- Emily Pilloton Discusses the Hippo Roller and other Designs for Humanity (Part One)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part Two)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part One)
- Andy Revkin - Climate in the Obama Age
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part Two)
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part One)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part Two)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part One)
Entries for August 5, 2007 - August 11, 2007
Total this week: 160
Should A Coal-Fired Power Plant Be Replaced Or Retrofitted?
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.11.07
"Cap and Trade" sounds so mushy. How would the average US voter have any idea at all whether he/she should vote for a Congressional or Presidential candidate who espouses C&T? You just want the nearest coal fired power plants to clean up enough to make life pleasant, fish not mercury contaminated, trees not killed by acid rain, asthma rates dropping, and climate stabilized. How might a specific Cap & Trade proposal translate to achieving those common values? At what point does the headline of this post get addressed? Using carbon dioxide as the pollutant we most need to reduce, and from which all else follows, work recently done by Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center researchers gives us a framework to begin to answer these questions.
Dalia Patiño-Echeverri, Benoît Morel, Jay Apt, and Chao Chen offer an excellent abstract of their recent paper:...
The Poor Urge Their Governments To Hug Fewer Trees
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.11.07
There's nothing like environmental research done by sociologists or economists to offer a challenge with narrative meaning. Here's one news reporter's take on some extremely interesting work by two University or Rochester, NY investigators:- "Research has shown that in countries with a wide disparity between rich and poor, environmental protection tends to be a lower priority. The inverse also is true: Countries with greater economic equality assign higher priority to safeguarding their environment. The main determining factor seems to be that lower-income people tend to vote against spending tax dollars on what are deemed costly or discretionary environmental projects. In countries with less disparity between rich and poor, such as throughout Scandinavia, environmental protection is assigned a higher priority and governments have enacted more stringent regulations and policies accordingly."
University of Rochester researchers Laura Marsiliani and Thomas Renstrom reviewed hundreds of academic studies of linkages between economic equality and environmental protection and found plenty of evidence to suggest that "poorer individuals tend to prefer less stringent environmental policy."
Or, maybe just Swedish cultural tradition does the job? Anyhow, have a look below the fold for the abstract of the actual work: Environmental Policy & Capital Movements: The Role Of Government Commitment. Now tell us: if you'd seen only the formal abstract, would you have taken the same impression of what the research meant? This work got us thinking, anyhow, about the recent controversy over 'why the environmental movement is dead.' ...
Safeway Agrees to Remove Carbon Monoxide Treated Meat
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.11.07
Score one for the good guys: after sustaining heavy criticism and pressure from a coalition of public interest groups and members of Congress, the retail titan Safeway conceded the public health risk posed by CO-treated meat and removed it from its shelves. As we've noted in the past (and as have many of you in the comments over the last few years), the FDA and Department of Agriculture have allowed large meat packers to inject CO in their meat products since 2004 to give them the appearance of looking fresh (even if they weren't).
Though the CO injections themselves likely don't present a poison risk, this practice poses a public health and, more importantly, consumer fraud hazard by misleading shoppers into thinking the damaged, old meat they are purchasing is still fresh and good to eat. A poll conducted by the Consumer Federation of America revealed that a majority of consumers equated meat color with its freshness. In the same poll, over 75% of consumers deemed the use of CO in meat deceptive and more than two-thirds of them said the meat should be labeled as such....
Human Planetary Impact in Pictures
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.11.07
As the old clichéd saying goes — a picture is worth a thousand words — so it goes with a set of stunning satellite images, dubbed "Earth from Space," collected by the Guardian and A&C Black. Displaying man's destructive impact on the planet, the set features images of a tsunami-ravaged Banda Aceh (seen above), the flooded Dongting Lake in China and deforestation in Brazil, amongst others. Scary stuff, though it's certainly amazing as well.
Via ::Guardian Unlimited: The Earth from Space (news website)
See also: ::Calendar of Climate Change 2007, ::Exposed: Climate Change Photography
...
One Year Ago in TH: Sexy Sustainability, Green Cars, Wind Turbines at Home and More
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.11.07
One year ago today at TreeHugger, we had our fingers in all sorts of pies. We were trying to keep up with Summer Rayne Oakes' pursuit of all things sexy, sustainable and stylish, which is no easy task. Equally difficult is coming up with a way to build a car-free infrastructure in a car-crazy world; until we can get there, why not develop a solar-powered plug-in biodiesel hybrid? Aerovironment, the company behind the sadly deceased EV1, has developed a small turbine that capitalizes on the way air tends to move in urban areas, and we thought it might be moving to a town near you (and might be handy for helping charge that car we described above).
Yao Ming, Michael Pollan, and 50 ways to save your water were all also on our radar a year ago; every story from August 11, 2006 is below the fold.
...
Coral Die-Offs Are Faster and More Widespread than Previously Thought
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.11.07
The news just keeps on getting worse for coral: having already reported on a string of studies predicting large-scale doom and destruction for these fragile organisms, we were dismayed to hear that those estimates may actually have been on the low-end. Indeed, a new study by John Bruno, a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina, and his colleagues has revealed that coral die-offs are more widespread and occurring faster than previously thought — at five times the rate of the rainforests' disappearance.
Bruno and his team of researchers spent 3 years compiling more than 6000 independent coral surveys of the Indo-Pacific region (which contains over 75% of the planet's coral reefs) — which spanned 40 years and recorded the condition of over 2600 reefs. After searching for historical and geographic loss patterns in the data, they concluded that over 3000 sq km of living coral reef had been lost each year and, more worryingly, that the rate of destruction was as rapid in protected habitats as it was in hard-hit areas like Australia's Great Barrier Reef. According to their findings, reports of widespread loss began appearing as early as the 1960s — previous research had indicated that serious losses had only begun appearing in the 1990s — and that the annual rate of reef disappearance quickly increased from 1% in the 1980s to 2% in the current decade. ...
The River Cottage Meat Book: For Carnivores with a Conscience
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.11.07
We’ve looked at the huge climate impact of meat, and cattle farming in particular, before. It’s even lead to some passionate debate over on our forums as to whether vegans in Hummers are greener than meat-eaters in hybrids. But what's a treehugger to do if they are not ready to give up meat completely? The first step might be to look at our thoughts for making meat go further (meat reductionism, as one commenter calls it). The second step might be to get hold of The River Cottage Meat Book by UK-based TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The author is a long-time advocate of natural, sustainable farming, and has made a career our of TV shows charting his own experiences with wild foods, and with small holding. His efforts have spurned a cottage industry named, appropriately enough, River Cottage, providing courses and events focused on all aspects of traditional, sustainable food production. The book itself is perhaps the only meat-based recipe book that we have seen to open with a full page photographic study of how a cow is slaughtered (one of Hugh’s own herd), and a good 50 pages of discussion on the rights and wrongs of eating meat, as well as ways to choose good meat, should you decide to do so. This extract from the introduction gives some indication of the seriousness with which the author treats his subject:
...
Biosculptures: Filtering Water the Natural Way
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 08.11.07
Biosculptures™ are living sculptures that use the capacity of carefully chosen plants to clean and filter water. They can be modified to function in different contexts--at smaller scale to clean household or office graywater, at larger scale as parts of water remediation systems for wetlands, rivers, rural and urban stormwater runoff. This is the work of Jackie Brookner who collaborates with ecologists, urban planners, and communities to create these biosculptures.
These vegetated sculptures are intended to seed a sense of connection to worlds beyond the human and to encourage understanding that is it possible to sustain human life in ways that benefit natural systems, rather than degrade them.The image above is called The Gift of Water and it functions as a part of a constructed wetland filtration system. Two mossy cupped hands reach from the bank into the pond. As water flows into the hands a misting fountain aerates it and moistens the mosses, which in turn, purify the water. It was was commissioned by the town of Grossenhain, near Dresden, Germany. It is used in the new public swimming complex, where the water is filtered entirely by wetland plants, without the use of chlorine or any other chemicals....
Ford to Attempt Land Speed Record in Fuel Cell Car
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 08.11.07
Peek under the hood of the Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 where the engine should be and you will see...a tub of ice? Does this car run on water? Not quite. Ford's land speed record vehicle has a few, um, modifications. After all, it just has to be fast for seven miles. So fast that the hydrogen fuel cells powering the record attempt will melt through the full 400 lbs. of ice during the car's short spurt.
Engineers are aiming to break the 200mph barrier. The car will borrow its electric motor (770 hp) from Ohio State student engineers who created the Buckeye Bullet, land speed record holder for electric cars. Four of the Ballard fuel cells used in the Ford Focus FCV are stacked into the 999 to provide the 350kW needed to break the double century. ...
TreeHugger Radio: High-Tech Yurts, Satellite Seals, and The 11th Hour
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 08.10.07
This week we take a look at the new film The 11th Hour, the local focus of this year’s Farm Aid concert, and some oceanographic temperature-taking done with the help of seals. We also talk to Vinay Gupta, the creator of the Hexayurt, a portable survival structure for refugees. Subscribe to TreeHugger Radio on iTunes or listen/right click to download. ::TreeHugger Radio ...
Black Footed Ferret Rescued From Doom
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.10.07
"The black-footed ferret, once the rarest mammal in the world, has made an astonishing comeback in the U.S. state of Wyoming after a captive breeding program, researchers said on Thursday. An estimated 223 of the weasel-like animals are busy hunting prairie dogs in the Shirley Basin area, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Science. The animals are all descended from seven ferrets rescued in 1986, Martin Grenier of the University of Wyoming and colleagues reported."
Reportedly, ranchers are supportive of the recovery effort in part because of their disdain for Prairie Dogs, primary prey of the Black Footed Ferret. Without the "dogs" no ferrets. This calls for balance. Next thing you know ranchers will learn to like the American Bison - and we'll be headed toward what researchers call "ecosystem recovery."
See photo of Black Tailed Prairie Dogs, and publication summary from Science Magazine below the fold.
Via:: Reuters, UK, Rare Black-Footed Ferrets Make Comeback Image credits:: Smithsonian, National Zoo, Black Footed Ferret Kits and The National Biological Information Infrastructure, Paul Marinen, and National Park Service, Wind Cave National Park Blacktail Prairie Dog...
Last Chance To Go To Burning Man
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 08.10.07
There is only 1 day left to Participate!, TreeHugger and Current TV's contest to get you - and your best eco-idea - to Burning Man. As a part of this year's theme, "The Green Man", Burning Man is looking for the best open-source ideas to help green the way we live, eat, drive, build, etc. So, what's your best open-source idea? Send it to: contest [at] treehugger [dot] com by 11:59pm EST tomorrow, August 11th, and you could win 2 tickets to Burning Man, the Burning Book, and a chance to be featured on Current TV's "TV Free Burning Man" coverage of the event. But, we do need to see what you are working on, so be sure to send us a 3D (preferable) or 2D image with your idea. Now, go Participate!
...
Using GPS to Track Global Warming
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.10.07
One tricky aspect of measuring the rate of melting of Greenland and Antarctica's huge ice sheets has been accounting for an effect known as "post-glacial rebound" of the Earth's crust. This effect — which occurs when the crust is relieved of the burden of ice — manifests itself as a shifting and springing back of the planet's crust.
In an effort to correct for this effect, an international team of scientists are mounting the first expedition to install 24 GPS stations around Greenland's coast. They will be able to monitor even minute vertical and lateral changes in the Earth's crust — which they'll beam out as readings. To make sure they stay continuously powered, the scientists will be equipping them with large battery packs and solar panels. The first station was successfully installed last week near Ilulissat, on the west coast, by the team — comprising members from Denmark, the U.S. and Luxembourg — with the next one to follow near Kulusuk, on the east coast. ...
Wired's Artifacts from the Future: Fusion Food
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.10.07
Click here for a larger image
Possibly coming to a produce store near you: Monsanto's Cinna-Del, the only GM apple that expresses both cinnamon and sugar, only $26.99 per kilo! Or how about Skippy's Creamy JonaNut, "all the great taste and texture of a Jonathan apple, intermingled with the elements of rich Skippy peanut butter"?
And Mama mia, check out those luscious Pizzamatoes, exhibiting the characteristics of basil, garlic, and oregano.(People of the future, liberate yourselves from your spice-rack oppressors!)
By comparison, those pears in the corner seem positively staid. ::Wired
See also: ::GM Food Debates Heats Up with Global Warming, ::Extreme Makeover: Genetically Modified Apples, and How Can We Make Sure We Stay GM-Free?
...
Home on the Coat Range
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.10.07
For the mountain man or woman in all of us, Brave Space's Coat Range is a beautiful way to put waste materials to work. "Using excess material from cut sheets, we've exposed the Maple interior signifying the snow-capped mountain peaks of the Grand Tetons (you know what that name is supposed to translate as, right?). In contrast with the dark tones of the walnut, this coat hook will bring a functional, natural landscape into your home." We love the depth that both vertical and horizontal relief give each peak, and while they might appear DIY-able, we think it'd take a lot more than a circular saw and an afternoon to put something like this together. Plus, a design like this doesn't illicit the same kind of moral dilemma that something like the Off coat hanger/light switch would. Available from ::Brave Space Design via ::Designspotter...
Ozone Hinders Plants' Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.10.07
Ozone — best known for filtering out harmful UV light as a component of the Earth's stratosphere — could dramatically reduce plants' ability to act as a carbon sink and thus cause further accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to a new study published in Nature. In addition to damaging human tissues (particularly those of the respiratory system), ground-level ozone has the ability to harm cells inside leaves, reducing photosynthesis rates and thus hindering plants' ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This would both contribute to the intensification of global warming's effects and the reduction of global crop yields by slashing plant productivity.
The team of researchers, led by the Hadley Center for Climate Protection and Research's Stephen Sitch, calculated the effect of higher ozone levels in 2100 on carbon dioxide concentration and plant production — projecting these higher levels to cut plants' carbon storage accumulation by 143 - 263 petagrams (in other words, a reduction of 17 - 31% in the amount of carbon stored by the plants). ...
A Very Special Interspecial Reunion
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.10.07
Kitchen Cart by Muji -- There's a Whole Kitchen in There!
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.10.07
TreeHugger is a fan of smart use of a compact space, making a lot from a little and creating function from a previously unused area. You get all of that from this handy little kitchen cart from Muji. The erstwhile "Japanese IKEA" has managed to nearly fit an entire kitchen into this diminutive cart, giving you a flat workspace, two drawers, a double-door cabinet and shelving on the back. It probably wouldn't do for a family of five, but would be indispensable in something like the Micro-Compact Home. As we continue to aim to pare down living to maximize function and minimize extraneous stuff, objects like this kitchen kart will become increasingly important and valuable. It's available from the MoMA store now; New Yorkers can pick one up at the new Muji store starting later this year. ::MoMA via ::Blue Ant Studio...
Clarkson Trashes G-Wiz - G-Wiz Fights Back
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.10.07
“And now let us move on to what happens when you let a bunch of nitwits take charge of the greenhouse gas debate. The G-Wiz.”
We think it would be fair to say that Jeremy Clarkson, Britain’s most prominent motoring journalist, doesn’t like the increasingly popular all-electric G-Wiz. But then Clarkson isn’t known for his environmental sensibilities – he was recently in trouble for leaving huge track marks across the Makgadikgadi salt pans in Botswana after driving various off-road vehicles across it whilst filming a TV show, apparently causing damage that is expected to last for decades.
Apparently back from his ‘ecotourism’ escapades, Clarkson decided to road test the G-Wiz for the Times Newspaper. His review was, unsurprisingly, less than complimentary. After a protracted rant about why science isn’t taught properly in schools any more, Jeremy goes on to pick the little EV apart, piece by piece. His main complaint being the size and speed of the thing:
...
International Development Design Summit: Design to Save the World
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.10.07
Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan
Advances in technology -- increased solar efficiency, electric cars that work, that kind of thing -- have the potential to do a lot of good for the world, but sometimes it's best to cut back on the complexity and concentrate on some simple ways that design can improve the world. A handful of these simple solutions for complex problems were on display this week at the first International Development Design Summit. For example, the problem: More than a billion people -- almost one-fifth of the world's population -- lack access to safe drinking water, according to the United Nations. The solution: a transparent plastic backpack (pictured above), which uses heat and ultraviolet rays from the sun to disinfect the water inside....
Tesla's Battery Pack is Approved for Use in Consumer Vehicles by U.N.
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.10.07
Tesla Motors — the company whose stunning electric car we just can't seem to get enough of — has taken another step towards its goal of commencing deliveries of the 2008 Tesla Roadster to customers by this fall (but don't set your sights on getting one right away). Its Energy Storage System (ESS) successfully met all of the UN Testing Protocol's safety requirements — which included altitude simulation, thermal cycling, vibration, shock and external short circuit. The vehicle's power pack consists of 11 battery modules, a 12-V DC-DC power supply and a main control and logic board.
