Weekly Archive for August 26, 2007 : TreeHugger

All 162 school buses in Greece (That's the Greece Central School District in New York State) have been retrofitted with diesel oxidation catalysts and crankcase spiracle filters to reduce air pollution to which children are exposed. In the final installment of this Greek Trilogy, we just couldn't resist the punning. A project like this cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but the best part for the Greece Central School District and the taxpayers is that it was done at no cost to them. That's because this project was paid for by a grant from the EPA's Clean Bus USA Project....

While the Greek Church may be home to one of the greenest religious leaders, forest conservation measures provided for in the Greek Constitution may be backfiring. Earlier this month, before last weekend's fires in Greece threatened to engulf the ancient stadium of Olympia (birthplace of the Olympic Games), a senior researcher with Greece's Forest Research Institute explained to Spiegel Online that forest management policies in the country may actually promote arson since "forests don't vote." Forest protection is written into Greece's constitution, making it almost impossible for forest land to be re-zoned for development. But because there are no official maps delineating the boundaries of the forest areas, land at the edges of burned out forests are often claimed by developers after fires. "This is the heart of the problem," the researcher told Spiegel Online which notes that Athenians "have traditionally never been much moved by tree-hugger sensibilities."...

Since 1989, every September 1st (the beginning of the ecclesiastical calendar) has been designated as a day of prayer for "the protection of the environment" throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church consisting of some 300 million Christians worldwide. Instituted by the late Patriarch Dimitrios of the Greek Orthodox Church, the tradition has since been shepherded by his successor Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople who has been dubbed "The Green Patriarch." Some attribute the moniker to the European press, but my sources in the church credit the epithet to Al Gore during his tenure as Vice President. Bartholomew was the first major religious leader to have initiated since 1991 various events to promote environmental protection, and Grist puts him number one above the Dalai Lama on their recent list of 15 green religious leaders. Exercising his influence on the Catholic Pope, Bartholomew in 2002 orchestrated a coming together in joint environmental efforts that witnessed the first liturgy spoken by the Greek Patriarch in Italy for over 1,000 years since the Vatican and the Orthodox Churches excommunicated one another in the Great Schism of 1054....

This writer did a double-take on news that:- "Pope Benedict XVI (pictured) is taking a new step in the Vatican's environmental campaign, leading a youth festival this weekend where participants will use recycled prayer books, biodegradable plates and backpacks made from reused nylon. About 300,000 young Roman Catholics are expected to attend the festival in Loreto, home of Italy's most famous Marian shrine, in a run-up to next year's World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia." But then again, the Vatican already had it's carbon footprint reduction SPV and LED chops down. So why not invest in the next generations? "The festival coincides with the church's "Save Creation Day" and has a decidedly eco-friendly theme. Each participant will be given a knapsack made of recycled nylon containing a hand-cranked battery charger, three sets of biodegradable plates and three bags for recycling trash. Prayer books for Benedict's Sunday Mass are made of recycled paper, hydrogen cars will be on display and trees will be planted in areas of southern Italy recently devastated by forest fires to make up for the carbon-dioxide emissions generated by the festival, organizers said."" "...The head of the Italian bishops' conference, Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco, told Vatican Radio that it was the responsibility of the church to teach its young about caring for the planet." Via:: WTOP and Associated Press, and MSNBC. Image credits:: MSNBC and Wikipedia, "The Green Pope" - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople Speaking of those in vestments...what fabrics are used? Anyone know?...

The Öko-Institut (Eco-institute) reports that it would cost only 43 euros (57 US dollars) per ton of CO2 emissions saved if the government would pitch in to encourage Germans to replace refrigerators more than ten years old with the newest high efficiency appliances. The Öko-Institut proposes that a subsidy of €150 per purchase of a new high-efficiency appliance would reduce emissions by two main effects: better replacement and early replacement. Consumers will decide for the more efficient refrigerator over cheaper but less efficient models. And they will move to replace their older power-pigs more quickly. The study was commissioned by the industry association for producers of electrical and electronic equipment, so naturally we cast a suspicious eye on it. To the credit of the independent researchers, the study does include factors like the excess emissions which would be created by production of new appliances for the early replacement of still-functioning older models. A factor of 4/15 was applied to the emissions from manufacturing a new fridge, to reflect the average of 4 years of unused lifespan in the early replacement devices....

You'd think that a substance the EPA itself deems one of the most toxic ever released into the world's waters would've been outlawed a long time ago, right? Well, you'd be wrong: only now, several decades after its harmful effects had already been well established, is tributyltin (TBT) expected to be banned. Once the White House Office of Budget and Management clears it, the treaty will go to the United Nations, where it will be ratified by the full U.N. International Maritime Organization. Tributyltin, a type of biocide, is a cheap and powerful barnacle and algae killer that was once commonly used on most of the world's commercial ships. It is typically mixed into the bottom coating for hulls, where it helps keep the ship clear of barnacles and other similar species. TBT is highly prized by sailboat racers and yachtsmen who use it to make their hulls move more easily through the water and by certain environmentalists, who argue it can help prevent the spread of invasive species from one port to another. ...

From the "idea is better than the actual product" department, this chair answers the question, "Why get a desk and a chair when you can just get a chair-desk?" Even though it's not the sleekest implementation we've ever seen, we really like the concept; less stuff is better than more stuff, right? Conceived in Japan, where living space is at a premium, it might make sense for us bloggers, too; rather than hunching over our laptops on the couch or lounging in bed in our pajamas, this could be a major upgrade to the "home office." Looks like it's only available in Japan for now; we'll have to settle for the flexible Trey chair. ::Thanko Chair/Desk (site in Japanese) via ::TokyoMango...

Call it a lascivious attempt to get more hits: we call it a more titillating take on an otherwise dour topic. Courtesy of New Scientist, we have two new studies that connect the dots between global warming, pollution and sex — exploring their effects on the size of polar bear penis bones and on the potential for Australian central bearded dragons to "switch" their sex. Christian Sonne of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and his colleagues found that polar bear penis bones in Eastern Greenland were shrinking, most likely due to the high prevalence of pollutants — such as PCBs and DDT — and the difficulty of finding food in a warming climate. An earlier study in 2004 had determined that polar bears and other carnivores living near the poles tended to have longer penis bones to make them more competitive. Polar bears in Eastern Greenland were less well "endowed" and, subsequently, competitive than were their cousins in Svalbard and the Canadian Arctic. ...

Ben Jervey is a freelance writer, environmental consultant, and ecopreneur who has been working towards a more sustainable life in New York City for years. He recently released a book to help others do the same--The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City. Mr. Jervey writes regularly about environmental issues for National Geographic's "The Green Guide," Good Magazine, NRDC's ItsYourNature.org, and Worldchanging, and has also contributed to Men's Journal, The New York Daily News, Men's Vogue, and many other online and print publications. Mr. Jervey is a founder of Evolvist.com, an online directory and resource for smarter, sustainable urban living. He works at times for Solar One, a non-profit renewable energy, arts and education center committed to inspiring New Yorkers to become more environmentally-aware urban citizens. Before moving to The Big Apple, he lived in Vermont, working in carpentry and lumber salvage after graduating from Middlebury College, where his interest in urban environmental issues began. He sat on the school's Environmental Council and studied Environmental Studies,Literature, and Geography, eventually presenting a thesis on Green Cities, a concern that brought him to Curitiba, Brazil-the "ecological capital of the world"-where he spent months researching and working with the municipal planning board, gathering urban ecological solutions and ideas from this model green city. A bicycle enthusiast, Ben has ridden across the United States and through much of Europe....

Now everyone dress properly, mind your manners, hold your pinky finger high and join Al Gore for high tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. According to the Globe and Mail, “It's going to be a ‘green tea' of sorts,” chuckled Justin Yorke, 20, who still can't believe their good fortune in securing the former U.S. vice-president for the Sept. 29 event. Six hundred guests will listen to Gore, participate in a question and answer session and enjoy tea and watercress sandwiches. While they were given the option of having Gore present his popular “Inconvenient Truth” slideshow, they decided on a more conversational approach. “Something (where) he can really just let loose and talk about what he really thinks about...how citizens and local businesses can help in the fight against climate change,” said Krepiakevich, adding that they anticipate it will be far more interesting than the slideshow because many people will have already seen the documentary. “It's a pretty green city,” said Jacobson, adding that appears to have tweaked Gore's interest.::Globe and Mail Note to Al: Victoria may say it is green but it isn't. it still pumps 129 litres of raw sewage straight into the ocean every day. ...

Iris Coates-Knoop - conservationist and freelance writer. I have worked in the environmental field for over 7 years carrying out various positions ranging from working in sea turtle conservation, on an organic farm, marine mammal rescue and responsible travel. I have completed an Environmental Studies degree at the Open University and did a feature writing course at the London School of Journalism. I regularly write about ethical travel related dilemmas....

A quick word of caution: the tech-savvy in the audience who demand the absolute best in performance from their video-playing gadgets — namely, the highest number of frames per second — may just want to skip over this next story. The rest of you (yes, even the non-iPhone crowd) may be interested in a relatively simple way researchers at the University of Maryland have found to conserve power (by as much as two-thirds) in these gadgets: reduce said frame rate by about 20%. According to Gang Qu, one of the lead scientists on the study, people are generally willing to accept some level of "execution failure." Most contemporary digital video, he estimates, plays at a rate of about 30 frames per second; in the past, that number was closer to 24 frames per second for old movies. In other words, he believes that while the quality of video has increased over the last few decades, the demands of typical users have not: "That's about 80 percent. If you can get 80 percent of the frames consistently correct, human beings will not be able to tell you've made mistakes."...

Photo credit: lauracchia80 Also spelled luffa, loufa, or loofa, the cylindrical sponge many of us use to slough off dead skin cells in the shower or bath doesn't come from the ocean, as some might assume, but can actually be grown in your own backyard. The luffa is a member of the gourd family, grown not for eating, but for its dense and fibrous internal skeleton. When the fruit has matured and dried in about 6 months, you peel off the skin and remove the seeds, leaving behind the familiar sponge-like fibers. Personal hygiene isn't the luffa's sole domain; you can also use it for scrubbing dishes, household chores, and washing your car. For more information, visit Luffa.info. You can also check out how Groovy Green harvested his homegrown shower sponge. ::World Ark (May/June 2007)...

The destruction of Deborah Dale's garden has drawn a lot of attention. She wrote to TreeHugger:

"Thank you for all your kind wishes! As for the "lazy gardener" comment...who ever said propagating, planting, rescuing, purchasing from ethical local sources was easy? I still had almost 50% of the front yard maintained as turf grass to allow access to the beds for weeding. The City is now threatening my backyard woodland garden...which was in the midst of having a stream/pond installed. It too contains a range of native plants..although confined to areas away from the hardscaping work...including bloodroot, blue cohosh, various ferns, wild ginger, tall coneflower, pagoda dogwood."

The Star says about the City employee who did the deed: He's been called a grass Nazi and a pompous bureaucrat who overstepped his authority and he's even been called a jerk, but Bill Blakes stands by the city's decision to raze a woman's front lawn garden in east Toronto.

"Honest to God, I have never – and I have dealt with some pretty controversial issues – never in my life have I had a reaction like this," Blakes, the Scarborough District manager for Municipal Licensing and Standards said yesterday. "Never. That's dealing with body rub parlous, strip clubs, lap dancing, smoking. Never."

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Dark Roasted has compiled a gallery of some of the world's smallest cars. Some of them are cute, economical commuters, but some are a bit of joke - there is definitely a point where economical becomes just plain unsafe and scary. I'd love a bubble car for city driving, as the site says, "soccer moms will still need vans and macho fathers will still need a Hummer statement, but if you live in the urban area, where parking space could cost you as much as $250,000 - these little critters may be just for you. They certainly speak to our sense of esthetic and evoke a strong desire to hug them and pat them on the back." ::Dark Roasted...

The start of the school year is almost always preceded with a shopping trip. Uniforms have invariably been grown out of, or worn out, stationary is stocked up on, books are bought (and rarely read) and the current list of fads and fashions add to the burden as well. Matt Gribble, a student in biology and environmental economics at Stanford University, has written an interesting piece for the Guardian on how to stock up for school in a sustainable way. ...

Wendy Stueck of The Globe and Mail write about the swathe of destruction through British Columbia by the mountain pine beetle: At night, you can hear them moving in the trees. They've swept through parks and golf courses and ranchland and caught thermal currents to fly on the jet stream. They've colonized an area 1,200 kilometres long and 575 kilometres wide, nearly the size of Sweden. They're about the same size as a grain of rice but can kill a tree 10 storeys high. And perhaps scariest of all, they're stealthy. One day, a tree looks fine. The next, it's been hit by nature's version of a drive-by shooting, left with tiny drifts of sawdust at its base or looking as though it's been pelted by popcorn because “pitch tubes” – blobs of sap that are the tree's natural defence – have sprung up on its bark....

Photo credit: Rob Watkins

Americans were never content with the trend toward smaller, fuel-sipping cars. Many felt the smaller cars unsafe; others simply pined for the Camaros, Mustangs, and other muscular chariots from the automobile's glory days. ... Originally designed for work crews, residents of the snow country, and other folks who might actually have need for a vehicle that could travel off-road, SUVs have since become the car of choice for executives, sports stars, and gangster rappers, as well as house husbands, soccer moms, and tens of millions of others who will never intentionally leave the paved roads. ... The SUV represents the height of conspicuous consumption. The extra size, weight, and power of the vehicles are rarely justified by the way their owners drive them. Even though owners and carmakers counter that the SUV's greater size, weight, and capabilities provide an extra margin of safety, studies indicate that SUVs are not only more likely to kill people in cars they hit but, because they roll over more easily, are actually more dangerous to their occupants as well." —Paul Roberts, The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World (2005, Mariner Books)...

Buildings in Toronto were cheap in the 90's; not only was there a recession, but much of downtown's wonderful old buildings had very restrictive zoning, designed to keep office and residential uses out to preserve industrial jobs which were fleeing offshore and to the suburbs. However artists' studios were considered industrial so Margie Zeidler bought 401 Richmond and filled it with artists. Since then she has gone on to demonstrate that social action, green design and creative restoration can go together profitably. She tells John Bentley Mays:

The required reading in my first year included Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities. It blew me away, especially the chapter on old buildings — warehouses, factories, buildings that no longer served the purpose they once served. I'm not talking about museum-piece buildings, though they are beautiful and wonderful ingredients of any good city. I'm talking about old buildings whose owners are no longer worried about paying the mortgages, so they can provide cheap rents for people with low earning power — the writer, the inventor, the artist. These buildings are neat parts of the city. I remember reading that old ideas — banking, accounting and so on — can afford new buildings, but new ideas must use old buildings. Right away, I thought that could be a wonderful use for the old industrial buildings I love."

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We certainly hope so. These pals have about as much in common as Al Gore and Donald Trump, though lately they’ve been spotted spending a good deal of time together. The green celeb-blog Ecorazzi is tracking the pair’s activities and has spotted them in some rather un-compromising positions: cruising in a Prius, attending ForestEthics premier of the 11th Hour, and scoping out a new eco-friendly home for Paris. The star of the hit HBO series Entourage, Adrian Grenier agrees with TH readers that celebs bringing attention to the green cause can help make a difference, telling Paris: “You're the most photographed woman in the world. Think what you could do if you used that attention to bring light to a cause.” Smart move working the ex-con heiress’s ego to move her in a more sustainable direction....

Just walking through the front doors of Migrate Home, you begin to feel better. Owner Lindy Boynton wants customers to know that you don’t have to sacrifice style to be green and therefore designed her studio to be comfortable and also environmental. Recently I sat down with Lindy to talk about the opening of her new store and all things fashionably green. The idea for an eco-boutique originally began when Lindy was working for several large fashion companies. ‘I was always the one asking “more” about the clothes we were purchasing and after awhile it became frustrating. Fashion is what I’m good at and so I decided that if this is what I’m doing for my career then I’m going to do something that I feel good about.’...

TreeHugger is no stranger to posts on greener ways to deal with death. We’ve looked at the recent decision by a UK crematorium to delay burning bodies in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, we’ve covered more environmentally friendly funeral pyres in India, and we’ve written about efforts to set up a national standard for green burial. Heck, we’ve even covered the BBC’s Ethical Man’s ruminations on composting his own corpse, so it’s safe to say we’re not squeamish. Now we hear from the Orlando Sentinel that Dr Jan Garavaglia, star of Discovery Health’s Dr G: Medical Examiner show, is to get a brand new morgue, and it’s going to be green: ...

Oh, the fun we were having one year ago at TreeHugger. We made a list of what we were reading to prove that we weren't super eco-nerds all of the time, covering topics from green to business and cops and criminals to permaculture. When we weren't reading, we passed along another great video from MIT about the science and technology for a clean energy future. Speaking of clean energy, a certain company reported that solar costs would be cut in half by 2010, and, as more evidence that going green is awesome, found this electric Toyota RAV4 for sale on eBay. We also reported on Al Gore's newly minted status as bona fide eco-celeb, thanks to his slideshow performance at MTV's Video Music Awards, and wrapped our heads around the Smart Helmet, a slick device with a few tricks up its sleeve for helping you ride safe. After the jump: every post we published last September 1....

"A UN climate change conference began yesterday with a call from the most vulnerable developing nations for large and rapidly developing countries such as China and India to do more to tackle global warming. The group of the 48 least-developed countries plus a group of small island states has previously maintained a united front against what it perceives to be the lack of action from industrial nations which are responsible for the bulk of carbon dioxide emissions...But its call stopped short of demanding mandatory targets for developing nations." This bit of introductory news is Via:: The Guardian, "India and China urged to cut emissions" No matter that mandatory targets were not called for. China is not going to be tackling climate change seriously anytime soon. Better for us in the West to focus on "Big Steps" that industrialized nations can take on their own, not holding our breath for the serious changes in governance that must first come from within Chinese society. The following excerpts are from a lengthy analysis in the journal Foreign Affairs. Have a look for yourself. Full article is linked at the end. Warning: might spoil an otherwise nice day. "...as China declares itself open for environmentally friendly business, officials in the United States, the European Union, and Japan are asking not whether to invest but how much. Unfortunately, much of this enthusiasm stems from the widespread but misguided belief that what Beijing says goes. The central government sets the country's agenda, but it does not control all aspects of its implementation. In fact, local officials rarely heed Beijing's environmental mandates, preferring to concentrate their energies and resources on further advancing economic growth. The truth is that turning the environmental situation in China around will require something far more difficult than setting targets and spending money; it will require revolutionary bottom-up political and economic reforms."...

Photo credit: Trek Earth Over the past year we’ve heard of many networks looking to make their practices more sustainable. Now we have another to add to our list. The Weather Channel, as part of its “green initiatives,” has built a new high def studio which will be completed in February 2008. This studio is expected to earn the LEED certification with on-air production by April 2008. In addition, the network has a few other environmental plans, such as sorting more than half (why not all?) of all disposables and taking them to recycling centers, replacing Styrofoam cups in break rooms and switching to CFL’s. We’re wondering why they’re waiting five months to implement these smaller ideas. Weather Channel Executive Vice President and General Manager Wonya Lucas said, "Green is really the new black. We look at the world through the lens of weather, and now we're also looking at it through a lens of green." Kudos to the network, but being one of the most popular networks to report on our natural environment, they couldn’t come up with a better quote? Via ::Green Biz ::The Weather Channel...

Photo credit: Malingering We now know that chronic exposure to diacetyl, the artificial-flavoring chemical in microwavable popcorn, causes a debilitating and sometimes-fatal lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn lungs." But what's an armchair cinephile with a jonesing for lightly puffed snacks to do? It actually couldn't be easier (or less inexpensive) to make your own at home, using popcorn kernels you might find in the bulk-foods section of your grocery store. Place a serving of kernels into a brown paper bag, smear some butter on the inside of the bag facing upward, fluff out the bag and fold it over thrice, and then nuke that baby in the microwave on high for 4 minutes. You can even reuse the bag if you slather on the butter after your popcorn is ready. ::Instructables...

Photo credit: MontanaRaven Soil erosion runs far deeper than we might think. In fact, we could be looking at a "silent global crisis"—one that is undermining food production and water availability, not to mention responsible for 30 percent of greenhouse gases. "We are overlooking soil as the foundation of all life on Earth," Andres Arnalds, assistant director of the Icelandic Soil Conservation Service, told IPS News. "Soil and vegetation is being lost at an alarming rate around the globe, which in turn has devastating effects on food production and accelerates climate change." Around 38,600 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) is stripped of its vegetarian or turns into desert. "Land degradation and desertification may be regarded as the silent crisis of the world, a genuine threat to the future of humankind," Arnalds said....

