Weekly Archive for December 2, 2007 : TreeHugger

We are always a bit wary of the term "environmental refugee" because people's reasons for leaving their homes are often very complex and the amount of scientific research on the topic is still quite minimal. But there is a growing chorus, especially from the field of anthropology, of scholars concerned by the role the environment -- particularly climate change -- plays in forcing people out of their homelands. One of Mexico's most outspoken voices on the subject of environmental refugees is Úrsula Oswald Spring, who chairs the United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human Security. In a recent presentation in Mexico City, Spring described how desertification, the lack of a good farming policy and the lack of motivation to combat global warming have accelerated the wave of environmental refugees in Mexico. Spring noted that at least half of the one million Mexicans that migrate to the big cities or the United States each year do so because of poverty and environmental factors. Erosion, salinization and low prices for agricultural products not only make them vulnerable in terms of food security, but also destroy what they have to subsist on, she said....

A UN proposal to set up a Middle East environmental training center focused on sustainable water solutions was shot down by the Arab League this past week during a meet in Cairo (see TreeHugger’s post on the event). Why? Because the majority of the 21 Arab nations in the league do not want Israel included in the center. This is despite the fact that Israel is a world leader by far in water reclamation, irrigation and water technology; and the Arab world is seeing levels of water scarcity and desertification like never before. ...

This table of top metro-areas for LEED certification is excerpted from a recently published study that evaluated, on a national basis, the rent and value differentials of energy-efficient (LEED certified or "green") buildings. A few of the valuation factors in the report looked a little fuzzy, like the average savings associated with health and productivity improvements derived from green designs, for example. But, such cost factors were a minor distraction from the fascinating, geographic rank tables found in the report. Have a look at which US states and municipalities have accumulated the most square feet in LEED-certified building space, as of the middle of 2007. Talk about counter-intuitive. The State of Texas (#2 slot among states), and one of it's cities, Houston (#2 slot among cities), which share oil-permeated, SUV-driving reputations, are LEEDers? The US capital of Washington DC has always had, and continues to live with, fossils taking campaign money from fossil fuel-reliant industries (regardless of which political party dominates). And...DC takes the number three slot among all US metro areas? Roses landing on flies. Or hope burying dismay. Which is it?...

Image courtesy of Don McPhee According to a new report ranking the world's cities in the order of which will be most vulnerable to coastal flooding by 2070, all but one of the 10 were found to be in developing countries in Asia. The combined effects of climate change, urbanization and population growth are expected to put cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and Miami at great risk of flooding, potentially exposing close to a hundred million residents. The study, conducted by the University of Southampton, Risk Management Solutions, CIRED/Meteo-France and the OECD, found that 38% of the world's largest port cities were located in Asia and that 27% were located in deltaic settings, putting them at greater risk of being flooded. For more information about the study (and some gorgeous pictures), check out the full slideshow here. Via ::Guardian Unlimited: Global port cities under threat (news website) See also: ::Five Asian Nations To Study How To Cope With Floods, ::Floods, Monsoons, Heat Waves, Drought: Climate Change In Asia Now, ::What Will Mark The Beginning of The End Of Global Trade? - Climate Change....

Image courtesy of dsearis With all the sobering talk of rising greenhouse gas emissions and ocean acidification, it seems hard sometimes to recall that "greenhouse" and "carbon dioxide" weren't always so firmly wedded to the issue of global warming. Indeed, were it not for the greenhouse effect - through which carbon dioxide and other GHGs capture and trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere - life would not have flourished on Earth as it has. New geological data has shown that Earth came perilously close to being permanently plunged into subfreezing conditions several hundred million years ago - a shift in the planet's climate that was only averted through the presence of carbon. This has lent credence to the so-called the "snowball Earth hypothesis," which alleges that the planet required millions of years to fully recover from such freezes - and that it did so with the help of atmospheric carbon dioxide originating from volcanic eruptions....

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People stranded on rooftops. Floodwaters covering the interstate. Thousands without power, displaced from their homes. Sound like the scene from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? Right now, it’s the reality for many communities in the Pacific Northwest. The region was recently hit by a major rain storm, which triggered massive flooding on rivers in Oregon and Washington. These floods are the latest wake-up call, showing us why we need to rethink our country’s flood protection strategies. In many cases our old approaches – levees, dams and flood walls – have exacerbated the very problems they were meant to fix. Despite spending more than $25 billion on federal levees and dams, national flood losses continue to rise....

One year ago in TH, we wanted a Tesla, and we wanted it bad, even though the fuzz was on to 'em. Electric cars, plug-ins and otherwise greener cars, some more quixotic than others, were all over our pages, from Europe to Saturn and back. We even found a way to stop waiting and get an electric car now. Fast forward to this year; the founder of Tesla Motors, Martin Eberhard, has stepped down as CEO of the company and has since left the company altogether...hmm. We haven't seen much from the other concepts, but there is a new version of the G-Wiz i (on the right, above). It's no Tesla, but you can just plug it in and go. See the rest of what was on TreeHugger's radar one year ago....

Environmental officials from the 22 members of the Arab League met in Cairo this week to discuss the effects of climate change on the Middle East, and Arab countries' possible responses to it. The meeting signifies Arab countries' increasing awareness of the danger posed to them by climate change and resource depletion. Environmental issues affecting the Arab world include widespread desertification, water scarcities, soil degradation and declining land productivity. Despite the fact that environmental factors have already contributed to political unrest in places like Sudan, Arab countries lack coherent policies on climate change. A survey of 56 countries last year placed Saudi Arabia dead last in dealing with climate change. Secretary General Amr Moussa told the gathering in Cairo: ...

According to the BBC, the Brazillian government has just announced that the rate at which the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed slowed by as much as 20% between August 2006 and July 2007. Good news indeed for us TreeHuggers it would seem. And it’s not the first time we’ve heard the news that deforestation is slowing. We’ve even seen some reports that global forest cover is set for a resurgence. We, however, are not convinced that we’re out of the woods, so to speak, just yet given the continued destructive behavor of some well-known companies. It looks like the BBC is inclined to agree when they take a slightly closer look at the figures: ...

If you visit these pages often, you know that high heels are cycle chic, not an excuse to totter to your fossil-fuel powered footsaver and motor to your destination. Get ready to add another plus under the "bike with stilettos" column in your daily mobility decision: driving in heels is dangerous. So dangerous, that UK-based women's insurer Sheilas' Wheels developed the convertible heels pictured here. Below the fold, you can see that the heel on these striking leg-lengtheners tucks away to make a sensible flat shoe for walking. Hmmm, another alternative to doing the city-circle search for a parking place or adding to the asphalt explosion....

For Christmas this year, give someone you love a handwritten book of their favorite recipes Want to get your kids to eat vegetables? Start from the womb Green your move by hauling your worldly goods vai biofuel Adopt an animal and earn a cookie. Really. We've updated our Christmas tree post to include a note about San Diegans affected by the Cedar Fire Plan mass-transit routes in seven different cities with this indispensable online tool Commercial deicers can harm frolicking children and dogs. We offer some eco-friendlier alternatives Save money and landfill space by refilling your used printer cartridges. We show you how. This tip will save plenty of trees, and you barely have to move a muscle If you're braking your car for more than 10 seconds, turn off the ignition. Here are several reasons why, including a couple that involve your wallet ...

It is only the 7th and we are tired of Christmas references. Now Forest Ethics has released its "naughty and nice" list with Sears coming in dead last."In the nearly five years that we've been working to transform the environmental practices of the catalog industry, we have seen impressive results," said Ginger Cassady of ForestEthics, adding that "Leaders like LL Bean and Victoria's Secret prove that there is no reason why laggards like Sears cannot meet an environmentally sensible standard." ...

An old trick to protect your shiny new bike is to slap loud and ugly paint all over it. Much more subtle is Dominic Wilcox's temporary rust stickers, that are "designed to make your beautiful bike/car look rusted and scratched so that passing thieves assume it's not worth stealing due to its apparent shabbyness." The inventor notes that he put them on his new bike 13 days ago and it has not been stolen yet, which he considers "probably equates to 7 years of non-stealing in the friendly countryside." Only £3.99, a lot cheaper than my lock.... before and after pix below the fold.. ...

We wrote prior to its launch about Amazon's Kindle e-book; we noted that when it comes to elegant design it ain't no iPod, more like a Trash 80/100 from 1985. Others were harsher, suggesting that it "looks like a prop from Charlie’s Angels and has, are you ready, a whopping ONE typeface. For everything! Yay! To solve this problem Core77 is having a one hour design challenge, (closing Dec 11)....

Despite some concern that the biofuel gold rush is waning, it appears now is still a good time to jump on the corn-based ethanol bandwagon. There is the 51 cent per gallon ethanol producer tax credit, an energy bill in the Senate that, if passed, would provide fuel economy credits for Flex Fuel vehicles, and now a new study released by the American coalition for ethanol has found that "certain ethanol blends can provide better fuel economy than gasoline." While this is certainly good news for the ethanol industry, the environmental and social ramifications of corn-based ethanol production, which we've covered here, here here, and here, are far less certain. The study found that E20 and E30 (20%-30% ethanol, 70%-80% gasoline) blends of ethanol, provide modest increases in fuel economy of 1%-15% compared to gasoline, depending on the vehicle. ...

In the Dairy house shown recently, horizontal slots were filled with glass. In Ecuador, the climate is a bit different; it appears more important to have lots of natural ventilation. in the Casa Pentimento, the architects have developed a prefabricated concrete system that acts as wall, screen, support for landscaping and even holds up the furniture. ...

A big green wave and hello to graduate student Lauren Grochmal, the fifth and final subject of this week's Citizen Profile series that featured some folks who visited the TreeHugger booth at this year's Green Fest DC. Each won the opportunity to spend their green cents here on TreeHugger, and it's been an enjoyable, enlightening, thought-provoking series. Lauren, a grad student at New York's Columbia University, loves her vegan, fair trade double chocolate cake, takes pride in her vegan cat, and feels guilty about enjoying drinks served in disposable plastic cups when she goes out in the city (but she still drinks 'em). Learn more about Lauren's thoughts on making sustainable food choices, and for some great tips and resources for going green, grad-student style, beneath the fold....