The ESS power pack, which consists of thousands of lithium-ion cells, has multiple layers of protection and a level of redundancy that limit the potential for short circuit currents. This is because each cell has an internal positive temperature coefficient (PTC) current limiting device. Each cell is also equipped with a current interrupt device (CID) that can break and electrically disconnect it in case of an excessive internal pressure incident prompted by over-heating (the car uses a 50-50 mix of water and glycol for cooling purposes). Because each cell has two fuses (one for the anode and one for the cathode), it can also separate itself electrically from the pack if either fuse blows. ...
Comedy Central wants you to "Address the Mess"
by Erin Courtenay - Madison, WI on 08.10.07
“Kooky,” “silly,” “wacky” and “fun” are words that rarely find their way into the ‘environmental discourse’ (snore…) but Comedy Central is banking on changing that with their newly launched “Address the Mess” campaign. The campaign includes freshly published AddressTheMess.com, a site incorporating eco-themed tidbits from everyone’s favorite “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful, intelligent and utterly absurd” talk show host Stephen Colbert to clips from the raunch-meisters on South Park. AddressTheMess.com also borrows (ahem!) some TreeHugger snark to offer tips on addressing the mess in your own home and sticks to topics that should have traction with an environmentally "green" audience (recycling electronics, eco-driving and at-home conservation). The folks at CC are planning to address environmental issues across viewing platforms including the live stand up tours. Sounding pretty groovey, eh? but wait! I haven’t even gotten to the best part – their first carbon neutral production is (drum roll please…) "Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav!" Via:: Hollywood Reporter...
X-48B Blended Wing Body Research Aircraft Has Lift-Off
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.10.07
The X-48B Blended Wing Body research aircraft — a joint effort by Boeing, NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program and the Air Force Research Laboratory — took off for the first time a few weeks ago, on July 20, 2007, climbing to an altitude of 7,500 ft before landing approximately 31 min later. This plane — a prototype blended wing body (BWB) research aircraft — closely resembles a flying wing though it differs in having its wing blend into a flat, tailless fuselage. This allows the aircraft to gain additional left with less drag — which leads to reduced fuel usage at ideal cruise conditions.
Powered by 3 JetCat P200 turbojet engines, the remote piloted and composite-skinned 500-pound, 21-foot wingspan X-48B can fly up to 10,000 ft and 120 knots in a low-speed configuration and deliver a 27% reduction in fuel consumed per seat mile compared to a conventional aircraft. A pilot located in a ground control station can remotely pilot the vehicle with the help of a forward-looking camera on board by using conventional aircraft controls ...
Survey: Making Greener Cars- Tax or Regulate?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.10.07
TreeHugger was dismissive of the car manufacturers' attempts to stop the increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) minimums, but Ford CEO Alan Mulally, makes a very interesting point: "The way to get at it is to make an economic decision like they do in Europe our behavior would change dramatically." He continues: "I have never seen a market-distorting policy like CAFE," Mulally said. "It's a policy that forces you to put out more small cars than there is consumer demand for to make the bigger cars that people really do want. You're trying to force the market instead of being market-driven." Mulally said U.S. Rep. John Dingell's recent proposal of a 50-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline is an option worth considering. "I just think it's so important that we all join in this debate and we really decide what we want to do about energy security and global warming," Mulally said "A piece of that could be a tax."
So instead of regulating what is available to purchase via CAFE, he is suggesting that the price of gas be taxed to the point where people will demand smaller, more efficient cars. Let the market do the job. ::Detroit News via ::Environmental Economics
...
A Visit to "TransPlastic" by Campana Brothers
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 08.10.07
Photo credit: All images by Ed Reeve, courtesy of The Artist and Albion, London.
Collin wrote about this exhibition of new work by the Campana Brothers back in June, but I am so enthused by my visit to this show today at the Albion Gallery in London, that I want to share some more images and my thoughts about the "TransPlastic" project. This really is wicker gone mad! These amazing hybrid forms effortlessly cross design, sculpture and art installation boundaries to create new sustainable forms. As Collin told us these creations are made using the Brazilian vine "Apuí" which is removed by hand from the forests to prevent it from suffocating the surrounding trees. It is amazing to see how the Campanas have designed these organic forms to reflect the behaviour of the material in nature, albeit in a totally abstract way. The forms insinuate growth around a foreign object that threatens to suffocate it. As you look at these objects you can well imagine the wicker continuing to grow across the floor, walls and ceiling of the gallery....
Recipe of the Week: Soba Noodle Salad
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 08.10.07
In many parts of Canada the August long weekend is the real party weekend of the summer season. Normally I carefully guard my quiet cottage retreat, but I happily have company at this time of the year.
This past weekend we had both old and new friends and had a great time eating and drinking red wine and enjoying the lake. I always ask company to provide one meal but this weekend both couples brought so much food I didn't really cook all weekend. The recipe I want to share with you today is a fabulous soba noodle salad which Sarah Bonsall and Robert Oullette brought. It was such a hit that we were all cruising the refrigerator over the weekend looking for any leftovers. Sarah and Robert left some extra dressing with us and I have since mixed it into a tomato pasta sauce and used it as a dressing for a green salad.
Recently the recipe of the week has been about quick and easy suppers so don't be alarmed at the number of ingredients. It may not be like the super fast recipes I've been writing about but it is easy and straight forward. This is a great party dish - perfect for buffets, barbeques, pot luck dinners, picnics or family gatherings. I'm off to a pot luck dinner tomorrow night and this will be my contribution....
California Allocates $15 Million for School Gardens!
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08.10.07
Why are these kids smiling? Well, they may have just heard that the state of California has taken the lead in the world of school gardening by allocating $15 million to help foster more gardens in the state’s 6,000 schools where kids can learn more about protecting the environment and eating healthier as well. And both parents and teachers are excited about the concept, as three weeklong “School Garden Summer Training” seminars by the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center were filled to capacity, with some hopeful participants being turned away for lack of space. Parents and teachers spent the week learning about topics ranging from sheet mulching and permaculture to preparing vegetarian meals that taste great and kids will like... ...
Milliken Magic (Greener) Carpet Ride
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 08.10.07
You’ve probably seen Milliken Carpet on the Cleaner and Greener certified list and their campaign to plant trees with a click for the Georgia Arbor Day festivities. Milliken continues with their sustainable practices by carrying out life cycle assessments of their carpet products. Their website says they’ve, “used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for years to track upstream and downstream impacts along with inputs and outputs in raw materials and energy to make our products and affiliated processes more sustainable.” The company has a No Carpet Landfill Pledge through which they report zero waste to landfill since 1999. They take back your old carpet and evaluate the best options for recycling and recovery: renewal through their product called Earth Square tiles that are 100% post consumer product, donations for charitable reuse, recycling into new products or energy cogeneration of unusable waste components.
Apart from closing the loop at the end-of-life phase they also screen all resources and materials for better alternatives, they operate using Design for the Environment or ecodesign principles, and through their LCA experiences they created their “TractionBack” bio-based, adhesive free installation system. It looks like Milliken is using life cycle assessment to create a better and greener business. You can read more about how they extend their product life cycle here. More on greener carpets and rugs here. Image credit: Milliken Floor Coverings. ...
How To Make Sustainable Housing Happen
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.10.07
In North America, the developers offer you monster houses on tract lots. If you want to buy small or green the pickings are thin, and you often have to do it yourself, in the middle of nowhere. Financing? Good luck. Young without an inheritance or a job as a hedge fund manager? Forget it.
Or, you could live in Britain, where there are development companies like Living Space 21 with mission statements like "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs" and offering "really affordable, contemporary new homes ideal for First Time Buyers" that are designed to fit on 400 square feet of land. Furthermore, unlike anything in North America, they come with a bank that will finance 95% of the project, including land purchase and will finance you even if you build it yourself. Don't have land? In Britain they have Plotsearch, set up specifically to help people find lots on which to self-build. Sophisticated stuff: "PlotAlert via email or SMS ensures you are instantly alerted if a plot or renovation opportunity matching your criteria becomes available."...
Chef Dave Lieberman Hosts "Green Party" in Hollywood
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 08.10.07
Looking to rub elbows with some well known chefs? Today is your last chance to purchase tickets to a “Green Party” at the Hollywood Hills home of Food Network’s Dave Lieberman. Sponsored by Food & Wine Magazine, the event will take place this coming Wednesday, August 15th from 7-9pm. Tickets are $100 per person with proceeds benefiting Food & Wine's Grow for Good campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise $1 million for Farm to Table, a national initiative dedicated to supporting local farms and encouraging sustainable agriculture. Farm to Table, with the help of the Grow for Good Campaign, has plans to: work toward saving up to 1,500 farms, expand its program to 25 states across the country, and provide education, tools and technology to help small farmers implement more sustainable practices (to name a few). Los Angeles area chefs that will be participating in the event include Akasha Richmond, Akasha; Dominique Crenn, Abode; Sang Yoon, Father's Office; and Michael Cimarusti, Providence. We’re a big fan of young, celebrity chef Lieberman and would love to hear from those that went to the event! ::Grow for Good Photo courtesy of ::Dave Cooks...
A Highway-Ready EV for Under $30,000? Keep An Eye on the ZAP Alias
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 08.10.07
After announcing its plans to commercialize the 644-horsepower ZAP-X electric SUV, ZAP has another miracle up its sleeve. The Alias will be a zoomy two-seater with two wheels in front and one in back. The Alias will absorb a significant portion of the advanced technology that Lotus Engineering has already developed for the ZAP-X, including wheel hub motors and lithium polymer batteries. The Zap Alias is expected to go 100 miles to a charge with a top speed of 100 mph, and according to ZAP CEO Steve Schneider, the Alias will cost $30,000 or less. Neither the ZAP-X nor the Alias have a firm release date yet, but ZAP says the Alias will become available before the X. Because it is a three-wheeler, the Alias bypasses many of the DOT regulatory hurdles that apply to a full-fledged car. (more pics after the jump)...
Die Moto - 130mph on Bio-Diesel
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08.10.07
Made from a BMW motorbike and a BMW car engine mashed together, the DIE Moto emits 78% percent less net CO2 than a standard diesel engine and can hit 130mph. Who said being green had to mean not having fun? It will run on standard diesel, biodiesel, or straight vegetable oil (SVO).
The makers, an industrial-arts group in California, called the Crucible, are hoping to get it up to 160mph at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats next month, which would put it up there with the Tesla Roadster in any list of desirable-but-green transport options. It would also get it in the record books for the fastest diesel motorbike, an amazing feat considering that this is still a street-legal bike.
...
Green Branding and Marketing: Who's Out In Front?
by Jerry Stifelman, The Change, Chapel Hill, NC on 08.10.07
[This is the last in a series of five guest posts looking at the importance of brand strategy and effective marketing for green and ethical businesses. For post one, click here, for post two, click here, for post three, click here, and you'll find post four here.]
OK, to conclude our posts about good-for-the-world branding, we’re going to call out the brands that best exemplify the qualities we discussed. Think of it as the Oscars of green branding, only no acceptance speeches or silly statues. (To avoid anything that smells of self-promotion, we’re not including any brands that our company works with.)
RELEVANCE & PERSONALITY AWARD. For those who haven't read the other posts in this series — by relevance, we mean finding points of intersection between sustainability and values that are more deeply entrenched in our culture ( you know, like aligning your branding with people’s existing values, rather than trying to make them care about something new). Ben & Jerry's does this beautifully. People like brands that are fun, happy, true to themselves and avoid pretense, and this is what Ben & Jerry's manages to be so well. They took a stand on global warming when it was more politically contentious, and they did it brilliantly. Instead of lecturing people or scaring them, they came out with an initiative centered on an ice cream flavor, One Sweet Whirled, and a song by the Dave Matthews Band (staying true to Cherry Garcia-jam band association heritage). And they did this 4 years before Al Gore broke out his Inconvenient Truth. They have since entrenched their leadership position by sponsoring Ben and Jerry’s Climate Change College, and by giving away free ice cream to anyone who signs up for a renewable energy tariff with UK company Ecotricity. They are a superb role model for how to reach beyond the choir.
...
Tykes On Bikes
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.10.07
"They love cycling, particularly the younger kids, aged nine and 11. They prefer to cycle than to catch the bus or get a ride with Mum," says a mother of four. Whilst a former pediatric intensive-care nurse believes that cycling can benefit young drivers, observing that most teenagers "haven't had any gradual education about roads and traffic and movement" which cycling provides. Because as one teaches notes "We've got boys who eat fish and chips and drink Coke all day and who can barely sit on a bike, couldn't ride more than a kilometre and who don't know how to change gears." Such are just a smattering of comments from a great piece in the Sydney Morning Herald about how to get more kids out on their bikes. The article does a quick round-up of programs that are working to encourage more children (and their parents) into the saddle. And the reasons for the push are many and varied. Health and lower levels of childhood obesity. Fitness. An appreciation of traffic and roads rules. Reduced traffic congestion. Minimising greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing skills levels. Fostering potential future cycle racers. Developing mobility freedom. The story mentions programs like Bike to School, Ride2School, and the Community and Road Education Scheme (C.A.R.E.S) as examples of how bike skills can be imparted to kids eager to feel the wind in their helmet slots. The Victorian goverment sponsored Ride2School initiative has received $4 million AUD in funding and has a 15 point plan for the successful roll out of similar ventures. And other states are taking notice. For as the aforementioned teacher put it, "Not every kid is suited to rowing a boat or kicking a football, [...] but they all love riding their bikes". Via ::The Sydney Morning Herald....
Province Of Ontario Canada Plans To Close All Coal-Fired Plants
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.10.07
"The province of Ontario, Canada's biggest energy user, aims to close its last coal-fired power plant in 2014 and become the only jurisdiction in North America to completely phase out coal, a strategy that some critics deride as reckless and others say is overly timid. The coal plan is the major plank in the climate change policy of Ontario's Liberal government, which is well aware of the recent growth in voter concern about global warming....The Liberal government, elected in 2003, wants to refurbish existing nuclear plants, which now represent about 37 percent of installed power, and possibly build new ones. It also plans to push conservation, reinvest in renewable supply sources such as wind power, and boost by 15 percent its reliance on natural gas to supplement what's lost from coal."
In results that would be shocking to US citizens, the story also mentioned that "A poll of Ontario voters conducted last month found concerns about pollution and global warming trumped all other issues, including health care."
So, all sounded good until we got to this line:- "Ontario is unique in Canada in that summer represents peak demand, when it imports electricity from neighboring provinces and U.S. states." Ontario has continued to protest plans by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to relax emission rules for coal-fired generating stations - making the Ontario plan less bone-headed than it might otherwise seem. Yet, what of neighboring Canadian provinces?
Via: Reuters, Ontario Walks Tightrope... Image credit:: CAE Alliance
...
R.I.P. China's Baiji: The First Dolphin To Be Made Extinct By People
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 08.10.07
After long suffering from the effects of human activity at its home in the Yangtze River, China's famed White River Dolphin, or Baiji, is "likely extinct" according to a report in this month's edition of the journal Biology Letters. The determination was made half a year ago, after an expedition to find the graceful and intelligent dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) was unsuccessful. This could be the first global extinction of megafauna—a creature larger than about 200 pounds (100 kilograms)—for more than 50 years, since the disappearance of the Caribbean monk seal, the fourth disappearance of an entire mammal family since 1500, and the very first dolphin to face human-driven extinction. It's estimated the baiji''s lived for 20 million years. "It's been here longer than the Andes Mountains have been on Earth," said marine biologist Barbara Taylor.
In his 1988 Last Chance to See, Hitchhiker Guide-author Douglas Adams compared the baiji's plight, mostly due to fishing in the Yangtze, to that of "a deaf man in a discotheque": 'All the stroboscopic lights and flares and mirrors and lasers and things. Constantly confusing information. After a day or two you'd become completely bewildered and disoriented and start to fall over the furniture.'...
Fun without Electricity: The Perseid Meteor Shower
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.10.07
A Perseid fireball photographed August 12, 2006, by Pierre Martin of Arnprior, Ontario, Canada
We can't forget the fifth grader who said “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.” This weekend kids can see a show better than anything powered by an electrical outlet, some real TreeHugger fun, the Perseid meteor shower. It happens every year around August 12, but is often washed out by the moon. This year should be perfect: there is not much of a moon, and Mars is just below Perseus, giving you a great target. (the meteors are all over the sky, but all seem to radiate from Perseus). The peak will be Sunday night midnight through Monday morning at 2:00 AM (all times local) where you might see 60 meteors an hour.
