Weekly Archive for June 10, 2007 : TreeHugger

The easy listening soundtrack to this video will do nothing to calm those of you with vertigo. Wind farms are tall, really tall. Pepijn blogged, over at MyFavouritePlaces, his trip to the top of a new wind park that was opening in Baburen (Holland). He tells us that five existing 600kw turbines have been replaced with six new 1.3mw plants. If you're wondering why they replaced, rather than added to, the existing turbines, it's because they're being shipped to Poland for installation. If you're wondering why they're being moved, then that makes two of us. Surely it would make more sense to leave them where they are? Even if Poland wants to gain the green power, then they could trade power across borders. Lots of energy companies do this anyway, and the effort, cost and emissions incurred in moving those enormous machines must be huge. ::MyFavouritePlaces...

Carbon offsetting provokes a powerful emotional response in some people. They just don't like the idea that you can pay someone else to mop up your carbon emissions. It smacks of indulgence and cheating. Critics say buying an offset while continuing to fly, or drive an SUV, or live in a mansion with all the lights on, is at best hypocritical, and at worst, downright dangerous. It simply avoids the issue, which is that we should be reducing our carbon footprint, and simply encourages the delusion that we can go on living in an environmentally profligate way. Some even compare offsetting with the Papal indulgences of the late Middle Ages, where Catholics were offered redemptions for their sins in return for donations to the Church – buying their way out of punishment for wrongdoing. Critics say this is exactly what modern-day carbon offsetters are trying to do. They think money will buy them a clear conscience while they continue to fill the sky with fumes. Certain high profile stories, mainly about celebrities trying to offset carbon-intensive lifestyles, give credence to the criticisms, but it is far from the whole picture. Offsetting is something that is practiced by thousands of individuals and organizations who are neither hypocritical or delusional. Let's look at the argument more closely....

Months ago we posted on a landfill methane capture project: controversial because "offsets" were being sold to cover the costs of capturing and burning methane emitted from buried solid waste. Some likened the practice to selling indulgences for spiritual gain. Then, months later, the Vatican decided to go for the green, causing that simile to lose currency. Now it seems, covering and capturing all manner of poop gas is headed toward the realm of big business. Raw material in excess. Cows do it. Pigs do it. Even billions of crowded miserable little chickens do it. We think capturing the methane wafting from their piles of excrement and selling the credits for this effort is soon to be a global love story for investors. The business potential is nicely embodied by AgCert International (AgCert™), a business that sells credits for those greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. "Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, AgCert was founded to generate emission reductions from livestock farms to reduce the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to global warming and climate change. AgCert is now the worldwide leader in agriculturally derived emission reductions, and we are applying our expertise to create industrial based emission reductions as well. The GHG emission reductions are pooled and sold to industrial emitters, governments, funds and energy traders."...

Pictured is my now-retired laptop. We worked together for over seven wonderful years. Until yesterday. Not replacing a laptop for all that time is an eco-feat in and of itself given that processing power doubles every 18 months. However, its timely demise brings home the reasons for getting heavy-metals out of computer screen manufacturing. Prior to my very physical computer crash, I happened to have investigated the new MacBook Pros at the Apple Store in Soho just this past week -- perhaps the fate which befell my machine was a bit of an accident on purpose? In any event, I was informed that the models with 15 inch screens now use LED backlighting in order to eliminate the use of mercury as well as to extend battery charge by as much as an hour. By happenstance, I was told that the 17 inch models are still not ready for prime time and it appears that getting and confirming this information may be difficult for most consumers. Apple's site is a bit confusing on this topic and the good folks at Tekserve from whom I purchased my replacement 15" LED model joined in a tech huddle before concluding that the dastardly deets on the 17" big boy were accurate. Further confusion can occur if you go to the Mac OS system profiler to get info on the type of display: all models will indicate "LCD" which could lead you to conclude that the monitors still contain arsenic and mercury, industry standard materials used in liquid crystal displays....

Design for the Other 90%, on view at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum through September 23, 2007. Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” ... Design for the Other 90% demonstrates how design can be a dynamic force in saving and transforming lives, at home and around the world. See innovations in shelter, water and transport, such designs as Domed Pit Latrine Slab kit by Martin Fisher, will help with health issues with the concrete lid creating a tight seal to keep the smell in and the flies out; and the wire handle heats up from sunlight, killing germs and reducing contamination. And the Bamboo Treadle Pump by Gunnar Barnes allows poor farmers to access groundwater during the dry season, is is able to be made locally from cheap materials thus producing income for the community as well....

TreeHugger really likes modular designs. Their movable, changeable pieces allow for both multiple, easily re-imagined configurations, and quick, easy replacement in case of an accident like a permanent stain. This proves most beneficial in things like carpet and cushions, where high traffic and errant red wine spills can damage or blemish your belongings. We really like the looks of the "Imperial" carpet tiles from contraforma, whose groovy shapes allow for lots of fun and different design possibilities, but their synthetic materials and no sign of lifecycle design or product take-back plan gets the TreeHugger thumbs down. FLOR has pretty much had the run of TreeHugger's coverage of modular carpet tiles (and their sustainable offerings definitely deserve the good green press they've received), and they will continue to until contraforma and others get hip to the green game. You can do it! ::contraforma via ::Freshome...

Combining traditional techniques with enlightened materials, Portland, OR-based Jeffrey Armistead and Digui strives to make furniture that withstands not just years, but decades of use and will be beautiful not just today, but tomorrow as well. Using locally harvested or certified sustainably-grown wood, Digui's Molen Low Table is intended to be used for a variety of tasks over its lifetime -- sofa end table, coffee table or bedside table are a few possibilities -- and its longevity is owed, at least in part, to the technique used to construct it. About the construction, designer Armistead says, "The table is composed of four panels, each supported by a dovetailed leg. The panels are connected to each other at a right angle, joined with a long tenon used typically in breadboard table tops to allow the table surface to expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity. The Molen table uses traditional, joinery techniques -- legs dovetailed in the table top, the panels integrated with breadboard tenons allowing the solid timber to expand and contract, and mortises and tenons for the underlying rails -- to provide interest by changes in grain direction and exposing end grain." We like the sunken square box in the middle of the table, added for storage, which gives the table an almost whirlpool-like illusion of motion. Armistead's small studio is powered by Portland's PGE renewable energy program, and the table is available in plantation eucalyptus, local Northwest FSC-certified red alder, as well as locally-harvested black walnut. Digui just has a splash page for now; we hope to see more from them soon. ::Digui Furniture...

What’s the Big Deal?

The future is green, and you just found it. These days you probably feel flooded by dire-sounding environmental news ("the Earth is set to deflate by 2011") and endless suggestions for greener living ("algae cold-fusion reactors for your shoes"). But fret not. We're here to help sort things out and get your eco show on the road. Here, we bring it back to basics and break it down into bite sized chunks of simple, everyday ways to live a greener, healthier, more ethical (and ultimately more fun) life. So read on. And remember, if you have a friend, relative, or colleague who needs a little help on the green front, send them this way.

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Permaculture just keeps on cropping up on the pages of TreeHugger. We’ve written about permaculturists greening the desert in the Middle East, and we’ve carried details of a small urban permaculture garden in NC. Last month we brought details of an innovative permaculture project in the UK called Offshoots, and now, thanks to an article in the latest issue of the ever-inspirational Permaculture Magazine (the article is unfortunately unavailable online), we bring news of another important project in the UK. Earthworks St Albans was started as a reaction to a spate of closures of state-owned residential care homes for people with learning difficulties in the mid-ninties. It is now a registered charity that offers trainees, often with learning difficulties or mental health problems, work experience and training in horticultural and land-based skills. It has a two-acre site that is managed along ecological principles, and the organization is involved in conservation efforts, and in growing food for the local farmers’ market. ...

Another summer site that is now open is the Duncan House, a Usonian design by Frank Lloyd Wright that was moved from Chicago to Polymath Park, a resort near Pittsburgh. Usonian houses were "ypically small, single story dwellings without a garage or much storage, L-shaped to fit around a garden terrace on odd (and cheap) lots, and environmentally-conscious with native materials, flat roofs and large cantilevered overhangs for passive solar heating and natural cooling, natural lighting with clerestory windows, and radiant floor heating (WP)" ...

The days when we could look forward to being awoken by the pleasant chirping of birds in the morning (well, for those of us not living in the city) may soon be coming to an end. A report released by the National Audubon Society makes the case that populations of many of our fair feathered friends have been in drastic decline over the past four decades. The average population of these common birds has fallen 68% since 1967; the 20 birds listed on the national "Common Birds in Decline" database (including such perennial favorites as the Common Tern and Field Sparrow) have lost at least half of their populations during that period. Some species, including the once familiar Northern Bobwhite (seen above), have witnessed collapses in their numbers as high as 80%. These numbers were obtained from the Audubon Society's long-running citizen-led Christmas Bird Count and its Breeding Bird Survey....

Richard Fuller is a post-doc researcher at the University of Sheffield, working in the ecological sustainability of cities. He has written an interesting comment piece for the BBC where he talks about the implications of what the UK Government see as the future of housing. More than half the population now live in cities, and they have grown rapidly in recent years. Because urban areas have tended to sprawl, many areas are now car-dependant - miles from anywhere and with a lack of decent public transport. The Government want new housing to be compact, and tightly spaced, 30 to 50 houses per hectare in fact. This would allow people to live near work, make bicycle and car trips more easily, and reduce the amount of land that we swallow up for redevelopment. Sounds like a good plan, but Fuller sees some problems. “This will pack a lot more people into the same space than we currently do. It is perhaps the single most important piece of housing legislation for decades, yet it is not well known and the potential consequences of it have not been widely debated.” One problem that Fuller sees is that we will all have less access to green spaces, which is important for our well being, “Green spaces, including our own domestic gardens, are important even to the most hardened city slickers among us. They are places to sit and contemplate, meet with friends, walk the dog, go for a run, feed the ducks, for children to play.” How will communities alter, once nature is effectively removed from the equation?...

When the world’s largest television network with a potential audience of 1.5 billion people in 162 countries decides to make global climate change a top priority, it’s time to sit up and take notice. In fact, the MTV SWITCH campaign launched yesterday aims to target people between the ages of 15 to 25 who happen to live in countries with high carbon emissions. The aim is to connect with them and lead them to question their high consumption lifestyles, hopefully raising their consciousness of the environment in general and the fight against global warming in particular at the same time. The organizing principle behind all of it is the idea that when large groups of individuals choose to begin taking small actions on their own it can add up to massive results. To help get youth involved they’ll be targeting them with public service announcements, television programs, and online resources accessible via the MTV Switch website. And you can bet they’ll be incredibly effective at making the connection inside of kids minds with them too… As one of my students recently blurted out in class in response to a question about whether global climate change is real, “Dude, it’s on MTV!” It seems that in the strange and wacky world of teenage minds our friends at MTV have made themselves a more trusted source of news than CNN. Go figure!...

Chittagong, Bangladesh (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) In Asia, it’s already a killer summer, even if the season hasn't started yet. A week after China released its action plan on climate change (sans emissions caps), 76 people have died over a six-day period in China’s southern and eastern provinces due to severe flooding, brought upon by heavy rains. The floods have forced more than 788,000 people from their homes, caused damage estimated at more than 2.9 billion yuan ($371 million) and affected over 300,000 hectares of crops. State media reported that the director of the country’s National Meteorological Center, Jiao Meiyan, attributed the rainfall in part to “global climate change.” Meanwhile, a heat wave in India and Pakistan, where temperatures hovered at 50 degrees Celsius, has killed 340. In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains have killed 126. The impact of climate change on developing nations in particular is like "low-intensity biological or chemical warfare," said the Namibia representative at a recent meeting of the UN Security Council, secretary general Ban Ki Moon writes in a recent editorial. "This is no academic exercise," the Namibian all but shouted. "It is a matter of life or death for my country."...

Hot on the heels of the news that we may be able to use sugar to make products currently manufactured with oil, we got to wondering: what else is the sweet stuff good for? Here are five ways to use sugar and its byproducts that won't rot your teeth.

	1) Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source -- from soft drinks to tree sap -- and has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium ion batteries.
	2) This tasty-looking coffee table made of sugar and compressed coffee beans is a functioning item, recycling innovation, and an artful expression, all rolled in to one. Something to ponder: Will my dog want to chew on it?
	3) Made from natural sugar cane alcohol, Ecoflame is a cooking fuel that burns cleaner, hotter and more efficiently than petroluem-based fuels, we're told. Certified under Canada's Environmental Choice Program, it is non-toxic, non-explosive, has no harmful emissions, is safe for use indoors and outdoors and is smokeless and odor free. The remaining two picks are after the jump...

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The Gas and Oil Exposition in Calgary was gate-crashed by the Yes Men, the combination theatre group and political activists. They pulled off an impressive con, pretending to be representatives from the NPC and Exxon. Andy Bichlbaum gave a talk, posing as Shepard Wolff of the NPC, where he admitted that the Earth is heading towards “huge global calamities”. On the bright side, he suggested, “the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.” This was quite a surprise to the audience who expected the NPC, advisors to the White House on oil and gas issues, to be announcing the findings of a DoE study. Fellow Yes Man, Mike Bonnano, then took the podium posing as an Exxon employee named Florian Osenberg. "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left," he said cheerily....

One gets depressed watching American politics, where the Democrats pander to big coal and the Republicans are fighting renewable energy, or Canadian politics, where national parties are fracturing into regional self-interest. It is interesting to see that in other parts of the world, the Green Party is a real alternative. In Ireland, six members of the Green party have joined the government and will take two cabinet positions. According to the Economist, "As a result, the new administration is expected to support a more radical policy on climate change, including the introduction of a carbon tax which the outgoing administration had abandoned following pressure from business leaders. The government also agreed to carbon emissions reduction targets of 3% per year; to set up a commission on climate change; and to set more energy efficient standards for new buildings." Perhaps its time for Greens in government over here. ::Economist...

We are big on telling TreeHuggers to eat their vegetables and do tell our children not play with their food, but for almost ten years the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has been manufacturing musical instruments out of vegetables. "Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe. The ensemble overcomes preserved and marinated sound conceptions or tirelessly re-stewed listening habits, putting its focus on expanding the variety of vegetable instruments, developing novel musical ideas and exploring fresh vegetable sound gardens." The video sounds great. ::Vienna Vegetable Orchestra via ::Splurch...

More fuel to the fire when I explain to my Canadian mother why I choose to live in Jerusalem: Israel, apparently, has a low environmentally-induced death rate, reports a cheery article in the Jerusalem Post this week. Unfortunately, Israelis probably make up for it in road deaths and other unfortunate events. But thanks to research from the World Health Organization, us TreeHuggers stationed in Israel can sleep more soundly knowing that the doom and gloom environmental reports we read over here may be misguided. According to the report, Israel gets a decent grade when it comes to negative health effects due to environmental degradation. Estimates of years of life lost in Israel due to respiratory infections and diseases, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases caused by outdoor pollution are among the lowest in the world, with 6,000 estimated deaths per year from these causes. Israel, believe it or not, is considered one of the best-rated countries in the world, reports the Jerusalem Post. The worst are Angola, Burkina Faso, Mali and Afghanistan....

Ever thought of wearing coke bottles on your ears? The jewellery designer Kathleen Plate has thought about wearing them round your neck as well! Sounds heavy, but Kathleen's Smart Glass collection lends glass bottles the lightest touch. If endorsing the world's largest soft drinks manufacturer isn't up your style street never fear, Kathleen also reuses Skyy Vodka, Pellegrino, Aveda, as well as all manner of beer and wine bottles. So whatever your favourite beverage you can find them transformed into beautiful accessories. Kathleen started designing jewellery by making a pair of earrings for a friend's birthday whilst at graduate school. They proved so popular that soon after selling to boutiques in the early 90s she had clients such as Aveda and Coca Cola knocking on her door. ...

Canada has a lotta lakes; so many that they can afford to take a few and do some destructive testing -"Entire small lakes are available to test hypotheses about freshwater ecosystems"-)(::Experimental Lakes) In one of them, Karen Kidd of the University of New Brunswick tossed in a heap of birth control pills (well, more accurately, she seeded a 34-hectare lake with 5 ppt 17∝-ethynylestradiol—the active ingredient in birth control pills) to see what would happen. (This is a big issue for TreeHuggers- we talk often about gender bender chemicals getting into our water and 85% of the hormones in birth control pills goes through the body and down the toilet. At the same time we say don't drink bottled water, drink tap. For cities with "closed loop" systems like those on the Great Lakes, we are, as Jacob so aptly put it, spiking the punch.)...

Fresh off our story a few days ago reporting on the increasing trend towards more eco-friendly funeral pyres in India, we bring you news now of a Scottish company's attempts to revive the jute industry by building coffins with the plant material. J Funerals, based in Dundee, has been trying to find innovative ways to use jute after a recent slowdown in the manufacturing industry. Jute is a strong natural, biodegradable fiber derived from plants in the genus Corchorus and has high tensile strength and low extensibility. After cotton, it is the second most important vegetable fiber for cultivation and for various purposes, including making cloth, weaving curtains and backing for linoleum. The company had primarily been using it to make shrouds, linings and urns. Sandra Thomson, its managing director, realized its potential as a material to make coffins early on. "It started as a dream," she said. "I have a huge passion for jute and was determined that jute was not going to die out of Dundee." ...

While this breakthrough discovery may not immediately resonate with a majority of the population (not 70% of it anyway), it has already sent the scientific world into a tizzy over its potential implications for biorefinery and our dependence on oil. As reported in this week's issue of Science (subscription needed), a group of scientists have discovered a way to convert glucose into HFM (hydroxymethylfurfural), a chemical that is broken down into components used to manufacture products now made from oil. Since crude oil is the base component for fuels, plastic and several industrial and household chemicals, finding a method of replacing it with an environmentally friendly, cheap renewable plant matter has long been one of the Holy Grails in science. Z. Conrad Zhang, the lead author and a scientist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)-based Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, described the team's accomplishment thusly: "What we have done that no one else has been able to do is convert glucose directly in high yields to a primary building block for fuel and polyesters."...

