Weekly Archive for October 28, 2007 : TreeHugger

TreeHugger has teamed up with Instructables to get great ideas such as the 5$ Solar Water Heater. We've enjoyed Instructables' tips on making our own wind turbine or homemade microwave mitten warmers. This time we surfed past a piece we just had to bookmark to share with you: how to make your own breath-powered USB charger. We will warn you: the instructions start out suggesting that you might have everything you need to make this gadget lying about your house right now: parts from an old CD-rom drive, a non-stretching belt or band, a broccoli binder. (And if you don't have a broccoli rubber band, eating a little broccoli won't hurt you, you can hear your mother echoing in your head.)...

New from Marmalade Pets: The Wallflower Cardboard Cat Scratcher, made from recycled corrugated cardboard (with a minimum of 35 percent post-consumer content). Providing over 3 feet of scratchable surface and completely recyclable at the end of its life, the Wallflower uses non-toxic adhesives and is handcrafted in the United States. You can use the Wallflower as a stand-alone scratching board on the floor—its construction ensures that it will not tilt or seesaw when in use—or install it on your wall with the matching wall clip (sold separately). Comes in your choice of blue, orange, and green. ::The Sophisticated Cat and ::Marmalade Pets...

Now more than ever the world has to come together to make changes. Just because certain cultures have had long-standing traditions does not mean that in today's world they are acceptable any longer. The world and the environment are evolving and that means we must change our ways as human beings as well. ... The dolphins and whales in our ocean are a part of a larger eco-system that prevents the killing off of other marine life. By destroying these animals and not allowing our future generations to enjoy their beauty, we are causing our own selves damage. ... These animals are being brutally and unnecessarily slaughtered—and who are we to say to they have less of a right to exist than we do." —Actress Hayden Panettiere, in a statement released Nov. 2, 2007 See also: ::Brazilian Fishermen Kill 83 Dolphins, Joke About It, ::Iceland Calls the Whale Thing Off, and ::Whale Conservation Beached (Again)...

Few debates have proved as highly contentious as the one pitting those who believe biofuels have a role to play in fighting global warming and securing our energy independence and those who view it as little more than a subsidy-laden boondoggle for farmers and politicians. Noted economist and Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf recently waded into the fray with a firmly anti-biofuel column. Citing a report released by the Global Subsidies Initiative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Wolf writes:

"Energy security and climate change are two of the most significant challenges confronting humanity. What we see, in response, is the familiar capture of policymaking by well-organised special interests. A superb example is the flood of subsidies for biofuels. These are farm programmes masquerading as answers to energy insecurity and climate change. Not surprisingly, they have the depressing characteristics of such programmes: high protection, open-ended support to producers, and indifference to economic rationality."

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He must have seen my TreeHugger media badge, because the salesman from Element Square called out and said "No trees were harmed in the production of these chairs!" I replied that a lot of fossil fuels were burned and a lot of CO2 released, and he said "but no oil, just natural gas," which matters only if you are more concerned about your car than your climate, but we will let that pass and look a little deeper. Element Square makes a lovely Muskoka or Adirondack chair from King Starboard, which would appear to be high density polyethylene. Wikipedia says that "High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a polyethylene thermoplastic made from petroleum. It takes 1.75 kilograms of petroleum (in terms of energy and raw materials) to make one kilogram of HDPE." So no trees may have died to make that chair, but instead of sequestering carbon like a wood chair does, each 58 Lb chair uses up a hundred pounds of petroleum feedstock. I, for one, will stick with the classic wood chair. ::Element Square found at ::Cottage Life ...

This compact bike, the Smooth Hound from Dahon seems quite well sorted. It weighs only 10.8kg, and it is said to pack flat easily. It costs $850, and can be found at places like Electric Cyclery. :: Smooth Hound...

Those of you keeping track know that the disappearing honeybee saga has become almost a fixation for us here at TreeHugger. You may recall that a team of scientists had pinpointed IAPV (Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus) as the likely culprit for the unprecedented number of disappearances - a virus they believed had originated in Australia. A new genetic analysis has revealed that the virus has, in fact, been present in the U.S. since at least 2001. Yanping Chen and Jay Evans, both of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory, studied samples from commercial beekeepers collected between 2001 and 2004 in Maryland - in addition to several collected from California, Pennsylvania and Israel. The virus showed up in samples dating as far back as 2002....

David Masters lives in a yurt. But it isn't just a home, he preaches what he practices in an "alternative learning center that provides opportunities for people to develop and reflect on their values and to consider how they might take an active role in creating a healthier environment for future generations." "The LUNA Project's sustainable living tour will introduce you to the lifestyle changes we have made to lessen our environmental impact and live more sustainably. Our discussion-based tours will touch on alternative energy sources, water conservation techniques, responsible waste management practices, and low-impact building techniques." ...

We’ve covered the rebirth of the airship before here and here. Now we’ve come across a homemade, solar-powered blimp constructed by Daniel Geery, an elementary school teacher, for less than $1000. While we don’t expect anyone to be crossing the Atlantic on this any time soon, Geery does see it as an indication of what could be done if we put our minds to it:

If an elementary school teacher like myself can make this happen, with panels that are less than 6% efficient, it is worth contemplating what our country could have done by now if we'd made the effort. But as they say, better late than never.

::YouTube::via site visit:: ...

They pay so much more attention to design in Europe, particularly when it comes to everyday things. For example, The Torqeedo electric outboard motor from Germany looks like fine industrial design. It has an integrated lithium-manganese battery that just snaps off the top, so that you can recharge it inside at a convenient outlet. According to importer Green Boat Supply, it can drive a 15' tinny at four knots for 15 nautical miles. "This is not water-skiing speed, obviously. But you’ll cruise along at a respectable clip and enjoy your surroundings so much more. Many people aren’t looking for a faster, noisier boat ride." They also note that it is a much more efficient motor than that found in most electric trollers: "Torqeedo motors offer twice the efficiency of other motors. These motors aren’t just for trolling around a fishing spot—they’re for getting you to the fishing spot, trolling, and getting you home again." ...

Sometimes it takes a row to elicit information that is useful outside of the orginal context. Take the example of Wisconsin Energy Corp.'s ongoing construction of a $2.3 billion coal-fired power plant in Oak Creek, on the shore of Lake Michigan, just south of Milwaukee.

At issue is the water intake structure in Lake Michigan that would provide water to cool the plant. Environmental groups Clean Wisconsin and Sierra Club -- as well as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan -- oppose the structure. They say it relies on ld technology that would cause more damage to Lake Michigan fish than a modern system requiring cooling towers. The dispute over the plant was kept alive earlier this year when a federal appeals court threw out an Environmental Protection Agency rule that Wisconsin regulators relied on in approving the water intake structure. Discussion of the project came after Wisconsin Energy announced third-quarter earnings rose 17 percent,

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I love going to events like the Cottage Life Show; I get to show off my mad photography skills and see all kinds of interesting new products and ideas. One that impressed me was the Sonu Tek solar lighting systems. Not elegant to look at and the colour temperature is harsh, but the little package unit on the right has a solar panel on the top and two batteries with enough juice to run the LED array for three nights, all for $ 450. The bar on the left comes with a small battery pack, solar panel and 52 high intensity LED bulbs. Charity Friends of Honduran Children just installed them in dormitories for 80 kids which previously had an expensive and unreliable diesel generator. They write:...

Reinforcing the idea that nobody has an excuse sit on their hands (ha-ha) when it comes to taking action against global warming, this clever clock, called "It's About Time," reminds us all that the clock is ticking. With something like this telling you what time it is, hopefully you'll never forget to eat gelato and fight climate change or avoid dry pancakes and stop global warming -- remember, it wants to eat your flesh. You've been warned. ::The Empire Collective via ::NotCot.org...

Peeking at the archives from one year ago offers an interesting study in how the green world has changed over 365 days. Last year, we bemoaned the plans to build coal-fired power plants in Kansas; earlier this week we saw Australia step back from the coal-fired edge, though we still aren't out of the coal-powered fire just yet. Last year, we were hyping Jay Leno's biodiesel rocket-car; this year, biofuels have lost some of their sheen and they might be a "crime against humanity." Last year, we pulled the wraps off Whole Foods' wind power credits (even if Boing Boing didn't get them, we still liked 'em). Still, the more things changes, the more they stay the same. We liked modern prefab then, and we've still got an eye for it; we reported on CNN's "Buying Green" report and now we've got our own guides for buying green. Climate change was big news, and it still is. How else does last year compare to this? Read last year here and this year here to compare for yourself....

Here's an important addendum to our previous post on US Presidential candidate positions on climate change. Will it turn out that Republicans are the pro-, and Democrats the anti-nuclear party? Is climate change a consideration in this Democratic lead position? Does either Party care about the numerous pools scattered around the nation already filled with "hot" spent rods? Time will tell - maybe.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday declared themselves flatly opposed to building a nuclear waste repository in Nevada, a clear indication that the 2008 presidential election could end a 25-year effort to build the controversial dump. Clinton delivered her opposition in person and Obama by letter as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held its first hearing on Yucca Mountain since Democrats took over Congress in January. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the panel's chair, said she had scheduled the hearing at the request of Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, who has been campaigning in Nevada on the issue. The state caucuses are Jan. 19. Congress has been planning for an underground repository to hold spent fuel from commercial power plants and waste from defense plants since 1982.

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Here on Treehugger there is no shortage on the scoop on alternative toilets for those among us who desire better poopers - nevertheless, not everyone is fortunate enough to have the luxury of choice. Right at this moment, the India Habitat Centre of New Delhi is playing host to the 7th World Toilet Summit from October 31 to November 3, with delegates from over 44 nations this year discussing how to provide affordable, environmentally friendly and basic access to sanitation for the estimated 2.5 billion people in the world who do not have access to a toilet, a number that the U.N. Millennium Development Goals hopes to cut in half by 2015. With exhibits from abroad and locally, many manufacturers’ products ranged from the colourful to the technologically imaginative. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the NGO Sulabh International – which has already provided 6,500 simple composting public toilets in India that converts waste into water, fertilizer and biogas – said that it is not a matter of technology only, but also of execution and government policy....

TreeHugger Forums have lots for you to ponder heading in to the weekend. Here are some of the highlights...

1) Forums user PBriscoe is a student looking to talk and learn more about the commodification of action. What's that? "What I mean by the commodification of action is that instead of actually doing something to help the environment like changing personal habits or pushing their government for change, people just buy a t-shirt that says 'I'm Green' and consider themselves Green. Instead of acting, they are just purchasing." There is lots to unpack here...

2) User mpopovi busts out the Forums' polling functionality to ask: "Which country is doing the most to make our planet greener?" On the list are the US, Japan, Sweden, Norway, China, the EU and others; so far, the discussion has netted responses from "How on earth could you miss out Sweden, the country aiming for a post-oil economy." and "New Zealand is doing a lot. I heard recently that they get 70% of their electricity from renewables" to "I'm afraid most of the ones mentioned are the ones also responsible for our present predicament." and "No government is doing anything significant to merit the designation." Thoughts?

3) Lastly, Forums user stevenchen18 ponders "What is a Sustainable Society?" posits this answer: "A sustainable society is one that can progress without catastrophic setbacks in the foreseeable future. This answer recognizes the fact that human beings will not be able to build a perfect society or even to agree upon what is a perfect society for very many generations to come. A sustainable society is simply one that can avoid a devastating blow so that human society can continue its long journey to perfection." Hmm; does anyone think we can do better than this?

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....

Clevr: Hans Olsen's Compact Dining Set! How smart is this? Perfect for small spaces and a truly clever design, Hans Olsen designed this dining set in 1953 for Frem Røjle Møblefabrik, and it "serves as the quintessential model for the holistic integration of form and function. The design is certainly as progressive and relevant today as it was 60 years ago," according to the Design Addict description on eBay. Imagine what the world would be like, how much less stuff we'd be dealing with, if everything needed to be designed just once every 60 years. Get up close and personal with more pics after the jump. More on Hans Olsen's Designs Sleek and Compact Breakfast Table for Two ::eBay via ::Apartment Therapy: San Francisco ...

The last few months have witnessed a flurry of debate in the scientific literature over the relative merits of using forests as carbon sinks to combat global warming. The broad-based consensus seems to be that, yes, trees can work - if planted in the right areas - but also that we shouldn't hang our hopes on them. The latest salvo in the debate comes from Tom Gower of the University of Wisconsin, who has determined that Canada's boreal forest - far from hindering global warming's advance - may be spurring it on by releasing more GHG than it absorbs. "The boreal forest, at least in the north-central part of Manitoba, has gone from a weak carbon sink to a weak carbon source. It is now contributing to atmospheric (carbon dioxide) concentration," he said....

Last week San Francisco hosted the annual Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) conference for the first time since 1999. Over the past few years, we Treehuggers have witnessed a radical evolution in the strategy shift of environmental organizations. From open-toed shoes to closed, protests to board rooms - and now Greenpeace speaks with Senor Big Mac to address rainforest protection. The big dogs are talking real, appear to be serious about their commitments, and many consumers seem to respect them as legit. In fact, one session was titled “From Confrontation to Partnership: Greenpeace and The Coca-Cola Company.” ...

Question: I read with interest your great response to a question about open burning on treehugger.com and I'm just curious if you may have a moment to answer another question about particulate matter. I live in Nevada County California where open burning remains a persistent nuisance in winter months. At scorecard.org, Nevada County, California (zip code 95959) is listed as ranking (according to EPA statistics) in the bottom 10th percentile for particulate matter (pm2.5 and pm10) emissions but in the top 10th to 20th percentile for 24 hour averages of particulate matter concentrations. Can you by chance tell me something about the possible reason for this discrepancy? Response: Open burning does contribute to particle emissions and through this contribution, to particle concentrations as well. This contribution is particularly great for fine particles (PM2.5) that can be inhaled deep into people’s lungs and for inhalable particles (PM10) that can be inhaled but not always deep into the lungs. ...

Used to be, chip speed and computer power drove the market, and one upgraded their computer every couple of years as Intel giveth new chips and Microsoft taketh away with bloated operating systems. Then the internet became our computer, google is fast becoming our operating system and unless you are a hardcore gamer, architect or 3D modeller, almost every computer out there is up to speed and you can start thinking about green. And every week there are more and more options, as companies comply with obligatory European RoHS standards, or the new EPEAT rating system. Green computing is not only better for the environment, it is better for your office; who needs all those fans blowing all the time? Intel is chasing AMD to make the coolest chips, and onboard video eliminates yet more fan noise. Solid state memory is coming down the pipe, so even the hard drives will stop spinning. Buy a complete package or roll your own for the best mix of options, but think low power, upgradability for long life, and recyclability. There are those who say that the greenest computer is a notebook, but we have found that notebooks don't last as long, are hard to upgrade, cost more and are not as productive when you cannot have the keyboard, laser mouse or big monitor that you might need for your work. There is definitely still a place for a green desktop computer. ...