...
Really Trashy Umbrellas
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.10.07
This continues to be the worst and rainiest "summer" in years; even if it starts out looking good in the morning, and you think that it will be a proper summer day, no matter what you wear, the rain keeps coming. So an umbrella seems to be the most prudent purchase. If you need a new one to perk up your spirits, here's a sunny suggestion; bright and colourful and made out of recycled detergent packets that were cut, collaged, and carefully sewn together. The edges are lined and the handle is wood.
Monsoon Vermont make products out of garbage such as shower curtains, hand bags wallets and waste baskets; all collected by scavengers in Indonesia. They use plastic based products that will never degrade, like detergent packets, and would otherwise sit in landfill sites for hundreds of years. The Scavenger Project is the creation of Julia Gennatosio, an aid worker who visited Jakarta Indonesia in 2005 and saw people scavenging through rubbish heaps looking for food, and other 'valuable' items. Now they work with scavenger artists to fund a clean water programme in the slums. :: Monsoon Vermont via :: Hippyshopper
...
Lunar-Resonant Streetlights
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.10.07
People who live in cities are rarely aware of the natural cycles in the sky; even the moon, powerful enough to read by, is barely noticed. The Civil Twilight Design Collective won the Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition with this wonderful idea: "
Lunar resonant streetlights sense and respond to ambient moonlight, dimming and brightening each month as the moon cycles through its phases. Utilizing available moonlight, rather than overwhelming it, saves energy and mitigates light pollution, while facilitating the urban experience of one of the most fundamental and beautiful cycles of nature."
They note that streetlights account for 38% of all electricity used for lighting in the US, and that 2/3 of Americans can no longer see the stars. A combination of LEDs and lunar resonance could save 90% of this electricity, and kids could see stars again. ::Lunar Resonant Streetlights via ::PSFK...
Keep Cool With a USB Powered Necktie Fan
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.10.07
Companies are turning up the thermostat or even turning off the air conditioning to save energy, as well they should; but some of them still want you to wear ties to work. Here is the answer, from Japan of course: a stylish clip-on tie with a fashionable big knot with built-in fan to keep you cool at your desk, tethered as you are by the tie's USB connection to your computer. Keeps you comfortable and tied to your desk all day long; your boss should hand them out to everyone. Made of easy-to-clean silicone, never have a stain on your tie again. ::Thanko via ::SciFiTech...
When Art Rolls In From The Sea
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 08.10.07
Sure, designers reuse wood and turn parts of old furniture into new items, but still, leftovers get sawed off and end up as scrap. Unlike useful objects, such as chairs and tables, works of art can be created from a hodgepodge of parts that don’t necessarily have to fit together. Take Uri Eliaz’s work for example. The Jaffa artist with a studio on Rehov Eilat in south Tel Aviv, has built a small army of sculptures from found objects he collected at sea. It blew our mind when we were confronted by the hundreds of sculptures waiting patiently on the first floor of the studio. Made us feel like we entered some sort of creepy Tim Burton flick. ...
Cities Egg On Thunderstorms: Increase Flooding
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 08.10.07
Image: Rick Morley, www.rickmorleyphotos.com
I have vivid childhood memories of visiting my grandmothers house in rural/suburban Pennsylvania, where besides chasing the fireflies, we would revel in the warm summer evening thunderstorms. Turns out that children in the city may get more than their fair share of lightning, rain, and flooding. Alexandros A. Ntelekos and James A. Smith of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science determined that cities create conditions that encourage increased rainfall during severe storms. Looking at a severe storm in Baltimore in 2004, their research shows the city experienced 30% more rainfall than it would if there was no city structure.
Given the rise of more severe weather events, associated run-off problems found in modern cities, and the strain on drainage systems, this research spells out increased likelihood of flooding similar to what was seen in New York this past week. The scientists found two key elements that cause the increased rain -and it's not the well known heat-island effect. ...
Hybrid-Electric Cars: How They Work, Battery Technology and More
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 9.07
Ed. note: This is now the fifth post in the Green Basics series of posts that TreeHugger is writing to provide basic information about important ideas, materials and technologies for new greenies (or those who just need a quick refresher). Read on and stay tuned!
How do hybrid cars work?
One of the most symbolic and popular symbols of the "green" movement is the hybrid-electric car, known better as simply the hybrid car. These vehicles extend the functionality of traditional internal combustion engines by combining them with a battery-powered electric motor, which takes some of the work off the combustion engine's hands. This allows the cars similar performance to a comparable conventional car with a much smaller gasoline engine, and an overall increase in fuel efficiency. Contrary to what some people think, these hybrid cars do not need to be plugged in to charge up the batteries. ...
Latin American Banana Farmers Sue Over Pesticides
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 9.07
Photo credit: Bethany King
At least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama have filed five lawsuits in the United States. The farmers claim that exposure in the 1970s to dibromochlorpropane (DBCP), a pesticide banned in the United States in 1979 for its reproductive toxicity, left them bereft of the pitter-patter of little feet.
Classified by the U.S. Environmental Agency as a "probable human carcinogen," DBCP is a fumigant designed to eradicate a worm that infests the roots of banana trees and causes the fruit to develop a mottled appearance. (As if American supermarket shoppers would tolerate blemished bananas. The nerve.)
"This is the first time any case for a banana worker has come before a U.S. court," Duane Miller, one of the attorneys representing more than 30 Nicaraguan plaintiffs who worked on plantations from 1964 to 1990, tells BusinessWeek....
Ask the EcoGeek: Walking Worse than Driving? No.
by EcoGeek.org on 08. 9.07
Dear EcoGeek,
I just saw a kinda disturbing article on fark.com and wondered what you would think of it. Could walking really be worse of the environment than driving?
- Seulswalker
Seulswalker,
When I read your question, I assumed that there was no way the article had any credibility... that it was written by an angsty high school student who was sick of people telling him what to do. But I was wrong, and that is scary.
Someone took the results of a scientific study on how inefficient our food production system is, did some really bad math, and then found themselves a glorious headline that would send shock waves throughout the blogosphere. You could call it sensationalism...I just call it evil.
Here's the "scientific" basis for their thesis:
"Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg of CO2 to the atmosphere ... If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You'd need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving."
Now I hope we can all see some gaping holes here, but maybe not all of them at first glance. So let's go through the five I came up with one by one....
The TH Interview: Alyce Santoro
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 08. 9.07
When science jumps the fence into art, definitions get all screwy. Alyce Santoro’s training in biology couldn’t make room for her sense of wonder, so she split. Now, her work ranges from bizarre physical hybrids to elegant recycled textiles. She is the maverick weaver behind Sonic Fabric (a commercially produced musical cloth) and was recently featured in Sundance’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet. Brooklyn couldn’t hold her so she replanted herself in the mountains of West Texas to live sustainably and let her art wander. So what is her work trying to tell us? “It's just about how crazy it is that we're here at all.” To listen to this interview, click here or right click to download. TreeHugger: Artistically you've got a really broad palette. Your work takes all different forms: some of this has social commentary, it also draws on scientific sources like string theory and Buckminster Fuller. Are you able to describe the things that you make? Is there a common thread that runs through? ...
Yahoo! Wants You to Be a Green Icon
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 9.07
What graphic symbolizes "green" to you? The green arrows of the recycling sign? Or some other green certification, like the organic symbol? Yahoo! is looking for a new green icon to help signify and flag greener things you can do all over their network of sites -- "everything from making green purchases to finding the most fuel-efficient cars" -- and is giving away some cash as an incentive; $30,000 in total, to go to the winners' favorite environmental charity. Says their blog, "You don’t have to be a professional to design an icon. You just have to make a clear, strong visual sign for 'green' and send it in. The chosen design will be seen possibly billions of times on Yahoo!’s product pages, by a global audience of more than 500 million people..." wow! They're accepting designs until September 18, and then their global audience will vote and pick the winner, which will be announced on September 26. All the details and further info, including how to submit your entry, is here, so once you're able to get over the possibility of your design getting eyed billions of times, put pen to paper and good luck! ::Yahoo!'s Be a Green Icon and ::Yahoo! Anecdotal...
No Green Carpet for Emmys
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 9.07
Fox just got the rug pulled out from under them, so to speak. The broadcasting company, which has been crowing about how "eco-friendly and carbon-neutral" next month's 59th Primetime Emmys will be, has been denied its request to change the color of the stars' walkway into the Shine Auditorium to something a little more verdant.
"They are so bound by 'this is how it's always done' that it's like moving mountains trying to get them to agree," an insider working on the telecast told TV Week....
GoLoco Hits Facebook
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 08. 9.07
With the social networking site Facebook recently opening up their platform to external applications, many organizations and companies are taking advantage of the social connection that Facebook thrives on. We previously covered attempts to use Facebook for green networking and carpooling, but now old TreeHugger favorites GoLoco are getting in the act with a Facebook application for their own carpooling service. The new GoLoco application gives a whole new set of folks access to all of GoLoco's carpooling goodness, including their privacy controls, payment options and CO2 calculations. GoLoco's founder Robin Chase is looking to Facebook as a way to connect with a diverse groups of potential users.
We always considered Facebook's first users -- university students -- to be part of our early adopting demographic. They care about saving money, they want to take action on climate change, and they have totally understood the power and joy of social networking. It is Facebook's second wave of users-- those that they have targeted since cornering the university market -- that we will be bringing to them: commuters, conference attendees, businesses and cities....
This Week at Sundance: Flat-Pack and Prefab
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 9.07
This week at TreeHugger's blog at the Sundance Channel, it's all about flat-pack. If it can slip inside an envelope or slide under the door, we want it, as we took a look at the design philosophy that cuts down on materials, shipping and construction costs and impact. We took a stroll down memory lane with a peek at a few of TreeHugger's favorite furniture flat packs and modern prefabs, and gave a nod to the future, when we all might just become the designer and builder of our own homes, furniture and other products. Tune in tomorrow for a closer look at some of the flat-packing designs available at ply Design, cruise through the archives to get caught up, and read a new entry every weekday at ::Sundance Channel's TreeHugger blog
...
Office Depot: Going Green at Work
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 9.07
Office supply megastore Office Depot has three environmental aspirations: to "Buy Green," "Be Green" and "Sell Green." As part of their 20th anniversary celebration, they've upped their ante to the green business world with a series of documents, publications and lists designed to help themselves and their customers be a little greener. They've published a "Guide to Buying Green", a fairly comprehensive guide for incorporating more recycled material, more non-toxic ingredients, and more modular (e.g. replaceable parts, refillable pens) parts into your office supplies; a companion, of sorts, to their "Green Book" catalog of "environmentally-preferable products." There's also the "Top 20 Ways to Go Green at Work", a laundry list of better options for your office, from the products you buy to the electricity you use. Taken as a whole, it's not a bad "beginner's guide" to going green at work. But that's only really the half of it....
William Kamkwamba's Ambitious Next Project
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 9.07
A Better Way to Make Biofuel
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 9.07
In the not too distant future, we may see biofuel production being primarily driven by local clusters of small reactors aggregated near sources of biomass. At least that's the hope of Lanny Schmidt, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota, who — alongside a team of researchers — has developed a rapid and efficient to convert solid biomass directly into a mixture of gases. This mix — also known as syngas — can then be burned to produce electricity or made into liquid fuels such as diesel.
The process itself isn't too complicated: millimeter-sized particles of waste biomass come into contact with a 700 - 800°C porous surface and immediately form a mix of gases. These then interact with a catalyst made out of rhodium that expedites the partial oxidation reactions necessary to keep the system hot and convert the gases into hydrogen and carbon monoxide — which are either burned to generate electricity or turned into liquid fuels. The system only takes 70 milliseconds to break down the biomass — a rate ten times faster than other techniques used to produce syngas....
Who Needs a Shopping Bag With a Mottainai Furoshiki?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 9.07
The Japanese Minister of the Environment doesn't like plastic bags any more than we do, but instead of a shopping bag that one always leaves at home, she uses a furoshiki made from recycled PET bottles. Furoshiki were first used as wrapping cloths in the Muromachi era, 1392-1573. She says "The furoshiki is so handy that you can wrap almost anything in it regardless of size or shape with a little ingenuity by simply folding it in a right way. It's much better than Plastic bags you receive at supermarkets or wrapping paper, since it's highly resistant, reusable and multipurpose. In fact, it's one of the symbols of traditional Japanese culture, and puts an accent on taking care of things and avoiding wastes." The ministry has produced a PDF with instructions with 14 different ways of folding a cloth so that you can carry just about anything. We are going to start practicing today! ::Japan Ministry of the Environment, Download a PDF of the folding plans here, (or view online here) via ::MocoLoco
UPDATE: I was so excited when I saw this on Mocoloco that I did not search and find that Alex covered this exact story last December. And that Jasmin did too! Apologies all round....
Core77's One Hour Design Competition: Water-Saving in the Bathroom
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 9.07
Our pals over at Core77 have launched a fun new idea: a "One Hour Design Competition," where you take an hour out of your life to conceive, sketch and render a concept for a new life-changing design. The contest is only open for a week, and the winner gets a Nintendo Wii (which you can then mod it to run on solar power). This week's theme is water-saving designs for the bathroom, and they've already got a handful of great ideas.
"Bucket," pictured above (with a larger version below the fold), is the most "'duh' simple, elegant and low-tech" -- it's a bucket that sits in your shower and collects some of the greywater that splashes off in the shower, so you can use it for watering plants and the like -- while the more subversive "Decoy Drain" (also pictured below the fold) persistently floods the shower stall, forcing your lazy roommate to hurry up and get out. Check out all the submissions on their forums, and get all the details at their site. Remember, the deadline is Monday, August 13, so hurry up, save some water and win yourself a Wii. ::Core77's One Hour Design Competition...
First Half of Year Wettest on Record for Texas
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 9.07
"Texas" and "wettest" are two words you probably wouldn't often see placed next to each other in the same sentence. That may be about to change: according to the National Weather Service, the first seven months of the year were the wettest on record in Texas, snapping a decade-long drought run. The statewide average rainfall was 27.11 inches, almost 11 inches above the norm of 16.21 inches. The previous record was set in 1941 with 25.88 inches.
In addition to being the wettest since 1903, this July was also the coldest since 1976 and the fourth coldest in 113 years. With a La Nina event beginning to take shape, meteorologists predict conditions might soon become drier again. ...
Is the Aldabra Banded Snail the First Global Warming Related Extinction?
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 9.07
With news of various species going or likely to go extinct cropping up left and right, one might be forgiven for giving short shrift to news of yet another extinction — especially that of a small purple snail species on the other side of the world. Yet what makes this particular extinction unique is that it may very well be the first tied directly to global warming, according to Oxford University biologist Justin Gerlach.
This purple snail — the Aldabra banded snail — is a resident of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean and is easily recognizable because of its conspicuous purplish blue shell. Though it was once easy to find 3 decades ago, Gerlach says that now "it has been impossible to find. The last one was found in 1997 and it was collected simply because the person who collected it thought it was strange and didn't know what it was." Gerlach believes the species went extinct during the late 1990s following a series of unusually long and hot summers that killed off a large number of younger snails....
Company Sits on Information about Lead for Five Years
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 9.07
Thomas the Tank Engine probably wasn't a very good role model anyways, burning coal and spewing CO2 and mercury, and his licensees certainly were not too concerned about it either. Kenny noted recently that many Chinese-made Thomas & Friends products have been recalled for lead paint; now we learn that Schylling Associates, maker of a spinning top, discovered that the wooden handle on the top had 40 times the legal limit for lead and replaced it with a plastic knob, but sat on the information for five years without a ordering a recall. Now, in light of the other recalls, they have got around to it, looking for 24,000 tops that kids have been sucking on since they were sold between 2001 and 2002. Asked why, a spokesman answered profoundly: "I can't answer that. ... I had just started here."
How many companies are sitting on information like this? Are there no rules demanding disclosure? ::Chicago Tribune...
Winner announced in cartoon contest, calendars available
by Union of Concerned Scientists on 08. 9.07
During the past several weeks, the Union of Concerned Scientists invited the public to help choose the winner in Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. And after almost 20,000 votes were cast, Jesse Springer of Eugene, Oregon is the contest winner.
Springer is a self-employed graphic designer and an aspiring editorial cartoonist. "Cartoons are a powerful medium," he says. "If I can draw some compelling cartoons that shed light on the negative impact of governmental interference with science, and more people become aware of the problem as a result, then perhaps we can start to see a change for the better." Springer will soon be off to Washington, D.C. to have lunch with Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles. ...