Gore comments on G8 climate efforts: “a disgrace disguised as an achievement.” The message is getting through in San Fran: the city wants renewable community power… Ready for a wool computer? Check out the entries from the Next-Gen PC design Competition… Gaiam wants to keep your kids active this summer. Here’s how… Just before you put that lemur in a headlock, check out these “animals that are better than you…” Most Huggable is a daily roundup of some of the top stories from Hugg.com, TreeHugger’s user-generated green news site. Why not submit your own green news? ...

As we've noted several times before, coral reefs are extremely vulnerable to climate change; while this is certainly bad news for the corals themselves, it doesn't bode well for those plants and animals who need them to live either. Inspired by the form and graceful underwater gliding of the coral-dwelling Manta Birostis, or Giant Manta Ray, designer Damien Melotte created the Manta Birostis lounge chair as a way to both raise awareness about and lament the slow destruction caused by bleaching corals. The chair is built on FSC-certified wood legs and upholstered with a combination of a recycled plastic shell and biodegradable latex rubber, and disassembles for more efficient delivery. As the chair of his local chapter of the o2 Global Network (o2 Australia), he also has some good things to say about design....

There are a couple of themes that we drone on about at TreeHugger: how cities are part of the solution for global warming because people have smaller carbon footprints; how revitalization along transit lines gets more people out of cars; how efficient it is to work from home. We also love the urban mix of uses on mainstreets, where for generations people have lived over the store. Andre D'Elia and Meg Graham live over the store; they are the principals of Superkül, a young architectural firm in Toronto. They bought a building next to the psychic on a sketchy street in the west end Toronto, put their office on the ground floor and their house above. Originally a two storey building with a shop on the ground floor and an apartment above, it had in the recent past been used solely as a residence. Its conversion to Home / Office involved its complete renovation and the addition of a third floor. ...

ISPO is the International Sports Expo, held in Germany twice a year. It’s where many of the up and coming trends are first spotted. The Waldmeister (literally Forest Master) bike by Marcus Wallmeyer scored a win in their current ‘BrandNew’ jury selection. It is handmade from about 100 thin layers of wood. The design is obviously unique but we’re told the ride also offers unprecedented comfort. Seems like the designer of the JANO plywood Dual bike was on the the right track after all. Another pic, after the jump, of the Waldmeister in all its glory. It seems not to contain a single piece of Shimano componentry, instead employing other top notch hardware. No details provided on price ::SuperNova Design, via ::ISPO...

Photo credit: George Braun Watch out, evil-doers: A new weapon in the fight against the illegal trade of endangered and threatened species has just been added to the arsenal. The device will allow officials to test suspicious goods on the spot to discover if they have been prepared using ingredients from rare species. Developed with the aid of British DNA forensics specialists, the test works to uncover the use of tissues from protected animals, especially bears, in traditional medicines—a lucrative market in Asia—by detecting specific proteins found in the animals. Trials of the DNA test kit in Australia and Canada have already identified 16 cases where illegal products were destined for the market. (Oh, snap!) The timing of this kit could not be better. Already, organized crime syndicates, with the assistance of corrupt government officials, have turned environmental crime into a multibillion-dollar business—one that is rivaling even the drugs trade, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency....

This week, the bad boy of biodiesel Willie Nelson and billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg strolled the Union Square Farmer's Market and sampled snap peas to spread word that this September 9th, Farm Aid will be going local. As a sign of these urban green times, for the first time in the history of the 22-year run of the farm-funding concert series, NYC will host the event. The good news throws luscious compost onto the growing local food movement here, but local farmers still face challenges. Dairy is New York State's number one agricultural industry, with some 6,000 dairy farms, however nearly 40 dairy farms are lost each month. But on the sunny side, Bloomberg unveiled hat the city would soon start offering property tax abatements to private building owners who install solar panels to generate electricity. And he said the city would issue a request for proposals this fall to find a private company to install solar panels on a number of city buildings....

We were less than impressed when the dress-to-impress hipsters at Diesel rolled out their "Global Warming Ready" campaign a few months back; it isn't TreeHugger's style to talking the green talk while doing nothing to green the walk. Mavi, Diesel's contemporaries in fashion popular with the hip, under-30 set, having taken a different -- and smarter, we think -- approach, and have started phasing organic cotton into their chic men's and women's denim. For now, the organic option appears limited to the Mona model for women and Hunter and Matt (all $80) for men, with pledges from the company to further incorporate the pesticide-free cotton into denim and perhaps its knits and twills. The company, which means "blue" in Turkish, was founded in Turkey in 1991 and sells seven million pairs of jeans each year in over 600 specialty stores, department stores and specialty chains stores in 50 countries around the world; if they continue to offer greener options in more of their European and Mediterranean-inspired styles, you should be seeing some in a store near you. Shop online at the Mavi shop and learn more about them at mavi.com. ::Mavi Organic...

The increased demand for green vehicles is spilling over to the rental car counter, where many more drivers will soon be able to choose a hybrid vehicle. Hertz plans to add 3400 Prius hybrid cars to its fleet as customers seek more fuel-efficient vehicles. Hertz will spend $68 million to add the hybrid cars by 2008, the company said today. The first 1000 will be available at U.S. rental sites within the next few weeks. Rental-car companies are offering more fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles amid record gasoline prices and increased concern among consumers about global warming. ...

A little while back this author was accused of being overly critical, even whiney, for suggesting that farmers’ markets could be even better if more of an effort was made to reduce both plastic bag use and the amount of car traffic that some markets generate. Of course, we are still huge fans of farmers' markets, and local food in general, but we do feel that even great, green, sustainable institutions can strive to be even greener, and even better – after all, we have some major challenges ahead of us, and resting on our laurels isn’t an option. On a similar note, then, we have just come across an interesting article by Guardian correspondent Rachel Dixon, also a big fan of farmers’ markets, who dares to ask if farmers markets really work. Rachel’s problem is not traffic, nor plastic bag use (she brings her own), but rather, firstly, the fact that many markets are too infrequent to have a real impact on farmers’ income, and secondly, that they are still seen as too elitist and expensive. Her article is, however, careful to point out that these criticisms mainly apply to UK markets, and she is also helpful enough to offer some insight into how these problems can be fixed. ...

While St. Louis-based brewing giant Anheuser-Busch has only jumped into organic brewing relatively recently, according to this morning's Post-Dispatch, the company has been involved in alternative energy development for over two decades. BERS is a very appropriate acronym for the company's "bio-energy recovery systems," which not only pretreat wastewater from 9 of the company's breweries worldwide, but also extract methane from anaerobic bacteria that break down organic matter in the wastewater. According to P-D writer Jeremiah McWilliams,...

Jasmin listed many of the natural wonders that are threatened by global warming, development, pollution and overpopulation; important architectural wonders are being lost to the same forces. Robert Falcon Scott's hut at Cape Evans in Antarctica is being buried in snow due to changes in weather patterns; Sert's Miro Foundation in Barcelona is suffering from water infiltration; Sonargoan-Panam City in Bangladesh is under a triple threat from neglect, climate change and flooding. See the 100 most endangered sites as selected by World Monuments Fund, on organization that calls "attention to cultural heritage sites around the world threatened by neglect, vandalism, armed conflict, or natural disaster" and produces this disturbing map at ::World Monuments Watch....

The Tesla Roadster is impressive; it's one of the first electric cars to be desirable to TreeHuggers and petrol-heads alike. However, a bit of competition never hurt anyone, and is great for us consumers. That's one reason that the Lightning electric car is good news. The other is that it has 700 bhp and does 0-60mph in 4 seconds. The company is taking orders on their three different models now, with production planned to start in 2008. There's a luxury model, a lightweight sporty model and an extended range model with a range of 250 miles. The company are using Altairnano's Nanosafe batteries and Hi-Pa Drive wheel motors from PML Flightlink....

Warren mentioned back in April that Timberland won a Green Award from Backpacker Magazine and, since we’re familiar with the company, we thought we’d take a closer look at their newest line of shoes. We were excited upon their arrival since we heard that Timberland was “going green” and the box did in fact have the Green Index labeling that Lloyd introduced to us. For men, the “Earthkeepers” collection has a few different styles to choose from which are made from natural, sustainable and recycled materials. But for women we aren’t as lucky. While the Caimile sandals that we tried (shown above) had cute detailing made from coconut buttons and “are Bohemian inspired by eco-chic,” there wasn’t much else that we found to be “eco-friendly.” While our sandals are soooo comfy (we’ll surely be wearing them all summer), we were disappointed that more of the materials weren’t made from the same materials as the men’s. We are intrigued by the Larkspur sandals though – wedges made from natural bamboo. Hmm…we could use a new pair of shoes… ::Timberland...

Daniel Blochwitz for Aswoon/Susan Woods Studio Taking bent ply to curvy new heights, Aswoon/Susan Woods Studio creates lounge chairs, public seating and couches with a very bendable sensibility. Often requiring little more than a single sheet of poplar plywood, the furniture boasts ornate shapes and funky lines not often seen from wood furniture, and something we've never really seen from bent ply. Defining green design as "the art of developing ideas and, as a result, physical objects in compliance with the principles of economic, social, and, especially, ecological sustainability", the studio looks to "reclaim and re-use materials, and continuously search for those which can be recycled and re-integrated" into their work; they're currently looking for anything from used mattresses to bottle caps for future use. Until those pieces arrive, check out more curvy goodness after the jump. ::Aswoon/Susan Woods Studio's New Wave via ::PadStyle...

Prefabs can go in places that conventional buildings can't; some even float, like the Näckros Villa designed by Strindberg Arkitekter in Sweden. It started as a project for a client but has turned into an industrial project; The first was built in 2003 and they now are for sale in two different models. As is true in North America whenever a new prefab idea comes along, the problem is where to put them, and unless a developer puts together the land as well as the building then it takes forever to get a design out into the marketplace. In this case there is a pilot development in Kalmar, Sweden-"a floating residential project in the centre of town with the opportunity to leasehold or freehold. The project will be a guide for the future design and construction of floating living in Sweden."...

Notwithstanding higher gas prices, worries about global warming or peak oil, more Americans are driving alone to work than ever before. According to the Census Bureau, from 2000 to 2005 the share of people driving alone to work increased to 77%. More recent statistics indicate that little has changed even with 3 buck gas. For most suburban commuters, "it's very hard to find someone to ride with, and it's very hard to find public transportation," said Alan Pisarski, author of "Commuting in America." "There aren't always a lot of options for people." Car pooling has dropped and transit use is stable at only 4.7% of the population. AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said commuters are willing to drive more fuel-efficient autos but are loath to give up the keys entirely, regardless of gas prices. He said many people equate carpooling and mass transit with "a decline in their personal standard of living. The freedom of mobility that comes with the use of a personal automobile is something we are very, very reluctant to give up as individuals," Sundstrom said. Of course, he is from the AAA and gets paid to spout such drivel. ::MSNBC...

Photo credit: Michelle McFarlane If you haven't already made considerable headway into your travel wish list, you're about to run out of luck, says Forbes, because your would-be destinations may have vanished by the time you get your travel agent on the line. “There are thousands of places in the world that are endangered,” says Kecia Fong, a conservator at the Getty Conservation Institute, as quoted in the magazine. “The kinds of sites that are most endangered have rapid development like building roads or hotels to deal with an influx of tourists.” With the additional toll that global warming, pollution, and deforestation are taking on the world's historic sites and natural wonders, it should come as little surprise that these popular tourist spots are in jeopardy. So which locales are on death watch?...

Inspired by the scooters that zip through Vietnam's streets at all hours but distressed by the mountains of used tires that end up in the country's landfills, designers Fernando and Humberto Campana created the TransNeomatic bowl. Made from a used scooter tire that's filled with a web of natural wicker, the bowls articulate the tension between modernity and tradition that informs much of the developing world. The bowl is actually a set of well-mediated contrasts: warm and cold, organic and mechanical, fast and slow. Each bowl is made in Vietnam using familiar handicraft techniques, and is part of Artecnica's Design with Conscience campaign. UPDATE: A number of sharp-eyed readers have pointed out that the tire used here is new. I'm checking to see if this is just a prototype, and if the production models actually use tires "rescued from landfills"....

Richard Chartres, the 132nd Bishop of London, is one of the Church of England’s most outspoken members on climate change issues. We recently featured news of his personal attempts to cut his own carbon emissions, but how is his fast progressing? The Guardian recently visited him to see if his home life was as green as he is trying to make the entire church. Last year Chartres said that flying on holiday or buying a large car were a "symptom of sin". He pledged to avoid flying for a year soon after, because he was criticised in the press for still taking flights for "diocese work" as well as retaining a chauffeur-driven car. The Church of England is currently running a carbon footprint reduction, which aims to reduce emissions by 60% before 2050. The scheme’s website states, "Creating 'the 40% Church' can start with putting a low-energy light bulb in the vestry or switching off the parish photocopier at night. If we each take responsibility for these little things today, the larger ones will become much easier tomorrow; but unless we take up responsibility ourselves, we cannot expect others to do the same." Chartres said, "I do encounter pockets of resistance within the church, but I would describe this as unawareness - live, drink, eat, for tomorrow we die. It is said in Genesis - and this is mythological language, of course - that we are here to till and keep, to develop and conserve; that we are people who should be respectful of limits, balance and rhythms." ...

Czech company Jihlavan Airplanes' Rapid 200 will be used as a flying test bed. A European research project, led by Turin Polytechnic University, is designing a fuel-cell powered, manned inter-city aircraft. “Hydrogen and fuel cell power technologies have now reached the point where they can be exploited to initiate a new era of propulsion systems for light aircraft and small commuter aircraft,” says Romeo Giulio of Turin Polytechnic University and the project coordinator. The Environmentally Friendly Inter-City Aircraft powered by Fuel Cells (ENFICA-FC) project will receive €2.9 million (US$3.9 million) in funding from the European Union as part of the aeronautics and space priority of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The fuel cell system will be installed in several aircraft, which will be flight and performance tested. The results of the project will be presented at both on-ground and in-flight public events at the end of the three-year research project....

A new office building in Madrid, Spain, is expected to become Europe’s largest solar power plant on a building. The building will become the new office for Spanish telecom company, Telefonica. The construction will contain 16,000 solar panels, running the entire length of the complex on the roof. It’s estimated that it will generate 3 megawatts at peak power, which totals 3.6 gigawatt hours every year. Telefonica are hoping to see a 15% reduction in heating bills, and a 34% reduction in air conditioning bills, but this won't be sure until construction is complete. One thing is for sure; Madrid isn't short on sunshine. Rainwater is rather more scarce though, so the building will collect rainwater for recycling, and for use in the surrounding grounds and gardens. :: UPI See also :: Richard Rogers & Bamboo for Madrid's Airport Extention :: Madrid Metro Ecologic Cleaning System :: Certified Wood for El Prado in Madrid...

RC2 Corp., which sells Thomas the Tank Engine toys, is recalling over 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway vehicles and accessories because their surface paint contains lead. This is a massive recall; it's about 4 percent of all the trains RC2 has sold in the United States. I can personally confirm this, my son had fourteen of the items on the list. Get the return form here. The U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report states that the toys were manufactured in China. Now, I don't want to nip and prod but my kid, your kid, played with those trains. And, barring readers who just woke from a coma (congrats, by the way), it's not news that lead paint has been banned in the US for almost 30 years. Did that message not percolate across the Pacific? Guess not, because China was held accountable for 65 percent of all the recalled products in this US this year, with lead being named as a recurring cause among the recalls. Some say that when a country has 800 million people employed in a manufacturing economy, it will just take some time to correct these issues. Cough, cough; in the case of lead, you have had 30 years. Truth is, these are simply bad faith manufacturing practices and the list is endless - the one million recalled Easy-Bake Ovens, the deadly vinyl lunch boxes, the melamine pet food, the Chinese cold medicine that killed 51 Panamanians, the toothpaste that contains anti-freeze, the soy sauce made out of hair. Here's one word for you - 近义词. :: ABC ...

Frugal For Life: The Halfway Thrifty Award "This award is harder to get than the Nobel Prize, it is handed out at whim and only on rare occasions. This award only goes to those people who have a great idea about being thrifty but then something holds them back from going all the way." Maria Energia: The Green Options Interview: Denise Persson, Genesys Conferencing by Maria Surma Manka. Hitting two blogs in one go here is Maria's own personal green blog and a link to her latest interview on Green Options with Denise Persson. "Genesys Conferencing is global provider of web, audio, and video conferencing services. It does business in 25 countries, including with nearly half of the Fortune Global 500 companies."...

That's what the CEO of UK discount airline EasyJet said while introducing a design that would slash CO2 emissions by 50%. Andy Harrison continued "This is not leading-edge technology. It is there, it is available. It needs putting together." A couple of his engineers cobbled together a bunch of ideas, like open rotor engines, composite materials and flying more slowly. We might note that it may not be Star Trek but it still science fiction; open rotor engines are noisy and have been rejected before. This reminds us of "efficient incandescents"- lets keep doing what we are doing until this wonderful new technology makes it all better. The Guardian notes that the easyJet announcement follows a stark admission last week by a senior industry figure that airlines had "lost the battle" over the environment and would pay the price in excessive government regulation for several years. ::Guardian ...

Reports about a rapidly dropping Lake Superior, probably the most beautiful and certainly the largest of all the Great Lakes, (max depth = 1,330 feet), are showing up all over. You'd think the print media were on a "hunt-for-signs-of-global-warming." Keep it up, guys, and you'll restart the secret Canadian-US fight over water sneaking.. There's already ridiculous conspiracy theories about the Army Corps secreting water to downstream States. So, the rest of the drought stricken US can just go on a conservation binge, and forget about getting any nice clean cool water from Superior. USA Today has the latest: some crowning excerpts follow. "Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, has dropped to its lowest level in 81 years. The water is 20 inches below average and a foot lower than just a year ago...Wetlands have dried up. Power plants run at half capacity. Cargo ships carry partial loads. Boaters struggle to find a place to dock...The water has receded, sometimes 50 feet or more, from its normal shoreline...The average water temperature of Lake Superior has risen 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1979...A drought and warm weather are the immediate cause of the drop in water levels. In the past year, precipitation was 6 inches less than the average of 31 inches. The lake's southern shore had a green Christmas in 2006. The ice and snow pack that usually cover the lake arrived late, allowing water to evaporate...Edison Sault Electric power plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., will operate at less than 50% capacity this year because its water flows have been slashed as a result of the low lake levels,.. Via:: USA Today Image credit:: Porcupine Mountains State Park, Upper Penninsula of Michigan, South Shore of Lake Superior, Kerema's Backpacking Trip...