We believe in miracles, since you came along, you sexy TreeHugger Forums...

	1) Forums user saxon68 thinks (as TreeHugger does) that "biofuels, hailed by many as the green solution to offset a coming oil shortage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are not a cure-all solution," because, in part, they "require huge amounts of water, a resource that is already in short supply in many parts of the world." The difficulty (and irony) of having to trade one precious resource for another is not lost on this thread.
	2) In the same vein, user TheLibertarian takes note that Congressman Jon Porter (R - Nev.) has predicted gas prices to continue their skyward climb, reaching the $9 per gallon threshold here in the States before it's all said and done. "I don't care if he is accurate or not, let's presume for a moment he is. How many of you could handle a spike in prices of that magnitude?" Some good discussion follows, including some of the ramifications of such a situation that reach beyond fueling your car.
	3) Lastly, JiltedCitizen wants to know what's up with phone book recycling. "My curb side recycling does not recycle phone books for some reason. They do take magazines though. Any one know why? Or what to do with them?" Forums user lee thinks it's because the fibers are too short (because they make the pages so thin); several users also ponder what bliss life would be if we didn't have phone books at all...

Round-ups of the best conversations in TreeHugger Forums appear several times a week here at TreeHugger; register for free and login to become part of the conversation for a greener future today....

Photo credit: kingdesmond Quick fact: Recycling materials can take as little as 5 percent of the energy you'd wind up expending if you produced them from virgin sources, as is the case with aluminum, which means you not only conserve already-limited resources, but you also curtail potential atmosphere-warming carbon emissions—95 percent, in some cases. But almost one-quarter of American adults don't recycle, according to a new Harris Poll. And while you might think the young'uns might be more environmentally progressive, think again. About three in 10 respondents aged 18 to 30 don't separate their glass, aluminum, and paper from their garbage, compared with 19 percent of seniors aged 62 and older....

The car-free lifestyle is still far from trendy in this city of 20 million people where most people still yearn for a car but can't afford one. Yet traffic and poor air quality are increasingly determinants in the nascent but growing culture of walking and biking, despite the inherent danger in doing either. Those brave souls who opt to take Mexico City by foot face some of the most perilous streets in the world. An average of 9.4 out of every 100,000 inhabitants die in car accidents per year here, according to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. In 2006, 861 pedestrians died in car accidents. The figure contrasts sharply with other megacities, like London (1.9 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), New York (2.2), Singapore (2.8), Hong Kong (3.8) and Bogota (4.1). Only Cape Town, South Africa has a higher rate than Mexico City with some 19.4 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the institute....

We showed a Canadian icebreaker in our earlier post on the battle for the melting north; here is the US Coast Guard Healy, which according to Robert Lee Hotz in the Wall Street Journal is "are gathering the data legally required to extend national territories across vast reaches of the mineral-rich seafloor usually blocked by Arctic ice. Fathom by fathom, multibeam sonar sensors mounted on the Healy's hull chart a submerged plateau called the Chukchi Cap, in a region that may contain 25% of the world's reserves of oil and natural gas." The Journal continues: "In an era of climate change, these frozen assets are up for grabs, as melting ice allows detailed mapping and, one day perhaps, drilling. Rising temperatures thinned the ice pack to a record low this month. If current trends continue, the Arctic could become ice-free in summer months by 2040, polar researchers say. ...

It is not surprising to find that vacation homes in Aspen use more energy when occupied than the average Aspen home of 3,272 square feet; what is really surprising is that they are vacant on average 277 days per year and still generate 43.8 tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with 32.4 tons by each full-time, single-family residence. "Many energy demands are unnecessary and egregious, such as driveway heating, roof-melt systems, hot tubs (and) towel-bar heaters," said Richard Heede, who did a study for the Sopris Foundation. He noted there are also necessities like cigar humidors and wine cellars, and the flicking on and off of 24/7 floodlights. "Rich people just don't care," said Howard Geller of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Program. "Financially, it just doesn't matter to them."...

Start with a bunch of flat sheets of aluminum, bend them "with love" and what do you have? If you're Swedish design firm "Form Us With Love," you might have a set of home and office accoutrements like the tabletop set pictured above. Aside from producing cleverly-designed, functional objects, the collection showcases the utility and efficiency of flat-pack design as you turn paper-sized aluminum sheets into stuff you can use every day. Some of their products come pre-bent, which takes some of the fun out of it, but it's still neat to think that they all started as simple, flat sheets. Now if they'd just use recycled aluminum... ::Form Us With Love via ::BoingBoing Gadgets...

Or as BoingBoing titled it, "Irony, Thy Name is Amazon." Nothing more need be said, but to fill out this space we can direct you to Mike testing a human powered lawn mower, Jasmin's How to green your gardening, and Bonnie's ten commandments of eco-gardening. ...

We have been told that genetically engineered (GE) material just disperses in nature, but in fact, it is remarkably permanent. Biologically engineered genes and DNA have been found to persist in soil organisms, in insects, pollen, and especially water, and have been found in agricultural ditches as much as a kilometer from the original site. The antibiotic-resistant marker genes used in the process have survived digestion by cattle and even bees, and therefore post a threat of increased antibiotic resistance up and down the food chain. This is one reason why the technology is under a de facto ban in Europe. The genes themselves are not confined to the original, patented plant, but can be spread by wind or pollen to other varieties of the same crop, and even to wild relatives. Canada is already having tremendous problems with genetically engineered canola, which has not only spread its herbicide-resistant trait to other canola, but is now affecting its many wild relatives, creating what are being termed "super weeds." The situation is so serious that one reason the Canadian Wheat Board is actively fighting the introduction of herbicide-resistant GE wheat, apart from market considerations, is that the species has many wild relatives that could forever become contaminated with herbicide resistance." —David Suzuki and Holly Dressel, Good News for a Change: How Everyday People are Helping the Planet (2003, Greystone Books)...

Tree hit free this week; several environmental groups (the Green Party, New Internationalist, Friends of the Earth International, and People and Planet) signed a statement with the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to promote their common interests. You may not have heard of the FSF but you are almost certainly affected by them; their products compose most of GNU/Linux, a popular alternative operating system used to host web servers and the like. The statement outlines a two point plan (1) reject Microsoft's Vista operating system, and (2) encourage the adoption and use of free software. From the E-standpoint, point one is obvious - the porcine hardware requirements of Microsoft Windows Vista are well known, with some surmising that a Vista upgrade layer will be visible in landfills in the year to come. Bad Vista? No question....

We do go on about how less is more, keep it simple, keep it minimal. Most of the modern designs we show have flat roofs, which are not simple. Sloping roofs are generally cheaper and last longer, and offer additional space within the rafters, but are not usually part of the modern kit of parts. (with perhaps the exception of Hugh Newell Jacobson). Justin found this simple, classic Porch House (Rodinný dům na louce) in Semily, Czech Republic, by Archteam. ...

On September 9, 2007, sixty United States mayors will converge on Sundance, Utah to attend the Sundance Summit . “The Sundance Summit combines the foremost tools and expertise with the influence of visionary local leaders to mitigate global warming, one of the greatest threats to the health and prosperity of communities today. Cities and citizens tangibly experience the impacts of global warming first—rising sea levels, shrinking snow packs, ravishing droughts, floods, and hurricanes. U.S. mayors are the political leaders closest to the solutions of climate change and cities taking action are boosting their economies along the way.” The summit has one major goal: to take action to protect the climate....

We certainly haven't been shy about criticizing GM for its gas-guzzling SUVs (our extensive Hummer post archive alone is worth browsing through) and for continually dragging its feet on improving fuel economy standards. That doesn't mean, however, that we can't also dole out some praise for its environmental initiatives when praise it deserves: in the areas of recycling and waste-to-energy conversion, for example, the company has made some measurable progress in lessening its carbon footprint by switching several of its facilities to landfill-free status. Its Baltimore plant, which will be responsible for manufacturing the new two-mode hybrid transmission, was just the latest to reach that landmark — joining the ranks of other zero-landfill facilities in Tonawanda, New York, Flint and Wixom, Michigan, Gunsan and Bupyeong, Korea and Kaiserslautern and Eisenach, Germany. "Landfill-free" essentially means that 100% of the waste generated during production operations will be either recycled, reused or converted to energy (i.e. not sent to landfills). The company claims that close to 97% of the waste materials will be recycled while 3% will be converted to energy at one of its waste-to-energy facilities. ...

This is how I got to work this morning: a Johnson 9.9 horsepower that was old when I got it 20 years ago. I don't use it very much so didn't give it much thought, until I learned this morning that : -Old two-strokes like this put out as much pollution in an hour as driving a modern car 5,000 miles; -40% of the oil and gas goes straight into the lake. Regulations on outboards are getting tighter all the time, but nobody gets rid of the old motors. "They are so dependable that people keep using them until they die" said a Ministry of Environment representative. "and I mean the people, not the motors, which go forever." There is talk that perhaps a moratorium on 2-strokes might be necessary to get rid of them. As for me, next year I will go electric. :::CBC Ontario Morning ...

Photo credit: manjithkaini Tis the season of the tomato: Plump, juicy sacs, in a myriad of ripening red and orange hues, are melting off their vines ready to be crunched, savored, and simmered. But you can also share summer's rich bounty with your skin, as well as your bellies. Packed with complexion-nourishing antioxidants (such as Lycopene), potassium, magnesium, and Vitamins A and C, the luscious fruit also contains natural acids that slough off dead cells, shrink pores, and tone skin. Here's a recipe for a homemade tomato skin cleanser, excerpted from Anti-Wrinkle Treatments for Perfect Skin, by Pierre Jean Cousin (2001, Storey Books), that is especially effective on oily skin. Just be sure to test the inside of your arm with a dab of the mixture first to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction....

What’s with the little flurry of outdoor gear posts, you might wondering. Well, the summer trade shows have now passed, and the detail of upcoming goodies is slowing seeping out into the world wide ether. The goss is that Green is big. And only going to get bigger. Take for example, the rush of recycled content sleeping bags that Alicia MacLeay of Trailspace spied at the Outdoor Retailer show. Big Agnes, of Colorado, will soon have some sleeping bags that are 97% by weight. The missing percentage is the zipper. So the insulation (Climashield HL Green), ripstop shell fabric, plus drawcords and stuffsack are said to all be 100% recycled content. Even the cordlock is 50% corn starch based PLA. Big Agnes are calling the line of bags their Re-Routt collection. Their blurb suggests the lightweight shell material is a recycled nylon. But that appears to be a typo, as most recycled fabrics currently tend to be polyester. (But more on that another day.) ...

Our reviewer Neil thought it packs a punch. Olivia says bring your kids. The directors say this isn’t about changing a light bulb anymore.

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Mosquito season has been a bit out of whack in Tel Aviv for the past few years. Instead of dying down, as they normally should, swarms of them are lingering on in bedrooms and come nightfall are attacking with a vengeance. Some locals report using high-speed fans or nets at night to keep the bloodsuckers at bay – others resort to nasty chemical sprays and plug-ins. Using integrated pest management and more specifically biological control, a suburb of Tel Aviv has enlisted an insectivorous bat population to do the dirty work of eating unwanted mosquitoes. In partnership with Tel Aviv University, the Ministry of the Environment and the city of Ramat Gan, the trio plan to create insectivorous bat habitat in residential areas to increase the number of predators who will chomp on the mosquitoes – each bat can eat up to 600 a night! Say goodbye to insecticides......

The Bioregional Development Group was already well known to many Treehuggers for its work on sustainable housing and community development – see our posts on BedZED, for example, or on their huge One Planet Living communities that are planned on five different continents around the planet. However, this week we’ve been looking at some less well-known aspects of this inspiring organization’s work, including their localized paper recycling ‘laundry’, their decentralized charcoal production network, their TreeStation for urban forestry management, and even their efforts at reviving the lavender-farming heritage of the suburbs of London. There is no doubt then, that the Bioregional vision of sustainability is as broad as it is deep. But how scalable are the approaches taken by this forward thinking group, and where can folks go to learn more? One of the first places to start might be checking out our interviews with founders Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone, or with Greg Searle of One Planet Living North America. Once you’ve done that though, we’d recommend you get into some serious reading, and fortunately Bioregional have an accessible, informative book available that outlines their approach in depth. Written by the aforementioned founders, Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone, Bioregional Solutions for Living on One Planet tells the story of many of the above projects, from lavender growing to the building of BedZED, and sets out the ecological footprinting models used to aim for true One Planet Living. While the book is slightly dated now, having been published in 2002, it still offers a wealth of information and inspiration on rethinking the way we supply everyday goods and services. For the more technically minded, Bioregional also offer a selection of toolkits, reports and case studies, some of which can be downloaded directly from their site. And for those who want more hands on experience, the group has also been known to offer training courses and seminars, so keep an eye on their website for more details. For now though, we’ll leave you with this quote from the group’s website as to why they do what they do: ...

This summer Barcelona, along with Berlin and Lisbon, has yet again added a unique experience to its party scene, this time with a green touch. What happens when you stack 275 reused water tanks on top of each other, put a separate light in each one and connect them to the DJ’s beats? You’ve got Kubik, an open-air nightclub currently pepping up the Forum Park, a so far fairly unused site in Barcelona, right under the massive solar panel. This lightroom installation has been designed by German Modulorbeat. With a view out on the sea and a cool breeze accompanying the best summer beats, Kubik is definitely one of the best places to take your dancing shoes (or flip-flops) to this summer. (If you don't believe us, check out the videos on YouTube!) This piece of temporary architecture will disappear at the end of September. For more green clubbing check out the Sustainable Dance Club. Thanks Lloyd for the tip! ::Kubik Barcelona ...

For the past six weeks we have been buying all of our vegetables from a woman down the road from our cottage. Her huge garden contains the crops familiar to generations of Ontarians, beets, potatoes, beans, carrots, onions, tomatoes. The standout crop for me this year has been her garlic. Most grocery store garlic now comes from Mexico and China and is cheap as dirt, but at $2.00 for 8 heads our local garlic is worth every penny. The environmental benefit is obvious, but the quality, freshness and taste are also far superior to anything you can get in the supermarket. With so much garlic on hand I have started tor roast it on the barbecue and use it for all kinds of recipes. I made a traditional pesto pasta with roasted garlic rather than raw garlic and it was a revelation. When my son Hugh invited a large group of friends to the cottage for a few days I made flatbread pizzas with the garlic slathered on as the base ingredient and it was delicious. Hugh mentioned that he had been making a pasta dish with roasted garlic and he would send it to me. This is what he emailed me: Roast garlic. Add cream, fresh thyme, salt and pepper to garlic. Add pasta to garlic sauce and rejoice. That's pretty much what I'm going to give you today, but I've fleshed it out just a little bit. It seems that most fresh herbs you have on hand would work. We've tried thyme, tarragon and basil with great results. This is a guideline rather than a tested recipe. As always, feel free to experiment. Just remember to rejoice. ...

Tennis is not something you see everyday here on TreeHugger. Okay, so we’ve had recycled tennis balls used for sound proofing in schools, old style tennis shoes made with hemp, and tennis stars as ‘ambassadors’ for the Global Water Foundation charity. But by-and-large its not a common occurrence. Revered tennis legend, Billy Jean King, would like to change that. On 28 August 2007 she launched an eco-sports initiative called GreenSlam, with the statement, “I’m challenging myself – the industry of sports, professional athletes and fans, to take positive action to help counter the negative effects of climate change. It’s simple, if the billions of people who live and love sports take just one single step – we can help win back our planet.” Though curiously GreenSlam’s first project seems to be adopt-a-highway litter campaign, which is a just tad removed from the global warming issue. However once the game gets underway, the program hopes to form a counsel of “greening experts” to establish GreenSlam ‘standards’ that might apply to sporting venues, events and products. “Ultimately, we hope to establish a Green Dream Team comprised of various global companies and launch an eco-friendly line of sporting goods equipment, apparel, shoes and accessories under the GreenSlam seal of approval,” King added. As she went on to observe that other sports leagues, including Baseball and US Football were already establishing green programs that tennis could learn from. ::GreenSlam, via media release....

We know a good deal about the devastating effects of China’s full-speed development, but the New York Times has assembled some excellent experts for an enlightening Q&A series at its “Choking on Growth” site, the centerpiece of which is this week's lengthy piece on the topic (there's also an audio slide show, a video on "Green GDP," an interactive map, and (wow) an mp3 summary of the article in Chinese). The gist: despite the efforts by some high-level officials to get more sustainable, the Middle Kingdom can’t stop its toxic rise, thanks largely to numbers-driven local officials, inefficient construction and industry, and a serious coal fix. But the public, which suffers most from pollution and which may be most capable of policing it, is becoming a stronger force than ever. For more on that, and on issues covered previously on Treehugger, like alternative energy (including hydroelectric), climate change, the role of a media censored by both the market and the government, environmental entrepreneurship, poor regulation, post-Kyoto scenarios, and the role of Western countries, check out the Q&A.

The answers are coming from some of the heavyweights of the Chinese environmental scene. Check out the interesting responses from China environmental journalist Orville Schell and Zhang Jingjing, the director of litigation at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims in Beijing. Also on hand are Elizabeth C. Economy, the author of “The Great Leap Backward?” in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Yang Fuqiang, the chief representative of the Beijing office of the Energy Foundation, Today, biodiversity expert Lu Zhi, head of the China office of Conservation International, enters the roundtable. Submit your comment or question for her here, and post your own questions, answers and thoughts in the comments below....

At least that is what his former friends and clients say. "To this day, they won't speak to me," says Adam Werbach, former wunderkind head of the Sierra Club at 25, who complained in 2004 that "If they [environmental groups] don't have a plan to activate the values we share [with] the majority of Americans, then they need to move on" which is exactly what he did- to Wal-Mart. Read Jacob's (pre-Wal-Mart) interview of Adam here, the ::Fast Company article online here. Is Wal-Mart succeeding at going green? Charles Fishman, author of the Wal-Mart effect (treehugger review here) answers with a maybe. Wal-Mart plans four energy-saving stores this year-and hundreds of conventional ones. All new stores have some energy saving features but they have not hit the targeted 30% reductions. ::How Green is Wal-Mart? ...

Theatres are by nature both green and not green. Green because they have little money, so they re-use costumes and props. Not green because they have huge power demands (lighting), travel requirements and throw-away programmes. But the times are changing. The Arcola Theatre has announced itself as the "world's first carbon neutral theatre". A small off-off "Broadway" venue, it is embarking on a new challenge "Arcola Energy". Plans include a biomass heating system which will burn wood pellets instead of gas, solar panels on the roof, and fuel cells that create electricity without noise or pollution. In addition they will be creating an “energy technology incubator” - a space for scientists and engineers to research initiatives to tackle climate change. The Young Vic Theatre (pictured) was recently renovated and the architect said that "green thinking was central to the redesign. Sustainability is about quality of life, about delight, poetry and optimism, not just about solar panels. The two aren't mutually exclusive. A well-designed, passively ventilated, carefully shaded building with well controlled sunlight is also an enjoyable place to be." The Barbican, a huge arts complex which includes 3 theatres and two art gallerys has taken some big steps towards making its operation more sustainable. They have a manifesto which includes extensive recycling, using green energy sources and special efficiency heating and cooling systems and a redesigned ventilation system. Future plans are to reduce the utilities bill by £100k in 2007/08 and a grey water reuse and rainwater harvesting system. ...

Well, it's a plan. Greenpeace didn't like it, and chained themselves to a bulk carrier bringing coal to Nanticoke in protest, painting on the side of the ship: "No coal," "No nuclear" and "Clean energy." (::The Star) But unlike other jurisdictions that shall remain nameless that are in the never-never land of carbon sequestration and hydrogen, it is a twenty year plan that includes ten billion dollars in incentives to conserve 6,300 megawatts, $15 billion for renewable energy and the number that scares us all, $26 billion for nukes. However most of the nuke money is for refurbishing existing CANDU plants that are in place but closed down for retubing. The plan also reaffirms the commitment to close all coal plants by 2014. (originally promised for 2007 and then 2009), all projected with just a 20% increase in electricity rates ...

Ford has published a Product Sustainability Index based on life cycle assessment studies carried out according to ISO 14040 Standards (life cycle assessment ). The report covers and compares the Ford Mondeo, Ford S-Max and Ford Galaxy. The company says that further models at Ford of Europe will be developed and designed using the same PSI criteria, including the 2007 Ford Mondeo. The report says that the models included have improved sustainability performance in environmental, social and economic performance over previous models. The PSI report looks at eight key sustainability elements of a vehicle: life cycle global warming potential, life cycle air quality potential, the use of sustainable materials, substance management, exterior noise impact, safety, mobility capability, and life cycle ownership costs. The report follows ISO and the LCAs also undergo external peer review as specified in the Standards. ...