Denmark's 30-Year Drive To Energy Efficiency: A Profile In Culture Change
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 9.07
The TreeHugger lens is often toward single choices of material, design, and technology. How imporant is the broader issue of cultural and national tradition to incorporating "green" versions? Back in April, the Wall Street Journal pointed out one nation has been working for decades to get it's energy chops: Denmark. We've noticed that the Danes have their own approach to green fashion as well.
"Through a wide variety of government-driven initiatives, this small northern European country has overcome one thorny challenge of global warming: how to dramatically reduce energy consumption while maintaining a solid growth rate and low unemployment. The downside is higher taxes and costs for businesses and consumers.
Today hundreds of thousands of Danish homes and other buildings are warmed by surplus heat from power plants. Government policies have spurred developers to build homes with thick insulation, and consumers to buy energy-efficient appliances. Utilities that can't meet government energy-savings guidelines can buy credits from companies that have invested in efficiencies."...
TH Blog Love - Our Favourite Greens Of The Week
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 08. 9.07
Blue Egg: Far-flung food by Jenn Yee
"These days, the chances that an organic farmer in Kenya knows the definition of carbon footprint are pretty high. What’s more, that farmer knows because the very small footprint he or she creates is one of the few defenses left against “food miles” activists—who argue that food transported by air is hurting the environment."
EcoGeek: The New iMac's Green Cred by Hank Green
"Steve Jobs unveiled the 4th generation iMac today. Not many surprises, the design is fairly true to the original form, just a bit sleeker and skinneir. It's got some pretty impressive specs and is, of course, quite beautiful. That's what Mac is all about these days."...
Open Building
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 9.07
mechanical core wall with services in place
Houses and buildings are much like our bodies; parts age at different rates and need to be serviced or replaced if we are going to get the maximum life out of them. Philip Proefrock at Green Options notes that there are six "layers" in the life of a structure:
* Site - the location; building site itself. Timeless duration
* Structure - the framework; the "bones" of the building. 100 to 300 year lifespan
* Skin - the cladding. 40 to 100 year lifespan
* Space plan - the interior partition walls. 10 to 30 year life
* Services - electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and heating/ventilation systems. Updated every 1 to 10 years
* Stuff - belongings and furnishings. Can change monthly
Yet we design buildings as if everything has the same life span and changing the simplest thing like an electric outlet location requires smashing drywall. I personally tried to change some halogen potlights to compact fluorescent and found that I would have to peel the drywall off the entire ceiling to get the mounting hardware out. Why do we build this way?
...
RAL Kit Homes
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 9.07
In North America, the big thing for DIY builders was the A-frame, but a triangle encloses the smallest volume of any shape. The circle encloses the most, so domes and arches like the famous quonset hut provide big interior volumes relative to the amount of material used. In Australia, RAL has been providing a clever arched panel system since 1989. The basic module consists of eight engineered panels that join together to form an arch; they say that two workers with a basic knowledge of carpentry and standard tools can simply bolt panels together....
Niagara Region Employs Students to Reward and Encourage Curbside Recycling
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08. 9.07
With a goal of diverting 65% of garbage from landfills by 2012, city officials in parts of Canada think they’ve hit on a unique solution to help convince families to recycle. They’re employing a small team of students to scout out the neighborhood on garbage day and reward those who do it consistently well with a certificate for being a “Green Team All-Star” and a chance to win $150. And they won’t come knocking on your door to drag you away if you’re not taking full advantage of the recycling program or routinely going over the two container limit on garbage day either… Instead, they’ll come knocking on your door to have a friendly discussion about the positive benefits of recycling and why your participation is so vital. ...
Aussie Bush Tucker Takes The Fight to Free Radicals
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 9.07
The other month we observed rjust one of the companies benefiting from an awakening of interest in indigenous Australia bush foods. The future looks bright for the fledgling industry, which is estimated to be currently worth about $14 AUD million a year. Part that optimism stems from a research report just published in the international print journal Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, that identified a dozen native Australian fruits that had much higher antioxidant capacity than the control fruit: a blueberry (cultivar Biloxi). The locals included Kakadu plum, Illawarra plum, Burdekin plum, Davidson’s plum, riberry, red and yellow finger limes, Tasmanian pepper, brush cherry, Cedar Bay cherry, muntries and Molucca raspberry. Whereas the blueberry, renown for its high antioxidant levels had a TEAC value of 39.45 trolox equivalents per gram, the Kakadu plum, for example, scored a much more robust 204.8. The US National Cancer Institute cautiously notes that “Antioxidants protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals,” while Food Science Australia observed that “Antioxidants are thought to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune and cardiovascular disease, cancer, cataractogenesis, diabetes, macular regeneration, MS, muscular dystrophy and pancreatitis.” As one might imagine finding high levels of such good guys in cultivable plants has significant positive implications. As research team leader, Food Science Australia’s Izabela Konczak put it: “[...] by encouraging growers to cultivate native fruits, we are also contributing to the growing need to ensure agriculture becomes more sustainable.” ::Food Science Australia, via ::CSIRO. Pic of finger limes from Daleys Nursery....
House Paves the Way for Clean Energy Future
by Union of Concerned Scientists on 08. 9.07
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a huge boost to renewable electricity in the United States in a rare Saturday vote. The amendment, which passed 290-170, would require utilities to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2020. Utilities would be able to meet part of the requirement through energy efficiency.
Twenty-four states already have renewable electricity standards and several have strengthened those standards over the past few years. According to UCS analysis, developing a national market for renewable power will create jobs, increase farm income and lead to significant consumer savings on electricity bills.
Passage of the renewable electricity standard was a long time in the making. The US Senate had passed a 10 percent RPS three times since 2002—most recently in June 2005. This year, a vote on a renewable electricity standard was blocked during the Senate’s energy bill debate....
Keep Calm and Carry On
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08. 9.07
It started as a slogan in 1939, on the eve of World War 2, a message from the British Ministry of Information, from King George VI to his people "that all capable measures to defend the Country were being taken". The poster was never officially issued and turned up 50 years later in a pile of library books. Now an English designer has made it into a tea towel and a great looking tee-shirt. With its simple graphics, using the crown of King George and calming words, it is a cool and relevant summer statement.
It's made in a sweat shop free environment, with good working conditions and environmentally friendly production. The red is the classic, since it is the same colour as the original poster. When this run is finished, there will be no more, instead something new will be created. :: Keep Calm and Carry On Via :: psfk...
Doric Column for Rainwater Kicks Butt
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 9.07
TreeHugger loves rainwater harvesting; we think everyone should do it. Most systems are pretty industrial, but what do you do beside your English cottage or American monster Tara knockoff when you need a tank (or in the UK, a water butt) that fits in? Perhaps a classic Doric column made of polyethylene will do the trick. Buy four and you might hold up the porch roof with them, although the proportions are a bit off. ::Greenfingers via ::WeHeartSheds
Pittsburgh's US Steel Building has exposed exterior steel columns filled with water. They did it for fire protection, but perhaps water filled columns will make a comeback? ...
5 Safest Hybrids - Save the Planet, and Yourself
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 9.07
If you want to save the planet, you can buy a hybrid, but what if you want to save the plant and yourself, too? Auto Blog Green collected together safety figures for various hybrid models on the market today, created a list of the top 5 safest available now, based on crash test results. Take a look after the jump.
...
Ben Law: Woodland Living in Style
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08. 9.07
While we TreeHuggers do try hard to present a modernist view of the environmental movement, we aren’t completely immune to the age-old back-to-the-land notions so popular with hippies everywhere. See, for example, Leonora’s posts on a couple living the good life in New Zealand, or this recent post about a rural, hexagonal, strawbale house in the UK. For some reason, however, it looks like we are yet to post on Ben Law, woodland-living pioneer and subject of a previous episode of Grand Designs (the show that also brought us the hexagonal house).
Ben describes himself as a woodsman, and he makes his living from charcoal burning, wood crafts, and environmental education. He is also the author of two books about woodland living, and he has built his own beautiful cruck framed house hewn almost entirely from materials produced from his own woodland. The following is from the foreword to Ben’s book, The Woodland House:
...
James Hanson's Declaration of Stewardship For The Earth And All Creation
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 9.07
"Last week [James] Hansen gave a speech in Des Moines Iowa, outlining what he calls a Declaration of Stewardship that any candidate serious about preserving our environment ought to endorse.
The speech (it's only three pages) is well worth a read, and I think it would be great if his proposed Declaration could somehow get enough attention that candidates actually started talking about it. It's surely depressing to contemplate the vast array of special interests bent on doing nothing ... but Hansen still has some optimism:"
If you are politically engaged, or thinking of being so, TreeHugger strongly recommends downloading the full three page speech of James Hansen here (pdf at Columbia University of New York). For this political moment, for those who want to distill, to the most critical points, a reasoned approach to the future, it is a seminal work: as important as Garrett Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons and Paul Hawken's Natural Capitalism: Creating The Next Industrial Revolution
Via:: The Social Atom and Agonist, Diary of M.Buchanan Image credit:: Upper Iowa River Watershed Project....
Driving Me Up The Wall: Bicycle Storage
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 9.07
There are many reasons, rationales, justifications, excuses, etc, why many of us don’t ride bikes—leaping instead into our cars when mobility is required. They range from “I get sweaty”, through to “the roads are too dangerous, have you seen what drivers do out there?” But the other day the New York Times helped strip away one of the other pretexts for avoiding pedal power: “but I’ve no where to store a bike.” NYT’s Personal Shopper went and ferreted out some funky storage options that will get a bike out from under your feet. See their lil slideshow for some cool tips. Via ::New York Times...
Tennessee Valley Authority Would Be Exempt From US House Energy Bill, Renewables Mandate
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 8.07
How ironic that the TVA, long ago created by the US Congress to bring electricity to the rural South and encourage economic development, now serves a constituency that wishes to be excluded from incentives to develop more cost-effective, clean forms of energy. Maybe they think that climate change only applies 'to the rest of the country'.
"The Tennessee Valley Authority and its distributors are exempt from a key requirement of the energy legislation adopted Saturday by the U.S. House of Representatives. But the Chattanooga-based trade group that lobbies for TVA's distributors and the co-chairman of the TVA Congressional Caucus still opposed the measure. The House voted 220-190 for an amendment to require by 2020 that at least 15 percent of the electricity sold by most utilities must come from renewable sources, including wind, solar and biofuels. U.S. Reps. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Todd Platts, R-Pa., co sponsors of the amendment, said the measure would help America's energy independence and cut emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming. But to gain majority support, the amendment excluded public power agencies, including TVA, municipal utilities such as EPB in Chattanooga or electric co-ops such as the North Georgia Electric Membership Corp. " Via:: Chattanooga Times Free Press Image credit:: Hydrogen Commerce...
TH Forums Highlights: Clean Coal, Peak Oil, Plastic Bags and More
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 8.07
The community over at TreeHugger Forums has been steadily growing, having reached almost 1500 users, but moderator greenhammer wants everyone to feel welcome to register and join the conversations for a greener planet. We can't continue to push sustainability to the mainstream without you -- don't be shy! Here are some of the recent highlights...
...
| 1) New forum user superduper has a really interesting question about how we think about energy production: "Coal is thought of as an inexpensive means of power generation. The renewable means of power generation are seen as more "expensive". This is in terms of monetary units, be it dollars/pounds/initial/resources/etc. Has a study ever been done of the human life cost (deaths related to) associated with the generation of electricity via coal vs. the human life cost associated with the other power generations means." While no one has been able to do the math, we all agree that it's a really important consideration when pondering the future of energy production. |
 | 2) Speaking of coal, user PeterReefman is curious: "What do think of 'Clean Coal'? I for one don't rate it very highly. I think it's mainly a stalling tactic used by those groups trying to keep the coal power stations burning for as long as possible. But IF coal could be 'cleaned' to output a reduced percentage of CO2 (10%? 30%? 60%? 100%?), would you support it?" An early consensus seems to be that though "clean coal" beats dirty coal, it ain't gonna get the job done down the road... |
 | 3) Forum user insomniac seems to have been staying up nights wondering if it's possible to put the radiant heat from appliances, like clothes dryers, to good use. "I live in Texas, heat is an issue almost year-round...if my dryer, fridge, range, and A/C all give off heat, then why cant it all be vented somehow to help heat my water? Surely someone has thought of this." Something called a "desuperheater" might come in handy; anyone else have any ideas? Peak oil and plastic bags, below the fold... |
Southern California's Beaches, Fish are in Shoddy Condition
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 8.07
Let's be honest: as nice as it is to live in Southern California — and who doesn't enjoy the near daily blazing sun, blue skies and toasty weather — one could hardly credit its "pristine" environment for being a main selling point. As if the thick layer of smog blanketing Los Angeles wasn't bad enough, the beaches in L.A. County — though popular spots for the locals and tourists — are some of the most polluted in California. In fact, beach closures and advisories last year barely fell short of the record number set in 2005 (check out NRDC's full report here). Most of these problems are caused by urban runoff, sewage water and untreated water from waste water treatment plants.
Given the sorry state of its beaches, it didn't come as much of a surprise then when a recent joint study by the EPA and the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program found concentrations of DDT and PCBs in fish off the California coast near Los Angeles to be excessively high. DDT, a probable carcinogen, has been linked to disorders of the reproductive and nervous systems while PCBs have been known to cause a swathe of adverse health conditions affecting the immune, nervous and reproductive systems. The chemicals find their way into the fish after being dumped into the waters by surrounding industries. ...
"Space For You": Getting More with Less
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 8.07
Clever, efficient use of space is one of the hallmarks of TreeHugger-friendly design. Often, this involves incorporating two products in to one -- this chair/bookshelf combo is one example -- which makes lots of sense to us: why use two when you can have just one? Other times, this space/materials efficiency comes from re-imagining the way space is used in an object, opening up an area previously taken for a better use.
Such is the case with the "Space For You" concept by Lukas Koh; it gives new meaning to the notion of a "printer table" by hiding the printer underneath the table and opening up valuable tabletop space for, say, setting your coffee down. It's pretty clever: the drawers are the paper loading tray and printer output; hit the jump to see more pics and for a diagram of all the space you could be saving. ::Lukas Koh via ::Yanko Design
...
New York City Infrastructure Fails Again
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
Two weeks ago steam pipes were blowing up; now the city's subways are closed, full of water from heavy rains. Subway stations were flooded, forcing commuters out onto the streets and into taxis and buses, and bringing traffic in many areas to a standstill. "Riders are stunned that the system is so vulnerable to rain," said Gene Russianoff, a spokesman for The Straphangers Campaign, a transit advocacy group. "It's not like we live in the Gobi Desert." He blamed the increase in weather-related subway service problems on the combination of increasingly extreme weather and a system hobbled by age.
"(The MTA) is dealing with more frequent harsh weather but the handwriting is on the wall," he said. "This is not going to go away. They're not blind to it, but they're sort of overwhelmed." That is why we need sustainable and sound infrastructure now. ::National Post...
Farm Aid 2007: Great Lineup, New Commitment to Local, Organic Food Announced
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 8.07
Paul Natkin/Photo Reserve Inc. 2006
TreeHugger is a fan of Farm Aid, the annual concert put on by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews and more; the festival's mission has become increasingly TreeHugger-oriented over the years, as their efforts to make family farming more viable here in the US have begun to include appeals for more local food production (and resulting support of farmer's markets and overall decrease in food miles). This year, they've taken it a step further: for the first time at a major concert event, their goal is to serve 100 percent local, organic, humanely-raised and family-farmed food. The event, scheduled for September 9 at Randall's Island (a 480-acre island located in the East River between East Harlem, the South Bronx and Astoria, Queens), has also updated its branding to reflect the changes; this year, it's called "Farm Aid 2007: A HOMEGROWN Festival," lest anyone forget the importance of eating fresh, seasonal foods from their local foodshed.
In New York (as we noted before), there are 36,000 farms in New York, with the main crops being dairy, greenhouse plants, apples, cattle and hay. Of those farms, 428 are certified organic, and they grow 330 certified organic crops on 26,955 acres of farmland, and it's fairly easy (and getting easier) to get your hands on this bounty: New York City has 76 farmers markets, of which 16 are open all year 'round. Hit the jump for more details on the event, including the lineup and where and how to get tickets. ::Farm Aid 2007
...
Witold Rybczynski on the Prefab Fad
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
Witold Rybczynski does another one of his trademark slideshows on Slate, noting that the first house he ever designed was a prefab and it has stood the test of time. However he continues with " the current vogue for prefabs is more about industrial chic than affordability." and ends with quoting Colin Davies: " "The strength of the prefabricated house lies in its popularity, its cheapness and the industrial base from which it operates," he writes. "These are precisely the areas in which modern architecture is weakest. Modern architecture is unpopular, expensive and divorced from industrial production. That is why whenever it has tried to extend its field to include the territory of the prefabricated house it has failed and been forced to retreat." Rybczynki concludes "The current generation of Modernist prefabs is unlikely to fare any better." I hope he is wrong. ::Slate...