Photo credit: Ashour Rehana Labels need to be placed on everything from bananas to T-shirts to show how much people in developing countries were paid to produce them, say Members of Parliament in the U.K. The House of Commons International Development Committee wants the government to study the feasibility of such a labeling scheme, in addition to appointing an official to promote fair trade. Although the fair-trade movement has taken off in many upmarket stores, it said, the performance of some larger retailers "falls well below standards we consider acceptable." Customers should be able to know if the products they purchase are the result of exploitation, according to the committee's report. "Supermarkets already know how much farmers are paid for each kilogram of fruit or vegetable they sell, and companies know how much they pay per kilogram of coffee, or for each T-shift," said the report. "Passing this information on to consumers should not be a difficult task." :: BBC News See also: :: Do You Know Where Your Banana Has Been? and :: Man Eats only Fair Trade for a Fortnight...

Wine-making, meet renewable energy production: a team of undergraduate engineering students from Oregon State University has developed an environmentally friendly, biodegradable polymer derived from biodiesel and wine-making byproducts that could replace polystyrene foam meat trays in supermarkets and be used in the manufacture of fire logs, furniture and other consumer goods. The senior chemical engineering students created this new polymer by combining glyerin, a biodiesel production byproduct, and tartaric acid, a common byproduct of wine production. "When put together, those ingredients can make a hard, bubbly polymer," said Heather Paris, one of the students. They blended sawdust and woodchips into the mixture to produce a more flexible, moldable material after their first attempts yielded a very hard, sticky substance. ...

A day rarely goes by without some mention of outsourcing and the U.S. trade deficit that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. In addition to eliciting worries among economists and policymakers because of the related wage reductions and job losses, the yawning trade deficit has also alarmed many scientists concerned about the surge in greenhouse gas emissions in countries like China. A new study published in Environmental Science & Technology has now shown that the rapid growth of imports in the U.S. over the few years has contributed significantly to the greenhouse gas emissions of its trading partners, particularly those like China with lax environmental regulations....

In case you are not getting enough vegetables, you may be pleased to learn that Pepsi in Japan has introduced cucumber flavoured soda pop. Google translates the press release as "the cola beverage of the refreshing tasting of the balance whose “cucumber” flavor and stimulus of the carbonic acid only of the cola are exquisite. Liquid color of the emerald green which has impact, produces the refreshing impression." We look forward to it with sandwiches at tea time. And please, no comments saying "why is this green?"- just look at it. ::Japan Probe via ::Neatorama...

TreeHugger's guides for How to Go Green are one of the best ways to get started in making your own life green. But what if you want more help? What about all those local issues? Who is figuring out the heavy lifting in your neck of the woods? Wayne and Amanda Green (no known relation to our very own Hank Green) decided they would bear the brunt of this effort for the good people in San Diego - the Greens decided to 'go Green'. Aptly named LiveGreen is the company they created to do just that, and help others find the 'green way'. I had the pleasure of meeting with Wayne and discussing his little (not so little anymore) company a few months back. Since I met with Wayne he has moved into a new (old) house, and started some amazing projects. Including completing a solar system to generate 100% of their power, a vermi-composting system for all organic waste, and an organic garden to supply the Greens with 80% of their food. They hope to begin replacing their appliances over the next year with energy efficient options, and plan on replacing their car as well. We need more local hero's like Wayne and Amanda. To get an idea of how it all happened I asked Wayne a few questions about his company, motivation, and vision for the future....

Luanne DeMatto, above, at her park model home in Rhode Island; it offers “country club living,” she said, without the cost. Jodi Hilton for The New York Times The New York Times discovers "Park Model" homes, a less expensive way to get a second (or first) home. These are prefabs made by mobile home or RV manufacturers, but are limited in size to 400 square feet and are not considered permanent dwellings. They are not, as the Times says, "Called park models because they can be parked anywhere" but because they are designed to be placed in organized parks. “It’s like having a million-dollar home but at a fraction of the price,” TreeHugger has discussed before the benefits of this type of land use; the cost of entry is far lower as the land is rented rather than purchased; there are shared resources; the density is higher. Unfortunately most park models are vinyl inside and out and built as mold bait. ::New York Times ...

Buckminster Fuller is one of TreeHugger's heroes. Aside from his awesomely radical, ultra-efficient designs, of which the geodesic dome is probably most well-known, anyone who wrote a book called “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” gets 'hugged for sure. One of his other concepts, coined for artist Kenneth Snelson, is "tensegrity" -- the combination of tensional integrity -- which results "when push and pull have a win-win relationship with each other," and it can create some really interesting designs from a minimal amount of materials. Take the tensegrity table, for example; by carefully combining "push-pull" elements, a table can be created from a single rod, a piece of glass and a handful of steel wires. Pretty cool, but also pretty expensive; this one (pictured above, on the left) goes for £449 and this one for £766 -- ouch. Justin over at materialicious recently came across several DIY versions that employ the same idea and physics, but can be yours for a small fraction of the price, given your willingness to put a few hours of math and labor into it. They all use fairly similar combinations of materials: small variations on copper tubing, picture-hanging wire, rivets, rubber stoppers and a glass tabletop are about all you need; the one from Trevor's home page is pictured above, at right, but there are similar tables (all complete with instructions) at Copper.org and MAKE: Blog (pictured after the jump). We've covered a similar project before -- a DIY version MoMA's Satellite Bowl -- that might look good on top of your new Tensegrity table. Check 'em all out and learn more about having a small piece of a Bucky Fuller idea at ::materialicious...

Mathis Wackernagel is the executive director of The Global Footprint Network, an organization that acts like the bookkeeper for the planet’s ecological bounty. Each year, the group calculates the exact day when we have exhausted what the Earth can sustainably offer up for that year. It’s called World Overshoot Day, and last year it came in October (see graphic after the jump). In this extended interview, TreeHugger correspondent Meaghan O’Neill plumbs Mathis’ thoughts on how we can “live satisfying lives within the means of Earth's ecological capacity.” It’s a bit longer than usual, but hang in there. It’s always smart to listen to your bookkeeper. Subscribe to TreeHugger Radio on iTunes or listen/right click to download. ::TreeHugger Radio (TreeHugger Radio is written by Simran Sethi and produced by Jacob Gordon) ...

We previously showed Chris Jacobs' vertical farm design for New York and Pierre Sartoux's Living Tower from Vertical Farm; Now we present Gordon Graff's Sky Farm proposed for downtown Toronto's theatre district. It's got 58 floors, 2.7 million square feet of floor area and 8 million square feet of growing area. It can produce as much as a thousand acre farm, feeding 35 thousand people per year and providing tomatoes to throw at the latest dud at the Princess of Wales Theatre to the east, and olives for the Club District to the north. Thankfully it overwhelms the horrid jello-mold Holiday Inn to the west. ...

The straw bales are now in place, and it is time to complete the rough-in of the electrical wiring. In order to meet code requirements, an electrician is hired for this procedure. As I mentioned in a previous article, some of the wiring for the house had been placed within the adobe walls while the bricks were being laid. For the straw bale walls, a chainsaw is used to cut one-and- a-half-inch deep channels into the bales. The electrical wire is pushed into these notches and run to the electrical outlets and switches in each room. The wire can also be pushed into the seams between the bales. The end of a blunt wooden stake can be used to push the wire into the notches or the bale seams. The wire used here is called UF cable, which stands for Underground Feeder. This is a very durable and moisture-resistant wire that is designed to be buried underground. When a wire must pass from the inside to the outside of a bale wall, it is fastened with tape to a long needle or rod made from one- quarter-inch-diameter metal. It is pushed through the bale, the tape removed, and the needle pulled out, leaving only the wire in place. ...

BP is no longer Beyond Petroleum, but firmly back in the camp. Its Statistical Review of World Energy predicts that there are enough proven reserves in the world to last another forty years at current rates, which is a lot longer than most Peak Oil experts have said. Others disagree; according to the Independent: Scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline, which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives. According to "peak oil" theory our consumption of oil will catch, then outstrip our discovery of new reserves and we will begin to deplete known reserves. Colin Campbell, the head of the depletion centre, said:

"It's quite a simple theory and one that any beer drinker understands. The glass starts full and ends empty and the faster you drink it the quicker it's gone."

::Independent via ::Environmental Economics...

It is apparent that fears of overcapacity in the ethanol sector are worsening, stalling the progress of major US ethanol players such as Aventine Renewable Energy, VeraSun, and US Bioenerg. An April 27 report issued by Lehman Brothers indicated that supply could start to outstrip demand as early as 2H07. And without a strong infrastructure to pipe the ethanol to the required destinations, the supply build-up will only continue. The Evergreen Solar stock price has done nothing over the last few months, unlike many of its peers in the solar sector. ESLR's trump card technology - the ability to use less polysilicon to make solar cells - could become less valuable if the polysilicon supply problems are eventually solved, but up until this week there has been nothing to get us excited about this stock. However, in a recent interview in Barrons, Shawn Kravetz, the founder and president of Esplanade Capital, talks excitedly about ESLR's String Ribbon wafer technology and ESLR's possibility of becoming a technology-licensing company....

Okay, so TreeHugger generally approves of multi-functional objects and design: why have two when you can use just one, right? Transforming furniture, like this bendy chair or this table and chairs/sofa/bed triple threat, make a lot of sense, but the TreeHugger jury is out on the Spruce lamp/floor sweeper combo. TreeHugger Lloyd says, "I am not sure if this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen or if it is absolutely brilliant. I think both." and this TreeHugger has to agree: it probably beats having both a lamp and a floor sweeper, but we can't decide if the combination of the two is smart or just ridiculous. Either way, we're willing to bet that this guy would probably want one, and it wouldn't be the first weird combination to be a big hit on TreeHugger. At least you'd have plenty of light to see what you're sweeping... ::Spruce via ::Freshome...

Lost herds discovered flourishing in Southern Sudan

Imagine the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) surprise when its aerial surveys confirmed the existence of more than 1.2 million white-eared kob, tiang antelope, and Mongalla gazelle grazing along the plains of Southern Sudan, where wildlife was thought to have been decimated by the decades-long conflict. In fact, some species of wildlife—including a few thought to have gone the way of the dodo—have not only survived in spite of the war, but they're also thriving east of the Nile River in "numbers that rival those of the Serengeti," according to the New York-based non-profit. The survey project was conducted by J. Michael Fay, a conservationist with the WCS and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence; Paul Elkan, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society Southern Sudan Country Program; and Malik Marjan, a Southern Sudanese Ph.D. candidate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. They worked in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife Conservation, and Tourism of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). The area was last surveyed a quarter of a century ago. “I have never seen wildlife like that, in such numbers, not even when flying over the mass migrations of the Serengeti,” said Fay in a press release. “This could represent the biggest migration of large mammals on earth.”...

The videos have started to roll in for MSN and Treehugger's "Green Theatre" contest, as plenty of people would like to win tickets, travel, lodging and spending money for the July 7 Live Earth concerts. Is your video one of the dozens that have already been submitted through Soapbox on MSN? If not, there's no time to waste: the June 23rd deadline for entering the contest is only nine days away. If you're not literally taking action in your backyard, you probably are doing your part to fight climate change in your home. After all, increasing your home's energy efficiency not only lowers your carbon footprint, but also saves you money in the long run. Are you looking for some quick and easy actions you can take to save energy and make a prizewinning video? Consider doing the the following:...

Resource libraries in architecture and interior design firms are flooded with over 700,000 carpet samples every year; each is cut, boxed and shipped for that express purpose, and once their purpose is served, they often head for the dumpster. Created with the notion that we can do better than that, the Ample Sample design competition searches for the best way to not just recycle and reuse these samples, but the best way to upcycle them into something beautiful and functional. We mentioned the contest earlier this year, and, after thousands of carpet tiles were upcycled, they have chosen a winner (cue the drumroll): Rugburn, which uses 42 samples of various colors, rolled into various sizes, to create a colorful lounge chair. The different diameters "yield different comfort densities. Ergonomics how to locate the rolled tiles", so we suppose the chair could have different configurations depending on how forgiving you want your lounge chair to be. All the finalists deserve a firm handshake and pat on the back, though, for their innovative use of the samples; our favorites are after the jump. ::Ample Sample via ::Haute*Nature...

Larry Magid of the New York Times thought he was good about energy conservation until he took a Kill-a-watt meter to his home electronics, and was shocked. His PC drew 134 watts all night long, his DVD player 26 watts, and his stereo system 47 watts, all on idle or sleep mode. He notes that the Department of Energy estimates that in the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Add that all up, and it equals the annual output of 17 power plants, the government says. His recommendations: install CO2 Saver software on the computer, unplug external power supplies, or if you are getting a new computer, get 1) a notebook; 2) a new low voltage processor or 3) an iMac; a 17" version draws only 45 watts. ::New York Times...

Life%20Cycle%20Emissions%20Comparison.jpg

The Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center (CEIC) has released a life cycle study of prospective US transportation C02 emissions, comparing plug in hybrids to conventional ICE vehicles under a variety of coal energy input scenarios. The bar graph (pictured) pretty much tells all. Keep in mind that this is a full life cycle study, encompassing resource extraction, electricity and liquid fuel manufacture and distribution, vehicle manufacture, and vehicle use, of course....

We’ve covered Burt’s Bees before, back in the early days of TreeHugger. It seems that things have been growing rapidly for this North Carolina-based provider of natural personal care products. You can hardly go anywhere without seeing their display stands these days. And not only are Burts Bees getting more outgoing in their sales efforts, they are also launching a pro-active attempt to clarify and define what is meant by the somewhat vague term ‘natural’ when it comes to personal care products [Remember: Anyone wanting more guidance on natural and green products could do a lot worse than checking out our How To guide to women's personal care here]. The company’s recently launched Greater Good campaign is promoting the Natural Standard, a set of specific guidelines for what can, and can’t be called natural, both in terms of ingredients and processes:

“86% of people agree that there should be a label or symbol to certify what is a "natural" personal care product. We agree. We are working with the industry to develop a universally recognized and regulated standard and corresponding seal that we hope will go on all products…”

...

A recent report out of Europe indicates that tackling air pollution, contaminated drinking water and other environmental risks could save 13 million lives annually around the globe. Released by the World Health Organization, the report shows that Angola, Burkina Faso, Mali and Afghanistan to be among the countries most affected by environmental risk factors including noise pollution, hazardous working conditions, problematic agricultural methods, and climate change. Interestingly, in 23 of the 192 countries on which the report focused more than 10 percent of deaths can be traced to just two factors, unsafe drinking water and indoor air pollution because from the burning of wood, cow dung or coal. And lest those of us in the first world come away with the impression that we’re immune to environmental problems, the report also highlights the fact that an estimated 1.8 million deaths could be prevented each year in the 53 nations spanning the greater European Union if more efforts were made to create a healthier environment in that part of the world as well. The reports authors' hope is that it will lead to more discussion of ways to mitigate certain risk factors. As Susanne Weber-Mosdorf, the WHO's assistant director-general for sustainable development and healthy environments puts it, "We would be very glad if these country-by-country figures are used as the basis for a discussion on effective countermeasures." She goes on to point out that even simple water purification methods would help decrease the incidence of diseases such as diarrhea that affect large numbers of children; which would have far-reaching implications for large swaths of humanity as children under age 5 make up 74 percent of deaths due to diarrhea and respiratory infections combined. And another solution released as part of the report was that using gas or electricity for cooking rather than current fuels, improving ventilation, and keeping children away from smoke could reduce the number of deaths while having a major impact on respiratory infections and diseases among women and children. Clearly, simple things that can make a big difference, but useless unless implemented. Hopefully the report will stir as many to action as to words… via:: International Herald Tribune...

In Europe, where they build to last, few builders put cheap asphalt shingles on houses, and Eternit Fiber-cement shingles are common. Atlantis Energy fits them out with solar cells; a standard installation of 216 Sunslates will crank out about 3 KW and take up about 300 square feet of roof. Each shingle connects to the next in strings of 24 of 24; I worry about the number of connections up there on the roof. However they have installations in Sacramento with summer temperatures over a hundred degrees and other installations in the mountains where it survives 217 inches of snow per year. Not cheap at thirteen bucks per watt, but it nicely integrates solar into a roof that will last forever. ::Sunslates via ::the LEED Pro See other solar shingles like the ::Solar Century, ::Old Country Roofing and ::Sharp Electronics...

One of our all-time fave design spots on the Web, DesignSponge, has the scoop on the upcoming line of organic baby bedding from Amenity Home. Made from 100 percent pesticide-free organic cotton, and printed with nontoxic organic dyes, Amenity's Meadow and Woods collections feature keen-eyed bunnies, curious turtles, and dappled deer on their pillows, wall canvases, and blankets. And the best part: Gender-neutral shades of green, yellow, and brown. No ick-inducing pastels, thanks! :: DesignSponge See also: :: How to Green Your Baby, :: Nest Organic Cotton Crib Set, and :: miYim Organic Toys...

Architecture Week is a celebration of architecture across the UK with tours, open houses, lectures and walks taking place. This year's theme is "how green is our space" and will feature highlights such as the creation of birdhouses by architects and Wind to Light (pictured). This is a light installation on the banks of the Thames River that will use mini wind turbines to generate energy to power tiny LED bulbs, creating firefly-like fields of light. Always popular is the "Architect in the House" event where homeowners get an hour's consultation with an architect in return for a donation; this year the focus will be on how to cut carbon emissions. In London an architect will be on call at a drop-in for people who want to find out their carbon foot print. He'll work out the carbon contribution if they bring along a month's worth of energy bills. For the curious (read snoops), there will be tours of a private eco home, architects' offices and BedZed. There will be an interactive session giving practical advice on running an energy and waste efficient workplace. In another, a panel of experts will each make a short presentation on greening the home and how their field of expertise can have an affect on energy consumption and climate change. :: Architecture Week ...