With all of the very real concerns about the future of energy usage on the planet, Genesis Energy, an energy supplier and retailer in New Zealand has come up with a terrific way of helping kids develop a strong basis on which to develop future knowledge about the issues surrounding global energy usage without overwhelming them with every sophisticated detail... Essentially, they've come up with a game not too unlike SimCity, where kids get to develop their own city in a game that features 150 "turns"; each of which is a chance to make a wide array of decisions about the usage of energy, natural resources, and ultimately the future of the population within it. Kids start every game out with a small city consisting of 10,000 inhabitants and a wind farm that provides all of the electricity they need. But it's both flexible and realistic, allowing parents and teachers to adapt it to various scenarios... Do your kids want to go for unrestrained economic growth and all the luxurious accoutrements that money can buy? No problem. But be prepared for your inhabitants to pay a price environmentally, economically and socially in the process. Don't think it's a bad idea to let the population of the city grow so fast it overwhelms the existing infrastructure? Hey, no problem there either... But be prepared to pay through the nose for electricity on the open market when they all reach for the light switch and then crank up the air conditioning. ...

Normally I try to avoid reality TV at all costs, but a new show in the UK has caught my attention. Dumped will appear on Channel 4 from Sunday, and will document 11 contestants trying to live for three weeks on a landfill site. Contestants had to make shelters from rubbish, but modern health and safety laws prevented the producers from making them forage for food, which is a shame. Any contestants who managed to stick it out to the end of the show shared a £20,000 prize, but you’ll have to watch to find out how many made it....

The picture above is of a stoma. Stomata are small (microscopic) structures in the leaf of a plant that can open and close. The plant uses the stomata for gas exchange, to take in CO2 and let out O2 during normal photosynthesis. The subtle yet important bit to recognize here is that when the stoma opens to take in CO2 it also loses water vapor which has to be replaced through the roots of the plant. According to an article written by Richard A. Betts et al. and published in this weeks Nature, the billions and trillions of stoma the world over have a large impact on continental water runoff. The new model predicts that as the CO2 concentration increases in our atmosphere plants don't need to open their stomata as often. As a result, plants need less water, and so less water is absorbed. Multiply this several more million billion times for an ecosystem and the effect is like squeezing a water-logged sponge, but on an entire ecosystem level.

We find that the physiological effect of doubled carbon dioxide concentrations on plant transpiration increases simulated global mean runoff by 6 per cent relative to pre-industrial levels...

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UK department store Selfridges and Hummer have teamed up to offer the chance for one lucky underwear-purchaser to win a Hummer H3. How this seems like a wise PR move, I have no idea. I think that putting one more Hummer on London streets (yes, there already is quite a few) is a terrible move. I find it interesting that marketers believe that the same insecure people who buy Calvin Klein underwear, perhaps in a futile attempt to look like the man above, are the same demographic as those who aspire to owning a Hummer. The competition has been planned to celebrate 25 years of Calvin Klein underwear, and the launch of the new Steel range. That's a brand name, not the material. ::Selfridges via ::GQ...

Treat your baubles with a little TLC, a sure way to extend their longevity, by wrapping them in a soft jewelry roll hand-stitched from salvaged cotton saris and secured with a loop-and-button closure. A snap-down strap anchors rings, while three pouches (two zippered, one buttoned) can be filled with your other jewels. One of a kind, each $48 roll will vary in fabric print and color; you could probably check with the store to see what they have in stock, however, if you're allergic to surprises. A couple more designs below the fold. ::Sundance Catalog See also: ::How to Green Your Accessories...

Though technically a rocking chair, we think "rocking & rolling chair" might be a more appropriate moniker for this spacey concept. For anyone who wasn't impressed with the "Think" reading lamp/chair combo, hold on to your hats...seriously; if the "Rocking Wheel Chair" concept by student designer Mathias Koehler doesn't bowl you over, we don't know what will. Though it looks like something that would be more at home in a cheesy, futuristic, over-the-top alien flick, we love the way the "rocking" functionality has been integrated with the overhead reading lamp (no other rocking chair we've ever seen offers that combo); we could also see "amusement part ride at home" added to the multi-tasking list of functions it provides. If this rocker ever makes it to production, we'd recommend one of two additions: either a five-point harness or someplace to store a barf bag. ::Mathias Koehler via ::Core77...

The Cart Bike doesn't turn corners very well, admits the second-prize winner of our TreeHugger/Popular Science/Instructables Go Green contest—plus, we're not entirely clear how stable the setup would be with a week's worth of groceries—but it's still a nifty concept if you happen to find a derelict shopping cart gone astray. (We probably don't need to remind you that stealing's a big no-no.) Besides the bicycle and shopping cart (thank you, Captain Obvious), you'll need socket and hex-key sets, a dremel tool, a utility knife, some zip ties, a rotary tool, and a screwdriver. Once you've acquired your hardware, all that remains to be done is to bolt the cart to your bike with a little handlebar surgery. Think you can design a better Cart Bike? Let us know in the comments. ::Instructables...

CFL bulbs, or compact fluorescent light bulbs: energy savings Commonly referred to as CFLs, compact fluorescent lamps or compact fluorescent light bulbs, the energy-saving bulbs have escaped the stereotype of buzzing, flickery, washed-out lights to become one of the poster children for consumers taking action in the modern green movement. The bulbs, which can replace incandescent, halogen and other electric lights around your house, use between 60% and 80% less energy than their incandescent counterparts, making them an increasingly popular way to cut energy use without having to make any radical changes, like replace your lighting fixtures or rewire your house, in many cases. Dimmable compact fluorescent light bulbs In addition to using a fraction of the energy, compact fluorescent light bulbs have a much longer usable life than incandescents, typically lasting between 6,000 and 15,000 hours, compared to 1,000 hours or so for incandescent bulbs. Recent improvements in technology (more details on that in a sec) have improved both the light quality and versatility of CFL bulbs -- many now emit a more pleasant "soft white" light and work in dimmable and three-way fixtures. All of this adds up to a bulb that can save the user upwards of $30 over its life and save 2000 times its own weight in greenhouse gas emissions....

We all get them—gift cards, that is—simply because it's the most-convenient present you can give someone you haven't melded minds with. So unless you've openly vocalized your disdain for what are essentially plastic disposables, chances are, you'll run through a gamut of hard plastic gift cards that most retailers tend to chuck in the trash afterward. Here's a tip, though: You can ask for them back. One graphic designer decided to hack the cards she received into smaller mosaic-sized pieces she then pieced together by brushing on a layer of PVA glue. Stick a piece of cork behind the tiles and voila! instant coaster (And instant gift, if you're not afraid of being called chintzy.) ::Etsy See also: ::Target's Bioplastic Gift Card...

Tamara Krinsky has a remarkably simple idea to conserve paper: Set your word document's margin settings as narrow as possible before you send it to the printer. Krinsky was an aspiring (read: starving) actress/writer, who had to print sheaves of scripts and articles, when the brainwave hit her. Narrower margin settings mean you can squeeze in more text per page, which in turn reduces the number of sheets of paper you'll need. For a person of very limited means, Krinsky says, these savings matter. "When a single paycheck stands between making rent at the end of the month and getting an eviction notice," she writes on her Web site, "you do whatever it takes!" And now she wants Microsoft, the creator of the most popular word-processing software, like, ever, to do whatever it takes for the planet....

From designers Huseyin Sami and Gary Galego comes one interpretation of what might happen if a chair and a reading lamp had a lovechild. Inspired by the clichéd image borrowed from cartoons -- you know, when a character has just had a really good idea; a "lightbulb" moment, if you will -- the hybrid chair/lamp also takes it name, "Think," from this moment. Though we aren't wild about the beach showerhead aesthetics, it's a pretty slick idea in a sleek little package, and we always like the multi-functional mashup. Why have two when you just need one? ::Gary Galego via ::Product Dose and ::Idealist...

Steve Paine is an Englishman in Germany who has undertaken a pleasant journey by bike, and is blogging the whole trip by solar-powered PC. He is travelling down to Southern Germany, along the Rhein, which should take around 7 days. ...

Fresh from the unfalteringly inventive Free Range Studios—the same creative crew that brought us Store Wars and The Meatrix—comes The Farm Bill Food Battle, a funny-bone-tickling short featuring Apple and Snack Cake as they duke it out for supremacy over the Farm Bill. The only thing missing is a cameo of Nancy Pelosi stuffing her face with a Twinkie. ::The Farm Food Bill Battle...

In a great example of form following function, Hova Design's FabricPots eschew the more traditional clay in favor of recycled polyester and recyclable plastic for plant and flower pots, checking in at just 1/4 the weight of their earthenware brethren. The "the world’s first decorative containers made from waterproof and breathable fabric" helps the soil aerate and breathe, and the lightweight, collapsible design cuts back on shipping weight and volume as well. Much like something you might see on a Nau garment, the sleeves, which rely on the volume of soil for stability, allow air and water vapor to penetrate but are impervious to liquid water; they're also washable (and the base dishwasher-safe), making it easy to reuse the "pots". Because of the flexible fabric, they're also less prone to breaking when dropped or exposed to a freeze. They come in a couple of designs, patterns and colors, available directly from their site; lots more gardening tips at our How to Green Your Gardening guide. ::Hova Design...

At an event called Audi TechDay, the German car maker outlined some plans they have for conserving fuel in future models. They include a satellite navigation system that takes economy into account, as well as time and distance, and a training system that teaches people to drive in a more fuel efficient manner by analyzing their driving style and, "giving tips accordingly". ...

We always considered Yoko Ono a tough, kooky old broad—one who undoubtedly marched to the beat of her own drum (as genteelly as we can put it), but cool, nonetheless, not least because she was joined in connubial bliss with the Walrus himself. But now the Ono has gone on record snubbing hybrid cars. All of them, apparently, which we find hard to believe. "Can someone make Hybrid cars as comfortable as a Bentley, please?" she says. (The Bentley Arnage, which the Ono has favored, was rated one of the most polluting cars in 2006 by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.) Think she will give a carbon-neutral time share a chance, instead? Yeah, we didn't think so, either. ::Contact Music ...

Nadia Conners (left on picture) co-directed “The 11th Hour” with her sister Leila Conners Petersen (left). I had the opportunity to first interview Leila a couple of weeks ago. Now with the growing success of the film, it only made sense to get the perspective about the making of the movie from Nadia. TH - What are your hopes for how people react to the film? Nadia - We are at a time where everyone living has to be part of this solution. It is a matter of how deep you want to go. I hope the film will outrage then inspire the existing movement to take it up a notch. Does that mean hitting the streets in protest? Yes. It is time for our next great social movement to unite behind positive ideas of what we are trying to build. We need to show each other that we are out here. This isn’t about changing a light bulb anymore – this is about changing who is in charge in the government and in our corporations. ...

The Passenger Pigeon was once the most common bird in America, perhaps five billion strong. During migration, flocks would be 300 miles long, a mile wide and take days to pass by. Then pigeon meat was commercialized as cheap food for slaves and the poor. John James Audubon described a slaughter: "Few Pigeons were then to be seen, but a great number of persons, with horses and wagons, guns and ammunition, had already established encampments on the borders. Two farmers from the vicinity of Russelsville, distant more than a hundred miles, had driven upwards of three hundred hogs to be fattened on the pigeons which were to be slaughtered. Here and there, the people employed in plucking and salting what had already been procured, were seen sitting in the midst of large piles of these birds. The dung lay several inches deep, covering the whole extent of the roosting-place." By the 1850's there were calls to protect the birds but it was useless; the bird only thrived in large numbers and small groups could not breed successfully. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died on this day 93 years ago in Cincinatti, Ohio. She is now stuffed and at the Smithsonian, but not on display; she should be as a lesson to us all. ...

Designer Tom Dixon did a green number in Trafalgar Square at last year's London Design Festival; this year he is taking over the square with a large scale installation of 500 energy saving lights. From the press release: "In collaboration with the Energy Saving Trust and working with Glowb low energy light bulbs, the 500 lights will be skilfully displayed in a chandelier cluster hung from state of the art scaffolding.nspired by the shape of a light bulb, Tom has specifically designed ‘Blow’ a white opaque light, that uses a low-energy compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). With plans afoot to ban the sale of traditional incandescent bulbs in the EU, the ‘Blow’ pendant light will bring further awareness to using CFL’s and sustainability within design....The Blow lights will be powered by a renewable energy source and lit for 3 hours per day from 7pm – 10pm Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday 19th from 5pm – 10pm. On Wednesday at 5pm 1000 lights will be given away to Londoners on a first come first served basis." Nice idea, giving away a designer fixture and not just a bulb. After all, design makes all the difference. ::Dezeen ...

Talk about an end-of-term kiss off: You've already heard that the Bush administration is proposing a rule to allow its BFF, the coal industry, the wherewithal to pollute where they want, when they want—by blasting the tops of once-pristine mountains and letting the debris tumble into valleys and streams, uprooting families, and poisoning aquifers. Not to mention that an antiquated mining law (read: 1872) is threatening Yosemite, Yellowstone, and other national parks. (See a map of mining claims near the Grand Canyon.) Here's a video about the destruction wrecked by mountaintop removal coal mining, including excerpts from the documentary Kilowatt Ours, featuring Woody Harrelson and an original recording of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," performed by Willie Nelson....

The guys at New Zealand's Conscious Design have been hard at work ever since winning Design Institute of New Zealand's BeST Award last year. Recognized for Tio, a lounge chair with the chameleon-like ability to change colors at the drop of a hat to match any interior, they've been moving forward with the idea that "design makes everything easier, faster, more efficient and more intuitive." As they continue to design, holding sustainability and functionality in equally high regard, products like this dining table have been the result; made from sustainably-grown New Zealand pine, it fits the "If you can design something to be sustainable then why wouldn't you?" ideals put forward by design duo Nathan Goldsworthy and James Whitta. Tio will cross the pond and be available in the States soon; in the meantime, we'll be waiting and watching for the next big thing from these up-and-coming designers. ::Conscious Design via ::Stuff.co.nz...

Once primarily the key component for chipmakers, silicon has rapidly become a hot commodity in the burgeoning market for renewable energy with rising demand for solar panels prompting a drastic decline in its global supply. This had spurred a worldwide search for alternatives to the precious element as scientists and businessmen race to anticipate further growth in the solar market over the coming years. A team of researchers at Israel's Ben Gurion University, led by David Faiman, believe they may just have found a viable alternative in gallium arsenide. Though more expensive than silicon, gallium arsenide is also more efficient when used in a reflective dish. "The dish could be put in a sunny backyard and generate most of the home's utility needs. The costs per watt are comparable to that of a conventional power plant, but without fuel," said Faiman, a professor of physics at the university. This follows an earlier recommendation by analysts at Jefferies, an investment bank, that concluded that while gallium arsenide was still too expensive to use, it could be coupled with mirrors to reduce costs. ...

[Photo remove by request of owner.] Cynthia Vanderlip, manager of the State of Hawaii's Kure Atoll Wildlife Sanctuary, cut open the dead body of a fledgling Laysan albatross (nicknamed "Shed Bird") to find more than half a pound of plastic in its stomach. Concentrated on the right are all the items retrieved from inside the bird: Plastic lighters, bottle caps, and other plastics that are carelessly tossed often wind up floating on the ocean surface, where they are occasionally consumed by foraging seabirds and other marine creatures. Larger images, if you can, y'know, stomach them, can be found below. ::Oceans Alive (PDF) and ::Sierra...

If anyone wants to see how wonderful compact fluorescents really can be in the hands of a talented designer, visit the new Umbra store in Toronto, designed by John Shnier of Kohn Shnier Architects, the designers of the big Muskoka modern prefab, and Christopher Wright of figure 3. They built this giant chandelier out of Flow table lamps, designed by David Quan. According to Azure, Wright sketched out a plan for one fixture made out of 12 Flow lamps, but it worked out so well that they made five to hang in a row. ...

Photo credit: Digital Sextant Hawking candy bars and magazines for your basketball team is so old school. Meet Fundraising 2.0: Kids can get their mitts on some much-needed green, while learning to be more environmentally and socially conscious, whether it's by collecting used printer cartridges for recycling, or touting fair-trade stationery, natural body-care products, or green-biz coupon books. Kids living in Wisconsin can even help market locally made cheese, while students north of the border can do their part to recycle printer-cartridge empties and cellphones. ::Sierra...

Prisons probably aren't the first buildings that spring to mind when you think about green design and architecture. Yet one small island in Norway is set to change that perception with the recent introduction of the "world's first ecological prison" — a facility powered by solar energy that will put its inmates to work coordinating daily operations, such as recycling and food production, and learning their part to protect the environment. Norwegian authorities hope to thus instill a sense of responsibility in their inmates and to better prepare them for an eco-conscious life once they leave the prison. The facility, which is located on Bastoey Island (about 46 mi south of Oslo), houses 115 inmates. Justice Minister Knut Storberget explained that "from a social and economic perspective, this is cheapest for society," adding that it only made sense for a prison already renowned for its pleasant living conditions — resembling a summer camp more than a conventional prison with activities like tennis, horse riding and swimming — to go that extra step to rehabilitate its inmates. ...

We have noted previously that in the UK rainwater barrels are called water butts, so we suppose it was inevitable that somebody was going to design this. Whatever gets you into rainwater harvesting. Designed by Gerardine & Wayne Hemingway, who should know better. ::Waterbutts.com via ::Shedblog ...

What to do when you’ve made the business decision to close a plant in one city and move elsewhere? Well, many would look to sell the property outright, but Bridgestone Firestone has taken a different point of view, donating 60 acres of the land surrounding the recently shuttered Dayton Tire plant in Oklahoma City for the construction of a badly needed elementary school and nature reserve in that city. Granted, it was a bittersweet moment for many residents as 1,400 jobs left town in the process, but it looks to me like their children seem set to benefit from the best of a difficult situation. Let’s face it, kids in urban areas often don’t have access to green, open spaces, so with 40 acres being set aside for the nature reserve and outdoor classroom, this really is a golden opportunity for teachers and parents to help them learn more about the environment despite the natural limitations of living in an urban area. ...

The conventional design criteria is a tripod: Can we profit from it? the company asks. Will the customer find it attractive? And will it work? Champions of "sustainable development" like to use a "triple bottom line" approach based on the tripod of Ecology, Equity, and Economy. ... But in practice we find that it often appears to center only on economic considerations, with social or ecologic benefits considered as an afterthought rather than given equal weight at the outset. Businesses calculate their conventional economic profitability and add what they perceive to be the social benefits, with perhaps, some reduction in environmental damage. ... The real magic results when industry begins with all these questions, addressing them up front as "triple top line" questions rather than turning to them after the fact. ... In fact, often a project that begins with pronounced concerns of Ecology or Equity (How do I create habitat? How do I create jobs?) can turn out to be tremendously productive financially in ways that would never have been imagined if you'd started from a purely economic perspective." —William McDonough, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002, North Point Press)...

When we saw that Lafuma had won another award for their Eco 40 Rucksack we knew it was time to dig around the notes we’ve had gathering dust since this product was released. During 2007 it has scored two gongs. First, the French Etoile de l'Observeur du Design and just last month the Ispo Performance Award for Eco-responsibility. The awards jury concluded that “Lafuma submitted the most convincing product with the Eco 40 Backpack in the Eco Responsibility category. Company philosophy, planning, manufacturing and recycling of the products are all in line with sustainability. To reduce any harm to the environment to a minimum, Lafuma uses natural materials in product processing, for example, hemp, organic cotton, natural rubber, recycled polyester and wood fibers. The Eco 40 backpack is the first backpack in eco-design.” It is a 40 pack, weighing in at 1.32 kg and costing about € 75. (Though we note that is some reports the fabric is said to be recycled polyester and hemp, whereas elsewhere it is referred to just recycled polyethylene. Two different plastics with varying characteristics. Maybe it’s is just a translation issue.) We’ve previously mentioned Lafuma Pure Leaf sustainable products initiative from which the Eco 40 was spawned. ::Lafuma, via Trail Gear....