Home Composting Made Easy
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 8.07
Given the numerous benefits composting proffers — which you can read about in depth here — it's a shame most us can't/don't choose to start producing our own compost at home or in the backyard. For people looking to both dispose of their food waste and enrich their soil for gardening purposes, there's no better solution (here are a few choices for home use).
Daily Dump — a new start-up based in Bangalore, India — is taking steps to inculcate a new legion of eco-minded consumers by arming them with the products and knowledge necessary to begin composting at home. Offering a wide range of decorative, biodegradable composting containers (made of terracotta, see the kambha above) and gardening supplies, the company encourages Indian households to manage their waste and convert it into usable, rich compost — its website claims that an average family that regularly cooks could be sitting on a daily supply of as much as 750 - 1500 grams. ...
"Fractured Fairy Tales" Display Wall
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
Oh, how I loved Fractured Fairy Tales on Rocky and Bullwinkle. The RSS feed jumped out at me, attracting me to Thomas Wold's display wall for a client in Berkeley. He says "The client needed a wall build out for their A/V and books. We wanted to grab the entire wall with a graphical design. I suggested a design encompassing a series of separate boxes that would stack on top of each other so one could use the negative and positive for storage. The variety of shapes made me think of a "sampler" quilt along with the Disney Land ride "It's a Small World", one friend said it reminded him of "Fractured Fairy Tales"
...
Plastic Bottle Recycling Is A Dying Dream
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 8.07
A New York Times Op Ed piece just had this to say about recycling plastic water bottles: "Of course, in certain circumstances bottled water is necessary. It is essential during emergencies — think Katrina — and it is certainly a better alternative when the only other drinks come loaded with calories.
What the rising use of bottled water leaves us with, however, is a huge recycling problem. Of the mountain of individual plastic water bottles created by Americans each year — including enough to hold more than seven billion gallons of water — less than one-fourth are sent to the recycling industry for a second round."
We don't agree. Emergency water bottle deliveries are the exception. Buying water bottles might be a convenience for FEMA; but, to cite this rare situation to demonstrate a broader market "need" is off point. Moreover, people will come to water trucks in an emergency if they have to - just as easily as they can to a truck full of bottles.
...
Last Week to Participate!
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 08. 8.07
There is still time to join TreeHugger and Current TV in our quest to send you, and your best eco-idea, to Burning Man. Through our contest, Participate! , we are looking for the best open-source solutions to the world's most pressing environmental issues. Whether you finally figured out how to defy physics and create a perpetual motion machine or just have a great idea to grow more organic tomatoes in your area, we want to hear. The best eco-idea, as voted by judges from TreeHugger, Current TV and Burning Man will receive 2 passes to the Burning Man event, a chance to show their great idea off during this year's "Green Man" theme, coverage on Current TV's "TV Free Burning Man" and a copy of Jessica Bruder's "Burning Book." In addition, the first and second runners-up will also receive a copy of the "Burning Book." But, we must receive your entry by August 11, so send your great innovations to: contest [at] treehugger [dot] c...
Bubblicious Wood-Burning Stove: Better Burning than a Boring Fireplace?
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 8.07
As Sean and Lloyd both recently noted, design is important for more than just good looks; it doesn't make any sense to put a square bed in a round bedroom. Looking good -- and the definition of "looking good" -- has different meaning for different folks, and while TreeHugger works hard to showcase the sexiest stuff the green world has to offer, we also want to spotlight how these designs are not only as functional as their conventional counterparts, but even moreso. Such is the case with the "Chimenea Modelo Bubble de Techo de Anthrax" -- why don't we just called it "Chimney Anthrax," for short -- which, aside from embodying everything a modern TreeHugger would want in a wood-burning stove, actually claims to work better. They say the rounded, "bubble" shape create more efficient combustion, creating more heat from the available wood and leaving less unburned chunks behind. Though burning anything is probably not on many people's radar in the blazing heat of summer, we can recommend some alternative fireplace "logs" for this puppy, and, although it may not be as efficient as pellet stoves, could be a cool alternative to a traditional fireplace or wood-burning stove. Of course, check out TreeHugger's How to Green Your Heating before making any decisions about how to keep warm this winter. ::Climalis (site in Spanish) via ::Freshome...
Hackable Products Better For Planet
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 08. 8.07
Several years ago, this TH bought a front loading washer; it was expensive, but the sales rep convinced me that it would save water and soap over the long run. What he didn't tell me is that there was a circuit board that controlled how the washer worked - a $300 circuit board, that sometimes breaks and needs to be replaced. It broke. Grrrrrrrr.
But it set the wheels in motion; wouldn't it be great if a programmer could alter the code that runs the washer? One could experiment, even improve on the factory settings to minimize the amount of water and soap used. The new program could be distributed via Internet, folks could upload it into their machines, and billions of gallons of water could be saved worldwide. Turns out, some products have already implemented the concept.
...
Breeding the Ultimate Chestnut Tree
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 8.07
Searching for the "holy grail" in American chestnut trees? Then look no further than Meadowview, VA — where a 93-acre plot may hold the future of the once ubiquitous chestnut tree. The last century has been a rough one for the majestic tree: an invasive blight wiped out close to 3.5 billion specimens between 1904 and 1950, and the chestnut has struggled to regain a foothold ever since. With the advent of a new hybrid super-chestnut tree completely resistant to the blight — the so-called "holy grail" of chestnut trees — however, things may finally be looking up for the beleaguered species.
With 120 hybrid saplings already going strong, scientists expect there to be enough "holy grail" nuts by 2010 to begin planting in test sites in natural forests and, by 2015, for there to be enough to begin replanting nationwide. This major boost to the chestnut's fortunes is credited to Fred Hebard, a researcher who has devoted 18 years of his life to hybridize the ideal specimen. After several experiments cross-breeding American chestnut varieties with blight-resistant Chinese varieties, he obtained a tree 15/16ths American (which allowed it to grow tall) with 1/16th Chinese resistance....
Car Journalist: Why I Don't Drive a Hybrid
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 8.07
Jim Motavalli is editor of E/The Environmental Magazine and writes car reviews for the New York Times. You could easily assume that he drives a Prius or some other car commonly perceived to be green. However, he drives a normal car with a normal combustion engine. And his reasons make a lot of sense. ...
Plowing's Dark Secret
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 8.07
While the following study on the merits of plowing may not hold much significance for the majority of us, it does hold clear implications for many farmers in the U.S. and, more significantly, the millions living in Asia and Africa. In a study published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the University of Washington's David Montgomery examined whether no-till farming — as opposed to plowing — prevented soil loss on a large scale.
No-till farming first came to the attention of conservationists when they realized that plows — and particularly the mechanized plows introduced in the 1930s — were accelerating soil loss, exposing dirt to rain and wind and lowering agricultural output. This technique helps protect the soil by leaving crop stubble on the surface and leaves fields unturned. Numerous case studies have revealed that no-till farming greatly reduces erosion....
PowerPod: Small Green Prefabs from a New PowerHouse
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
Powerhouse is a new name to us in the green prefab biz; the Lawrence, MA company's President Quincy Vale previously was involved in the Massachusetts Green Buildings Program, and its design principal , John Rossi, is LEED accredited, so they have serious credentials. They are building some relatively conventional sized and designed projects (see installation of one here) with green materials, solar power, and radiant floors, but I am really attracted to their PowerPod, shown above. ...
Students From Connecticut Win 2007 Canon Envirothon
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08. 8.07
That’s right folks, Canon’s 2007 Envirothon just ended and a five-member team of high school students from Housatonic Valley High School in Falls Village, Connecticut, are the winners. And that’s no small achievement, as there were more than 260 teens from across the U.S. and Canada who came and studied environmental issues and resource conservation while competing for a piece of the $100,000 in scholarships and prize action. To win, they had to demonstrate the best overall skills at five testing and training stations. Those included soil and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife, and current environmental issues. The theme of this year’s competition was Alternative/Renewable Energy, so the competing teams focused on the efficient use of energy generated from traditional sources and the development of renewable energy resources. ...
Marijuana Crops Bad for Forests, Spotted Owl
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
It appears that marijuana farming in California is no longer the preserve of the fun-loving hippie, but has become a big, destructive agribusiness. According to Recordnet, when the crop comes out in the fall, they leave behind: "Irrigation tubes that snake for a mile or more over forested ridges. Pesticides that have drained into creeks and entered the food chain, sickening wildlife. Piles of trash and human waste in the most rugged and bucolic drainages. "They basically trash our public lands," said Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in Vallejo.
Another concern revolves around endangered species. Pesticides are used to keep rodents out of the marijuana; those rodents, including wood rats, are a primary food source for the California spotted owl.
Supporters of legal marijuana say that none of this would happen if it was a legal agricultural product. Bruce Mirken of San Francisco's Marijuana Policy Project notes that ""Marijuana can be grown safely in an environmentally responsible way, or it can be grown dangerously." ::recordnet...
Coal Executive Attacks Global Warming With His Miners Trapped Below
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
We have called Robert Murray of Murray Energy a jerk before here and here, but now we can add "insensitive and heartless fool" to our description. Six of his miners are trapped underground after an accident and he holds a press conference; and attacks global warming and restrictions on coal mining.
"Without coal to manufacture our electricity, our products will not compete in the global marketplace against foreign countries...and people on fixed incomes will not be able to pay their electric bills," Murray forcefully declared in the press conference, as broadcast by CNN. "And every one of these global warming bills that has been introduced in Congress to date eliminates the coal industry and will increase your electric rates four to five-fold."We are certain that gave great comfort and solace to the families of the six. ::Raw Story, and ::Salt Lake City Tribune...
Who On Earth Cares? Cate Blanchett Does
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 8.07
"Everything we buy has an impact on the environment, as all things demand energy, water and other natural resources to produce. People can make a difference to their individual contribution to greenhouse pollution by buying less, wasting less and choosing products that last," says Chuck Berger, ACF's Director of Sustainability Strategies. The Australian Conservation Foundation has been rolling our campaigns so rapidly these days it’s hard to keep up. Chuck’s above comments accompanied last month’s release of The Consumption Atlas: an interactive online tool that allows Australians to view the greenhouse pollution created by households in their suburb. Dial in your suburb and see how you and your neighbours compare with other Australian cities and states. The atlas uses data from the Balancing Act research and links to the GreenHome initiative, a program that recently scored the 2007 Banksia Education Award, awarded by the Banksia Environmental Foundation, which might be considered Australia’s eco-Oscars. Not content with these moves to get Aussies off our bums to lose our moniker as the world’s highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, the ACF last year teamed up with Al Gore’s Climate Project and is doing a repeat in 2007. Now they’ve mixed and matched online social networking with community based social marketing with their new ‘Who On Earth Cares’ initiative. Australian actor, Cate Blanchett is a star recruit, having committed to reduce her emissions by 13,300kg (equal to 2.66 cars off the road). Cate’s emission reduction plan is detailed after the fold.
...
Survey: Does Design Matter?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 8.07
When discussing cob building, Sean noted "frankly, most of the building in the cob revival have been downright ugly" commenters called us snobs and one went so far as to suggest that "With your senseless knock on cute, timeless, and sustainable cob building you have shown just where "treehugger.com" stands... vapid consumerist bandwagon jumpers" and invited us to go "Choke on a $7 organic quince"
I look at the plan of the cob building discussed in the post (bigger below fold) and find it confusing. I see square beds that barely fit into round rooms. While I congratulate the Bairds for revitalizing a timeless and sustainable building type, I do not think it cute. It is not a "fashion" mentality; good design is timeless.
...
Seedy People Share Their Seed
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08. 8.07
OK - the title is bad, but we couldn't resist. Gardeners everywhere love to swap seeds. There’s something so satisfying about sharing nature’s bounty, especially if that bounty is of the locally grown, delicious, heirloom variety. A while back we covered the UK’s Potato Day, an important event on the calendar of any UK-based seed swapper. Now we’ve found a whole website dedicated to helping green-fingered Brits share their favorite cultivars with their fellow gardeners. The wonderfully named Seedy People is outrageously simple - basically a page for seeds available to swap, and a page for seeds wanted. What more do you need? This short blurb from the site’s creators reveals the ethos behind the project:
...
Any Colour, So Long as it’s Green: Ford’s New Paint
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 8.07
What reduces overall CO2 output by 15%? What cuts volatile organic compounds (VOC) by around 10%? What takes 20% less time to use? What saves more than $7 USD per vehicle. Hopefully the answer to all those questions might turn out to be Ford’s new paint. Currently out on test, adorning 200 E-Series U-Haul rental trucks, to see if it can stand up to heavy duty use, the paint is apparently a new technology. It’s a “high-solids (formulated with polymers), solvent-borne paint applied wet in three applications, with no prime coat.” And it can be applied in a smaller and cleaner paint shop compared with traditional painting facilities, with no need to 'bake' the paint. In the media release, Joe Hinrichs, vice president, North America Manufacturing for Ford says, “We have high hopes for this technology based on our laboratory testing. Once we understand how it performs in the real world, we’ll determine how best to apply it to other manufacturing facilities.” ::Ford Motor Company, via The Car Connection....
Fashion From a Can
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08. 8.07
What can you say about Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen...he is a decorator, he is everywhere, he does house make-overs on t.v. and he is over the top. His trademarks include his long flowing locks, his long flowing shirt cuffs and his opinionated, engaging manner. Now he has gone eco--which is good because lots of people will be influenced by his opinions and views. It's bad because the chair that he has created out of tin cans is boring. But it does bring publicity to the cause.... He made the chair out of recycled drinks cans that he found around his house. The blurb says that "I really enjoy working with new material so the idea of using recycled drinks cans to produce an elegant, yet flamboyant chair was a huge challenge for me".
It's part of a series sponsored by a can lobbying group. Georgina Goodman, a bespoke shoemaker, made a pair of shoes out of recycled tin cans as her project. The heels are made of twisted tin cans, great to look at but hard to walk in. She said that since cans are recyclable, she could "produce an entirely new pair of shoes for next season by melting down this pair!" :: Can Can Couture Via :: Observer...
Begley Vs. Nye: Who's Greener?
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 7.07
Keeping up with the Joneses takes on a whole new echelon of meaning when you're Ed Begley Jr. and your neighbor happens to be Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Nye, who moved onto the Living with Ed star's street a year ago, is "a very nice fellow who started this competition, I suppose, to see who could have the lowest carbon footprint," Begley tells ABC News.
"Without Ed down the street pushing all of us to live a more environmentally responsible lifestyle, I wouldn't be so motivated to crush him like a bug," says Nye, who has upped the ante in this backyard battle by installing his own state-of-the-art solar-power system....
EcoGeek of the Week: Ron Hochstetler on Airships
by EcoGeek.org on 08. 7.07
When Ron Hochstetler graduated from Purdue with a degree in aviation technology, he didn't know how different his path would be from the other graduates of his class. Though trained to work with the helicopters and jets that we today associate air travel, Ron became fascinated with a different type of craft. An aircraft that "belongs in the sky."
Now, twenty years later, Ron is one of the world's leading experts in "lighter than air" technology. It's an industry that many believe died with the Hindenburg. But Ron makes his case...the golden age of airships may be yet to come. And we're happy to have him as this week's EcoGeek of the Week.
EcoGeek: How does someone go about becoming an internationally recognized airship expert?
Ron Hochstetler: When I graduated from college I saw lots of people going into major technical fields where pretty much everything had already been developed and the technologies they’d be working on were very mature. Not much room for a new guy to make a new mark. But then I read an article about a little company in Britain (Airship Industries) that wanted to build modern technology airships. I figured here was a part of aviation that was cool, was still pretty much unexploited, and was made up of such a small cadre of people that just about any contributions I could make would have some significance. The short answer is: if you pick a small pond a lot of the splashes you make will be big ones....
Number of the Day: 18
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 7.07
18 -- the average lifespan, in months, of a cell phone in the US, according to Earthworks' Recycle My Cell Phone. At that rate, 130 million cell phones are added to the waste stream in the US every year. Worldwide, according to CNN (and noted here on TreeHugger), global mobile phone use will top 3.25 billion users in 2007. Yikes.
Check out the Call2Recycle for more on proper cell phone recycling, and dig in to TreeHugger's How to Green Your Electronics Guide to learn more about staying plugged in without dirtying the planet....