Arquitectonica, beloved of Miami Vice fans and celebrating thirty years of designing quirky modern buildings, has bagged a competition to build a tower in Seville, besting FOA, Arata Isozaki, Valode & Pistre and César Pelli. The Puerto Triana Tower with have an "ecological core, photovoltaic cells and gray water recycling." ::Domus; See the other entries at ::Skyscraper City...

Strangely this innovative example of architectural reuse hasn’t had much of a run of blogsphere. Which is odd, because it is redolent of much green funkiness. Some years ago architect Richard Van Os Keuls of Silver Spring, Maryland started using discarded aluminium drink cans as siding for a house extension. (I also know a guy who had planned on using old vinyl LP records as roof shingles.) Richard washes his cans so ants want find the normally sweet and sticky innards too attractive. Then he stomps them flat, before pounding them with a sledgehammer to round the corners. Aluminium nails secure them in a shingle-like formation, to a plywood/insulation board wall, that is now resplendent with a fishscale look. He expects their various colours to fade over time, but doesn’t plan on painting over the surface, because he now likes the way light plays on their many surfaces. Additionally he notes that they aren’t noisy during rain, and have yet to develop the common chalky oxidation, which aluminium exposed to the elements can develop. Perversely when he first set out to collect extra cans from his local neighbourhood dump, this enterprising architect was apparently cited and fined for theft of city property and for transporting stolen property! (Sort of like the 70 year old Illinois man who was fined for recycling waste veggie oil into his variant of biodiesel?) Via ::Nature*Haute, who found it at EcoArtware, who might’ve seen it first in the Washington Post!...

We have seen how green drivers can save on insurance; now we learn that green builders can too. Fireman's Fund Insurance now discounts LEED certified buildings by 5%. According to Building Design + Construction: Steve Bushnell, product director with the Fireman's Fund, said green building properties are attractive to insurers because there's

“less risk in a building that is constructed with products and systems so state-of-the-art that they lower operating costs, increase resale [appraisal] values, create a healthier work environment, and provide an opportunity for greater worker productivity.”

Unlike the Taxman, who will look at the same things and hit you up for a higher assessment and charge you more. ::Building+Construction...

People in Ontario, Canada, will have to pay an "eco-tax" that will be used exclusively to cover recycling costs. "Outdated electronic products contain toxic components, like mercury, that pose an environmental threat," Environment Minister Laurel Broten said yesterday. "We have to stop sending this stuff to landfills and start finding more sensible ways to manage what we discard ... through reuse and recycling." Fees could range from $5 for a laptop to $12 for a monitor to $45 for a 46" TV as they do in other provinces like Alberta or Saskatchewan. ::The Star But do such taxes change behaviour or reinforce bad habits? If one has paid the tax, does one then feel free to just toss it onto the curb? (or out the window like they did on SCTV?) Perhaps deposits are better because they encourage the owner to do something instead of passing it on to the government? Or should the manufacturer and retailer be responsible for taking it back?

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By 2030 Sydney might have a ecological footprint equivalent to 95% of the state of New South Wales, according to some projections. For perspective NSW has land area twice that of California. It is the most populated city in Australia and ringed by national parks of three sides and the sea on the other, it is bursting at the seams. So when Rafael Pizarro, a lecturer in Sustainable Urban Planning at the University of Sydney galvanised 20 of his final year architecture students to prototype an EcoCity ears pricked up and minds opened. White Bay is a brownfield ex-industrial site just spitting distance from the central business district (CDB), what others might call ‘downtown.’ On paper at least the students redeveloped it into a mid to high-density Eco-City, featuring aspects familiar to readers of TreeHugger: solar powered districts, roof-top vegie gardens, storm water run-off systems, a water recycling plant, internal public transport via a small tram network and an adaptation of that stacking City Car concept from MIT, that we profiled back in February. But their vision is not one of those utopian models of kids playing in parks while parents pluck fruit from nearby trees and dogs don’t defecate. Rather the plan also embraces commercial and light industrial zones with attention given to a full working harbour. In keeping with the aquatic nature of Sydney, marinas, ferry wharves, swimming pools and beaches also feature. And given that the 80 hectare (~200 acre) site would accommodate around 15,000 people, (although having the capacity to house 22,000) it would need to have plenty of shared amenities to help neighbours develop a sense of community. It probably won’t get a look in but it might just have the city’s urban planners taking a closer peek. Via ::University of Sydney, ::BalmainRozelle.com and ::ABC. ...

We’re not really anti-GM here at TreeHugger; we realise that the science could equally provide solutions or problems. Genetic mutations occur naturally every day, and the vast majority of them are less capable of survival than existing strains, so die out. They’re not likely to spread far, except with human help - evolution is by far a more reliable designer than any team of humans could ever be (no offence to our geneticist readers). However, we do believe that you should be aware of exactly what goes into your food, which is why it’s somewhat of a shock to find out that European agriculture ministers have decided that foods containing 0.9% GM ingredients can still be labelled "GM-free". It’s caused outcry among those who support organic farming, provoking fears of genetic contamination. However, the decision was made because more sensitive tests to prove organic methods were deemed to be too costly. Testing for a 0.9% content can be done rather more easily, and allows a small boundary for accidental contamination. Agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said, "It can be very tempting to say 'zero tolerance', but that wouldn't work in real life. To avoid accidental contamination, it would be so expensive to produce organic products that it would damage the market completely; it would simply kill the sector." Whether you are OK with eating GM crops or not is a personal choice. I don’t have a problem with it, but some do, and they should be aware of what products contain GM ingredients. Vegetarians choose to not eat meat, not to eat food with less than 0.9% meat, and this is no different. Yes, the tests may be expensive, but they are necessary. :: The Guardian See also :: Extreme makeover- Genetically Modified Apples :: Venezuela Bans Genetically Engineered Crops...

An items' "biodegradability" goes a long way to making it more TreeHugger-friendly, and while we've seen lots of things like bioplastics and disposable cutlery that really make sense to be easily (and harmlessly) degradable, we've seen some kinda wacky, less intuitive, but still (mostly) practical examples, too.

	1) The biodegradable bikini is made from a new line of 100% biodegradable biopolymers that are food grade certified...hmm. Created using patented thermoforming and thermowelding techniques, in lieu of old fashioned sewing, the swimsuit is said to dry the instant you step from the water.
	2) Biodegradable packing tape might be helpful in case your suit springs a leak, but it's also good for matching up with other biodegradable packing materials, so when your moving or storage chores are through -- or the materials have been used one too many times -- it can go in the compost pile rather than the trash.
	3) This biodegradable scarf might be handy when the swimsuit is out of season; like Looolo's other cushions, floor pillows and blankets, when the scarf's wearing days are done, it doesn't have to go in the trash or the rag bin. Hit the jump for the two remaining picks... The remaining two picks are after the jump...

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Fun with Googlemashing: Click on the red icons and see all of the environmental charges against biofuel plants in Iowa. (real map here) Find 276 cases of water contamination, 27 cases of hazardous air pollutants, 3 violations of illegal dumping, 1 major fish kill, and 17 charges of operating without a permit. According to the Des Moines Register: t is the breadth of the offenses, rather than the number, that surprises Barbara Lynch, who supervises the state's environmental inspectors. "It's very significant," Lynch said. "We anticipated some issues, but we were disappointed there were so many issues. ...

Well the deadline for applications is just around the corner on June 30th, but the Green Youth Ambassador Coalition taking root in that city seems destined to do great things. Essentially, it’s an environmental education program that seeks to bring student delegates from high schools across L.A. together and empower them to become agents of change in their own communities. With the coalition acting as a hub for idea-sharing and networking, delegates can then bring new ideas and contacts back to their own schools while still being able to reconnect and join forces in support of larger projects. Right now they’re looking for potential delegates who are already active, committed students in the Los Angeles area, and who feel they have what it takes to make a full year commitment to the program. Just some of the great projects they’ll get to be a part of include organizing a 3 day “Be Cool, Be Green” summer conference for youth in L.A., International Peace Day in September, and their Solutions for a Healthy Planet Conference next May. They’ll also be asked to get involved doing environmental outreach to other elementary, middle, and high schools, while leading a project of their own choosing at their home school as well. This all looks to me like a great opportunity for a student who is passionate about the environment, with the ambition, drive, and room in their schedule to make it all happen. If that’s you, then go for it!...

The Wall Street Journal is probably being bought by Fox so it is going all trendy and youtubular with videos and covering issues like this: The hottest development spots are no longer raw land but next to the local train stations. (we have covered this before) They continue: Demographic and lifestyle shifts are among the primary reasons many cities and developers are willing to bet on transit-oriented development. A growing number of households include singles and retiring baby boomers who are opting to live in smaller homes in urban areas....

Corals just can't seem to get a break these days. Another study has found that Caribbean coral species are slowly but steadily dying off, with dramatic potential implications for the region's ecosystem stability and structure. Ten percent of the 62 reef-building corals, including the elkhorn and staghorn corals which were once some of the Caribbean's most numerous species, are now under grave threat and likely to be listed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species within the coming year. Michael L. Smith, the director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Initiative at Conservation International, said that, "One of the Atlantic Ocean's most beautiful marine habitats no longer exists in many places because of dramatic increases in coral diseases, mostly caused by climate change and warmer waters."...

We were not entirely thrilled last month when a Paul Rudolph house was going to be saved by cutting it apart and moving it, but it was better than the demolition that has hit so many other mid century modern buildings. Now it turns out that the deal has fallen apart. According to the New York Times, The purchasers visited the property: Still planning to proceed, Mr. Sachs said, he and Mr. Lindores went to see the house on Monday and found it irreparably damaged. He said the kitchen cabinetry had been torn out, along with the distinctive bathroom tiles and fixtures. He also said copper flashing had been removed from the house’s perimeter. “For us this seemed insane — how could this have happened?” Mr. Sachs said in a telephone interview. “It’s not in original condition anymore.” So another one bites the dust. ::New York Times...

A company called Marine Current Turbines will be installing a 1.2 megawatt tidal turbine in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough in August. The SeaGen turbine will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin. It will generate clean electricity for approximately 1000 homes. The turbine is a prototype to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship's propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions. ...

We don't usually do "Save the Whales" type posts, but this TreeHugger was surprised to learn that the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission is allowing 255 whales to be harvested by 10 Alaskan villages over five years. Last month they shot a 50 ton bowhead and found that "embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old....The bomb lance fragment, lodged a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts". John Whitehead notes that the whale was a contemporary of Herman Melville, and that "The arrow-shaped projectile was probably shot at the whale in 1890 -- a year before the author of "Moby Dick" passed away" Much has changed since then, but clearly not our arrogance or cruelty. Call me Ishmael, but this guy deserved better. ::USA Today via ::Environmental Economics ...

A North Carolina man gets fined $1,000 for going the extra mile to drive on veggie oil… Coca-Cola and Cargill scoured the globe for the perfect sweetener, and found it in a hippy’s kitchen… Illegal logging and timber smuggling may devastate orangutan’s Indonesian home within a decade… Preparing for the future, the UK gets its first carbon neutral home: a beautiful two bedroom… Jeff McIntire-Strasburg returns from the belly of the beast, Wal-Mart’s Bentonville home, and tells the tale… Most Huggable is a daily roundup of some of the top stories from Hugg.com, TreeHugger’s user-generated green news site. Why not submit your own green news? ...

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street; If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat. If you get too cold I'll tax the heat; If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet. So said the Beatles and they had a point. Fuel taxes are a big source of revenue and the taxman doesn't like to lose them; John noted this in Illinois; Now the taxman is after biofuel drivers in North Carolina. Inspectors at a speedway were checking RV's for illegal fuel (diesel is really just fuel oil with purple dye added to prove that the road tax has been paid) and noticed the sticker "Powered by 100% vegetable oil." on Bob Teixeira's 1981 Mercedes. They slapped him with a thousand dollar fine, the feds are fining him too, and he needs to spend $2500 to get a permit to keep driving. A State Senator says "If somebody was going to go to this much trouble to drive around in a car that uses soybean oil, they ought to be exempt from state taxes" but another official differs-"With the high cost of fuel right now, the department does recognize that a lot of people are looking for relief," said Reggie Little, assistant director of the motor fuel taxes division. "We're not here to hurt the small guy, we're just trying to make sure that the playing field is level." ::Charlotte Observer It is a conundrum; we want to promote alternative fuels, but the taxman has spent years chasing untaxed fuels, is soybean oil any different?

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Now here's a story you can really sink your teeth into: scientists from the U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have created biodegradable, milk-based and biofuel-derived protective films. By combining the milk protein casein with water and glycerol, a biofuel byproduct, Peggy M. Tomasula and her colleagues at the ARS Eastern Regional Research Center's Dairy Processing and Products Research Unit in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, were able to develop a water-resistant, edible film that can be used as a glossy, transparent coating for groceries and other products. They used carbon dioxide as a solvent to isolate the casein from the milk "instead of harsh chemicals or acids, which can be difficult to dispose of," according to Tomasula. Carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the glucose fermentation reaction used to make ethanol, helps make the film more water-resistant and biodegradable. Tomasula and her team decreased the size of the CO2-casein particles, which are formed when the carbon dioxide dissolves into the milk, to improve the films' appearance and protective properties. Doing so made them more glossy and improved their ability to block moisture and oxygen permeation. ...

A team of geophysicists from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, have determined that gigantic ocean waves have been speeding up due to global warming. These large ocean waves, known as planetary waves, typically span hundreds of kilometers from crest to crest. Having predicted that planetary waves would accelerate as a result of the ocean surface warming, John Fyfe and Oleg Saenko, writing in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters, modeled the changes to ocean wave patterns over the 20th and 21st centuries to test their hypothesis. They were surprised to find that global warming had already exerted a measurable effect on the speed of waves. Because satellites had not been monitoring their speeds for long enough, no one had noticed until now. According to the model, the waves will be another 20 to 40% faster compared to pre-industrial speeds by the end of this century....

Wardrobe of Nature is about the naturally occurring variations of nature, and humans as a part of nature. Anni uses plants to make clothing, shoes, bags etc for people in a very beautiful way. The works vary, with some the shape is taken from the human world, and others nature is the driving force. Anni Rapinoja is a Finnish environmental activist and artist, whose work explores Government decision making for the environment and the overlooked/forgotten fact that humans actually need the environment and are part of the whole eco system. Anna sees art as a strong way to affect change. Her new work 'Wardrobe of Nature' series will be at Arte Sella in Val di Sella (comune di Borgo Valsugana, provincia di Trento) June 30th to September 30th, 2007. ...

About 50% of the power that a computer draws from the wall is wasted, turned to heat and sound. When you take into account that computers often sit idle or on standby, then the situation appears even worse. Servers are rather better, but still not ideal, wasting on average 30% of their supplied power. Not all machines are like this though. Google fellow, Urs Hölzle, said, "This is not a technology problem. We have power supplies with 90 percent efficiency shipping today." However, the power supplies would add $20 to the price of a computer, and in today’s competitive market place manufacturers won’t willingly add the parts. Google, Intel and a few PC and component companies has announced the formation of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, which will try to change this state of affairs and get manufacturers to ship more efficient power supplies with new machines. As a target the group can look to one of its own members, Google. The search giant’s servers are 90-95% efficient, which works out cheaper than paying the extra power costs over the machines lifetime....

This month's issue of I.D. magazine trains its sharp design eye on the world of business, digging in to why and how design can affect the products and commerce that make the world go 'round. In addition to stories about fast food chains cleaning up their store's interiors with (knockoffs of) high design and some ideas about what doesn't make an icon are some interesting TreeHugger-related stories, ideas and companies. Check out Mada Guitars (above, center, and on page 39 -- we spied them here), which are molded (not carved or milled, like most guitars) from hemp fibers; no joints make for a clearer sound and a groovy, smoother, rounded shape. Also, Nanjing, China's soon-to-be-completed 761-foot-tall Jinao Tower gets some love (page 32) for both its smart design -- its innovative use of X-bracing makes it less vulnerable to the flexing that comes with seasonal climate shifts, seismic activity and the speedy winds aloft -- and for its resource and materials efficiency -- SOM Architects' sandwiched glass walls effectively create a thermos, reducing the need for heating and cooling by about 20 percent. Additionally, the design of the building including what essentially amounts to a self-propelled exhaust system, using horizontal air slots every four floors that sucks air in the windward side and exhausts it through the leeward side...cool. More business as usual after the jump......

We’ve covered plenty of green-minded student initiatives on the pages of TreeHugger before. Whether it’s Oregon students voting for an increase in fees to pay for carbon offsets, or Penn State students tackling issues of sustainability and poverty, it’s clear that student action on important issues is not just a relic of the sixties. Take People & Planet, for example, a UK-wide network of students tackling global issues such as poverty, human rights and environmental issues. The network offers advice, support and materials for individual groups, and also co-ordinates centralised campaigns on key issues. People & Planet is also responsible for an annual two-day conference with workshops on all aspects of sustainability and social justice, with input from leading activists, thinkers, journalists and entrepreneurs. ...

Warren goes back to the dawn of TreeHugger when he had to enter posts with punchcards to say that bikes are. However in his post on the Jano Bike, commenter Tim said " I would have to say that Sailboats are rather greener. Whereas with a bicycle, you must fuel yourself with food and water (try as you might, but its hard to supply truly environmental /animal/ labor exploitation-free foods in civilization). WIth sailing, the wind moves you. Wind, just a good form of free solar energy. And rather than the production-intensive nature of refining rubber, kevlar, steel, aluminum, and plastic for bikes, all a sail boat needs is wood and fabric. Two very renewable resources." I must say that it has been a while since I have seen a sailboat that was wood and fabric; Larry Ellison couldn't make his move very fast with materials much slicker than that. And bikes weigh a lot less than any boat on the water other than a single scull. And we all have to eat anyways.