The Gorebashers are having a field day noting how much carbon is being emitted just getting everyone to the Bali conference, and perhaps they have a point. As April notes, there is some pretty slick technology out there that lets you bore people to death with powerpoint slides without having to fly all over the world to do it. Certainly flying is no fun these days between the security and the crowds, yet videoconferencing, unlike those airplanes, has not taken off. Online Surveys | Free Poll | Email Marketing ...

Vinod "ethanol man" Khosla is speaking out to protect his portfolio. Talk like this will toss all the government policy cards in one cocked hat. Just what we need.

Electric cars are not the best way for society to green transportation, famed greentech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said Wednesday. "Forget plug-ins," he said during a keynote address at ThinkEquity Partners' ThinkGreen conference in San Francisco. "They are nice toys. But they will not be material to climate change." In particular, he pointed to battery problems.

Pretty much the same shtick he was tossing out almost exactly a year ago today, per this coverage in Grist. And what's this ..."best way" stuff? It's not an either or proposition, with a wall between the toys and the "real man" ethanol machines. We'll need all the tools we can muster. Via::GreenTech Media, "Khosla Calls Plug-in Cars 'Toys'" Image credit::Chevrolet E85 Truck ...

Photo credit: gehat Despite all of their energy-saving charms, all compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are not created equal. As many converts to the energy-sipping bulb are aware, some are simply better than others; at warming up more quickly, providing good light quality, and lasting as long as advertised. Julie Scelfo, a reporter for The New York Times, is working on a piece about "people’s experiences with next-generation lighting -- compact fluorescents, LEDs, light pipes, etc. -- ranging from homeowners and business owners to interior designers, builders, and architects. She wants your help." So, if you're a dedicated convert to the CFL, a newbie just getting started, or even a tinkering experimenter with LEDs and other energy-saving, non-traditional lighting, she wants to hear from you. She asks that you email comments, anecdotes and any other pertinent info you might have to jscelfo(at)nytimes(dot)com. Which brands are best? What's your experience with newer dimmable and three-way bulbs? Spread the word and let your voice be heard. via ::Dot Earth...

Regular readers of the Recipe of the Week will know that I am always happy to substitute and otherwise change up a recipe. This week I left out a big component. This korma called for pineapple, which I decided to ignore. I love pineapple cold, but I'm not a big fan of it in hot dishes, but the real reason I left it out is that doesn't grow in Ontario and so it's on my "almost never buy" list. The recipe also called for cheddar cheese to garnish, which I also deleted. Cheddar cheese on a curry just seemed, well, weird. Having said all that, this was a really lovely dish. It's not a bold kind of curry, but rather a delicate sophisticated taste. Serve it over rice, or with an Indian bread and you have a nice break from all the rich, heavy Christmas foods around now. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you want. I'll leave it up to you about the pineapple....

Packing CFLs at the Salvation Army for the Energy GreenBox program. Richard Lautens Toronto Star Low income families in Ontario spend a disproportionate amount of their income on heating; cheap apartments often have cheap electric heating where the tenant pays the bill, about 14 cents out of every dollar. Not having a lot of disposable income, they are the least able to afford the stuff they need to reduce this cost. Friends of the Earth and Enbridge, the gas distributor, have put together 25,000 Greeboxes to be given out at food banks. "We wanted to do something with a population of people in Ontario who have an interest in climate change but might not have access." said Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth....

Despite the fact that representitives from Iran and the U.S. agree on virtually nothing else in the world, representatives from both countries at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Bali are among those pointing out the need for increased environmental education, particularly in the face of global warming. As Valerie Davis of EnviroMedia Social Marketing points out, “Lip service or not, one thing was clear: Governments around the world are struggling to implement the educational requirements of Article 6 of the UNFCCC, which was adopted in 2002 and expires this month. Probably no one in the world is against education as a key to addressing climate change, but paying for the initiatives is another story, and countries around the world are turning to businesses for help.” ...

That’s odd, I thought. How come the shuttle bus from our hotel to the Bali International Conference Center isn’t full? How come I wasn’t waiting for ages in the baking heat to have my bag searched at the security check? How come I found a seat straight away in the computer café inside the conference center? “Ooh don’t you worry dear”, said Margaret, a seasoned veteran of climate conventions, “as from Monday you won’t now what’s hit you!!” This is my first time at a COP (convention of the parties - it seems everything here is referred to by initials) and as a member of the first-ever World Future Council delegation to a UNFCCC (see what I mean) COP, I was really intrigued what to expect. As it happens, the most forceful thing to “hit me” as the first week draws to a close, has been the feeling of walking into an oven when stepping out of the convention center's air-conditioned rooms. But there’s something brewing in Bali; and, unfortunately, it’s not a gentle breeze that would make walking even the shortest of distances bearable. No: as of next week we are about to be hit by the full gale-force of the world’s environment ministers. “That’s when things really hot up”, Margaret told me. Phew, not literally I hope - I didn’t pack my shorts! (please feel free to ignore lame gag!) The picture indicates just how hot are things going to get next week in Bali....

Image courtesy of travellingtamas Sure, it may sound silly (some might even say crass), but what we're talking about here is a serious push to slash greenhouse gas emissions - by taking advantage of the potency of kangaroo farts. Unlike cattle and sheep, whose flatulence is known to produce large amounts of methane, kangaroos are equipped with specialized stomachs containing bacteria that negate the noxious gas. As we've reported on before, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by cattle and sheep is no laughing matter: according to Athol Klieve, a scientist with Queensland's state government, they account for 14% of emissions from all Australian sources. It's even worse in New Zealand, whose economy depends much more on agriculture: estimates put the amount of emissions from cattle and sheep-derived methane at close to 50%....

You would be hard pressed to find a venture capital conference with more gold-rush excitement than Cleantech, which I visited this week in Beijing (well, some industries might be hotter). Grizzled Silicon Valley venture capitalists brushed shoulders and recycled-paper business cards with young Chinese upstarts and entrepreneurs, all angling to get in there, find the next big thing, and strike green. While the Bali summit talked about the Clean Development Mechanism (which is pumping lots of green money into China) green business, a fund for green tech in developing countries, Cleantech was all about proving that China's rise and the challenges of climate change don't have to be bad for Western investors (or for China). Wind is so old school. The obvious issues and technologies this time were clean coal, solar, pollution and water treatment. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said James Boettcher, of Focus Ventures, a venerated venture capital firm. "Clean coal, coal-to-liquid, factory retrofits, SO2 and CO2 capture, and batteries--we're interested in it all." But as Boettcher and other green diggers told me at the conference, where they were on the lookout for the next big clean tech toy, something key is missing from the Chinese green tech companies itching to grow: new technologies. To stimulate innovation in green tech, they say, China will need to pour money into research and create more sticks and carrots (tax breaks are scarce and green tech often does not get classified as part of the coveted "high tech" industry). The government should also relax restrictions on foreign investors to stimulate more technology transfer. Nonetheless, total cleantech venture investment in China will reach approximately $600 million in 2007, and is expected to surpass $700 million in 2008 and $2 billion in 2010. Interestingly, another major limit to clean tech projects like clean coal is the country's severe water shortage -- a problem that is sure to draw its own clean tech investment....

We've both praised and bashed video- and webconferencing here at treehugger. The truth about how well it bridges the gap between a phone call and an in-person meeting is probably somewhere in-between. Either way, videoconferencing is enjoying a revival of sorts here in Scandinavia as bandwidth gets better, HD videoconferencing is emerging and companies are being forced to take a harder look at travel policies and carbon impacts. Telia, Sweden's now-privatized telephone company, said it saves 70 million crowns (more than US$10 million) a year by its "green" travel and meeting policy. And the Swedish Road Administration said it has made 50 percent of its major meetings videoconferences. The first step to a green travel policy is determining whether a meeting is actually even necessary - Telia's travel has dropped 30 percent since implementing its policy. (Did the folks in Bali think this over?) ...

An organization we highlighted in our Gift Guide this year, Oceana - an international organization whose modest objective it is to protect and preserve our oceans - has already accomplished a lot in its 6 years of existence. In the past, it led a campaign to prevent Congress from removing a provision in the Marine Mammal Protection Act that required commercial fisheries to minimize harm to marine mammals and spearheaded the Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination, convincing several major grocery chains to post the FDA's warning on mercury at their seafood counters. More recently, it has been involved with efforts to reduce emissions from aircraft and shipping vessels and released a report highlighting the difficulties faced by the world's sharks. Following is an interview we conducted with Andrew Sharpless, Oceana's CEO, and Mike Hirshfield, Senior Vice President & Chief Scientist for Oceana, at an event in November celebrating Al Gore's achievements: TreeHugger: Andrew - for those readers not familiar with Oceana's work, can you give us a brief breakdown of your organization's objectives and current initiatives? ...

Awww…we got all mushy when we saw this tiny tee ($22) broadcasting one big environmental message. The graphic is a polar bear on a melting block of ice, and the tag line says "start global cooling." Five other graphics--including a sea turtle with the message "live gently,"--are available from Bozeman, Montana-based Darwin Design Clothing Company. Tees for kids and adults can be purchased too, and 10 percent of the proceeds helps support non-profits fighting global warming, such as the Earth Island Institute. The firm was founded by Otto Pohl and his wife Anne Sherwood, both journalists, to spread a positive message about the environment. "There's so much negativity out there that we wanted to send out a more can-do message," says Pohl....

An eco-city downtown, as envisioned by the Ecocity Builders organization. Is the eco-city becoming the new standard in city building? These days, it seems, more and more cities are being built from the ground up for sustainability. China is building a sustainable city for half a million called Dongtan off Shanghai, Abu Dhabi has plans for a zero-waste, zero-carbon walled city called Masdar, and even London has plans for a mini eco-city. Now Arizona plans to build a "solar city" in Phoenix. ...