Cob Building - Go Ahead, Call It a Comeback
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 08. 7.07
For hundreds of years, those living in Ireland, England, and Wales mixed dirt, straw, sand and water to make mud walls, which when compacted and placed on a foundation formed a type of dwelling called cob buildings. Industrialization brought the widespread use of stone, wood, brick and steel in many buildings in these areas, and the traditional techniques of cob building for some time fell by the wayside. However, during the last 20 years, there has been a resurgence in interest for cob building techniques - much of this interest stemming from the building style's claim as one of the most affordable eco-friendly building methods around (cheap as dirt one might even say). So, why hasn't cob building been plastered all over the TreeHugger pages or the U.S. Green Building Council's site? Well, frankly, most of the building in the cob revival have been downright ugly, compared most often to Hobbit homes or mushroom palaces. Cob building's mainstream comeback might be in the works, though. Cob building methods are starting to be used in buildings that (gasp!) even look cool. First it was buildings such as the incorporation of cob into houses such as the Cobtun House, which was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architect's sustainability award a couple years ago. Now, plans are in the works for a contemporary green home in Victoria, British Columbia, that will be "the first code-approved, load-bearing, high-occupancy two-storey cob house in North America." ...
Do 'Green' Appliances Live Up to Their Billing?
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 7.07
The Wall Street Journal has a piece up wondering "Do 'Green' Appliances
Live Up to Their Billing?" They postulate that perhaps the answer is no, illustrated by that difficulties of one Jeanine Van Voorhees, who can't seem to get her energy-efficient clothes washer to get the job done. While price premiums and return on investment times vary with the individual appliance (and your local energy costs) -- and one energy-hogging appliance, like a plasma TV, can offset the savings gained by other "green" appliances in the house, combined -- this article subtly illustrates an important point: that it's not be enough to simply buy a "green" appliance and expect it to instantly save you money and save the planet. This "set it and forget it"-type environmentalism has a place -- it's important that people know that there are consumer products and appliances that tread more lightly on the planet -- but it has to be part of a larger lifestyle that involves thoughtful treatment of other ways to lighten your load on the planet (including following the directions to use your new technology; the WSJ notes that some of the problems people have with their appliances are due to user error). Read it all at the ::Wall Street Journal online via ::Gristmill...
Real-Life Erin Brockovich at Work in Australia
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 7.07
The woman responsible for taking on and defeating PG&E in a case alleging the company contaminated the public drinking water in Hinkley, southern California — portrayed in the 2000 Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich by Julia Roberts — is at it again. She has brought her grit and tenacity to Yarloop — a small city in Western Australia that is home to a local refinery owned by Alcoa — where she is currently considering the merits of starting a class action suit on behalf of its 160 residents. The residents claim that Alcoa's Wagerup refinery, which is responsible for processing bauxite into alumina (the basis for aluminum), is responsible for causing a swathe of illnesses in the local population — including nosebleeds, nausea, skin rashes and others.
Though she refuses to visit Yarloop in person — explaining that she has "no intention of going anywhere near a facility which is leaking contaminants and could be lethal for me" — she has sent members of her team there to investigate the situation. In a speech to the city's residents, she said: "We think we live in a big world but it's really smaller than you think."...
Dicaprio's 11th Hour Features Real Environmental Superstars
by Olivia Zaleski, New York City, USA on 08. 7.07
Two weeks ago, fellow Treehugger George Spyros and I had the opportunity to catch a sneak preview of Leonardo Dicaprio’s The 11th Hour. Organized by Project Greenhouse, the screening was appropriately held outdoors and under the stars at Marders, an organic nursery in Long Island. The film’s mantra, “Consume Less Live More.” Ironically, an adjacent shopping center blared signage for Gap, Yankee Candle Co, and T.J. Maxx.
A reference to the very last moment when change is possible, The 11th Hour, explores humanity’s past, present, and future: how we came to meet this desperate tipping point, how we live and impact our earth’s ecosystems, and what we must do to ensure a worthwhile future.
The film is a collection of vivid imagery accompanied by commentary and meditation from an impressive collection of political leaders, designers, and visionaries—a proverbial team of environmental rock stars. Cast members include former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, and sustainable design authority William McDonough . . . to name a few. In total, the film features 50 independent voices, bringing expertise, experience, and emotion to the crisis at hand. Their words are informative, powerful, and inspiring—perhaps some of the great quotes of our time. For more on the film, the cast of experts and their words, jump to the next page. ...
George Monbiot Going to Climate Camp
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
We were so excited by the thought of the Camp for Climate Action, "Eight days of low-impact living, debates, learning skills, and high-impact direct action tackling the root causes of climate change." Then Heathrow got all huffy at the idea of a bunch of kids throwing frisbees around at the end of the runway and got an injunction to stop them, or at least three of the camp directors. They are going anyways, and say to the Guardian: "The Camp for Climate Action is not covered by the injunction that was granted at the high court today, and will be going ahead as planned. The final injunction provides no additional powers of arrest, and covers a much smaller geographical area, which will not include the camp. Everyone, including the named injunctees, is therefore free to come to the camp."
Even more exciting: George Monbiot is packing his croquet mallet and going too. He says "Oh, we can keep signing our petitions and writing our letters to MPs and making earnest appeals to common sense, but we know that we will be fobbed off until it is too late to prevent runaway climate change. Only those who have not grasped the implications could argue that the need to avoid disrupting a few holiday flights outweighs the need to reverse the growth in aviation.
By joining the climate camp at Heathrow next week, you will be making a stand not only against climate change, but also against the attempt by BAA to stop people from agitating for a better world. What began as an environmental demonstration has now also become a protest for democracy. I will be there. What about you? ::George Monbiot
...
Wind and Ethanol: When Bigger Isn't Always Better
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 7.07
The guiding principle in most alternative energy projects being undertaken at the state and federal levels these days seems to be "bigger is always better." And while there is some merit in building larger, absentee managed renewable energy facilities — mostly relating to economies of scale — a new study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has found the potential for economic benefits to be stronger in smaller, locally owned facilities.
According to John Farrell, the author of the study and a research associate for ILSR, lawmakers have erroneously tended to place the onus on higher quantities of renewable energy production. This single-minded focus obscures an essential point: “Large facilities have a special class of costs that small facilities don’t, such as shipping vast quantities of electricity or biofuel to distant markets.” These large transportation costs are likely to offset a significant portion of the reduced production costs owners gain from having big facilities — reductions that often lead to larger profits for the owners. In addition, he argues that larger facilities are more likely to be wasteful and to incur a host of other diseconomies of scale....
Cardboard Kids Slow Down Drivers
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
A peril of city life is the speeding driver, endangering children and scaring bicyclists. We all have a right to share the roads but the cars win every time. Some cities install traffic calming devices like bumps and mazes, but other cities think the car is king and won't do anything to slow the cars down. Mike Wood of West Salem, Ohio took matters into his own hands and started manufacturing homemade full size cutout children. Local News 6 reports "First when (motorists) saw them, it scared them that the kids were so close to the road," Woods said. "And they thought why are they letting their kids play next to the road like that?" The Woods family house is on the fringe of town so many drivers have a tough time slowing down to 35 mph. Now he is getting calls from police departments and neighbourhood associations from across the USA. ::Local 6 News via ::Trendhunter...
Transformer Clothing
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 7.07
You've heard all about transformer furniture—those convertible home and office accoutrements that conserve both natural resources and space with their talent for multitasking. But what about transformer clothing? Can less ever mean more in today's fashionista-eat-fashionista world? You might be surprised.
The above Three-Way Cowl Tunic by Earth & Sky (available at BTC Elements for $124), made in Los Angeles from 100 percent organic cotton, is three outfits in one. While we could probably lose the odd-looking strap, we're loving this tunic's flexibility to presto-chango from sophisticated cowl-neck to one rockin' hoodie before Paris Hilton can weasel herself back into the headlines....
Data-Gathering Seals Are Deployed in the Antarctic Ocean
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 7.07
Navigating the Antarctic Ocean's waters has always been a tricky proposition for scientists: not only is it expensive to send out ships, it's also extremely difficult (if not impossible) to accurately gather meaningful information. Enter the elephant seals: as part of the new SEaOS project (Southern Elephant Seals as Oceanographic Samplers), an international team of researchers have recruited a small group of these mammals to obtain information that could provide valuable insights into the effects of climate change on the ocean.
Eighty-five migrating seals were rounded up from 4 points around the Antarctic region — South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island and Livingston Island — and mounted with sensors that allowed them to record information about the Antarctic Ocean's temperature changes and current flows stemming from influxes of freshwater from melting ice and warm water from the north. This information was collected every time the seals dived and then relayed via satellite to the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) in the U.S. and the Coriolis Center in France, where oceanographers use the data to craft climate models and track changes in the region. The seals then shedded the sensors upon molting....
Beating the Heat: Yet Another List
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
New York DIY website SuperNaturale agrees that air conditioning is an energy wasting scourge and does it's ten best ways to beat the heat without air conditioning. Some are difficult- "find a well-sited abode" which isn't something that people do every day but is a sensible thing to remember when you next move- "ask yourself, does this house or apartment get a cross breeze? Does it have ceiling fans? Is there a way to keep this place cool with curtains? That is the place you want to live." Some are tasty: Cook outside. "In ye olden days houses would have separate "summer kitchens" to keep the main house cooler during the day. Now we have barbeques. Use that grill, eat cold foods or eat out." Some are weird. "Shower in your underwear. I take a shower in my underwear before going to bed and the cold wet underwear would be unpleasant under other circumstances is great for the dog days of summer." Seven more at ::Supernaturale via ::Apartment Therapy
...
Paris Hilton (not) Getting Hummer Hybrid
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 7.07
Paris Hilton's claim to environmentalism seems to have got bogged down in the sand by a comment over a fictional Hummer hybrid. She was recently given a free hybrid by Ford, and apparently later told press that she had also ordered a hybrid Hummer. She was quoted as saying, "Driving hybrid cars is the new way to go. Anyone can do it, no matter how old." Wise words indeed, even if we didn't understand the part about age being important. However, a GM spokesperson was quoted as saying, "such a car doesn't exist."
Oh, dear. Even if a hybrid Hummer was available, would it be that green, something to brag about? No, it would probably struggle to break double MPG figures. Told of her error she then changed tack, saying, "I'm trying to get a Hummer one designed." According to Auto Blog Green, GM did make a hydrogen Hummer just for the Governator, Arnie, so there is hope for the famous... what is it she does again? ::Auto Blog Green...
DayRay: Flexible Daylighting
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
If we are going to design interior spaces without windows, systems that bring in natural light can be a big help. We have shown the European Parans system before, but now DayRay of Australia is offering a system "made up of flexible polymer light fibres that carry daylight to the inner core of a building. The discrete collectors can sit anywhere on an external wall or on a roof, and will capture light, even on cloudy days. DayRay™ collectors work without having to track the sun and are effective wherever there is a source of natural light available."...
Resurrecting Life in the "Valleys of the Dead"
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 7.07
A team of scientists led by Rutgers University's Paul Falkowski has identified signs of life in the oldest ice sample ever studied. After extracting ice from the Upper Beacon Valley in Antarctica, they used a range of dating techniques to show that the samples ranged from 100,000 years old to about 8 million years old — making the latter the oldest studied ice sample. The scientists were surprised to find live bacteria in both after they melted the samples and — after adding nutrients to the meltwater — noted that the bacteria began to grow again though the ones in the oldest ice grew much more slowly (doubling every 1-2 months versus every week).
They also found that the DNA present within the oldest microbes degenerated over time — an effect Falkowski attributes to cosmic radiation, which is especially strong at the Earth's poles. Comparing the DNA found within 5 ice samples from various ages, they discovered that while the bacteria in a 100,000-year-old sample contained fragments with an average length of 18,500 base pairs, those in the oldest sample had fragments with an average length of just 210 base pairs. If correct, Falkowski's theory would challenge the idea that life on Earth was sowed by extraterrestrial life forms — known as panspermia....
Tough Love: Eclipse Light - No More Incandescents!
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 7.07
There's a lot to like about the Eclipse Light: it's a super-cool, sleek lighting design, cut from a single flat piece of steel, so it can be packed flat and shipped without much trouble. Once you've got it, you get to customize the look to your heart's content, bending it every which way to create different effects with reflected light...cool, right? Unfortunately, at the center of it all, is an incandescent light bulb, which is something TreeHugger just can't abide. Incandescents are quickly going out of style, even becoming unlawful, in some places, and there's just no reason to use them for anything, anymore. This is a cool lighting concept, and a nice, simple way to brighten up a dark corner of your life, but, please, lighting designers of the world: no more incandescents! Thankfully, if you do decide you want one of these, it doesn't ship with a light bulb, so you can add your own compact fluorescent bulb and not have to worry; it would just be so much easier to cut it out of the equation all together, and encourage a little energy efficiency from the start. If you're charmed by the design, and have an extra CFL lying around, you can buy it from ::movisi via ::Blue Ant Studio...
Grand Street Residence by Andrew Berman
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
There is a lot of real estate around the world that doesn't do much but sit there getting hot; the roofs of our buildings, mostly a wasteland of black tar. TreeHugger readers know about green roofs, and have seen a few designs like the LoftCube that are sitting on roofs, but for the most part rooftop additions are fantasies; there are access and fire code problems, loading issues, wind and earthquake analyses, and a host of other technical issues that make them difficult to do. That is why when we do see them, they are not little and they are not cheap; this is the preserve of the rich client, the full service architect and a lot of engineering.
The Grand Street Residence by Andrew Berman Architect falls into this category: 4,500 square feet and stunning, and probably out of our price range. ...
Eco-Design: Colombia Joins
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 08. 7.07
El Tiempo, one of Colombia’s biggest newspapers, published yesterday an article announcing that “Colombian eco-design is gaining momentum” in the country, moved mainly by a growing number of young designers working with recovered materials. From the ones mentioned in the article, we spotted two interesting ones. The first is Cyclus, a company that has five years in the market working primarily with recovered tires and waste from Bogota’s public transport system, Transmilenio. The nice thing about this company is that they do more than just the messenger bag: they have very cool trainers that really don’t have much to envy to a pair of label ones, some interesting waist bags, rocking chairs, and are open to hear from you if you want them to develop a special project. If you head to Bogota, they are located at 18-30 58th Street (tel. +571 608 4334). Otherwise they are reachable through their website. The other designer that called our attention was Nixa Sierra, who works in a more artisan way, developing accessories from bags to jewelry, also from recovered materials (more pics in the extended)....
Explosive Boom Signals End Of Dam, Rebirth Of River
by Rebecca Wodder, American Rivers on 08. 7.07
By Rebecca R. Wodder, President, American Rivers. It isn’t every day that you get to see the rebirth of a river. Think of it as destruction in the name of creation: With an explosive boom and huge plumes of dust, demolition of Oregon’s 95-year old Marmot Dam began on July 24. It’s the beginning of a landmark environmental restoration project on the Sandy River – the “backyard river” of Portland, Oregon.
Local community members cheered as the blast was detonated. As the dust cleared the crowd hurried toward the dam to see the cracked concrete, piles of rubble and tangles of re-bar. Excavators and dump trucks rumbled on to the dam to begin scooping away the concrete. Demolition will continue over the next several weeks and the Sandy River will be free-flowing some time this fall....
WWF-Philippines: We Deliver for Kids!
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08. 7.07
Recognizing that kids throughout the world need access to materials and information about the environment, the World Wildlife Fund in the Philippines has Project LIFE (Learning Inter-dependently for the Environment) delivering environmental education to help kids and communities get the message. And in a country where conditions can be quite rough, with some schools barely accessible and others lacking the necessary equipment or teaching space, they’ve found that even pulling into schools and towns in their brightly colored van can cause quite a stir.
In essence, LIFE is a traveling exhibition, lecture and activity centre all rolled into one that tours coastal communities and major cities throughout the Philippines. It comes complete with multi-media equipment and educational materials like a scale model set of endangered species like the whale shark, bottlenose dolphin and green turtle. And kids of all ages get to take part in a wide range of activities, including sketching, creating origami, painting or sculpting clay animals, as well as listening to the sounds of a humpback whales singing and role playing. As Obel Resurrection, Environmental Education Officer at WWF-Philippines puts it, ““LIFE caters to all levels, from pre-school to college,” and “A tour usually consists of interactive exhibits, videos, games and lectures around key environmental issues like coastal conservation, over-fishing, endangered species protection and climate change.”
...