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Even for treehuggers, the idea of home without any kind of heating or cooling system -- no furnace, air conditioner, swamp cooler or heat pump -- might seem a bit primitive. Yet the History Channel's Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge awarded just such a house the title of "Modern Marvel of the Year 2007" last month. In the Enertia Building System, according to the company's website,

...solid Energy-Engineered(tm) wood walls replace siding, framing, insulation, and paneling. An air flow and access channel, or Envelope, runs around the building, just inside the walls - creating a miniature biosphere. Here solar heated air circulates, pumping and boosting geothermal energy from beneath the house, storing it in the massive wood walls. Thermal inertia causes the house to "float" between the cycles of night and day, and even between the seasons.

In its press release, the History Channel noted that "The system also uses milled wooden blocks to eliminate the many materials and labor-intensive steps of house wall construction, replacing them with simple screwed-into-place units."...

Anna Roebuck studied fine art at Edinburgh College of Art nearly a decade and half ago, later going onto work in paper pulp. Which may be where she learnt some lessons applicable to her proprietary process for heat fusing the plastic of discarded shopping bags into durable jewellery and lighting pieces. Given it took her five years to master the process, one can see why she might be a bit possessive of the technology she employs. All she gives away is, that “the bags and other materials are collaged together, using heat to bond them. Each piece is built up in layers, gradually creating an intricate design. They are then formed in to different shapes, using specialist tooling.” The results seems to attract the right attention though, because she has been the recipient of the UK Gift of the Year Award for Fashion in both 2002 and 2004. And what an inspired business name. Though if no-plastic-bag-shopping really takes off, she might need to diversify. ::Bags 2 Riches, via Dish. ...

More and more women are beginning to get concerned about what is in the make-up and bath products that we use every day. Some are taking the initiative to research and create their own so that they can be sure of what they are getting. Nadur Organics are the first Irish organic cosmetics. They were created by a woman who quit her media job and "spent a year and a half doing research, developing organic formulations, working with cosmetic scientists, aromatherapists and safety professionals and looking at alternative therapies which aided her quest to develop a product range that is safe, clean, natural and organic." Their detox kit contains sachets filled with pure, hand-harvested sea algae from the west coast of Ireland. The essential oils contain the oils of juniper berry, fennel & lemon. The sachet, which dissolves in the bathwater, can also be used as a sponge to wash your body. After using them, you want to float away into a blissful sleep. They also do a bath kit with lovely candles that smell delicious and are toxin-free. As Nadur says: Be pure, be natural & be gorgeous! :: Nadur Organics...

This writer has co-managed a household reuse centre for the past 5.5 years and has experienced first hand the wave of unwanted electronics that are gushing out of Australian homes. Most analysts predict that what we are seeing, is but the swell of hidden tsunami. That the majority of old computers, printers, TVs, stereos and such forth are (with their load of heavy and precious metals) currently gathering dust in people’s attics and garages. Australia has been a laggard in getting together some workable form of Extender Producer Responsibility (EPR) or ‘takeback’ scheme together, hoping that the electronics industry might miraculously self regulate. Mmmm. Though due credit should be given to the state of Victoria for their ByteBack program which is free to residents of the state. It was the Environment Minister for that state, John Thwaites, who recently announced there might light at the end of tunnel. He rightly observed, "Australia is in real danger of becoming an international pariah if we fail to develop consistent national solutions to the nation's environmental problems." He also mentioned that a recent conflab of state and federal environment ministers, they were able to convince the Commonwealth Government to look at the application of "advanced recycling fees" to encourage recycling of electronic equipment including televisions and computers....

Unless you work in information technology, you probably don't think about how much money a web site costs to operate, but it can be expensive. First, you have to hire developers to set up and design the site. Then you need a few servers to host your web pages and extra files (movie clips, pdf files, articles, etc). Finally, you will need to front some cash just to send the content out to your audience; this last item is called bandwidth, and that is what we are interested in today. There are lots of ways to save on bandwidth. For starters, you can cut down on the number of images your site displays, and keep the text down to a minimum. Berkshire Hathaway, owned by the billionnaire Warren Buffet, is a great example of this mininalist concept in action. But the really big money can be saved by using a technique known as web compression....

how to go green outdoor sports header image

What’s the Big Deal?

We love our wild, outdoor places. The problem is, we’re loving them to death. Flying to visit the distant ones is contributing carbon dioxide to the ever-growing greenhouse gas overload; all the clobber we take with us demands greater extraction of diminishing resources both to manufacturer and to reach us in our homes; and when we arrive at our beloved open-air domains, our combined weight is directly impacting already fragile ecosystems. Take, for instance, the mountains.

“Like the earth’s oceans and rainforests, mountains are crucial to life. Mountains are the source of freshwater for half of humanity. They are storehouses of genetic diversity that help feed the world. Yet, mountains are under threat from climate change, overexploitation and environmental degradation. Mountain people are among the world’s poorest and hungriest: a disproportionate number of the world’s 840 million chronically undernourished people live in mountain areas.” (Source) Although covering only 3% of the earth’s surface, they contain an astonishing 10,000 species of plants, the highest biodiversity per unit area of any ecosystem in the world. They are also critically important to millions of people in the lowlands as sources of fresh water for drinking, agriculture, and hydropower (Source).

So, in this guide we consider outdoor adventure sports such as surfing, sailing, kayaking, skiing, snowboarding, backpacking and camping to see how they might be made greener. (For the most part we leave biking for a whole separate guide.)...

Even though local officials blamed it on nature, something didn’t look or smell natural about the blue-green algae that covered Lake Tai for a week last month. Yesterday, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered a formal probe into the event that ruined one of China’s largest lakes last month, turning the water putrid and cutting off water for 2 million residents of the lakeside city of Wuxi. The culprits: an unusually dry spring coupled with the untreated waste spewed into the lake by nearby factories. State media reported that five officials have been fired or otherwise punished for failing to stem such pollution, while the local government has been ordered to close hundreds of nearby factories by the end of the month. The outbreak, Wen said, “has sounded the alarm for us.” In China, such alarms, which raise the awareness of public and government alike, are the silver (or, to be more precise, green) linings to the dark clouds of pollution that linger over the country like smog over Linfen. But this is not the first alarm, or the last. ...

The city of Indianapolis, Indiana is embarking on a project to run a bicycle/walking/jogging path through the city center in an effort to encourage more human-powered movement through the city. The Indianapolis Cultural Trail will allow pedestrians to have their own right-of-way through the city center with access to many of the city's arts, retail, sporting, and cultural institutions. Plans for the trail include transforming whole lanes of existing traffic in some places into wide, open spaces for bikes and people. In other words, this is nothing like the narrow after-though of a bike lane many of us have in North America. We expect this could have a Portland streetcar effect, spurring economic and neighborhood revitalization in the blocks surrounding the project. Construction will be completed in phases over the next three years, with the first phase estimated to be finished later this year. ::Indianapolis Cultural Trail ...

TreeHugger's Forums continue to generate some really good questions, answers and general discussion about some of the green issues that affect our lives. In the first of an ongoing series, we're highlighting five of the most lively, popular, controversial and interesting forum topics; stay tuned for regular updates two or three times a week, and, if you haven't already, register (it's free!), login and get chatting.

	1) BobTrips notes that one of the knocks on some forms of renewable energy is that the sun doesn't always shine on solar panels and the wind doesn't always turn turbines. When it comes to intermittently-produced clean energy, he wonders: are industrial batteries the way to combat this problem?
	2) TreeHugger has noted time and again that CFLs are a great way to cut back on energy usage in the home, but for those who haven't caught on, is a carbon tax on incandescent lightbulbs the way to spur people to action? One rationale for such a tax is that the extra revenue generated could go toward neutralizing the extra emissions caused by the bulb, and would make them similarly priced to CFLs. BobTrips is again the forum user posing a question that begs to be answered.
	3) sniffmeister is working on setting up a worm box to use for some backyard composting, and is looking to more experienced users for tips. "Where did you get your starter worms? What kind of dirt did you start with? Did you find that you needed to turn/stir the dirt at all?" Anyone with more tips and ideas for successful composting should spend their two cents here; more good discussion after the jump...

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Do you think green when you make travel plans? A new online magazine is challenging travellers to do just that, no matter where or when they travel. Based in the UK (Cardiff, Wales to be exact), Jamble focuses on backpackers, gap year travellers and city breakers but is aiming to update the image of green travel as a whole. A recent press release noted: "Some people still view green travel as a stay in a yurt in the middle of nowhere - but for us green travel is all about the latest and coolest gadgets, exploring cities by foot or bike or wearing bamboo t-shirts and trainers made from recycled rubber." A special feature included in the magazine are Green City Guides, which include information on eco-friendly hotels, attractions, parks and transport. Backpacker guides are also featured, which include everything from eco-bags to how to tackle bedbugs, and articles on topics such as green urban hotels and iPod recycling. ::Jamble Magazine ...

Not content to simply rest on his laurels as one of the most environmentally-friendly CEOs out there, Stonyfield Farm's Gary Hirshberg wants to shed more light on his and other companies' environmental practices and has created a new group called Climate Counts that will be scoring prominent companies based on their response to climate change. "Are companies measuring their impact on climate? Are they reducing, are they disclosing their efforts," said Hirshberg. "And finally, are they supporting or are they blocking progressive legislation to reduce our climate footprint as a country?" The organization scores companies on a scale of 1 to 100 and has so far focused on popular fast-food chains. The results so far? Lackluster, to say the least: while McDonald's scored highest with a paltry 22, the three other chains that were judged, Burger King, Wendy's and Yum Brands (owner of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) scored a nice round zero. "None of the other companies in the sector have even taken the first step to measure their climate footprint," said Wood Turner, Climate Counts' project director....

One of the key challenges for greening filmmaking is the time-constraints of production. When you're in the trenches with scads of production personal and high-paid talent on the clock, you'd better have planned well in pre-production. In this respect, the culture of media-making is an apt one for addressing climate change and beyond such as moving toward Cradle to Cradle redesign because without good planning and a great blueprint of a script, your multi-million project will sink at the box office. Universal Studios hopes to float the release of its Steve Carell laugher "Evan Almighty" with the green initiative Get On Board which the studio indicates is a pan-company effort to extend well beyond the film's run in theaters. When you're losing the light and scurrying to get the shot, keeping green is the last thing on your mind as you toss a spent cadmium-ridden 9-volt battery in with the food waste from the craft-service table or use the gas-guzzling picture car because the hero hybrid has yet to show up on set and there's no time to wait. But this frantic pace has been the norm for over a century of motion-picture production, so let's hope harvesting the wisdom of almighty Hollywood can yield better green production models across all business sectors....

When Eco-Terr (shown above) was launched in 2001, nobody got it."People were skeptical about the durability of the products and if they would last," says founder Ofer Mizrahi. Now it is a booming business. The reason? According to the Wall Street Journal, a fundamental change was taking place. The public had started to see the value of eco-friendly construction materials, thanks in part to a widespread movement toward "green" architecture. The Eco-Terr line has become a hit "as more people become aware and learn more about green products and technology," Mr. Mizrahi says. The Journal continues: For entrepreneurs, it's never been a better time to go green. Prompted by fears of global warming and other environmental ills, consumers have started seeking out more eco-friendly products -- giving a big boost to small businesses that serve the niche....

An advisory panel has voted to ban bottom trawling in 180,000 square miles of the North Bering Sea. Bottom trawling can have a terrible impact on sea life, as we have covered before on TreeHugger, “Bottom trawling involves dragging huge nets along the ocean floor, with up to fifteen tonnes of weights attached. It can scrape up and destroy coral reefs that take many years to grow, and also throw up large clouds of sand from the sea bed which affect fish.” The North Pacific Fishery Management Council made the unanimous decision on Sunday, and the matter will now be passed to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Susan Murray from the Oceana group, said, "With global warming and a growing world population, oceans are under more stress than ever and it would be irresponsible to add a preventable manmade threat to the fragile northern Bering Sea ecosystem. This decision protects the walrus, spectacled eider and numerous other marine animals that rely on a healthy seafloor in order to live. It also helps protect the subsistence way of life for coastal villages." ...

MIT Robotics expert Jeff Lieberman also is a photographer, artist and inventor who wowed the blogosphere two years ago with his first floating lightbulb, which "uses a special bulb, inside which magnets and circuitry are hidden. Using a magnetic hall effect sensor, an electromagnet, and a [modified] PD feedback system, it floats a lightbulb stably in the air, while power is transmitted wirelessly from the base of the sculpture into the bulb. LEDs in the bulb rectify this AC power and convert it to light." Now two years later its upgrade time. The new version "operates at much higher wireless transfer efficiency [ie is brighter for less expended energy] and levitates at roughly 2.5" from the nearest object." With the impending passage of the Edison lightbulb to history, this floating bulb is even more iconic and evocative. It can be seen at Sonar in Barcelona June 14-16. ::Lightbulb via ::NotCot...

China's plans to put part of its abundant coal supply to use as methanol are likely being scrapped, over concerns about the great costs and energy required to liquefy coal. That coal mining is already quite dirty and that the coal-to-liquid (CTL) process produces large amounts of pollutants and greenhouse gases was not explicitly mentioned by the official who raised the possibility of such a move. "Liquefied coal projects consume a lot of energy, though the successful industrialization of liquefied coal could help reduce the country's dependence on petroleum," the anonymous official of the National Development and Reform Commission told Xinhua on Saturday. Many, including John at Treehugger, heralded news of China's interest in "a major alternative fuel which does not exist in any other country in the world", that could produce 6 million tons of oil a year starting in 2008, not least because China is not oil rich, is growing increasingly dependent on petroleum, and, of course, has a hell of a lot of coal. Last year, as China's car population skyrocketed, it imported about 16.3 million tons of oil, driving up the country's reliance on foreign sources 4 percent to 47 percent. And despite concerns about its toxicity, methanol also burns cleaner than regular petroleum, and could prove cheaper too if gas prices go higher. Not to mention that it's not ethanol, which China has lately rejected for its threat to the nation's grain supply. In short, methanol seemed like a good solution to China's alternative energy needs... ...

Full disclosure: PG&E is a TreeHugger sponsor (or "was", if you are reading this post a long time after it was published). If you are outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, you probably don't see their ads on the site, but we want to be transparent about it anyway. Pacific Gas & Electric provides energy to most of Northern California. They are a big player in a field that is strategic to the environment, and it is doubtful that we can make the changes that we need to make within the next 10-15 years without the help of such established giants. While we applaud PG&E's efforts to improve the environmental performance of their operations and their support of California’s recent legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we also strongly encourage them to pursue more aggressive green targets for the near future and take a leadership position in their sector. By showing other utilities how it's done, they could create a domino effect. But we also encourage our readers (especially in California) to interact with PG&E; change is not only the responsibility of big companies. We must show them that yes, there is demand for green options. That yes, there is support for real eco-actions and that people care about green products and resources, that they are ready to vote with their feet and wallets. We can't afford not to be in a conversation with companies like PG&E (heck, we'd even like to honestly discuss things with Exxon, if only they would). One great opportunity to show PG&E your interest and learn useful things about how to install solar panels and take advantage of the various incentives for solar PV is PG&E's solar classes. More details after the jump....

Jim Kunstler would say it is because of Peak Oil, that suburban homeowners won't be able to afford to heat or cool their houses or commute to work; We have said that it is because of global warming, that low density construction uses too many resources and creates too much CO2 when nobody can walk anywhere; Perhaps demographer David Foot, author of Boom, Bust and Echo, 10 years ago was right all along, that demographics are everything and just watch those baby boomers. The suburbs are going to die of old age. According to the New York Times, the suburbs are no longer full of the sounds of playing children. “Suburbs, which previously were considered youthful and family-friendly parts of America, will, as more seniors age in place, become a fast-graying part of our national landscape,” said William H. Frey, a Brookings demographer. ...

The irony that an average Indian's carbon footprint may actually be larger in death than in life is certainly not lost on Vinod Kumar Agarwal. Agarwal, the head of the environmental group Mokshda Green Cremation System based in Delhi and a mechanical engineer by trade, recently devised a raised pyre that reduces the amount of wood required and, thus, the greenhouse gases emitted by over 60%. "Our faith tells us we must do our last rites in this way," said Agarwal, who has become concerned that the traditional fuel-intensive nature of funeral rites of Hindus that practice open-air cremation using firewood has drastically increased carbon dioxide emissions. The main problem with cremation, as he puts it, is that "all the ashes go into the rivers and carbon dioxide is creating global warming."...

It was 50 years ago, June 12, 1957, that the Monsanto House of the Future opened at Disneyland. It was an inspiration for young aspiring architects everywhere, as we described in an earlier post "a glimpse of carefree futuristic living inside a plastic-walled floating cruciform structure with picture phones, height-adjustable sinks, dishes washed by ultrasonic waves, and atomic food preservation." While it was shortsighted of Disney to destroy it in 1967, the wonderful film, a vision of the future where a young family is transported from the linup into the future, where they live in the house with all its plastic wonders, survives on youtube, part 2 below the fold. Thanks, ::Chrisopher, for the reminder. ...

Thursday is National Liftshare Day in the UK, and it's easy to get involved and make a difference. According to the website, 'a typical carsharer will save themselves around £1,000 and 1 tonne of CO2 per year by sharing their daily journey.' Sharing car journeys just makes perfect sense. What point is there in 400 colleagues all taking their own cars to work? There is likely to be someone who lives near you who you can alternate driving with. It saves money, it saves the environment, it lessens congestion so you and everyone else gets to work quicker, and every other day you can sleep or read a book on the way to work. This Thursday is the perfect chance to get started with lift sharing, but the important thing is to keep it up afterwards. There's plenty of ways that you can get involved. If you work in an office, then send a group email to everyone and see if there's someone who lives nearby that you can lift share with. There is also lots of posters and fliers on the site that you can print out and put up, as well as other tips and advice on setting up a lift share scheme. If you don't live in the UK, then don't be put off. It's just as easy to set up a scheme wherever you are, you don't need a National Lift share day in order to lift share! :: National Liftshare Day...

