batteries!]
1) Tackle that home improvement project (like, say upgrading your insulation) that you've been meaning to get to.
2) Plan your next eco-retreat or vacation.
3) Do a load or two of "green" laundry.
4) Enjoy the satisfaction that comes with making your own soap and other do-it-yourself projects.
5) Finally, kick back with a green beer or something with a little more kick -- you've earned it!...
Coke Pours Bad Business Ethics On Israeli Recycling Laws
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 03. 9.07
It’s more than a problem. It’s an epidemic. Multi-national companies are sabotaging Israel’s modest efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. Last week we reported on IKEA Israel and the plastic bag fiasco – that Israeli customers will not be charged the 5 cents per bag at IKEA. The latest is that Coca-Cola has asked the Israeli government to suspend the requisite deposit and return service required on all its beverage bottles. According to the Israel Union For Environmental Defence, Coca-Cola is waging a smear campaign attempting to link bottle collection with "criminal elements”; and is asking that Israeli cities expand the voluntary recycling cages on sidewalks instead of improving deposit redemption facilities and accessibility, as required by law. The company claims that most people are not returning the bottles for deposit and that the number of bottles Coca-Cola does get is so limited that it makes it difficult for the company to recycle them in an efficient manner. ...
SwitchPlanet: Use More, Waste Less
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 9.07
TreeHugger is fond of using the networking power of the internet to help people connect and share their stuff; it's fast, easy, cheaper than buying and more sustainable than collecting huge amounts of stuff that only gets used once in a blue moon. The latest addition to virtual swap meet sites like lala.com and Peerflix is a community called SwitchPlanet, which takes the idea a step further by offering a similar service for free. Instead of costing a buck or two, SwitchPlanet users barter using virtual currency called "switchbucs", which allow users to assign a relative value to the things they want to get rid of. Instead of transaction fees or membership fees, members have the option to donate any amount they choose every time they request something for free from another member on the SwitchPlanet network; these accumulated "SwitchFunds" then go to organizations like The Nature Conservancy, American Red Cross and American Cancer Society. Currently limited to digital media (CDs, DVDs and games), users earn switchbucs for swapping and can then spend them when they want to pick up a copy of Anchorman or Yellow Submarine; according to the founder (who was interviewed by GroovyGreen), things like books, clothes and even larger items like furniture or cars could be coming to the network soon. Check out their site (or read the full interview) for more on switchbucs, SwitchFunds and finally finding the special edition of Army of Darkness. ::SwitchPlanet via ::Hugg...
Bike Sharing: A Tale of Two Cities
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
In Toronto, they have closed down the Community Bicycle Network of yellow bikes distributed around the City. The City government pleads poverty, and even environmentalist Gord Perks says to Eye Weekly: "I would certainly support this if it's not interfering with competing priorities."- weasel words if I ever heard them. City Council buffoon Rob Ford actually says: "I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day." And Mayor Miller says Toronto will be North America's Greenest City.
Meanwhile,according to the New York Times, in Paris by the end of the year there will be 20,600 bicycles available for residents and tourists with 1,000 pickup points in an effort to ease traffic congestion and pollution. The bikes can be rented on any day or night and returned to any station.
How much money did bikeshare need? Toronto is becoming a green embarrassment. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Sid The Lid Meets Tumbleweed
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 9.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 14th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Whoops! Mountain Bikers Ride into Grand Canyon
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 9.07
There are times when the environment and biking are not happy bedfellows as three Californian mountain bikers recently discovered to their dismay. The trio, known as the ‘Riding the Spine’ team are pedalling from the Alaskan Arctic to the tip of South America by camping out and riding little used roads and trails. Their decision to ride the Grand Canyon from the north to south rim (and posting about it on their website) resulted in a couple of undercover federal agents tracking them down and serving them a summons. The verdict: donate $500 dollars to Grand Canyon Search & Rescue Fund, spend 2 days in jail, 5 years of unsupervised probation, and banned from all National Parks for 5 years, to boot. It is legal to pass through the Grand Canyon with your bike, if connecting trails. You just can’t ride it - you have to carry it. All the way. The National Parks law pertaining to biking in the GC says, “Rules like this are intended to ensure the safety of trail users, and in wilderness areas, to prevent environmental impact. Bikes can potentially damage the soil and cause erosion which has a lasting and negative impact on the environment.” ::Riding the Spine, via Knox News....
Tesla Calls for Tougher Media Scrutiny of Alternative Vehicles
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 9.07
There has been a huge amount of media interest in alternative fuels in the last few years. Surely this would be a good thing? Yes and no, says Darryl Siry of Tesla Motors. In a hard hitting blog entry over on their site, Darryl has taken the media, both old and new, to task for not asking the tough questions, for not analyzing the viability of various fuel options, and for treating EV’s like the Tesla as a “gee whiz” novelty story, rather than a potentially revolutionary stage in automotive development:
“Journalists frequently ask me to comment about competitors of Tesla Motors. I list the following: GM, Ford, Toyota, and Nissan. Some journalists are surprised that I don’t consider Phoenix Motorcars, Wrightspeed, ZAP, or the various other players they might have been thinking about.”...
Canada's Most Sustainable Cities
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
Corporate Knights ranks Canada's cities according to sustainability and there were some surprises. No surprise that Toronto didn't make it (Today's headline in the Star: City decays as debt climbs ) but a bit of a surprise that Calgary did. Quebec City came first- "Maybe because of that famous French joie de vivre (it’s just happier here), the city enjoys the second lowest violent and property crime rates. Then again, maybe it’s simply too cold six months out of the year for criminal minds to venture out of doors." All five winners are wealthy, government or university towns- quel suprise? ::Corporate Knights...
San Francisco Federal Building
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
Buildings used to be designed with the climate in mind with big opening windows to the exterior; shading and bris de soliel to the south; shallow working areas to maximize exposure to natural light. Mix the desire to build a green, efficient building with post 9/11 security and you have Thom Mayne's new San Francisco Federal Building. James Russell of Bloomberg says:
Mayne, principal of Santa Monica-based Morphosis, bracingly applies brute urban-industrial energy to his environmental agenda. The 3-foot-by-8-foot stainless-steel panels, which appear translucent, are supported in front of the all-glass building wall by a metal framework. Functionally, they shade the building from low winter sun, cutting daylight to a comfortable level for office workers.
That's just one of the ways the building cuts energy use. In total, it's designed to consume about half the power of a standard office tower -- an indication of how building design can help slash emissions of greenhouse gases.
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My Favorite Garden Catalog
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 9.07
Over the years I've accumulated enough unsolicited garden catalogs to have insulated a building or two. I call it veggie spam. Order from one outfit, and they sell the mailing list to others, propagating endlessly. Don't want to think about how many trees go down so pointlessly. The good news is I've found a way to minimize the veggie spam. Rule #1: never order from a large catalog with expensive color photos. You're paying for their graphics and mailing so prices will be high; plus, these are the very ones most likely to sell your name because they are obviously run by someone with an MBA or marketing degree who couldn't care less about resource conservation. Rule #2: try to place your first order by phone to see if the people are nice. If ordering is outsourced or they're grouchy 'change your mind' and move on. Rule #3: go with a catalog focused on one or two core competencies. A fat garden catalog with everything under the sun is just a marketing front. They don't have all that stuff in stock; it's just being drop-shipped to you from their "suppliers." Rule #4: if ordering online, don't start an online "account;" and, if ordering by phone or form ask them not to pass on or sell your address on. For edibles, a personal favorite for the last few years has been The Cook's Garden of Warminster PA, USA (pictured catalog). For perennials, check out Busse Gardens of Big Lake MN, USA. For trees and shrubs, always dare to go bare....
Terry Towel Toys
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 9.07
They are so cute--who can resist these stuffed polar bears, elephants, and rabbits--all made of recycled towels. Andreas Linzner has been fascinated with fabric, particularly with terry cloth, since his youth. He haunted flea-markets for the best patterns and colours, paying attention to the size and shape of the loopy bits and the feel and quality of the terry. Terry cloth originated in the Middle East and really took off after the industrial revolution with the development of looms. Trained as a tailor, he started making animals from the old towels, ensuring, with his disciplined eye, that fabrics are cut carefully so that the patterns match at the edges and the design fits the form of the animal. From such humble beginnings a theme developed, and now even a hip shop in Hamburg. He has expanded his business in retro-chic towelling to include big towels, toiletry bags, hot water bottles and cushions (with Hamburg imprinted on them). There is even a recycled terry postcard to send to your favourite bath-mate. Andreas Linzner will make bespoke animals if you give the fabric to him—now we know what to do with those ratty, thinning, faded towels, left over from university days. :: Andreas Linzner Via :: Style Will Save Us...
Built on Guilt - Carbon Offsets
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 03. 9.07
Carbon offsets are making the rounds. The idea is to balance out the carbon generated by an electronic device by paying for an effort to reduce that carbon; the most common offset method is to plant trees, although you can buy credits through the Chicago Climate Exchange as well.
Carbon offsetting is now a part of several green computing schemes. Dell has the Plant a Tree for Me, Via has the Clean Computing Initiative, Kudos IT Systems has something going, etc. Some vendors, such as Via, include the price of the offsetting in the product. Others, such as Dell , make the offsetting fee optional, but then use 100 percent of it to reduce the emissions.
There are a lot of issues here - the schemes are not regulated, the price and method of offsetting varies wildly from one offsetter to another, there is no agreement that offsetting even works. And since offsetting fees are essentially charitable donations, the model can be viewed as marketing ploy or (worse) a system to extract dollars from guilt-ridden consumers. This is similar to the indulgences of the 15th and 16th centuries, where the Dutch literally paid for their sins. Finally, the model encourages consumption, particularly for the rich who would rather pay a fee and slap a sticker on something than change their lifestyle....
Players Not Spectators. Sports IIlustrated Does Green
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 9.07
Gee, we no sooner talk about the Trek’s Lime bike with Shimano’s automatic gearing, and lo and behold, there it is in Sports IIlustrated, as a side bar to their cover story on global warming and sports. Article runs over four pages and covers a conceptual self-sustaining and carbon-neutral sports arena designed by architectural firm SmithGroup (for SI) and a Middlebury College lacrosse team that bought enough wind power renewable-energy credits to offset its carbon footprint. They make suggestions as to what greener cars a NBA team might drive, comparing MPG. SI also observe that John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Jim Courier, Janet Evans, Aaron Peirsol and others, have signed on as ambassadors for the Global Water Foundation and that Alaska's Iditarod dogsled race hasn’t set off from its traditional start point for the past five years ,due to lack of snow, and that the famous 11-city skating marathon along frozen Dutch canals has run only once in the past 20 years. They even quote eco-advocate Bill McKibben about his Step It Up campaign. The article is remarkably long on global warming, its effects and the responses we can undertake, while short on sport. But the package is nicely tied together with this closing thought: “ ... let us remember that this game is different. We don't have the luxury of looking on from the sidelines. We must become players too.” ::Sports IIlustrated., via Grist and EcoGeek....
The TH Interview: Greg Searle One Planet Living North America
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 9.07
How do you shrink the average American’s ecological footprint down from 5 planets to the necessary one? It’s certainly a tough task, but Greg Searle, of One Planet Living North America, believes his organization may have some answers. He is part of a network aiming to build flagship developments on five different continents by partnering with progressive developers and providing them with "no-nonsense expertise to build the most advanced sustainable communities in the world." We Treehuggers are already huge fans of the Bioregional Development Group (who came up with the One Planet Living concept in partnership with WWF) and we’ve reported on their massively important cutting-edge initiatives here, and here. We’ve even interviewed the founders Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai here. Now, in this interview, Greg explains why their framework is so important, and what they are doing to implement it in North America. He also gives some handy hints on things every Treehugger can do to reduce their ecological footprint, no matter where they find themselves on this (one) planet.
Treehugger: What differentiates One Planet Living from the various other schemes, initatives and frameworks that are around for achieving sustainable development, such as Natural Step, or LEED for example?
Greg Searle: Like the Natural Step, One Planet Living has broad application; it is being used as a sustainability framework by companies, such as Nokia and, and by governments, such as the UK Department of the Environment, in ways that have little to do with green building. That being said, our largest effort in North America is in green residential development.
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Transformer Furniture: Ottoman into a Bed
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
In a previous post we learned a few new names for furniture that transformed through different functions; We learned another from a commenter at Apartment Therapy that described this ottoman that folds out into a bed as a "flip and f**k.", which I am certain would not please the vendors. It is an innocuous box of an ottoman, but the way it folds out is interesting and the price reasonable at $ 479 at ::Bo Concept via ::Apartment Therapy...
The Real Skinny on House Design
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
We prattle on about "less is more" and have seen lots of narrow houses that work very well- our last was eleven feet wide. Narrow lot frontages are a good way to get higher densities and more efficient use of land while still satisfying the traditional north american desire for single family residences.
However this three storey house in Madre de Deus, Brazil at about five feet wide inside, is perhaps pushing the envelope a bit. It is all decked out inside with one foot square tiles so you can measure it out, which was kind of the designer. (the source website says that it is a meter wide but we are going by the tiles) The owner is planning a fourth floor addition “open, for leisure, with barbecue and everything”....