We’ve told you about Metabolix and their bioplastic resins. Recently the producers of the corn-based plastic resin, Mirel™, released the results of a life cycle assessment conducted by chemical engineers at Michigan State University. They determined that, “production of Mirel reduces the use of nonrenewable energy by more than 95% and provides a 200% reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) compared to production of conventional petroleum-based plastics.” The article notes that Mirel is made from corn and uses renewable energy for production. The LCA study measures the impacts of the resin from “cradle to factory gate” and says that Mirel actually has a negative net CO2 footprint. They also compare Mirel to other olefins such as polypropylene and polyethylene, saying that the biobased plastic requires only 2.5 MJ/kg of nonrenewable energy per kilogram verses 70 MJ/kg. The full LCA is not available yet online, but we look forward to seeing the published results. Read the full story here. Image via the Metabolix website. More on green plastics here and here. Visit the Metabolix website here. Via: Stockhouse. ...

TreeHugger is always on the lookout for materials, ideas, designs and concepts that make the most of what we have and wasting as little as possible; it's a key idea for anyone who wants to maximize the reach of their lives while minimizing their footprint on the planet. For example, for those of you without dishwashers: ever think about what happens to all the water that drains off your rinsed dishes? (We didn't think so.) Designer Erdem Selek did, and came up with the "Dish Drainer Project," a tree-like contraption that collects the water dripping from your recently-cleaned dishes and waters your plants with it. It probably wouldn't work for a family of five's-worth of dishes every night, but we think that it'd help contextualize all the water that we all mindlessly waste every day, and show that you really care about being smart about your resource use. We have this funny image of people with dishes all over their homes, dinner plates patiently watering their plants after an evening meal. It might seem a trifle silly to some, but it certainly beats letting that water pool up in your dish drainer, and, hey, waste not, want not. Hit the jump for more pics. ::Erdem Selek via ::Yanko Design...

Looking for an easy way to put a stop to those unwanted catalogs that fill up your mailbox? Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to opt-out of catalogs easily. Via the web site, you can select the catalogs you no longer wish to receive (there are hundreds of common catalogs listed). I found this service to be quite easy to use. ...

When a new forest pathogen or pest like the Asian long- horned beetle, Dutch Elm disease, or hemlock woolly adelgid is discovered, there is an assumption that state agricultural and or natural resources agencies are ready and able to respond. However, according to a new report by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI)—Strategies for Effective State Early Detection and Rapid Response Programs for Plant Pests and Pathogens—the state laws that enable early-detection and rapid-response authorities to address terrestrial plant pathogens and pests may hinder the exercise of those response powers. ELI produced the report with funding and guidance from The Nature Conservancy (TNC),a group that, according to TNC’s senior policy representative Faith Campbell, seeks to bolster the laws and regulations pertaining to the detection and control of forest pests. “When something new gets into the country, it’s clear that there’s supposed to be a coordinated federal–state response,” said Campbell. “We felt that things are not going as well and as effectively as we would like, so we thought that one aspect of that might be limitations of what the state laws provide, so we chose to analyze the laws in 14 states that have had problems with forests pests.” ...

That’s a reasonable question to ask in light of the results of the Sustainability Report Card 2008 which examines colleges and universities dedication to sustainability, on campuses and in endowment portfolios, and which indicates that the green spirit on campus may not be reflected in the spirit of the investment portfolio comprising the school’s endowment. Of course, there are those who are leading the way; with Harvard, Dartmouth, University of Washington, Middlebury, Carleton, and the University of Vermont all ahead of the curve. But it seems to me to be a difficult question for any fund manager or institution to grapple with. After all, is the duty of the manager of those funds in a university or college endowment to find the best possible investment in pure financial terms, or based on both the economic and potentially unrealizable social return on campus? ...

This nifty little shed on a suburban street in Gothenburg, Sweden is filled with microbes busily eating household garbage in a pilot project to dry up compost before it's turned into methane at the local biogas plant. Brainchild of Lars Smedlund, the Somnus Hus is a system that helps remove 75 percent of the moisture, and most of the odor from compostable food waste. About 180 families in a condominium complex in the pilot will share the shed and deposit their paper bags with food scraps into the green shute (each family has a key to the shute). After the scraps are shredded, moisture is sucked away via a wet filter system filled with odor-eating bacteria. In 4-5 days the scraps resemble finely-chopped wood chips (photo after the jump)....

Reports from both coasts are announcing that car-sharing companies Zipcar and Flexcar are going to merge. Technically, it looks like Boston-area-based Zipcar will absorb the smaller Seattle-based Flexcar; together, the new company will have 5,000 vehicles and 180,000 subscribers in 48 cities from Seattle to London. The company will retain the Zipcar moniker, and Flexcar CEO Mark Norman, above left, will stay on board as president and chief operating officer (Scott Griffith, above right, remains Zipcar CEO). Flexcar has concentrated on the West Coast market, while Zipcar operates mostly in the East, as well as in London, Vancouver, B.C., and Toronto. In two overlapping markets, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., the combined fleets will offer more cars and more locations to its members. United under a single brand, the company hopes that the continent-wide coverage will help it scale up its service and ultimately help convince more people that they don't have to own their own cars. Stay tuned for more; TreeHugger likes the idea of car sharing so we hope that the new Zipcar will also be an improved one as well. ::Zipcar and ::Flexcar via ::AutoblogGreen...

Touching down in Stockholm today to pick up his 2007 Volvo Environmental Prize, energy guru Amory Lovins had some harsh words for the Swedes. Sweden, a paradise of innovation around effective energy use and smart building in the 1970's, has lost its top spot in recent years, he says. Lovins said Swedish researchers have put energy security above smart and effective energy use, and construction and design industries have also lagged. Perhaps it was the big build-out of nuclear energy and hydro power in Sweden during the 70's that made industries complacent. Skanska, one of the largest construction companies in Sweden, launched the energy-efficient ModernaHus concept in 2005. ModernaHus are largely prefab 3-8 story apartment buildings that can be 50 percent more efficient than the industry standard. But while Skanska has sold two ModernaHus complexes - a total of 70 apartments - to two developers, neither developer chose Skanska's Energi+ add-on which would cut the apartments' energy use another 20 percent by employing heat pumps, solar panels, low-flow faucets and individual metering. Short-sighted thinking in Lovins' book. But there's some good news....

Since we are in a voting season, there is another kind of voting we can all do, and that is voting with our wallets by purchasing products that are produced with environmentally sound practices. Ecolabeling as it is called allows us to identify energy-efficient household appliances, forest products from sustainably managed forests, fishery products from sustainably managed fisheries, and “green” electricity from renewable sources. (For more see Chapter 12 of Plan B 2.0.) The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) awards ecolabels for seafood. In March 2000, the MSC launched its fisheries certification program when it approved the Western Australia Rock Lobster fishery. Also earning approval that day was the West Thames Herring fishery. In September 2000, the Alaska salmon fishery became the first American fishery to be certified....

The timber rattlesnake has been wiped out in several states in the East and Northeast and is not doing well in the Midwest. (Photo by David Larson, Saint Louis Zoo) It appears that timber rattlesnakes are homebodies, and when subdivisions move in, they don't like to move out. People don't like rattlesnakes playing in their backyards and try to eliminate them; scientists are trying to set up alternatives for yet another species challenged by urban sprawl. "You can live with the knowledge that timber rattlesnakes and copperheads are in your area, and if you have a problem, you need to go to herpetologists, who can figure out a plan or help remove the snakes," he [Wayne Drda of Washington University] said. "We don't want to see people become nature vigilantes."...

Henry Ford tells Modern Mechanix about his vision of a future made of biofuels and bioplastics, in 1934:

“I foresee the time when industry shall no longer denude the forests which require generations to mature, nor use up the mines which were ages in the making, but shall draw its raw material largely from the annual products of the fields,” he declared. “I am convinced that we shall be able to get out of the yearly crops most of the basic materials which we now get from forest and mine. We shall grow annually many if not most of the substances needed in manufacturing. “When that day comes, and it is surely on the way, the farmer will not lack a market and the worker will not lack a job. More people will live in the country. The present unnatural condition will be naturally balanced again. Chemistry will reunite agriculture and industry. They were allowed to get too far apart and the world has suffered by the separation.”

::Modern Mechanix...

Image credit Graphicology A year ago we posted about Coca-Cola opening a prototype store in Toronto for a new coffee chain concept, complete with bamboo floors, a fair trade coffee, cups with recycled content, biodegradable utensils and bamboo stir sticks. Some people thought it was great that Coke was trying to "do the right thing"; others thought that "global corporations will stop at nothing to capitalize on trends." A year later, the results of the test are in; the store is closing. Now magazine says "the robot-brewed pods weren't fooling any coffee snobs. Coke's spokesperson says it is a "considered closing", part of their test marketing plans; apparently so was not paying any severance to their employees. That's the real thing for you. ...

A little while ago we wrote about wooden surfboards from New Zealand and mentioned that we’d found others we’d be getting back to you on. Here we are. Tom Wegener Surfboards is, like most of these guys, a “small family-run operation.” Tom makes each of the customs boards himself, using the plantation timber, Paulownia, a wood he originally used in 1999 for stringers in the foam boards he was making at the time. By 2003 he had worked out a full board made of the stuff. Apparently, where possible, all waste materials are composted on his Queensland, Australia, property, or is recycled. The Paulownia story is an impressive one. The wood is said to be 30% lighter than any comparable American hardwood, falling mid-way between Balsa and Poplar. Some species can grow 30 ft (9 m) in three years and others reaching maturity at 75 ft (23 m) in about 10 years. Move over bamboo! And whereas bamboo regrows from its rhizome roots, Paulownia is similarly credited with rapidly regrowing, although in its case via coppicing from the same root, helping to stabilise soils. Paulownia is also known as Kiri and Empress and the latter is the name taken by our second timber board maker, who also used this remarkable wood. ...

Since the start of the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide concentrations have risen from about 280 parts per million (ppm) to more than 380 ppm today, and global average temperatures have risen by more than one degree Fahrenheit over the last century. A growing body of scientific opinion has formed that we face extreme dangers if global average temperatures are allowed to increase by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit from today’s levels. We may be able to stay within this envelope if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other global warming gases are kept from exceeding 450 ppm CO2- equivalent and then rapidly reduced. However, this will require us to halt U.S. emissions growth within the next few years and then cut emissions by approximately 80 percent over the next 50 years....

Heroes star Hayden Panettiere was among the young protesters who tried to stop Japanese fishermen from killing a pod of dolphins and their baby this week. As one from a group of six American and Australian surfers, she paddled out on her surfboard to shield the dolphins with her body. But the youngsters were stopped by a local fishing boat and blocked by its propeller before they could reach the animals. Fishermen also tried to hit them with a boathook. The surfers returned to the beach devastated. "One little baby dolphin stuck his head out and kinda looked at me and the thought that it's no longer with us is really hard to take," said Panettiere breaking down in tears. Sky News reports that Panettiere and her friends would have been charged with trespassing if they were caught by local police. According to Sky News, more than 22,000 dolphins are slaughtered by fishermen in Japan every year. The hunt and the brutality continues despite worldwide condemnation. Some Japanese believe that dolphins should be treated the same as fish. They've been hunted for centuries and see outside criticism as an attack on their culture. Live and let live? What are your thoughts on dolphins and the hunt? Warning: the video is bloody and very sad. ::Sky News ...

It was funny at first to see such a silly product as aerosol pancake batter; less so when one saw the USDA organic label on it. Over in the UK, they have just had a huge issue over whether it was ethical to put the organic label on a product that has been flown in; In the USA they put it on something like this.

View MicroPollSurvey SoftwareFree Online PollEmail Marketing Software

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We’ve already heard about the UK-based Guardian newspaper’s efforts to go green, and the criticism it has received from some quarters over its travel and motoring coverage. We’ve also heard frequently about the G-Wiz, the popular Indian-made electric car (or quadricycle to be more precise) that has taken London by storm. Now it seems that the two are joining forces, with the Guardian offering readers who join its new Tread Lightly online green community the chance to win a G-Wiz for themselves. While any TreeHugger post on electric vehicles inevitably draws comments that they are not green enough, when power station emissions are factored into the equation, the Guardian would seem to take issue with this:

When charged using ordinary electricity, G-Wiz emissions (including those generated at the power station during the production of electricity) are at least 40% less than the cleanest hybrid and two-thirds cleaner than the average car. When charged using electricity from renewable sources, the G-Wiz is a completely sustainable and non-polluting vehicle.

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The martini shaker and garlic express didn't win; the jury had bigger fish to fry. Consumers International, "the only independent global campaigning voice for consumers, building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere." has chosen the winners of the International Bad Products Awards, given " to highlight failings of corporate responsibility and the abuse of consumer trust by internationally recognized brands." Winners (if you can call them that) for this year are: Coca-Cola – for continuing the international marketing of its bottled water, Dasani, despite admitting it comes from the same sources as local tap water. Kellogg’s – for the worldwide use of cartoon-type characters and product tie-ins aimed at children, despite high levels of sugar and salt in their food products. Mattel – for stonewalling US congressional investigations and avoiding overall responsibility for the global recall of 21 million products. With the overall prize going to: Takeda Pharmaceuticals – for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children, despite health warnings about pediatric use. ::International Bad Products Awards via ::PSFK ...

We thought we had seen it all with the Roasted Garlic Express, but, alas, we had not. True proof of the decline of civilization as we know it is the Automatic Martini Maker. Gear site Green Head says:

"A martini isn't exactly the hardest drink to make, but why should you even be bothered when there's a cool new appliance that makes them automatically? Yes, that's right, the Waring Pro Automatic Martini Maker ($100) is a commercial quality stainless steel electric martini maker. Simply add your favorite ingredients using the 1-ounce shaker cap, turn it on, wait for the green olive to light up, press shaken or stirred on the touchpad and you've just made the perfect martini, right in your very own home. Life sure is good...for the lazy."

Amazing, it even has a James Bond "shaken or stirred" mode. One can always find new ways to waste money and energy at ::Amazon...

It has started to cool down in Toronto and the leaves are finally changing colour. My thoughts have turned to hearty soups and baking. Autumn is such a great time to cook because the bounty of the harvest is upon us and eating root vegetables and squashes seems like such a treat. By March I'll be hankering for something lighter, but that's another matter. This squash flan seemed like the perfect autumn dinner. It was easy, it was tasty and it was orange. The flan doesn't require a lot of active time to make, but it does require a fair amount of cooking time. It's not a quick after work affair, more like a quiet Sunday affair. If you can't find a Hubbard squash you could try other squashes, such as acorn or butternut. Don't use a softer, wetter squash like spaghetti squash. The one I used was completely dry after roasting so the steps for draining and recooking in the skillet weren't necessary. ...

The Sustainability Show is a wide-ranging exhibition of new and familiar products demonstrating how we can reduce our negative impact on the world and make some good green consumer decisions. Tucked away in a corner of the ill-fated Millennium Dome was a mix of individuals who are working at a local level with recycled materials and larger companies involved on a broader scale. The Mayor of London had a good exhibit about transit (pictured) including the best give-away: a set of cards with thirty tips to energy saving. Nigel, from Nigel's Eco Store, was at the show and he was delighted with his new solar-powered shavers, but the coasters made out of yoghurt pots had more appeal for women shoppers as did the solar powered Christmas lights for the tree. Paperpod are (recycled) cardboard creations for children in the shape of houses, rockets and tee-pees. Everything can be folded flat when they (or you) are tired of them. ...