No outdoor insecticide spraying is needed to make dramatic progress against childhood malaria. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) also is not needed to achieve the 44% protection rate mentioned in our headline (although IRS could be added to boost effectiveness). There is a caveat: the study we are referring to, by the Malaria Control Department of the Kenyan Ministry of Health, demonstrates that one of the most effective resources to protect against malaria, pesticide treated bed nets, have to be "free" or the highest level of effectiveness won't be reached. Reinforcing the long standing, rational position of environmentalists, the Kenyan work demonstrates that malaria infection rates are not best controlled by merely encouraging widespread DDT use. Someone or some group has to fund carefully planned vector control programs in the poor nations where infection rates are highest. "Children sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are less likely to die from malaria and nets should be distributed free to all who need them, according to research from Kenya."...

Sympatex, whilst not wearing the most inspiring of trademark names is a fabric that has for the last 20 or so years dogged the heels of the better known Gore-Tex. Both a fabrics which use a membrane laminate to produce materials, which are both waterproof and breathable. Thus ideal for outdoor sports garments. Gore-Tex is made from expanded Teflon, and coated with a thin layer of polyurethane to prevent contamination by oils, like sun cream, etc. Sympatex, on the other hand, is made from 100% polyester, of the same base molecules found in PET drink bottles. It is therefore the more recyclable of the two. This characteristic made it suitable for the holistic extender producer responsibility (EPR) idea that once was Ecolog. More recently, ie; last month, Sympatex Technology released a version called Ecocycle-SL. It’s a 100% recyclable membrane is bonded, without need of solvents, to a recycled content polyester outer fabric. (Gore-Tex’s teflon on the hand still requires a special adhesive to fix it to the exterior material.) Sympatex is available in wet weather garments and footwear in the USA, but is far more common in Europe and its home country of Germany. The company claim “it is the first laminate on the market that can be completely recycled.” ::Sympatex, via Google surfing....

Remember those cool earrings we found at BTC Elements a few months back? Here's another great pair, this time made from old skateboards! Although we've seen accessories made from these rides before, these earrings truly are one-of-a-kind. Designer Lindsay Jo Holmes hated to see old and damaged boards go to waste so she now collects them from her local skate shop (she bakes them cookies in exchange) and shapes the wood into jewelry. One side of the earring is smoothly rounded off revealing the grain of the maple wood, while the flip side is flat and shows off the original and unique deck artwork. “There's so much that goes into making a skateboard and so much that goes into riding one. I wanted to give them a new life,” Homes said. Via ::BTC Elements ...

Artists Christian Croft and Kate Hartman hacked a Heely rolling sneaker to "transform it into a platform for generating electricity from human motion." That's the hacking, now the art:

This work applies its energy towards a more playful application in hopes to promote discussion in the realm of sustainable energy development and alternative transportation design. Electricity harvested from rolling powers a microcomputer and lcd display embedded on the shoe to deliver random directions for a pedestrian to follow. Arrows and text show up on the screen display telling the wearer which direction she should travel next -- North, Northeast, Southwest, etc. Depending on the speed of rolling, a directive appears on the screen every 15 to 20 feet. These directions drive the wearer to follow a random zig-zaggy path that mimics in physical space the mathematical simulation of the random or drunkard's walk.

...

Our series of posts on the varied activities of the London-based Bioregional Development Group has so far seen us look at ground-breaking schemes to localize paper recycling, charcoal production and wood-chip manufacture from urban forestry waste. Each of these schemes has taken on a particular industry and radically rethought the supply chain in ways that cut out unnecessary transport of goods. However, the Bioregional Development Group’s vision for sustainability is about more than just reducing the amount of trucks on the road, they are also deeply committed to reviving and nurturing local distinctiveness and tradition. One the organizations’ earliest projects was to revive the once world-famous lavender industry in the London Borough of Sutton, as Bonnie covered previously on TreeHugger here. While the potential for emissions savings and clean energy may not be as obvious or as dramatic as in some of the other Bioregional projects, this scheme has an important conservation value, and it has shown how tapping into local pride and tradition can help reengage people with each other, and with the natural world around them: ...

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Washington, DC – On August 29, 2005, Hurricanes Katrina wrought devastation of historic proportions on the Gulf Coast and its people. Shortly thereafter, Hurricane Rita struck the Texas-Louisiana border. In the two years since, much work has taken place. Last April, the state of Louisiana issued the Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane Protection: Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to issue its Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Plan by the end of this year. Yet many questions remain: what lessons have we learned, how should we restore and protect the Gulf Coast’s wetlands in the future, and are we headed in the right direction? The dozen articles presented in the September-October 2007 double issue of the National Wetlands Newsletter shed light on these questions and look at what steps have taken place since the storms. While the articles primarily focus on the restoration and protection of the Gulf Coast, they offer invaluable insight as to how wetlands should be managed and protected in a world where our natural and built environments increasingly collide. This is particularly true given our changing and less predictable climate. “Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have given us the opportunity to learn from past mistakes and decide how to move forward in an uncertain world. To ignore these lessons would be a true tragedy,” said National Wetlands Newsletter editor Rachel Jean-Baptiste [email]....

Houseplants at home and in the office do more than just look pretty. They help clean the air that we breathe as well as make us feel less alienated in the artificial environments that pass for offices now. Modern office buildings spew out hundreds of chemicals from the new carpets, paints, upholstery, computers and plastics. A study carried out by Chichester College confirms the advantages of having house plants around because they make our environment a healthier place in which to live and work. Researchers have found that one potted plant per 100 square feet of floor space can help clean the air. The students rated the most effective plants and the ubiquitous Areca Palm came first for removing ammonia, and formaldehyde (found in many cleaning products) from the air and releasing moisture into the air. Next was the Peace Lily which removes acetone, then the Rubber Plant, then Ficus Benjamina (weeping fig) then the dracena. Number 6 is english ivy that eliminates mould causing asthma, boston ferns are highly rated for improving air quality, then the spider plant ( is there any office that doesn't have at least one of those) and lastly the moth orchid (phalaenopsis). Is it possible that the reason that these plants are in every office is because plant suppliers know that they are healthy or is it just because they are hardy? The pity is that these are such boring looking plants--can't those students find something more interesting for us to stare at for 8 hours a day? :: Chichester College Via :: Chelsea Flower Show ...

Business 2.0, in what may be it's last issue, lists "10 game-changing startups most likely to upend existing industries" including Bloom Energy, which moves the source of electricity from the central plant to your home, where a fuel cell converts almost any hydrocarbon fuel- ethanol, biodiesel, mathan or natural gas- into electricity. The solid-oxide fuel cells produce half the greenhouse gas of conventional burning, but the real savings comes from eliminating the transmission losses between the central plant and home. But it is not really getting off the grid, it still needs hydrocarbons and a delivery network for them; would renewables like sun and wind not be a better investment? Useless site at ::Bloom Energy via ::Business 2.0...

These are the depths to which we will go for oil: 30,000 feet. Grist's Amanda Griscom Little describes the process: First drop that drill through two miles of water, then through 20,000 feet of rock and sediment to find that layer of oil. Finding it was tough enough; getting it out will cost billions. ::Wired 1) Stable platform Giant engines at each corner of the drilling rig keep everything stable. When the ocean pulls one way, the thrusters push the other. 2) The 6-mile Drill The drill is made up of hundreds of interlocking 90-foot sections of iron. Buoyant sidings reduce the weight burden on the rig. 3) Point of entry The drill needs to enter the seafloor at exactly the right point, minimizing the risk of hitting an air pocket or a fault as it goes whirring down. Boiling-hot oil emerges here and collides with freezing water, which means that the underwater pipes pumping the oil back to shore must be heavily insulated. 4) Dangerous journey The drill must traverse numerous pressure zones, any one of which could knock it off course. 5) X marks the spot Bedrock mounds, formed by oil pushing upward, signal promising hot spots. 6) Jackpot The oil is trapped in squishy, porous rock. ...

This post is about a marketing paradox. It's about a product ingredient advertised for its ability to protect our health, which it does well in professional health care settings, but which may, indirectly, have the potential to do the opposite in consumer product applications. Previously we mentioned the surprising number of personal care products that contain very small amounts of the anti-bacterial compound Triclosan. Although Triclosan has an important role in keeping hospitals and clinics sterile, wide spread use of the compound in non-essential, dilute formulations for personal care products is a different matter. The concern is with direct impacts on fish and aquatic life, via wastewater discharges, as well as indirect impacts on human human health. ...

In a century of operations, coal mining in the German town of Goitzsche took out 315 million tons of lignite; that leaves a lot of big holes in the ground. The remediation plan included flooding ten square miles of it to create recreational lakes. As a "symbol of the demise of the 20th century industrial world" and to "denote a transition toward respect for earth, water and air," (and as a tourist attraction) they built a pegelterm, or water level tower, 85 feet high, with a double helical staircase, one up and one down, spiralling around it. A giant stainless steel pin is anchored into the ground and the entire stainless steel tower floats, like an oversized sock moving on the pin and rising with the water. It was all built with very little waste, is maintenance free and 100% recyclable. ::Eco-structure and ::Mevaco...

Environmental Leader: Enterprise, GM, VeraSun, Kroger Step Up FlexFuel Marketing Efforts. "Enterprise Rent-A-Car has dubbed one of its Cincinnati rental locations as an official “VE85/FlexFuel branch.” On June 28, a similar VE85/FlexFuel branch was announced in Washington, D.C. VeraSun Energy Corporation and The Kroger Co. announced the opening of 20 VE85 fueling locations at Kroger convenience stores in Ohio and Kentucky." Greener Magazine: Carnival of the Green # 92 by Harlan Weikle "Carnival, this is the fourth Carnival we've been privileged to host: two on Greener Magazine and one each at The Naked Vegetarian and our own Animal Broadcast Network and the largest yet with some 35 contributors."...

Lookout Cleveland, Ontario Canada can come compete directly with you for renewable electricity (if they want to). As before, we're talking about the wind farm potential of Lake Erie, one of the more shallow of the Great Lakes (pictured with depth intervals shown). We've lambasted Greenpeace a few times for sweating the little stuff on electronics. But when they get it right, like on this issue, credit is due. A glance at the bathymetric map of Lake Erie, as pictured, makes it perfectly clear that there's plenty of shallow areas where wind turbines could be set, assuming the wind profiles also are good. So why not Ontario? "Greenpeace dispatched the MY (Motor Yacht) Arctic Sunrise into the Great Lakes for the first time in a decade. Monday, the ship sailed through the Welland Canal, and Tuesday, she was anchored off of Port Colborne." "“We’re often told by our government officials that we don’t have a choice but to go nuclear and run our coal plants longer. On the Great Lakes there’s an untapped resource, which is offshore wind,” he said. But instead of embracing that resource, he said the government has imposed “a moratorium on even the testing of wind potential on the Great Lakes. Right now we’re not even laying the groundwork to ramp up offshore wind in a few years." "I can understand people wanting to be cautious, but right now across Lake Erie, the City of Cleveland is already testing to put up their own wind farm just off the coast.”" Via::Welland Tribune. Image credit:: NOAA, Lake Erie Bathymetry...

We have said it before, and we will say it again - checking your tire pressure is one of the easiest ways that you can green your driving. However, even the most prudent of us forgets to pull out the tire gauge every 30 days. That can, of course, lead not only to decreased fuel efficiency, but to some serious safety concerns as well. You would think that by now, your tire pressure would be checked by your car just as your car gauges gas and oil. Well, finally, it will. Starting in all 2008 models, autos sold in the U.S. will be equipped with a TPMS, or tire pressure monitoring system. When your tire pressure is low, your car will automatically warn you by lighting up a signal on your console. Making sure you are properly inflated will be just as easy as making sure you still have fuel. ::Via AutoblogGreen ...

Perhaps it's that summer is in its final throes, or a longing for bygone salad days of grilling and chilling, but this TreeHugger seems to have barbeque on the brain. Yesterday, it was the Grilliput , today it's the lean, mean, flat-packing Fold Flat BBQ. This sleek little number looks perfect for balcony barbeque enthusiasts and tailgaters alike, folding down to next to nothing -- approaching that of a wafer-thin mint -- to both save space and make it easily portable. For those who are really in to grilling on the go, there's also the Carry & Go Briefcase BBQ (pictured after the jump), which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a BBQ that fits into a briefcase so you can carry it when you're on the go. Both of these come courtesy of a cool site called Modern Cottage (who remind us that "there's more to life than shabby chic" -- indeed), dedicated to two of TreeHugger's favorite things -- putting a modern twist on living in a tiny cottage -- so there's lots more good stuff there. Both grills are available from ::I Want One of Those via ::Modern Cottage...

The Vancouver-based designers at Molo are at it again. After rocking our world earlier this year, they've returned to the "soft" aesthetic that brought the world softwall and softseating to add some lighting to the mix. "softlight" follows a similar pattern to the other soft elements, utilizing the flexible paper honeycomb pattern to maximize strength and efficiency while minimizing materials. The honeycomb works particularly well for this design, creating a really neat effect with just a single lightbulb. Of course, we have to recommend popping a compact fluorescent lightbulb in there; we really like how the look grouped together. molo's site says they aren't available yet, but Unica Home appears ready to sell them to you. More details at ::molo designs' softlight via ::Apartment Therapy: San Francisco...

Photo credit: ieatstars Even if you don't have a Hybrid, a few simple tips are all you need to give your vehicle's fuel economy the boost it deserves, which isn't a bad idea considering that gas prices are spiraling upward again this summer. Here are some of the top money- and planet-saving tricks, according to KBB.com: 1. Reduce your air conditioning 2. Change your filters at scheduled intervals 3. Check your tire pressure regularly 4. Use a fuel additive in each fill-up to increase engine performance 5. Get fuel injectors cleaned...

Using materials like "Bio Stretch" rubber and "Eco Flex" exterior, Body Glove has created the "first environmentally friendly wetsuit." While the folks at Patagonia might have something to say about that, Body Glove's "Eco Wetsuit" can boast 100% petroleum-free materials which consume "1/10th the amount of energy normally used in the manufacturing of standard petroleum based wetsuits." As we've noted before, surfing and TreeHugging go together like fair trade chocolate and organic peanut butter; it's good to see more ways to walk the walk (and, hey, if you can look as bad-ass as this guy, why not?) before paddling out for some tasty waves. Get all the details about the Eco Wetsuit at ::Body Glove via ::Core77...

At TreeHugger we are so fortunate to speak with some of the most lucid minds of the modern green movement. TreeHugger Radio is not even yet a year old, but we've already had the pleasure of spending time with remarkable thinkers, sharing these radical viewpoints on sustainability and human culture. Here is a look at some of the in-depth interviews we've had the honor to offer on TreeHugger Radio. Simran Sethi speaks with Paul Hawken about the birth of Blessed Unrest and the spawning of the grass roots. Mathis Wackernagel, an ecological economist, reframes the modern human paradigm in a radical way. The founder of Architecture for Humanity, Cameron Sinclair, discusses how green design is a universal imperative. More after the jump....

The snowmobiles that spread virus-like into Yellowstone each winter might be viewed as the working-man's version of the recently designed AeroTrekking vehicle pictured here. Because this is a rich man's toy, the usual argument for allowing snowmobiles in roadless areas and public lands in general can't yet be made for the Aerotrekker: e.g. let regular folks, the elderly, or the unfit enjoy remote places. No doubt the search and rescue rationale will come along, followed by some military variation. Cost will come down and the cry of the loon will be merged with the roar of not-so distant engines. Lake and marsh skimming, remote beach access...you get it. "McAfee, the man behind McAfee anti-virus software, is helping to bring a new type of aviation to the Southwest. Aerotrekking is a sport that involves following the terrain, often skimming just a few feet above the ground, visiting wild and beautiful places that could never be reached on foot or by car." ...

All you need is legal access to a junkyard (or dump) to plunder parts such as the grill on the back of a refrigerator, some wood for the frame, a pane of glass, and a discarded rubber door mat. Yeah, eat your heart out, MacGyver. This first-prize winner of our TreeHugger/Popular Science/Instructables Go Green contest also used duct tape to seal cracks, rather than the more-expensive caulk. The only thing he purchased new was a $3.76 air-pump hose from an aquarium store, because he already had the screws he needed on hand. Our winner managed to heat a 5 gallon bucket of cold water to 170 degrees Fahrenheit on a day that averaged 76 degrees, thanks to some frugal ingenuity, gravity, and that big flaming ball in the sky. Learn how by following his step-by-step instructions. ::Instructables...

Life at TreeHugger Forums is a highway, we want to ride it all night long...

	1) Forums user ArcheoTerra has a beef with using global warming as a scare tactic/behavior-changer: "Please don't get me wrong, I think efforts made to 'save' the earth are all very important and good ideas, I am obviously a big fan of green everything especially since I'm learning more about it, but global warming shouldn't be used as a scare tactic. Scare tactics are bad, and easily become skewed into propaganda, in my opinion." Wow, some passionate responses on both sides here.
	2) User aitrus was surprised at the way "treehuggers" were portrayed in a hunting safety course in Ontario, Canada. "This was obviously a pejorative term used to describe anyone who is against hunting, but I was curious about how many self-professed tree huggers would in fact fit the bill of being against hunting...perhaps the most interesting thing to me is how much common ground your average hunter shares with your average environmentalists." What do you think: can you hug trees with a hunting rifle slung 'round your back?
	3) Lastly, Forums user ed wants to transform the way retiring Baby Boomers get themselves around. "The burgeoning of the Nation's senior population is driving government at all levels to reexamine services such as Social Security, health care, and transportation. With all this going for bikes, you would think everyone would want to ride them, but just the opposite is true. WHY?" If biking were more senior-friendly, would it be more popular? Hmm...

Round-ups of the best conversations in TreeHugger Forums appear several times a week here at TreeHugger; register for free and login to become part of the conversation for a greener future today....

Most Americans are familiar with Neosporin, that antibiotic salve that keeps sliced-up body parts from rotting off and cluttering the living-room floor. The brain trust at Johnson & Johnson, to spread the gospel of this magical ointment, decided to market a promotional version that comes in a little Bandaid-storing red plastic tote. With a dainty handle. "Presumably," writes Chris Colin, TreeHugger reader and San Francisco Chronicle writer, "so you can swing the thing to and fro between your thumb and forefinger en route to a miniature picnic." Or wave it about like a bell as if to signal "looook what Iiiii've gotttt," because to a person with a bloodied hand jammed up the paper-towel dispenser, this will be like Christmas. ::San Francisco Chronicle...

Chefs all around the country are committed to using local, organic ingredients in their dishes. In the first installment of Green Cuisine, the Union of Concerned Scientists profiles Nora Pouillon, owner of Restaurant Nora and Asia Nora in the nation's capital and local grower Jim Crawford of New Morning Farm and the Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative. Check out Nora’s recipe for local and organic 10 tomato pasta. And see a slide show that covers an environmentally-friendly journey from farm to plate. UCS will be updating Green Cuisine every season with a new chef, a new farmer, a new recipe....

TreeHugger tries to remain vigilant in our efforts to turn our readers on to greener sex tips, and we've found more than a few ways to get down without dirtying the planet (and yourself, for that matter), from buying green sex toys to recycling them when the good vibe has gone bad. As any good car mechanic will tell you, keeping the moving parts well lubricated is a key to continued smooth operation; with that in mind, we present the products from Yes. Completely free of parabens, glycerin, hormones, silicones and petroleum products, they offer both water and (plant) oil-based lubricants designed to "change your world from the inside." In addition to the list of nasties the products don't contain, there is one that we're pleased to see: the big O, as in organic ingredients. But don't take our word for it; check out the "yestimonials" to see if the name of the product inspires you to say the same, and be sure to swing through How to Green Your Sex Life and How to Green Your Personal Care for more details on staying green between the sheets. ::Yes via ::NotCot.org...

A new study shows that the environmental impact of shopping for stuff, from from food and clothing to CDs and electrical appliances - far outweighs any efforts to save water and power in the home. The Australian Conservation Foundation and the University of Sydney note that shopping habits represent such a large part of greenhouse gas emissions that even if every household switched to renewable energy and stopped driving cars tomorrow, total household emissions would fall by less than 20 per cent. The more you shop, the worse it is; The study, Consuming Australia, reports that on average, every additional dollar of consumption is responsible for 720 grams of greenhouse gas emissions and 28 litres of water. Australian Conservation Foundation's Chuck Berger concludes:

"People can make a difference to their individual contribution to greenhouse pollution by buying less, wasting less and choosing products that last"

::Sydney Morning Herald...

Pollster American Environics studied American attitudes toward energy and the environment and found depressing results: 1) Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is occurring. 2) They don't care. "dealing with global warming" came 20th out of 23 policy priorities. 3) They won't give anything up. The cost of energy is more important than global warming. As the graph shows, 69 percent of the public is prepared to overlook disagreement about the environment and there are six issues that rate ahead of the environment in terms of the number of people who consider them dealbreakers. ...