Designer Amy Adams has been hard at work since we first featured her work at Perch! way back in 2004. In preparation for exhibition at this year's ICFF, she expanded her line to include some fun ceramic lights. Like everything else at Perch!, the new work is simple, beautiful and functional; the "Zooey" lights (above) are based on simple shapes, bold graphics and colors, and were designed with the use of compact fluorescent bulbs in mind. We've always been impressed with the clean modernity of Adams' work; the addition of a splash of color really makes the new pieces pop. As with all of the ceramics available from Perch!, Zooey is created locally to the Brooklyn-based designer, with low-fire earthenware and finished with a non-toxic glaze. After the jump: more fab new pieces. ::Perch!...

After previous failures in implementing recycling in the city, the government has officially launched a new plan for domestic recycling that is being put into practice since the beginning of June, right in time for the city mayor elections. Politics aside, we believe this plan has much more possibilities of surviving: while the previous (few) initiatives consisted in several containers of different colors for materials like glass, paper and metals, the new plan only asks neighbors to separate humid and dry waste (see the new containers in the picture). The first ones would go to the land refills and the dry would be translated to recovery centers where cartoneros -people who made a living out of cardboard recovery and sell since the 2001 crisis- would classify and derive them for reuse or recycling. In addition, just yesterday the government announced new containers for electronic devices. The first action was to place three containers in corners located in Roca Av. and Hipolito Yrigoyen, Roca and Chacabuco and Mayo Av. and Tacuarí, between 3 and 5 pm on fixed days. These are surrounded by promoters that give passers by information about recycling and will control what enters the container; since they will only be for computer parts, cell phones, phone accessories, and alarms, among others. Even though the initiatives are still limited, we are very happy to see this happening, since even for the person with best intentions, recycling was barely possible in Buenos Aires. Let’s hope this wakes up the environmental feeling in porteños once and for all. ::Buenos Aires Government Announcement ::La Nacion Article...

Herman Miller, home of Charles Eames, George Nelson and the Aeron Chair, and now one of the greenest of companies, does not normally make appliances. Therefore we scratched our head when we saw the new C2 this week. We love the idea- ambient temperature is one of the biggest complaints people have about their workspaces. Herman Miller has given us comfortable chairs and good lighting- can they solve this as well? The C2 acts as an air filter, uses only 1.5 amps of power, yet can, (according to Engadget,) allow users to adjust the surrounding temperature up to a 40 degree increase, and an 8 degree decrease, taking 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) as the starting temperature." which are big numbers even in Farenheit. It appears to be "the first commercially available non-automotive product to use Amerigon's patented advanced thermoelectric (TE) technology developed by its BSST subsidiary." - a heating and cooling system previously used in high end car seats. ...

China is slowly moving to stop production of ethanol from food source crops. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has said that no new projects using food crops to create ethanol would be approved from now on. In China, all new companies and operations need to receive approval from the government, so changes like this can take place very quickly. Any new businesses would have to use non-food materials such as cassva, sweet potato, sorgo and cellulose, and current enterprises using corn would be asked to switch over to one of these sources gradually too. There are four enterprises currently creating corn ethanol, which produce over a million tons per year in total. ...

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has released the results of an analysis that shows that California can achieve its goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. "Depending on how California implements its climate legislation, cumulative real costs to the state’s economy range from 0.2 percent to 1.2 percent ($100 billion to $511 billion) through 2050. In general, costs increase as limits on California’s future greenhouse gas become more stringent, the report says. For the analysis, EPRI integrated two widely-accepted, advanced economic models: the state-level Multi-Region National (MR) model and a detailed model of the U.S. electricity sector, the North American Electricity and Environment Model (NEEM). The California Environmental Protection Agency and the Air Resources Board are currently using this new EPRI modeling tool for informing their climate implementation work...The EPRI analysis reviewed 20 different policy implementation scenarios, and demonstrated that implementation options based on a broad, market-based cap-and-trade program will likely be more cost-effective than a sector-specific program of command-and-control regulations, or an approach that covers only one part of the state’s economy. Several key issues were highlighted for further study, including leakage of emissions to nearby states, the role of forestry offsets, and the role of electrification as a method for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the economy." ...

Just yesterday, we gushed about this funky folding chair/table combo that twisted and turned to a fraction of its size in just a shake of a lamb's tail, but that was just the warm-up for what we've got today. The Ulo chair, designed by Ian Walton, a recent design grad from the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, is a brilliant transforming chair that you really have to see to believe. Employing internally lockable "flex joints", the chair goes from task chair to lounge chair in one smooth, rubbery (almost melted-looking) motion, with spring-loaded locks used to keep the chair stable in either position. The truly adaptable piece was inspired by "prefabricated compact homes such as Alchemy Architects 'WeeHouse', Andy Thompsons 'MiniHome' and Michelle Kaufmanns 'Glidehouse.'" Watch the video with both eyes, and hit the jump for more pics and explanation about how the chair works. ::Embryo via ::Core77...

We know for a fact that TreeHugger readers are interested in practical ways to green their own lifestyles. Not surprising really, given our title, but we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive responses to our How to Go Green guides on all kinds of topics, from greening your sex life, to buying more sustainable electronics or reducing your community’s eco-footprint. Even posts on the more ‘crunchy’ or hardcore end of green living, like the Navy Shower, or the Selective Flush (aka If It’s Yellow…) have been warmly welcomed. We are pretty sure then that our UK readers will be interested in the work of the Low-Impact Living Initiative, or LILI for short. Based at Redfield Community in Buckinghamshire, LILI is a “non-profit organisation whose mission is to help people reduce their impact on the environment, improve their quality of life, gain new skills, live in a healthier and more satisfying way, have fun, and save money.” LILI runs courses on all kinds of aspects of green living, with an emphasis on practical, do-it-yourself skills. Courses currently in the pipeline include: ...

TreeHugger has shown a lot of green skyscapers, but Jon Scroeder at Eco-Geek has gathered the top ten together in one post that is worth looking at. It includes the Urban Cactus, the Waugh Thistleton Tower, the Lighthouse Tower, the Hearst Tower, the Pearl River Tower and more, all gathered on one place for your viewing convenience. Collect them all at ::Eco-Geek...

That seems to be the case after reading a recent news report out of China that a team of "energy police" are fanning out inside the city to hunt down businesses and schools who fail to meet the national standard for energy efficiency, then publicizing the people who run them in newspapers and on television if they fail to improve. Now, in most of the world a fine or threat of prison would be more than sufficient punishment, but leave it to the Chinese to put your face on television! And with the social pressures in that country a public humiliation is really a serious threat. It’s not like when Britney or Paris do something dumb in the U.S. and we laugh while they head off to the bank with the free publicity... But before we get all excited about this the reality is that there are just 20 of these energy-saving police out there in all of Beijing, which sounds a lot like taking a bath with a teaspoonful of water in my opinion. So I'm willing to bet that what these “police” will really be doing is going after political rivals of certain party bosses rather than chasing down the worst offenders. Let’s face it, the only thing worse than the air quality in Beijing is the corruption in government. But that, folks, is environmentalism Beijing style, and oddly enough the public shaming some do get will probably have the desired effect on everyone else, politically connected or not. Go figure! via:: CBC News, The Associated Press...

Daryl Hannah needs little introduction here on TreeHugger, we have been great fans of her DH Love Life project since it’s inception and we are greatly indebted to Daryl for her support of TreeHugger, especially as a judge in the Convenient Truths film contest. Many of you probably saw the striking image that was sent around the world of Daryl in Ecuador last week dipping her hand into the viscous black liquid of an oil pit. She was invited by the organization Amazon Watch to come on a ‘toxic tour’ to raise awareness of the terrible contamination caused by the oil industry in the Amazon rainforest. I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak with Daryl about her experience in the Amazon, the current environmental lawsuit being brought against Chevron Texaco, her views on the new ITT oil proposal for the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador and her ongoing project DH Love Life....

Image credit: http2007 Quasimodo had Notre Dame Cathedral. Where can the planet's threatened biodiversity find sanctuary? Try the most heavily armed border in the world. One conservation group says that North Korea has taken a first step towards creating a wildlife preserve in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land that divides the Korean Peninsula and acts as a buffer zone between North and South Korea....

There have been a lot of Personal Rapid Transit schemes proposed recently; this writer ignored them as being a particularly dopey and expensive way to get people out of their own cars; they won't work in low densities because people will have to drive to get to them; in high densities why not make comfortable buses or streetcars and get far higher capacities. They seem like nothing other than an overpriced way of giving people the privacy of their car and the ability to avoid sharing transit with other people who might make us nervous at great public expense and simply converting the fuel from gas to coal via electricity. Then we learn from the New York Times that in certain circumstances they work quite well; at West Virginia University in Morgantown, Richard Nixon funded a demonstration project that has been running since 1975, slightly over budget as it was projected to cost US$ 13.7 and ended up ten times that. It is running point to point between two campuses of the University and serving students, so there is a relatively dense, car poor audience at each end. It has never had a serious injury and is running 98% of the time. So it can work, under certain circumstances, with Nixonian dollars paying for it. Otherwise, we agree with transportation consultant Jonathan Richmond: "“The infrastructure requirements are such that it is not realistic to think it could be adopted in highly developed U.S. cities.” ::New York Times...

"I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am." Thank you, Dr. Seuss . This post is actually about a new brand of free-range eggs that have a very low-carbon footprint, but who could resist the chance to quote one of our favourite childhood books. Called "Respectful Eggs", they are hatched at a farm in Lincolnshire that is powered by wind turbines and solar panels. The flocks are small with only (?) 4,000 hens (as opposed to 16,000 permitted under EU regulations). Apparently "the hens live happy lives and enjoy constant access to large grass ranges" and they are fed locally milled wheat. They will reach the supermarket with approximately half the carbon footprint of a standard free-range egg, The green eggs are being sold at Asda (owned by Wal-Mart, and Britain's cheapest supermarket) and will cost the same as regular free range eggs. The boxes are made from recycled pulp paper. :: thelondonpaper ...

The car manufacturers have been in Washington griping about the cost of making cars more fuel efficient. GM says it will add $5,000 to $7,000 in today's dollars to the cost of making both cars and light trucks such as SUVs. Their answer: adding a hybrid system to the Chevy Tahoe, butt of so many jokes on TreeHugger last year. According to Forbes, to meet those standards, GM must install smaller battery packs in autos and implement mechanisms that regenerate braking energy and shut down the vehicle's engine when it's idling."After that, you have to start getting into much more aggressive technologies," [GM's manager for energy research and development] Clark says. No suggestion of perhaps not making any more Tahoes and Escalades and concentrating on smaller, better designed, more fuel efficient cars, just put hybrid engines into the monsters. What are these guys thinking? ::Forbes...

KMD Architects design for a new 12-story headquarters for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is expected to be a leader in demonstrating energy efficiency, water recycling and reduced carbon footprint among major office buildings nationally, according to P.U.C. officials. The $178 million, 254,000-square foot headquarters will include wind turbines on the roof, solar panels embedded in outer walls, and a natural-cooling "thermal chimney," enabling the structure to supply 40 percent of its own energy needs. Planned to break ground at 525 Golden Gate Ave. near City Hall in 2008, the P.U.C. headquarters also will employ...faucet sensors, waterless urinals, and on-demand water heaters that will cut use to 5 gallons per occupant per day, compared to average office-building use of 25 gallons a day. A grey-water wastewater recycling system enables reuse of water from faucets and sinks in the building's toilets and the cooling system. The building is designed to exceed LEEDs-Platinum, and will exceed California's recently-instituted Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency in new office buildings by 60 percent. Via:: PR Newswire Image credit:: KDM...

TreeHugger loves bikes. There is no greener form of transport. But we often cop flak for showcasing up-and-coming designs that you can’t race down to your local bike store and buy. Frankly, we don’t care. Prototypes and concepts demonstrate that minds are ticking out there. And so much better that industrial design students and design studio interns develop new models for bicycles, than yet one more chair or lightfitting. Save us! So here we go again. Roland Kaufmann, of Austria, not only conceived the Dual Bike. But he wandered away from his CAD program long enough to craft a rudimentary but functioning prototype. Wooden kayaks sparked his interest and then he determined “that wood is up to 10 times stiffer than fibreglass and nearly 6 times stiffer than a kevlar/epoxy composite.” Plus he discovered that a specially prepared wood veneer shaped into a 3D profile could offer the bump absorption of carbon fibre but with the responsive feel of steel. That same profiling allowed the timber thickness to be reduced by 45%. The plywood frame creates a storage space ‘tween the cross bar and down tube for stowing small goodies. Other features of the design include maintenance-free belt drive connecting to internal rear hub gearing. In keeping with its European heritage a low resistance hub dynamo powers the integrated front and rear LED lights. Dunno how practical it will all be, but hey, we just like to see people thinking creatively about green design. Many more pics and info to be found at ::JANO Dual Bike at GP, via Core 77....

Joseph Romm is not a book reviewer; he is author of Hell and High Water, Assistant Secretary of Energy in the Clinton Administration, strong critic of the hydrogen hype and a contributor to Grist. Book reviewers read books and review them; not Romm, he is an author of a competitor for shelf space and hardly a dispassionate observer, so he settles for a driveby shooting, saying "short review: You can skip George Monbiot's book Heat" It gets worse. Romm doesn't actually read the book, he reviews the index. He gets it wrong, accusing George of liking hydrogen for transport (he doesn't) and he is outraged that Monbiot was less than impressed with the Clinton-Gore administration, which of course handled Kyoto so effectively. He doesn't like Monbiot's ideas about electricity generation; Neither do I. But I read the book, not the index, and think that we need every strong and articulate voice for change on the same side of the argument instead of cherrypicking one's own particular bête noire and discounting the rest, or as Laumer calls it, yet another circular firing squad. Grist's Gar Lipow was more positive in his review here, so was Sami in TreeHugger. ...

Arstechnica is reporting that :- "Two groups that track and promote environmentally-friendly investments, cleantech and E2, have released a report on the state of the market in what they term cleantech venture capital. The report suggests that a combination of high energy prices, governmental encouragement, and public awareness of climate change have combined to cause this sector to explode. Investors who were surveyed for the report, however, fear that inconsistent government policies may leave the sector at risk of a future downturn." Here's the money quote:- "This growth now means that cleantech has surpassed the medical device, telecommunications, and semiconductor sectors and accounts for 11 percent of the total US venture capital market—only biotech and software remain ahead of it. In contrast, the entire European market only directed $680 million to cleantech, a figure that represents a decline compared to 2005." That's confounding to say the least. The European economy has long been far less carbon intensive than US or Canadian economies. Perhaps the difference can be explained by the effect of greenwashing. "Clean Coal," for example, is highly capital intensive to develop and offers no relative reduction in carbon intensity: including that or similar technologies in the "clean tech" category would skew results. Inquiring minds want to know: where's that remaining 89% of US venture capital likely to go? Paparazzi robots that can follow blond celebrities to jail would be a really hot startup idea. "What climate catastrophe," sez the IPO fund manager chasing that one down. Via:: Arstechnica Image credit:: Paparazzi Robot [TreeHugger's term for this little cutie.]- CBS NU...

Oz Tukka translates to Australian Tucker, where tucker means food. Most of Australia’s food crop has been imported during the past 250 years since white settlement. But indigenous Australians, considered by some to be the world’s oldest surviving culture, thrived for 40,000+ years on the endemic foods this ancient land provided. It has only been in the past decade or so that these foods have been given the once over for inclusion in a mainstream diet. Oz Tukka is just one of the companies working this realm, offering a line of spices and oil derived from native bush foods. Although not certified ‘organic’ in many cases the raw materials are hand harvested directly from ‘the wild’ by aboriginal enterprises. This not only provides an important source of income, but “gives new incentives for traditional land management and opportunities to pass valuable knowledge from the older to the younger generation. It is mostly older women that collect the fruits and seeds in the company of grandchildren.” The spices Oz Tukka supply include Bush Tomato, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepper, Native Mint and Wattle Seed. Additionally they sell a Macadamia Nut Oil, which they say is even higher in healthy monounsaturate fats than the much revered olive oil. Like the macadamia nut, some of the other bush foods are getting such rave reviews that they are being developed into commercial crops as well. Interest in Australian bush foods, like the rediscovery of pharmacological riches from the world’s rainforests, reminds us that western culture, for all it’s technosavvy, has much more still to learn. ::Oz Tukka. ...

If you prick us do we not bleed? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have made a polymer material that can heal itself repeatedly when it cracks, by bleeding new material. This Harry Potter-like attribute is possible thanks to an embedded vascular network in the plastic similar to that found in biological organisms. Using a modern variation of the 'lost wax casting process', the scientists were able to form micro channels throughout a substrate that are filled with a reactive 'healing fluid'. This fluid filled substrate is then wrapped with a brittle epoxy 'skin' that is doped with a catalyst. When the 'skin' is broken the 'healing fluid' fills the space and forms a seal, thus repairing the tear. Every 5 year old knows how a scab on her knee bleeds and then heals - the idea is simple. But creating a human designed proof of principle is a large step in materials science, and a striking example of learning from the biological process. The sustainability wins in the present technology are a bit of stretch. The cost of the process and the materials will keep this technology in the laboratory. The ability to create micro-channeled materials may lead to advances in counter current heat exchange systems (again similar to biological design). But the real next sustainable step is to learn how to create the materials with non-toxic, cheap, room temperature chemistry. At any rate, I imagine it will change my relationship with toys - if I step on a Lego will it bleed? Photo Credit: J. Hanlon, Univ. of Illinois Beckman Institute ::MIT Technology Review ::Eureka Alert...