Riverside, California's "Grease to Gas" Program
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 03. 9.07
Restaurant grease, a bane to sewer systems everywhere, has gained new levels of respect as a feedstock for alt fuels tinkerers. The Public Utilities of Riverside, California, upped the ante two years ago with the pilot of its "Grease to Gas" program, in which waste oil from local restaurants was fed into the cogeneration plant. Not only did the experiment prove more productive than expected -- the grease, fed into methane digesters, produced 30% more gas than expected -- but has also made local restaurateurs very happy:
Riverside launched a pilot project to explore the merits of using restaurant grease as a cogeneration fuel after sharp increases in private waste disposal fees made it financially difficult for local restaurants to have their grease waste interceptors pumped on a regular basis. The fee increases posed a significant challenge for the city, too, because overloaded interceptors discharged restaurant grease waste directly into the city’s sewer collection system, clogging up entire sections of pipeline. In this context, the prospect of using restaurant grease as a fuel source was not only seen as a way to reduce local restaurant grease disposal costs, but as a way to help keep Riverside’s sewer collection system free of restaurant grease....
Preparing for the DST Crisis: What To Eat
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 9.07
We are down to the wire, 2AM Sunday morning the clocks Bank of America Commits to Sustainability
by Eric Kane, New York, NY on 03. 9.07
Bank of America has introduced a $20 billion, 10-year initiative that will encourage the development of environmentally sustainable business practices. The bank will push the green agenda through lending, investing, philanthropy, and the creation of new products and services. The company reports that it will provide $18 billion in lending and advice to help commercial clients finance the use and production of sustainable products and services. Furthermore, Bank of America will commit $1.4 billion to achieve LEED certification in all its new offices and banking centers. An additional $50 million will be donated to nonprofit organizations that focus on forest preservation, energy conservation, affordable green housing, and other environmentally conscious activities. Finally, the bank will invest $100 million in internal energy efficiency initiatives. See also ::Bank of America Offering Hybrid Reimbursement and ::Greener Offices in New York...
RATE THIS VID!: Chickens Enlighten, Humans Change, World Improves
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 14th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
An Intriguing Concept: Hyundai’s QarmaQ and Its Recycled Plastic Skin
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 8.07
And I thought buying a fleece vest made from recycled soda bottles was pretty nifty. Hyundai unveiled its QarmaQ proof-of-concept car at this year’s Geneva auto show. Among the many green features that this car boasts, its plastic shell is the most intriguing. Hyundai partnered with GE to integrate advanced materials from the Ecomagination line into this vehicle’s design. Key portions of the light outer shell are made from GE’s Xenoy iQ and Valox iQ resins, which are composed of 85% post-consumer recycled PET, the stuff of plastic soda bottles. On the interior, molded resins replace components that might otherwise be painted, reducing the release of volatile compounds. The molded exterior panels are also presumably colored during the molding process, avoiding the need for body paint, the single most polluting process in a car’s manufacturing process. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Eat Local
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Windows Live Messenger: IM-ing for a Cause
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 03. 8.07
Because we use Windows Live Messenger, formerly called MSN Messenger, we were thrilled when we read the news about how we can help “spread the word.” Every time we have a conversation with the free IM service, MSN will donate a portion of its advertising revenues to our non-profit of choice (there are eight to choose from). From what we’ve read on their website, it’s hard to determine how much a portion is but they do state that there isn’t a cap on how much an organization will receive. “The sky’s the limit.” Via ::Worsted Witch ::I’M from MSN...
RATE THIS VID!: Making A Way
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 14th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
Ask TreeHugger: Why Is My Water Brown?
by Helen Suh MacIntosh, Cambridge, MA, USA on 03. 8.07
Question: Recently, every time I turn on the tap, my water looks brown. What makes it brown and is it safe to drink?
Response: Your drinking water may be brown because it has too much iron in it. Iron is a common, naturally occurring metal in soil, and as a result, is normally present in your drinking water. Under normal conditions, drinking water provides about 5% of the iron that you are supposed to drink or eat each day. You need iron to survive, as iron is an key part of red blood cells and is used to trap oxygen and carry it from your lungs to other parts of your body.
Although not dangerous to drink, brown water is unappealing and annoying. Iron-containing water may have a funny, metallic taste and may stain anything white, including your clothes, toilets, bathtubs, and other surfaces.
Iron can get into your water in several ways. One of the most common ways is when rust gets dislodged from water pipes. This can happen when pressure in the pipes changes, for example when water pipes are repaired or when water in the pipes is shut off and then turned back on again. If you get water from a well, it is also possible that more iron than normal entered your well water from the surrounding soil and dirt. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Change A Light Bulb
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Hitting the Bottle or Hitting the Box? The Debate Continues
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 03. 8.07
The debate continues over hitting the bottle or hitting the box when it comes to drinking wine. We sought out an LCA that would help us understand the claims that Tetra Paks are better for our beloved environment than the traditional glass bottle. The folks at PRé Consultants provide a handy online LCA study search engine which brought us to this study commissioned by Tetra Pak and carried out by Franklin Associates in accordance with ISO standards for life cycle inventory. Results are summarized below but, Tetra Pak out-performs the glass and PET bottles in energy use and GHG emissions. The report evaluates three types of container systems for wine: paperboard containers, glass bottles, and PET bottles. The paperboard containers (which are composed of a laminate of paperboard, aluminum, and polyolefin resins) are manufactured by Tetra Pak and include the Tetra Brik™ and Tetra Prisma™. The secondary and tertiary packaging (such as corrugated boxes) used for transporting filled containers from the winery to a distribution center are also included....
Chair made from 1739 Aluminum Can Tabs
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
They still have pull tabs in Colombia, so designer Carlos Alberto Montana Hoyos got all of his friends to collect them and he created this chair, using zip ties to hold it all together. According to Inhabitat, "Hoyos’ unique lounge chair incorporates traditional handicraft techniques with cutting-edge contemporary design"
In a comment to Inhabitat, the artist says that it is a lot of work to put it together, but "In some countries in Latin America or Asia, much of the waste recycling is actually done by hand. This kind of project gives work to the poeple who classify the wastes, and also give jobs to urban handcrafters..We should as designers try to follow BiIl Mc Donoughs Cradle to Cradle approach and think in the life cycle since conception of the product. But there is so much waste around already, that why not give it a try to use it in other ways?" ::Inhabitat
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RATE THIS VID!: Chicken Little
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
Most Huggable: Bank of America and IBM on the Green Track, “The Unsustainables,” and Domes for the World
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 8.07
Bank of America announces a $20 billion environmental program to lend, invent, and give green… SustainLane’s animated shorts, The Unsustainables, pop up on Comcast’s green channel… 17 billion plastic bags go out the sliding doors of supermarkets each year. Should the UK tax plastic bags? IBM and its Big Green Innovations venture is making itself “green with ingenuity.” Domes for the World wants to bring bubbly salvation to the planet’s neediest… ...
TH Blog Love – Our Favourite Greens Of The Week
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03. 8.07
Climate Progress: Excerpt from Hell and High Water’s Conclusion: The End of Politics by Joe Romm. "Global warming will change American life forever and end politics as we know it, probably within your lifetime. How might this play out. In the best case, we immediately start changing how we use energy in order to preserve the health and well-being–the security–of the next fifty generations."
Eco-Chick: Get Your Eco Sexy On! by Starre Vartan
"Too bad I didn’t post this in time for Valentine’s Day! But there’s always Earth Day coming up….Babeland, the women-friendly sex toy store, now has an Eco-Sexy kit, which they describe thusly:"...
New York Times on Green Business
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
The Gray Lady devotes an entire section to the green business, with articles like What's so Bad about Big? on the scaling up of green power, including a 100,000 square foot mirror installation in Arizona. This makes sense; if there is one resource in Tuscon, it is sunlight. "Wind, solar and other renewable-energy technologies that were once considered more appropriate for single homes or small communities are reaching levels of scale and centralizing that were formerly the province of coal- and gas-fired plants and nuclear reactors. In other words, green is going giant."
Read about Carbon Offsets in Aisle 6, running a restaurant where It Takes More Than Veggies to Make a Kitchen Green-"Keeping a restaurant kitchen green is a new focus at both high-end restaurants like Savoy and less expensive chains. Not only is there a search for safer cleaners, but also for new ways to compost kitchen waste and save electricity. Even takeout containers can be friendlier to the environment when they are made from corn or pulverized sugar-cane fibers instead of petrochemical foam.“People are finally ready,” said Michael Oshman, who founded the nonprofit Green Restaurant Association in 1990."
Read also about good reasons to move to Vermont, the invasion of Corporate Hippies and more in ::The New York Times
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My Coffee Maker is Demanding a Vacation
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 03. 8.07
Here's a juicy one. Apparently the Government of South Korea is developing a Robot Ethics Charter which will lay out the roles and responsibilities of our new friends. It's not too crazy, as South Korea expects that every Korean household will have a robot by between 2015 and 2020. I guess they are going to have to vote and pay taxes, just like the rest of us.
I'm wondering how we are going to deal with all the robots we have right now. For example, what rights do the 100 energy slaves that I have working for me right now get? The dumb ones - the toaster, the coffee maker, the remote control - I'm not too concerned about, I'm just going to manhandle them, slap them around. You know, just like in real human life. It's the robotic surgeons and the PCs, who are taking our jobs, that I'm going to have to strategize against.
I think it comes down to math. The average human runs at about 100 watts, and the brain is 20 percent of that. So, mano-a-mano, any machine that comes close to doing what a human can do for the same amount of wattage is a competitor, and the OLPC comes close. Unfortunately for us, we have to tack on all our SUVs, our heat to keep us warm, health insurance, electric tootbrush, etc., and that puts us (Americans) up to a whopping 11,000 watts. A PC brain only needs to add a case, power supply, and some juice, so maybe they are at 250 watts or so. Geez, with those kinds of numbers it's no wonder the future doesn't need us. Scared? As Yoda says, you will be, you will be.
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Giant Citystorm Bike (plus Halfway and Revive)
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 8.07
The other day we mentioned Trek’s Lime bike for casual lifestyle riding. Giant have also been prepping models for the same market. One of which is their Citystorm, a model they developed with UK designer, Michael Young. Who is quoted as saying, ‘In order to create a level of design communication appreciated by more demanding consumer all the metal finishes and small fixings are finished to a level that you might imagine an Apple Mac consumer expects’. Which is great, but when talk moves onto a ‘form vocabulary’, ‘a new visual iconism’, and lozenge shaped transparent windows for the mudguards (fenders), then I start having second thoughts. Thankfully the bike itself is a tad more intriguing than the designery waffle. It has integrated security in the form of wire/kevlar cable that pulls out of the down tube for quick, or longer term, theft prevention. Similarly the headlight is moulded into the front tube (battery hides inside the tube itself. Other city dweller friendly detailing includes, an enclosed chain connecting to a sealed 8 speed hub, as well an anti-rust treated frame. Though to suggest these refinements push “the bike into the modern age of design” might be gilding the lily just a smidge....
Locally Produced Wind Towers By Tower Tech Systems
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 8.07
Wind turbines aren't made in a single factory - from start to finish - like a jetliner would be. Makes sense because, unlike the jetliner, that huge turbine can't fly to the customer. The most unwieldy parts, especially, are ideally made as close as possible to the wind farms where they will be used, providing jobs and local economic development as well as efficient access to final assembly. For the US, China or Denmark are less than ideal for sourcing the big chunks. Best would be the center of the continent, on a rail spur and with barge access to the Great Lakes, and hence to the St. Lawrence Seaway and beyond. Meet Tower Tech Systems of Manitowoc Wisconsin, builder of wind towers, monopiles, and nacelles for wind turbines. (We posted before on a neighbor of Tower Tech.) Financially as well, things look interesting for Tower Tech. Via Renewable Energy Accesss we note that:- "Tower Tech Holdings signed a supply agreement with Clipper Turbine Works, Inc. for the production of wind towers. Tower Tech also announced a $15.4 million private placement of 10.26 million shares of its common stock to Tontine Capital Partners and its affiliates." Tower Tech has a great location, also, for the eventually installation of wind farms on offshore Great Lakes reef locations: a predetermined outcome of the mid-term future. More below the fold about how pieces of the future fit with wind turbine pieces....
JavaPop: Fair-Trade, Organic Coffee Soda
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 03. 8.07
Tastebuds everywhere should brace themselves for JavaPop, the nation's first organic- and fair-trade-certified coffee soda.
Developing JavaPop has been a true labor of love," says JavaPop founder and president Paul C. Hendler in a press release. "With the organic movement taking hold in the U.S., we wanted to provide a healthy alternative for the ready-to-drink coffee market. I'm proud of the outstanding network of coffee growers and suppliers whose products have enabled us to create an environmentally friendly, healthy and delicious beverage."...