Although silicon is one of the most abundant elements on earth, single crystal silicon wafers don't grow on trees- yet. It is actually quite an extensive and expensive process to produce silicon wafers, which are used to create everything from computer chips to solar cells. As announced via the IBM video above, IBM'ers in Vermont have devised a process that allows their rejected wafers to be repurposed for solar cells. From what I can glean, the process involves water and gentle scrubbing to remove the microstructures on the surface of the wafer. The removal of these features is key to recycling the wafer, as the bits scrubbed off represent important intellectual property (IP) for the company. By removing the sensitive information, the wafer can be saved from being crushed into dust, and used by other companies....

The Christian Science Monitor has a piece out of Nairobi on a garbage-burning oven in the notorious slum of Kibera that aims to preserve the country's forests, which are swiftly being cleared to provide wood and charcoal for cooking, while finding a way to utilize trash for energy. If successful, Monitor says, the pilot project could be a model for megacities and the waste they create. The oven has a superheated steel plate inside an incinerator box to vaporize drops of water. The oxygen released then helps burn discarded "sump" oil from vehicles – a pollutant in the slums – pushing up the temperature. The target is for the cooker to consume half a ton of waste every day once it has finished trials in about a month. The project is the first of its kind, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which provided $10,000 for the launch. "We have already seen a difference in the area we are targeting," says Pauline Nyota, of the Umande Trust, a group that works in slums to improve sanitation and leads the project. "The drainage ditches are much cleaner – just wastewater when before they were clogged with rubbish." Photo credit: Christian Science Monitor ::Via The Christian Science Monitor...

Climate change is powerfully symbolized by severe drought. Extended, widespread drought can make potable water scarce. Desalination plants are energy intensive and expensive to build and run: the several recently build or planned for Australia may be taken as a sign of climate change desperation. Coal rules Australian exports and politics. So, each time Australia plans more de-sal plants we might expect extra coal fired electricity capacity add-ons to complete the vicious cycle. Perhaps not for Sydney.

SYDNEY'S controversial desalination plant will be supplied with power from 75 wind turbines from as many as six wind farms to be built across the state. The $1.7 billion project will demand almost one-fifth of the country's wind-generated energy, providing the biggest ever boost to the state's green energy industry....

Photo credit: iamart3

[The] food chain we have now is not designed to feed people. In line with the modern cure-all—the allegedly free global market—it is designed to produce the maximum amount of cash in the shortest time. Stated thus, our approach to our most important material endeavour seems unbelievably crass—but that is how things are nonetheless. The global free market might be good for some things (perhaps we get better computers and warships that way) but for farming, and hence for humanity as a whole, it is disastrous. The simplistic business rules that may (or may not) apply to other enterprises are fatal to Enlightened Agriculture and so, since we depend on agriculture absolutely, they are proving fatal for us. When cash rules, sound biology goes to the wall and common sense and humanity are for wimps. The goal must be to maximize whatever is most expensive—which means livestock. So now we feed well over half the staples that could be feeding us, to cattle, pigs, and poultry. So instead of helping us to feed ourselves, our animals compete with us. ...

Andy is an Environmental Studies masters student at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Originally from Los Angeles, California-- that bastion of malls and sprawl--Andy has lived in Spain, and traveled extensively in Europe, North Africa and the United States. After completing his B.A. in Spanish Language and Culture, Andy sowed his wild oats by traveling 3,800 miles from Virginia to San Francisco-- by bicycle. When he isn't bicycling (or thinking about bicycling) Andy can be found cramming his brain with the latest on sustainable development, poverty alleviation, urban revitalization and social entrepreneurship. His particular interest in transportation stems from the fact that he hasn't driven an automobile in 5 years, during which time he has had plenty of time to ponder the merits of various means of providing mobility. While unwilling to hide his predilection for two-wheeled human transport, he is always eager to study and report on the latest, greenest trends and technologies in cars, buses, trains, bicycles, scooters, etc....

With a really cool aesthetic that appears to have been bent and formed by some sort of giant benevolent force, we're liking the "pli" collection (no, not that pli) from New Zealand-based Formway. We've seen their office chairs before; this collection of low seats, benches, ottomans and tables (to help you "get down" -- geddit?) has more of a lounge groove, with a pop of color here and there to help make it simple, but fun. Formway doubles down on sustainability for pli, starting with FSC-certified plywood and water-based finishes and extending the materials with ultra-efficient bent ply design (read more about their environmental efforts here) to create beautiful, effortless designs with a keen eye for the planet. Hit the jump for more pics and see it all at ::Formway pli via ::Freshome...

Internet, has making pancakes and waffles from scratch become such a chore? But even then, your standard instant pancake mix would waste less packaging. So tell us, especially you time-strapped parental types, does this blast your batter? ::Batter Blaster...

Alexis has always been involved in environmental protection since the end of his studies. He graduated from a French engineering school (MSc in agronomy) and from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, known as Sciences Po. He is now managing a french think tank and thus working on a network gathering all the main stakeholders of sustainable consumption in France, focusing on new means to promote and develop sustainable lifestyles. The partners of the think tank are well known NGOs such as WWF or international organizations like UNEP. Before, Alexis participated in the CO2 emissions report for a National Bank and he produced (with others) a report for UNESCO on public-private partnership within the framework of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. He has also worked for a year as a communication consultant on environmental matters. Within the framework of his job, various congresses and personal interest, he has travelled to different countries, the United States, Canada, Trinidad&Tobago, Thailand, Mexico and all across Europe. Alexis is deeply committed in consciousness-raising on how to protect the planet in every-day life and is particularly interested in the role of medias in driving sustainability mainstream....

There's gold in them thar nanoparticles: a team of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia has been able to turn soybeans into gold nanoparticles, using nothing more than gold salts, water and soybeans. Gold nanoparticles, which many scientists see as playing an important role in technologies such as cancer detection, telecommunications and "smart" electronic devices, had been viewed with skepticism by some because of their perceived negative environmental impact.

“Typically, a producer must use a variety of synthetic or man-made chemicals to produce gold nanoparticles. In addition, to make the chemicals necessary for production, you need to have other artificial chemicals produced, creating an even larger, negative environmental impact. Our new process only takes what nature has made available to us and uses that to produce a technology that has already proven to have far-reaching impacts in technology and medicine,” said Kattesh Katti, the project's lead scientist and a professor of radiology and physics at the university.

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What do you get when you combine an iconic underwear designer and Goodwill's second-hand apparel? William Good, of course; it's a new project of Nick Graham, the San Francisco-based fashion designer behind Joe Boxer, who is teaming up with local Goodwill stores to create new apparel from old, second-hand clothing. Here's how it works: after 30 days on the floor, whatever hasn't sold at Goodwill gets discarded. Graham grabs this bounty, which is 75% of all donations, and re-fashions, re-designs and re-makes them into whimsical one-of-a-kind creations that will go on sale at the very same Goodwill (on Fillmore and Post streets, for those of you in the Bay Area) in mid-November. This is the first of what Goodwill hopes to be a country- and then world-wide trend; second-hand is already a greener way to go, and adding another life cycle to unwanted apparel headed for landfill makes it even moreso. If you aren't in San Francisco, you can shop online starting November 15. ::William Good via ::Core77...

Be Turtle: Question: Are traditional light bulbs really that bad? by Raddy B "Answer: Another way of looking at this Raddy would be that if we decided to ban traditional light bulbs 5-10% of our power stations could be turned off! In the case of China, a ban on traditional light bulbs could mean that the Chinese didn't need to build 25-50 of the 500 coal power stations they are currently planning to construct over the next decade, whilst a similar ban in the US could mean that 25-50 of the power stations which already exist could be turned off." by Dr Matt Prescott Green as a Thistle: A green Halloween, part two (Day 245)… by Vanessa Farquharson "Previously, I wrote about consuming every last bit of the pumpkin I carved up at a friend’s house. Now, I feel the need to address the costumes and the candy — and don’t worry, I promise not to be too much of a kill-joy, because there’s really nothing I love more than kids wearing pirate outfits and going mental for mini Snickers bars."...

One of the big complaints about modern prefab is its inability to deliver at the cost that everyone expects (like matching production housing or less) and the problem of acquiring land, which is expensive, particularly in areas around cities like San Francisco. We also love small projects because living with less is the key to living sustainably, but some costs are fixed whether you build large or small, like the baths, kitchens, and services, so smaller units cost a lot more per square foot; all you are subtracting is volume. So whenever we show small prefab projects like the zero house or the minihome, we get a chorus of complaints about the price. That is why we are so excited about the work of Dystopic Horizons Realty. "Each inspired live/work unit is hand-crafted, and capable of magnificent views. The loft-like Cubist floorplan allows convenient interior access and customized storage solutions. Green construction and copious natural lighting and ventilation support ecologically responsible living. " ...

You know things are getting bad when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (they of the infamous New Orleans levee design) start speaking up about the threat to human life posed by a dam - with statements that read: "The Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability," and "If a small problem [at] Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely." According to new assessments released by the Corps and other U.S. officials, the Mosul Dam, the largest one in Iraq, is in grave danger of collapsing. Its collapse could release a trillion-gallon wave of water, enough to flood two of Iraq's largest cities, Baghdad and Mosul (under 15 ft and 65 ft of water, respectively), and kill hundreds of thousands of citizens - as many as 500,000. Perhaps not surprisingly, a project aimed at reconstructing and strengthening the dam has been plagued by corruption and mismanagement. ...

According to CNN, a 66 year-old man was beaten to death on his front lawn by his 36 year-old neighbor for watering it yesterday in Sydney, Australia. Apparently, the pair started arguing over his water usage, and the victim sprayed his neighbor with water from the garden hose. Then the 36 year-old beat him severely, punching and knocking him to the ground where he kicked him repeatedly. And ultimately an off-duty police officer arrested the attacker, but the victim was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after. Now amazingly, the victim had actually been following the guidelines on water restrictions for the Sydney area when this happened. Those state that you can, in fact, water your lawn before 10a.m. and after 4p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays. So was this the case of an overly zealous environmental advocate or simply the maniac next door? ...

Vaporware prefabs that never get past the rendering stage are as common as rotting FEMA specials these days, and don't get the exposure they used to when modern prefab was finding its legs a couple of years ago. Then there are some that are so compelling that we just have to show them, such as Scott Specht's 650 square foot Zero House. It generates its own electrical power from that dramatic canopy roof; collects its own water for a rooftop 2700 gallon cistern, and processes its own waste in a composting system at the lowest level. ...

Not long ago we covered the launch of the Rabbit Amnesty, the sex toy recycling campaign set up by UK-based retailer Love Honey. Apparently the scheme is going really well and a tonne of ‘over-loved’ rabbits have already been recovered. While it lacks the sassiness of the first video with its 'Al Gore of sex toys', the latest update from Love Honey News does show exactly what happens to a rabbit when it dies, which can only be a good thing in terms of transparency. For more sexy green fun, check out our guide on How to Green Your Sex Life. ::Love Honey::via Hippy Shopper:: ...

There, now that we have Halloween out of the way we can start concentrating on the next three events on the schedule, one of which is Buy Nothing Day. If you are planning way ahead you can order this charming butterfly roofed modernist wonder, complete with garage and rock garden. Since it is such an important indicator of the value of real estate, at $88 bucks we calculate this to cost $176 per square foot, which is pretty cheap for good modern design. Like many prefabs, delivery is extra. Gingerbread as a structural and cladding material is completely biodegradeable for LEED points (as is the xeriscaped garden) and compostable for C2C certification. ::Red Envelope via ::notcot...

The snow came awfully late last winter, and people are worried about how climate change is going to affect the tourism industry in general. Last month the United Nations World Tourism Organization met at at an international conference on climate change in Davos. Christopher Jones and Daniel Scott write in the Globe and Mail that "tourism has been both a victim and a vector of global climate change. Iconic tourist destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef, the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, the European Alps, the island states of the Seychelles, the Maldives and Mauritius, and the majestic glaciated mountain landscapes from the Rockies to the Andes have all become victims of the rise in global mean temperature of the past 150 years. But the tourism sector has also become a non-negligible contributor to climate change through greenhouse-gas emissions largely from the transport and accommodation of tourists — as much as 5 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions from human activities."...

The Guardian newspaper in the UK is a bit like the mouse that roared; its influence far exceeds its heft and sales. When it comes to writing about environmental and green issues, its writers and depth of coverage can't be beat. But it only sells 380,000 papers a day, compared with the Daily Telegraph's 900,000, so it can't afford to lose advertising revenue. And herein lies its dilemma. The newspaper has carried out a social audit which included a survey of 4,100 readers. Whilst some of it is slightly self-congratulatory, it does reveal the extent to which the paper has considered its readers' views and tried to maintain a balance. The difference between the views of on-line and paper readers is notable, with 81% of paper readers thinking the coverage on climate change was excellent but only 45% of the web readers agreeing. Readers are questioning the contradictions between writing about the horrors of climate change and yet including car advertisements in the paper. They are also questioning travel pieces and car columns and are urging the Guardian not to be hypocritical and reject some ad's. One columnist, George Monbiot, has even advocated a boycott. The Editor warns against this: "Of course you could edit a paper that was rather joyless and hairshirted and puritan and monotone...it is a matter of judgment." He continues "Quality newspapers generally are suffering from losses in circulation and profitability and the simple fact is that all media organisations that are not state subsidised are built on an economic model that relies on advertising, and without it we would all go out of business." An interesting debate for all liberal papers. :: Guardian...

Last week, we wrote about Actics, the ‘ethical Facebook’ and sure enough found another social network to tell you about this week: Razoo! With almost 20.000 members so far, it’s a quick growing community. What this social network is about is simple: ‘unite around making a positive difference in the world’. Razoo believe that passion leads to action and that individual contribution lead to a collective good. To make this happen, a group of entrepreneurs launched Razoo in August this year, with the mission to ‘promote social good and to inspire others to get involved by making giving and serving fun, easy, and meaningful.’ Popular topics at the Razoo community are sustainability, Aids, water, homelessness, education, development, art, human rights and environment, just to give you an idea....

While TreeHugger knows that using what you've got 'til it's gone is the greenest way to go, but we all have to replace our old faithful with new favorites eventually. When that time comes, we want you to know some of the good green ways to go. On this list: dining tables. Used as homework workstation, family gathering place and console for gourmet display and dinner parties galore, your dining table has to work hard, so having one that's durable, versatile and comfortable is important. Apartment dwellers might want to look for the smaller footprints, while families can use more surface area of larger models for more function. No matter what you need, watch out for formaldehyde, polyurethane and other toxic glues and finishes -- which you won't find on this list -- and keep your eyes peeled for wood from sustainable sources, and green alternatives to trees, like bamboo. Choosing a new dining table won't happen every day, so making it count and making it green are important; some of our favorites are below. ...

Maybe you've heard of the Dinosaur Tree? We first noted it back here. The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) was previously only known from fossil records dating back 90 millions years, give or take a day. It was considered to have gone extinct about two millions ago, until rediscovered deep in the wilds of a National Park NW of Sydney, Australia. With less than 100 trees surviving it was decided to keep the location secret and cultivate them for sale through nurseries worldwide to reduce the threat of poaching. This has been a huge success with the pines being a massive hit with the public. How often does one get to give away a once ‘extinct’ species as a Christmas pressie? Another exercise was undertaken a couple of weeks ago to ensure this remarkable plant's continual survival. Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark and National Tree Day brought together Bayer Australia and Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park to plant 120 Wollemi trees and seedlings in a native bushland setting, said to be only 50km from the original rediscovery site. ...