Mountain Equipment Coop, which dominates Canada's outdoor retailing scene and which helped make the Nalgene bottle a fashion statement, has given them the boot, because of growing concern about the gender bender chemical Bisphenol A in the polycarbonate plastic. “The products have been pulled from the shelves and we're no longer selling them,” said Tim Southam, a spokesman for the retailer, which has 11 stores and annual sales of about $222-million. “We've been following this issue quite closely and it's one we've seen an increasing concern among some members.” ...

A trend that has already helped accelerate the spread of certain infectious diseases - the northward movement of tropical regions - could become much worse as global warming continues to intensify. In a recently published article in the journal Nature Geoscience, Dian Seidel of NOAA and her colleagues write about signs they observed in the stratosphere that indicate that tropical climate patterns may have expanded by up to 4.5° of latitude in the Northern hemisphere over the past 25 years. This movement is much more dramatic than the one predicted by prior climate models, which had suggested an expansion of 2° of latitude north and south - within the next century. To discover this worrying trend, Seidel and her fellow researchers studied five sets of data from 1979 to 2000 containing information about tropical climate pattern indicators, such as ozone concentrations and temperatures. Both were seen to increase, suggesting an expanding tropical belt....

It's a tradition, of sorts: every year in mid-November, C-list celebrities, always women, are enlisted to turn on the Christmas lights festooning major streets. Very tacky, and environmentally wasteful. So hurray for Carnaby Street, that funny little left-over from London's Swinging Sixties. This season they have covered the walking streets with festive paper chains in bright, irridescent colours. It's an inventive alternative to energy consuming lights, and they didn't even have a super-model to "turn them on". The paper chain design will make use of the store lights in the shops at night and will interact with the holographic finish of the Christmas decorations, therefore using no extra electricity for the display. By using a highly reflective material and extremely bright colours, the oversized ‘paper chains’ will react to sunlight too, so that removes the use of electricity during daylight hours altogether. A great-looking idea on all counts. :: Carnaby Street Via :: Hippyshopper...

PACT stands for Policy Action on Climate Toolkit and this TreeHugger was the perfect member of audience at last week's press conference in the UK Parliament where she learned this fact. Perfect? Well yes, because I have not been the best student of environmental politics, policy making and the implications surrounding renewable energy feed-in tariffs and the point of this PACT, this Climate Toolkit, is to make it easier for people get to grips with this complex subject. The World Future Council's founder Jakob von Uexkull, the UK MP Alan Simpson and the author of the PACT content Peter Roderick, together, launched this interactive online resource which is designed to help parlimentarians worldwide "to draft new climate laws based on the best policies already in existence, beginning with feed-in tariffs to promote the spread of renewable energies."...

Instead of buying more stuff for Christmas this year, what about giving someone a piece of family history, instead? Become a chef by New Year's with these five cookbooks Ken Rother, vice president of Planet Green Interactive, did one better than us by making a greener LED Hanukiyyah than we originally featured Plaster your photos, music, and videos on a variety of e-cards, digital scrapbooks, and slide shows, for free If you're running out of space, consider using your staircase for storage Make your own paint out of clay and starch We feature a fern that practically sucks up arsenic from contaminated soil around your home Collin shows us how to whip up some homemade yogurt in a flash Throw an eco-friendly baby shower, just like the one Sheryl Crow had Recycle your old magazines and catalogs into holiday decorations you can festoon around your house Get kissable lips by mixing up our easy-peasy bittersweet chocolate & orange lip balm You may have measured your own carbon footprint. But how large is your kid's?...

Last week, spurred by the announcement that China would be spending $27 billion on pollution clean-up, I wondered what it would actually cost to clean up China. Though the Green GDP project by the state environmental agency (SEPA) looks dead in the water, at least for now, Xinhua reminds us that the World Bank is still keeping score. In July, the World Bank (along with SEPA) released a report saying that pollution costs China US$100 billion a year, or 5.8 percent of its gross domestic product (that's about half of China's own first rough estimates). When it was released in China, however, Chinese officials had succeeded in stripping the report of a more sobering number: 750,000 -- the number of premature deaths in China per year due to air and water pollution. While the estimate (which, as John pointed out, is hard to really appreciate) remains unreported in the Chinese media, last week state news agency Xinhua ran another story on the report: "Air pollution, especially in large cities, is leading to higher incidence of lung diseases, including cancer, respiratory system problems and therefore higher levels of work and school absenteeism, [World Bank China chief David] Dollar said..." But why is this report receiving more press from the state-run media even when its heart has been cut out by the very same state?...

We featured plants that improve indoor air quality before but these modern looking objects, designed by Parisian designer Mathieu Lehanneur, take air-filtering a step further. Bel-Air is ‘a domestic spacecraft’ whose live plant absorb the toxic compounds in the air. Dirty air is sucked in, filtered by the plant and out comes purified air. ...

Plastic lumber is the ultimate in downcycling, Bill McDonough's term for materials coming back in their next life as a lower valued product than before. Some plastics are harder to recycle than others; toner cartridges are full of toxic toner powder. Most go into landfill or are incinerated; Waycam says "Land fill releases harmful toxins and chemicals into the land whilst also taking 1000’s of year to degrade, whilst incineration pollutes the environment by putting the toxins in to the Air as well as increasing the carbon emissions, as the cartridges are burnt."...

François Roche of French architecture firm R&Sie(n) (their invisible house here ) won the competition to build a new "museum of ice"- an art museum and alpine ice research station in Évolène, Switzerland. (We suppose like Joni Mitchell's Tree Museum, we are going to need Ice Museums). They are going to build it with a monster CNC machine in Lausanne, like stacking up a loaf of bread. ...

DH Love Life: Goods by Daryl Hannah. "We'd like 2 encourage you 2 try 2 find it locally, make things or forsake things first. But, in the spirit of making it easier 4 you 2 find stuff + make a wiser choice... DH Love Life is proud 2 bring 2 your attention the most fantabulous, fun + extraordinary solution based goods currently available!!!" EcoStreet: The Story of Stuff by Tracy Stokes "Have you ever wondered where all the stuff is now that you’ve received as Christmas presents over the years? From your childhood, through your teenage years and into adulthood? How about everything you’ve ever given anyone else for Christmas? I’ll bet you don’t have a clue where most of it is now, or how it ended up."...

If a living Christmas tree or otherwise green tree isn't for you, and you don't want to go with synthetic, then Australian design firm Buro North has something for you. For the modernist not tied to tradition, they've designed a reusable, flat-pack tree to decorate your home in the spirit of a greener holiday for years to come. The plywood "tree," which really consists of four identical CNC-routed planes that fold together when not in use (and for ultra-efficient shipping), may not be quite as festive (and green, in color at least) as a more traditional tree, but if green the lifestyle is more important to you than green the color, it certainly beats the plastic reusable tree (and might even be greener than a real tree, especially if you believe that Christmas trees contribute to global warming). If you're on the fence about it's green characteristics, Buro North did a life cycle assessment [PDF] of their tree vs. a more traditional pine tree; guess which tree came out on top? Hit the jump for more pics of one possible vision of the future of Christmas. ::Buro North via ::MoCo Loco and ::dezeen...

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Ever since copper prices peaked - something we called a function of Peak Copper - theft of scrap and even functioning copper items has become a serious national problem. Mark gave us a broad overview of the problem here. There are global environmental and design impacts as well economic and safety issues arising from the thefts. To prevent theft of copper wire from electrical substations, for example, Seattle Washington-area electrical engineers are changing designs by substituting steel clad copper wire for plain copper - which of course could mean that recyclability is reduced even for legitimate intermediaries. And, the new record keeping requirements needed to discourage 'theft-cycling' add overhead for recyclers already operating on slim margins.

By combining new deterrent technologies with increased law enforcement, PSE has decreased copper thefts from substations by 28 percent and more than doubled the number of arrests by law enforcement since January in the nine counties where the utility provides electric service.

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TreeHugger covered earlier the murder of environmental philanthropist Glen Davis, "a quiet, private multimillionaire who gave millions of dollars to the World wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club. He spent most of his time trekking in the wilderness and supporting environmental causes." The Toronto Police have turned to YouTube to get leads on two people caught on camera leaving the scene. Let's see if it helps find the murderer of "the greatest wilderness philanthropist in Canada." ::Reading Toronto...

Separately, they are Mercy Hernandez, Irma Gomez and Maria Paez-Garcia; together, they are "The Edge," an environmental education group in South Florida bringing the good green message to young TreeHuggers between the ages of 2 and 5. As we've learned from the other Citizen Profiles this week, there are many great actions everyone can take, and many pieces to an individual's green lifestyle puzzle. Beneath the fold, learn more about The Edge's favorite green pleasure -- "teaching young children how to save our beautiful planet!" -- and about their anti-green pleasure, which they were hesitant to reveal (hmm...) and stay tuned for the final Citizen Profile tomorrow....

In the second part of our in-depth interview with The Home Depot's green point man, Ron Jarvis speaks about sustainable forestry, transportation's deep footprint, and the evolution of the big box. Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or listen/right-click to download. Check out part 1 of the Ron Jarvis interview here. TreeHugger: So, there's obviously a strong impetus here to move toward a more ecologically sensitive way of doing business. Is there a clear picture of what a truly sustainable business of your sort would look like? What would be an archetypal business that could be truly sustainable in the sense that it's not liquidating the assets that future generations will be relying on? Ron Jarvis: There are two ways that I look at that. There's the utopian dream, where products are manufactured at a very local level from very low impact products and shipped a very short distance to the homeowner. That is the most sustainable market that we can ever find. But today there are a lot of tradeoffs that have to take place....

Laundry is in the news this week in Sweden: the government announced that it is banning the use of phosphates in all new laundry detergents starting in March 2008 - old supplies must be cleared from store shelves by next August. That's good news for the Baltic Sea, which is fighting eutrophication mainly caused by the phosphates coming from detergents and fertilizers. Sweden already filters out phosphates from outgoing city water, but more than 700,000 homes aren't connected to municipal supplies. Also the country said it needs to set a good example for other Baltic nations where filtering is less or non-existent. But just as in the U.S., phosphate rules don't yet extend to dishwasher soaps, another important source of phosphates. In the meantime, appliance behemoth Electrolux announced that switching out home appliances older than 10 years old could save the EU nations 18 million tons of CO2 emissions, and asked governments to somehow subsidize consumers' purchase of more energy-efficient models. That seems a dubious approach - how about Electrolux instead going back to the old idea of "pay-per-wash" services, or even manufacturing a really innovative idea like the compact E-wash designed by Hungarian Levente Szab to skip the detergent altogether and optimize use soap nuts to clean clothes. There's always more than one way to green wash. Via ::Newsdesk.se (Swedish)...