TreeHugger Launches a New Blog with Sundance Channel
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 8.07
TreeHugger is really excited to announce the launch of our new blog over at the Sundance Channel's beautiful new website. In support of the network's newest franchise, THE GREEN (something we mentioned here and here), and the mini-site that will accompany it (scheduled to launch later this month, on March 26. Stay tuned for more info!), the blog will be updated daily and will feature a mix of exclusive and shared posts that examine all things green, from design and architecture to eco-friendly products to grassroots activism. So far, during the first week, we've been busy laying the foundation, giving the blog's visitors an idea about what to expect, and explaining what's so great about bamboo, why we like biodiesel, what FSC-certified means, and why breathing VOCs isn't a good thing; starting next week, we'll being covering some more specific topics that put the ideas we've been mentioning to work. Stay tuned for more great stuff from Sundance Channel and THE GREEN, and check out the new blog for more green. ::TreeHugger's blog at Sundance Channel...
Gong Li Bangs a Gong For Environmental Protection
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 03. 8.07
Celebrities in the west are gathering around environmental topics like never before. But China, which has been undergoing a slow but steady bout of green awareness-raising, has often lacked starpower in its struggle to protect the environment. Enter actress Gong Li, who this week submitted a proposal on environmental protection to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body that is holding its annual meeting this week in Beijing. Perhaps China's most famous woman, Gong, it turns out, has been an elected CPPCC member since 1998. "Things will become really terrible if we don't take environmental protection more seriously." She said her proposal underscored the urgency of the problems caused by garbage, sewage, and excess gas. "If I had the time, I would like to take pictures of those garbage heaps to make people aware of the dangers they pose," she said, referring to the pile-ups (much of it made of western trash) that poison China's air and groundwater. Gong's public outcry comes amidst continued laments from the country's leading environmental official, Pan Yue, who in January hosted a nationally-televised green "Oscars"....
RATE THIS VID!: Road Rage
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 8.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 14th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Here Come the Cleaner Cars: E/The Environmental Magazine, March-April
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 03. 8.07
While regular Treehugger readers should be well-versed in their cleaner, greener options for personal transportation, E/The Environmental Magazine provides a good overview of the technologies, companies and models leading the way in the green car revolution in its latest issue. Jim Montevalli's cover article looks at the broad spectrum of vehicles, while sidebars provide comparisons of hybrid models, an overview of the performance of various technologies, a look at Larry and Laurie David's love of the Prius, and a range of reactions to Who Killed the Electric Car? If cars aren't your thing, you'll likely find something that is in this issue (as in all issues of E). The other feature article this time proclaims "Local is the New Organic," and digs deeply into both the current (unsustainable) system of food transportation, and the movement to re-localize our diets. Regular departments in this issue take a look at solar investments, greener carpets, and a Canadian company that's way out front in the development of cellulosic ethanol. E's available at your favorite bookstore or newsstand; skip the trip and subscribe for $19.95. ::E/The Environmental Magazine, March-April...
The TH Interview: Lyle Estill of Piedmont Biofuels, Part 3 of 3
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 8.07
Lyle Estill is co-founder, along with Leif Forer, Rachel Burton and a band of fellow grease enthusiasts, of Piedmont Biofuels (PB), a group that we reported on here. PB is essentially a biodiesel co-op that has gone from backyard ‘brewing’, to running a small 300-gallon-a-week set up, to operating a 4-million-gallons-per-year capacity industrial biodiesel plant, all in the space of a few years. On the side, the group operates a fledgling local, organic farm, runs educational programs, assists with biofuel research, and manufactures kits for home fuel production. Lyle also writes a popular and entertaining energy blog, and has even authored a book entitled Biodiesel Power: The Passion, the People and the Politics of the Next Renewable Fuel. In the first part of this three part interview, Lyle gave us a tour of the co-op's new industrial biodiesel facillity, and showed us how to make fuel from fat. We also learned how the group plans to create sustainable electricity for the local grid using waste veggie oil. In part two we learned more about the stringent testing methods used to ensure fuel quality, and about the other sustainable businesses integrating with the co-op. In this, the third and final part, we'll be visiting the farm where it all began, and where do-it-yourself brewing still continues today. We'll also hear a little more about Lyle's vision of biofuels in a sustainable future.
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Wallpaper* March 07: Design, Fashion, Technology
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 8.07
We look to Wallpaper* magazine as something of a cultural zeitgeist, a barometer of what's happening and hip in the style and design world. As such, finding TreeHugger-worthy designs, furniture, architecture, etc. serves not only as further proof that green is marching onward into the mainstream, but that green has a place in the sleek glossies not because it's sustainable, but because it looks damn good. The good work of Brent Comber (featured here and here in TreeHugger) gets a nod on page 074, his POK tables (above, middle) at Inform Interiors featured as one of Water Street's go-to hot spots in Vancouver. Atlantico's furniture (above, right, featured here in TreeHugger) gets picked on page 089 for the combination of sustainable wood, solid construction and clever combination of traditional craft methods and production line techniques, alongside Rio-based furniture & sustainable designers of Em2 Design and their mod lounge chair made from sustainble wood and local materials. Not to be left out of the fun is Citroën's C-Métisse diesel/electric hybrid concept car on page 131 that reminds us that even with design and technological innovation in spades, it's important to stay in good shape. That's a pretty good lesson for anybody. Lots more eye-candy in March's issue, out now. ::Wallpaper*...
Bloomberg’s Vice: Miami
by Eric Kane, New York, NY on 03. 8.07
As part of an ongoing effort to gather information, New York City’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, will take a sustainability tour of Miami this afternoon. Bloomberg continues to seek ideas as he prepares to unveil his Plan NYC 2030, a blue print for long-term sustainability in New York. The Mayor is scheduled to ride and tour specific sections of Miami’s public transportation system. In addition, Bloomberg will visit the campus of the University of Miami Medical School, which has integrated several green building principals. The day’s activities will culminate with a meeting between Bloomberg and the Miami Green Commission. Unfortunately, the Mayor was unable to schedule a ride-a-long with Miami’s top cops, Sonny and Rico. See also ::Bloomberg To Create NYC 'Office of Sustainability' and ::Seen in New York: Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus...
Transformer Furniture: Crib Morphs into Daybed
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
If there was ever a piece of furniture that was suitable for tranforming into something else, it is the crib. We call them transformers, but the New York Times tells us that they are "Also known as harlequin, metamorphic and meubles à surprises." They remind us that it evolved from campaign furniture and that "Some homeowners in the 18th and 19th centuries even rejoiced in presto-chango oddities like a sofa that folded out of the front of an artificial player piano."
This Studio crib is designed by TRUCK Product Architecture for Nurseryworks. The changing pad at the end turns into a desk; the crib evolves into a toddler bed and then a day bed. Add a few cushions and it can act as a sofa. ::Nurseryworks via ::New York Times...
Confessions of an Empty-Nester
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
Sabra Davis is no Adam Gopnik when she writes about living in the City, but this real estate type from Zillow.com nicely describes the change from always owning The House to living in a small condo. This was a big transformation; 3,000 SF to a third as much space and dumping all three cars.
"We realize now that the cocoons of our cars kept us well insulated from the people around us. Our genuine interactions were with family and coworkers, the only people who saw us stripped of the metal that clothed and protected us. Our neighbors, we discovered, were virtually strangers."
They are not entirely TreeHugger correct, but they are supporting a local industry by eating out 85% of the time, "but after shifting our grocery and auto budgets over to the dining budget, we are still ahead financially." A nice tale about the benefits of living in the city. ::Zillow Blog via ::Kottke...
USEPA Region VIII Opens Green Denver Headquarters
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 8.07
Via Rocky Mtn News:- Yesterday was the grand opening of the USEPA Region 8 headquarters building: "the roof, with 40,000 different plants and a stunning view of Denver's skyline, is sure to take center stage..."It's the first green roof in downtown Denver," said Aaron Nelson, project manager for the nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. The group is a neighbor of the new EPA building, which was built on the site of the former Postal Annex building at 15th and Wynkoop streets". "Energy-saving and sustainable features: 20,000-square-foot green roof that uses drought-resistant native vegetation to manage and clean rain water; 48 photovoltaic panels on the south side of the roof that can generate 10 kilowatts of power; bamboo, a fast-growing and renwable wood, used throughout a two-story lobby; a nine-story atrium increases natural day lighting and reduces light energy loads; energy efficient heating and cooling systems; recycled materials used throughout. Also, the roof was built so it can accommodate wind turbines." TreeHugger comments: Nice Digs. Must have gotten this approved before the recent budget cut backs from Washington. Image credit: Syska Hennessey Group...
Survey: What do you compute on?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
When I attended the Toronto Transit Base Camp I noticed that the macs outnumbered the PC's 6 to 1. When I looked at the comments on Tim's post about enano computers I was intrigued by the change in attitudes toward computer hardware. I work on a home-baked big honking intel machine designed for CAD but now just posting TreeHugger. Like Paul Kedrosky , I now work online for word processing and spreadsheets. I was tied to PC's for affordable contact management, then Bigcontacts came along. The OS and software, the speed of the computer and the video card drove everything but they are fading away as the internet becomes the computer. What are you doing? A two part survey so be sure to click through to below the fold.
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Bicycles and International Women's Day
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 8.07
A post on how to buy a bicycle on International Women's Day? The connection is not so far-fetched: Susan Anthony, one of America's most influential suffragettes said: She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life. In her opinion, “the bicycle had done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.” The creation of bloomers (pictured), so radical at the time, evolved from the need for new attire to wear whilst riding a bike. Even now, bicycles are about freedom, liberation, and having the power to make your own decisions about your life. So throw away those chains and get out there! The Guardian has issued a handy little guide to cycling, including what to buy, what to wear, where to bike and how to fix a flat tire. But first things first: how to buy a bicycle. Start by setting a budget--the more you can spend, the better the bike in most cases. It will last longer and have more precise handling gear. Then figure out what kind of bike you want: racer, mountain, every day usage, folding? Make sure that you go to a shop with knowledgeable staff where they will fit your size and shape to the bike. If the bike doesn't fit, you will never have a good ride. The frame needs to be right as does the width of the handle bars. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Footprints
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 16th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Students Compete for Snowmobile Design
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 03. 7.07
Having spent a great deal of time in Vermont this past winter, I realize that snowmobiles are a means of transportation when the white fluff is overwhelming. In addition, they serve a great purpose in the northern parts of the world when it comes to hauling cargo. However, any way you look at it, snowmobiles are far from being environmentally friendly. On March 19, 2007 the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be supporting four teams to compete in the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge. The goal is to design a snowmobile with lower environmental impact, less noise, fewer emissions and a lighter footprint–all without sacrificing the performance snowmobile enthusiasts love. Taking place in Houghton, Michigan the competition is in its fifth year and attracts teams of undergraduate engineering students from colleges and universities from across North America who are involved in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The competition grew from the demand for cleaner snowmobiles in national and state parks and forests. One alternative to restricting or banning snowmobiles on public lands is to find appropriate technological solutions to noise and pollution problems. Via ::The Sietch Blog ::Photo courtesy of CNN...
RATE THIS VID!: Even Small Actions Make A Difference
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Building Green: Energy Efficiency and Aesthetics From The Same Materials (Part 8)
by Ted Owens, New Mexico, USA on 03. 7.07
The finished concrete floor after the application of stain and grouting of the score lines.
As mentioned in article 1, thermal mass walls and floors help to heat and cool the home. The floor of this house is exposed concrete that has been acid-stained to a stone-like patina. Since the use of concrete should be minimized because of environmental considerations (it is energy-intensive to manufacture), careful thought was given to the pros and cons of various types of flooring. Some of the choices considered were: a concrete floor with excellent thermal mass properties that would also be a good conductor of heat from the embedded hydronic heating system (a backup heating system is required by code); an earthen floor that has very low-embodied energy; a brick-on-sand floor with the radiant heating in a sand base below the bricks; flagstone with a concrete or sand base; or a wood or carpeted floor....
RATE THIS VID!: Calling All Earth Lovers!
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 14th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Toothbrush Problem
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Follow Me
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
Robin Hood On Wall Street: Greening The Financial Industry, Part I
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 7.07
We all know the legend of Robin Hood. Lives in the woods with Merry Band. Takes money from greedy sheriff and distributes to needy, etc. Seems that a bit of the original Green Man thinking has gotten past the Wall Street gates, and is moving equity earned from fossil fuel intensive industries into renewable energy IPOs, biofuel stock portfolios, and electric car manufacturing, green buildings, and more. Our sources say Robin may have gotten his start "down under", with Bendigo Bank, and then hit the San Francisco Bay USA area with New Resource Bank, followed by some LEED style "branching out" with PNC and a coach ride with Wells Fargo. After all that roaming, the Street itself beckoned. Look for tomorrow's matinée, TreeHuggers, where, as the investment climate heats up for Merrill Lynch & Co, Robin gets inside the castle walls, aided by compatriots. Bamboo Chairs and popcorn...don't forget!
Image credit:Stuff You Gotta Watch...
RATE THIS VID!: Cool Notebooks For A Hot Planet
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 7.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 14th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Biofuel That Grows Like A Magic Mushroom
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 03. 7.07
The race is on. With the threat of global warming looming over our heads and rising oil prices -- politicians, environmentalists and everyone in between can agree that the world needs alternative fuel sources (and to diversify its fuel sources). Some people are afraid that today’s best alternatives: biofuels from corn and soy will be destructive to the planet in certain ways as farmers in developing nations slash and burn forests to grow new crops. An Israeli scientist, Prof. Amir Sharon, may have discovered the next best alternative: a funky fungi in the form of a genetically-modified mushroom that yields a large biomass which can be converted into a first-rate biofuel.