Beach-side foam party gone out of control? Not quite. A shoreline north of Sydney, Australia was transformed into the "Cappuccino Coast," as one journalist put it, with foam swallowing up an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the lifeguard HQ. A phenomenon not seen on the beach for more than 30 years, the frothy mix stretched for 30 miles out into the Pacific. Unnamed scientists say that the foam was caused by impurities in the ocea, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish, and—eww—secretions from seaweed....

Got an idea that can save the world? Enter the Buckminster Fuller Challenge and win a hundred thousand bucks. Come up with a "design science solution" (effective application of the principles of science to the conscious design of our total environment in order to help make the Earth's finite resources meet the needs of all humanity without disrupting the ecological processes of the planet.") between September 4 and October 30....

Toronto paints itself green, but the truth will out. Deborah Dale is a biologist who gives seminars at the City about growing natural gardens filled with native species. She is past president of the North American Native Plant Society. Her own garden included 150 species including two eight-year-old fragrant sumacs, some giant purple hyssops, and four varieties of milkweed plants, in which monarch butterflies had already laid eggs. Until last week, when The Clean and Beautiful City cut it down. “I called the police because my garden had been vandalized. It’s not the first time I’ve had plants stolen, but to have the entire garden been taken away ... After 10 years it’s not funny in the least.”...

We all know how bad it can be if you don't cut the rings out of your six-pack holders: sea life and other animals get stuck in them, can't move, can't eat and die, and nobody wants that. Rather than cutting them out and throwing them away, though, we like what design student Adam Johnston has done with them instead. His slick, spacey chair, built with hundreds of the holders, keeps them out of the waste stream altogether -- at least for a little while -- and gives them a second life rather than going straight from fridge to trash. So go ahead, have another six pack, as long as you can use the rings for something as functional as the chair. Recycling has never been so tasty. Get up close and personal with the chair, after the jump, via ::NotCot...

Once an impregnable forest of huge ice blocks, the Northwest Passage has — for the first time in recorded history — become almost completely ice-free and open to navigation. Researchers at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center recently announced that: "Analysts confirm that the passage is almost completely clear and that the region is more open than it has ever been since the advent of routine monitoring in 1972." While it had long been expected that the Northwest Passage would gradually open up as a result of rising global temperatures, scientists were taken aback at the speed with which it happened. The Northwest Passage — which runs along the Arctic coastline of North America and serves as a shortcut between the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — is considered to be an important cargo route. Russian, Canadian and Norwegian authorities will no doubt be keeping that in mind as they continue their attempts to claim the Arctic — which holds almost a quarter of the planet's untapped oil and gas reserves — for their respective countries. Via ::Guardian Unlimited Environment: North-West Passage is now plain sailing (news website) See also: ::In Harpers Magazine: The Battle for the Melting North...

It's still summer, at least in this here parts, so enjoy the fresh outdoors as much as you can before Old Man Winter comes a-knockin'. The artist formerly known as Tiffany Tomato (her site is now known as RePlayGround) shows us how to make a pair of toss-and-catchers for practically nothing. All you need are two used milk cartons, dual toilet-paper tubes, some tape, markers, and decorative paper scraps you probably already have lying around the house. If you already have a ball to throw around, great; if you don't, some wadded up aluminum foil—used would be better—would do the trick. The instructions she provides couldn't be easier and you could probably figure it out just by looking at the illustrations above. (Just be careful with that pair of scissors.) Make some homemade honey iced tea, grab a friend or reluctant sibling (or spouse) and get off your tush for some simple, backyard fun. (Or at least get your kids out of your hair for a while, if you're parentally inclined.) ::RePlayGround...

"Suburban sprawl is like fast food; cheap and easy but also unsatisfying and boring." says the intro Slow Home, which says "takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. In the same ways that slow food helps people learn how to become more familiar and involved with the food they eat, Slow Home provides design focused information to empower individuals to step beyond the too fast world of cookie cutter housing. " The ten steps to better housing (listed below the fold) are an excellent guide to sustainable living. The Folio includes a lovely collection of houses that meet founder John Brown's criteria, all with good pictures and documentation. The Annie House in Austin, Texas by Bercy Chen Studio is a good example....

I must admit that educators in Japan have demonstrated to me that there’s simply no limit to their imagination while coming up with some fascinating material recently. Using Miso soup to educate their students about a sustainable diet in a relatively small, crowded, island nation; and using play with wood blocks to teach them the same about forestry practices in that country… But the latest and greatest craze seems to be the creation of “Green Curtains” around school buildings to help them turn down the a/c to save energy, and the movement has been gaining steam since April when their current school year kicked off. Essentially, they’re building giant trellises out of netting from the ground through the third floors to help cool the place, and having the kids take turns tending the gardens of cucumbers and dishcloth gourds that wind their way vertically up them during break time. As the plants grow the increasing amount of shade helps to reduce the amount of sunlight actually reaching the building, while the amount of water that collects on the leaves helps reduce overall temperatures in the surrounding area via evaporative cooling as the day heats up. ...

With multiple projects underway already focusing on finding the next big renewable energy source above water and below the surface (and even on other planets), it was only a matter of time before researchers turned their attention to one of the few remaining untapped areas — the vast expanse beneath the ocean floor. Now a team of scientists from the University of Haifa and Stanford University are getting ready to embark on a research expedition with the aim of investigating the use of a gas lying beneath the floor, most likely methane, as an alternative to oil. According to a recent article in The Economist, methane hidden beneath the ocean floor may make up "the world's greatest store of fossil fuel" — some experts estimate that its reserves could be as much as twice the rest of the world's fossil fuel supplies combined. Methane is typically stored in structures called methane hydrates, or clathrates, which are little cages of water molecules with methane molecules trapped inside. They tend to form in areas where pressures are high and temperatures are low; thus, they are often seen lining the floor at the continental shelves and are also found locked within the poles' permafrost....

This week we’ve been looking at the dizzying array of sustainability initiatives that the London-based Bioregional Development Group are involved in. Yesterday we posted on the Bioregional Charcoal Company, and on Monday we wrote about The Laundry - a localized paper recycling scheme that the founders claim cuts emissions involved in paper production by as much as 93%. Today we thought we’d look at the group’s work creating viable markets for urban forestry products. Many urban and suburban areas have a surprising amount of trees in woodland, parks and street plantings. These usually need to be managed for reasons of safety, conservation or practicality, and this management creates a significant amount of low-value wood waste which often ends up in landfill. Since 1996, the Bioregional Development Group have been partnering with the London Borough of Croydon to run a TreeStation, a centralized processing point where wood waste from public and privately owned woodland can be converted into usable products, such as wood pellets for biomass heating....

Here's a wee bit of Hump Day absurdity, just for the heck of it—The Spontaneous Picnic Dress, sewn together for a "weird Japanese" competition (of course) and made out of a plastic lobster bib, a kitchen towel, and a festive gingham tablecloth. We suppose you're expected to tote around a bottle of wine and a baguette until you launch upon a suitable patch of grass for an instant picnic lunch. (And then pray there are no creepy crawlies underskirt.) It might get kinda messy, but at least you won't be stalked by any upright-walking bears hoping to steal your pic-a-nic basket. ::Reddish Studio...

The Mexican Attorney General for Environmental Protection's office announced (Spanish link) Tuesday that it had confiscated some 57,684 oliver ridley turtle eggs in the state of Oaxaca. The eggs were bound for markets in Mexico City, where they are hawked for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities. Mexican green groups have launched various campaigns over the years to convince Mexican consumers otherwise. The oliver ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is a species of giant turtle whose population has rebound slightly along Mexico's Pacific Coast in recently years since the capture and theft of its eggs was prohibited in 1990. The turtles are found in the Americas and Asia, and are listed as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act. According to the San Diego-based conservation group Wild Coast, robbing eggs seriously threatens the species because even in natural conditions only one of every 1,000 eggs will make it to adulthood. ...

In Japan, garbage is colour coded: Green is for recyclable trash, blue is for non-burnable and red is for burnable. Design agency MAQ thought the streets would be prettier if they turned the garbage bags into disposable art, in three patters- trees, fish and flowers. Of course it is better not to have bags at all; we posted previously that Japanese separated their garbage into ten categories. ::Pink Tentacle...

We do go on about how almost any building can be adapted to almost any use; Justin points us to this conversion of a Martello tower into a weekend retreat. Martello towers were built by the British in the early 1800's around the world; there are three in Kingston, Ontario built to ward off American invaders. They had thick stone walls below, a single big gun on a pivot, and a light wood roof that would get blown away instantly. There is not a lot of information about this conversion by Piercy Conner Architects on the Suffolk Coast of England, other than you don't want to blow away this roof; it cost £95,000. ...

Daily, our eating turns nature into culture, transforming the body of the world into our bodies and minds. Agriculture has done more to reshape the natural world than anything else we humans do, both its landscapes and the composition of its flora and fauna. Our eating also constitutes a relationship with dozens of other species—plants, animals, and fungi—with which we have coevolved to the point where our fates are deeply entwined. Many of these species have evolved expressly to gratify our desires, in the intricate dance of domestication that has allowed us and them to prosper together as we could never have prospered apart. But our relationships with the wild species we eat—from the mushrooms we pick in the forest to the yeasts that leaven our bread—are no less compelling, and far more mysterious. Eating puts us in touch with all that we share with the other animals, and all that sets us apart. It defines us." —Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006, The Penguin Press)...

It may not look like the most exciting chair, but the concept behind it is just what we love at treehugger. It is made out of 100% recycled plastic, recovered from recycled electronic products such as games consoles. Then it is collected and reprocessed under the EU's strict directives. Every chair makes a new home for 2.3kg of used plastic. Not only that, it is stackable, designed for disassembly and easy recycling. And the slats can be repaired piece by piece. The other chair made by this design company is created from recycled plastic waste, with beech. They also make a sturdy side table from recycled paper core with organic eggshell lacquer finish and bamboo surfaces. All the materials used in the grass coffee table are from grasses, not wood with bamboo veneer. When you’ve finished with it, the furniture is either biodegradable or else can be recycled in standard municipal waste facilities. :: pli design...

The Piton (an outdoor punditry blog) had a story the other day where they proclaimed ‘Someone Call TreeHugger.” So figured we might as well oblige and reference the articles they’d found. The first is a tad thin of detail. But, as best we can make out, The North Face have opened their twelve US retail store which utilises pressed bamboo in the fixtures. Plus they use Brazilian cherry wood, which we can only hope they sourced through someone like Eco-Timber, given that it is a tropical hardwood. The other outdoor retailer infusing their stores with a little green is Gander Mountain. With over a hundred stores through the US, they are opting for a greener flooring via Lees Carpet for new shops and refurbishments. As best we can make out the carpet itself is anything special. The backing holds the eco story. Known as Encycle, (Warning - another annoying Flash site) the backing is free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and contains 35% pre-consumer recycled content and 28% less raw material than normal modular carpet tile backing. Apparently the backing can recycled back into itself, mostly due to a technology known as Self-Lock, which is a releasable adhesive system that binds the backing the carpet fabric, eliminating, we are told, waste and off-gassing. Via The Piton....

It’s a cute name, and a wonder no-one hasn't used it before. The company that grew from a pair of rafter’s sandals over twenty years ago, is now looking after its namesake (Teva being Hebrew for Nature). The Curbside collection, which recently became available, is a line of casual footwear constructed with recycled content materials, up to 40% in certain models, and by some accounts the percentage is set to doubt next year. There is the post-consumer recycled PET canvas lining, the recycled PET sockliner cover and the post-consumer recycled rubber outsole. These materials find themselves in four models of women’s and two men’s casual shoes. Teva are also involved in the campaign known as the Soles4Souls March, which is engaging local communities to donate a quarter of a million pairs of new and used footwear. Folk in disaster-stricken zones like the Gulf Coast and Third World countries such as Sudan and Honduras will be the beneficiaries. Additionally Teva has previously teamed with DrivingGreen to offset the greenhouse gas emissions produced from it's six vehicle fleet. (Teva is owned by the same parent company that head Simple Shoes, so maybe some of their greenness is rubbing off.) ::Teva, via TrailGear. ...

Seattle artist and child wrangler Shannon Ritscher retools used leather belts into mean-looking biker cuffs and rhinestone-encrusted studded collars for both humans and non-humans alike. Many of the embellishments Ritscher uses, including bottle caps, buttons, washers, and springs are also part of her larger plan to take back the landfill. And Girlfriend may look like a soccer mom on her profile page, but you know she could totally take you out with her pinkie finger. Punk. Prices start at an easy $17. More pictures below. ::Etsy See also: ::How to Green Your Accessories and ::How to Green Your Pet...

Photo credit: RichardAM More Brits are coming home tanned, toned, and saddle-sore, according to a report indicating a surge in cycling holidays. Biking-mad Brits ponied up some £120m on 450,000 dedicated cycling holidays in 2006, with some operators experiencing as much as a 30 percent increase in bookings, compared with 2005 figures, revealed research by market analysts Mintel....

As Sean noted earlier today, just because summer is approaching an end doesn't make it the end of grilling season. For tailgating, camping, or grilling anywhere in small spaces, we recommend the Grilliput, a diminutive grill that stands a six inches tall and weighs less than a pound. Perfect for grilling on the go, the whole thing collapses into one of the tubes, adding up to less than 12 inches in length and one inch in diameter; small enough that you can slip it in a backpack or even your pocket when the grilling is done. Of course, we recommend Wicked Good charcoal and encourage you not to forget about the carbon footprint of a burger when you whip this puppy out. It looks like it comes from German descent, but is available from outdoor outlets like REI and Campmor; a picture of what the Grilliput looks like in action is below the fold. ::Grilliput via ::AT:San Francisco...

Mexico City is in the midst of its rainy season, which means that when the rain comes down hard, as it does on a weekly basis, the litter that residents have haphazardly thrown on the ground takes an insidious toll. When Hurricane Dean brought a total of 3.12 inches (79.25 mm) of rain in three hours last week, a new record for heavy rainfall was set. What ensued was one of the city’s more epic traffic jams and hullabaloos of horn honking as the city’s six million cars sloshed through the flooded streets. In one area, the floodwaters rose 2.6 feet (80 cm), trapping drivers in their cars until rescue officials arrived. According to the city’s Fire Department and the Public Security Secretariat, the key culprit in the floods was the litter--plastic bottles and wrappers, diapers and more-- clogging the city’s sewers. Hector Castillo, a sociologist who studies the refuse industry at Mexico's National Autonomous University, told the Houston Chronicle recently that Mexicans have long considered trash, including litter, to be somebody else's problem. That trash pickup in Mexico City and other urban centers has been cost-free and mostly controlled by corrupt labor unions doesn’t help either. We think Mexico City could use stricter fines and education to cure residents of their litterbug tendencies....

If indoor gardening is something you want to dig in to a bit deeper, but aren't in to aeroponics, hydroponics or a US-powered greenhouse, the Topo Table might be for you. In what offers one of the smallest farm-to-table distance possibilities we've ever seen, the table is full of reversible spots to grow small indoor plants: flipped one way, the tables' inserts create little landscapes just the right size to grow some indoor greenery; flip 'em around to flatten out your table again. If indoor gardening doesn't do it for you, the inserts also make a nice inlaid fruit bowl (picture after the jump). We think the table would go nicely with some Topoware dishes, and you could wash them in the Erosion sink after dinner. Each table can be made to order, so you can choose where the plants will grow; more pics after the jump. ::NONdesigns Topo Table via ::Apartment Therapy...

Keep your plants in fighting shape, even after the first frost sets, with a geodesic-dome greenhouse of your very own. And raise a homegrown cantaloupe to Buckminster Fuller while you're at it. Another first-prize winner from our TreeHugger/Popular Science/Instructables Go Green contest, our builders belong to Youth Exploring Science, a program that provides opportunities for underprivileged teens to learn vocational and life skills....

~~The new TreeHugger Server Farm~~ The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre is housed in the Torre Girona chapel. It may only be the ninth biggest supercomputer in the world, but it is certainly the most beautiful. What a great example of how buildings can adapt to anything, how good design transforms the banal into the beautiful, and what a wonderful place to pray for those who worship technology. ...

300 -- the percent by which real estate and construction professionals overestimate the costs of green building, according to a study by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. [pdf] 5 -- the actual cost premium, in as a percentage, for green building. Further... 19 -- the percent of greenhouse gases emitted by buildings, according to survey respondents. 40 -- the actual percent of greenhouse gases emitted by buildings. That's right: industry folks overestimate the costs of going green(er) and underestimate the damage being done. As Dave at Gristmill notes, all we need is some proper education to turn it around. ::World Business Council for Sustainable Development via ::Gristmill [Update: We should note that the WBCSD is a guest author here at TreeHugger (the most recent post is here). Stay tuned for more of their great posts, coming soon!]...

Alex Wilson of Building Green notes that employees for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation used to walk to work; now, to get to the world's first LEED Platinum building, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, employees have to drive. He notes for an average office building in the United States, commuting by office workers accounts for 30% more energy than the building itself uses. For a modern green building, it is as much as 50% more. He suggests that we have to measure “Transportation energy intensity” -"the amount of energy associated with getting people to and from that building, whether they are commuters, shoppers, vendors, or homeowners. The transportation energy intensity of buildings has a lot to do with location. An urban office building that workers can reach by public transit or a hardware store in a dense town center will likely have a significantly lower transportation energy intensity than a suburban office park or a retail establishment in a suburban strip mall." ::BuildingGreen...

While drinking organic wines is one of TreeHugger's favorite ways to enjoy the fruits of the earth without harming the planet, wine an its derivatives are good for so much more. Here are some of our picks that go beyond simply drinking the sweet fermented grape.

	1) Wine-making, meet renewable energy production: a team of undergraduate engineering students from Oregon State University has developed an environmentally-friendly biodegradable polymer derived from biodiesel and wine-making byproducts that could replace polystyrene foam meat trays in supermarkets and be used in the manufacture of fire logs, furniture and other consumer goods.
	2) An organic winery in Western Australia recently became the recipient of a $20,555 AUD grant from that state’s Sustainable Energy Development Office, so they can build some walls from old bottles, put water in them to insulate the building, and start up a thermal imaging monitoring program for a cellar-door outlet to see how well it can keep bottles of white cool and bottles of red at a comfy room temperature.
	3) Los Angeles-based designer Cliff Spencer was intrigued by a Napa Valley winery's offer of used oak that had been soaked in wine, so he picked some up to try it out as a furniture building material. Turns out that the wine-soaked wood had a beautiful natural stain; pinot noir makes for the darkest stain while the pinot grigio leaves the lightest. The pieces resulting from the noir-stained wood has a deep walnut tones without any of the walnut finish. Clothing and pesticide made from wine, after the jump...

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We posted earlier about the coming rush to exploit Arctic oil as the ice melts away; Stephen Colbert covers the issue effectively, noting that a) Bush says the Northwest Passage is international; b) Bush is the leader of the world; and c) therefore it belongs to America. Striking logic. via David Roberts at ::Grist...

Solis Energy has been selling solar powered street lights and other gear for a while; now it is pitching solar powered industrial strength routers for community WiFi. According to Michael Kanellos of CNet, "Several state governments are pushing for increased use of solar energy to cut power consumption and curb greenhouse gases. But green routers have another advantage. Routers, sensors, road signs and other devices that derive their power from the sun or the wind don't need to be hooked up to wires, which often don't exist in remote locations. " A router only needs 24 watts of power, so we wonder if the embodied energy in making such a device makes it kind of silly for community wifi where they can probably plug it in somewhere, or for remote locations where there are not too many people warriding about. But one can think of dense third world communities waiting for their hundred dollar laptop where this might make a lot of sense. ::Cnet via ::earth2tech...

Photo credit: purple key "'Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,' said the Rat. 'And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all.'"—Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows Pity the legacies of Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter, and Kenneth Grahame; we can almost hear them rolling over in their graves (which scares the beejeezus out of us): Once-familiar animals in Britain, including the hedgehog, water vole, and house sparrow, have been added to the U.K. Biodiversity Action plan for threatened species, mostly because of habitat destruction. The cuckoo, harvest mouse, and other frolicking creatures central to English literature, music, and nursery rhymes, will receive extra protection, as well as an increase in the number of wild habitats. (See BBC News' slide show of the U.K.'s endangered species.) The action plan, which is reviewed every decade, has doubled the number of species listed from 577 in 1997 to 1,149, despite the more than 100 previously protected species which have flourished or stabilized during that time....