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There's no great mystery as to why lead and arsenic have been found in such great abundance amongst the ashes spread by California wildfires. Until just a few years ago, pressure treated wood sold for use in decks, railings, fences, wooden playground structures, and foundation sills was highly impregnated with "CCA" - the common term for a wicked brew of Chrome, Copper, and Arsenic salts. If large volumes of CCA-treated wood burned up, it easily accounts for much of the culturally introduced arsenic amongst the ashes....

We are not certain about the benefits of wearing this new ski suit on the hills, but sure would love it for our bicycle. Fashion designer Willy Bogner has "ventured a brief look into the future: state-of-the-art lighting technology providing the winter sports outfits of tomorrow with a conspicuous, yet sartorially elegant design."...

According to Tracy Rossi, 7th grade Science Teacher at Farmwell Middle School, our motto is "Everyone can make a difference.” And having recently started the first environmental club at their school along with 40 students, they’ve all begun to realize just how much that can mean... Experiencing first-hand the reality that schools consume vast quantities of paper, their first and primary focus was recycling the tons of paper that was being simply thrown away. To do it, blue bins were distributed to classrooms that didn't have them, signs (laminated for long time use) were printed up, and announcements were made to get everyone in the school behind their mission. Meeting every other week, teams of students go around the school collecting the recyclables from the blue bins. Then the students deposit the material into the huge recycling dumpster out back. During the past two months alone they’ve recycled over 4,400 pounds of paper! ...

Given the level of systematic abuse coral reefs have sustained over the last few decades, helping to rehabilitate them by administering - in essence - a form of shock treatment hardly seems like a good idea. Yet that is the technique Thomas Goreau, a scientist and one of the originators of the "Bio-Rock" project, has been using to help restore the once lush coral reefs off Bali in Indonesia. The brainchild of Goreau and Wolf Hilbertz, the late architect, the "Bio-Rock" project consists of setting up dozens of metal structures fed by cables bringing low-voltage electricity around coral reefs. Zapping the reefs has helped restore and, in some cases, spur their growth, Goreau claims. Before Hilbertz passed away, the duo had managed to set up similar projects in close to 20 countries around the world. ...

What we learned today: way back in 1973 architects and community groups were building solar homes, using recycled materials and creating wind generators. What? They weren't just developed in response to the recent energy crisis? NO! There was a crisis in 1973 when OPEC decreased oil production by 5% and doubled the price per barrel. This caused huge panic in Europe and the US and in response all kinds of groups sprung up and developed housing projects. This is the subject of a fascinating exhibit, 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas at Montreal's Canadian Centre for Architecture (we had read about it in treehugger first, of course). The show features pictures of dozens of houses built by concerned citizens all over Canada and the US and contrary to public belief, they weren't all done by hippies. The projects included the Ercol house in Montreal, the Ouroboros solar house in Minnesota, the Farallones Institute in San Francisco, and of course domes in New Mexico. Windworks was even offering wind generators by mail order. Leave it to the market--board games were developed to take advantage of the situation. Some were about oil as a source of power and wealth (pictured), others about war and oil and some even about managing the crisis. Mad magazine had the environment as its cover story ( what me worry?). ...

Inflatable solar? It’s not the first time we’ve come across the idea. But according to Coolearth Solar, they’ve patented a design for inflatable solar collectors that are supposedly a cheaper way to concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic cells. The makers claim their design is up to 400 times cheaper than polished aluminum mirrors which, if true, would certainly improve the economics of concentrated photovoltaics. Maybe they can team up with the makers of the inflatable car. ::Coolearth Solar::via YouTube:: ...

It's Hanukkah! Make some potato latkes with an old family recipe Our new mantra: "If you don't set it out, weed it out" Streamline operations and slash garbage-disposal costs by conducting an office waste audit In a new flick from Free Range Studios, Annie Leonard of GAIA talks about, well, stuff Collin reviews another book your green library can't do without Trick yourself into eating less—no hypnosis required If you're feeling stressed out, try this 15-minute relaxation exercise to lower your blood pressure How do you part with something that has a great deal of emotional significance? Whether you spray it or plug it in, your air freshener may be more poisonous than you realize Organic, Fair Trade, Green Seal, Leaping Bunny: What do all these labels mean? ...

1 cup green + 1 cup discussion + a pinch of keyboard (for spice) is the perfect recipe for TreeHugger Forums. Here are some of the highlights...

1) In a popular topic we've visited several times, Forums user moseph is "wondering, big or small, what is the most recent action you've taken to try and lower your environmental impact? Did you find out about it on the site? Can you tell me how to do it?" Recycling, composting, changing to CFLs, green cleaning, cutting out the junk mail, voting for green...the list goes on, and proves that there is something everyone can do to put a greener face on the planet. What's on your list?

2) User wookie notes, "The Fur Council of Canada has launched a new campaign claiming that fur is the ultimate eco-fashion because it is a renewable resource and biodegradable. Also, the new campaign says that fur is like 'fair trade' because it supports the people off the land." Another user in the thread observes that the only thing that's "green" about fur is that it's the color of Oscar the Grouch's pelt, but another notes that many synthetic alternatives are petroleum-based. So, greenwashing or lesser of two evils? It all depends on what "green" means to you...

3) Lastly, Forums user Hecateus wants to talk science and energy: "I read here on treehugger not too long ago that the production of 2500 watts of power via coal uses 4.5 gallons of water (~17 Liters), or about 556 watts per gallon (147W/L). Nuclear power consumes 2.2 gallons per Kilowatt generated. so NUke Power uses about 20% more water per Kilowatt than Coal." So, which form of energy consumes the least amount of water per kilowatt? Geothermal and solar thermal are way up there...

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....

It's only fitting that the new multi-platform hybrid vehicle out of Mexico's National Autonomous University was inspired by the university's beloved mascot, the puma. We hope the hydrogen and fuel cell-powered vehicle will inspire the same fanaticism that the soccer-playing Pumas ignite. The car was developed by students in the industrial design graduate program, headed by Óscar Salinas. The car fits into Salinas's Ecovía project, launched in 2005 to develop ecological solutions to transportation problems. Ecovía says the vehicle will have an average speed of 70-80 km/h (about 50-55 mph) and will be able to run for 300 km (190 miles) before refueling. The most innovative feature is that the car can be adapted for different uses: ambulance, surveillance, postal service, plastic waste recycling and telecommunications and culture promotion, hence its "multi-platform" description. The vehicle is still in development, but this fall, three test vehicles hit the university's streets, serving as transport for students, staff and patients at the university's hospital. And the UNAM plans to substitute 150 security vehicles and 30 ambulances with the new Ecovía model.::Via CNNExpansion.com (Spanish link) and Hybrid Car News...

TreeHugger goes on and on (and on) about why design matters; here, legendary designer Philippe Stark gives us his own captivating take on the topic at TED in March 2007. It's not the first excellent presentation we've seen from TED (nor the second) and certainly won't be the last. Read up on this year's TED winners, and watch ::Philippe Starck at TED via ::Core77...

Get the scoop from the UN climate conference in Bali from Greenpeace's blog. Get pumped up, green style, with this handmade gym that doesn't require any electricity for your workout. Can you imagine driving an ultra-lightweight, solar-powered plastic car? If recent award-winning designer Harsha Ravi has his way, such a car would be the future of green automobiles. The climate conference isn't the only green making news in Bali; scientists are using electrified domes to rebuild its dying coral reefs. Crazy but true: this light-powered toothbrush could eliminate need for toothpaste. Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of the top stories from Hugg.com, TreeHugger’s user-generated green news site. Why not submit your own green news?...

It's The Dairy House by architect Charlotte Skene Catling, a conversion of a dairy in Somerset, England into a five bedroom house, and the question of the hour is, "why is this on TreeHugger?" It could be because they say that "The aim was to use as many local materials as possible. Estate timber is planked and dried in the storage barns in the farmyard opposite the site, and the method of drying – where raw planks are separated by spacers to allow air circulation - became the generator of the logic and aesthetic of the extension." - we do love our local materials. ...

Like green? Like podcasts? Like 'em both, for free? Of course you do. If you can't get enough green listening from TreeHugger Radio and the like, and want to get more green news and views zapped directly to your computer, this is for you. The good folks at iTunes have aggregated some of the best environment-related podcasts in one handy spot, for you to subscribe to (for free!) and consume at your leisure. Included are our pals from Grist, and Lazy Environmentalist Josh Dorfman, along with some quality programming from Public Radio International (their "Living on Earth" show) and The Sierra Club. Several of the shows are more thematic, with eco-listening from NPR (on climate change) and "Eco Biz" from the Sundance Channel, just to name a few. So, no matter your environmental persuasion, there's a podcast to help you get your green swerve on. Check 'em all out and get subscribing at ::iTunes Green Room...

In what could be a move to get back in Greenpeace's good graces, Nokia has unveiled its 3110 Evolve, a new phone that Nokia has "evolved" into a greener machine. With "bio-covers" (plastic?) made from more than 50% renewable material, smaller packaging made of 60% recycled content and including Nokia's most energy efficient charger yet, using 94% less energy than the Energy Star requirements. Add that to Nokia's energy-saving alerts, and it appears that the company is making some incremental, baby-step changes (no, not that kind of baby step) to getting greener. With the average life span of a cell phone around 18 months (which adds up to 130 million added to the waste stream each year), it can be difficult to think of the portable talkies as "green." But since nobody is going back to the pre-cell-phone Stone Age anytime soon, let's keep those green baby steps coming.::Nokia via ::Hippyshopper and ::Gizmodo...