In 2003, London implemented a congestion charge - if you wanted to drive in Central London, you had to pay. New York, or more specifically, Mayor Bloomberg, now wants to do the same. He came to London this week in order to get a feel for how it's going in the UK, and London Mayor, Ken Livingstone apparently explained how it's driven us all to cycling to work instead. ...

When it comes to combining rigorous sustainability standards with high-end design, it doesn't get much better than Q Collection -- see our previous coverage of their excellent work here, here and here as one of TreeHugger's Best Sustainable Designers for more. If you're looking to combine top-notch design with top-to-bottom sustainability considerations, you can't go wrong with Q, so we're excited to see that they've extended their offerings to include Q Collection Junior, a cute line of mod furniture, bedding and accessories that combines beautiful design with very thoroughly considered and impressive sustainable materials and manufacturing. The list of green practices and materials that go in to the collection are all what we look for in sustainable furnishings: FSC-certified and locally-sourced, responsibly-managed wood; formaldehyde-free, water-based, non-toxic adhesives; non-toxic, low-VOC finishes; low-impact, non-toxic, heavy metal-free fabric dyes; 100% organic cotton. And we aren't the only ones to give it a thumbs up: Q Collection Junior is the only children’s furniture and bedding line recommended by Healthy Child Healthy World, a leading non-profit organization helping parents find non-toxic and environmentally friendly products for their children. Q Collection Junior’s cribs are the first (and only, so far) in the world to be certified by the Greenguard Environmental Institute for low-VOC emissions....

Wildflower Organics offers a range of cuffs, earrings, and necklaces fashioned from scrap leather salvaged from a shoe factory in Indonesia. Carved into polished organic shapes and available in either black or mocha hues, the pieces are simple yet striking, and are meant to develop a patina of character with wear. Prices start at $33 for a pair of earrings with sterling-silver hooks. Wildflower Organics See also: ::Greenbelts' Recycled Leather Cuffs, Collars and ::Ashley Watson's Recycled Leather Bags at Beklina...

Trending up: Many commodity prices have risen sharply in 2007, reflecting increased interest in biofuels, strong demand, weather-related events and geopolitical concerns. Source: IMF

On the heels of an ominous report on rising food prices by the FAO comes another warning from a U.N. expert that the rush towards converting crops to biofuels could potentially have a destabilizing effect on global food security and political stability. Jean Ziegler, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has called for a five-year moratorium on the use of crops for biofuels, calling it a “crime against humanity.” Strong words, but they have a ring of sensibility. He voiced concerns that growing production of biofuels is pushing the price of crops to record levels and could lead to more hunger worldwide. ...

We at TreeHugger think HGTV’s show 'Living with Ed' has great potential to educate about green lifestyles, and we met up with Ed Begly earlier this year for an interview. This week we were pleased to learn that the show won an Environmental Media Association Award for best Reality Primetime Program. Living with Ed, the series that takes viewers into the lives of six-time Emmy nominated actor and environmentalist, Ed Begley, Jr. and his actress wife, Rachelle Carson took home the Environmental Media Association Award (EMA) on October 24th at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. ...

Photo credit: t-bet

At events where food is served buffet style, I start by surveying the entire selection before I get in line to fill my plate. That way, I don’t take everything that is offered. Instead, I end up only with foods I am most likely to enjoy without straying too far from my dietary goals. When salad is among the offerings, I pile it on the plate first, leaving less room for some of the more caloric selections. Because fruit is usually among the dessert offerings, I eat that first so I have less room and desire for higher-calorie choices....

The folks over at the Porter School for Environmental Studies are organizing a one-day event at the Watec conference tomorrow in Tel Aviv, but with a focus on air pollution and the global "ZeroCarbonCity" campaign. Last time we checked, there were about 6,500 Israeli-based TreeHugger readers. And out of you, there must be a few activists. Right? If you are one of them, slip on your flip-flops, jump on your bike, and head over to the Tel Aviv fairgrounds in north Tel Aviv (beside Luna Park). The ultimate goal of the conference tomorrow is “to commit the Municipality of Tel Aviv to a strategic plan to mitigate global climate change by focusing on transportation's contribution to greenhouse gases,” says Porter’s press release. ...

This clever advert gives drivers something to think about when waiting for the bridge to lower. The car is a lot rarer in Amsterdam than most cities, and it's great to see that, despite that, they still run campaigns like this. ::Wooster Collective...

In today's issue of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry a report from researchers at the University of Kuopio in Finland finds that human urine is a great organic fertilizer for plants, especially cabbages. What makes this post great for today is the fact that the diligent Finnish researchers collected the urine for their experiments by going door to door in the neighborhood. How's that for trick or treat! Then they doused the fresh pee (urine is sterile and contains nitrogen) on rows of cabbages, with a control row of conventionally fertilized cabbage. The researchers found that the peed-on cabbages grew slightly faster and had slightly better biomass than the controls. But lest you think this is all a big joke - the researchers made the cabbages into sauerkraut, and found there was absolutely no difference in taste between the test cabbages and the control cabbages. Especially in poorer parts of the world, the researchers concluded, the ancient art of using urine as a free fertilizer should be revived, and might also increase the use of composting toilets (where the #1 and #2 go to separate bins) to help easily gather the urine. The researchers also said use of urine as a fertilizer is increasing in Finland. ...

We laughed, we cried, but more important, we picked the recycling-loving winners of Etsy's Handmade Halloween Costume Contest. And the winners of the Green category are ...drumroll, please: First place: The Death of a Mermaid User barnabelle wins a $150 Etsy shopping spree and a $100 donation, in her name, to Conservation International. Second place: The Barney Huntress User SewCherie wins a big bag of limited-edition Etsy goodies: T-shirt, poster, postcards, stickers, lip balm, buttons, and a tote bag. Third place: The Ghost of Marie Antoinette User martinichick wins a limited-edition Etsy tote bag. Congratulations, crafters! ::Etsy...

We won't have Laurel Broten to kick around any more as Ontario Minister of the Environment; She of the Garage Mahal and driveway full of SUV's has been dumped in favour of John Gerretsen, an OWM who in his last gig as Minister of Urban Affairs brought us the greenbelt, reform of the Planning Act to help control sprawl, started to rein in the undemocratic and awful Ontario Municipal Board, and generally followed his orders from the Premier without making a fool of himself. David Reevely of the Ottawa Citizen notes on his blog that "A creative, exciting, innovative guy, John Gerretsen ain’t, with no particular background in either economics or environmental policy." Which is a shame, that is exactly what we need. ...

We have seen it before with K9 water; now we find that what every dog wants is Woof Water. "Woof water is requested by name by more dogs than any other brand." Cindy of Avery Beverages notes "A lot of our customers that buy the bottled water, the large bottles, the towns that have heavily chlorinated water, the dogs just won't drink it, so they're giving the dogs spring water and that was part of the genesis of this." What can we say other than we are happy that it wasn't air freighted from the Isle of Dogs. ::Splurch...

Here’s yet another reason for us to get off-island and take a day trip to Boston more often. The recently opened Greenward, located in Cambridge, Mass., is the only eco-boutique in the Boston area that specializes in home essentials, cool gifts and even cosmetics and jewelry. The husband and wife team of Scott Walker and Simone Alpen define their store as “eco-modern.” To them, this means that everything they choose to sell in their shop “is always elegantly designed, attractive, and functional.” They purchase items from companies that fit into at least one of these categories: made from recycled materials, recyclable, made from organic materials, handmade, made from sustainable materials, energy efficient, biodegradable, and educational. If you live in the New England area, you know how difficult it is to find stores with these values. We’ll be stopping by soon, Greenward, on our way to Envi of course. ::Greenward...

If only Snookiepuss and Mrs. Fluffypants knew how to clean up after themselves. Keep pet-food areas neat and organized—and food bowls from sliding all over the kitchen floor—with O.R.E Originals' non-skid mats. Made in the United States from recycled rubber, the mats can be rinsed or wiped clean to take care of those unavoidable spills. Prices start at $7.99. ::The Cat Connection and ::Chimpfeet...

photo from Biking Toronto I missed a remarkable and lengthy article on bike safety by Alan During in Grist, which had some very interesting statistics. As Carectomy notes, skydivers might look for a different form of commute, but bicyling is just about the safest activity you can do.

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85 Year old Liz Moore took a tour of Canada's oil sands. “I was appalled at what I saw—the devastation of the land,” she says of her visit to a Syncrude mine in Fort McMurray, Alberta. “I came home and decided people in the U.S. needed to hear about this, because we’ll be buying more and more oil from Canada.” She could have used a little help from our Fed on the graphics, but her website delivers a powerful message of destruction and environmental depredation. (See also the Guardian here on the subject). It was even more powerful before Oil giant Syncrude and a branch of the Alberta government tried to squash her like a bug. ...

Working Assets, a San Francisco-based pioneering company whose products/services we're covered several times in the past, is getting set to re-launch its mobile phone venture. Christened CREDO Mobile, the newly refashioned mobile division will seek to further empower its activist, progressive customer base by providing it with more ways to assume direct action on various causes. In addition to using a combination of mobile alerts/text messaging campaigns and issue-calibrated marketing, the company will encourage consumers to use its website, "What's Your Credo?", to sound off on the upcoming presidential election. ...

Here's something a little kooky—and more than a little creepy—for your Hump Day Halloween. In the near future, gas prices have skyrocketed to $40 per gallon. An elementary school teacher, trying to discover an alternate fuel source, accidentally stumbles upon a solution: Human blood. (Cue screeching violins.) ::Blood Car See also: ::Possum Death Spree...

It used to be that only people in the dry western part of our country had to worry about drought, and the rest of us could enjoy our lush lawns and long showers, believing that our water supply was endless. Well, guess again. The extreme drought in the Southeast shows that no region of our country is immune to severe water shortages. We’ve all seen the TV footage of the dry lake beds, and every day we hear about cities like Raleigh, NC that have less than 100 days of water left in their dwindling supplies. As our country’s population grows, so do the demands on our rivers and lakes – where most of our drinking water comes from. Paving over watersheds with sprawl is paving our way to water shortages. Water runs off pavement rapidly, instead of soaking into the ground to replenish groundwater supplies. And, global warming is putting an added strain on communities’ water supplies. Hoping for rain is not the solution. Building expensive new dams and engineering massive transfers of water from one watershed to another won’t solve our problems either....

We hope that by posting on this seminal story, first encountered on the Cincinnati Enquirer, more teachers will investigate whether they, prospectively like members of the Texas Teacher's Union, may be dependent in their old age on the perversity of pension funds invested in Chinese coal: mining, shipping, and utilities. The thought of teacher pension funds going into Chinese coal plants is as bad, if not worse, than investing them in toys made with lead paint. One can not possibly argue that the US should take a global lead in mitigating against climate change, regardless of what China does, and allow this situation to go without remedy. We suppose that plenty of other climate-related Gordian investment knots will surface for pension managers in coming months. Thankfully, teachers don't have to involve taxpayers, the kids, or the PTA in the discourse. This one is on investment advisers and teacher liaisons who have either looked the other way, acted in ignorance, or were just disengaged...until now.

American pension and mutual fund money is being invested in the Chinese coal industry, which is lucrative but has a poor record for pollution and worker safety....

We’ve already seen the UK-based I Count coalition putting pressure on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackle climate change, and we’ve written about coalition member People and Planet’s efforts to save the world. Now we hear that I Count are launching a Communities Map, an innovative online networking tool for local organizations and groups in the UK to work together on climate change issues. The map has already gone live with 350 groups from 209 organizations and organizers believe this figure is set to increase as the word spreads. The launch coincides with the UK Government’s draft Climate Change Bill which will be debated in Parliament this autumn and which would commit the country to legally-binding emissions reductions. Ashok Sinha, Director of the I Count campaign, explained what is at stake: ...

Several things probably come to mind when you think about plants: green, life, oxygen, photosynthesis, trees - intelligence, more likely than not, is not one of them. Unless you're Stefano Marcuso, a professor of horticulture at the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV). He runs the only lab in the world dedicated solely to showing that plants are, in fact, intelligent entities. It all depends, of course, on your definition of intelligence. "If you define intelligence as the capacity to solve problems, plants have a lot to teach us. Not only are they 'smart' in how they grow, adapt and thrive, they do it without neuroses. Intelligence isn't only about having a brain." Marcuso is particularly keen on exploring the possible contributions plants could make to our broader scientific knowledge. ...

Practice what you preach. That's what Cook & Fox did when they renovated their offices in Chelsea. They went for LEED Platinum in their conversion of what once was a department store dining room. According to the New York Times: "One of the first things visitors notice when they walk into Cook & Fox is how bright and spacious they feel. Both offices were designed with open architecture and low partitions, so almost all of the desks have window views. These spaces do not have a new-office odor. Cook & Fox filters out 85 percent of the particulate matter, so the air is much healthier than what the employees would breathe walking down Broadway. The paint, carpet and office furniture are all made from materials that do not emit strong chemical odors." More in the ::New York Times ...

That's what John says we should do, but we don't, and we keep writing posts about the doomiest and gloomiest of the climate prognosticators. John thinks that if he is right then our grandchildren are doomed. If he is wrong but we give credibility to him then we hand the denialists a propaganda victory. A scary thought for this Halloween! The commenters had some interesting things to say, who do you agree with?

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We're wondering if proponents of this strategy are aware of how the pushback will come about? NGO's will simply buy a market basket of toys and test lead levels or whatever with private labs, reporting the results without the kind of quality controls and protocols that are needed to obtain accurate and fair results. Right before Christmas of course. Matter of fact, this is going to be a truly fine Christmas season for the reporting of heavy metal content in toys.

The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools... On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord [pictured], the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff. Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.

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We've posted on peak oil dozens of times, peak natural gas a few more, and even peak copper and peak platinum. There's lots more peaking of strategic resources to come, starting with coal, and a lengthy list metals. Recycling of whats in the landfills to get at the metals is bound to result eventually. Doubt it? Have a look at this example of peak coal in action. Back in 2000 the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued this assessment of whats left of Appalachian coal reserves.

"Sufficient high-quality, thick, bituminous resources remain in [Appalachian Basin] coal beds and coal zones to last for the next one to two decades at current production."

In the late 1990s the USGS also published a CD with graphic assessments of US coal reserves status, by region. At that time, USGS estimated that over 90% of the original Appalachian reserves had been fully exploited. Oddly enough, this CD seems to be unavailable or out of print. ...

It started at a farmers' market in Stroud, and happened in the Thames Valley too. Local producers spotted Heinz Farmers' Market soups which claimed to use "selected ingredients inspired by a farmers' market." But they say that this is false advertising and that the company has hijacked the idea of farmers' markets and is mis-using it for commercial gain. As one said "Everything is fresh and local at farmers' markets - and that soup is neither. There's no reason for Heinz to be using the name Farmers' Markets - they are nothing to do with farmers' markets." The national organisation representing over 500 farmers' markets in the UK say that labelling the soup "Farmers' Market" is a blatant exploitation of what a real farmers' market is all about. The usual understanding of a farmers' market is that the products on sale have been grown, reared, caught, or cooked by the stall holder within a 30 mile radius. Heinz is just cashing in on the name. Some Members of Parliament have agreed that this is crass commercialization and have passed a motion condemning Heinz. Others are asking supermarkets to remove it from their shelves. Heinz says the soups are made with ingredients grown on British farms and the term is not copyrighted or registered. :: Financial Times...