Sharon and his team from the Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University have developed a transformation-based approach to cultivating fungi (Aspergillus niger) which means that they have genetically-engineered them to be less sensitive to external conditions and environmental stresses; the mushrooms are more sustainable in culture during fermentation, and have both enhanced growth rate and spore production. As a result, the fungal cultures exhibit a dramatic increase in fresh and dry biomass production, reduced sensitivity to stress conditions, enhanced spore production and extended viability.
TO SEE A VIDEO OF AMIR SHARON CLICK HERE...
Planetary Design French Press Travel Mugs
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 7.07
Planetary Design makes some of the nicest looking travel mugs I’ve seen in a long while—maybe ever. Their line of stainless steel gear is based on the original travel French press, a brilliant idea that puts the press and the mug together into the same unit. The colors are great, the mugs are a pleasure to handle, they seem built to last, and are very affordable. Several of their models come with a French press lid as well as a “sippy cap.” This is especially useful for tea drinkers who might otherwise use teabags for every cup. With this design you can use loose-leaf tea and also control the steeping time. While made in China, the company assures us their factory is well overseen and they visit is regularly. Check out How to Green Your Coffee and Tea for more tactics on conscious beverage consumption. Also see our dear friend Anna Cummins’ great site, Bring Your Own. ::Planetary Design ...
TreeHugger Picks: Readers Ask, We Answer
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 7.07
Being a diligent TreeHugger isn't always easy, and can be confusing sometimes, so we're always glad to get thoughtful questions about how to do things greener. We've filed all of these questions away in the Q&A category, and here are a few of our Q&A picks with info on being greener to get you started. Remember, if you have an environmental health question, you can now Ask TreeHugger to answer your query.
1) Jeremy had a question about switching to CFLs from incandescent bulbs.
2) Samantha, Wade and Sara all wanted to know how to green their printing, so it quickly turned into a "mega Q&A."
3) Rob wanted to know if we could help him find a green job.
4) Elias was curious about whether paper or plastic bags were the greener choice.
5) Lastly, an anonymous reader asked if silk was a green material.
There's lots more DIY green info in TreeHugger's How To Go Green series, too!...
Know an Eco-Friendly Entrepreneur? Enter Them in The World Challenge!
by Rachel Wasser, Beijing, China on 03. 7.07
Could you use $20,000? How about some great publicity, or a free trip to The Hague? The World Challenge 2007 winner will get these goods on top of good karma points, so if you or someone you know is an entrepreneur “making a difference without costing the earth,” be sure to enter the competition! Sponsored by BBC World, Newsweek and Shell, the World Challenge started two years ago, and has been annually seeking out businesses that “put something back into the community” since. Last year, there were over 800 nominations, and we encouraged you to join the 30,000 voters who chose the winner from among twelve awesome runners-up.
To add some inspiration to your day, just take a look – or another look – at those oh-so-treehuggable entries. You’ll find a for-profit that’s put the bright idea of off-grid solar power into practice in rural Laos (check out a couple of similar non-profit projects here and here), and a natural, juicy alternative to toxic chemical flame retardants from Sweden. The winner, Eco Maximus, is making conservation sustainable and profitable. How? The photo above might lend a clue. The company produces elephant poo paper – a TreeHugger favorite! – in rural Sri Lanka.
Nominations are due in two months, so check out the rules and consider putting yourself or someone you know in the running. The Earth will surely thank your buddy for whatever it is he’s up to, and it’s probably been a while since someone thanked you to tune of $20,000… ::The World Challenge...
Got a Thing for Webbed-Footed Creatures?
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 03. 7.07
Well then Project Webfoot may just be for you… As pointed out recently here on TreeHugger, duck hunters and environmentalists have a common interest in protecting the wetlands so critical to the biodiversity of life here on earth. Coordinated with another great classroom resource program Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), this project created by Ducks Unlimited aims to educate 4th through 6th grade students about the preservation of wetlands by linking sponsors with individual school districts and even classrooms, enabling students to get a boost to their education while sponsors get a reduction to their tax bill at the same time.
Recognizing that wetlands are among the most fragile, threatened, and misunderstood places on the planet, Project Webfoot offers the most comprehensive educational materials available on wetlands and their importance to our environment, economy, and well-being They offer teachers learning materials that can easily be integrated into the existing school curriculum to help bring the world of wetlands to life for students. They encourage active participation and problem solving in an interdisciplinary approach that can be used in conjunction with a wide array of subject areas including reading, science, and art among others....
DIY: T-shirt Surgery
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 03. 7.07
Image: flickr
Do you have have tonnes of old baggy t-shirts crowding out your wardrobe and not sure what to do with them? Chopping them up and reconstructing them into funky, sexy and hip clothing is hot right now. Often called t-shirt mashups, t-shirt surgery, or t-shirt refashioning, whatever its called we love it. TreeHugger has previously discussed SuperNaturale's t-shirts to underwear and looked at t-shirts to bags and of course the t-shirt to swimsuit, what else can you do with a t-shirt and how and where do you find out?...
Survey: is this the beginning of the end of organics?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 7.07
Now I know that we want to move organics into the mainstream and get it away from the brown rice and tofu image it had for so long, and I know that this package carefully does not say "organic Oreos" but says "Oreos- made with Organic flour and sugar" which parses completely differently, and I see that the ingredients are "organic wheat flour, organic evaporated cane sugar, organic brown rice syrup (!) organic cornstarch, sea salt, soy lecithin, organic vanilla extract." I should be thrilled. On the other hand three cookies have almost 8% of a person's daily caloric need and over 10% of a persons saturated fat intake, mostly from palm oil. Seeing Oreo and Organic on the same box just seems so wrong. Am I nuts? (photo from ericskiff), full ingredients below fold
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Ted Turner Talking Solar on CNBC
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 7.07
Ted Turner, best known by many as "the Mouth from the South" and the guy who founded CNN and 24-hour cable news, sat down yesterday with CNBC to talk about his latest venture: alternative energy. The entrepreneur and philanthropist is out of AOL-Time Warner and investing his time, energy and money in what he says will be "the biggest business opportunity that the world has ever seen". He's invested in a New Jersey-based company called DT Solar because he wants to do his part to help fight global warming, but also because he thinks it's a good investment; he adds, "It's going to create the biggest employment opportunities" to his business opportunities statement above. While the folks at CNBC are more concerned with how much money he's lost and given away (he says about $1.5 billion) and how much he still has (about $1 billion) and less concerned with the technology itself, it's good to see Turner putting his money where his mouth is. Check out a couple of videos from yesterday's broadcast and read more about his burgeoning interest in green technology. ::CNBC
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Clean Edge Releases Clean Energy Trends 2007
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 03. 7.07
Yesterday, clean energy and technology research and publishing firm Clean Edge released its sixth annual Clean Energy Trends report. According to the report, as well as to company principals Ron Pernick and Joel Makower in a press conference yesterday, 2006 was another year that demonstrated that clean energy technologies, including wind and solar power, biofuels, and fuel cells, are on an "inexorable upward march." Growth and technological breakthroughs are now the norm:We have reached the point where the steady and rapid growth of clean energy has become an old story. Each year, it seems, brings an ever-higher plateau of success. This appears to be the future of clean energy: a rolling series of technology breakthroughs, landmark corporate investments, industry consolidation, and the not-infrequent emergence of new and sometimes surprising players entering the field.Below the fold, you'll find some of the numbers that made 2006 another banner year; additionally, Clean Edge's projections for the next ten years suggest that the best may be yet to come....
UN StEPs Up, Japan Down
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 03. 7.07
The UN is moving forward on developing worldwide eScrap standards. The program, called Solving the Ewaste Problem (the StEP initiative) has its own site and an impressive list of charter members - Microsoft, Ericson, Dell, blah, blah, blah. And with 133,000 PCs being thrown out daily in the US alone, it's certainly timely.
Recycling eWaste has the added bonus that (unlike some operations) much of this waste is worth some serious cash - floppy disks are only US $100 per ton, but lithium batteries are US $2060. Here's the complete list of eScrap spot prices for the interested. Now where did I park my dump truck.
The UN's efforts will also help put the kabosh on the illegal trade and backroom deals where countries, such as Japan, are trying to dump their eWaste in other countries as part of international business deals. Too bad Hong Kong officials just caught them in the act, and sent a recent 131 ton shipment of eJunk back into Japan. Japan, meet Karma. Karma, Japan....
The TH Interview: Lyle Estill of Piedmont Biofuels, Part 2 of 3
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 7.07
Lyle Estill is co-founder, along with Leif Forer, Rachel Burton and a band of fellow grease enthusiasts, of Piedmont Biofuels (PB), a group that we reported on here. PB is essentially a biodiesel co-op that has gone from backyard ‘brewing’, to running a small 300-gallon-a-week set up, to operating a 4-million-gallons-per-year capacity industrial biodiesel plant, all in the space of a few years. On the side, the group operates a fledgling local, organic farm, runs educational programs, assists with biofuel research, and manufactures kits for home fuel production. Lyle also writes a popular and entertaining energy blog, and has even authored a book entitled Biodiesel Power: The Passion, the People and the Politics of the Next Renewable Fuel. In the first part of this three part interview, Lyle gave us a tour of the co-op's new industrial biodiesel facillity, and showed us how to make fuel from fat. We also learned how the group plans to create sustainable electricity for the local grid using waste veggie oil. In part two we'll learn more about the stringent testing methods used to ensure fuel quality, and about the other sustainable businesses integrating with the co-op. In part three we'll be visiting the farm where it all began, and where do-it-yourself brewing still continues today. We'll also hear a little more about Lyle's vision of biofuels in a sustainable future.
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Come Up to My Room: Bruno Billio, House Jockey
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 7.07
installation at Come up to my room
So many people just go out and buy new stuff when they get tired of the things they live with, instead of looking at their belongings with a fresh eye. Thats why we love Bruno Billio, the House Jockey. He 'takes your home's existing furniture and accessories and re-arranges them to create a more functional, balanced and harmonious space." You never read all those books, why not turn them into monuments, sculptures and furniture? One client's testamonial: "The ease with which he was able to create a new and airy space from our crowed environment was quite astounding (and fun to watch)". No new stuff, just a dramatic re-arrangement....
Revisiting Fresh2 CFLs: Light Your Life and Clean the Air Too
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 7.07
We were so excited to read about Fresh2 bulbs- two favourite TreeHugger subjects, CFLs and Titanium Dioxide, rolled into one. Then we did the obligatory search of the archives and Domenic had posted on them way back in February, 2005, when they still did posts with a slate and chisel. We thought it worth repeating because in those two years CFL's have gone mainstream and Titanium Oxide is finding its way into everything from concrete to floor tiles. Putting it onto light bulbs makes so much sense; it is a "photocatalytic reaction when exposed to the fluorescent light. This reaction releases electrons, or negatively charged particles. At the same time, a positively charged hole is formed in its place. This combination of negative and positive creates a very strong oxidizer called the hydroxide radical. Odors that come into contact with the positively charged holes are broken down by these oxidizers into odorless compounds." It is a wonderful idea and the testing shows it to be effective, and we wonder why they have not caught on. Can it just be that they are ten bucks each? ::Fresh2...
Soot Prints: The Latest Export From China
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 7.07
Edward Burtynsky, Tanggu Port, Tianjin 2005
China exports so much to the west these days; add to the list soot from burning coal. Now scientists are suggesting that much of the bad weather that has been smacking the West Coast (and destroying Vancouver's Stanley Park) might be a direct result. According to the Globe and Mail: The particles of pollution, known as aerosols, are responsible for the brown haze over many Chinese cities. But they drift upward over the Pacific, where they are causing more large clouds to form higher in the atmosphere where it is colder, says Renyi Zhang, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University. The result has been more intense storms over the ocean, he and his colleagues argue in a paper published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More intense storms over the Pacific will change the air-flow patterns around the globe, they say. "And that is going to change meteorology everywhere," Dr. Zhang said in an interview. ::Globe and Mail
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Trek Lime : Juicy Green Bicycle
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 7.07
“Chill. Explore. Dawdle. Lollygag. First one there’s a rotten egg.” Follow this advice and Shimano reckons you’ll soon be having fun on your bike. They are so keen for Americans to get on their bikes that they’ve dedicated a (slightly clunky) website to cruisey cycling, which they tag as ‘Coasting.’ The Coasting hub, is like an automatic transmission for bikes, it changes gears for you. Brilliant for city riding when you come to traffic lights or stop signs. We are confused to see it described as ‘new’ though, because Shimano have had such a hub in their range for easily 10 years under the name Nexus. Also on the Coasting site you’ll find out about the brands and models that use their internal hub system of the same name, like the Giant Suede, Raleigh Coasting and the Trek Lime (shown above). Trek themselves don’t offer any details yet on the Lime, but some info has escaped their recent annual dealer meeting. Trek added the automatic hub to their very spiffy looking Lime, and gave it some smart enclosed chain detailing. The bike (which does come in other colours), is aimed at the 65% of Americans who currently don't own or ride a bike. Or as it was otherwise put, “for cruising down the neighborhood at slow pace, in plain clothes and without breaking a sweat.” Our bike readers will love that last bit!...