Guerilla Gardening: A Manualfesto
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08. 7.07
We’ve covered the spread of guerrilla gardening before. From Toronto to London, green-fingered rebels have been surreptitiously planting up neglected land with flowers, trees or vegetables, simultaneously brightening up their neighborhoods, fostering a sense of community, and often even growing food for those around them. Now we’ve come across Guerilla Gardening: A Manualfesto - a book that aims to guide would-be guerrilla gardeners through the process. The following is from the book’s blurb:
“The term "guerrilla" may bring to mind a small band of armed soldiers, moving in the dead of night on a stealth mission. In the case of guerrilla gardening, the soldiers are planters, the weapons are shovels, and the mission is to transform an abandoned lot into a thing of beauty. Once an environmentalist's nonviolent direct action for inner-city renewal, this movement is spreading to all types of people in cities around the world. These modern-day Johnny Appleseeds perform random acts of gardening, often without permission. Typical targets are vacant lots, railway land, underused public squares, and back alleys. The concept is simple, whimsical, and has the cheeky appeal of being a not-quite-legal call to action. Dig in some soil, plant a few seeds, or mend a sagging fence-one good deed inspiring another, with win-win benefits all around.”...
People of London: Tell Us About Your City
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 08. 7.07
photo credit: Wally Gobetz via Flickr
It is a beautifully sunny day here in London, I am happy to say that summer has finally arrived on these shores. It feels like a good day to cycle along one of the many tow paths down by the River Thames or to take stroll through one of the gorgeously green and leafy public parks that are dotted all over this sprawling metropolis, if you are not stuck in a stuffy office block that is. London is the most populous city in Europe with 7.7 million of us living here, so we know there are a lot of you out there who can tell other TH readers what life is like in this great city. We'd like to know, in TreeHugging terms, what are the best and what are the worst things about London? What is the general level of eco-consciousness among the population? How's public transportation? How is it for cyclists? Does anyone actually use Oybike? Has anyone caught a Hybrid taxi? What about the Suburban sprawl? Are you benefitting from the Congestion Charge system? Air quality? Has the recent smoking ban helped? Recycling/composting? As time passes, are things getting better or worse?...
Martha Stewart on Powering Down the House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.07
We have done so many lists of things you can do in your house to cut power consumption, but when Martha Stewart does one, it goes to a much larger audience, and that's a good thing. She notes that if every household were to cut its energy consumption by 15%, then two hundred coal fired power plants could be retired. And, you don't have to part with your espresso machine. Much of the information comes from Katherine Wang of the Rocky Mountain Institute.
In true Martha style she travels from room to room with ideas and suggestions; in the kitchen, set your fridge at 40 degrees and your freezer at zero. Check the seal on your fridge by closing the door on a dollar bill. If you can slide it out easily, replace the seal. Reserve the oven for big meals or cooking several things at once; for single servings or reheating use the microwave or toaster oven. Put a clock on the wall and pull out the coffee maker and any appliance with a light or a clock in it; any appliance with a clock or a light is eating up phantom power, totalling between five and fifteen percent of your bill.
And that's just the kitchen! Not yet online, but check ::Martha Stewart Living...
Tool Libraries: The Sharpest Tack in the Shed
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 7.07
This is one of those stories we should’ve done aeons ago. But we keep getting distracted by all the news of fresh endeavours. There is nothing new about tool libraries (the famous Berkeley Tool Lending Library was established back in 1979 and now contains over 2,500 tools), but it is easy to get entranced by the siren song of new gizmos. And ironically that is the point. Our consumer society is predicated around us owning all this 'stuff.' When really what we want is not so much to own it, but to use it. Libraries are perfect examples of this. We read books without having to buy them. Community toy libraries, which we have noted, provide the same delightful function. Little Johnny tires of that train set, so you swap it for a box of Lego. A tool library is no different. For those rare times when you need a ladder, rubber plunger or circular saw you just borrow it from the library. In some places there’s a nominal change, whilst in others the service is free. Either way it beats all of us owning wheel barrows, pipe snakes or post hole diggers and never using them. ...
Strawbale Hexagonal House
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 7.07
Kelly and Masoko Neville’s house, in Cambridgeshire, is on stilts so its less prone to flooding (something the UK has recently been very much re-acquainted with). It is of hexagonal shape, so the focus swings around the central staircase sculptured from an 800 year old oak tree trunk. The walls are insulated with strawbales, rendered on the exterior with a lime finish. This quite quirky house (the pic here shows the one piece sculptured glass bath) was designed to be made by one human and one tractor. And while certain elements of it might not meet with our boss’s strong modern+green aesthetic, we are sure he’d be please to learn that the owners plan to recycle the house’s waste and grow their own food. The building itself ended up costing the couple £100,000 (~ $203,000 USD) to build from scratch. It was showcased on Channel 4’s Grand Designs TV show, which we last mentioned for a prefab home. The program has had a few other ‘eco’ homes in the current series. See them here > ::Grand Designs. ...
DIY: Root Cellar
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 08. 7.07
Eating local produce is a good way to reduce your share of green house gas and has the added benefit of supporting local farmers, not to mention locally produced foods tend to be fresher and taste better. If you happen to grow your own or know someone who does, then being able to store your produce to use over a longer period makes a lot of sense and enables you to eat locally for longer. Storing apples and potatoes over the winter may sound impractical if you live in the city, but SuperNaturale has some tricks and tips for the urban dwellers - and for those small suburban back yards try the DIY garbage can root cellar pictured above.
A well-insulated root cellar can keep the food inside 40 degrees cooler than the summertime temperatures outside. This coolness also has benefits during the winter, as maintaining food at a temperature just slightly above freezing has the effect of slowing deterioration and rot....
Ten Commandments of Eco Gardening
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08. 7.07
As we move into the dog days of summer, and gardens, it's a good time to recall some green gardening tips that will save the garden, and the planet.
Yogurt Containers Born Again as Modular Construction Toy
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 08. 7.07
Italian designer Barro de Gast's Yo'Play yogurt packaging includes at least two life cycles--and a subtle message about recycling for those TreeHugger tots out there. After you polish off the yogurt, the light-weight cups are reborn as modular construction toys. Each cup snaps together, creating hollow light 3D shapes and figures ranging from dogs, airplanes, and dolls to castles and houses. Made of monomaterial Polystyrene, the cups are fully recyclable and come with graphical illustrations to aid the creative process. The packaging's smart design recently garnered de Gast a first prize in UNESCO and design firm Felissimo's Child’s Play Design 21 design competition. Via ::Design 21: Social Design Network Also see ::Interior Design ::Eco-Toys from Finland ::Eco-Packaging" Finalist: Yeo Valley Organic Yogurt ::Dannon Removes Plastic Overcaps, Smart Move...
Windows With Water Reduce the Need for Cooling by 70%
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 08. 7.07
We all know double glazing drastically reduces heating and cooling costs as well as noise levels. Still, glass heats up in the summer which is far from attractive when you’re inside a glass building. However, nobody wants to give up the beauty of such building from the outside nor the luminosity they provide inside and so glass is becoming more and more popular in modern architecture. The fact that glass heats up causes big problems in hot countries like Spain, especially in the summer, and leads to more and more air conditioning, not a very eco installation.
Luckily it seems innovation has entered those glass facade windows by adding water. A group of researchers at the Polytechnic University in Madrid (UPM) are developing a system to cool the windows by adding a 1cm slot through which the water circulates on the inside to absorb the heat of the sunbeams. The spin-off project of the UPM is called Inteliglass. With its installation, buildings with glass facades could save up to 70% on air conditioning. Contact Inteliglass for more information: creacion.empresas@upm.es (Tel: +34 91 336 59 71). via::Habitat Futura ::UPM Inteliglass (in Castilian)
...
TH Forums Highlights: Tree Planting, Bike Riding, Gas Saving and More
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 6.07
Down the street at TreeHugger Forums, you can still take a poll (and vent your spleen) about TreeHugger's recent acquisition and we're still looking for your "dumb questions" about the environment -- the ones you aren't sure about, but might be afraid to ask. Here are some of the recent highlights...
...
 | 1) New forum user SomewhereInND has an interesting assertion: "It is true, planting a tree won't reduce green house gas. Once that tree dies, it will decay (producing CO2/methane), rereleasing its stored carbon back into the enviroment. Any trace amounts of carbon left underground will not make up for the carbon that was used to plant/water/maintain/and eventually cut down that tree." Does that make sense to anyone? |
 | 2) Citing some interesting numbers, including "in the US, only 1% of urban travel was by bicycle, and 30.6% of adults are considered obese. This contrasted with the Netherlands where 28% of urban travel was via a bike, and only 10% of adults were obese," user ed has a question: "Can anyone design an electric bike or trike that everyone would want to be seen riding?" |
 | 3) User betterdriver has put together a driving directions/gasoline usage maps mashup, which "allows you to enter in a start and ending location for a drive, and will calculate the amount of gas used. It will also show you some ways to you can save on gas, with the approximate amounts of money saved." Using the forums' polling functionality, the question is "Would you use the Gasonline Usage mashup page?" USB charging and municipal green building, after the jump... |
Location of First Tesla Store Revealed
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 6.07
The first Tesla store will open in... Menlo Park, in the Bay Area. It will be in a property owned by Stanford University, which used to house a Chevrolet dealer. Not only is the world getting a green car dealership, but it's losing a non-green one. The original idea was to launch a dealership in New York, Chicago, South Florida, Los Angeles and the Bay area - but tragically none in my home-town of London (not that I can afford one anyway, but I could window-shop).
Tesla announced a while ago that they wouldn't be selling franchises for dealerships, but would own and run them all. They're almost like the Apple Computers of the car world; demanding control of every step of the process, from design to sales. Like Apple, this looks like it has resulted in an amazing product which I would happily give a (small) body part to own. The store should be open by the end of the year, which is just after the first production Tesla Roadster is finished in October. ::Auto Blog Green...
Bazura Aprons from Billboard Banners
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 6.07
If you like Freitag and cooking, then you'll love these. Bazura Bags, a Canadian company whose bags we've written about before, now make these cooking aprons from discarded billboard banners. Because the material is used as-is, every item is different. You might get a piece of plain color, or you may get a letter or a logo. It's all part of the fun.
...
Homer May be Yellow, but Groening is Green
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 6.07
Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, seems to be the latest in a string of celebrity Prius drivers. It came out in an interesting piece on him in the Times, which doesn't focus on green issues per se, but does mention the real motivation for picking up a hybrid. It's exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from the guy who dreamed up Bart Simpson.
“In a parking lot, when you’re backing up, you can drive silently and really scare the hell out of people! They jump because they don’t hear you coming,” he says. Ok, it might not be the best reason for driving a green car, but it is a good reason. It reminds us of a certain video featuring a Tesla Roadster that we wrote about recently. ...
Corticeira Amorim, Portugese Cork Supplier's Sustainability Report
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 6.07
Our feet smile on cork floors; eyes feast on cork veneer walls; mouths, water over uncorked wine; forearms slither over chairs upolstered with it ; hands proudly hold fly rod handles and umbrella grips of cork. Good for just about anything. But how sustainable is it?
A Portuguese market leader, Corticeira Amorim, has announced the publication of their first Sustainability Report (Portuguese language only), reflecting jointly with stakeholders on how to contribute to an effective sustainable development. Some of the highlights from the report that we found noteworthy follow.
CO2-retention capabilities of Portugal's cork forests are estimated to be as high as 5% of the country's annual emissions, or 4.8 million tons per year. Amorim's annual production of natural wine stoppers alone retains over 25 thousand tons of CO2, creating a unique balance between the creation of wealth and the protection of the environment....
Twin Chairs: Beautiful, Stackable Bent Ply from Italy
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 6.07
Inspired by a tree trunk, the clever Twin chairs by Italy's Euga Design offer an interesting combination of stackability and Yin/Yang-type unity. Made from oak scraps and veneers (and built from resource-efficient bent ply), the chair is more elegant congruity than straightforward efficiency -- you can't stack a dozen together, as with other stacking chair we've seen -- but does create a simple, beautiful form both stacked and side-by-side. When not in use as a chair, the hollow bottoms create a sneaky little storage space; when stacked, it looks like something that we'd like to hug. ::Euga Design via ::Apartment Therapy...
Square Cat Habitat: Green Living (and Lounging) for Your Cat
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 6.07
Because modern pets (and their owners) sometimes prefer modern furniture, Square Cat Habitat has updated the scratching post and kitty bed with a modern, sustainable alternative. The Portland, OR-based cat lovers chose bamboo plywood and water-based finishes (and use recycled packing materials) for their sustainability and longevity; the products themselves are designed to be a useful place for Fluffy to lounge, scratch and catnap. Each of the three pieces ("Bastet", pictured above, is a square place to play, lounge, sleep, whatever...the other two are pictured below the fold) features removable/replaceable carpet inserts, making them easy to keep clean and (eventually) replace, after the claws have come out one too many times. Though we've seen some nice designs with corrugated cardboard, Square Cat Habitat's offer a nice alternative to the shredded mess that the cardboard can leave behind.
There's more green-pet tips at our How to Green Your Pet Guide; take a peek at "Buddha" and "Itch" after the jump, and see it all at ::Square Cat Habitat...
Biodiesel Designer Genes
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 08. 6.07
If you were a green genie whose wishes would you grant? That everyone on the planet heeds Kenny Luna’s sage advice and plugs compact fluorescents into their lamps? Would you go further and replace every automobile on the planet with a hybrid, or would you just stop global warming altogether?
Companies that work in the area of genetic engineering don’t need green genies – they look to science for changing the physical and chemical realities of the world. And according to a story in Bloomberg, two Israeli companies have their designs set on developing cheap and oily biodiesel. It is not spelled out in the report, but judging by the test tubes on one of their websites and the other's name, the solution will be a genetically-engineered one. ...
Potato Chip Ingredient Provides Longevity Boost to Concrete
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 6.07
Who would've thought that the flavoring that helps give "salt & vinegar" chips their tasty tang could also help protect concrete from water damage? A new study by Awni Al-Otoom and his colleagues in Jordan has revealed that sodium acetate — a chemical commonly used in flavored chips (and a variety of other products and processes) — can work as a cheap and effective concrete sealant by providing a waterproof coating.
As they note in their study, concrete — though one of the most widely used construction materials — suffers from a high porosity that allows water to soak in and cause cracks and other problems when the water expands or changes state. And while sealants are widely available, most have serious shortcomings. In their trials, the scientists demonstrated that sodium acetate could seep into pores in concrete and crystallize upon exposure to water — blocking the entry of any further moisture. Once the crystals shrink back under dry conditions, the moisture is allowed to evaporate....
Olympic Pigs Go Organic to Ensure Dope-Free Pork for Beijing Athletes
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 6.07
Coming amidst international worries about the safety of Chinese foods, drugs and other products (and a string of drug-tainted sporting scandals), the organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have ordered their official pork supplier to rear organically-fed pigs at secret locations throughout the country. They are keen to to ease any worries participants and guests may have about the quality of food served in the Olympic Village.
Explaining that the use of growth hormones in pig-rearing — a standard practice in China — could cause athletes to fail anti-doping tests, Niu Shengnan, a spokesman for the supplier Qianxihe Food Group, said that no steroids would be used in the pigs and that they would be chosen from carefully monitored parents and fed an all-organic diet. Out of concern for terrorism prevention (we're not making this up), the spokesman refused to divulge the location of the "secret" pig farms, stating: "... the pig farms are secret and cannot announce their names, conduct publicity or allow entry by strangers until after the Olympics." ...
New York City Greener Than You'd Think
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 6.07
Photo credit: MacRonin47
A tree grows in Brooklyn—and more than a half a million more on the streets of New York City; that's 20 percent more trees than there were a decade ago.
The 2005-2006 tree census was the work of around 1,000 volunteers who spent two summers walking around Gotham counting trees. Adrian Benepe, the city's Parks Commissioner called the recently analyzed results of the census—which found about 100,000 more trees shading city pavements than there were a decade earlier—"hopeful," especially when each tree translates into money in the bank.
For every dollar invested in planting a tree, there's more than a $5 return, Benepe said, citing an an analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service....
Unraveling the Secrets of the Tuna's Migration Routes
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 6.07
Once one of the great mysteries of the natural world, the bluefin tuna's migration pattern has finally been elucidated by the workings of an international team of scientists as part of the global 10-year Census of Marine Life. To reach their conclusions, they tagged almost a thousand organisms and studied historical records that showed how the once vibrant tuna numbers collapsed following the emergence of industrial fishing. Two types of tags were used: an external one fitted to the back of the fish and an internal one that required a minor surgical procedure; both tracked their movement and recorded depth and water temperature.
