- Vijay Vaitheeswaran (part one)
- Vijay Vaitheeswaran (part two)
- Vinay Gupta
- Alyce Santoro
- Mathis Wackernagel
- Tom Price
- Martha Marks
- Paul Hawken
- David Suzuki
- Wal-Mart's Green Gurus
- Alisa Smith and James Mackinnon, authors of Plenty
- Bob Perkowitz of ecoAmerica
- Ed Begley Jr.
- The Weather Channel's Dr. Heidi Cullen
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
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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.
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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:
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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!
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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?
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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:
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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R.I.P. China's Baiji: The First Dolphin To Be Made Extinct By People
by Alex Pasternack, Beijing, China 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.
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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
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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, Jerusalem, Israel 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, Helena, MT, USA 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
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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 produc