Where we live, churches that are no longer needed for religious purposes are turned into condos and pass out of the public realm. How much more appropriate that they turn into such a magnificent shrine to the book....

Meet Dmitriy Orlov, another one of our Citizen Profile winners. Today we share his quick n’ easy, green alternative to fast food and his admittedly not-so-green car racing pastime. Dmitriy, like many of us, walks the line of eco-contradiction, fully conscious of when were not being so eco-conscious. TreeHugger’s thoughts: That’s a big step forward, so long as we are open to change and substitutions. To us, Dmitriy and our past Citizen Profile winners have demonstrated this uber cool flexibility. But enough about us, we want to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments section and don’t forget to tune in tomorrow and Friday for the final two citizen interviews!...

Around the world, public space is becoming privatized and corporatized; the public square becomes the private mall. Graphic artist Robin Howie "travelled around London creating a series of typographic interventions within the environment. These featured rhetoric statements which encourage questions about the nature and success of public space." ...

If we are looking for ways to burn less fuel high in the atmosphere, perhaps there are other ways to fly. The Focus 21 France relies on the "ground effect", where drag is significantly reduced when flying between 1-1/2 and 2 times the wingspan of the craft; fuel use could be reduced up to 40%. All the benefits of flying without the racking, stacking and packing. The Focus 21 is designed for a modest 15 passengers, primarily as a high end yacht tender, but in the cold war the Russians used them for a lot more. ::Dvice...

It's a bummer that you have to fight for your right to line-dry your laundry, but at least you can stick it to your local municipality with something like these clever line-dryable dishes. "Cuelgame," conceived by Spanish designers Marc Ballve and Victor Vinyamatavia, helps save precious kitchen counter space by encouraging users to dry their dishes with the help of a warm summer breeze. And without that pesky alleged lower property value that can stupidly accompany dangling your undies from the line. In all seriousness, this is a fun, clever, artful space-saving proposition, with tongue slightly implanted in cheek. If you don't want to reuse the water from your clean dishes, and have run out of space for a modular, space-efficient dish rack, why not let your dishes pick up the space-saving slack? You could even follow these tips for drying laundry indoors...hit the jump for more pics. ::Marc Ballve and Victor Vinyamatavia via ::Yanko Design...

In an earlier survey looking for a better name for global warming, Climate Chaos won hands down, but we also invited readers to submit their own. In round two here, we post those choices to see if any outpoll climate chaos. NOTE: due to the length of the poll we have moved it below the fold. ...

Image courtesy of FAU As solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies increasingly become seen as viable alternatives to coal- and fossil fuel-based ones, some scientists are already looking beyond recent breakthroughs in these areas to the vast, largely untapped potential offered by the world's oceans. This follows a recent announcement by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne clearing the way for further research and investment into wind, wave and tidal technologies on the U.S.'s Outer Continental Shelf. Rick Driscoll, director of Florida Atlantic University's Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology (CEOET), and his colleagues are hard at work developing a device that could allow his state to procure up to a third of its energy needs by tapping into the Gulf Stream's energy-dense waters. A field of underwater turbines moored 1,000 ft below the surface in the center of the Gulf Stream could - by drawing from its 8 billion gallons per minute flow rate - provide as much energy as several nuclear plants....

As Archinect cleverly put it, German architects are going after seasonal work with 5 different stunning modernist gingerbread houses. This one, by Berlin's Graft Architects, comes with 9 PDFs so that you can get all the layers right. All come with full plans and recipe, in German....

A landmark report released by The Nature Conservancy has demonstrated that effective conservation measures - far from simply benefiting the local biota - can also help alleviate poverty. The study, co-authored by Nature Conservancy policy advisor Craig Leisher, economist Peter van Beukering and social scientist Lea M. Scherl, showed that well-managed marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Asia-Pacific region - at sites in Fiji, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines - cut poverty rates and boosted the quality of life for residents of impoverished communities. They did so by improving fish catches, increasing the number of new jobs created (mostly through eco-tourism), empowering women and by generally ameliorating community health. Moreover, they helped reinforce good management practices by strengthening local governance. ...

Calling all treehuggers: Greenpeace is holding an online poll to name a humpback whale. So far, the most popular name is Mr. Splashy Pants. More than 11,000 possible whale names were submitted but this one currently holds 76% of the vote. The poll is a way to raise recognition of the plight of the humpback whale which Greenpeace is tracking via satellite, as they migrate from breeding and calving areas in the tropical South Pacific to the feeding grounds of the Southern Ocean. The Fisheries Agency of Japan sends a fleet of whaling ships after these and other whales, in the name of "research", and this year they plan to kill 50 humpback whales and 50 endangered fin whales....

Technologies tend to have their downsides, and in Sweden, where mobile phones took off early and have a huge role in the culture, there's now a new downside: high-interest shopping loans delivered via sms (short message system) - more commonly called text messaging in the U.S. Sms loans have spread like wildfire in the last year, and now more than 20 companies offer them. All a prospective borrower has to do is send a text message to the loan company giving the personnummer (national ID) and bank account number and if the credit record looks okay, presto, within 10 minutes the micro-loan - of up to about US$450 - is immediately electronically transferred into the account. With record holiday shopping predicted in Scandinavia, where there's a strong economy, record micro-loans are also anticipated - some with staggering loan costs. In spite of, or perhaps because of all the pressure to consume, this is also the first year that the ekoreko (organic/fair trade and reuse) movement is really getting going here with Sweden's first large-scale "swopping" festival as part of the Christmas market at Gothenburg's World Culture Museum. Alongside local, organic and fair trade fashion companies such as Spirit of Maya, Sweden Organics and Zion, there will be a free one-for-one clothing swap, with all leftovers going to local charities. Via Etisktmode.se (Swedish)...

We are all about bikes here at TreeHugger, and we are all about bike safety. We loved Canadian MP Olivia Chow’s video on tips to stay out of harm's way, and being seen is certainly always an issue. We’ve just come across the above video showing that bicycle safety was an important consideration, even in the relatively traffic-free 50s. Many of the tips are still relevant today, though with the benefit of hindsight, it’s kind of a shame that kids of the time were told that “you are the automobile driver of the future.” And let’s not get too carried away with the risks. Remember, some people even claim it is more dangerous not to ride a bike! ::YouTube::via site visit:: ...

In case you’re feeling overwhelmed by the number of toys that have been found to contain lead, asbestos, mercury and the like of late, there’s a new and searchable database that aims to cure your ills this holiday season. Under the organization of the Ann Arbor, Michigan Ecology Center, healthytoys.org is a growing database of toys tested for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and chlorine as well. Literally launched today, the database is still relatively small, with only 1,500 toys in the initial testing run. And as any parent who's been dragged through Toys R Us by their screaming toddler will know that's a mere drop in the veritable ocean of cheap toys kids crave. But you can nominate toys to be tested, so it's certain to grow over time. ...

The answer to this riddle, in a word, is good old-fashioned persistence. At least that's according to a recent study which indicates that if you persistently show kids the veggies, they will eat them. In fact, the study shows that babies as young as 4 months old will even eat green beans after a few tries. Because according to researchers, they've found the more green beans the babies saw the more likely they were to eat them and eventually enjoy them, even when given the choice of something sweet to eat instead, like peaches. ...

Photo credit: bosconet An abandoned parking meter in Baltimore gets cut down to size and now accepts bikes instead of quarters. The parking spot's presumably still there, because the meter was made obsolete only because it was replaced by a new-fangled parking machine. Still, we can dream. ::Flickr...

Make this yummy dish of miso chicken and tofu Cut the clutter by taking inventory of your cookbook library Is Uncle Erwin or Cousin Amanda going to be on your case again this year? Learn how to handle difficult relatives when discussing the environment Here's a tip that will cure your cough better than any over-the-counter cough syrup will Toast your loved ones, as well as the environment, this holiday season Donate funds to your favorite cause, without opening your wallet Who knew? According to a new study, divorce is bad for the environment If you've always wanted to learn to sew, your time has come You might want to stand up before you read this zero-cost fat-burning tip Cleaning your wool rugs is snow problem during winter Do you know where your clothing comes from? Track their journey online...

5% -- the amount of each sale TreeHugger fav Nau donates to environmental and humanitarian organizations working to create positive change. But how much is 5%? $2,410 -- 5% of the median household income in the US. $280,000,000,000 -- the amount we'd have if every US household gave 5%. That's four times the amount currently spent on education in this country. $248.5 billion -- the amount of charitable giving in the US in 2004, totaling 2.1% of our GDP; if we'd given 5%, it would have been $688.5 billion, greater than the GDP of 177 countries across the world. 75% -- the amount of that charitable giving that came from individuals; 4.8% came from corporations, but, the median rate of giving among Fortune 500 companies is only... 0.07% -- which is more than 70 times less 5%. If all Fortune 500 companies gave 5%, it would total... $19,200,000,000,000. Definitely enough to change the world. Watch the accompanying video at ::Nau via ::NotCot...

The good folks over at Core77 have unleashed this year's version of 77 Design Gifts Under $77 (remember last year's?); their unique take on the gift guides that are ubiquitous this time of year is a fun, creative tour of what to get for your design-nerd buddies. Included in the list is a fair handful of green, from a Zipcar membership, a donation to microfinancier Kiva, the DVD for "Manufactured Landscapes" and the (free!) pocket guides to eating the right fish. Of course, there's also the cubicle periscope, a pair of dancing robots and a USB-powered computer music lip-syncing gadget. What are the holidays without a little fun? Check out TreeHugger's version and get ready to smile at ::Core77...

Now if we can only get people to realize the problem's really in reverse. ...

With critics arguing that it would cost too much to successfully tackle climate change, I’d suggest they consider taking a look at the fact that low water in the Great Lakes, caused by a combination of long-and short-term natural effects, could wind up costing big bucks to the economy. Because with Lakes Michigan and Huron inches from record lows, and the other Great Lakes down as well, it’s becoming tough for some ships to reach ports like Green Bay with a full load. As Port Director Dean Haen points out, "For every inch of water missing — and we're down 22 to 24 inches — that 1 inch equals 100 tons that can't be put on a ship. So ships are carrying only 15,000 to 16,000 tons, when they used to carry from 18,000 to 20,000.” ...