Barcelona will host the 1st International Meeting for Friends of Trees at the end of this month, organised by +árboles (More Trees), a foundation set up by Maderas Nobles, a company dedicated to sustainable forestry. The objective of the event is to gather both national and international personalities to ‘talk about the necessity of a new tree culture, and the environmental, economic and social importance of trees as an instrument to counteract the consequences of global warming’. The goal: to plant 100 Million trees in 4 years, under the concept of Responsibility + Trees for a Good Climate. The project joins companies, institutions, governments and individuals to plant those 100 Million trees on the peninsular as a natural barrier against climate change. During the event, today’s situation of the Spanish forest will be analyst from different view points in order to find new activities, organisations and collaborations to improve the forests. Participating are Al Gore, Vandana Shiva, WWF, Triodos Bank and Greenpeace amongst others. To participate yourself, just fill out the form on the web site (which is in Spanish only…although it says it’s an international event?) The conference prices range from €100-€650 which includes an organic lunch, the book ‘an Inconvenient Truth’ by Al Gore and the book ‘Responsarbolidad’ by Jordi Bigues. The web site also offers a virtual forest with links to other tree-relates web sites and the project 100 writings, 100 writers which will host 100 texts about trees. But don’t worry for those of you who don’t speak Spanish or can’t make it to Barcelona on the 23rd of June. Jenna and I will cover the conference and tell you more about it at the end of this month (click here for more). ::Más Árboles Foundation ...

Al Gore's home, which has been undergoing renovations for months, now boasts a solar roof. When his neighborhood in Tennessee changed zoning laws earlier this year, Gore was able to go ahead with the solar panel installation. You can read about the details of the battle to get the solar panels installed here. Gore is now preparing to install a geothermal system that will drastically reduce the cost of heating in his home. Other renovations on the house are aimed at meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. He is upgrading windows and ductwork, installing more energy-efficient light bulbs and creating a rainwater collection system for irrigation and water management. :: Via: Truth & Progress...

Yesterday, we featured a "zero carbon" house that was unveiled at the Offsite 2007 Exhibition in the UK. There was another efficient green home at the exhibition called the Sigma. The design of this home is a little less ambitious — it received a "near-zero" carbon emission certification. However, its designers, the Stuart Milne Group, said the Sigma is more likely to be the first eco-friendly family home to be mass-produced in Britain. See a detailed photo of the house after the fold. ...

In the latest edition of Scientific American's "Ask the Experts" column (you can see the most recent version of our own "Ask TreeHugger" feature here), John Castellani, a researcher in the Thermal & Mountain Medicine Division of the U.S. Army's Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, takes on the interesting question of whether our body weight is affected by the ambient temperature and humidity. While changes in our body weight typically occur as a result of long-term changes in lean or fat body mass, Castellani explains that acute changes in total body water can have the same effect. Any changes that manifest themselves as a result of variations in the climate regime tend to take the form of gained weight, particularly once the body has become acclimated to higher levels of activity in the heat. Assuming that water accounts for approximately 60% of an average person's weight, normal water turnover, or the amount that is lost and replaced by the body every day, lies between 2-3 liters. Environmental stress and exercise, in addition to several other factors, can change this amount: for example, hotter temperatures or increases in air humidity would lead to higher sweating rates and, thus, higher rates of water loss....

Clemes Betzel, president of G24 Innovations, has written an interesting comment piece for the BBC on the importance of nano-generation. This is the practice of creating devices that come equipped with the means to power themselves. Wind-up radios or solar powered cell phone chargers are good examples. As governments wake up to climate change, many solutions are being put forward. Large scale power generation and distribution projects seem to be the Governments answer to climate change, but Betzel believes that they’re not the only solution, or in fact the best. “Policy makers and politicians continue to focus their efforts on large-scale grid networks; they are not offering serious backing to the alternatives. Microgeneration does not suffer from the same inefficiencies as large grid systems because the electricity is not transmitted through wires over many miles - what is generated is used.” ...

Mitusbishi's i MiEV (i Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle), will be on sale in just three years time We could all be driving electric powered cars sooner than we thought possible as new developments in battery technology gather pace, new companies form to develop the next generation lithium-ion cells, and the imminent opening of massive new battery producing factories in Asia gets underway. Among the latest news – leading battery maker A123Systems is planning to introduce lithium-ion cells for use in gas-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, trucks, and buses – a move that pushes one of the key technologies for alternative vehicles closer to market at a time when fuel prices are soaring. The new lithium-ion batteries have 10 times the capacity of those now used in hybrid electric vehicles, such as Toyota’s Prius. ...

During their quest for the perfect sweater, fashion designers Tina Lutz and Marcia Patmos realized that they had a chance to lessen the environmental impact of their knitwear. For their 2007 Eco collection, they sourced Merino wool from sheep in Uruguay who are fed on native grasses, raised without antibiotics or hormones, and shorn as humanely as possible. The wool is processed without chemical dyes and is woven locally, both to save fuel and support the local economy. Tina explained to me how, instead of contracting with a factory, Lutz and Patmos employ a network of artisans to knit products from their own homes. The pieces are contemporary, with architectural construction and muted colors, but also reflect their South American origin. You can check out the collection, as well as sweater collaborations they've done with people like Yves Behar and Liv Tyler, at Lutz & Patmos....

New York Magazine does a hilarious takedown of green products, "To some, the “green consumer” is an oxymoron (they might even drop the “oxy”). The real solution, they say, is to consume less. While there’s some truth to this, a Walden-or-bust approach seems ill-suited to our present culture. Greed and vanity are alive and well; if they can be enlisted in the fight to save the planet, who are we to turn them away?" They look at oil drum coffee tables, hand cranked washing machines, poop stationery, solar courier bags, soy clothing, body squeegies, green weddings, the stuff that TreeHugger is made of, trashing much of it. Written with humor and style at ::New York Magazine via ::Apartment Therapy...

Flat-pack furniture, much like downloadable designs, owes much of its TreeHugger appeal from having the ability to create something three-dimensional from a flat (or nearly flat) material; this makes it easy to ship, easy to assemble and generally space efficient. Here are some of our favorite flat-packable pieces of furniture.

	1) Unto This Last is a London-based company that makes flat-sing furniture to order, using the latest 3d modelling software and a big CNC machine at the back of the shop. Instead of shipping and storing furniture, they have a load of sustainably harvested Latvian and Finnish plywood. When an order is placed it is manufactured to order, negating the need for a big warehouse, extra transportation or excessive packaging.
	2) DES Furniture takes a single sheet of FSC certified Europly, mixes "conceptual sensitivity with technical expertise", plays a CNC machine like a violin and creates furniture like this book-case without any waste at all. It needs no fasteners or glue and could be shipped in a (really big) envelope.
	3) raw studio makes these groovy garden chairs made from one sheet of sustainable plywood. They're made in Kent, by a local UK manufacturer, and the creator is an engineer-turned-art-student, who has also built a "coffee" table made out of (you guessed it) recycled coffee grounds. The remaining two picks are after the jump...

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We mentioned earlier that perhaps with the right plane, flying isn't dying, noting that a modern turboprop like the Bombardier Q400 uses far less fuel and flies at an efficiency slightly less than a car and slightly above a modern train. The UK's Flybe has now produced an eco-label for their planes, which not surprisingly get a lot of A's compared to their competitors. However their process and calculations are open and available for review, and have been "subjected to an assurance process by Deloitte & Touche LLP, a leading professional services firm and represent best in class methodology and we expect the rest of the industry to follow suit." ::Flybe. Americans will soon be able to fly Q4's from Denver on Frontier Airlines, where "Aggressive fares and higher fuel prices have forced all airlines to look for ways to keep and attract business as travelers forsake loyalty to a particular airline in favor of the cheapest ticket prices and most convenient ways to travel" - no word about flying green, just saving money. ::Press Enterprise...

Unlike the rest of us who are still eagerly awaiting the release of a solar powered air conditioner to quench our hot summers, Canadians living in Toronto have found a cheap and sustainable way to stay cool. Drawing on the large supply of cold water from Lake Ontario, the city's residents have pioneered a method of directly extracting the "cold" to power their air conditioning systems. Three pipes running 3 miles (about 5 km) into the lake to a depth of approximately 83 m pump 4°C water to a filtration plant and then to a heat-transfer station located on its shores. The system, built by Enwave Energy Corporation, transfers the "cold" to a closed loop of smaller pipes that in turn supply the towers of Toronto's financial district. Businesses have been particularly keen to use this technology as it has allowed them free up space on their roofs previously used by cooling units to invest in more office space or other facilities. ...

London mayor Ken Livingstone has criticised the currnent UK Government’s "negligible" record on tackling climate change and come out in support of the Tories proposed flight tax plan. "We are not being honest with people about aviation - the rate of increase from emissions from aviation is terrifying. The more £6 holidays to Marbella, the worse it is going to get." Tory leader David Cameron proposed that the first flight a person takes in a year is exempt, but subsequent flights are taxed under the scheme. Livingstone said, "It is nice that people can have short-haul breaks but at what price to the planet? That's why I like David Cameron's idea of a tax on every second or third flight you take in a year." Livingstone also attacked the idea that airport expansion is needed to support the UK economy, pointing out that less than a fifth of air traffic over London is business flights....

Beoing seems pretty darn serious about the possibility of using algae-grown biofuels for jet planes… British budget airline Flybe now offers noise and CO2 pollution scorecards for its planes… Gaiam Community probes the minds of 100-mile-diet adventurers James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith… World Watch looks into the silicon crystal ball and sees solar panel costs dropping 40% in the next several years… The word’s first “fair trade diamonds” are now a reality, and the benevolent bling was on display at the Rapaport Fair Trade Conference this month… Most Huggable is a daily roundup of some of the top stories from Hugg.com, TreeHugger’s user-generated green news site. Why not submit your own green news? ...

A nice inspirational video about the power of doing small things. "You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing there will be no result." -Ghandi Via ::Hugg (thanks Linton!)...

This week is Carnival of the Green # 81 and it's being hosted by our friend Victoria E. So, head on over to this week's Carnival to check out a round up of last week's 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 (hurry, we're now booking into 2008!), please click here to link to our previous post....

In response to the public outcry over high energy prices, global warming pollution and oil security issues, Congress is moving forward with a package of major energy, fuels and transportation proposals that will be considered and voted upon over the next two months. These bills represent the best chance Americans have had in decades to make serious strides toward cleaner energy and transportation. Whether this year's energy bill will be a change for the better, business as usual, or a setback for consumers and the environment depends on the outcome of three major issues: fuel economy, renewable energy and renewable fuels. Click here to tell your representatives that you want strong legislation that will help protect our environment and strengthen the economy. UCS’s Web site has an in-depth explanation of what’s at stake on each aspect of upcoming legislation....

(Can you spot the TreeHugger writer in this photo? The answer after the jump) Facebook makes reconnecting with your past almost scandalous. One friend leads you to 10 more in an exponential manner -- from college, your travels, high school, pre-school and all those people you thought you might never see again. It may be an early start, but Facebook friends and communities are touting some good green messages. In the yet to be developed marketplace on Facebook (free registration required), you can find offers for free love, a Belgian redhead, a computer screen and a want-ad for a used cellphone. Clicking on the network button with keyword "environment", you can find young green friends at the Environmental Studies High School; be surprised to find over 1000 members on the Environment Canada network and less than 400 members belonging to the EPA. ...

photos from Barton Myers site by Russ Widstrand 30 years ago, Barton Myers' house in Toronto became a magnet for every architecture student in the city; its use of industrial materials, exposed block and steel, and industrial fittings was unheard of. Barton then moved to California, where he clearly has done very well, for he has built another house for himself that is as groundbreaking as his first, shown in the summer issue of Innovative Home. It is built in an area prone to wildfires, so it is built out of steel, with rooftop reflecting ponds that keep it cool and can supply thirty thousand gallons of water. Fire shutters pull down over every glass opening, sealing it up tight. ...

Congress may be in for some big changes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants this session to become carbon neutral, "The House must lead by example and it is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint." Senator John Kerry has also sponsored legislation which aims to make the entire Capitol complex carbon neutral, permanently, by 2020. It’s an impressive target considering that it constitutes 23 buildings, including the Library of Congress and a coal-burning power plant, staffed by a total of 15,000 people. It currently produces 316,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year. As well as these lofty and perhaps unlikely goals, there has been a series of smaller achievements. The Architect's Office has stated that almost all newly purchased vehicles should be alternative-fuel compatible, and workers have switched 2,000 desk lamps over to CFLs. All these steps appear positive, but will fall some way short of neutrality. It’s likely that carbon offsets will be needed if they are to achieve this, making it a rather hollow victory. We often see stories here at TH of some organisation attempting carbon neutrality, it’s a popular goal. ...

Hanker for more organic produce but feeling pinched in the wallet by the oft-higher prices? Well, help may finally be on the way: Lisa Richards reports in the current issue of Chemistry & Industry that scientists from the Volcani Center in Israel have discovered a cheap and effective trick to keep organic produce stored longer using oxygen. Consumers in the UK and the US have typically had to pay as much as twice the regular price for some organic products. One major reason is the short shelf life of these produce, which can cause some grocers to suffer heavy losses if they aren't stored properly. Whereas regular produce can be treated with preservatives to prolong storage time, organic produce cannot, by definition, be treated with them. ‘With some organic fruit and veg, there can be large losses [during storage]," said Claudia Ruane, a spokeswoman for Abel & Cole organic produce retailers. Discussing the merits of the sophisticated refrigeration units employed by some organic farms to extend storage time during collection, she noted, "These are important and costly but if paying out for these facilities can ensure a whole crop is not rejected by a retailer because it is a little limp or dehydrated, then it is a cost that has to be absorbed."...

driving too close at ::CleanMPG Jeff has mentioned hypermiling here and here; it is the sport of squeezing a gallon of gas until it screams. One popular technique is drafting, or driving really close behind big rigs to get into the low-pressure zone created as they move through the air. According to Discover online, driving in this "free ride zone" not only save fuel for the tailgating driver, but also for the trucker, who is getting a little high pressure push. Until something happens. ...

The Guardian has an interesting feature where they analyse several peoples trash from one day. They have a few experts give their opinion on each, and provide tips for cutting down on what they find. There’s some useful advice in there, from how to cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive, to making sure you know exactly what can and can’t be recycled in your area. By far the strangest bin was the one belonging to Reverend Robert Boulter, "In this day and age I also have a lot of what I see as electronic waste - printouts of emails and digital photos. I also have waste from the church grounds: every day I do a condom patrol, as prostitutes operate here at night. There is also broken glass from a group of youths who spend time behind the church as there is nowhere else to go and get involved in drinking." The experts seemed rather taken back by that, following a rather more standard list of waste. Davey, an expert of some kind apparently, said, "The Rev Boulter should contact his local council. Some of the materials he's picking up need very careful handling and special disposal, and he needs to take care of himself." :: The Guardian See also :: How to Green Your Recycling :: Incentive Based Recycling by RecycleBank...

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the groundbreaking, seminal green "think and do tank" marked their 25th anniversary of thoughtful, passionate work to improve the state of the world ~~this past weekend~~ (oops! The event is August 9-10 -- stay tuned for more details and info as the event approaches) with a celebration and green event. "RMI 25: Celebrating Solutions" brought key business and public policy leaders for two days of discussion, collaboration, inspiration and celebration. "The issues that confronted RMI during its inaugural years are now in the forefront of today's debate on climate change," said RMI Chairman and Chief Scientist Amory Lovins. "After 25 years of challenging conventional thinking and leading the field in cutting edge research and consulting, RMI will host a celebration recognizing its past work while keeping our focus on the challenges in front of us." Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and best selling author, served as Master of Ceremonies; other luminaries in attendance included Ray Anderson (Interface, Inc.), Majora Carter (Sustainable South Bronx) and Paul Hawken (Natural Capitalism and Blessed Unrest). In honor of the silver anniversary of one of TreeHugger's favorite organizations, we rounded up the best of our coverage of RMI; in chronological order, check out the publications, events, partnerships and other inspiring work we've peeked at over the years. Check out the (extensive!) list after the jump....

By 2016, all new houses in the UK must meet the new Code of Sustainable Homes, which some have called an impossible target. Difficult, but not impossible; here is the first one. described in the Guardian as "the most environmentally friendly home yet built and the first to meet the highest standards laid out in the government's code for sustainable homes." ...

Ikea have been attempting to green all aspects of their company in recent years. First it was their products and stores, but now its taking the interesting step of trying to green its staff. Last Christmas they gave each of them a folding bicycle to encourage them to stop driving to work, and now they’re giving each of them 6 CFL bulbs – that’s almost 60,000 bulbs. They’ve also promised to replace them when they stop working. This gift-giving will cost £45,000, which is very reasonable considering just how many bulbs we’re talking here. Bulk buying on this scale represents a very good deal, but the most impressive part is that they estimate that it will save their workforce almost ten times that in energy bills, £400,000....

Live Earth is just under a month away now, and the deadline for entering MSN and Treehugger's "Green Theatre" contest is even closer: June 23 is just twelve days from now! Hopefully, you've got an idea for a video and have started shooting. If not... what are you waiting for? While the concert in Great Britain is the only one currently sold out, that's sure to change quickly. And why buy tickets when you can win them... When the entry period closes for the contest, you get the first crack at deciding which video submissions are prize-worthy. The ten videos with the most votes will then go to the panel of judges we've selected, and they will decide the winners. Among the people that will evaluate the top ten videos are: Actress and Environmental Advocate Daryl Hannah: Daryl has appeared in over 40 Hollywood films, including Splash, Wall Street and Kill Bill. She's equally well-known for her passionate advocacy for sustainability, and has won awards from the National Biodiesel Board, the Environmental Media Association, and the Water Quality Control Board, among others, for her efforts to raise awareness on environmental issues....

Remember Store Wars, the dramatic battle between the organic forces of good and the dark side, Darth Tater and the forces of industrialized agriculture? The dark side is back, and this time they are infiltrating, co-opting and corrupting from within. The New York Times adds coverage to a story John broke here last month: It seems that to get approval as organic, Department of Agriculture rules state that 95% of a product must be organic and the balance need not be if there is no organic ingredients available, as long as they are on their approved list. Modest little organic breweries like Anheuser-Busch can't find organic hops with “ unique flavor and aroma characteristics due to variation in essential oils” for their fine organic brews and wants an exemption. Others are appalled. “Hops are a crucial ingredient for beer. Why can’t they use organic hops?” said James A. Riddle, an organic consultant and a former chairman of the organic advisory board. ...