Carbon Nanotubes and Solar Cells: A Winning Combination
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 03. 7.07
Carbon nanotubes and solar cells go together like peanut butter and jelly. There has long been speculation that the properties of carbon nanotubes would help solar cells. Even I suggested they should be combined. Now researchers from the University of Notre Dame have given us a beautiful proof of principle for many of the things I have ranted about for the past few years. The carbon nanotubes provide the structure that is needed on the molecular level to organize the 'capture' and 'delivery' of electrons in 3 dimensional space. The nanotubes line up along the electrode, and in turn the TiO2 'self assembles' (or loosely templates) with the nanotubes. This arrangement creates a vastly more direct path for the flow of electrons (Constructal Theory). The next step is to create a better 'capture' mechanism, as TiO2 by itself only absorbs UV light. The researchers are interested in using dyes or quantum dots- my vote would be for more molecular structure between a dye (like plants-Biomimicry) and the Tio2. We have featured companies such as Dyesol, that already have the experience of using TiO2 and dye as a major component of their solar technology. Using inexpensive non-toxic materials is a primary goal for creating sustainable solar technology- and this research moves us one step closer to realizing that dream. ::Thanks to Hugg (Jiltedcitizen) :: Technology Review...
Sean Canavan - Guerilla Gardener Extraordinaire
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 7.07
We’ve reported on Guerilla Gardening once or twice before, but I reckon Sean Canavan could be the hero of the movement. Others think so too. Winner of an honourable mention in the EPICS (Exceptional People in Camden Awards) late last year, Sean is 50 something, an ex-carpenter, whose planted hundreds of flowers around trees in the streets near where he lives. “When I moved here I had come from a house with a very big garden, which I basically dug up and brought with me, but I didn’t have enough room so the plants sort of spilled over,” and has continued to spill well past his front gate, all at his own expense. The plants aren’t organic or indigenous, they’re just flowers mostly. But by adding colourful life to the concrete grey of urban streetscapes, they’ve created a sense of community pride that has seen vandalism and litter decrease. What makes Sean’s achievement that much more inspiring is that he is completely blind. I was going to quote a few classic lines from Sean, out of this sweet little 1.45 min Google Video, but then decided the world was better served by seeing and hearing Sean for themselves. Via ::Camden New Journal. ...
Transition City Bristol: Tackling Climate change and Peak Oil with Community Planning
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 7.07
The Transition Town concept, a community focused response to climate change and peak oil, which was pioneered by Rob Hopkins, and which we reported on here and here, is spreading even further. For the first time, it is being tried on a city-wide scale, with the birth of Transition City Bristol:
“Over the next couple of years we will be seeking practical answers to the question - 'How can Bristol prepare for the impacts of Peak Oil and reduce its contribution to Climate Change?' It's a big question and we're inviting you to join in the debate to find the answers. Everyone is invited to contribute - finding solutions in ways that fit your community, business or family. This participatory process will help us create an Energy Descent Action Plan - a roadmap for Bristol's move to resilient, sustainable systems which vastly reduce the city's dependency on fossil fuels and radically decrease its CO2 emissions.”...
Preparing for the DST Crisis: Battening Down the Hatches
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 7.07
If in the face of all the impending DST chaos you intend to hunker in the bunker, there are a lot of options to prepare for "infrastructure independence". You should get serious about rainwater collection, perhaps installing cisterns to hold enough. Rainwater is usually clean enough to drink, but there are a number of simple purification and distillation systems around. Some municipal waste systems need electricity for pumping and toilets need lots of water, so you might want to invest in a composting toilet like this British couple did. For food, tear up the yard for a vegetable garden, and grow your own, and find your closest CSA. For cooking, there are a variety of solar cookers (including a really cheap one )available and for heat, we love pellet stoves which can burn a lot of things in a pinch. For refrigeration it is not too late to harvest ice, and for electricity some photovoltaics or a residential scaled wind turbine can get you by, especially if all the computers are crashed anyways. Invest in LED bulbs- they last and last. For transportion, we love bicycles (a Pashley Freightmate will carry your groceries) but some people do cook up their own biodiesel fuels. If you are more of a grasshopper than an ant, you can always drop in on Ted Owens, George Bush or Chris Medland- They are ready. ...
Finnmark 2007
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 7.07
Today marks the beginning of a month long dog-sledding expedition in northern Norway to examine the impact of climate change in the Arctic. The 7 member team, which includes a Sami reindeer herder, will be travelling almost 1,500 kilometres by dogsled through Arctic Finnmark, from the Barents Sea to the Atlantic, in temperatures ranging from minus 10 degrees C to minus 35 degrees. Their focus will be the Sami, one of the great indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Living a life of reindeer-herding close to the Arctic Circle, these people are the proverbial miners’ canaries for planet earth. The team will gather information on environmental change, as seen by these communities and on how the Sámi are facing social and cultural survival in a fragile environment. Combining natural and social science techniques, they will study herding practices in the specific regions travelled and how these practices and use of grazing grounds have changed over the last years due to exceptional weather conditions. The expedition will also collect data about snowflake shapes for NASA, as part of the Global Snowflake Network . It is all part of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 with the theme of studying the Earth’s changing ice and snow, and its impact on our planet and our lives. :: Finnmark 2007...
Phnom Penh Restaurant Salvation for Street Kids
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 03. 7.07
You can’t help but notice the street kids in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Some of them, darting through the heavy traffic of tuk-tuks and motos on their hunt for crisp dollar bills, are so young they have yet to learn to talk. Other than scooping them off the streets and taking them home with you (which is very tempting, but complicated), you can grab a bite to eat at Friends. This NGO, which was awarded the Order of Australia for service to Humanity, works with children and families to get them off the street. ...
enano computers: Little, Green, Different
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 03. 6.07
Although we don't think about it much, our computers are big, noisy, hot, and consume far too much energy for our needs. My mother doesn't need a 3D graphics workstation to shop on eBay or buy airplane tickets. Mirroring the automotive industry, agriculture, and real estate, the computer industry now recognizes that there is more to life than bigger and cheaper. But, the large manufacturers are still mostly stuck with big boxes, hot chips, and loud fans to cool the whole thing off. That is the ideal environment for a niche player to innovate- enter enano. I sat down with Jorge Ruiz de Castilla, the CEO of enano computers, to discuss his little wonder....
The Time is Nau
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 6.07
Yep, after much anticipation (see below for links to our earlier stories, including extensive interviews) the Nau store is finally live, having opened their virtual doors last week. A technical and lifestyle clothing company, grounded in the outdoors, Nau is aspiring to the goals of Beauty, Performance and Sustainability. As the images above demonstrate, their garments are certainly not the shapeless silhouettes one might usually expect from an outdoor firm. And while we can’t vouch for performance, their environmental stance is very robust. The three jackets shown here, for instance, are made from recycled polyster. But others are fashioned from organic cotton, corn starch (PLA) and merino wool....
RATE THIS VID!: Solar Power Walking Chariot
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 16th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Toyota's Hybrid X Could Be The New Prius
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 03. 6.07
Today, at the Geneva Motor Show, Toyota unveiled the Hybrid-X concept, which is supposed to give the world a hint at the new design language for future Toyota hybrid vehicles. The concept car has 20-inch alloy wheels, features LED headlights and taillights, LED interior lighting and independent rear seats which can swivel inwards 12 degrees to “allow passengers to enjoy the scenery or a more intimate 'tête-à-tête'.” Toyota did not reveal any mileage numbers for the Hybrid X, but one can expect a new level of efficiency from the car. For more info see Edmunds....
Worldmapper: Humanising Geography
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 6.07
Worldmapper is an extraordinary project out of Sheffield Uni in the UK. Countries represented not by their land mass, but by their human activity. The top map shows Passenger Cars (note how fat the northern hemisphere is, compared to the south. The bottom map illustrates population (the big blobs being China and India). Now look again at Cars for those two nations. Yet compare tiny New Zealand with the entire African continent for cars per 100 people. Oh, and that purple lump to the right is Japan!...
RATE THIS VID!: Greenspotting
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Floating Eco-Homes In The Netherlands
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 03. 6.07
Small and densely populated, the Netherlands is one of the countries most at risk from climate change and rising sea levels. One Dutch construction company, Dura Vermeer, has developed homes that can float with rising waters. Thirty-seven of these homes line the waterfront at Maasbommel, panelled in blue, yellow and green. They have a hollow concrete cube at the base to give them buoyancy. The next time the Meuse river bursts its banks, the house will rise with it (see video). Electricity and water are pumped in through flexible pipes. In all, the houses can withstand a rise in the water table of up to 13ft. At a starting price of 260,000 euros (£180,000 or $310,000), the houses are not a cheap option, but demand is high. :: Gouden Kust via BBC News...
TreeHugger is Looking for Expert Correspondents (paid).
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 03. 6.07
TreeHugger wants to cross-pollinate the globe with green. We´d love to get passionate, talented, driven writers that are experts in in various fields to highlight the latest in green (see below for a list of what we're looking for). Sound like you or someone you know? We are also offering a $200 referral reward if you connect us with a successful long-term hire! ...
Small Grecian Village Demonstrates Problem with Coal
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 03. 6.07
Is coal, as Senator Obama would have it, all that cracked up to be? A small village in Greece sure doesn't think so.
Arkini is a village in northern Greece about two miles from the country's largest lignite-fired electricity, which, according to the World Wildlife Federation, emits more carbon dioxide than any other coal plant in Europe.
Surrounded by mountains of toxic ash from the plant, the village is plagued by widespread breathing problems and an increasing number of deaths from cancer and heart disease. (The cancer-fatality rate in Akrini is at least double the national rate.) Now, the village is lobbying the state electricity board to relocate the 1,000-plus residents....
RATE THIS VID!: Friends Don't Let Friends...
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 16th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
Ask TreeHugger: Is Eating Seaweed Dangerous?
by Helen Suh MacIntosh, Cambridge, MA, USA on 03. 6.07
Question: I was wondering if you could tell me how safe eating seaweed is these days, pollution wise. I hear lots about fish, but nothing about seaweed. Our family consumes 6-12 ounces a week. We buy organic, but it's wild caught. I eat seaweed in salads, sandwiches, and sushi. Mostly we just snack on dulse. -which I believe comes from the Atlantic. And we use Kombu, kelp, when cooking soups and beans. I believe the Kombu is local. We're in Santa Cruz, Ca. Thanks so much for your time!
Response: Edible seaweed is a marine algae that can come in many forms, including the type that you mention, kombu, as well as the commonly eaten wakame and nori seaweeds. Although long part of the Asian diet, edible seaweed has increasingly become a part of Western diets due to its well-documented nutritional and often discussed medicinal qualities. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Wasting Xmas
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Most Huggable: Freecycle in Brooklyn, Ethanol’s Shortcomings, an Introduction to the Composting Toilet
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 6.07
The Sietch Blog wants to introduce you to your new best friend: the composting toilet… Living plants and recycled glass pebbles make scenic vistas on Australian rooftops… University of Notre Dame research lab is brewing up nano-based solar cells that go on like paint… It’s too soon to tell if ethanol will ease global warming, says the head of the United Nations Environment Program… One man’s trash is another kid’s monster truck. On Current TV, the miracle of Freecycle is at work in Brooklyn’s Fort Green neighborhood… ...
RATE THIS VID!: Stop, Drop, & Rock
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
RATE THIS VID!: Imagine
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 6.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 16th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Muji Moves to New York
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03. 6.07
Well, actually this amazing Japanese store has already made a cameo appearance in New York in the Museum of Modern Art, but for those of you who enjoyed that taster of this unmistakable ‘no brand’ brand, you are going to love the full blown Muji experience that is due to take shape in the New York Times Building. This will be Muji’s first flagship store in the US and it’s going to be a big one! Forest City Ratner Companies, which owns 700,000 square feet of The New York Times Building, has told us that Muji is leasing 5,000 square feet along 40th Street. Bruce Ratner, President and CEO of FCRC, said, "We are honored that MUJI has chosen to put its American flagship store in The New York Times Building. I'm especially pleased that a global pioneer in environmentally friendly retail practices will be a centerpiece of our retail mix. MUJI's dedication to useful and well-designed products makes them a perfect fit for the elegant and environmentally advanced tower Renzo Piano has designed." ...