I recently had the opportunity to interview one of the people I've come to recognize is making an inordinate contribution to the greening of schools across America and even around the globe. She's a mother and former PTA President turned environmental activist; and her organization, the Go Green Initiative, has been extremely successful at the incredibly important task of garnering the support of PTA's across the country. As you can see from her answer to my first question, her organization is literally growing at warp speed. And to put it as succinctly as I know how to do, the fact is that she's succeeding tremendously in ways that some of the traditional, large, eco-conglomerate non-profits quite understandably wish they were doing themselves. So check out what she has to say, because I think you're going to be as impressed as I have been by her insight into the process of reaching kids and parents about the importance of protecting the environment. TreeHugger: First I’d like you to describe for us what the Go Green Initiative is, and how it’s making a difference in schools and communities throughout the 41 states and 4 countries that currently have schools taking part in the program today. Jill Buck: Actually, we’re now in 46 states, 10 countries and on 4 continents! We continue to grow by leaps and bounds every week! The GGI is a fully comprehensive, one-stop-shopping program that allows schools to examine every conceivable aspect of their environmental impact. It is entirely free to schools, because we want the program to be accessible to communities, regardless of their resources. The GGI is not a curriculum; we realize that many schools simply cannot add any additional instructional minutes to their day. Instead, the GGI is a framework that helps schools examine their current situation, and set their own goals and objectives around environmental stewardship. My organization is set up to help them meet those goals and objectives. We use the “Home Depot” approach: you can do it, we can help. TH: When we talked by phone you pointed out that in many ways it’s a clearing house for access to programs and activities that are already going on… How does that make it easier for schools who want to go green? JB: Schools in our network never feel alone. If they have a question, or run into an obstacle, they can call us or email us, and we will either answer their question directly, or find the person who can. Because we have so many partners worldwide, we have an excellent database of people in every locale who are ready, willing and able to help schools “go green” no matter where they are. In the past, schools often felt like the “Lone Ranger” when they took steps to green their campuses. Under the Go Green Initiative umbrella, our schools work together with our partners to share great ideas and resources that schools working independently might not be able to access. The Go Green Initiative is truly a team effort! ...

TreeHugger is quite aware that we as a society can't sit back and shop our way to global sustainability; while buying greener products is a step in the right direction, it's not a cure-all or a behavior to engage in blindly, while writing off our other various environmental missteps. Still, we all need stuff, and we all consume it every day. When those moments of necessary consumption arise, we want you to be ready to pull the trigger in the greenest way possible, without sacrificing your aesthetic needs. Buying a sofa is not something each of us will do very often, so it's important to make the decision count. Be on the lookout for sustainably-sourced wood, green textiles, non-toxic finishes -- to help ward off indoor air pollution, the silent bane of many interior products -- and the sometimes under-appreciated facet of sustainable products: longevity. Our choices are built to last and designed to not fall out of style with any passing fad, so, should you buy one, you can keep your pick for many, many years and perhaps pass it along to another generation of TreeHuggers. Have a seat and prepare to get comfy, beneath the fold....

How does a day full of straight from the farmer organic food, solar oven cooking, and a band playing with solar-powered equipment held at a local outdoor market sound? To us, it sounds like a party worthy of November's Step It Up America event. Held in Cincinnati's Findlay Market (a TreeHugger-worthy gem built in 1852), this addition to the November 3rd Step It Up festivities includes solar-cooked food, music by the Three Greengos and informational booths covering activities from solar power to organic farming. You can check to see what events are happening in your city on November 3rd by going to the Step It Up 2007 website. Via ::Findlay Market ...

2,500 -- the "water footprint" of the US, in cubic meters per capita, according to Waterfootprint.org. 660,430 -- the equivalent in US gallons per person per year. Compare that to 700 cubic meters per year per capita (184,920 gallons) in China and 1150 cubic meters per year per capita (303,798 gallons) in Japan. According to the site, "The water footprint of a nation shows the total volume of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation. Since not all goods consumed in one particular country are produced in that country, the water footprint consists of two parts: use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes both the water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production)." ::Water Footprint...

TreeHugger is undoubtedly psyched about electric vehicles such as the Tesla and Volt coming down the pipeline. However, it seems one critical piece of the electric car puzzle has been notably absent - how do you fill 'er up? Sure, if you live in an area where you can recharge through an outlet in your garage, things look good. However, for the rest of us, electric cars are impractical without some sort of infrastructure to get electricity from the grid into our batteries. Luckily, charging stations may be on the horizon. Yesterday, Project Better Place announced plans to provide a system of charging and battery exchange stations throughout the world. ...

In part two of our interview with the author of Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of Future, Vijay Vaitheeswaran explains why hydrogen is not a red herring (and how Who Killed the Electric Car? got it wrong), how infighting is holding back the clean energy revolution, and anticipates the divorce of cars and oil. Zoom is now a finalist in the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or listen/right-click to download. (Listen to part one here. ) ...

Organic food is usually more expensive than its conventional counterparts, so, are you getting more for your money? We think so; check out some of our picks explaining the benefits of eating organic.

	1) First of all, what goes in (and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn't go in) to organic food? Get the scoop on what it means to be organic (and how your food gets the seal of approval) in our Green Basics column about organic food. If "7 C.F.R. Part 205" doesn't mean anything to you, or you're looking for the finer points of avoiding chemical preservatives (and figuring out how the government is involved in your food), this is the place to figure it out.
	2) Now that we've established what organic food is, what does an organic diet do for you? Is it healthier? What are you consuming (and not consuming) by eating organic? We sort it all out in this "Ask TreeHugger" column; the short answer is: Yes, organic food is more healthy than conventionally grown food. A growing number of scientific studies have shown that exposures to even small amounts of pesticides are harmful, especially to young children, but that certainly isn't the whole story.
	3) You don't have to take our word for it, though; after £12M and four years of study, it has been announced that organic fruit, vegetables and milk are more nutritious than those that are non-organically produced. Researchers on the European Union study found that "the health benefits were so striking that moving to organic food was the equivalent of eating an extra portion of fruit and vegetables every day." Two more picks, below the fold.

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Electricity-producing roads, a zero-energy home and a smart rainwater collector (the last two are pictured above) are just a few of the cool sustainable designs entered in NASA's Create the Future Design Contest. The contest, which tasks entrants to "Demonstrate your design and engineering skills. Share your best ideas for new products. Compete and win great prizes. Become famous.", rewards the best ideas for new products, and celebrates breakthrough thinking about problems of all kinds, large and small. The entrant period ended a few weeks back, but there's lots of good stuff to see and do before they select a winner in January 2008, including the competition for the Top Ten Most Visited Entries, which continues through December 31, 2007. There's an entire category for sustainable technology, and some pretty interesting, green entries in the "transportation" category as well. If they can put a man on the moon, they can find the next big sustainable breakthrough; see all the entries here. ::NASA's Create the Future Design Contest via ::Cool Hunting...

Let's face it, more than a handful of us have a couple of loud aloha shirts moldering in the back of our closets, sequestered from the light of day. Rather than see them dumped at a landfill once the summer romance has cooled, Denise Tjarks rehabilitates used aloha shirts, as well as vintage muumuus and fabric remnants, into foxy purses that are sure to ward off the oncoming winter gloom. And, because the bags are reversible, it's like getting two totes for the price of one. Bags start at $48. ::::Denise Tjarks See also: ::Muumuu Heaven: Reused Aloha Wear...

Likemind is an early-morning gathering of people who enjoy good conversation and free coffee. The monthly meetups have traditionally stayed away from structure and themes, allowing the participants to define the feel of each event through their informal interactions. Founders Piers Fawkes and Noah Brier tried something different this month though, and asked this question to Likeminds around the world:

"If you were to rebuild your city from scratch, how would you build it differently and what would you keep the same?"

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Ceramic artist and designer Diane Fayet will be exhibiting at The Candy Store in San Francisco starting next Thursday, Nov. 8. Folklore is a series of "kerchiefed old world ladies" drawn, painted, and collaged onto used cardboard envelopes Fayet has collected from friends all over the world. Through her work, Fayet hopes to share her love of the aged, unadorned face, along with the "provenance of our lives woven together by time, culture and the people we come in contact with." More sneak peeks below the fold. ::Design Sponge...

abandoned building in Buffalo Yesterday we wrote "Nobody should be allowed to neglect a building until it falls down;. Use it or lose it." We also have complained before about demolition by neglect, and said there aughta be a law. Turns out, there is precedent for this; In London's borough of Islington, they have a "Use it or lose it" law. It's part of "a massive initiative to bring as many of these abandoned resources back into use." Local Councillor Terry Stacey said: "Empty properties are ghastly eyesores, and attractive only to those intent on crime. All too often an empty property can become a haven for squatters, prostitutes or drug dens. This is a criminal waste - particularly when there is a national shortage of accommodation for people in housing need." If the council is unable to persuade the property owners to take pride in their properties, a dedicated officer has the power to force the landlord into a compulsory purchase or compulsory leasing scheme. ::Islington ...

We have mentioned Durapalm before in passing; it is made from "plantation grown coconut palms, which are in abundance throughout much of the world. Palms produce nuts for up to 80 years, then non-producing palms are removed and replaced....as the rainforest continues to be tapped for timber needs, coconut palms have been an overlooked and under utilized resource. We hope that palmwood will one day be recognized as a valuable building resource and help reduce rainforest harvesting" It was interesting as a formaldehyde free plywood, but Smith and Fong now make it in a neat looking woven pattern. ::Smith and Fong via K+BB Green...

Italy, birth place of Slow Food and Slow Cities, is also the most popular destination for a new Scandinavian trend - charter trips...by slow train. Charter travel - with the image of a gaggle of tourists sporting matching flight bags and following a harried trip leader - is ingrained in popular culture here. But as Europe's climate conscience grows, charter trips have also been criticized for their contribution to carbon dioxide emissions. At the beginning of this summer season one of Sweden's largest charter companies, Fritidsresor, tentatively offered a total of 80 charter spaces by train to Lake Garda in Italy - the spots were sold out in hours! Gearing up for the 2008 summer season, two Swedish companies will offer a total of about 8,000 different charter train trips - where the travel, lodging and most meals are all included. While charter train trips can be a little bit cheaper - perhaps $150 U.S. out of a total $800 - $1,000 price tag - they are also a lot slower....

Laura Allen (left, with Cleo Woelfe-Erskine and a bathtub wetland), Oakland, California

I was living in a big home with seven other people, and we were starting to garden. My housemate Cleo and I realized that our household was using an incredible amount of water. The average American uses 50 to 70 gallons of water per day, just inside the home. If you include the yard and lawn, it's almost double. It seems crazy how much we waste. So I wondered if there was a way to reuse our sink water to irrigate. Through trial and error, we figured out how to create a gray-water system, which means taking the water from your sinks, showers, or washing machine and directing it into your yard. I took a plumbing class, and we set up a little wetland in a bathtub in the yard to filter the water. We were able to cut our water use in half....

I know, gold doesn't tarnish, but we certainly have always looked at certification by the Forest Stewardship Council to be the best there is. That doesn't mean that it is perfect; The Wall Street Journal notes that if you set the bar too high, then you don't get anyone reaching for it. Thus one can now buy paper with an FSC label on it, but only 50% of the pulp has to come from certified forests, the rest can come from "mixed sources" Then there is Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd. -- one of the largest paper companies in the developing world and a target of criticism for its forestry practices. Environmentalists have charged that APP has devastated a Delaware-size portion of natural forest on Indonesia's Sumatra island, putting the survival of orangutan, tiger and elephant species there at risk. Yet it got certification for a 472,000 acre tree plantation....

Nathan Shedroff, a graduate of the Presidio School of Management's Sustainable MBA program, recently presented at the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) conference in San Francisco. He says “Design is a big part of the sustainability problems in the world. Design has been focused on creating meaningless (often), disposable (though not responsibly so), trend-laden fashion items—all design. Graphic design is particularly bad, though paper materials, at least, have a huge potential to fix this problem.” He has put his remarkable presentation online as a PDF which is worth seeing. ::Nathan.com via ::Designverb ...

Wandering around a bookshop yesterday we espied a book not seen before. Cool Hunting Green. Wow, our initial thought being that our mates at the Cool Hunting blog have simultaneously gone print and green. Picking up the squat, squarish volume—subtitled ‘Recycled, repurposed and renewable objects that inspire a greener world’—and thumbing through it reminded this writer of TreeHugger’s early days. Back when we focussed on funky green design, before expanding into the broader eco lifestyle realm. In fact, the pages of the book brought on a definite sense of déjà vu. Minimal words combined with bright, clean photography of unusual green objects, both the functional and the artistic. The bulk of which looked as if they’ve previously graced the pixels of this site. Like Liana Kabel’s lolly-like recycled jewellery, which graces the cover of both editions. Yep, two versions. ‘Cos, you see, Cool Hunting Green seems to have no tie to the Cool Hunting website at all, and, maybe due to this, in the USA, where it is due for release today, it will be known as ‘Cool Green Stuff: A Guide to Finding Great Recycled, Sustainable, Renewable Objects You Will Love.’ ...

TreeHugger has been all over the evils of Triclosan and antimicrobial cleaners before, but with the scary new reports of schoolkids dying from infections from drug-resistant bacteria, the stuff is flying off the shelves as panicky parents dose their kids with it. The New York Times notes that this could just be making the problem worse. "Some recent laboratory studies suggest that antibacterial products containing triclosan may not be the best way to stay clean. Instead of wiping out bacteria randomly, the way regular soap or alcohol-based products do, triclosan may inhibit the growth of bacteria in a way that leaves a larger proportion of resistant bacteria behind." They recommend instead "basic hygiene — washing hands or using alcohol-based sanitizers, keeping scrapes covered until healed and refraining from sharing personal items like towels and cosmetics." ::New York Times Read more TreeHugger about how Triclosan is a gender bender, how it is in too many of the things that we use, and it doesn't even work. ...

Talk about your ugly positive feedbacks: according to a team of researchers based at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, a source of methane - which likely originated during the last ice age - has surfaced in the Arctic, a likely result of global warming's thawing effect on the permafrost. Methane bubbling from this source could have accounted for up to 87% of the observed spike in atmospheric methane.

“It tells us that this isn’t just something that is ongoing now. It would have been a positive feedback to climate warming then, as it is today. We estimate that as much as 10 times the amount of methane that is currently in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes as permafrost thaws in the future. The timing of this emission is uncertain, but likely we are talking about a time frame of hundreds to thousands of years, if climate warming continues as projected,” said lead scientist, Katey Walter, whose study appeared in last week's issue of Science.