We TreeHuggers regularly fall all over ourselves for smart, space-saving, folding, flat-packable designs, but even we were left agape by this video. German designer Nils Frederking has bowled us over with his folding chair and table that seem to defy ordinary furniture physics with their deft foldability. Prepare to be impressed with the video, and hit the jump for some pics of the designs in action. ::Nils Frederking Table and ::Nils Frederking Chair via ::Spluch and ::Gizmodo...

We continue to be confused about Innovative Home and its ambition to "advance and effect change within the residential shelter industry."The summer issue is a lot more interesting than the Spring, but the four highlighted homes are way over the top; the first is 14,250 square feet, busting a zoning bylaw that limits houses in the county to 5500 square feet (it is "grandfathered" in but these rules exist for a reason). The next owner demolished Ringo Starr's house for having a "relatively small stature", which is not a particularly innovative approach. There is a wonder by Barton Myers, an interesting article on green landscaping, good coverage of container housing and Modular 3 from Studio 804. But in the end, so many talented people are involved with this magazine, such grand ambitions, (what happened to the Institute for Home Innovation?) but ultimately not much innovation. Not yet online at ::Innovative Home...

The Argentine franchise of Wal-Mart supermarkets has finally joined its mother company in what refers to green initiatives and has launched a program to substitute all plastic bags in its local stores for oxi-biodegradable ones. According to the company, these “include an additive in their manufacturing process that brakes the carbon links and transforms them into products sensible to sunlight, humidity, temperature and other factors that cause natural degradation. At the same time, the bags maintain their resistance and safety properties”. Wal-Mart Argentina claims to be working with providers, local government, NGOs and communities in initiatives that can “satisfy today’s needs without compromising the possibility that future generations can satisfy theirs”. The new oxi bags got to supermarkets May 14th. Check our articles on Wal-Mart USA here, and among they, Lloyd’s It’s getting harder to Hate Wal-Mart. ::Wal-Mart Argentina...

The excitement has been building for several months; finally, the votes are in, and some of TreeHugger's faves are honored. In what might be a sign that there is no award Al Gore can't win, the former VP picked up "Campaigner of the Year", while The Natural Collection was voted "Best Online Retailer". A celebrity panel, which included Alastair MacGowan, David James and Emily Eavis selected Carshalton Lavender as "Conservation Project of the Year", and Terra Plana recieved "Ethical Fashion Product of the Year" for their shoes. The winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony at The Hospital members club in central London, hosted by TV presenter Simon Amstell; the recipient were also featured in a special ethical issue of The Observer Magazine yesterday. Check out the site for more details, and stay tuned for more from London Fashion Week, which will include an Ethical Fashion Event featuring some of the nominees and award recipients. ::The Observer's Ethical Awards 2007 ...

Farmers markets are appearing everywhere this year; where we live, last year there were two near us; this year there are five new ones. Last year there were produce jockeys who would buy vegetables at the big wholesale food terminal, dress up in overalls and set up a stand; this year the farmers have set up a certification system to ensure that purchasers are getting real farm fresh food. The books Plenty and Animal,Vegetable, Miracle have encouraged many to take up local food. What are you doing?

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Last week we heard how a senior Ryanair exec is worried about green concerns damaging his company’s sales, sparking another vigorous debate about the impacts of flying. At the time, we pointed out how some airlines are doing more than others to combat climate change and look for cleaner solutions for aviation. We reminded our readers that trains, where services exist, tend to have significantly lower emissions compared to flying (one commenter disagreed, though we don’t have a link to the numbers they presented). Now it seems climate concerns are spreading within the industry itself. The International Air Transport Association, the industry’s leading body, put environmental issues, and specifically climate change, at the heart of the agenda of its annual meeting in Vancouver last weekend. Representing 250 airlines, or 94 percent of scheduled international air traffic, the IATA has a huge influence on the aviation sector, and it’s great to see this organization at least recognizing climate change as a major problem, though disagreements remain, both within the industry and from outside pressure groups, as to the way forward in tackling this issue. The IATA’s spokesman, Anthony Concil, made it clear that pressure from legislators is a major force in promoting climate change to the top of his concerns: "It's at the top of several policymakers' agendas. The United Nations is going to discuss it in September within their civil aviation organization ICAO." The annual meeting resulted in an open challenge from the IATA, calling on the industry to move towards a zero emissions future – a laudable, but undoubtedly distant, goal. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO, repeated the industry’s assertions that it has already made great strides to improve efficiency, and that its current impact is small: ...

Well, there’s new research coming out of Australia indicating that children on that continent are becoming more anxious about the future of the planet, and from recent posts here and here, I think they’ve got good reason to be. The study, done by the Australian Childhood Foundation, surveyed 600 of them and shows that more than half are scared there will not be enough water in the future. It went on to show that more than a third of them were anxious about terrorism, were worried that one day they will have to fight in a war, and one in four believed the world will end before they reached adulthood. As the head of the foundation, Dr. Joseph Tucci, points out, this insecurity could have serious consequences for society. He says that "We're already starting to see an increase in mental health problems, we're starting to see an increase in anxiety problems, I think it's not out of the question that we'll see problems with alcohol and drug addiction increase as well," He feels that kids are being exposed to adult concepts before they are ready to understand them, and that "It's really important ... that kids are able to feel like their parents are managing the world around them, in their immediate world, in order for them to feel secure and to feel safe and confident about growing older". The question that strikes my mind is whether or not adults need to be as concerned about the issues we face as these children are? Maybe the real concern is that adults simply aren’t doing what needs to be done, leading to genuine concerns by kids who can see it for themselves on the nightly news and in the world around them. Remember that kids aren’t jaded by their job description or their political affiliation, and that makes a great deal of difference even if they necessarily understand everything they see and read around them....

We are intrigued by the idea of solar powered air conditioning; it is just so logical as you need it most when the sun is blazing. Right now the heavy-handed approach is to spend a lot of money on photovoltaics to run conventional units; there has to be a lower cost, more efficient way. The approach of warm weather (and a nudge by LEED Pro) has reminded us of Coolerado Coolers, a low energy air conditioning unit that delivers up to 5 tons of cooling while drawing only 1200 watts, a power load that can easily be handled by a solar installation. It is an evaporative cooler like the desert coolers we have shown before, but unlike most desert coolers, the cool moist air is put through an air-to-air heat exchanger so that the air supplied to the space is cool and dry, which is far more effective at keeping you cool. ...

A sunny day in a beautiful park--what better time to wander around a Green Fair experiencing first hand the enthusiasm, commitment and creativity that people have dedicated to the cause. The Camden Green Fair is a great place to catch up on all the newest community groups and organisations working for climate change and environmentalism. Not to mention new books, clothes, and gadgets to help green our lives. Solar was a big theme this year--good thing it was bright out. There was a solar powered loud speaker blaring "don't be a toff, turn it (your lights) off", a solar cinema and a solar circus (pictured) giving power to a children's merry go-round. There was a chance to try your hand at a forge, driven by human pedal-power. The Furniture Reuse Network sells second hand furniture that would otherwise be destroyed--their eye-catching sculpture consisted of furniture painted pastel colours and piled high. Lots of adorable baby clothes including eco diapers for swimming and colourful Jinga shoes, suitable for vegetarian and vegan children, from Brazil. Always great tee-shirts: Ethical Threads were there as were Low & Behold who were taking cash or "very expensive dark chocolate" as payment for theirs. Loved the electric bicycles but they seemed quite heavy to carry upstairs...The Conservative party had a stand with their new slogan: Vote Blue, Go Green. And the food:a tent full of goodies from the Acorn restaurant and to end if off: a (warm) beer from the Workers Beer Co.: "Thirst among equals." :: Camden Green Fair...

At one point in this movie, a university professor whose name I missed, says something along the lines of “a student came up to me and asked, ‘so will my grandchildren get to ride in an aircraft?’ It was a frightening question, because the answer is most likely not.” The tagline for this feature length documentary on Peak Oil is, “We’re running out and we don’t have a plan.” But let’s back up a bit, in case you’ve been coming up to speed on global warming, and haven’t yet heard about peak oil. As the movie explains; oil, natural, gas and coal are the product of living matter laid down as sediment, compacted under thousand of metres of mineral deposits and undergone a chemical conversion of its carbon atoms. In very basic terms they're crushed plant matter from the time of dinosaurs. It is not something we can recreate. It is not renewable. But it is precious. Not that one would notice. As the talking heads in this movie note, oil (as petrol) in the US is cheaper than drinking water. So cheap that one could drive a family of 6 and their luggage for 1.5 miles on 20 cents worth of gasoline. They make a the point that a donkey-and-cart or rickshaw driver would not provide transport for the same cost. Our cars, trucks, trains, plains and ships run on oil. Greater than 80% of all extraction goes to produce transport fuel. But the stuff is not infinite. The US was once the world’s largest exporter of the black oozy goo but now only has 2% of the world’s reserve, although it uses 25%. Britain’s North Sea is running dry and they're now back to importing oil. Sure, there is some left globally, but all the easy pickings are gone. Human population and industry have exploded in the 100-150 years, since we uncorked this genie. (In the time this writer has been on the planet, the number of humans has more than doubled to over 6 billion). The supply of crude is already diminishing, at the same time as our demand for its offspring: not only fuel, but plastics, fertiliser, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc, has become increasingly ravenous. And the worlds most populous nations, India and China, have only just begun their love of the stuff. ...

For the first time in 50 years, the fields at Neston House Farm in Wiltshire are abloom with spectacular swathes of bright red poppies—courtesy of the landowner's shift to organic farming. Kept dormant since the 1960s by pesticides that were sprayed on the wheat fields, the poppies have blossomed in the wake of the farm's decision to allow the fields to grow wild (and, in doing so, increase the nitrate levels in the soil). "It is an incredible sight—a real blanket of red," says Sandy Macfarlane, the farm's manager. "We knew the seeds were there but the pesticides have always kept them dormant. It's certainly a lot more attractive than a field full of wheat."...

“The irony of selling stuff while striving for a sustainable future doesn’t escape us. Nor does it paralyze us from aiming to create a more sustainable approach to business.” So says Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) in their Acountability Report of the few years ago. Thought we’d covered it ages ago, but seems not. And we were similarly remiss in not letting you know about Recreational Equipment Inc. Co-op’s (REI) first stewardship report released a couple of months ago. Both reports are a comprehensive snapshot of where these outdoor equipment co-ops are at, on their journey to being greener enterprises. The MEC one is particularly frank, pointing out the challenges they recognise but have yet to successful in overcoming. Click through to see a list of some of the very significant achievements both these member-based businesses have so far attained....

Perhaps the best.bicycle.video.ever....

After gracing us with several eco-oriented features in recent months, including last week's survey on business and climate change, The Economist decided to take on recycling in the current issue's Technology Quarterly section. After first unequivocally stating that, yes, recycling is "worth the effort," citing its benefits in conserving natural resources, reducing the amount of burnt and buried waste and in saving energy, the magazine focuses on the advances made by several cities and firms in dealing with the growing amounts of municipal waste. It notes that while recycling facilities continue to employ people, investments in the area have shifted away from more traditional sifting technologies that rely on individuals sorting the materials to more advanced optical sorting technologies that can separate different types of plastic and paper automatically. ...

As much as we'd like to say that we found the report issued by the Environmental Integrity Project analyzing the enforcement actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the past few years (or lack thereof) shocking and surprising, we'd really only be kidding ourselves in doing so. The Bush administration has made little effort to conceal its evident disdain for its role in protecting the environment and has done everything in its power to overtly or clandestinely gut the laws already on the books (see here and here for some recent examples). Here are the grim statistics: the number of enforcement actions dropped by 25% under the current administration compared with actions taken under President Clinton from 1996 to 2000, civil penalties meted out to companies in violation of the law have fallen by 24%, criminal fines are down by 38% and the number of criminal investigations has tumbled by 23%.

In reporting the findings, Eric Schaeffer, the director of the EIP, noted: “The bad news here is that it now costs less to pollute. Over the past five years under the Bush Administration’s EPA and Department of Justice, environmental violators have been less likely to face court actions, be subject to criminal investigation, or pay civil or criminal penalties. There is one bright spot at the EPA: recent settlements that require polluters to spend billions of dollars to control emissions at power plants and refineries, or modernize sewage treatment systems.”

...

Presenting their work at a recent European Science Foundation (ESF) conference, a group of scientists predicted that the saltiness of the waters of the southern hemisphere oceans around South Africa and New Zealand could serve as an early indicator of climate change. Major increases or decreases in the saltiness could foretell instances of climate change 10 to 20 years down the line. Until now, researchers had not fully understood how the ocean's currents, such as the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic, could suddenly change course though the phenomenon was widely recognized. Variations in ocean circulation speeds account for significant instances of climate change, changing the hydrological cycle and altering atmospheric circulation patterns as well. A combination of numerical models, palaeoclimate data and modern observations indicated that ocean saltiness was key to understanding it. While a surge in heavy, salty water can invigorate deep water circulation, a dilution of the waters prompts a more lethargic flow. This occurs because rising concentrations of salt, which increase the density of water, cause the body of water to sink and draw in water from adjacent areas, initiating a loop known as thermohaline overturning.“Salt plays a far more important role that we first thought,” says Rainer Zahn, a palaeoclimatologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain....

This low-energy input "desalinization" system design is quite clever. "A prototype built on the NMSU campus in Las Cruces [New Mexico] can produce enough pure water continuously to supply a four-person household, said Nirmala Khandan, an environmental engineering professor in NMSU’s Department of Civil Engineering. New Mexico and other parts of the world have extensive brackish groundwater resources that could be tapped and purified to augment limited freshwater supplies, but traditional desalination processes such as reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis consume significant amounts of energy. This research project, funded by the NMSU-based New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, explores the feasibility of using low-grade heat – such as solar energy or waste heat from a process such as refrigeration or air conditioning – to run a desalination process...Khandan said the project builds on a process, first developed by researchers in Florida, that makes distillation of saline water possible at relatively low temperatures – 45 to 50 degrees Celsius (113 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit) rather than the 60 to 100 C (140 to 212 F) required by most distillation processes." TreeHugger ruminations: - Waste heat from a CoGen fuel cell or possibly a thermal solar panel might also would do nicely...so waste heat, per. se. seems not to be a prerequisite for functionality. A major HVAC system manufacturer could help mainstream the greening process here - you'd likely need HVAC tech-service people to make the heat recovery hookups work to code anyhow. Local health departments may argue that to keep it safe, the desal output water would need to go through a conventional polishing system with either UV irradiation or chlorine added to suppress any Legionnaires Disease causing critters or molds. Via:: New Mexico State University ...

Politics aside, going green in Washington, DC just got a little easier. New American Dream, who is responsible for promoting things like simplifying your life, and a shorter work week to give you more quality of life, set out to put this guide together Summer 2006. Volunteers scoured the streets of Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom, interviewing businesses such as coffee shops, hardware stores and restaurants. The sum of their efforts can now be found in the Resource Guide for Buying Wisely in DC. ...

We have to thank Wired for this graphic Atlas of Gas Prices around the world. Hmmm. Any wonder Americans are still driving gas-guzzlers? Gas prices in China are close to American prices, which doesn't seem to pose a problem for the drivers of 11.5 million cars in spite of income disparities. Sitting on a puddle of oil seems to keep prices low--look at the mid-east or Venezuela-- which makes Norway's commitment to taxing gas consumers into efficiency seem especially admirable. ...

“With more and more British soldiers in Iraq going public about how ineffectual their presence is proving to be and the environment moving from green to red alert, it’s time we embarked on a global action plan to rebuild damaged environments and restore the entire global ecosystem to health and stability. For the next hundred years, we need to embark on a large-scale co-ordinated effort to restore the climate’s regulatory services that only healthy ecosystems can provide – this is the great work ahead for coming generations.”

The above quotation is the introduction to an article in the latest edition of Permaculture Magazine, written by Andreas Kornevall of the Earth Restoration Service, and entitled “Figuring Out How to Reframe the Military”. As the title suggests, Kornevall’s argument is centered around the idea of redirecting military funds and resources into global ecosystem restoration efforts for the greater good of all. Quoting figures from TreeHugger regular Lester Brown who, incidentally, has been described as "one of the world's most influential thinkers" by the Washington Post, Kornevall suggests that restoring the world’s ecosystems and stabilizing them for the future would cost around one tenth of current global military expenditure. The Earth Restoration Service has apparently long argued that the military is in a great position to start restoration initiatives, and in some limited cases are already doing so. The article cites examples of the US Army Corps of Engineers restoring the Florida Everglades, and the Indian army undertaking restoration projects throughout the sub continent. Kornevall argues that if the military were to take these tasks on as a more core part of their mission, they could find themselves with a new sense of value and fulfilment: ...

We have heard murmurs of guerilla gardening in London and other places; now this scourge has hit Toronto. Often under cover of night, they skulk around town, vandalizing public space with flowers. Working covertly they descend on neglected planters, traffic medians and forlorn strips of dirt and attack them with trowels, spoons and their bare hands, performing random acts of planting, often around billboards and bus shelters. "Its a subtle way of protesting public space being privatized and of demanding advertisers remove their mark from space that was meant for the people" Co-ordinator Lindsay Kelly told the National Post."Its a quieter way to make a statement". According to Eye, They attacked a plot in the club district. People would ask what they were doing. "People are inspired by the fact that you're doing it not because you're being paid or because it's where you live, but by the fact that you're doing things intrinsically," [activist Carly] Stasko says. "It's organic culture-jamming."...

One of the main arguments against banning incandescent bulbs in the States (everyone else is doing it) is fear of all that mercury getting into the environment. No matter that the amount of mercury is small and getting smaller, or that more mercury goes into teeth than into CFLs. The fact is, they are recyclable and none has to get into the environment. ...

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