I.D. Magazine March/April 2007: Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 6.07
This month's I.D. magazine is dedicated to ornament, decoration, and eye candy for the sake of having something nice to look at. While it may seem that these ideas are diametrically opposed to the general tenets of TreeHugger-dom, it doesn't have to be this way. Aesthetics and good looks can, and do, intermingle with sustainability (something that TreeHugger has tried to point out as often as possible over the past two-plus years). Take, for example, the feature on Dutch designer Maaten Baas (page 32), who specializes in creating pieces unavailable from the "regular design world" by using flea-market junk and a welding torch (among other things). His work is so well regarded that his workshop of a dozen co-designers can't keep up with the demand from people like Ian Schrager (who put Baas' work in his Gramercy Park Hotel). There's also a quick peek at New Orleans' new Global Green Resource Center, a sustainable materials library and advocacy group that provides "low-cost, high-impact solutions to ecological and economic crises" at no cost to homeowners. "'Affordability and sustainability are deeply connected,' notes the center's director, Beth Galante, a New Orleans native and one-time environmental lawyer who runs the place with artist/builder John Moore." The center has just started up LEED seminars with the American Institute of Architects and a $2 million Green Schools construction consulting process, and plans are in the works for a partnership with local manufacturers to develop prefab composite insulation panels; more on the center is available through Global Green's website. For some truly ornamental design, though, we have to look no further than the AirPod (page 41), the tiny, ultra-efficient, ultra-sleek air purifier that bears striking resemblance to a consumer electronic of similar name. Lots more to see in the March/April issue of I.D. and at idonline.com. ::I.D. magazine...
Illinois Man Fined Thousands And Threatened With Felony Prosecution For Using Untaxed Biodiesel
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 6.07
Via Daily Kos Diary, "...David Wetzel, a 79 yr old retired chemist from Decatur IL had been using recycled vegetable oil in his 1985 Volkswagen Golf diesel car for 7 years. This January, " the State of Illinois Dept. of Revenue sent 2 "special agents," Gary May and John Egan to his house. The two agents threatened the couple with felony charges and asked them to post a $2,500 bond!" According to the Herald & Review, where the full story is explained, a Republican State Senator has introduced a State bill "...which would curtail government interference regarding alternative fuels, such as vegetable oil..."I would agree that the bond is not acceptable, $2,500 bond," Watson said, adding that David Wetzel should be commended for his innovative efforts." (His car) gets 46 miles per gallon running on vegetable oil. We all should be thinking about doing without gasoline if we're trying to end foreign dependency."" ...
The TH Interview: Lyle Estill of Piedmont Biofuels, Part 1 of 3
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 6.07
Lyle Estill is co-founder, along with Leif Forer, Rachel Burton and a band of fellow grease enthusiasts, of Piedmont Biofuels (PB), a group that we reported on here. PB is essentially a biodiesel co-op that has gone from backyard ‘brewing’, to running a small 300-gallon-a-week set up, to operating a 4-million-gallons-per-year capacity industrial biodiesel plant, all in the space of a few years. On the side, the group operates a fledgling local, organic farm, runs educational programs, assists with biofuel research, and manufactures kits for home fuel production. Lyle also writes a popular and entertaining energy blog, and has even authored a book entitled Biodiesel Power: The Passion, the People and the Politics of the Next Renewable Fuel. In the first part of this three part interview, Lyle gives us a tour of the co-op's new industrial biodiesel facillity, and shows us how to make fuel from fat. We also learn how the group plans to create sustainable electricity for the local grid using waste veggie oil. In parts two and three we'll learn more about other sustainable businesses integrating with the co-op, and we'll visit the farm where it all began, and where do-it-yourself brewing still continues today.
As this TreeHugger is presently car-free, and as PB are in Pittsboro, rural North Carolina, it looked like organizing a meeting might prove problematic. Lyle, however, sees it as an opportunity:
“This is great! You jump in with Leif on his way to work in Pittsboro. He hands you
over to me. You write your brains out. I think we should be required to wedge all future reporters into our existent transportation cycles for tours/stories/etc.”
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The View From the Bottom
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 03. 6.07
Several organizations are working to produce efficient technology at fairly basic levels - the part, the chip, the protocol. Some of the work, such as IBM's constructural theory or reversible computing in general, is still highly theoretical. Others have come off the drawing board and are actually being built.
At the PC level, one of the most inefficient parts is the power supply. ColdWatt is taking the issue head on and now vending power-efficient power supplies, which generate 45 percent less heat (the key) than a typical supply. After taking into account the cost of cooling, installing these babies results in a 30 percent reduction in energy use per machine....
The Woodstock of Physics 20 Years Later
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
We so often hear about advances right around the corner like hydrogen, cellulosic ethanol and carbon sequestration. A sobering tale of the pace of science from the New York Times:
By the time they got to New York they were two thousand strong, scientists gathering to hear the big news about a breakthrough class of materials called high-temperature superconductors, which promised amazing new technologies like magnetically levitated trains. K. Alex Müller and J. Georg Bednorz at the Zurich laboratory of I.B.M first created a ceramic superconductor that worked at -400 degrees F, and by 1987 others were pushing the envelope to a balmy -300 degrees.
From the Times:“I remember there was a crowd of 2,000 people outside the doors,” Dr. Schwartz said. “When the doors opened, it was a riot.”
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Phoenix Motorcars: Launch of the Electric SUT
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 03. 6.07
Chris Paine was the first to step behind the wheel of the new Phoenix Sport Utility Truck (SUT) at the Peterson Automotive Museum in LA last week. The celebrity roll call featured our good buddies Ed Begely Jr., and even Daryl Hannah was there filming her vlog. We felt right at home stepping behind the wheel of the only 5 passenger, all-electric, freeway-speed, SUT in the nation. And guess what? It was an exciting ride. With crisp acceleration, and full features, this is the real deal when it comes to electric vehicles. I wouldn't hesitate taking this for a spin on LA's mean streets, plus I would get to use the HOV lane-in a truck! The price (I heard ~65K) is a little steep to be a breakaway revolution... but it is at least an uprising in automotive technology that won't be killed anytime soon. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used phoenix, but I get the feeling that these babies will be in high demand for a long time to come. ::Phoenix Motorcars...
The New Black: Ryerson University Interior Design Goes Sustainable
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
" Environmentally conscious design is more than just a trend. It is the future of the design industry. It can be stylish and current without rejecting the principles of sustainable design." Thus begins the brief for The New Black, the theme for the Ryerson School of Interior Design's year end exhibition. We were previously impressed with them with their work at the Interior Design Show and thus were honoured to be invited to be on a panel discussion on sustainability and design. Also on the panel was Patty Johnson, designer and founder of the North South Project, "a model of design and craft collaborations in the developing world" and Barbara Ciesla, senior interior designer for HOK Toronto, whose award winning offices we will be covering shortly. It was capably moderated by Michael Prokopow, Phd Harvard, teacher at Ryerson and Prof at University of Toronto.
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Bat House Project
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 6.07
Jeremy Deller, an English artist, has become bat happy. He made an award-winning film which ended with a shot of millions of bats swooping in the Texas sky (pictured) and as a result of this fascination, he is now organizing a competition to design a wildlife-friendly house for bats. The project connects the worlds of art and ecology and encourages the public’s involvement with ecology issues. The winning entry will be built at the London Wetland Centre which is appropriate since there are ten bat species living in London alone. Most British bats naturally roost in trees but they have quickly adapted to living in the roofs of timber-built dwellings which are full of nooks and crannies to hide away in. As buildings get redeveloped, renovated and replaced, there is less space for bats to live. Wildlife law is supposed to ensure the minimum disturbance to bats in this process, but it relies on the goodwill of human hosts. Often bat roosts are happily accepted by one owner, only to be destroyed by the next. And the winner of the first stage is Blonski Architects: :: Bat House Project
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Preparing for the DST Crisis: Heading for the HIlls
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
Whenever Humankind tampers with the natural order of things, stuff happens. In spite of the risk, the American government has decided to move the start of Daylight Savings Time three weeks forward to March 11 to save energy, and Canada and Bermuda have followed. Yet computers controlling everything from nuclear plants to air traffic control to TreeHugger are running on code that was written in the last century- can it cope?
Just in case, TreeHugger looks at the things you should (and shouldn't) have when the lights go out.
For heading to the hills in a hurry, you can fill your Voltaic backpack with a wind-up charger for nights or living in caves. For water, small units like the Lifestraw may be useful. Don't forget a Fire-fly stove but for quick energy when on the run, nothing beats a Clif Bar. An eco-camp kit might be useful, although a solar powered tent might be a bit heavy. A Bikamper Bike tent might be a better choice. Load it onto a good solid Jorg and Olif and you are on your way ahead of the crowds. You can add a bike trailer if you need more stuff.
Don't forget warm clothes like organic alpine sweaters, hemp jackets and eco-fleece hoodies. And, of course, a sleeping bag.
To keep on top of what is happening, take a Freeplay Radio or Sony's hand-cranked version.
Don't forget to read up about food foraging and Michael Pollan has a lot to teach about hunting in the Omnivore's Dilemma. With luck, you will last until Halloween when the clocks move back to where they are supposed to be.
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Message in a Bottle Bill
by Stephen Filler, Tarrytown, New York on 03. 6.07
Over the past 20 years, more than 80 billion bottles and cans have been returned and recycled through New York’s bottle bill, and more than five million tons of plastic, glass and metal have been kept out of New York’s landfills and incinerators. It is New York’s most successful recycling and litter prevention program, but now it needs improvement.
For the past two years, New York’s State Assembly has passed legislation, known as the “Bigger Better Bottle Bill,” but the bill has died in the State Senate. This year, the bill was passed again by the State Assembly and is being supported by Governor Spitzer. It needs support. ...
Pollan VS Mackey Smackdown Fizzles
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
We tried to watch the University of Berkeley's debate between Michael Pollan and John Mackey, which we thought would be a continuation of the online argument they have been having about the industrialization of organic food. Being in the east, we fell asleep in the middle of Mackey and never got to Pollan. However Berkeley has now posted the video and we watched it, expecting fireworks.
As Website Chewswise points out, debates work best if speakers are on opposing sides, and Mackey has moved quickly to reposition Whole Foods, investing in artisan producers and bringing in more local food. Pollan has also moderated his position, and so it was more of a love-in than a fight. The strongest line from Mackey was “You exaggerated the extent of industrialization of organic, you’ve done some damage!”
Even without fireworks, definitely worth watching (two hours) while awake at ::University of Berkeley and read more at ::Chewswise
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Move To Ethanol Expected To Fuel Trend To More Vegetarianism
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 6.07
According to the Financial Times, a US Department of Agriculture Official came up just short of stating the obvious, per our post title:- "Keith Collins, chief economist at the US Department of Agriculture," is quoted in FT as saying that "Feed prices are rising, so that pushes up the costs of poultry, hogs and cattle; and, therefore, a rancher is going to lower the size of his herd to keep costs down. In turn there is going to be less meat, which means prices are going to go up,..." Going on, the USDA representative stated that demand for biofuel feedstock "has contributed to the fall in global corn and wheat stockpiles to about 25-year lows relative to days of consumption". And that's not all. Corn sweetener, too ,is predetermined to go up in price, especially if bad weather and drought leads to a poor harvest. That means snack food prices could soar, amplifying the trend to eating healthier. Which will contribute to a reduction in the obesity rate. So, there you go. Stop complaining about the net energy transfer rate of ethanol. Gaia rules.
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How Industrial Farming Hurts Us, Even if We Don't Eat It
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
Even if you don't eat meat or buy organic, our industrial farming system can be seriously bad for your health. The Food and Drug Administration is about to approve the drug cefquinome for use in cattle, where there are more than a dozen other drugs capable of treating bovine respiratory disease, a common ailment in factory farmed cattle. Yet the drug is an antibiotic of last resort for humans. "If a drug is used less, then less resistance emerges," said Patricia Griffin, chief of intestinal disease epidemiology for the Center for Disease Control. The drug, which is the only effective treatment for serious infections in cancer patients and a reliable lifesaver against several other nearly invincible infections, would not be needed "but for the stressful conditions under which U.S. cattle are raised, including high-density living spaces and routine shipment on crowded trains for hundreds or thousands of miles." A shocking story from ::Washington Post and read more from the Sustainable Table on Antibiotics
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Future Systems wins Czech National Library Competition
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
London's blobby green Future Systems has won the international competition to design the National Library of the Czech Republic. The architects note that "as Google puts evey book on line, we still need places where you can smell ink on paper, explore bindings and share a space with other to whom books, words and ideas matter." They see the library as "an eco building in the park"- green features include:
-carefully controlled natural lighting sufficient for reading during 70% of the library's open hours;
-natural cooling and warming of incoming air through a thermal labyrinth constructed in the basement walls around the massive underground book storage (room for ten million volumes down there)
-low velocity air supply through raised floors. ::Archiweb.cz
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RATE THIS VID!: EnviroMan Takes On Biodiesel
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 16th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Amenity Organic Bedding
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 03. 5.07
I've long coveted Amenity's gorgeous hand-silk-screened textiles, so I was tickled pink to discover that the Los Angeles company now offers organic-cotton bedding—with 320 thread count, no less. Made with 100-percent SKAL-certified organically grown and processed cotton, the fabric is printed with nontoxic, eco-friendly water-based dyes. Not that my pocketbook will allow me to spring for these sheets anytime soon, but it's nice to have options. ::Amenity Home...
RATE THIS VID!: Reality In The Self-Checkout Lane
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Sexy and Sporty – The New g=9.8 Collection
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03. 5.07
Last year Kyeann brought us the news of a lingerie collection made from wood. Infinitely more attractive and wearable than that first sentence implies Lenpur® is a biodegradable fabric made from white pine tree clippings. The French fashion designer Sophie Young started the sexy and sporty g=9.8 label with pure enviro-friendly intentions and with women’s comfort in mind. These aims are taken care of in both the choice of sustainable textile, which is soft as silk, and the minimal, but sexily cut lines of the designs. g=9.8 is now expanding its range with a new line of sportswear for women. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Remix
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 16th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
How to Green Your Pet
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 03. 5.07
What’s the Big Deal?