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That polio is still disabling people in this day and age is an unfortunate reality, but a group of victims in Tanzania has not let it stop them from becoming pioneering eco-artists. In 2004, they joined together to form a welding workshop in Dar es Salaam called Wonder Welders. With assistance from a local welding expert, they learned how to weld using recycled scrap metal, transforming the waste material into animals, like this lovely elephant; birds; and boats, which were sold locally. The welders are now fully self-sufficient and receive special commissions from national and international buyers. In the last two years, they have expanded the project to include handmade recycled paper and paper products, handmade wooden toys made from sustainably-harvested Tanzanian woods like coconut and mpodo and natural handmade soaps. Wonder Welders employs 27 people on a full-time basis and the sales of the items sustains the project and pays them all a good salary so that they can support themselves and their families, according to the web site. Wonder Welders' products are available at six shops in Dar, including the welders' workshop, and Trade Routes, a shop in Arusha, Tanzania.:: Via Wonder Welders ...

One gets a lot of junk mail as an architect, including some very strange and specialized magazines dedicated to ductwork, fire safety and even as obscure as "Coverings: Canada's floor covering magazine." In that august journal we learned that in the interest of saving a few bucks, workers are being constantly exposed to volatile organic compounds often without any personal protective equipment and working with products that can easily blow up in their face and kill them. After three deaths and 25 fires in Massachusetts, the State set up a commission which found that most installers were using $9 per tin lacquer sealer instead of $40 water based sealer; they say that it dries faster and requires less skill to apply. It also can be set off by static electricity- "simply pouring liquid from one container to another can create enough friction to cause sparks." One installer who barely survived noted that some sealers are 80% solvent "A gallon of lacquer on the floor is like pouring three quarts of gasoline in your basement." The commission also found that "Floor finishing can also cause health problems such as headaches, dizziness, and even damage to the nervous system when people inhale the solvents over a period of time." So next time you finish your floors, make sure to use water-based sealers. ::Coverings and ::Masscosh ...

Sustainability. Energy efficiency. Green building. All buzz words that are now a part of our daily conversations. Yet do people really know what they mean? More importantly, why is business rallying around sustainability and being “green”?

From our point of view, the practice of sustainability focuses on providing the best outcomes for the human and natural environments, now and into the future. This concept, or practice, serves as the cornerstone for Business Roundtable’s S.E.E. Change (Social, Environment and the Economy) Initiative and represents how our member companies and other businesses can “do well by doing good.” Through S.E.E. Change, we’re focusing on high-priority environmental and social challenges, such as enhancing water conservation and quality, using energy more efficiently, increasing transportation mobility and helping eradicate disease and poverty.

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Professor James Lovelock's growing cynicism about the future of Earth seems to be inadvertently setting the political trap being built by the climate change denialists, who are poised for the "its too late...why worry" strategy. If Professor Lovelock is correct in his assertion that it is indeed too late to prevent a climate catastrophe, our great grand children are doomed. But, if he is wrong in this single minded view, and if we lend credibility to his throw-in-the-towel stance, we drive the future in a direction where apocalypse is assured by handing the denialists a propaganda victory before the real political battle of Kyoto II ensues. Rejection of his thesis is different than ignoring fate. It is a strategy of love. There's no need to prove or challenge: just ignore it....

Beating out other perennial favorites such as Harriet, the Galapagos land tortoise - who, before she passed away at a little over 175 years, seemed almost sprightly by comparison - an ocean quahog clam, affectionately named "Ming" (after the Chinese dynasty in power when it was born), has laid claim to the vaunted title of "world's longest-lived animal". Clocking in at around 405 years, Ming was plucked off the seafloor near Iceland's north coast by a team of researchers from Wales' Bangor University. The clam was apparently still alive when the scientists initially dredged it up - to date it, however, they were forced to cut through the shell to count the growth rings. Acknowledging the sad irony, the scientists expressed hope that they could glean information about long-livelihood and senescence - the process of growing old - from the diminutive mollusc. ...

What can you do with £1000? This is the question the awareness raising organisation Anti-Apathy (Worn Again) is asking the good people of the UK this month. They have launched the Fix World Feel Good Awards which gives out grants of £1000 each to people, "Who can show that a small amount of money can be used to make a difference." Today the winners of the first batch of prizes will be announced and from November one grant will be given out each month until March 2008. Anti-Apathy are working together with UnLtd*, The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, to help people get their great ideas off the ground. Anti-Apathy say, "We are looking for ideas that fit with our ‘world-saving made simple’ online creation, The Nag. Themes from the project include energy, fashion, water, flying and food. What's the problem and how do you aim to fix it? Projects must be environmentally-focussed while also having a positive social impact. Applications will be judged on originality, motivation, achievability and impact." Get those green thinking caps on! :: Anti-Apathy :: The Nag ...

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, and displaced residents are slowly starting to find their way home in the Gulf region, thanks to initiatives such as the Katrina Cottage or ongoing efforts like Brad Pitt's Make it Right project. But the struggle to find basic goods and services continues. Metropolis Magazine and prefabricated design/build firm Modern Modular have announced a major plan to launch cheap, sustainable, prefabricated retail outlets. In its first phase, the Retail Deployment Initiative (ReDI) will provide 3,000-square-foot structures in five New Orleans neighborhoods still without local access to essentials such as groceries, clothing, telephone, and other communications services/equipment, according to Metropolis. ...

A developer-sensitive plan requires the drawing of a target around the spent arrow, so to speak. In the USA, this has become a high art form. In the last 30 years, Atlanta has hit the bullseye several times (see story excerpts below). It'll be interesting to see if Georgia's Mega-Mansion fever can again take first place with a Western-style water crisis underway -- in a place that normally gets 50 inches of rain per year. Design and building code changes anyone?

After years of lax zoning laws and pro-growth policies that led to urban sprawl throughout much of northern Georgia, politicians are preparing a statewide water plan that would guide Georgia's growth and provide emergency drought plans....

In a textbook case of NIMBYism, the fashion icon Tom Ford has launched a private campaign to prevent oil exploration near his New Mexico ranch. When Tecton Energy announced plans to drill exploratory wells near Ford’s Gallisteo property, the designer asked the Land Office not to sell oil and gas leases on the public lands near his ranch. The Office was not persuaded by Ford’s legendary charm, so instead he paid $84,000 to purchase the mineral rights to more than 1,400 acres in the public trust. The quasi-irony and attending NIMBYism of the situation derives from an earlier controversy on the same parcel of land when Ford tussled with neighbors over plans to build a 14,000-square-foot hacienda on the property. Ultimately victorious, Ford won approval from the Historic Design Review Board to build the hilltop home. ...

We told you once, we told you twice, and here is it is again: organic food is healthier. After £12M and four years of study, it has been announced that organic fruit, vegetables and milk are more nutritious than non-organically produced. They may also contain higher concentrations of antioxidants which ward off cancer and heart disease.Apparently, "the health benefits were so striking that moving to organic food was the equivalent of eating an extra portion of fruit and vegetables every day." Researchers on the European Union study grew both organic and regular fruit and vegetables side by side on a site in Northumberland and compared factors such as nutritional quality. Produce compared included cabbages, lettuces, carrots, potatoes and wheat. The early results of the study carried out by Newcastle University show that organic fruit and vegetables have up to 40 per cent more antioxidants than non-organically grown produce. Also found in greater quantities in organic produce were vitamin C, and trace elements such as iron, copper and zinc. Even greater contrasts were found for milk, with organic milk containing between 50% and 80% more antioxidants and healthy fatty acids. The Food Standards Agency has so far refused to acknowledge any benefits of eating organic, but have now said that they will review the evidence. Thanks guys. :: Guardian...

Looks like students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) are crazy about green transportation. Just a few weeks ago, we informed you about a group that had designed a hybrid car prototype, and now another team of students has come up with an electric cab concept. The responsible designers are Karina Aguilar and Cesar Rivas, coursing Industrial Design at the FES faculty of the UNAM. Their idea was to create a taxi for short distances that could be green, high performance, secure and attractive for users. The resulting vehicle is mounted on a M6 Moldeco platform, has an electric motor of 48 volts HP10 hp 1125 rpm in the back, and space for the cab rider and two passengers. Its source is a 6-8 volts battery with a duration of 117 minutes, which is charged through an automatic 48 volts charger in an eight hour period, via a common household socket. Its cost is 45 thousand Mexican pesos, which is about 4200 US dollars....

Solarcentury is never far from our thoughts here at TreeHugger. Just recently we’ve covered the company’s latest investment drive to fund its product development and international expansion plans, and we’ve written about the opening of an office in Spain. Now we hear that these UK pioneers of clean energy are helping green the greatest of all British institutions, the pub. Working with major pub chain JD Wetherspoons, Solarcentury have provided their solar roofing tiles to the Kettleby Cross, a groundbreaking ‘green pub’ that also features a wind turbine (which looks from the picture to be the long-awaited Quite Revolution vertical axis turbine which we wrote about here), under floor cooling, and rainwater harvesting for flushing the toilets. Chris Large, JD Wetherspoon’s New Development Manager, described the impetus behind the project: ...

Well folks, the students and faculty at Montclair State University in New Jersey recently celebrated the fact that they’re newest eco-toy is up and running. And that means it’s busy breaking down the food waste generated on campus and turning it into fresh compost in just 2 days time! It’s one of a very few university-based aerobic digesters in the country, and the vessel itself can process a total of 2 cubic yards (approximately 2 tons) of food residue daily. Amazingly, it costs just 3 bucks a day to run. ...

I’ve got to be honest, there’s no end to the intrigue when marketing guru’s at big companies everywhere start sensing the opportunity to capitalize on the growing green movement. So call me a skeptic, but I am really enjoying the process of observing the latest cooperation between the makers of “Bee Movie” and the people at McDonald’s, with Conservation International thrown in for good measure. Apparently, they’re all cooperating to get kids to go outside, exercise, and “Bee Good to the Planet”. Well, that sounds just fine to me… Though I must confess to a certain bit of wonderment at the idea of pushing a cheeseburger and a movie as a part of going green. ...

At TreeHugger we love plants whether as vertical gardens, Guerrilla Gardening, Urban Vegetable Garden or air purifiers. Dutch designer Marcel Wanders (who also designed Stand In Front Of This Microwave) created yet another object that can be greened: the swing! The seat of Swing With The Plants serves as a planter from which vines grow up the ropes. ‘It becomes a poetic resting place for either your garden or your living room’, Droog explains. Wanders' statement is more like this:

I believe that every girl dreams to be a beautiful princess, hoping for her prince to come, swinging gently in a summer garden on a green covered swing full of green glossy leafs and fresh white flowers.

So, all you princesses out there- get swinging! Ah, that is if you can afford to; the swing costs 295€ and is made from polyethylene and nylon ropes. Via: Droog ::Marcel Wanders ...

Wegman's Food Markets has announced a first-of-its-kind purchasing policy for farmed shrimp that includes "comprehensive and rigorous environmental standards" that will up the ante for the seafood industry and other U.S. retailers, according to a press release. The family-owned 71-store supermarket chain, which has stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland, has partnered with the non-profit Environmental Defense to create new purchasing standards that require farmed-shrimp producers to eliminate the use of antibiotics and other chemicals, avoid damaging sensitive habitats, treat their waste water, and reduce the use of wild fish to feed shrimp. (Fun fact: Americans consume an average of 4.4 pounds per person per annum.)...

Fed up with climate change deniers bombarding you with those annoying questions? Tired of defending Al Gore? Check out these top 10 comebacks and you'll win any eco-themed argument! The holidays are almost here, and you know what that means: another year to shop less and live more with Buy Nothing Day. Created for the LA Auto Show Design Challenge, the Toyota BioMobile Mecha Concept uses pollution as energy source. Fisker Automotive throws their hat into the green car ring, with the announcement of a plug-in luxury hybrid with a price tag near six figures. Wild-caught salmon is a greener choice than farmed salmon, right? Not if this post has anything to say about it. But it turns out that this thread contains more than meets the eye. Most Huggable is a daily roundup of some of Hugg’s top stories. Why not submit your own green news?...

Here's what's going down at TreeHugger Forums, which never takes the weekend off.

1) Forums user GreenTraveler wants to talk about the best fuel for the future. "Personally I think the hydrogen fuel cell should be researched and developed to become our new source of transportation. What are the problems with this? I know the price is one, but does anyone know why it is so expensive?" This is a big debate that's been going on a long time; does hydrogen have a shot at taking over as the future fuel? Let's talk it out.

2) User jumpy is pondering some questions about the details of recycling. "I was wondering what everyone has to say about the reasons some say curbside recycling is bad (for example, b/c of the extra trucks that come around to pick it all up). Just thought it might be interesting to see what everyone has heard. My community recently voted to have curbside recycling, and I'm excited, but wondering if maybe there is a dark side to curbside recycling."

3) Lastly, Forums user mrs.kaa brings up an interesting topic about which form of alternative, renewable energy is the most green. "I am switiching to either wind energy, hydro energy, or a combo of wind and bioenergy. However, their website is hard to navigate. Can anyone tell me what 'bioenergy' might be? I want to make the best choice." Wind energy fans, hydro boosters and bioenergy buffs, this thread is for 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....

Not every building is an architectural gem; some are background buildings and some are foreground. Preservationists usually concentrate on the foreground ones, but every building tells a story. Fans of classic American architecture, E.L. Doctorow and Garth Drabinsky will know the story of 22 West 24th Street in New York; it didn't look like much,but Stanford White of McKim, Meade and White had a lovely little love nest there, as architects are wont to do. It had a two storey space and a cute red velvet swing. In 2003 it was hit by a fire; it has been boarded up ever since. Two weeks ago the Buildings Department "expressed concerns about the building's stability"- the other day someone leaned on it and it is gone. It is a tawdry story, both Stanford White's and the demise of this building. Nobody should be allowed to neglect a building until it falls down; they are lucky nobody was killed. Use it or lose it. ::New York Times ...

Many of you - almost ~~twenty~~ thirty thousands on some days - are keeping track of the latest new posts on TreeHugger via RSS (our feed is here, select your subscription option from the drop-down menu near the top of the page. You can also subscribe to the Hugg feed and the TreeHugger Radio feed), but for those who prefer the old-school way, we also have two email newsletters. The daily is sent, well, daily. It's compact and delicious with 4 featured posts. It's not everything, but it gives you a taste of what happened on TreeHugger that day. The weekly version goes out once a week and features a broad overview of the past 7 days. You can sign up for one or both newsletters here. We're considering adding a third version which would be a daily, but with everything that was posted on the site that day. Does that interest anybody? Is there demand for it? Please let us know in the comments....

We aren't sure whether to laugh or cry at this news: almost half of people living with home-assembled flat-pack furniture are in danger of falling out of bed or collapsing when they sit on a chair. This according to a UK survey compiled with data collected from 2,000 homeowners by the online trades directory RatedPeople.com; apparently, "haste and over-confidence have turned the relatively simple system into one of the biggest potential sources of home accidents," according to the Guardian. Survey says: 67% of male flat pack buyers fail to read the instructions, and women are far more cautious, spending an average of 12 minutes preparing; still, 47% of all jobs are never properly finished. TreeHugger loves flat pack furnishings -- they're so easy to ship, and many fit the future-looking downloadable design paradigm -- but the end-user variable is a necessary consideration. Folks, please, let's not give flat pack a bad name; there's no shame in reading the instructions or even asking for help. So grab that allen wrench and start and number one to avoid becoming a flat-pack statistic. ::Rated People via ::Guardian...