In an age characterized by elevated environmental awareness -- reducing our carbon footprint, enhancing our sustainable output -- we remain nevertheless obsessed with our attachment to the material world. By all indications, our responses to things tell us who we are, what we value, why we do (or don't do) the things we do. Material culture is social culture, and social culture is intrinsically connected to making -- and yes, to saving things. You can choose to reject nostalgia, or to embrace market research, or even sell all your belongings on eBay and join a monastery, but at the end of the day, everyone has a story to tell. And a good many of those stories, it turns out, involve actual things. -- Jessica Helfand, in ::Design Observer via ::Core77...

You can see the full-size version of the map here. See the post about it here. The caption reads: “This playful diagram shows all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail system. It is the opening page of a new book about the graphic design of subway, metro, underground and U-Bahn system maps and diagrams.” See also: ::How to Green Your Public Transportation, ::Ethical Weddings on Honeymoons by Rail, ::Seat 61: Get Tere Wthout Flying, ::Summer Train Travel, ::Air Travel and Climate Change: Take the Train, ::Amtrak Train Runs out of Fuel, ::Railroads for Sustainability: What Can We Do?...

The only time I ever get in a cab is when it is pouring rain, so this does not make a lot of sense to me, but it may be "a more sustainable alternative for a fast and flexible travel" from designer Gert-Jan van Breugel. "The City Swing is a hybrid motorbike cab with seats for three people. Driven by bio-fuel or electricity, and by making use of bus-only lanes, the motorbike cab is faster, more economical and less polluting than present-day cabs." ...

We do love a clever billboard and this one is also a real producer, generating 3.4 Kw of electricity during the day, which they describe as enough for a family of four. It has no storage and takes electricity from the grid at night, but is a net producer. "The energy that is collected by the solar panels actually exceeds the amount used by it on a day-to-day basis," said Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) spokesperson Jennifer Zelwer of the standard-sized billboard, which proclaims: "This isn't a billboard. It's a power plant."...

Image credit: The Gazette (Montreal) 2007 RONA, the Canadian version of Home Depot, made an announcement this month that they are pairing up with the International Life Cycle Assessment Research Chair in Montreal. This means more integration of life cycle assessment (LCA) into the store’s policy, products and suppliers. It looks like they are trying to follow the lead of their American counterpart. The highlights released for RONA's initiatives are that they will be selling eco-products, launching their own eco-brand (for Spring 2008), creating an executive position to address sustainable development within the Company and partnering with the International Industrial Chair in LCA. This sounds promising - let's hope they can really, truly create some green how-to people. Let's keep our eye on RONA and this voluntary initiative. ...

In an effort to boost the country's nascent sustainable forestry and recycling industries and promote sustainable supply chains, the Mexican government has made an admirable commitment to green its procurement of paper and woods products, beginning in March 2008. This fall, the Federal Public Administration, which is responsible for much of the federal government's procurement of supplies, decreed that it would only buy chlorine-free paper made of at least 50% recycled material and/or from non-timber fiber products. It also committed to purchase wood for furniture from sustainably-managed forests approved under the General Law of Sustainable Forest Development. The Federal Public Administration consumes 14,600 tons of paper annually, according to the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat, and the annual expenditure of the government on forest products, not including paper, is close to one billion pesos (US$91 million). Sergio Madrid, director of the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry, said that the new mandate for sustainably-harvested wood products opens an enormous opportunity to reactivate the country's forest sector. ::Via New Ventures Mexico Blog...

We were quite happy to see the development of the Lifestraw, a design with the huge world-changing potential to help provide clean drinking water to the more than one billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. Unfortunately, the original design -- featured in the Design for the Other 90 Percent exhibition, among others -- added the unpleasant taste of iodine to the water. A new version, which took this information from the field into account, has fixed this problem, making clean, safe drinking water ever better for those who need it most. Like the original version, the light-weight, 12.2 inch (25cm) device can be carried or worn around the neck and filters a minimum of about 185 gallons of water (700 liters, or a year's worth) and requires no electricity or spare parts for the duration of its life. Lifestraw provides protection from from common diarrhoeal diseases, removing particles down to 15 microns and killing and removing 99.999% of waterborne bacteria plus 98.7% of waterborne viruses. Lots more details on the device's design and performance are available at ::Lifestraw via ::Gizmodo...

America's baby boomers were born when sprawl and the move away from public transit were just taking off, and during their lives those trends have taken on a life of their own, becoming defining characteristics of the American cultural and physical landscape. But as a recent USA Today article points out, "as the oldest of the nation's 79 million baby boomers turn 61 this year, the specter of aging and its consequences loom large." The consequence of aging to which the article is specifically referring is the fact that "21% of Americans over the age of 65 don't drive," meaning that the very system created during their lives now threatens to greatly limit the mobility of the boomer generation as they move into retirement. We've covered many of the environmental effects of sprawl before, but for the elderly, a lack of transportation options equates to dependency, isolation and loneliness. While climate change and other environmental issues loom unavoidably large, one of the problems has been that it is hard to put a human face on them. But all of us have parents, grandparents, relatives or friends that will suffer as a result of how we have chosen to design and build our cities. What we need to do a better job of is connecting quality of life to land-use and climate change, so that people will feel inspired to take action because action means better cities, jobs and products for them. Via: ::USA Today See Also: ::The Problems With Green Sprawl, ::Radiant City: A Documentary about Suburban Sprawl, ::Interview: Don Schmitt on Sprawl, ::Los Angeles on the Verge of Nation's Best Mass Transit?, ::US Cities Make You Fat, and ::The Long Emergency: a Long Review...

The annual ar Awards for emerging architecture have been announced. It is"the biggest and best award for young architects in the world. Intended to bring wider international recognition to a talented new generation of architects and designers, the Awards have attracted entries from more than 80 countries, representing every inhabited continent." It had a great international jury including Shirley Blumberg (Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, Toronto), Caroline Bos (UN Studio, Amsterdam), Peter Davey (Former Editor of The Architectural Review), Shuhei Endo (Shuhei Endo Architect Institute, Osaka), Jo Noero (Noero Wolff Architects, Cape Town) and Paul Finch (Editor of The Architectural Review and Chairman of the Jury)....

Over the past year or so, as climate change (or is it climate chaos?) has moved closer to the forefront of the world's collective consciousness, we've seen relative carbon footprints for just about everything. From burgers to furniture to UK produce to pepper spray and even New Jersey, there isn't anything that doesn't have a carbon footprint these days. Thanks to UK-based product design consultancy IDC (Industrial Design Consultancy), we can now add Santa's goodies to that long list; they've done a thorough analysis, from materials to manufacturing, transport and the energy used by the product, of a handful of popular gifts this year, to come up with Christmas' carbon footprint. Hit the jump to see which products deserve a "Bah Humbug!" this year....

Too bad that National Academy of Science publications aren't 'pair reviewed'. Cause then we could make a good pundit case for tree-hugging being a family virtue Seriously though: does this study infer the reverse, that marriage and childbearing while living in a McMansion reduce average resource consumption over the long term? Three divorced guys sharing an efficiency flat in the city? Course not. The issue is with what's in the denominator. Unit of time? Square feet of living space/person? This kind of "science" we don't need - thank you very much....

Discussing strategy in Tel Aviv's "Green House." A Jewish sage once said: “Who is wise? One who learns from every man.” Members of Tel Aviv’s environmental movement took this advice to heart this week when they met with a business and policy consultant to develop a strategy ahead of the city’s 2008 mayoral elections. Their goal, as stated by activist Anat Barkai-Nevo of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel's Tel Aviv office, being no less then “to make environmental and social policy the issue in the 2008 elections." Strategist and lobbyist Erez Gilhar, addressing a wall-to-wall crowd of environmental leaders and community activists, initially managed to ruffle a few feathers by admitting to working for some of Israel’s most notorious polluters over the course of his career....

We love the idea of mobile living, but just as in regular housing, less is more. Sales are slow in RV land. According to the New York Times, it is easy to see why. "With an uncertain economy, tightening credit and gas prices through the roof, many would-be captains of land yachts are rethinking their dreams. Other issues also loom in a world increasingly worried about waste, sustainability and global warming. It might be getting harder to love a beast that gulps a gallon of fuel every seven miles." But not at the high end of the market......

No matter what the weather, lawyer Ray Mickevicius rides right across town in his yellow velomobile, or enclosed recumbent bicycle. According to the Star, it is "a ground-hugging, three-wheeled horizontal bicycle, sheathed in fibreglass. About three metres long, it looks like a miniature race car, but it's powered by pedalling. It has a steering bar, 27 gears, turn signals, lights and a speedometer." He has even started a business with his dad selling them, and has moved 22 in the last 18 months. Collin wrote about it last year here....

The Canadian charity Design For Development Society (DFD) fights poverty with design. How? By coming up with design solutions together with communities in developing countries that can be developed and sustained locally. DFD’s aim is to “reduce poverty and increase community self-reliance through demonstrated and advocated use of the design process”. This is exactly what they intend on doing in order to design and manufacture an emergency medical transportation devices (EMTD) for western Kenya. The solution: a Bambulance. Made from the sustainable local material bamboo (more about bamboo in Kenya here), the bambulance will improve transportation for patients as well as medics to and from rural areas, where other transport methods don’t exist or are unsuitable. The benefits of this EMTD are improved speed and comfort over what is currently available, while maintaining cost efficiency and sustainability. Plus, the project will provide education and sustainable employment for HIV positive women and youth. ...

If Piet Mondrian had become an architect, he might have teamed up with Jean Prouve and designed the Loq•kit. Instead, we had to wait until Patrick Freet created "a standardized mass-produced kit, or catalog, of house parts that can be assembled into many configurations. With Loq•kit house parts a nearly unlimited variety of houses – each unique in layout and appearance – can be quickly assembled." It is an ingenious and very well resolved idea for revolutionizing the way we build houses, breaking it down into components that snap together much like an office system. Over at Materialicious, architect Greg La Vardera (Treehugger here) has deconstructed it brilliantly:...