Ah, the pitter patter of four-legged feet as they whip through your living room at overclocked speeds or uproot your prize gladiolas with manic fervor. But Snookiepuss and Mrs. Fluffypants are practically family, right? So why should they settle for anything less than top drawer when their health and wellbeing are at stake? Throw the planet a bone while you’re at it; we’ve got the goods on how to reduce your pets’ carbon paw prints—without making your wallet roll over and play dead.RATE THIS VID!: Reduce Reuse Recycle At Boulder Community Hospital
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
The Car the Automakers Can – and Should – Be Making
by Union of Concerned Scientists on 03. 5.07
Imagine cutting the amount of global warming pollution coming out of cars by over 40 percent – without using fuel cells, hybrid batteries or other state-of-the-art technology. Vehicles engineers at the Union of Concerned Scientists have done just that. By combining a suite of technologies including biofuels, improvements in engine efficiency and load reduction, already found piece-meal in over a hundred models from major manufacturers, UCS has designed a car that fights global warming and saves drivers money.
Cars using the Vanguard technology package would beat California’s global warming standards, which 10 other states of adopted. But instead of making the cars people want, automakers – led by their legal and lobbying group, the Auto Alliance – are trying to eliminate these clean car rules....
RATE THIS VID!: Demand Reduction At Boulder Community Hospital
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
Most Huggable: Ethanol in the Oceans, Off-grid All-in-One, Teens for Safe Cosmetics
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 5.07
Is there ethanol in the ocean? A pioneering company wants to harvest the blooming algae to make fuel… The Ecos LifeLink is the all-in one off-grid necessity: solar and wind power, fresh water, and 30 miles of wireless internet… Teens for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of young women focusing on the potentially harmful side-effects of conventional beauty products… The Renewable Energy Directory lets users rate and sort clean energy website. Just do what the hummingbird says! Ah yes, that stylish oval sticker that lets everyone know how…polluting you are....
RATE THIS VID!: Changing A Lightbulb And A Boulder Community Hospital
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 5.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 16th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
Glamour Magazine: Is Green Becoming Glamourous?
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 03. 5.07
After Vanity Fair and Domino (among others), it is now Glamour Magazine's turn to feature some eco-content. They didn't go with a whole green issue, but their "top 10 things you can do for the planet" is a nice introduction to easy things that everybody can do to reduce their ecological footprint. It's cool that a large audience of people who might not have known about these things will be introduced to them (or reminded), but we encourage Glamour readers not to stop there; these things are just the beginning! The most important green tip of all is to educate yourself, to find information and share it. That's the crucial first step that (should) lead to action. Glamour also has a list of what it calls "The best eco websites". Thanks for the link, Glamour! We feel more glamourous already. ::Glamour Magazine...
Behouden Power Meter by Thomas J Owen
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 5.07
We have shown a number of energy management devices like the Kill-a-watt- most are utilitarian and without much thought to how they look. British designer Thomas James Owen proposes the Behouden wall clock/power display - it reads the electrical consumption of the house and displays it in kilowatt-hours and pounds sterling. It is made from fully recycled and recyclable materials.
The clock would be "sold with replacement BUS standard fuses that will directly replace the existing ones in the fuse box. These fuses contain an electronic system that records the amps that flow through them. The data is sent to the clock via a wireless system that interprets this into a monetary value" ::Thomasjowen...
Spin System Table
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 5.07
Now where do you put the chairs when you don't need them, especially if you live in a small space? Jim Hannon-Tan created " a place for gathering with friends for an aperitivo or a place for sitting down with a coffee and a newpaper and gazing out to sea. Spin is a flexible system that can be maximized to seat up to 8 people or minimized to disappear easily when space is required" ::Jim Hannon-Tan via ::MocoLoco
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Reconnecting Children and Nature
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 5.07
“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”
-that's what a suburban fifth grader said to Richard Louv, author of "Leave no Child Inside" in Orion Magazine. Kids no longer get to play outside on their own- natural areas are further away, competition from television and computers, over-programming and misguided parental fear. The author says:
"Yes, there are risks outside our homes. But there are also risks in raising children under virtual protective house arrest: threats to their independent judgment and value of place, to their ability to feel awe and wonder, to their sense of stewardship for the Earth."
It is becoming a movement: "A host of related initiatives—among them the simple-living, walkable-cities, nature-education, and land-trust movements—have begun to find common cause, and collective strength, through this issue."
Read the whole remarkable article at ::Orion
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Lime Wash: A New Addition to TreeHugger Wallcoverings
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 5.07
TreeHugger has seen lots of wallcoverings options, from paint to stucco interior wall finish, fabrics made of cork and organic wool, to wallpaper and clay plaster. We're pleased to add a new one to the TreeHugger wallcovering family today: lime wash. Courtesy of our friends at dominomag.com, but not part of our collaboration on the Green List, a quick look at lime wash proves that its not only beautiful and versatile, but TreeHugger green as well. Lime wash is made by dissolving slaked lime (or calcium hydroxide) in water, and has very low VOC (volatile organic compound) content. When mixed with pigment and then dried, calcite crystals that absorb the color are created by a chemical reaction; the final product looks slightly aged, with a slight glimmer as the crystals reflect light. You can still mix it by hand, though its available pre-mixed for anyone not interested in DIY chemistry. The folks at domino recommend six hours' drying time in between coats, and that a brush (and not rollers) be used to apply the stuff; after you're done, water is all you need to wash the brush. Beware that most walls need priming, and the project takes planning; you shouldn't start unless you can do an entire wall without stopping. Hit up dominomag.com for more details on where to get what you need to splash some color and character on your walls with lime wash. ::dominomag.com How To...
Metropolitan Home asks "How Green Is It?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 5.07
Arbor Bench, Peter Danko, FSC maple and seat belt webbing at Vivavi
All kinds of things are called green these days, but when it comes to furniture, there are no standards. Metropolitan Home asks the question "How Green Is It?" and proceeds to explain what to look for.
"For example, you want furniture made from FSC-certified wood, which comes from forests managed to conserve biodiversity and approved by the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council. You also want furniture made with paints and stains and even fiberboard that does not contain high amounts of volatile organic compounds, known as VOCs, such as formaldehyde. These can cause eye and throat irritation, not to mention damage to the central nervous system."
Lots of good advice and TreeHugger favourites at ::Metropolitan Home
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Clinical Demonstration That Green Building Could Improve Human Health
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 5.07
SciDev.net reports on a just-published Peruvian clinical study of tuberculosis risk for health care workers, comparing infection rates in clinical settings with, and without, natural ventilation. Health care infection risk associated with patient contact was modeled and (apparently) verified with Peruvian data to be 33% in the air conditioned buildings, such as are currently the norm in all institutional buildings around the world - the kind without operable windows, compared to 11% in older style (pre-1950 design) buildings with windows that were used to provide high rates of natural ventilation. The original research paper was published in PLoS Medicine. See below the fold for the "Conclusions" statement of the paper. Note that the stretch-headline statement of this post presumes that a health care institution seeking LEED certification would design natural ventilation options in to achieve certification, including air to air heat exchange technology as appropriate, and that the infection control benefits would translate from achievable increases in ventilation. Image credit: Crossbeck Cottager...
The Business of America is Business Hosts Carnival of the Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 03. 5.07
This week is Carnival of the Green #67 and it's being hosted by the Business of America is Business! Head on over to the Carnival to check out a round up of last weeks green news and events, submitted by other bloggers and green sites. To learn more about Carnival of the Green, where it will be and how to host, please click here to link to our previous post....
The Greenest Ski Resorts
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 5.07
We have noted previously that skiing or boarding is not the greenest of sports, but it is one most concerned about global warming. Fast Company magazine has compiled a list of the 10 greenest ski resorts including usual suspects like Aspen but also others like Kaprun, Austria (renewable energy powers its cableways, free bus service to the hills) and Park City (wind power, the second largest public transit system in the State) Most of the ten are converting to green power or buying offsets, but we love the transit idea. Now if they will only bring back the ski trains that used to bring people from the city right to the slopes.::Fast Company...
TreeHugger Picks: One Year Ago in TH
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 5.07
A lot can happen over the course of a year, so we got to wondering: what was on TreeHugger's radar one year ago today? We hadn't heard of the Tesla, hadn't seen An Inconvenient Truth (or any Convenient Truths videos, for that matter) or shown our green ways to Martha Stewart or Oprah Winfrey.
Here's a quick peek at where the green world has been; might it tell us where it's headed?
1) SUV sales were taking a nosedive as hybrid sales were on the rise.
2) The K-1 Attack Hybrid sports car was built by high-schoolers, getting big-time press and sending a message to the major US auto manufacturers.
3) Corporate Knights magazine was showing us that they're devoted to working with business to create a "responsible corporate culture [that] can foster a more livable world for all."
4) The National Assembly of Wales' new green building, awarded the Building Research Establishment's (BRE) highest award for sustainable building construction, opened its doors for the first time.
5) In a tale of two cities, the town of Woking and village of Ashton in the UK were making big strides in alternative energy and sustainability....
Rough Sleepers Boutique
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 5.07
Located in a grimy, tough, but changing area, Rough Sleepers is a new clothing boutique with a social message. "Sleeping rough" is an english term for the homeless sleeping outside. Although the Camden area is slowly becoming gentrified, there is still a rough and ready feel to it, with left-over goths and punks parading down the street on the weekend. This shop, sponsored by Novas, a social exclusion charity, will be hiring and training homeless people to design clothes and work there. The shop itself is designed to look like a supermarket shopping cart, used by many homeless to transport their life's possessions. Now what about the clothes...a mix of new, young designers; some eco-friendly, some straight out of art school, and some more established, along with interesting silver and costume jewelery. Vinti Andrews designs men's wear--a husband and wife team, she designs the abstract hand-printed graphics on the black and white tee-shirts. Zest jeans are hand crafted, well-fitting jeans, "designed and developed to make you happy". Rika Shioya designs scarves and clothing using vintage kimonos and western fabrics--velvet scarves have a stripe of kimono material. Ramone Barreto makes eco-jewellery out of his native Colombian materials. He soaks, bends and presses totomo, a form of coconut, into medallions and earrings. All the profits will be reinvested into services such as education, housing and training to get the homeless back on track. :: Rough Sleepers ...
How To: Build a Green(er) Computer
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 5.07
Despite TreeHugger's best efforts to spread the word about low-power computing options, many computers are still built without a second thought to energy efficiency, and, in the US, hazardous substances like lead and mercury (the EU's RoHS and WEEE directives have cut them back in Europe). The guys at Extreme Tech decided to take a shot at building their own green machine, taking care to address both energy efficiency and hazardous materials. They grabbed a green power supply suitable for expansion to a bigger system in the future, all lead-free components, and even found that in many cases, the greenest components were more powerful than many less green options, because they're newer and more efficient. The end result isn't the greenest, most efficient machine we've ever seen, but it's extremely flexible, making it useful from just about anyone from gamers to bloggers to casual users with a few modifications, and shows that every computer user can have a green(er) machine. The article also includes some handy, step-by-step instructions (with pictures) of how to do it yourself and keep it green, and trumpets that in just about every case, smaller is better. Altogether, it's a fair example that "green computing is all about small steps towards a better world. In the end, many small steps lead to a giant leap." ::Extreme Tech via ::Digg...
Second Green Drinks Buenos Aires, This Wednesday!
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 03. 5.07
Hello Buenos Aires fellows! Want to meet green people? Want to get involved in environmental issues and don’t know where to start? Well, get ready, because the 2nd edition of the Argentinean Green Drinks is set for next Wednesday, March 7th from 8 to 9.30pm. The meeting will be at The Kilkenny, a typical Irish pub located in Reconquista 1000, Retiro. This date will be, also, the last time to meet or greet TreeHugger founder Graham Hill, as he leaves the city the day after. Let us remember you that our first gathering was last February 2nd, and we got to 18 people from Argentina, Brazil, the USA and even Portugal. To those who aren’t familiar with the concept, Green Drinks is an informal meeting to get in touch with people interested in or related to environmental issues, in order to exchange information, contacts, and projects. If you want to know more or want to attend, please e-mail us at paula at treehugger dot com. See you next Wednesday!
(Picture: Retiro, Buenos Aires)...
Sharing - It's The Party Line
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 03. 5.07
Sharing is defined as non-exclusive access to a resource. As expected, sharing pops up pretty much everywhere - Chimps share meat, teenagers share music, toddlers teach themselves to share as they move out of parallel play. My grandma had a shared party line, a telephone that was connected to both her and her neighbor at the same time. Even the ultra rich share, say, a vineyard or a yacht once in a while.
Sharing saves resources, but also poses a few issues. Sometimes an single individual hogs the resource (the roommate who drank all the milk) or tries to profit off the joint labor that created it. Since sharing is a collective endeavor, it can pressure 'Us vs. Them' models considerably. This cultural disruption can be threatening - Hp, for example, sensing that sharing would cut into their profit margins, declared a war on sharing in 2002.