Aye or nay on this gift idea, folks? Method is giving away a sassy Danny Seo-designed reusable tote with every purchase of its Home for the Holidays kit ($40) and The Party Prep kit ($20), both of which include an assortment of Method's cleaning and fragrance products you can tempt your not-so-green friends with. The bags, which fold into zippered pouches (included), are made from 100 percent polyester—hence our ambivalence; we'd preferred to have seen recycled PET or a sustainable fiber like organic cotton and hemp—in factories in China Method assures us meet strict guidelines for the safety of its workers, fair wages, and environmental practices. Do we want our bags to be more well-traveled than us? We're just glad that the Anya Hindmarch insanity is over. ::Method Full disclosure: Method was a TreeHugger advertiser as of press time....

After reading our quotes from Prince Charles- "The simple fact is that combatting deforestation is likely to be one of the quickest and most cost-effective means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions" and our post on construction-"Wood can be the perfect sustainable material; it sucks up CO2 and once cut, it holds it for the life of the building." a reader writes: " I was going through the feed today and noticed a story that made me think about the other. the wood construction story is almost a contradiction of the Prince Charles story. How do both of these stories fit together at the site?...they both make sense...and yet they are at odds." I don't believe that there is any contradiction here. HRH is talking about the burning of forests, particularly the rainforest, to clear land for agriculture (including palm oil plantations) or to use as fuel. There is also rainforest habitat loss due to illegal logging of exotic woods for architectural uses....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced new rules for labeling meat from grass-fed livestock. The rules stipulate that meat labeled "grass fed" must come from animals fed solely on grasses, hay and other non-grain vegetation. This label will help consumers choose meat from 'smart pasture operations' that are better for the environment. Unlike massive confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), these farms use sophisticated land management practices to maximize productivity without despoiling our air, water and soil. Raising livestock on pastures avoids the crowding and illnesses that plague livestock in CAFOs. Modern grass-fed methods are also more cost-effective and environmentally friendly because they take advantage of low-cost grasses that typically require little added water, and few or no synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. A growing number of farmers across the country are now turning to this modern approach to livestock production....

Now that we've covered all three primers associated with the Pure Waste Challenge, presented by the Hinkle Charitable Fund (HCF) -- change to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, upgrade to a tankless water heater and stop unnecessary engine idle -- we wanted to remind anyone who hasn't to consider taking the challenge, and taking action to help stop global warming and benefit a worthy green non-profit at the same time. It's super-easy; all you have to do is: 1) Read the primers, either here or here on TreeHugger. 2) Commit to thinking about changing your behavior, based on the three primers. Nothing life-altering, but meaningful changes, for sure. 3) Act and confirm your commitment by sending a quick email to purewaste(at)thehcf(dot)org with your name and email....

In association with its 15th annual environmental conference next spring, the National Tribal Environmental Council (NTEC), a non-profit based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will launch its new own Global Green Indigenous Film Festival from April 18-20, 2008. The National Tribal Environmental Council is an organization that has been working to “enhance each tribe's ability to protect, preserve and promote the wise management of air, land and water for the benefit of current and future generations (from website),” and currently has a membership of 184 tribes. "For nearly 20 years, NTEC has been working with and assisting tribes throughout the country to protect, regulate and manage their environmental resources," said Jerry Pardilla, NTEC’s executive director. "An international film festival of this caliber adds a new dimension that will bring innovative ideas together as a means for protecting the environment that the global community can benefit from." The festival will be held at El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe, in partnership with the New Mexico Tourism Department. NTEC is now accepting film and video submissions that address indigenous environmental issues from all countries for the festival. Deadline is January 18, 2008. For more information please go to NTEC’s website here. ::New Mexico Business Weekly...

[This is a post by Vikash Singh.] I love the way Janine Benyus put it a few years back, “…if we were migrating birds, this would be our staging ground, where we come and talk about what we hatched this year and what breeding was like.” A conglomeration of the intelligentsias of the sustainable movement convened again this year in San Rafael, CA for an inspirational weekend of moving speakers (Van Jones, Majora Carter, Winona Laduke…), educational sessions, and motivational stories. The event was also beamed out to 17 other satellite conferences taking place across the country. ...

The toilet. What a remarkably civilized invention. But it is flawed, as I discuss in Plan B 2.0 (free online). The current engineering concept for dealing with human waste is to use vast quantities of water to wash it away, preferably into a sewer system where it will be treated before being discharged into the local river. This “flush and forget” system is expensive and water-intensive, disrupts the nutrient cycle, and is a major source of disease in developing countries. Water-based sewage systems take nutrients originating in the soil and typically dump them into rivers, lakes, or the sea. Not only are the nutrients lost from agriculture, but the nutrient overload has led to the death of many rivers and to the formation of some 200 dead zones in ocean coastal regions. ...

So many neat ideas on the web; Ideablob is a website where people with ideas for a venture can compete for $10,000 bucks every month. It is all so Web 2.0, with the jury being the website viewers. What is interesting to TreeHugger is that quite a few of the ideas are for good causes or green businesses. When Scott Stadum was in the Peace Corps, his primary project was with the World Wildlife Fund; he worked to teach miners more environmental friendly methods of mining (non-mercury based), sustainable logging and in general environmental outreach. He tells us that most most Peace Corps volunteer projects aim to be sustainable and green; volunteers look to use the least amount of resources to accomplish the most amount of good. Scott wants the 10K to build a Facebook app to connect Peace Corps projects around the world to Facebook users that have time, energy or resources to adopt a project. Seems like a better use of 10K than glow-in-the-dark pacifiers. So register and let's pack the ballot box for the Peace Corps at ::Ideablob *Caveat: Ideablob was set up by a credit card company "as a tool to help small business owners and entrepreneurs." Their privacy statement says that they may use the information collected (when you register) for their own purposes. ...

Summer's long gone. But take a fall walk in nature up here in Scandinavia (the original 'land of lakes') and you are likely to stumble upon copious reminders of the season just past - including the twisted and charred metal remains of the Swedish-invented 'engångsgrill' or 'one-time grill.' One-time grills are book-sized portable charcoal grills housed in an aluminum tray and then wrapped in plastic, and are ubiquitous at every corner store and gas station here in the warmer months, as Swedes head into nature to commune...and to roast their weenies. But one-time grills have become a huge environmental nuisance. Unfortunately spent grills litter the shores of Swedish beaches and lakesides, if they aren't smoldering and starting fires in garbage cans. ...

Haven't you always wanted to express your unyielding sorrow over the treatment of our coasts and oceans through interpretative dance? Well break out your tights, twinkle toes, for The Aqua Project, organized by Patagonia, the Coastal Marine Resource Center (CMRC), Waves of Change, Joyce SoHo, and Kristin McArdle Dance.

The Aqua Project submerges its narrative in the hypnotic movements of ocean tides, cresting surf, and rainbowed sea life. Dances on the program include Aqua, which explores the transformation from light to darkness in a journey from the shallows to the deep; Barco Negro, a moving meditation about navigating in a featureless open sea; and the world premiere of Ghostfishing, considers the perils of consumption as predator becomes prey and back again.

::Kristin McArdle Dance...

Those interested in seeing me humiliate myself by trying to channel Jasmin and Martha Stewart for Canadian television can watch host Heather Hiscox interview me on::CBC Newsworld here. I talked about making ghostly lights from tin cans and plastic jugs; the importance of fair trade chocolate; (more on that subject here) pushed Carol Off's book Bitter Chocolate, mentioned how organic candies were still sugary but didn't have any of John's disgusting chemicals. I wasn't crafty enough to make any bags but did note that it is silly to buy such a thing for one night's use and suggested a pillow case. ...

Steven Heller is a critic, author, and design thinker. He's worked as an art director for the New York Times for over 30 years, and also writes book reviews and obituaries. Last week, a retrospective exhibition of his work opened at the Visual Arts Museum in Manhattan. Inspired by the wonderful interview he just did with Gothamist, I wanted to know more about him, and his ideas for graphic design's green potential. TreeHugger: What did you want to be when you were 10 years old? Steven Heller: A PR person in the Air Force. Who knew? TH: How does your current work as an author, educator, and design thinker feel different from art direction? SH: No big difference, really. I still have to "direct" things. And being a "design thinker," if indeed that's what I am, is what all art directors must do. If they don't think, they got nothing. The only difference is I don't buy illustration anymore. That's a bit sad....

Photo credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

This is exactly what we’ve been projecting to happen, both in short-term fire forecasts for this year and the longer term patterns that can be linked to global climate change. ... You can’t look at one event such as this and say with certainty that it was caused by a changing climate. But things just like this are consistent with what the latest modeling shows, and may be another piece of evidence that climate change is a reality, one with serious effects....

We were raised with a Betty Crocker Easy-Bake oven. But solar ovens take the cake. Israelis are catching on to the joys of solar cooking with solar ovens. Those of us who live in these parts know too well how hot it can get in the summer – temperatures perfect for fuelling sun-baked cooking. Yaakov Dorot, an engineer, got the idea while in Switzerland in the 1980s. Apparently, a Swiss friend invited him and his wife for a meal (ratatouille) and it was prepared in a solar oven. Dorot then ordered a kit from a Swiss company that makes the solar ovens - they help the environment and have a humanitarian purpose too as the kits are distributed in hot regions where people don't have access to electricity. ...

This week is Carnival of the Green # 101 and it's being hosted by Money and Values! 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 (we are now booking into 2009!), please click here to link to our previous post....

[Ed. note: This is the sixth in a series of guest posts by David Carlson, co-founder of Designboost, an inaugural event that's focusing on sustainable design. Read the other five posts here and stay tuned for more!] The Designboost exhibition takes place in a former cinema at Fridhemstorget in Malmö, from October 19th - November 17th. It reflects on how we, with design, can create a sustainable society and consequently a sustainable future. When it comes to sustainable design, environmental issues are quite often the main ingredient. Is it ”environmentally friendly” to drive an ethanol car when we know the problems of the ethanol production? Is an environmental friendly product that nobody wants sustainable? It’s important to avoid sustaining the unsustainable. We would state a more open-minded definition. For the Designboost exhibition we have identified seven different themes that we see are the most important in the definition of sustainable design. The Designboost exbibition will be presented in some different posts. Below are images of the “boosters” in visiting the exhibition, the inaugural speech by Ewa Kumlin, the general manager of Svensk Form and some general overviews. Next post will show some of the presented projects more in detail....

Bonnie notes in a post today that not all is well in some of the companies beloved of the TreeHugger crowd after sell out to the big international corporations; Some, like Ben & Jerry's, closed factories and laid off employees and have lost some of their cred; others, like Tom's of Maine, are said to be run completely independently of their new overlords. But who knows for sure?

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That's what a lot of Great Lakes states and provinces are saying; as John noted earlier, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson from New Mexico said "States like Wisconsin are awash in water" and wants some. He backed down, but the Chicago Tribune suggests that will not be the end of the issue. "The fires in Southern California, the prolonged drought in the Southeast and the shrinking flow of the Colorado River, which feeds seven Western states, have underscored the importance of water supplies in rapidly developing regions and the determination of a handful of states to hold on to a resource they see as key to their economic future."...

Premier Wen Jiabao drinking the water in Wuxi after an algae bloom hit Lake Tai last March After a tremendous algae outbreak this spring, China's third largest freshwater lake, the Tai, is getting a badly needed cleanup, to the tune of 108.5 billion yuan (14.4 billion USD), the most spent on such a project in China. It's a dramatic statement, but how the clean-up will actually go down is still unclear. Famous as the center of China's ancient "land of rice and fish," and once known as one of the country's most beautiful sites, Lake Tai has suffered for decades from untreated sewage and the runoff of nearby factories. The country's second highest leader said that this year's cyanobacterial outbreak, which briefly cut drinking water for two million people, "sounded the alarm". Not long after, Wu Lihong, an activist who had won acclaim from the central government for his work protecting the lake was locked up by his local government for three years on what appear to be cooked-up charges. ...

We recently told you of a study warning that global warming could prompt the large-scale collapse of the world's crops by 2080; now comes another study concluding that rising levels of ozone could achieve the same result by century's end. The study, which appears in November's issue of Energy Policy, determined that while increases in temperature and carbon dioxide levels may actually benefit vegetation in the short run, rising ozone levels would more than offset those gains by harming crops. While the damage wouldn't be felt equally - with some regions harder hit than others - the overall economic ramifications would be considerable, the researchers concluded: the global value of crop production could fall by as much as 12% by 2100 if nothing is done. John M. Reilly, the associate director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, estimates the rise may be as large as 50%....

Alice Rawsthorn writes an excellent article about the transition from incandescent through compact fluorescent to, ultimately, LEDs. She is a bit harsh on the CFLs: One designer has threatened to wage war against them. Another reckons they're so depressing that we'll be driven into psychotherapy. A manufacturer describes them as "very unfriendly" and, even, "a little violent." Loves the light quality of incandescents..."Look at a light bulb, preferably a clear one, when it's switched off - isn't it beautiful ? Turn it on and you can't see it any more, but it has a magical power to transform space." ...

Looks as if the stink over Woolworth’s claims about its so-called sustainable forest toilet paper has rolled on even further. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), who said they would look into that particular case, now say they’ve inundated with many similar concerns. ACCC commissioner John Martin warns the Trade Practices Act applies whether a business is marketing 'green' motor vehicles, 'green' flights, or 'green' toilet paper. "The ACCC intends to ramp-up its green compliance activities with a combination of business and consumer educative initiatives and targeted enforcement action," he said. Apparently they’ll be widening their net, with scrutiny likely to also turn to the public sector, not just private business. Does this move suggest various levels of government might also be gilding the lily by greenwashing their image too? Shock, Horror! Knock us down with a feather. Also under the microscope will be $100 million market of carbon-offset schemes and products claiming to be carbon-neutral. “ [...] are these claims too good to be true and do they truly deliver what consumers expect them to?" John Martin wonders. We keenly await his watchdog department’s findings. ::ACCC via ::ABC Online....

Whenever Lloyd has dared to question the logic of the Malaysian palm oil industry in clearing rainforests for biofuels, he has attracted furious responses from supporters of the industry. However, it seems that the Ugandan government may have avoided a similar controversy before it has even started, dropping plans to allow a private company to grow sugar cane for biofuels in a forest reserve that is home to more than 300 species of birds, 200 types of trees and nine different primates. While we welcome any decision to protect endangered ecosystems, it seems that conservation may not have been the sole motivation of the government. The plan was also deeply unpopular within Uganda due to racial tensions that date back to the days if Idi Amin. The company developing the site was Indian-owned, and according to The Guardian many Ugandan’s are apparently wary of tax breaks and access to land that are currently being offered to ethnic Asians who were welcomed back in the 90s, after being exiled by Amin....

We didn't know that "If you want to build something in Sweden, you have to neglect your architectural aspirations and desires, and build something comprehensible and conventional to please the Swedish building regulations with their obsessed traditional values." But that is what Visiondivision, a pair of subversive Swedish architects say, as they describe their "secret sauna."...