As (American) football starts to wind down its pre-season and fans anxiously await their high school, college and professional teams' season debut, tailgating is on many a mind. Just as the coaches are tinkering with their playbooks in these last few days before the season, it may be time to work out the kinks in your tailgating plans. Thankfully, Lighter Footstep has come up with five handy tailgating eco-tips to help you get ready for the months of beer and burgers ahead. 1) Make Hank Hill proud, use propane.

Sure, propane is a petroleum product -- but it burns a lot cleaner than charcoal or wood fires. Propane also leaves behind less waste, and is particularly convenient when you're cooking away from home.

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We all still have friends and family who are skeptical on global warming. This video gives a clear meaning as to how carbon dioxide can add up in your own home. According to the Alliance for Climate Protection, the ad ran last month on Larry King Live in hopes that viewers could easily understand the link between current energy usage and the climate crisis. Via ::Alliance for Climate Protection...

Photo credit: noamg Etsy's Clean and Green Guild—a ragtag band of eco-friendly soap, bath and body products, makeup, and fragrance geniuses—will be hosting a trunk show on August 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn, Noo Yawk. Browse the wares that will be on sale, headbang to '80s music, slurp down blender drinks, and play around with samples. RSVP to rsvp [at] etsy [dot] com. Full invite, plus list of participants, below. ::Etsy ...

Though they don't create anything that keeps itself aloft with a spinning blade, the work of Propellor Design does seem to float, effortlessly, through space. We're especially fond of their pendants (that's "Galiano" above), but the Vancouver, BC-based collective also designs furniture and other lighting, all with a decidedly green slant. The Galiano pendant, pictured again below the fold, is made with a reclaimed Douglas fir shade, and a clever twig light pull; we love the way the warm, soft wood both reflects and refracts light, making the most of the 15 Watt compact fluorescent lightbulb they recommend installing with the fixture. MoCo Loco informs us that this beauty will be available soon through Made; hit the jump to see more examples of Propellor's fab pendant lighting. ::Propellor Design...

From the "That's one way to handle it" files: having difficulty dealing with the constant erosion of Florida's beaches, officials in Broward County are exploring using recycled glass, crushed into tiny grains and mixed with "regular" sand, to help fill gaps. As melted sand is the main ingredient in the clear and translucent bottles, cups, windows and other glass implementations, it only makes sense that the glass be returned to frolic by the ocean as it may have done in a previous life. Typically, when beaches erode and need a sand supplement, new sand is dredged up from the ocean floor (this has been done to the tune of about 13 million tons since 1970 in Broward), but with reef preservation restricting future dredge sites, sand is becoming more and more scarce, leading to this new recycling idea. Though it'd be new to Florida, glass beaches have been used on Lake Hood in New Zealand and on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao. Is there anything recycling can't do? We daresay no! ::Wired News...

OK, so the wedding season may be nearing its close for this year, but a new one is never too far away. For those folks out there who are planning your big day, you may already be thinking about what invitations to send. We’ve previously brought you posts about Invite Site, Seal and Send, and we’ve even fielded readers’ queries about potential suppliers. Now we’d like to add another supplier to the list of possibilities – the Nepalese Paper Company, the California-based distributors of tree-free fair trade handmade craft papers from Nepal. They produce a beautiful range of products, from stationary to cardstocks and prayer flags, but this is what they have to say about their wedding invitation set:

“As you open the card, the Bodhi leaf, thought to bring its owner patience and enlightenment, floats up towards you, bringing the patience to you. Enclosed inside is your invitation, with your RSVP card and envelope. These sets come in all natural for a very elegant look, or we can customize them to any color combination you chose for a very personalized, classic look. They can also be custom ordered with a very subtle leaf stain in any color.”

For more tips on celebrating sustainably, check out our guide on How to Green Your Wedding. ::The Nepalese Paper Company:: via site visit:: ...

Let there be light, indeed: Glendale Middle School's new $16 million building will be harnessing the power of the sun to supercharge its students' neurons. Instead of a "windowless tomb" in all its artificially lit glory, as a Salt Lake City Tribune reporter put it, the classrooms will be soaking in the sun's natural rays. One 1999 study showed that students in classrooms with a large amount of sunlight scored as much as 18 percent higher on tests, compared with students exposed to a low-light environment. At Glendale, a school with mostly low-income minority pupils, Principal Ernie Nix hopes the new positive learning environment will propel his kids toward higher education. Natural light streams through the high windows along the hallways, while light "shelves" outside classroom windows bounce daylight into the room and shade the classroom from direct sun....

Americans like their liquor hard and their biofuel subsidy business grain based. In Europe, they subsidize their grape growers to fill wine lakes of unwanted plonk. The European Union is buying 693,376 hectolitres (18,027,776 gallons or 93,744,435 bottles) from Italy, Greece, Spain and France to turn it into biofuel. They call it ""crisis distillation" -- an emergency market tool used as a short-term measure to correct supply imbalances. At least they are honest enough not to call it an energy policy. Robert Parker gives Shell high octane a 94. ::Reuters...

Panasonic has introduced electric radiant rugs into the Japanese market. Normally we would say this is just another electricity waster, but we used to have prototypes for a heated carpet that never went into production, and until we gave them up after the rubber backing started drying out they were absolutely wonderful; even if the house was at 55 degrees one could sit on that rug and feel warm as toast. The kids and the cat were glued to it. A 2 tatami mat sized rug is rated at 500 watts, but heats up to 114 degrees, which is way more than you need for comfort. Our old one drew 200 watts and was more than enough. Why heat the whole house when toasty feet are all you need? Panasonic, bring those rugs to North America. ::Freshome...

Photo credit: tomask College must make you, like, smart or something. One man-about-campus, at least, has his head screwed on straight. "If global warming never happened, many of the changes we make in response to its threat would still make sense, writes Daniel Gibson-Reinemer, a fishery and wildlife biology graduate student at Colorado State University, in his college paper. "Adapting our lives to reduce climate change means being more efficient, innovative, conscientious and just plain smart." This is why the vehemence of the climate-change peanut gallery surprises us, when they act as though we just stomped on their favorite puppy and then set it on fire. (TreeHugger is unequivocally opposed to cruelty toward animals, even the ugly ones.) "You don't have to agree with the scientific consensus on global warming," says Gibson-Reinemer. "Just take a keen interest in keeping America innovative, efficient, healthy and stingy towards dangerous regimes." Someone give this guy a sheet of gold stars. ::Rocky Mountain Collegian...

A newly released study posits a bleak future for the world's grasslands: rapidly escalating levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may prompt the large-scale conversion of grasslands to a landscape of woody shrubs. To reach these findings, Jack Morgan — a plant physiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the study's lead author — and a team of researchers artificially doubled carbon dioxide levels over enclosed portions of the Colorado prairie to simulate estimated 2100 levels. This large increase led to a drastic rise in the numbers of Artemisia frigida, a woody shrub species known as fringed sage. The scientists set up open-topped cylinders of clear plastic, 15 ft in diameter, and pumped pure carbon dioxide into one group (maintaining a concentration of 720 ppm) while leaving another at atmospheric concentrations as a control. To simulate the effect of grazing, half the biomass was removed when each group was analyzed every July over a period of 5 years. After that time, they found a 40-fold rise in the biomass of fringed sage — from 0.72 g per sq. m. in the first year to 28.7 g per sq. m. in the fifth. This suggests that, over time, fringe sage and other woody shrubs are likely to take over large swathes of seasonal grasses....

TreeHugger talks a lot about re-energizing urban areas and "city-fying" the world, so we can make better use of space, use less per capita resources and generally be more efficient planet-dwellers. The folks at the Green Century Institute have taken this idea even further, developing a model for a future "ecocity" called Califia, a comprehensive mixed-use micro-city model, that will combine a variety of residential configurations with a full complement of civic, retail, and commercial spaces; everything you could possibly want in a small, compact space. Later this week, they're launching the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition to find out what such a city could really look like: could the natural world and our built environment truly coexist? Can buildings be net positives to the grid, cities be organic food exporters, and architecture become not just carbon neutral but carbon negative? If you've got ideas about what it'd be like to live in this green city for tomorrow, they want your ideas, in the form of a one page sketch, submitted through their site, any time between September 1 and December 1, 2007. Cash prizes will be $2000 for the winner and $1000 for the runner-up; hit the jump for more details. Think you know what the green future holds? Get sketching! ::Califia Sketchbook Design Competition...

It is the silly season just before the writ is dropped for the fall election in Ontario, Canada's most populous province with over 12 million people. It is also a big place, so the leaders pump out a lot of greenhouse gas getting around. Not much debate up here about climate change, so all of the parties are competing to prove how green they are. The two Liberal buses will run on ultra-low-sulphur diesel, which they say drastically cuts smog-causing emissions. The Conservatives are running on biodiesel. The New Democrats are dumping the bus for a hybrid SUV. "This might be a little less convenient than a bus," NDP Leader Howard Hampton told the Star "but I think I can sacrifice convenience and reduce the carbon footprint by 24 tonnes." Green Party leader Frank de Jong will tour the province in a biodiesel vehicle, while also campaigning largely on public transit and on a bicycle. ...

With Labor Day around the corner and students and teachers across the country heading back to school there’s often a need to raise funds for one project or another. One great way to do it may be by partnering up with a company like Cartridge World, which provides you with the box to collect empty printer cartridges, then cuts you a check when you return it to them with the empty cartridges inside. That way you’re keeping the them out of the landfill while raising the cash to take that trip or buy that new school gadget at the same time. And it turns out they’re also teaming up with the Go Green Initiative this fall to provide educators, students and PTA members with 20% discount on recycled cartridges at any of their stores through the month of September. Of course, that’s as long as you’ve got the membership card or I.D. badge to prove you’re a member or student. And with roughly 100,000 schools across the country theoretically able to get involved by either purchasing recycled cartridges or participating in a cartridge recycling program I’m willing to bet it adds up to a whole lot of trash we can keep out of landfills and a whole lot of cash for our schools to make good use of as well... via:: Franchise News...

We've covered a boatload (heh) of bags and totes made from retired sails in our day (count'em: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco), but the Circles and Stripes AUM (Alternate Use Materials) totes by Vancouver-based Red Flag Design blow their competition clear out of the water. Made with reclaimed sailcloth and reinforced with reclaimed marine-grade rubber, each $198 shoulder tote also comes with sennet-knotted nylon handles attached using enameled metal grommets. Includes a zippered pouch for stowing your tackle. ::Branch Home...

Yesterday we posted on the ultra-efficient paper recycling initiative known as The Laundry which was founded by the London-based Bioregional Development Group (whose founders we’ve interviewed here). But The Laundry is just one example of how Bioregional take a particular industry or process, and completely remodel it to make best use of local supply chains. The Bioregional Charcoal Company is another such initiative. Much of the charcoal that is used in the UK is imported from Asia, and is often produced from clear-cur rainforest woods. It may also be treated with harsh chemicals and the burn quality is often inferior compared to its traditionally-produced British counterparts. Meanwhile coppice woodland in Britain lies neglected, or is simply coppiced for conservation value, with the wood that is produced becoming an unwanted by-product. Traditional charcoal burners just can’t compete with imports or make use of the economies of scale necessary to deal with major retail outlets. At least that was the case until the Bioregional Development Group got involved. By setting up a network of small-scale producers with standardized brand packaging, and a centralized ordering line, the group enabled major chains like B&Q and Asda (Wal Mart’s UK subsidiary) to order local charcoal for each of their stores from one central number, from which the Bioregional Charcoal Company then contacts the nearest producer to the store in question to fulfill the order. This system cuts out a huge amount of mileage, and emissions, for each bag of charcoal delivered – the company estimates that CO2 emissions associated with transport are reduced by as much as 85%. It also revives a traditional, sustainable industry that has huge conservation value: ...

The main street in downtown Newell, South Dakota. Sean wrote earlier about how people are moving back to the cores of mid-sized US cities like Cleveland; a similar trend is happening on the Great Plains. The population has been declining in rural areas; some counties in North Dakota lost two thirds for their population. Rural areas continue to grapple with young people leaving and old people dying, but some communities are thriving. "There's enormous change taking place because of the Internet and information technology," says Eric John Abrahamson, a fellow at the Institute for Applied Economics and the Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins University who lives in Rapid City. "It's affecting the Great Plains and all of rural America."...

Oceanographers and marine biologists will tell you that one of the main challenges they face when conducting research aboard a ship is obtaining all the data and visuals they need without an Internet connection. Well, no more: a new joint U.S.-Canadian project, dubbed NEPTUNE, has just laid down submarine fiber-optic cables in the Pacific Ocean as a first step in its objective to create the world's first wired ocean observatory. Its Canadian division, NEPTUNE Canada, plans on hooking up hundreds of oceanographic instruments to the Internet with the help of a 500-mile (800 km) long fiber-optic cable that will encircle the northern Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. Scientists expect it to be up and running by late 2008. The more than 200 instruments will include underwater microphones, nutrient sensors, video cameras, seismometers and wave sensors — all of which will provide a continuous stream of data to Vancouver Island's Port Alberni Shore Station. "This is a fundamental revolution giving us a direct connection to the seafloor... the ocean will no longer control our ability to study it," said Marcia McNutt, president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), which has built a short undersea cable — MARS — to act as a test bed for the instruments being deployed by NEPTUNE Canada....

The news around the world are full of stories about forest fires (and sometimes the possible links between global warming and their intensity and frequency). Here's a photo that gives some perspective on the size of the fires in Greece. High-Resolution version: NASA Earth Observatory. Via Reddit....

The Worldwatch Institute has played a major role in shaping the conversation about the environment around the world and especially in China. In 1995, its founder Lester Brown’s landmark book Who Will Feed China alerted leaders to a food crisis in the making. Today, Worldwatch is behind one of the best English-language resources on China's environmental situation at its China Watch website. Treehugger caught up with the organization’s president, Christopher Flavin, during a recent trip to Beijing to help release the Chinese version of the group’s State of the World report, titled "Our Urban Future." He spoke to me about how to look at a country rumored to be building 400 new cities per year, the role that the government is playing, and how China could beat the world in renewable energy.

TH: Clearly, China has some serious environmental problems. Does it deserve the horrible reputation it has?

Christopher: When I lecture in the U.S., one of the first questions that comes up is how is it worthwhile for us to reduce carbon given the growth happening in China. Is it worth it for us to do anything? ...

Cultural community events which aim to raise awareness and educate whilst also entertaining us always get top priority in our social agendas. Saturday September 15th is one such date that New Yorkers should save this month. Described as a Community Eco-Festival, the Confluence Theatre Company will present The (re)Cycle Plays in Socrates Sculpture Park. A series of performances will focus on ecological issues like peak oil, consumption, and food politics. The title and event is a play on the original format of the Cycle plays which were medieval 'Biblical morality plays on mounted stages that were moved around the city streets on wagons.' The environment will not only be addressed in the themes of the plays, but also in the way they are put on. We love the fact that all three stages will be built out of reusable, recycled, and sustainable materials and the whole event will be powered by bio-diesel. Even the chosen venue is a work of environmental regeneration in itself. Once an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite, Socrates Sculpture Park was transformed by local artists into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. The festival is being sponsored by Build it Green! NYC, Solar One, Materials for the Arts, TheaterMania, Clif Bar, and Wingspan Arts, so that you can go along and enjoy the fun for free! :: Confluence Theatre Company :: Socrates Sculpture Park...

More than 700 academics and researchers affiliated with the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation have called on the Mexican government to put a halt to the development of one of its richest biological treasures, the Chamela-Cuixmala biosphere reserve in Jalisco state on the Pacific Ocean. Tourism complexes and condominiums for sun-starved northerners are sprouting like mushrooms in Mexico’s beloved coastal destinations like Cancun and Cabo San Lucas. Meanwhile investors and developers are scouring the nation’s coasts for virgin beaches to build the next wave of exclusive, luxurious digs for those who don’t want to mingle with the lobster-pink, beer-soaked masses. And Mexican environmentalists are increasingly finding themselves up against this formidable phalanx of developers who have a habit of getting their way even when sensitive mangrove ecosystems or endangered species are in question. ...

This one is a keeper for anyone who spends any time outdoors. There is no debate going on about whether global warming is happening, just page after page of the future of mountains and glaciers (glaciers gone in 30 years), another section on forests and rivers, (bye-bye, boundary waters as Minnesota's north woods go up in smoke) and the future of forests (fire and pine beetles). Follow that with a National Parks report card and some great green camping gear, and a hiker's guide to fighting climate change with 101 tips for cutting your carbon footprint. One would think that backpackers would all be among the most convinced about global warming, being out there in the woods and mountains. Yet in their poll of their own readers 10% say global warming is a hoax and another 26% don't expect to see changes in less than a decade or two. Where are they hiking? Nothing online at ::Backpacker...

Photo credit: upshift When the average customer heads to a farm stand, be it on Long Island or any other place, they may well expect that they’re purchasing fresh, local produce with all of the benefits that come with that delicious, late-summer tomato… But that’s not always the case, as some farm stands on the east end of Long Island have begun supplementing their income by importing even locally available items along with melons and peaches from as far as 250 miles away to add to their product line, blurring the line for the average consumer who may well not know the difference. Of course those items, along with Florida lemons and sweet Mexican mangos are nestled in among the more traditional and locally grown vine-ripe tomatoes, monster zucchini, string beans, eggplants, and mounds of sweet corn. In other cases some farmers have begun importing strawberries weeks before they’re actually available on Long Island from places like Pennsylvania. Adding to their bottom line as peak demand for their traditional products has ebbed in recent decades with the increase in two-income families often meaning less family meals spent together and thus less call for fresh, local vegetables. ...

Photo credit: Trevor D.

In just a few short decades, we have depleted our water supply. In the eastern states, which once had an abundance of water, bitter disputes and legal battles have become commonplace over water shortages caused by overappropriation. In the western states, where water has always been in short supply, population growth in dry areas has led to water shortages that threaten to severely restrict or perhaps even bar further growth. It could well be that burgeoning western cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Diego, and even Los Angeles and San Francisco may begin to experience population declines when what is now a search for new sources of water becomes an absolute lack. And predicted shortages of water in California's Central Valley, combined with the current water depletion in the High Plains, could bring to a halt in the productivity in two of the most productive agricultural areas in the United States." —Ken Midkiff, Not a Drop to Drink: America's Water Crisis (And What You Can Do) (2007, New World Library) ...

Whoops. The other day when we mentioned the upcoming tome Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, we cited a few other green fashion publications, but forgot to make mention of the Fashioning Sustainability 2007 Report compiled by the Forum For The Future (and supported by Marks and Spencer). That was a large oversight, because this free PDF download is 14 pages packed with succinct, yet interesting, information on the rag trade. It delves into eight specific aspects on the textile industry: fashion consumption, cotton production, supply chain working conditions, energy consumption of laundering clothes, chemicals, non-degradable man-made fibres, ‘Fashion Miles and finally, animal welfare. They tackle one of the often forgotten aspects of green apparel, noted here once or twice, even thrice before. That the ‘use’ phase of clothing (laundering, etc) accounts for at least 65% of its total energy load, while its actual material ranks as only 16%. Put another way, typical laundering of a 250g cotton t-shirt generates the equivalent of 4kg of CO2 emissions. And notes that "eliminating tumble drying and ironing, in combination with the lower wash temperature, leads to around 50% reduction in the climate change impact of a piece of clothing.” (So just reading care labels before buying, and selecting those garments with the least intensive laundering qualifies us as green fashionistas.)...

Yesterday we reported that a VW had lasted 562,000 miles. We were impressed at the cars durability, and how small the production footprint of the car was in relation to the number of miles it had driven. We didn't realise though, that half a million miles is nothing for some people. We've since uncovered a Volvo driver who has done five times this much. Irv Gordon's Volvo P1800 has covered a massive 2.45 million miles in the forty years he has owned it. "It was far and away the best $4,150 I've ever spent," said Gordon....

Chez Panisse is the ultimate foodie heaven; a restaurant where most of us would be lucky to get a reservation, never mind afford it. Its founder, Alice Waters, opened this organic paradise of a restaurant 35 years ago, at a time when eating organic and locally-grown food was strictly for hippies. Having always cooked for friends, she decided to try and make some money out of her skills by serving food cooked with freshly grown produce and presented in a set menu format (unheard of in America at the time). Initially she went to specialty producers for ingredients because most of the standard suppliers didn't grow what she wanted. Back then, she had a food forager as a member of staff who would find berries and wild leaves. "We used to pick from people's gardens, and from the roadside, and then over the years we started meeting organic local producers and that's how it all started" she said. She believes that "85% of an ingredient's flavour happens before it even reaches the kitchen". To this day she serves a pizza with wild nettles. Her new crusade is "ecogastronomy", a progamme to educate school children about what they eat. For the last 12 years the restaurant has funded a local school so that it could have an edible food garden where the children grow, cook, learn and eat. As she says "It's about re-connecting to nature, about behavioural patterns and about teaching children the importance of eating well and taking care of the land and themselves." As a result of her lifelong dedication, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent World's 50 Best Restaurants awards. :: Guardian...