Be that as it may, sharing is everywhere in IT and is only going to increase. Most businesses already share networks, databases, servers because it simply makes sense - it would be silly for each user to have their own network, just as it would be silly for each automobile owner to have their own roads. Only the desktop PC, the proverbial car of the information superhighway, has not fallen into the shared realm.
But all that is changing rapidly. As resources draw scarce, IT sharing is going mainstream. With drastic budgetary reductions and the drive towards efficiency, CIOs are now looking to implement any technology that improves efficiency. And the solution is sharing - Virtualization is being used to share servers, and the shared desktop is here. At a larger scale, extranets, software as a service, and industry consolidation will continue, maybe until there are only five shared computers left in the world. When we get to that level of efficiency, we will have sustainable IT. And that's a party.
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Conservative Christian Leaders Call Climate Change a "Distraction"
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 03. 5.07
Is there a moral imperative to address climate change? Former Vice President Al Gore argued this point in An Inconvenient Truth. Not everyone's convinced, though: a group of American conservative Christian leaders, including James Dobson (pictured), Gary L. Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul Weyrich, sent a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday that chastised the group for its recent focus on the climate crisis. The signers of the letter argued that NAE's vice president for government affairs, the Rev. Richard Cizik, is diverting the faithful from more pressing moral matters, particularly abortion and homosexuality. According to the New York Times, the letter represents a growing rift between established leadership on the Christian right, and "...challengers who are pushing to expand the evangelical movement’s agenda to include issues like climate change and human rights."“We have observed,” the letter says, “that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time.” Those issues, the signers say, are a need to campaign against abortion and same-sex marriage and to promote “the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children.”...
Living on Thin Ice: The Observer on Polar Bears’ PR Image.
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03. 4.07
Left photo: Dan Crosbie/Canadian Ice Service/PA Wire. Right Photo: Coca Cola
Simon Garfield writes an interesting article in today’s Observer about the increasingly endangered Polar Bear’s public profile. Why is it the threatened Polar Bear that has captured the public’s imagination and become “the newly helpless emblem of climate change” and a PR dream for environmental activists? As Garfield says, “There is no such thing as an ugly polar bear, and even the less handsome ones appear to have learnt to conceal their claws as they leap the ice floes. Like panting labradors, they always appear to be smiling (no such fillip for the equally threatened but unglamorous walrus).” Garfield points out the strange contradiction between the reality of these powerful and at times dangerous predators and their cartoonish marketing image of cute and cuddly animals. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Carrying Power: Solar Energy On The Go
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
Looking to stop climate change? Watch and follow in the carbon-free footprints of TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants. Vote on this video and the others like it by March 16th. Remember to give higher ratings to the most practical and helpful videos. Need more solutions? Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
RATE THIS VID!: Rust Belt
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
Looking for a good fight? No need for a drunken brawl! Watch how TreeHugger and Seventh Generation’s contest entrants tackle climate change. Who do you think deserves to win? Vote on this video and the others like it. Fortify your green and sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Bruce Sterling: “You Don't Have to Predict the Future When You Live In It.”
by eva jacobus on 03. 4.07
Today's Washington Post features an editorial by Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk author and futurist, celebrating the arrival of the predicted glamorous green future. His credentials are (forgive the pun) sterling: his Viridian Design Movement led to the creation of Worldchanging. His message, “My Dot-Green Future Is Finally Arriving”, is not entirely upbeat, but is looking forward to the future of the cybergreens.
In 1998, I had it figured that the dot-com boom would become a dot-green boom. It took a while for others to get it. Some still don't. They think I'm joking. They are still used to thinking of greenness as being "counter" and "alternative" -- they don't understand that 21st-century green is and must be about everything -- the works. Sustainability is comprehensive. That which is not sustainable doesn't go on. Glamorous green. I preached that stuff for years. I don't have to preach it anymore, because it couldn't be any louder. Green will never get any sexier than it is in 2007. Because, after this, brown will start going away.::“My Dot-Green Future Is Finally Arriving” in the Washington Post...
RATE THIS VID!: Forage! An Exploration In Collaborative Art Making Through Reuse
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
Who needs Sundance? TreeHugger and Seventh Generation have brought you your own little private eco-film fest. Sit back, relax, and take in the green. Just don’t forget to hone that artsy eye of yours and vote on the others before March 16th! Hoping to bring home some swag? Consider signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter. ...
'The Green Project': New Orleans Salvaging Building Materials
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 03. 4.07
Image: Chris Branan, Tubs, The Green Project, New Orleans, Louisiana 2005
Rebuilding New Orleans in a economical and environmentally sustainable way has been discussed on TreeHugger before, here, here, here and here.
The Green Project is a sustainable local New Orleans initiative that salvages building materials and sells it on cheaply to those who are rebuilding their homes. By deconstructing by hand rather than demolishing buildings, they are able to conserve valuable resources and keep recovered materials out of landfills. The salvaged materials are then recycled into new building materials, many of which are irreplaceable such as architectural elements, hardware, and old growth lumber, these are then used to repair and rebuild damaged homes. ...
RATE THIS VID!: Light On The Pedal, Light On The Planet
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
Seventh Generation and TreeHugger turned to you for solutions, and now we’re turning to you again for your trusty opinion on green. Vote today, and tell us whether this video solution to climate change and the others inspire you. While you’re at it, keep your inspiration at an all-time high by signing up for our daily or weekly newsletter....
Water, Water Everywhere
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 03. 4.07
But not a clean drop to drink… Well, many of us are fully aware that clean, fresh drinking water is one of earth’s most precious resources, and that over a billion people across the globe lack access to this simple, life sustaining liquid. But do our children? That’s a question the folks at Project Wet (Water Education for Teachers) are working to answer by educating kids across the US and even internationally about it, and what they can do to help preserve its supply.
They’re focus is simple; by providing award winning classroom publications, courses seminars and workshops for teachers, they can help transform the view which many kids share that water simply comes out of the tap when they turn the spigot. The centerpiece of the Project WET program is the Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide, a 561-page collection of multidisciplinary water-related activities for ages 5 through 18 that are hands-on, easy to use, and fun too! They back that massive resource up with even more educational materials and programs like Native Waters, Discover a Watershed, and their Kids in Discovery Series of classroom resources....
RATE THIS VID!: Passive Solar Techniques For Year-Round Local Food - Even In Cold Climates
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair Grows With Your Baby
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 03. 4.07
Eco-Mum and guest writer Jo Lambert is back, this time with her view on the Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair:
We've seen it in all good baby catalogues, designed by Peter Opsvik
for Stokke, the Tripp Trapp chair is striding into dining rooms and
kitchens around the world (closely followed by the cheaper copies). What makes it so successful and so possibly Treehugger?
What makes Stokke Tripp Trapp inherently more sustainable than many of the other options is that the whole concept of the chair is about longevity, ‘Growing with the Child’. It is designed to last as long as possible, adapting in function and dimensions as the child grows. So it goes from small baby highchair, to a raised seat for toddlers, all the way up to an adult-style seat (meaning that you are unlikely to trash the chair once the child is grown up).
You can adjust both the seat and footrest height using the slot system.
For small babies who can sit up strongly on their own, there is a rail and strap to keep them in place, plus seat and back cushions. A Stokke harness can be used too.
For children, the back cushion, rail and strap can be removed and the seat lowered.
For older children and adults the seat and footrest can be adjusted accordingly....
Stand in Front of This Microwave
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 4.07
TreeHugger loves multifunction furniture and designs that take up less space, so we just had to show this integration of a 15" TV/DVD player with a 1200 watt microwave oven. No longer will you have to wait for commercials to get the popcorn! Designed for HE (Holland Electric) by Marcel Wanders, who decorates all of the items on his website with animals, hence the chicken. If he integrated a video camera that showed what was cooking inside, we would never have to worry about standing in front of the microwave again. ::Marcel Wanders via ::Trendhunter...
Test Drive for the End of Oil: Goodbye Environmental Standards
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 4.07
As the fuel supply crisis in Ontario continues, truckers are facing a shortage of diesel fuel. The Ontario Minister of Energy has asked the Federal Minister of the Environment to allow the use of "off-road" high sulphur content fuel that was banned in Canada last year. Member of Parliament Dan McTeague calls it a temporary measure "in order to respond to a unique crisis". We recall that they said that about income taxes in World War 1. Polluting high sulphur diesel is also easier and cheaper to produce: "The Nanticoke refinery, even at low capacity, can produce this grade of diesel fuel much quicker than regular truck diesel."
You get more fuel from a barrel of oil if you do not worry about pollutants, so watch for more moves to reduce environmental standards as the stuff starts running out. ::Ontario Truckers Association...
Get Trashy!
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 4.07
While we love Levitt Goodman's Vermicondo, here is a kitchen item that is perhaps a little more practical and available. Trashy is designed to handle all of your garbage needs, with a sliding top covering a bin for compostibles, two lower bins for recyclables and landfill, and a teeny drawer for batteries. It is made from formaldehyde free 100% post-industrial MDF, high quality hardware and also features a towel bar and a chalkboard. With an optional butcher block top, this can work as a very useful kitchen island and recycling center rolled into one attractive unit. Starts at a very reasonable C$ 295 (US$ 250) from ::Get Trashy...
There Is No Free Trade: Cargo Shippers Emit Twice The C02 Of Airlines, Yet Go Completely Unregulated
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03. 4.07
Via The Guardian “…annual emissions from shipping range between 600 and 800m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or up to 5% of the global total. This is nearly double Britain's total emissions and more than all African countries combined…Carbon dioxide emissions from ships do not come under the Kyoto agreement or any proposed European legislation and few studies have been made of them, even though they are set to increase.” Also reported in the Guardian article: maritime shipping emissions are double those of airlines. The solution? When you have a choice, buy local; buy home-sourced. It’s good for climate, good for employment, and has the same populist appeal that ethanol fuel does. And, the next time an elected official talks about "fast tracking" free trade, or the "Doha Round" keep in mind he's blowing smoke...he same smoke that lobbyists blow when they urge the use of taxpayer's money to develop "clean coal" technology with no certainty of carbon sequestration. There is no "free trade" when the future of life on earth is threatened at this scale.
Image credit: IMTG
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Beekeepers Utilize Internet to Fight Mystery 'Disorder'
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03. 4.07
As many Treehuggers will know, the humble honey bee is a vital ally for us humans. Not only does it provide us with honey, but it also plays a huge role in pollinating many of the plants we rely on for food. In fact, a cucumber blossom needs upwards of 11 visits from honey bees to ensure adequate pollination. This is perhaps why there has been so much attention in the media lately to a mystery phenomenon (that we already reported on here) that is wiping out hives across North America. Reports of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), as the syndrome has become known, have sky-rocketed in the last year, catching the attention of the Discovery Channel and the Washington Post, among others. Some of the beekeepers we have spoken to suggest that media coverage may be a little exaggerated, but there is no doubt that they are still worried. The causes of CCD are not yet clear, but environmental stresses, pests, pathogens and excessive pesticide use have all been cited as possible suspects.
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Doormats: Use It, Don't Be It
by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 4.07
Doormats are just one of those things that one never thinks about, but always needs. You could say the same for flipflops, those universal shoes, worn world-wide and perfectly functional. Imagine a meeting of the two: a doormat made of left over, recycled flip flops. Surplus foam rubber from their production is used to create these colourful, and certainly durable doormats. Made by hand, using galvanized metal wire and less fodder for the landfills.
Or you could have a blue manhole cover (a statement on your apartment?) made from recycled truck tires. If you are more particular, there is one version available with N.Y.C sewer on it. Variations on the theme include a grey doormat looking like a barcode ( a statement on modern life?) or one that says " you are here" (an existential statement). :: re:modern ...
How to Prevent Bike Theft
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 03. 4.07
For the benefit of all who rely on their bicycle as a primary means of transportation, here is a hot tip from the Radzeit (Biketime), magazine of the ADFC Berlin (German Bicyclists Club, Berlin Branch). On the humorous "Last Page", Andreas Rüttenauer reports on the amusing turn-around for a staff member and a congressman in Berlin's political HQ, the Bundestag. Long laughed at for the out-dated stickers pasted all over their bicycles--including the classic "Nuclear energy? No, thank you"--they can now laugh back as colleagues come begging to know where to find some old stickers for their bikes. Why the sudden change of opinion? A recent letter from the congressional administration gives a tip for bicyclists: bicycles with stickers or do-it-yourself paint jobs are stolen less often. Older stickers are reported to have a better impact, giving the impression that the bicycle is an antique like the political slogans it advertises. If you read German, the original article will make you chuckle. Check it out in Radzeit 2007/1 PDF....
RATE THIS VID!: The Living Building Challenge
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 03. 4.07
The polls are open, folks, but only until March 16th. Kick back with some locally brewed beer or some organic pop corn and watch and rate this video and the smorgasbord of Convenient Truths entries on the contest site, truths.treehugger.com. These green videos are a just a taste. Continue to satiate your appetite for solutions to climate change by subscribing to our daily or weekly newsletter or checking out Seventh Generation’s Inspired Protagonist blog!...