They now believe that two separate populations share foraging sites in the Atlantic — waters off the coasts of Spain, Portugal and Ireland and off the eastern shores of North America — before splitting up and heading to opposite sides of the ocean to breed. "What the tagging has shown is that the tagged fish all occur in the same area of the North Atlantic to feed," explained Andre Boustany, from Stanford University's Tuna Research and Conservation Center. "But when it is time for these fish to go back to their spawning grounds, they separate out."...
Organic Researcher Hosts Carnival of the Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 08. 6.07
This week is Carnival of the Green # 89 and it's being hosted by Organic Researcher! 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 and have less than 20 dates left!), please click here to link to our previous post....
Staple-Free Stapling Meets Cute Overload
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 6.07
If sleek and modern isn't your thing, but you're still desperate to stick pieces of paper together without using staples (or the "other" staple-less stapler), stop worrying and relax -- there is another way! The non-metal, paper cohesion device for the Cute Overload set, the doggy and kitty staple-free stapler help prove that few things aren't improved with pastels and pretty pets. Plus, it gives new meaning to "the dog ate my homework." If you can get over the quasi-existential implications of these babies -- if it doesn't use staples, should it be called a stapler? Hmm... -- you can pick one up at ::ThinkGeek via ::Random Good Stuff....
Reminder: Current TV's Ecospot Contest - Get Those Cameras Rolling!
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 6.07
An 8 Year Old On A Mission
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08. 6.07
When most kids are 8 they’re out running around with friends or catching up on the TV they missed while at school, but Jaide Ramirez-Jennings is busy running the non-profit she started in kindergarten called Kids in Care of Kids (KICK). After seeing Yahoo!'s Be a Better Planet campaign she took on the task of encouraging people in Topeka, Kansas to use reusable shopping bags at the grocery store… And after her grandmother contacted them to see if they could help jumpstart her campaign they generously (but not surprisingly) donated 900 purple canvas shopping bags as part of their Purple Acts of Kindness program. Now she’s aiming to sell them for $5 a piece at local supermarkets to raise money for other organizations that preserve the environment and improve the lives of kids, including groups like Keep America Beautiful, the Topeka School Fund, and the American Heart Association. Of course it’s up to the people of Topeka to step up and buy them, then make sure that they remember to actually use them. Admittedly, it can be tough to remember to bring them every time there’s a trip to the store, but with kids in New Hampshire working on a similar program, the city of San Francisco working to ban them, and companies like IKEA working to do the same within their own stores, there are more and more people working to help us remember such a simple thing that can make a big difference.
via:: Yahoo!...
The Problem Is Us - U.S. Data Center Growth Spawning Climate Disaster
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08. 6.07
"Left unchecked, data centers could double their energy consumption over the next five years at a cost of $7.4 billion annually, according to a report [to the US Congress] issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By 2011, the equivalent of 10 new power plants would be needed to supply 12 gigawatts of electricity unless the energy efficiency of data centers can be improved. That's bad news for the corporate bottom line and the environment. It's also a hit on taxpayers' wallets: federal government data centers alone consume about 10 percent of that electricity.
The good news, say EPA's researchers, is that greening data centers through consolidating servers, energy-efficient equipment and tapping alternative energy sources could cut annual electricity costs by $1.6 billion to $5.1 billion by 2011 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 47 million metric tons a year." And boy we have work to do to keep our online viewing from contributing to climate catastrophe. Take a look below the fold for a map of US states that have yet to upgrade their commercial building code standards to even the bare minimum. How many "wired" nations in the world even have commercial building code standards that promote energy efficiency? Via:: Green Wombat...
GreenPainters Painting Australia Green
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 6.07
One year ago we made mention of new cadre of official Green Plumbers working in Australia. Recently a related building trade has followed suite; the Greenpainters Association. Although a much more modest non-profit association, they still wish to help building owners source professional tradespersons with direct knowledge and skills in greener building practices. Their members have experience using low VOC (volatile organic compound) synthetic paints, as well as plant and mineral-based paints and timber finishes. The association advises specifiers and consumers to abide by the Green Council of Australia Green Star Rating System, which classes low VOC paints as containing up to 16 grams per litre and ultra low to zero, 0-1g/l. They also note that “The manufacture of petrochemical based paint is energy-intensive, and the production of 1 tonne of paint can produce 10-30 tonnes of toxic waste, much of which is non-degradable.” As Greenpainters put it most painters have never used non-toxic paints before, and some find them frustrating. “This is because of their unfamiliarity with the products. However, Greenpainters love them! In fact, that's all they use, so they're experts at getting the job done right.” It seems to be on the Greenpainter registry, a tradesperson also needs to commit to correct disposal of unwanted paint, while also avoiding water wastage during wash-up. ::Greenpainters Association. (PS: their site has a few 'issues' with large image files - patience.)
...
Print Trees - Plant Business Cards (Sort Of)
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 6.07
It should come as no surprise that we like trees around here. Therefore this little business endeavour took our fancy. Saltprint, an online based printer, has teamed with not-for-profit company Carbon Neutral to bung a tree in the ground for every business card order they get (and looks like a minimum qualifying order is 500 cards for $80.) Given that most paper stock is derived from tree pulp this seems like a worthy trade off (though we wonder if business cards might not be somewhat of an anachronism in this digital day and age.) While it is noted that on average, over 70 years, six trees planted in Australia will absorb 1 tonne of CO2, we are also pleased to see that the other benefits of trees are also described. They combat salinity, reduce soil erosion, clean underground water systems and provide habitat for wildlife. Carbon Neutral is a business initiative of two not-for-profit community organisations, Men of the Trees and Trees for Life, who collectively have been in the treeplanting game for some 27 years, with over 30 million Australian native trees under their belt. They seem to be promising Saltprint they’ll provide stewardship of their customers trees for 70 years, though they suggest that 80-90% of the CO2 absorption occurs within the first 30 years. Additionally Saltprint use 100% accredited GreenPower energy, sourced from the sun, the wind, water and waste, for their operations. ::Saltprint....
Ecovation: Sharing Knowledge About Eco-renovation
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08. 6.07
We love fancy new green architecture like Greenbridge Developments in Chapel Hill, NC, or the flagship international eco-communities of One Planet Living. Nevertheless, the majority of us will not be living in brand-new solar powered high-tech homes for some time to come, and even if we were, they would take an awful lot of energy to build. This being the case then, it makes sense to recycle our existing housing stock and to encourage ecologically-minded renovation wherever we can. A while back we reported on the Eco-renovation Network, based in Glasgow, that was seeking to encourage would-be green renovators to share their experiences with others. Now we’ve come across another similar network, again from the UK.
Ecovation is a newly launched initiative of the Oxford-based Climate Outreach Network, and currently appears to be principally an online community. The Ecovation website offers space for users to submit case studies of their own renovations, and a discussion forum is in place, though at the time of writing there was only one topic posted. This does look like a great place to meet likeminded souls though, to share skills and resources, and maybe even to forge real-world alliances to help with each other's projects. We can only wish Ecovation luck, and we hope they will grow to be a significant force in encouraging a greening of our out-dated and energy hungry building stock. ::Ecovation:: via Permaculture Magazine::
...
What! No More Cheap Clothes?
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08. 6.07
What!--no more fast fashion? No more quick hits for a little something new and cheap to mix with the Prada skirt...what's happening? It appears that the once unimaginable has finally occurred--consumers are thinking ethically and are becoming more interested in the quality and provenance of the clothes that they buy. According to a new study, clothing just can't get any cheaper. The big manufacturers have already lowered their costs by moving production to Bangladesh and China; even cheaper locations are getting hard to find. Plus, rising fuel, staff and rent costs are taking their toll, and retailers are starting to pass these increases on to the consumer. The really big supermarkets like Asda, Tesco are responding and improving the working conditions in their factories abroad. Retailers, such as Marks & Spencer have followed suit.
The average person in the UK buys 34 new items a year now, as opposed to half that number in 1995. People are jaded and looking for the new new. Retailers are realising that they can up their prices and sell people more aspirational clothing, such as cashmere and silk at a higher price. Even better, according to the study "there is an increased concern about ethical sourcing. People want to know where things are from, this will get stronger in time, and we could see a consumer backlash. The environment and our disposable society are on everyone's mind, and this will have an impact on the fashion industry." So, the trend is more expensive clothes (prices are predicted to rise 4.7%), but more ethically made and better quality. :: The Independent...
House Shifts $16 Billion From Big Oil To Renewable Energy + Huffington Post Launches Political Donor Search Engine FUNDRACE 2008
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 08. 6.07
The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday passed a Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy that strips $16 billion in tax incentives away from Big Oil and puts it toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Whatever your analysis of this development might be, it seems in fact our elected lawmakers hold the power to vote with the American Taxpayer's pocketbook in favor of or against tax law that benefits the environment.
The other side of this compact between citizens and elected officials may be best expressed in the fact that individuals and organizations are vested by law with the ability to donate limited amounts of money to the political candidates of their choosing. One might even see such practice, this vote via donation or "vonation" if you will, as more influential than one citizen's individual vote. The Huffington Post is launching today a search engine called Fundrace 2008, which allows you to track which vonors are vonating to whom. If you hold an opinion that one Presidential candidate or another is more the horse to bet on when it comes to the environment, you can explore HuffPost's Fundrace 2008 to see who is putting their money down on which candidates. :: Huffington Post's Fundrace 2008 :: LA Times :: Yahoo News...
Eco-Social Design Workshop and Conference at Diseño con Acento, Argentina
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 08. 6.07
It seems not only Buenos Aires is catching up on green and social design in Argentina. After we shared the work of Cordoba province’s Gandia studio not so long ago, this city (the second largest in the country, about 700 kilometers from Buenos Aires) is now subject for another story. Next August 23 to 26, 2007, it will host the Latin American design-exhibition Diseño con Acento, which will feature an eco-social design workshop and conference with Christian Ullman (picture). This Argentine designer has a long-time experience working with native communities in Brazil in order to add value to their crafts, which he talked about with us in this interview. According to Diego Gomez, one of the organizers of the event, the workshop’s goal is to “promote design with local identity, to incorporate artisan work and the region materials in the production of objects and furniture design, and to integrate marginal communities into the productive process”....
Urban Studio Brooklyn
by Joey Roth, Brooklyn, USA on 08. 5.07
New York is a challenging environment for green architects, but its history and construction-happy culture affords some opportunities that exist nowhere else. Urban Studio Brooklyn (USBK) was founded to make the work of students and recent grads a part of New York's landscape. Focused more on physical projects than theory, director Lori Gibbs formed partnerships with established studios like Atelier Ten and threadcollective to work with the participants, tackling architectural problems like rainwater collection....
Envirofit: Retrofit Engine Kits To Reduce Southeast Asia's Pollution
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 08. 5.07
Those ubiquitous two- and three-wheelers of South and Southeast Asia – which contribute massive amounts of pollution in the region – could be on the way to getting a green makeover. Envirofit, an independent, non-profit company established at Colorado State University in 2003, is now working to develop and distribute affordable retrofit kits that will improve the fuel efficiency of two-stroke engines, commonly used in many of the two-wheeler taxis and three-wheeler auto-rickshaws in the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other parts of South Asia.
Traditional two-stroke engines emit an amount of pollution equal to 50 modern automobiles using four-stroke engines. Originally developed for snowmobiles, the direct injection technology of the kits has been now adapted so that the retrofit system eliminates the carburetor and fuel is instead introduced directly into the engine cylinder, thus conserving more unburned fuel. According to Envirofit, the kits could cut fuel consumption from 35 to 50 percent and decrease the emissions of a two-stroke engine by 90 percent – translating to not only reduced pollution but also cost-savings for ordinary taxi-drivers.
...
Should Carnivores Guide Conservation Efforts?
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 5.07
Predators have long been considered the best determinants of an ecosystem's biodiversity and thus have often been the primary focus of conservation efforts. Birds of prey, wolves and other top predators typically require large areas to live and robust prey populations. The idea was that ecologists should devote their energy and resources to saving those groups of species whose diversity best reflects that of their habitat — hence efforts benefiting the predators would benefit the other populations as well.
A team of ecologists led by the University of Helsinki's Mar Cabeza has now taken exception to this guiding rule, arguing that the studies that have sought to reinforce this idea have been too narrow in focus and that — in general — predators provide an uneven picture of biodiversity. "To suggest that top predators make good biodiversity indicators when the research was conducted on raptors alone in a small region is dangerous. We must conduct further studies before making any recommendations," said Cabeza....
Lose the TV/Land Line, Save the Cell/Computer
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 08. 5.07
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has developed this perky graphic to help American chart that on which their tech dollars are blown. Wired noticed that although high tech gear gets cheaper every year, the proportion of the typical US household budget reserved for tech spending has held steady for the past decade. On balance, it's more than what we pay for health insurance, more than prescription drugs, or more than clothing. There's some fun in these numbers.
...
Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Buses Planned for 2010 Olympics
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 5.07
Following initial reports a few years back that Vancouver was planning on investing in a fleet of hydrogen-powered transit buses for the 2010 Olympics, we now have confirmation that the city of Whistler will become host to the world's largest fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell buses, just in time for the Games. Twenty zero-emissions buses will make up the Whistler bus system — a system that will serve as the northern terminus for a so-called "hydrogen highway" up North America's west coast.
Each bus will have 37 seats, a 60-person standing capacity and a top speed of 90 km per hour and — at an individual cost of $2.1 million — will cost about four times as much as a conventional diesel bus. The buses will be built by New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg, and their fuel cells will be provided by Burnaby's Ballard Power Systems. Two other subcontractors — Dynetek Industries of Calgary and ISE Corp. of San Diego — will work on their hydrogen storage system and hybrid drive system, respectively. ...
TH Personal Shopper: Wedding on a Beach
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08. 5.07
Dear TreeHugger,
One of my husband's best friends is getting married next year in Hawaii, and the service will most likely take place on the beach. (We're flying there because my husband is going to be one of the groomsmen, but definitely offsetting!) I'm probably going to go with some strappy sandals I already own, but do you have any suggestions on what I should wear? I'm on the petite side and not a fan of loud, crazy patterns, but I don't want to look boring, either. If it's not asking for too much, I'd also like not to spend more than US$100.
—No muumuus, please...
The Bottled Water Industry Strikes Back
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08. 5.07
You knew they weren't going to just take it lying down. Following a series of highly publicized setbacks — including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's banning of the bottle and PepsiCo's "relabeling" of its Aquafina bottled water — the bottled water industry, led by the International Bottled Water Association, has decided to fight back by taking two full-page ads out of The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
This marks the first time since 1999 that the bottled water industry has waged such a high-profile ad campaign. In an attempt to recast the debate — shifting the focus from drinking bottled vs. tap water to promoting the health benefits of drinking water — Joe Doss, the CEO of IBWA, argues that "It's not a bottled water vs. tap water issue. Water is a very healthy drink that shouldn't be discouraged." In addition to pledging its support for tougher recycling laws, the IBWA seeks to bolster its green image in the new ad by emphasizing its recent efforts to make its bottles thinner and fully recyclable. ...
Solar Powered Tractor: A Small Step Towards Fossil-Fuel Free Agriculture?
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08. 5.07
Carbon Trust Award £1 Million in Green Grants
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08. 5.07
The UK government has just awarded grants totaling £1 million to seven green projects. Ok, that's not a lot of money, especially in the world of Government contracts, but if they are well targeted then it could make a large difference. The money will be coming from the Carbon Trust, which is a private company that is totally funded by the government, set up to investigate ways to slow and reverse climate change.
Carbon Trust employee, Garry Staunton, said that the project's, "diverse nature demonstrates the exciting low carbon innovation work in the UK today". Among the recipients are Coventry University which is developing a technique for aluminum smelting that could reduce emissions by 20% and Warwick Manufacturing Group who are working on developing a paint coating process that would mean plastic manufacturing companies no longer require a paint shop....
Japanese Aim for Battery Car Speed Record
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 08. 5.07
Osaka Sangyo University student Takashi Sudo drove a drycell battery powered vehicle to a reported record speed of 122 km/h (75.81 mph) on Saturday 4 August 2007. The vehicle averaged 105.95 km/h (65.83 mph) over a 1 km (0.6 mile) course. The 38 kg (84 lb.) carbon fiber composite car was powered by 192 AA batteries. A Japanese agent for Guiness was present and will recommend the team's entry to the Guiness Book of World Records.
What is the take-away message for TreeHuggers? Obviously, in the first analysis, this is a gimmick to sell Matsushita (Panasonic) disposable batteries to serve the growing demand for power to digital devices. Not an eco-friendly option in comparison with rechargeable batteries.
But there is no question that the future of electric technology depends upon innovative ...
TreeHugger breaks it down for you in a series of in depth how-to articles that will help you green your life. No time like the present!
Here are a few recommended websites.