At under five feet, Cun Yanfang doesn’t cut a very imposing figure. But the 31-year-old Chinese villager is proof of the influence that the little people can have on the environment even in the middle of a massive environmental crisis. A member of the Naxi tribe from western China’s Yunnan province, Cun has focused on saving the Yunnan golden monkey, which numbers only around 1,500 and has suffered largely from the illegal logging that continually plagues the region. (The golden monkey happens to love leafy heights -- it lives at the highest altitude of any primate, 10,000 feet.) With funding from the Nature Conservancy and Rare (and a keen sense of humor and marketing acumen), she travels across the area drumming up support for her campaign, which has installed biogas feeders and solar panels to reduce the local need for firewood. With visits to schools, village quizzes and prizes for green-themed performances at local festivals, her campaign also seeks to educate locals about the monkey and, more so, to build a sense of responsibility among them, all while appealing to their entrepreneurial instincts. As she tells the Christian Science Monitor this week:

"We want to use people's pride in their hometowns to make them responsible for their own places," explains Cun. "It shouldn't be because of law enforcement."

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The conspiracy theorist in me just can't take inveterate funder of climate change sceptics and anti-regulation lobbyists Exxon Mobil at face value. Usually one thinks of them buying up patents for improved batteries to deep-six them somewhere rather than expensively splashing them over two pages of major newspapers across the country. Their press release proudly announces "new battery separator films that are expected to significantly enhance the power, safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles. As a result, the new film technologies have the potential to improve the energy efficiency and affordability of the next wave of lower-emission vehicles." And why now? There is nothing new here, they made the same announcement in another press release back on May 8. Same stuff. Something is up. ::Exxon Mobil...

"BY SOLDERING together 1500 quart oil cans, Edgar Speer, Ohio mechanic, has constructed a novel playhouse for his small daughter. By laying the soldered cans on their long axis and offsetting each course at the end, Speer has achieved a log cabin effect. Large enough to accommodate three or four full grown men, the cabin is 6-1/2 feet long, 4-1/2 feet wide and 6-1/2 feet high. The project took about 2-1/2 months of Speer’s spare time. The work was done with a common blow torch and soldering iron." Of course it will be lead and VOC free. I wonder where she is now? ::Modern Mechanix ...

The US Congress has not done much good with energy policy in recent years, except to promote more fossil fuel extraction of course, leading the nation to the edge of climate cataclysm and fuel shortage. This is not to say that all members of Congress are panderers without vision, or ineffectual partisans, though those certainly are prevailing stereotypes. It’s just that we keep wondering ‘where’s the leadership toward a sustainable future?’ Washington State's Congressman Jay Inslee, in a flourish of dedication and knowledge has co-written a book that proclaims a vision of optimism for US energy and climate policy. Apollo’s Fire, written in a manner accessible to all, is titled in homage to the original NASA Apollo Project that put a man on the moon, led to important technological innovations, and put Americans to work with a sense of purpose and pride. Representative Inslee is a nuanced thinker and speaker, as exemplified by testimony he gave last spring to the House Ways & Means Committee (below); and, Apollo’s Fire is as characteristically rational and up front. ...

(Picture: Roberto Civita and the cover of the 2007 Exame guide. Credit: Exame.) A few days ago, Brazilian magazine Exame presented its annual guide of responsible companies and awarded the best sustainability practices in Brazilian businesses. Selected companies were Accor, Acesita, Amanco, Aracruz, Arcelor, Basf, Braskem, Caterpillar, CPFL, Elektro, IBM, Itaú Bank, Mapfre, Natura cosmetics, Philips, Promon, Real Bank, Serasa, Suzano Paper, and Unilever (see which were the best practices by each in the extended). During the awards ceremony, Roberto Civita, president of Abril Group publishers (owner of the magazine and the most important publisher in the country), highlighted how much environmental interest is growing in the corporate sector. “Among the companies we analyzed, 63% of them have a sustainability committee, 83% have corporate politics regarding the environment, and 81% use social criteria to choose their providers. One-third of these companies also links the variable part of the salary of its employees to environmental and social goals. These are notable figures, there’s no question about it,” he said. Keep reading for the list of awarded companies and their practices. Via Exame magazine....

As buzz surrounding the UN climate change conference in Bali continues to grow, countries worldwide are creating or ramping up their own strategies to combat climate change. Even the US has jumped into the fray, with cities and states and even companies (think GE, GM, Alcan, Dow and DuPont, Alcoa, PepsiCo and Xerox) devising their own plans in the absence of any action from Washington and lobbying the government to take the leap. Countries are increasingly integrating carbon market strategies into policy formulation. For example, just as you can buy, sell and trade the rights to emit sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the US, the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) lets you do the same for carbon dioxide. Basically acting as a policy instrument, this sort of cap-and-trade initiative provides economic incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the design and implementation of carbon markets reflect differing imperatives between developing and developed nations, raising questions about how they are developed and what it would take to link them together into a single global carbon market....

It's getting cold out there and some of us have turned on the heat and are looking for something warm and woolly to wear. It's a tricky topic, the sourcing of wool, because with the growing world demand, animals are being raised on a vaster scale, in poorer conditions and their grazing is adding to the desertification of once-fertile plains. It's best to look for home grown wool or at least wool that has a known source. Some designers grow their own but these are serious luxury items. Chunky is big this year. Ruth Cross makes exquisite hand-knit sweaters and accessories from Scottish wool using British knitters and local studios. Nicky Dupont has a beautiful cable knit cardigan (pictured) with wooden buttons, hand-knit in grey--a perfect (ethical) autumn fashion statement. Buying from a good ethical company can yield some glam stuff too. Favourite treehugger brands such as Traidcraft have belted charcoal cable knit cardigans hand-knit in Peru. People tree has a chunky basket-knit cardigan from Nepal and Karen Cole has a cable cardigan of New Zealand Merino wool. :: new consumer...

Norway, a nation made wealthy by North Sea oil, has also become a nation with a love-hate relationship with renewable energy development. The country has some of the best wind resources in all of Europe, but nearly no new wind turbines are being erected there because of an extremely stingy support system. Norway's largest private company, Renewable Energy Corp., is a solar powerhouse - the biggest manufacturer of wafers for solar applications globally and one of the largest producers of solar cells. But there's not much market for REC's products at home in Norway due to lack of any homegrown support structure for solar installations. And as talks in Bali start up, Norway's leading paper reveals the soaring CO2 emissions at the new Melkøya gas plant, ironically called "Snow White". Norway will have to rely on buying carbon offsets if it truly wants to meet Kyoto emissions reductions goals. And perhaps to keep up appearances: its New Opera building now under construction in Oslo isn't particularly a green-building marvel, but it does include 300 square meters of solar panels embedded in the blue-green glass enclosing the south wall of the building. The Opera is designed by architectural firm Snøhetta. The new solar installation is Norway's largest, to generate 20,000 kWh of electricity each year. It was subsidized by a grant from the EU's Eco-Culture project for energy-efficient cultural buildings. Unfortunately, right now the solar panels are also being upstaged by problems at Opera's construction site, including prematurely yellowing roof tiles and a minor building flood. Should've built a solar roof! Via ::Arkitektur (in Norwegian) ...

The folks at the UK-based website Ethical Weddings have graced our pages a few times before, from Leonora’s original post about them, to our later coverage of their honeymoons by rail discussion. Well, it seems they have been busy since we last heard from them as they have just launched a new-and-improved version of the site, boasting a whole raft of features for those planning their eco-nuptuals. Featured on the all new Ethical Weddings are: • A full directory of suppliers • A calendar of eco and ethical events • wedding and relationship experts waiting for readers’ questions • DIY wedding suggestions • Real ethical wedding stories • A helpful wedding planner For more thoughts on greening your big day, check out our guide on How to Green Your Wedding, or take a look at this author’s wedding on a goat farm in North Carolina. ::Ethical Weddings::via site visit:: ...

During London Fashion Week in September British fashion designer Sarah Ratty talked to TreeHugger about Ciel, her critically acclaimed ethical fashion label. Ciel has had an amazingly successful year, winning the first ever UK 'Fashion Export Award for Ethical Fashion' and being shortlisted for 'Fashion Product of The Year' at The Observer Ethical Awards 2007. In part one of this interview I talked to Sarah about how the creation of Ciel helped her recover from a terrible car accident, the struggle to get ethical clothing on the fashion industry's agenda, the challenges of eco-textiles and what it's like to work with Top Shop. In part two, below, I ask Sarah about the benefits of having an agent in the US, how she keeps things sustainable as the business grows and what the future holds in store for her brand....

Give your grandmother what she really wants this holiday Want to convince your kids to eat their veggies? Get ready crack open your Thesaurus Build a steampunk-esque nine-armed menorah this Hanukkah Get your home ready for winter, while saving a bunch of money, simply by installing some faucet aerators Here are our tips for avoiding impulse shopping and overspending this holiday season If you've hauled out last year's Christmas lights only to discover that they're busted, don't despair, repair Barter for baby clothing and gear with other parents online Track six female polar bears as they make their way around Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba Waste not, want not: Turn a worn men's shirt into a sharp-looking apron Why spend mega bucks trucking in play sand when you can make your own for practically nothing? Make fast-cooking compost with these supercharged tips What's your carbon footprint? ...

Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in his first act after being sworn in this morning, leaving the US as the only developed nation not to have ratified it. What's wrong with the environmental movement? Here's one take on the topic; do you agree or disagree? Dig in to the various sides of the “corn story” -- on one side, there's farmers, telling us they can’t survive without the subsidies; on the other side, the rest of us who aren't fans of corn-based ethanol. Produced and presented by the Coastal Conservation League, Global Warming Guy is a lighthearted look at the serious issue of global climate change. The British government should introduce new laws to help IT vendors and enterprises cut their carbon footprint, environmental charity Global Action Plan has warned. Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of the top stories from Hugg.com, TreeHugger’s user-generated green news site. Why not submit your own green news?...