Photo credit: Graham I. via Flickr. (This is a post from the TH City Series. Find the rest here) Ever since the 2001 economic crash, Buenos Aires has been blooming as one of the most exciting cities in the continent. Often talked about as South America’s “little Paris”, Argentina’s capital has the perfect mix of Latin and European flavors and a cultural offer that matches those of the most developed cities in the world. Did you know, for example, that it holds more than 140 private and public museums (Wikipedia)? Or that the number of theaters in the city is one of the highest in the world? With a population of over three million and thirteen million counting the suburbs, this is also one of the biggest cities in South America. And even though Argentina is held responsible for some major eco-disasters (like the contamination in Rio de la Plata and the Matanza Riachuelo), in the last years the city has also seen develop many green designers, some green design events, and even recycling initiatives from the government. That's why we'd love that all of you Buenos Aires treehuggers told us about this amazing place. ...

We were surprised to see this covered in Forbes Magazine, an information source for big investors. "As the nation's coal-fired power plants work to create cleaner skies, they'll likely fill up landfills with millions more tons of potentially harmful ash. More than one-third of the ash generated at the country's hundreds of coal-fired plants is now recycled - mixed with cement to build highways or used to stabilize embankments, among other things." "But in a process being used increasingly across the nation, chemicals are injected into plants' emissions to capture airborne pollutants. That, in turn, changes the composition of the ash and cuts its usefulness. It can't be used in cement, for example, because the interaction of the chemicals may keep the concrete from hardening." ...

Researchers at Purdue University (they always provide the best pictures) have refined a technique using aluminum gallium alloy (80% aluminum, 20% gallium), to wrestle hydrogen from water. The liberated hydrogen can be used on-site in a combustion engine, or even better, in a fuel cell. The advantage of this technology is that it removes the complications related to storing hydrogen as a gas, instead you simply add water. The research, conducted by Jerry Woodall, Charles Allen and Jeffrey Ziebarthare, will be presented on Sept. 7 during the 2nd Energy Nano-technology International Conference in Santa Clara, California.

"It's a simple matter to convert ordinary internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen. All you have to do is replace the gasoline fuel injector with a hydrogen injector," Woodall said.

...

Finally, fun & sexy eco design is available not just in New York and London but has made it to Barcelona. Damaris & Marc are the two local designers who create and produce their designs themselves, to make sure the materials they use are as sustainable as possible. To do so, the designers use a mix of technology and craft which results in beautifully made objects for the home. All products are produced locally in their workshops in Barcelona. To underline their responsibility as designers towards the planet, parts of their profits go towards humanitarian projects. Every time a significant amount has been set aside, the two designers personally take it to a chosen project. For the next one they'll be heading to an orphanage/hospital in Mongolia with which they'd like to collaborate. Their motto is '"Qui no s'arrisca no pisca" (who doesn't dare, doesn't win). Damaris & Marc believe in observing the world and acting personally rather than passing the responsibility to others, says Damaris....

One of the first-prize winners of our TreeHugger/Popular Science/Instructables Go Green contest, this gadgetry wizard shows you how to rig up your bicycle to create a human-powered generator. His instructions are fairly detailed and incredibly involved—we won't pretend to understand all the mechanics involved—but now we want to make one for everyone we know for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Here's the cost breakdown of the entire setup, illustrated below the fold: Alternator = $89 (new); $15 (used at junkyard) Bike Stand = $90 (new); $15 (on Craigslist) AC Inverter= $60 2 Farad Cap = $50 Wiring and enclosure Hardware= $100 ::::Instructables...

New from the Body Shop: a passion-fruit-scented lip-treatment gloss ($11.50) for smearing on your kisser, featuring fair-trade marula oil from Eudafano Women's cooperative in Namibia. Sporting a translucent pale pink shade with a hint of glitter, this intensely moisturizing gloss supports self-sufficiency in women living in marginalized rural communities, as decadent and ironic it may sound when makeup is juxtaposed with poverty. And as far as cause-related marketing goes, the company's largesses is significant—The Body Shop will donate at least 75 percent of the proceeds of the gloss to the Face to Face program, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgery initiative that provides free care to people who suffer from facial deformities caused by birth or trauma. (The latter includes victims of domestic violence.) One obvious caveat, besides the fact you'd need a biochemistry degree to identify most of the ingredients, is the lurking presence of propylparabens, a common cosmetics preservative that has been linked to the development of breast cancer and urogenital abnormalities. Always erring on the side of caution, TreeHugger exhorts its female readers (or male, if you swing that way) to think before you pink. ::The Body Shop...

Tara Jon Manning, Zen queen of compassionate and mindful knitting, shows us why we should use yarns as soft and pure as the little tykes who'll be wearing them in Nature Babies ($27.50, 2006, Potter Craft), a guide to knitting for moms, babies, and a better world using organic and all-natural, buttery soft yarns. Whether it's cozies for baby bottles (which baby wants a cold bottle? Manning asks), a luxurious nursing shawl for mama, or play cubes and silly hats made from recycled felt, you'll find precious heirloom pieces that will introduce your child to lovingly crafted, non-disposable goods created in rhythm with the planet, without toxic pesticides, polluting chemical dyes, or synthetic extras. After all, do you want the unspeakable horror of Monsanto lurking around the nursery? We sure don't. Another picture below the fold. ::Nature Babies See also: ::How to Green Your Baby...

Maybe we have finally found a positive result of urban sprawl. When population flight left the urban cores of many mid-sized U.S. cities empty, good housing stock, central location, and access to jobs and transportation remained in these old urban communities. Thankfully, a trend is in place to not only bring people back to these areas, but to do it with urban sustainability in mind - urban ecovillages. Now, we have covered ecovillage concepts before (read more here and here), but these ecovillages are usually in more rural or even suburban landscapes. Urban ecovillages are able to focus these same eco-principals into city neighborhoods to bring like-minded urbanists together. Here in Ohio, urban ecovillages in Cleveland and Cincinnati, cities notoriously affected by sprawl, are leading the way. ...

Junk food: enemy of your thighs, now enemy of your pocketbook. Is anyone surprised that 100-calorie portions of Chex Mix and Keebler Deluxe Cookies cost three-and-a-half times more per ounce than their regular-size brethern? Or that snack-portioned Cheese Nips cost nearly four times as much? The extra convenience—and unnecessarily wasteful packaging—costs extra money, says a new study from the Center for Science in Public Interest. ABC News notes that if you buy a large bag of the regular Chex Mix snack and divvy up portions equal to 100 calories each, you'd only be out 25 cents per portion, compared with 87 cents if you went with a 100-calorie pack. Each 100-calorie portion of Keebler Chips Deluxe Family Size Cookies cost 16 cents, but a prepackaged snack would cost you 40 cents extra....

Edward Burtynsky David Roberts of Grist says

"Coal is the Enemy of the Human Race. “Coal is filthy. It destroys ecosystems to dig it up. It kills the people who work around it. Coal plants throw particulates in the air and causes respiratory ailments. They throw mercury in the water and causes birth defects. They throw CO2 into the atmosphere and causes global warming. The coal industry corrupts the political process. It lies to the public about global warming, and mine safety, and coal reserves, and everything else. It leeches money and opportunity out of the states where it is based.”

Jeff Goodell, who wrote Big Coal: The Dirty Secrets Behind America's Energy Future. (reviewed on TreeHugger here) comes out strongly in the wake of the Crandall Canyon disaster to shovel more reasons why coal is such a disaster.

Many Americans think that coal went out with top hats and corsets. In fact, we burn more than a billion tons of coal each year in the United States -- about 20 pounds a day for every man, woman and child.

He goes on to demolish all of the myths: that it can be clean, safe, and that there is lots of it. Important reading in ::The Washington Post ...

If you have five minutes and some dinged CD cases—and we'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't—you can make a yourself a mini dry-erase board. Stick 'em on the back of the car to entertain fidgety kiddies, on the fridge to remind your roommate not to eat your food, or by the phone to note down messages. Or you could Voltronize several CD cases to make a bigger board or even line them on an entire wall. The possibilities, they are endless. ::Instructables [Via Lifehacker]...

Things are rocking over at TreeHugger Forums; here are some of the recent highlights...

	1) Forums user Teresa is looking to find the greenest option between acrylic and cast iron when it comes to replacing a bathtub "Which has less embodied energy and which is less toxic for health, an acrylic tub or a cast iron tub? I have done a lot of thinking and looking around for info and have decided that cast iron beats acrylic by a little bit." Fiberglass and stainless steel enter the conversation as well; what do you think?
	2) User ed has a big question: are ultra-capacitors good or bad? There's a poll to help flesh out everyone's opinion, but here's the issue: "Ultra-capacitors, may significantly alleviate global energy concerns, improve the environment, and stimulate the economy. Ultra-capacitors, will put a lot of people out of work," by doing away with the need for big things like gas, batteries, motors, etc. Wowsers, lots of implications here...
	3) Lastly, user zissou319 is looking for a new day planner: I would like a weekly planner that has a two week layout preferably layed out on two pages. It also needs to be an academic planner meaning it begins and ends in the Summer (since having one that began in January 2007 and ended in December would only do me for half the school year). Anyone who knows some good green resources for back to school, let's hear from you.

Round-ups of the best conversations in TreeHugger Forums appear several times a week here at TreeHugger; register for free and login to become part of the conversation for a greener future today....

Take Out is a storage solution/furniture whose name reveals its function: each of the drawers is a portable briefcase that you can just pull out and take with you. It'd be especially useful for things that you can use all over the place, like toys and tools. The idea makes a lot of sense; you don't need a chest of drawers when you're out and about, and you don't need portable briefcases when you're home. We aren't crazy about the materials -- the outer shell is made from MDF and the briefcases are plastic -- but the idea is solid and green on its own, and materials would be easy to modify. Below the fold: a picture of the piece in action. ::Klaus Aalto via ::Freshome...

Dan Porras is Vice President of Sustainability at Better Energy Systems, makers of the hugely popular Solio solar charger which we have reported on here, here and here. In this interview Dan discusses the core appeal of Solio, its role as a ‘trojan horse’ for renewable energy, and he gives his views on why Solio really is more than just a gimmick for ‘green consumerism’. He also reveals a little more about the next products that Better Energy Systems are working on, and he gives us his thoughts on what every TreeHugger can do to speed the transition to a society based on clean, green energy. TreeHugger: There is no doubt that Solio has been a hugely popular product - what do you think is its core appeal? Dan Porras: I think it’s empowering to hold a piece of clean technology in your hand. In a small but tangible way, Solio frees you from the grid, reduces your footprint, and says something optimistic about the future. Mostly, people like Solio because it’s practical. But I also like to think that people who buy the product are making a sort of declaration to do something positive. ...

"Rentalism" is the new consumption. I just made that word up because I think rental is on the tip of a rebirth. Now's surely the time not to be burdend by the ownership of stuff that costs money, takes up space and wastes planetary resources, but to enter the new marketplace of shared use and rentinn. A while ago I wrote an article about renting things, sharing things and falling in love. I profiled a German site called Erento, which is basically an enabler for renting. It pairs borrowers with renters. Well, here’s a sneak preview of a similar site that is launching in the U.S. this coming fall (early September). It is called irent2u.com and it aims to create a single “Online Rental Marketplace” where anyone can rent anything from anyone. It will “change the face of commerce as you know it” and “get more from what you already have”. I like the sound of it. As it says, “Mankind is faced with virtually limitless wants yet only limited resources. We satisfy these desires by purchasing all we can afford yet in the process create tremendous waste and lose untold value. Everyday trillions of dollars in useful assets sit unused all across the world. People own large quantities of items they hardly ever use while others are forced to go without”. The site lists a few: drills, barbeques, or extra vehicles, which sometimes only get used once or twice a year. ...

Now this is what we call recycling: the series of Vespa lamps could be cause for celebration from scooter fans, recycling aficionados and anyone who thinks zipping through the streets of Milan on a bicycle you don't have to pedal sounds like fun. Created by Italy's Lamponi Lamps, these vintage-inspired lamps recall a different time and place, where sipping Chianti and eating prosciutto are as common as driving down the street; if you're still drooling over the Vespa hybrid and have already entered the video contest, perhaps this lamp is for you; hit the jump for another pic. ::Lamponi Lamps via ::Produce Dose...

A new fuel cell design that would convert methanol into hydrogen could provide 50 hours' worth of juice to laptops and other portable electronics. The compact device — unveiled by Ronald Besser, a professor of chemical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, at a recent American Chemical Society meeting — could be instantly recharged by swapping in a fuel pack. The model he proposed assembles the various processing steps into concentric tubes that would create a cylindrical design in which heat from a central combustor could spread in all directions — greatly facilitating the required reactions. Aerogels incorporated into each layer would keep the tubes at the optimal temperature, and the use of advanced plastics to make them would help reduce costs. The fuel processor would be 4.8 cm in diameter and 10 cm long. Although the fuel cell and fuel storage could add on an extra 20 cm of length, Besser thinks the processor would still be small enough to fit in a laptop....

Wired News chats with environmental economist Paul Hawken about his latest book, how PBS is turning another into a 17-part TV series, and how he is organizing the environmental movement through a collection of wikis. We've excerpted some choice bits. On defending Rachel Carson: WN: Can you say more about Carson? The reaction to 1962's Silent Spring set the stage for how multinationals react to environmental and social justice issues today. Hawken: Rachel Carson was the first person who used science and nature as a basis to question the rights of business. You almost have to say it again to get the meaning. She did not do it overtly, but in elucidating the persistent long-term damage of a new family of pesticides made from chlorinated hydrocarbons, she questioned the assumption that business has greater rights than the environment. When business realized how responsive the public was to her logic, they went after her with extraordinary vengeance, perfecting techniques that are used to this day, like greenwashing—the creation of industry front groups funded by corporations, the use of paid scientists to attack academic scientists, the manipulation of the media to sow doubt in people’s minds about complex issues. The person behind the defaming of Rachel Carson, E. Bruce Harrison, was the same person who helped create the Global Climate Coalition, a so-called nonprofit funded by Chevron, Exxon, General Motors, the American Petroleum Institute and other companies. Its purpose was to undermine the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and any other legislation or policy that would limit greenhouse gas emissions. ...

Design, whether in the form of fashion, architecture or other discipline, is essential to achieving greater sustainability. Clothing is important not only in terms of its enormous environmental and social impact, but also as a daily reminder of the choices we make.” —Peter Nicholson, Foresight Design Initiative ...

Two years after Katrina, New Orleans is still struggling to revive itself. The Daily Green looks into the devastation that still pervades… SolFest rocks “the greenest show on Earth.” Eco Libris tracked down Stephen Morris for a discussion of green publishing… Labor Day is almost here, which means it’s time for some green tailgate partying. Wind up the radio, pour the beer, and make the most of it… Over at the Daily Green, Starre Vartan proves that this season’s eco fashion choices are more abundant then ever… Carbon trading is hailed as a market mechanism to halt global warming. Celsias examines a new report that sees more problems than promise… Hugg 2.0 is in effect and hotter than ever. Most Huggable is a daily roundup of some of the top stories. Why not submit your own green news?...

And it looks very cool and interesting. Architects Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen appear to have pulled off a good looking, green and affordable house. “While many of the smart design solutions will be invisible when the home is completed, the green materials we are showing today save homeowners money on their utility bills, improve the health of the residents -- by protecting against mold and poor indoor air quality -- and reduce environmental impact,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA. “If 50,000 homes were rebuilt to just half the standards used in this home, residents would save up to $56 million and reduce global warming pollution by 550,000 tons each year.”...

We're still not sure what Gianfranco Zaccai, CEO of the design consultancy that brought us the Swiffer, was smoking when he called P&G's best-selling (and admittedly revolutionary) cleaning system "eco-friendly." We're stumped: Was Zaccai referring to the toxic chemicals or the prodigious waste? We scoured the Internet landscape to find the best ways of fulfilling Zaccai's sustainable dream, so you can haul your pre-green Swiffer dust mop out of retirement and back into action picking up cat hair and errant dust motes. And here's the kicker: You can kiss one-use disposables and poisonous ickiness goodbye for good....

Based on the idea that we can all do something to help solve the climate crisis -- and that there isn't anything that can't be done in a more eco-friendly, less greenhouse gas-emitting way -- this sample entry to Current TV's :60 Seconds to Save the Earth video contest hops the pond to take a peek under the hood at Europe's first solar-powered recording studio. Powered by 18 photovoltaic panels, the studio is racking up the energy, money savings and greenhouse gas emission savings while still cranking out the tunes. Remember, you have until September 12 to upload your very own video entry; if Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Orlando Bloom, Rihanna and the other judges like it enough, it could air on Current and you could win one of a handful of prizes, including a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Click on over to Current to learn more, and see more sample videos here, here and here on TreeHugger and here on Current. Good luck! ::Current TV's :60 Seconds to Save the Earth Ecospot Contest...

The EPA — seemingly defying both common sense and safety concerns — recently issued an analysis concluding that the risks to human health and the environment posed by oil refinery emissions were low enough to warrant no further regulations. As an alternative to eliminating controls to "manage" the toxic emissions spewed by refineries, the agency has proposed requiring additional emissions reductions for certain storage vessels and wastewater treatment units. This, it predicts, could enable refineries to reduce emissions by 1,000-4,600 tons per year from 153 facilities — saving them up to $4 million annually in the process. In doing so, however, the EPA would be flouting a crucial requirement of the Clean Air Act — a law it itself enacted over 4 decades ago. "The EPA is officially proposing to ignore acknowledged risk levels that are 70 times higher than allowed by law," said John Walke, Clean Air Program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Under the law's provision, the agency is supposed to first verify whether the first round of MACT (maximum achievable control technology) standards sufficiently reduces lifetime cancer risks from refinery pollution to less than 1-in-1 million. ...

I like Al Gore and think that probably most TreeHugger readers do. Yet I get a constant stream of comments criticizing him, using the same tired arguments about the size of his house or the distance he travels, often on unrelated posts. The latest :

It is easy when you are rich to be "Carbon Neutral". Take our esteamed friend AL Gore as your example. Yes he flies around in a private jet telling all of us little people to walk and what ever else is in his little speach. Then in order to stay carbon neutral, he buys carbon offsets from a company that he owns. You see it is easy, and you can get ignorant people to hail you as a hero at the same time. It is quite the ego builder.

TreeHugger filters comments for obscenity or spam, but otherwise usually publishes what people write. But I am tired of Gore bashing like this and don't want to give it bandwidth any more.

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This week is Carnival of the Green # 92 and it's being hosted by Greener Magazine! 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 only 10 dates left!), please click here to link to our previous post....

With the countdown to America’s Next Top Young Scientist continuing in earnest, it’s become apparent that the winner of the Discovery Channel’s Young Scientist Challenge, the nation’s leading science contest for students in grades 5-8, will be a green one this year… Of course, there are currently 400 middle school students from 44 states who’ve qualified as semi-finalists, but that list expects to narrow significantly on September 12th to just 40 of them who will qualify to make a trip to Washington, D.C. from October 21-24 with their parents to tackle some of the Planet’s most pressing environmental concerns. That’s because this year’s challenge focuses on issues such as climate change, global warming and eco-friendly initiatives such as recycling and green building design as well. Finalists will be competing not only for the title of America's Next Top Young Scientist, but also for their share of the more than $100,000 in scholarship prize money up for grabs. With some of the finest and most inquisitive young scientists in the country present there’s sure to be some great green stuff going down during the final challenge as well… Who knows, maybe a middle school wunderkind can come up with a fascinating new idea to help slow global warming or tackle another pressing issue? It's really not so far-fetched an idea when you consider the fact that a 17 year-old just recently cracked the code to untether the iPhone from AT&T. And that’s precisely the beauty of encouraging kids to have an open and scientifically questioning mind… Anything’s possible, even in the face of some of the most difficult challenges of our time. Via:: Press Release, CNN Full Disclosure: Treehugger.com is a subsidiary of Discovery Communications. ...