Gardening Australia is an institution. A TV show that has propagated a magazine and annual garden fair, and even spin-off magazine, the Organic Gardener. Their online presence is slim but informative. From the October 2007 edition of the main mag they provide a delightful A to Z guide for greening your footprint - starting, as they say, right in your own backyard. Here is a taster, using the leter J as an example. (below the fold we give the headings for each of the other letters.) “J is for Journey. Sustainability is not a destination – it's a journey. It's easy to start with a rush of enthusiasm and then backslide. Keep looking for new and innovative ways to reduce your energy needs and increase water efficiency. Every small thing you do to benefit the environment adds up, even if it's simply shredding your junk mail for composting. Be realistic too. You may not be able to afford a solar hot water system now – but maybe next year.” ::Gardening Australia...

As was so succinctly put by Salon's Andrew Leonard in a post about the controversy last week: "Nuance is a bitch". Indeed, in the wake of the wildfires that ravaged large sections of Southern California, a debate that had largely remained on the sidelines - whether global warming was causing an increase in the number/intensity of fires - surged to the fore with environmental groups, scientists and pundits alike weighing in with their respective takes on the issue. Oregon State University's Ronald Neilson, a proponent of the theory that global warming helps account for the increase in the number of wildfires, stated: "This is exactly what we've been projecting to happen, both in short-term fire forecasts for this year and the longer term patterns that can be linked to global climate change". He explained that the rise fell largely in line with his latest models, which had projected that two years of increased precipitation would create heavier biomass loads and, thus, a "tremendous fuel load" susceptible to warmer, drier weather regimes. ...

After having spent two million dollars on cocaine, Alex James, bass player for Blur (of one of the most important brit pop bands in the world), has given a turn in his life. He took on organic agriculture and cheese production in his own farm (which he writes about in his column for The Independent and is writing a book about), and has now decided to support an anti drug campaign created by the Colombian government called Shared Responsibility. This action aims to raise awareness about the part consuming countries play in the drug problem. "People in England know milk comes from cows, but not where cocaine comes from", he declared in Colombia a few days ago, according to press agency EFE. "In Europe, people think the damage is made here, which is true in part, but they have to understand a big part of the damage is being made there", he added. While in Colombia, James is also filming a documentary about drug production for BBC London, which is supposed to air next November 19th. For that he has visited illegal cultivations in the Guaviare jungle (in the south of the country), and in the Macarena Park (center of the Colombia). In those places, 2,2 million hectares of woods were destroyed to plant Coca. ...

The news that Abel & Cole have sold their organic vegetable delivery company to a private equity firm brings brings to mind other high profile buy-outs such as Ben & Jerry's, Green & Black's chocolate and the Body Shop. All claimed that their core values would not change but does it always work out that way? Ethical Consumer magazine has rated a few of the big ones on their ethics before and after. Ben & Jerry's was one of the first to go, back in 2000. Factories have been closed in Vermont and hundreds of jobs lost. However, Ben & Jerry are back on the scene in a very activist way; American Pie ice cream has a chart showing military spending in the US budget on its lid so there is some hope. Rachel's Organic was the first organic farm in Britain. Sold in 2003 to Dean Foods, the U.S. Organic Consumers Association is now calling for a boycott of them because of their failure to meet organic standards. Ooops. ...

Well folks, the theme for Discovery's Young Scientist Challenge this year was a green one; and what an incredible opportunity it was for 40 of the top young scientists in the nation who made their way to the finals in Washington D.C. last week. There they competed for a share of the $100K in scholarships and prizes along with the title of America's Top Young Scientist of the Year. Turns out the sharpest young scientist in America is only 11 years-old, and he's Erik Gustafson, a genuine whiz kid from New York. He took home the title of America's Top Young Scientist last week, along with a $20K scholarship and the opportunity to make a special appearance on an upcoming episode of Mythbusters as well! Now I had the chance to interview the man himself by phone and email this weekend; so you can see for yourself why he was chosen, out of thousands of initial entrants, to win top honors. TreeHugger: This year’s theme for the Young Scientist Challenge was a green one. Tell us about your project and how it relates to the environment. Erik Gustafson: My science fair project was about acid rain. I was testing if there was a correlation between the volume of a stream and it’s pH. My hypothesis was that when the volume of a stream rises the pH would decrease because of acid rain. During rain events the pH of the stream fell from 6.5 to 4.5. It relates to the environment because it is testing if acid rain has an effect on streams. If acid rain continues to build, it will have a tremendous effect on stream life. TH: There are so many things that compete for the time and interests of kids across America. What inspired you to get involved with the Young Scientist Challenge? EG: I never dreamed I would win. I was showing my interest for science. When I got an opportunity to enter in DCYSC I took it because I thought it would be fun. To me science is one of the most compelling things. It makes me want to find answers. It is very fun to try to figure things out, and when I do I am very happy. ...

Led by their very own “Lorax”, teacher Ryan Finley, the students at Grace Hill Elementary in Rogers, Arkansas are having a blast going green in on many fronts. And that’s why they’ve been selected by the folks at the Go Green Initiative to be this week’s ‘School of the Week’. For starters, they’re tracking the school’s power usage each month against last year’s usage numbers. Their hope is that the “green” bars denoting current power consumption on their giant wall chart will be lower than the red bars, which indicate the previous year’s energy use. That helps them to keep an eye on changes in usage that may also correlate to changes in their own behaviors at school as well. Giving them an added incentive to be energy conscious at school, and ultimately at home too… ...

Thanks to habitat destruction, poaching and being made into bushmeat, medicines and pets, primates are now facing their first possible extinctions in more than a century, according to a recent report by the US-based environmental group Conservation International. The report's findings show that twenty nine percent of all monkeys, apes and gorilla species are now facing the danger of extinction. Conservation International's list of the twenty-five most endangered primates includes the Greater bamboo and white-collared lemurs in Madagascar, along with the Sumatran orangutan and a recently discovered Indonesian tarsier. Only a few dozen of the most vulnerable species of listed gibbons and langurs remain, while Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey of West Africa may already be wiped out of existence. "You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium - that's how few of them remain on earth today," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservational International's Primate Specialist Group....

We missed this the first time it aired this past Tuesday but - having now had ample time to "review" it to our hearts' pleasure - thought it worth sharing. Now while we hadn't originally been inclined to knock FEMA for its performance in the Southern California wildfire relief operations, we couldn't just let this "press" conference pass without mention. It certainly seems like the agency has firmed up its response since its disastrous non-performance following Hurricane Katrina; FEMA officials have provided both logistical and financial support, and California's state officials had been said to be satisfied with their cooperation. Why David Paulison, FEMA's secretary, would let this charade go on is beside us: it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the agency's capabilities and, more importantly, its transparency (even White House Press Secretary Dana Perino felt the need to criticize the faux conference). Heckuva job, guys! Via ::The Intersection: FEMA Fakes a Press Conference (blog), ::The Washington Post: Bush Declares California Disaster Area (newspaper) See also: ::FEMA Trailers Optimizing Formaldehyde Exposure, ::Gimme Shelter: Designing for Disaster...

Paul Kedrosky's favourite picture from the fires: "this ironic shot of new hilltop construction in the urban/wilderness interface viewed through the fork of a tree singed in the 2003 wildfires." Lots of relevant reading in the Sunday Times: Rethinking Fire Policy in the Tinderbox Zone: "As Californians sift through the cinders of this week’s deadly wildfires, there is a growing consensus that the state’s war against such disasters — as it is currently being fought — cannot be won. “California has lost 1.5 million acres in the last four years,” said Richard A. Minnich, a professor of earth sciences who teaches fire ecology at the University of California, Riverside. “When do we declare the policy a failure?” Friedman of the Week Dept: Did We Do That? Why do I feel like I began my reporting career 30 years ago listening to the BBC World Service and I’m going to end it glued to the Weather Channel? ...

This quick video comes from Adrian Bejan, the J. A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University. He is something of a scientific renegade who uses thermodynamics theory to combine the fields of engineering, biology, and design. Growing up in Communist Romania, Adrian has seen first hand how systems that don't go with the flow of our ever changing world can lead to failure. As a pattern driven individual, Adrian's observations of the natural world, from lungs to trees has led him to ask simple questions from a unique perspective. The results are something he has dubbed the Constructal Law. Defecting from Romania to study at MIT put Adrian at odds in his home country, where he was labeled a traitor. At times his research has put him at similar odds with the scientific community. ...

I never got into the environmental movement [before] because I really didn't connect to what was being said and how it was being said. I'm a selfish American. I don't want to give it all up. But at the same time, I found that I was already practicing the basics, everything from recycling to composting to saving energy to hybrid cars. I had been pursuing those things myself without knowing that they were part of the movement. Then I started listening more closely to what was being said because I was looking for a way in. I wanted to do more than what I was doing just for myself. I wanted to help other people do more. ... Look at how long it's taken us to create what we have today and all we've done efficiency-wise, product-wise, and quality-wise—all of the things that we as Americans gain comfort in and expect to have available to us. We're doing pretty well. We're in a good place. It's an exciting time to be alive. We can figure out how to maintain our lifestyles and the health of the planet if we do it right. And that's what I want. I don't want to be running around barefoot, pushing my car like Barney Rubble. I don't want to go back to the Stone Age. I just want to maintain what we have for a long period of time—forever. How nice would that be? I'm very selfish." —Cameron Diaz in the foreword of The Green Book (2007, Three Rivers Press)...

"Molecular Marriage Broker". That is how the headline in the German daily newspaper Tagespiegel describes Dr. Matthias Drieß. Drieß is the leading scientist in a group of scientists that has just been granted about 7.8 million euros per year for five years to research "Unifying Concepts in Catalysis". Most people know that catalytic converters have done a lot of good for the environment, but what else is catalysis good for? ...

Sometimes a devious political advocacy strategy creates more future pain than the present relief offered by it. If Competitive Enterprise Institute, for example, had endorsed the Kyoto climate protocol years ago, their supporters and members would have suffered a pretty shallow knick in comparison to what's coming next year or the year following. Of course, because they'd taken to believing their own propaganda, they probably didn't realize it could come to this. It will be most interesting to watch how various industry sectors profile their attitudes toward the more stringent climate mitigation provisions coming. Any industry or front group that publicly opposes an aggressive new climate treaty is going to stand out as greedy and anti-social, possibly at risk of losing market share or contributors, respectively, due to self-tarnishing of image.

The terms of the international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions that will follow the Kyoto Protocol will be even stricter, economist Mohan Munasinghe, vice president of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said here Friday.

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What has always impressed us about Piedmont Biofuels (whose co-founder, Lyle Estill, we interviewed here, here and here) has been their willingness to look beyond simply creating alternative fuels, and to actually address how energy and resources are used in the most intelligent way possible. Most recently we reported on the launch of their CSA here - local, organic food being a core part of the organization’s vision for reduced reliance on fossil fuels. Now, after a trip to the local grocery store, this author’s wife informed him that the intrepid eco-entrepeneurs have also started selling soap made from the glycerine by-product of biodiesel manufacture. So far we’ve found little about this initiative on the coop’s site itself, but we did find this info on Biodiesel Now’s forums. ::Piedmont Biofuels::via Biodiesel Now:: ...

This article in the Star reports how author Chris Turner believes that most of the environment movement has been spreading the wrong message – that of doom and gloom of climate change – and feels it is time for us to shift from despair to dreams… For his latest book, The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need, Chris Turner spent a year touring the world looking for solutions to the planet’s environmental crisis. From the article: "I started off feeling the need to be hopeful,’ the Calgary author admits. But, `I feel the depth of my hope deepening ..... I’m finding my expectations exceeded regularly." His new book describes many examples of things being done right, ranging from bio-solar homes in Thailand to a house in New Mexico which is made of recycled beer cans, wine bottles, tires and other materials, self-sufficient in electricity, heat, water, waste treatment and food production....

image from flickr Good article by Leslie Scrivener about how canning your own food is becoming a political act. "It is more than simply putting up food from the harvest, or the back garden. Preserving is an ideology, a political act, a hands-on vote in support of local farmers and their produce. It is a way of withholding, even in small measures, from the vast corporatization of our food. And in its subtle and serene way, it is a link to the past." She quotes Wayne Roberts of the Toronto Food Policy Council: "The whole concept of the ideal life in which we do no labour has been proven erroneous. We're not burning all of the calories we consume, and we are not a happier species. It's resulted in mass obesity and mass dissatisfaction and under-utilization of the hormones that flow when we are working. "Why is it when you know someone well, you move into the kitchen, not the living room?" he continues. "You involve them in doing some work. The reality of who we are as a species keeps bumping up against the commodity nature of food." ::The Star ...

The week was full of eco-celebs from Cameron to Shakira, all wearing eco-fibers and organics, but trolling among the hemp and bamboo knickers we found first notices of Steve Glenn's Living Homes, then just a rendering and now a built reality, moving on to the Wired Home. Having seen so many modern prefabs never get out of that rendering stage and others take far longer to find their legs, this is a remarkable achievement. We were scared to death by the list of ingredients permitted in American food, probably all mixed together in a big pot and poured into halloween candies along with eye of newt, toe of frog, wool of bat and fillet of a fenny snake. Our readership nearly exploded over a car powered by compressed air and more....

A special Sunday survey, because John raised one of those questions of cosmic consequence- should you preheat your oven? Bakers say yes- "Absolutely preheat your oven for baking. Baked goods rely upon a preheated and hot oven in order to bake properly or to have some sort of characteristic form during the first 10 minutes of baking." Others say no: "Ignore cookbooks! It is usually unnecessary to pre-heat your oven before cooking, except when baking bread or pastries. Just turn on the oven at the same time you put the dish in." and some even go further: "Around a half pound of carbon will be saved every time you do not preheat the oven. If you use your oven to bake twice a week, this could add up to an annual savings of close to 50 pounds of carbon. By not opening the oven door, using the microwave for smaller heating jobs, and covering boiling pots of water so less heat is lost, an additional 85 pounds of carbon can be saved each year."

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The full page ad in the New York Times placed by "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices" says "Our commitment goes beyond clean." Then they say "Through a $50 Billion investment in new clean coal technologies, today's coal based generating fleet is already 70% cleaner based on regulated emissions per unit of energy produced." It's probably true; coal plants are a lot more efficient and cleaner than they were in the seventies, when trees were dying and lakes were turning to vinegar. The key word is regulated. Since the seventies, utilities have been forced to install pollution controls or switch to low sulfur coal to reduce smog and acid rain. Their own site says "The calculations are based on five pollutants: carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter." Carbon Dioxide is not a regulated emission, so they can all but ignore it: ...

You'd certainly be hard-pressed to find a more lightweight car than XP Vehicle Systems' Whisper this year - or one that could also withstand a 25-foot fall. Yes, while some of their lofty claims may seem dubious (safest car "ever"?) and some of their technologies untested - at best - the engineers at XP have built one of the most unique EVs we've ever seen. Built almost entirely out of inflated airbags - to provide "superior" protection - on top of an electric motor chassis, the Whisper will be fully configurable online and be shipped directly to buyers - in two neat cardboard boxes - when it (supposedly) becomes available within the next few months. Company officials claim the car could double as a flotation device in case of an emergency and that its lightness will allow it to far outpace other vehicles using a similar battery pack technology....

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Entries for October 28, 2007 - November 3, 2007

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