Once or twice a summer we hit the laundromat in Huntsville, Ontario; between the wash and spin cycles I wander over the bridge to the Bookcase, one of the loveliest bookstores I have seen anywhere. Selection is limited but every book in the joint is chosen with intelligence and care. I have never failed to find something wonderful about the environment, food or politics; last year Peter Singer; this year, Eugene Linden's The Winds of Change. Karl Marx said “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Linden looks at climate change from an historical perspective and demonstrates that from early Mesopotamia through the Mayan empire through India during the Raj, climate changes have ignited dramatic and powerful societal and political changes. He suggests that without the onset of the little ice age, all of us in North America would be speaking Norwegian....

The Russians placing a flag on the bottom at the north pole is not the big deal; the real battle for the resources of the north may well be between the United States and Canada. Mackenzie Funk writes a long and thoughtful article about oil in the Arctic in the September issue of Harpers Magazine. Most think there is not going to be much of a fight; Canadians are a practical people that roll over pretty consistently in the face of American interests. (not joining the “coalition of the willing” was a rare exception.) Because of NAFTA Canadians can't decide to keep our oil for ourselves, but are obligated to sell as much as America wants. Canada is the biggest supplier of oil and pipes in 85% of natural gas burned in the States. Yet Americans just don't think that much about Canada and Canadians don't give it much reason to; Funk quotes a contest to find Canada's version of the expression “As American as apple pie”- the winner was “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances”....

whiting%20refinery%2C%20NYT%2C%20Justin%20Steele.jpg

Yesterday we commented about The Chicago Sun Times taking an editorial position in favor of a BP fuel boycott in the Chicago, Illinois area, offered in response to more liberal wastewater discharge permit conditions, granted by neighboring Indiana to a BP refinery. The boycott-BP stance seems a metaphor for broader changes now being seen in the national political atmosphere, with the management of shared environmental resources getting serious attention and urban newspapers wanting the green, urban demographic to take a bite of their subscription services. That's us TreeHuggers. What a lovely scene now unfolds before us: managing editors of big city papers pressuring reporters to take a pro-business slant, while subscription managers beg for stories that actual customers want to read about, that align with their green values. Gotta love that free market. Back to the permits thing. The "challenge and response" scenario begun a few months ago, when the State of Indiana issued an expanded Lake Michigan wastewater discharge permit (see early posts here and also here). Since then, responses and further challenges have flared, back, and forth, across state lines. ...

For at least 3700 years, since the code of Hammurabi, builders of houses have had building codes, a government minimum standard intended to protect the health and safety of its citizens. Possibly in all that time, the majority of builders have considered it the maximum as well- don’t do any more or build any better than you have to. Through the energy crises of the 70's to today, energy efficiency standards kept going up, but the amount of energy used in a house went up faster because they just keep getting larger.The average post-war 1950’s house was 983 square feet; by 1970 it was 1500 SF; last year it was 2350. Encouraging smaller homes, like smaller cars, would save a lot of energy, but codes applies the same standard across the board. Just as conservation is a resource, everything we use in housing has embodied energy, a carbon footprint and an operating cost; we have to treat them all as resources where we can mine savings of energy and greenhouse gases. ...

Personal data storage meets personal accoutrement with this heart-shape Swarovski-crystal-encrusted pendant—part of a new line by Philips and Swarovski known as Active Crystals. Not mere ornamentation, this necklace hides a password-protected USB flash drive with 1GB of memory, enough space for 1,000 photos or 250 songs. One the plus side: You get a twofer that you are less likely to lose; also, Swarovski crystals are essentially glass, albeit glass treated with lead oxide. On the other hand, something about this is just a leetle much, or are we just turning into fuddy-duddies in our dotage? ::Philips Swarovski [via ThisNext]...

We’ve covered the awesome work of the London-based Bioregional Development Group many times before, including their One Planet Living initiatives, and their pioneering housing development BedZED. We’ve even interviewed the founders of the group, Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone. However, so far we have focussed very much on the organization's work with housing, yet it’s less well known that the group has also developed imaginative and effective solutions for radically greener ways of doing things in a whole range of other industries. Their paper recycling operation, The Laundry, is just one of these schemes that both increases the uptake of paper recycling considerably and greatly reduces the emissions involved in the recycling process at the same time. The idea is part great marketing, and part intelligent planning. Participants in the scheme can leave their ‘dirty laundry’ (i.e. waste paper) out in blue laundry bags, which are picked up and ‘cleaned’ – i.e. the waste paper is taken away, and fresh, 100% recycled paper is delivered in its place. This already tackles one major problem with traditional recycling – i.e. if nobody buys recycled products, there’s nowhere for the waste to go. It doesn’t end there though… ...

The brown stuff has hit the spinning thing. Australia’s largest supermarket chain has been caught with its pants down over labelling claims that its own branded loo paper is environmentally beneficial. Turns out that Woolworths Select toilet paper is sourced via Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world's largest pulp producers, whom the Indonesia's Centre for International Forestry Research recently reported rely on the clearing of natural forests in Sumatra for 60 to 70% of their wood supply. Woolies have said that APP were due to be accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) within a matter of weeks. Which is kinda odd, because one of FSC’s on-the-ground affiliates, the Rainforest Alliance’s Smartwood program, “terminated its relationship with APP in February this year, stating that the company had not demonstrated a comprehensive, consistent or dedicated approach toward conservation management necessary to maintain or enhance the forest ecosystems.” ...

Two years ago San Francisco artists put two hours worth of money in the meter and set up an instant park. It got a lot of coverage; last year they occupied Mayor Newsom's spot and activists in other cities joined in; I like London's the ping pong Park, shown above . Now it is beyond an artistic intervention; it has turned into a movement and a holiday, September 21. This year the Trust for Public Land has organized parks in 12 American cities, and worldwide, Paris, Toronto, Barcelona, Munich, Valencia (Spain), Melbourne are participating. The mission:

To rethink the way streets are used, call attention to the need for urban parks, and improve the quality of urban human habitat....at least until the meter runs out!

From art to an international movement in just two years; Congratulations to REBAR for inventing ::PARK(ing) Day...

"Lemon tree, very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat..." Now there is an old folk song which under-estimates the virtues of this beautiful fruit. Most are grown in California, so they aren't local for all treehuggers, but the many uses of this humble fruit are worth noting. From fighting colds to cleaning your feet, the lemon is versatile and environmentally friendly. Here we go with some handy tips. Highlight your hair--it's better for you and the environment than using commercial bleaches. Clean your feet--by mixing lemon pulp and brown sugar. Gargle with the juice to get rid of bad breath. To fight off a cold--mix it with honey and water for an extra dose of vitamin C. Put it on a bee sting to lessen the pain. Put half a lemon in the dishwasher to make it smell fresher and cut grease. Remove scale from taps by rubbing it over stainless steel drainboards and taps. And despite the song's warning--make homemade lemonade; a delicious summer drink without any chemical additives. :: ecostreet Via :: Hippyshopper...

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is developing a hybrid car driven by hydrogen fuel cells and electric batteries, which would be the first of its kind in the country, the Heraldo de Tabasco informed. “This is the only technology one hundred per cent clean in the world, as it doesn’t create any kind of contaminant gases; and there are not cars with it available at commercial level yet (in Mexico)”, the coordinator for the Major in Technology of the Industrial Design career, Gerardo Mauricio Arzate Perez, informed the newspaper. It is fair to point that even though hydrogen fuel cells do generate fewer emissions, the production of the hydrogen creates additional ones, since it usually uses fossil fuels. It is still a promising technology, so we give the project credit for encouraging it. Going back to the vehicle, besides the fuel cells it will have eight electric batteries (to provide the energy to start its engine and give extra power when required), which are planned to be nickel metal hydride ones, which have better life-cycle than others used in regular hybrid cars in Mexico (lead-acid ones). The designers calculate autonomy of 300 kilometers with a hydrogen charge and an average speed of 70 to 80 kilometers an hour. Even though the model is not finished, Arzate Perez stated the project is at 65% and could be complete next year. The designers are aiming for a multi-functional car that can be adapted to different uses with accessories. The vehicle’s aesthetics is inspired in a puma, the university’s pet. ::Original story (in Spanish)....

How can we protect delicate coral habitat while still letting divers marvel at the underwater rainforest of life? Israeli scientist Dr. Nadav Shashar from Ben Gurion University sent us this YouTube video of a new project he is working on with Jordanian scientists: An artificial coral reef in the Red Sea. Known for some of the best diving in the world, the Red Sea is suffering unprecedented abuse in recent years due to pollution from fish farming, human factors and the change in water temperature due to global warming. By building an artificial reef out of netting and concrete, reports Al Jazeera, scientists hope to be able to attract divers to this new underwater habitat while leaving the natural coral intact to regenerate and repair. We can also imagine it is a perfect underwater experiment for preserving species diversity. TreeHugger related: Artificial Coral & Side-effects for Corals ::YouTube...

Photo: www.jeffwignall.com Like a breath mint for a smokestack, algae can harness carbon dioxide from pools of water before the pollutants of power plants and factories are coughed into the atmosphere. And algae are doubly useful for greening our planet: The slimy green stuff that we scrape off our fish tanks is a hot candidate for a new biofuel, ISRAEL21c reports. The Israeli-based company Seambiotic partnered two years ago with a local power plant to prove their concept. And while we are hearing mixed signals on the successes of the US-based algal company GreenFuel, the Israeli company believes it is leagues ahead of its competitor in terms of R&D. One of the reasons, the company explains, is modest use of research dollars and a creative approach. ...

Green cars are officially sexy. No longer are they small, ugly, plodding electric commuters - they're speedy, exciting, desirable sports cars. Inhabitat has compliled a list of the 5 sexiest models, which makes for an interesting read. Unfortunately for you though, 5th and 3rd place are only concept cars, 2nd place isn't in production, and 4th place is only produced at a rate of 25 per year. We thought we'd have our own say too, and have compiled our own list of the top 10 sexiest green cars. Read it after the jump. ::Inhabitat ...

Nicholas Hayek is the CEO of Swatch, the company behind hundreds of funky and unique watch designs. He is also one of the brains behind the Smart car, which ended up being produced in cooperation by DaimlerBenz and Swatch. He has also recently announecd that he is dreaming up a new model of car, which will hopefully make as big a splash as the Smart has. He explains that it will be a fuel-cell car, designed with efficiency in mind, "I want to do whatever I can to accelerate the development of alternative and renewable technologies. Switzerland is going very slowly on this path, as the rest of the world."...

A ship called the New Flame is stranded off Gibraltar after an accident, and is soon going to be deliberately sunk. Efforts to remove all existing fuel from the ship have thankfully succeeded, but the ship's cargo is the next biggest worry. It is thought that at the time of the accident, the New Flame was loaded with many tonnes of old exhaust pipes, which may date back to lead-gasoline use. As well as this potential lead contamination, there is a worry about the other heavy metals that are contained in exhaust pipes. Environmental groups are asking for the official cargo list to be released, so that the situation can be assessed more accurately. The ship is resting in the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. If there is any pollution leakage, then it could easily reach the shores of North Africa or Southern Europe. ::Auto Blog Green...

Who says that blogs don't break news? Auto Blog Green are claiming that the latest Hummer adverts are claiming mileage figures that just aren't true. Not in the sense that they're innacurate, as all mileage claims now are, but that they're using figures from an old model which just aren't true for the new model....

Who would have thought that a wind turbine could be so much fun? This kit from Tamiya and Loopwing lets you charge up a capacitor and power an electric toy car. It comes in kit form, and once you've assemble it you can put the turbine outside to start charging. It only takes 5 minutes of exposure to light wind to generate enough power to run the car for 3.5 hours. At only $30 this is a brilliant way to get children excited about sustainable power, and is cheap enough to be used in schools as an educational tool. Perhaps one day they will bring out a kit that you can park a plug-in Prius on top of overnight. ::Tokyo Mango...

Syl Schmid has been driving his VW Jetta for 21 years, and has managed to put 562,000 miles on the clock. That's a rather high average of 26,762 miles a year, but Schmid says he reguarly got over 50 mpg. Keeping a car in good condition like this, and getting this sort of usage is probably the greenest sort of motoring you can do. The energy cost of producing the car has been spread over so many miles that it represents a very low footprint per mile....

Having already successfully invaded New Zealand and large regions of the American West and South, the "rock snot" — an algae that resembles a "clump of soiled sheep's wool" — is now setting its sights on completing its invasion of New England's waterways. Just over the last decade, Didymosphenia geminata has appeared in river bottoms and on rocks throughout California, Washington, Alaska, Wyoming and several other states and has so far shown no signs of weakening. Similarly to most invasive algae, "rock snot" has the potential to bloom in thick masses and fully blanket the bottoms of streams — threatening the ability of other aquatic species to survive by smothering all possible food sources. According to biologists who've studied it, there are no easy ways to eliminate it: the only solution is hindering its spread — a tall task when one considers that a single cell is enough to facilitate its transfer to other waters. Local and national authorities are most concerned about the potential effects the algae could exert on New England's fish populations. "Once you remove (insects), young fish don't have anything to eat. Growth is slowed at best, and at worst they could starve to death," said David Deen, a Vermont lawmaker. ...

Coffee grounds are a natural deodorizer you can between rub your hands to get rid of the pong of garlic, onions, or fish after you're through preparing the nosh. If a handful of squelchy java mush proves too icky, try North Branch's mocha brownie soap. Made from fair-trade coffee grounds, organic cocoa powder, vanilla-infused oils, hemp oil, and olive oil by a small family business up in the Adirondacks, this soap is perfect for mechanics, gardeners, and chefs. Comes unwrapped, farmers'-market style to eliminate waste. ::Etsy...

Imagine a world without traffic congestion, where cars could drive themselves and where humans, equipped with "clever clothes," could take flight at a moment's notice. A new book on the future of transport by two New Zealand professors, Chris Kissling and John Tiffin, envisions just such a world — where nanotechnology, satellite communications and computer chips come together to create a world devoid of fossil fuel dependency, congestion and the threat of global warming. At the same time, it raises concerns about a "Big Brother" surveillance society and a potential "obesity time bomb" sparked by various technologies assuming all our daily tasks. Transport Communications reveals a future society growing ever more dependent on global positioning systems, small computers and nanotechnology — which could fulfill a range of functions, including the tracking of crowds through public transport hubs or the remote guidance of cars, planes and ships. "[We're] trying to help people look into the future: what changes are coming, because more of the same, we think, is limited," said Kissling, who expects most of these changes to occur within the next half-century. ...

Months after it's nearest competitor, The Chicago Tribune, began its investigative reporting series on the BP wastewater story, the Chicago Sun Times, a paper not exactly known for pro-environmental regulatory stances has suggested a 'boycott BP' effort to get the company's attention. Talk about a flip in editorial profile (as pictured intentionally). A sure sign that 'the times, they are a changing.' "If BP insists on dumping more pollutants into our lake, it's time for us to stop pumping its gas into our tanks. We're calling for an all-out boycott of BP gas. Maybe then, BP will realize that hollow promises aren't good enough for customers. Maybe then, they'll be ready "to commit" to keeping Lake Michigan clean." "At this point, the only clear message BP is sending is that it wants to have its cake and eat it too. BP executives want their company to be known as the greenest -- as suggested by its logo, meant to resemble a sunflower and show its commitment to the environment. But they also want to dump in our lakes. They can't have it both ways..." We remind those readers who feel puzzled over what the flap is about that serious issues are at stake. One is precedent. Another is that more ammonia means more blue green algae in the drinking water supply of Chicago. Just as importantly, sludge (what some papers have called it) or "suspended solids" - a parameter in the disputed BP discharge permit - is a surrogate indicator for whatever other metals and organics constitute those "solids". The real concerns, then, are what's in those solids: heavy metals like mercury, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, and oxygen demand, for examples. In other words, its not just mud, it's crud. The elephant in the room that no one is talking about: BP is a foreign-owned company. If a foreign citizen talked about dumping ammonia in Lake Michigan, near Chicago's drinking water intake, and was overheard by a Transportation Security Administration employee.... You know how that would go. Via:: Chicago Sun Times, Editorial Page Image credit:: SadBastards...

Drawing the metaphor of the early attempts to fly. The man going off of a very high cliff in his airplane, with the wings flapping, and the guys flapping the wings and the wind is in his face, and this poor fool thinks he's flying, but, in fact, he's in free fall, and he just doesn't know it yet because the ground is so far away, but, of course, the craft is doomed to crash. That's the way our civilization is, the very high cliff represents the virtually unlimited resources we seem to have when we began this journey. The craft isn't flying because it's not built according to the laws of aerodynamics and it's subject to the law of gravity. ...

We love watching good ideas grow. Two years ago William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart announced their program for Cradle to Cradle Certification and John said "If the MDBC certifications become popular, and we certainly think that could be a good thing, it could transform the very definition of "green design." Since then, C2C has been accepted by LEED for credit, has certified everything from diapers to surfboard wax, and is launching a new and improved C2C program, with with revised criteria based on knowledge gained during the first two years of the program. There will be a new entry level called Basic, resulting in four tiers of certification- Basic, Silver, Gold and Platinum - to reflect a product's relative success against the criteria, which are so obvious that everyone should be designing for it: "using environmentally safe and healthy materials; design for material reutilization, such as recycling or composting; the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; efficient use of water, and maximum water quality associated with production; and instituting strategies for social responsibility." ::MBDC and ::Inhabitat ...

As an architecture student, few buildings influenced and excited me as much as the glass house designed in the late twenties by architect Pierre Chareau. It was a model for housing in the machine age, a stunning urban glass and steel box. Nicolai Ouroussoff describes it in the New York Times as "a lyrical machine whose theatricality is the antithesis of the dry functionalist aesthetic that reigned through much of the 20th century." ...

The first thing we love about NEWTEON is their humble marketing strategy:

Thanks to a wide range of clean vehicles, NEWTEON offers adequate solutions for sustainable mobility.

Adequate solutions. Now here are some people who realize that this technology is in its mere infancy. Guys, we would like to offer you spectacular solutions for sustainable mobility, and we fully expect to soon, but today what we can really deliver on is adequate solutions. The rest of the world should be so honest. The French version actually offers solutions adapted to your needs, so one can make of it what they will: either Newteon marketing is needing a better English translator, or perhaps they have really adapted to the need in the English world to say things straight in the age of greenwashing. ...

The New York Times does extensive coverage of the problems of pollution in China, complete with video, slide show and interactive graphics. The long article by Joseph Kahn pulls no punches.

China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source.

We have noted before that much of the problem comes from the West outsourcing its pollution with its manufacturing;

Chinese leaders argue that the outside world is a partner in degrading the country’s environment. Chinese manufacturers that dump waste into rivers or pump smoke into the sky make the cheap products that fill stores in the United States and Europe.

Lots to read at the ::New York Times...

Looks like all things green are hot in the movie world. Not so long ago we brought news of The Shift, a movie that sets out to define the increasingly intertwined environmental and social justice movements, and TreeHugger Neal gave DiCaprio’s 11th Hour a resounding thumbs up. Now, via Kristin’s myspace tipster (and sacred tree), The Golden Spruce, we get to hear about yet another important sounding green movie. The Green Chain is a documentary that sets out to explore the complex relationships between forests, loggers and environmentalists:...

A talk given at the computer security conference, CRYPTO 2007, explained how the key-fob system installed on the Toyota Prius has been cracked. The KeeLoq auto anti-theft cipher is used in common devices made by Microchip Technology Inc, which are also used by Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, General Motors, Honda, Volvo, Volkswagen, and Jaguar. The attack requires that the thief gets within range of your RFID keyfob, in order to break the encryption. This could mean stealing your keys, or just sitting next to you in a cafe with a laptop. The cipher used in these devices is 64 bit, which has always been theoretically possible to break, but has now been shown to be breakable in about an hour. This is important, because the shorter the amount of time required with the key, the more likely this attack is to become used outside of a research lab. ...

What could be better than distilling biofuel? How about biofuel made from booze? Leave it to the Scots to dream up this one. Researchers from the University of Abertay Dundee say it is possible to run your car on the by-products of the brewing and alcohol distilling industry. If so, what would your blend be? Fuel made from single malt scotch for high-performance? Or would it be lager on hot sunny days? The researchers have been funded with a year long grant to investigate novel methods of turning the spent grain of whisky and beer into bioethanol. And we can’t wait to hear if there will be success....

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by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 09. 1.07

by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.31.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.31.07

by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.31.07

by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Neil Chambers, New York City on 08.31.07

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.31.07

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 08.31.07

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.31.07

by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 08.31.07

by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.31.07

by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.31.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.31.07

by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 08.31.07

by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08.31.07

by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08.31.07

by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 08.31.07

by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08.31.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.30.07

by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.30.07

by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07

by Neil Chambers, New York City on 08.30.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.30.07

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.30.07

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.30.07