Like The Light Drop we featured before, Brazilian designer Rafael Morgan's new "Once Was" comb is designed to be a thought-provoking commentary on our consumption first and functional art second. Says Morgan, "We are so used to some everyday objects that sometimes we don't realize what's behind them, where do they came from. Great part of the exotic wood that is consumed in USA and Europe are illegally imported from poor countries like Brazil. "This comb reminds us of what it once was in the past. "It once was a tree, it once was alive." Should the comb ever be mass-produced, Morgan assures us it'll be carved from certified sustainable wood. See more thoughtful, sustainable designs at ::Rafael Morgan...

Type out loud and speak your mind over at TreeHugger Forums; here are some recent highlights.

1) Forums user planet_MATTers knows that the children are our future (thank you, Whitney Houston), but is wondering if they're given the necessary opportunity to learn about green at school: "For those of you who have children, how involved are they with the 'green movement', do you think they get enough (or any) education on the subject at school. Are the people who will inherit this planet be any better at taking care of it that we have been?" Perhaps not too surprisingly, most of the green education seems to come from the home and green parents who lead by example, rather than at school.

2) User JohnParker brings up a topic that has been gaining momentum in the green world: carbon negativity. A step or two further than carbon neutrality, JohnParker thinks that, "We have to get past talk of mere reductions to get to stategies for reducing total atmospheric CO2. I'm wondering if anyone else has thought along these lines. To quote Bertrand Russell: 'The only thing that will redeem humanity is cooperation.'" With references to thievery, socialism and that "behavior sinks to the level of the consequences," this thread looks to the future of carbon emissions, carbon markets, and what it'll take to truly turn things around. Interesting stuff.

3) In one of the more unusual ideas we've seen in the Forums in a while, user monkeypuncher has an interesting idea to limit carbon emissions: population control. "Could an operator in a western country, where CO2 per person is highest, provide free of charge birth control measures such as abortion, morning after pills, sterilisation etc...and fund those activities by selling the carbon credits? What more effective way could the possibly be to limiting greenhouse gasses?" What do you think: ridiculous idea or possibly part of the solution? Log in and spend your two cents.

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....

This week is Carnival of the Green # 106 and it's being hosted by Fake Plastic Fish who graciously stepped in at the last minute! So head on over to the blog 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....

Now that Jack Bauer has gone green, we thought we would share the secret weapon that lets TreeHugger scoop the green scene: we all carry these solar powered spy cameras built into our pens. Who writes with a pen anyways? Only solar power would do of course, as we are so often out chasing polar bears and orangutan who are camera shy. "just whip out the pen, twist the cap to start the wireless transmission, have the included MP4/Wireless receiver with 10~20 meters, and you can view and record everything that your spy camera pen sees." Your backup team on bicycles outside can capture everything. Only US$332. Specs below the fold. ::Chinavision via ::Dvice ...

Taking unwanted bits of plastic from an injection molding machine, Dutch designer Christian Kocx has created "Non-Woven," a small collection of ultra-modern furniture, lighting and accessories. Originally presented during the furniture fair in Milan in April 2007, it popped up again just a couple of weeks ago during Dutch Design Week 2007. Kocx creates some pretty interesting shapes, the bowls (pictured after the jump), especially, are decidedly nest-like, in a non-ridiculous way. A by-product of their materials, the designs' lines and style help showcase that anything can be upcycled, that there isn't any material that can't be (slightly) modified to create eye-catching, resource-saving design. It's a great example of how nothing -- not even plastic offcasts from an injection molding machine -- needs to be discarded. Designer Kocx graduated from the Design Academy in January 2006, so we'll be watching him for more inventive, future forward designs. Hit the jump to see more pics. ::Christian Kocx via ::dezeen...

Ezra Stoller If you've gotta have a traditional monster house in Vancouver, you can't let history or genius get in the way. It was Arthur Erickson's breakthrough house in 1963, a stunning multi-storey wood-and-glass house that descends in levels. People are fighting to save it (architecture students are threatening to chain themselves to it) but the wimpy gutless excuse for a city planner Stephen Mikicich says "In the end, this is private property we're talking about,so we're really looking to encourage conservation by the tools that are available to us. " How about making some new tools that work? ...

As promised earlier, the designs of new houses for the Lower Ninth in New Orleans, to be built in the Make it Right project of 150 affordable, environmentally sound houses, were announced today. Shown above is Thom Mayne's version, which according to the NY Times, is "a lightweight concrete foundation anchored by two pylons, like a pier, which would buoy the house if floodwaters rise. “It’s a boat,” Mr. Mayne said. “The population doesn’t want to live on stilts — and it’s expensive,” he added. “These are simple houses for low-income people.”...

We have shown how to build a biodiesel grow-op before on TreeHugger and Planet Green; it is not for the faint of heart. Then there is the Fuelpod 2- the Mister Fusion of the biodiesel world. It is "incredibly easy and safe to use" and can cook up 50 litres per day from waste cooking oil, so start making friends with the local chip shop. "With just a 60cm diameter and at only 140cm high FuelPod2 sits easily at the back of the garage and is operated via a compressor. If you’re interested in the science, it uses CE and ATEX approved process with air control to avoid any sparks. Safe Band technology heats the oil in a thermostatically controlled heater within an integral heating tank, prior to mixing with methanol added from a separate tank." At £2056.00 it might take a few weeks to pay off...::Fuelpod2 via ::Red Ferret...

Trains, subways and streetcars are the most optimal methods of mass transportation. Given adequate investment, rail-based travel could be a viable alternative to air travel (see Andrew Posner's recent post for more details). Recently, instead of flying Allison Rogers decided to try taking the train from Washington DC to Providence, Rhode Island. Here is her account of the trip: ...

This week marks the beginning of Hanukkah, celebrated by lighting candles for eight days and consuming copious amounts of oily treats. Between the jelly doughnuts encrusted in icing sugar to the potato latkes, we can imagine that Israelis produce enough spent vegetable oil this time of the year to power bio-diesel engines for the entire nation until next Hanukkah. ...

At this year’s Green Fest DC, we offered booth visitors the chance to win a Citizen Profile right here on TreeHugger. Having already covered many remarkable figures, we thought it was a great opportunity to tap into what citizens like us are doing to live eco-friendly lifestyles. We started by asking for their guiltless, green pleasures and for their guilty not-so-green pleasures. Hit the jump to find out what the Patel family had to say: Hiren, 32, Amita, 32, and their son, Deven, 17 months. Leave a comment if you can relate, if you walk away with tip or two, or if you have some advice! (Stay tuned. Each day of this week, we’ll feature another one of our five winners.)...

Cork is one of our favourite materials; Warren notes that cork extraction is financially, socially and environmentally sustainable, and that cork can easily be either recycled or composted. We have shown it in shoes, floors and more but here is a use we haven't seen before. ::Modern Mechanix...

Made from broken tempered glass, silicone and lined with LEDs, the Shattered Lights Lamp by designer Ira Rozhavsky puts the impetus to design in the users' hands. The amoeba-like lamp can be bent, folded and molded to your whimsical desires, creating an artful conversation piece that doubles as fun, energy-efficient mood lighting. Plus, it' s proof that silicone isn't just for dry cleaning, sex toys and baking anymore. Falling into the "greater than the sum of its parts" category, the funky light is remarkable not only for its ability to sip energy, but for the simplicity of its materials; who would've thought that broken glass, a handful of diodes and some silicone could create something so interesting; it definitely earns as many points for design ingenuity as it does for sustainability; hit the jump for more pics. We love lamp. ::Ira Rozhavsky @ Coroflot via ::100% Design and ::G Living...

The success of bike share programs in Europe has been phenomenal, and there is increasing talk of bringing them across the pond to our more car-oriented country. Now comes news that the University of Washington is teaming up with Intrago to create an electric bike share program for its Seattle campus. The self-rental bicycles will work much like traditional bike share programs: users are given a special pass to unlock bicycles from stations located throughout campus, and then return them just as easily. The only difference between this system and a more conventional one is that the bikes have an electric assist for hills and longer distances, circumventing one of the more common excuses for not riding a bike. It is unclear what kind of battery the bicycles make use of. The goal of the project is to encourage people to use alternative forms of transportation to get to school by providing them with a convenient way to get around the large campus. A convenient co-benefit will be a quieter, safer campus, with reduced congestion and lowered costs. The pilot system is being funded by a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation in the hope that "corporate campuses, vacation destinations and high-density urban and public transit locations" will see the value of these systems. Via: ::Enmediawire.com, and ::Intrago See Also: ::Avanti Electra Electric Bike, ::Solar Powered Electric Bicycle. Now We're Talking, ::Ride like the Sun: Electrobike-Solar Electric Bicycle , and ::World's First Electric Bike Rally: Open to All...

Tom Friedman says "sweet-sounding “global warming” doesn’t really capture what’s likely to happen." Wayne Roberts says Global warming is "a phrase that should be shunned as climatically incorrect and Eurocentric." We asked readers for suggestions and got a few. Online Surveys | Free Poll | Email Marketing ...

At first glance, Roth Motors' Motorboard 2000XR may not look like anything more than a glorified Razor scooter. Take a closer look, however, and what you'll find tucked below the sturdy board is a potent nano-safe lithium battery (made by the fine folks at A123 Systems) that provides enough juice on a single 90 min charge for a short ride. It only takes an extra 30 min to recharge the whole battery (the battery's full 2 hour charge gives you a range of about 6 miles, upgradeable to a 20 mile range). The foldable, ultra-portable electric scooter - weighing in at a very modest 16.5 lbs - is a big improvement over its previous iterations, significantly cutting down on the weight while doubling the power. Your correspondent had the chance to play around with one last week and was thoroughly impressed at how easy and practical it was to carry around - a blessing in car-dense L.A. The test-ride was equally smooth, with very little effort or skill needed to master its controls and zip around at a comfortable 15 mph clip....

With all of the concern over lead in toys, and the international attention that’s been focused on it, the folks at the Asbestos Disease Awareness Foundation have been quietly testing toys for asbestos. And, intriguingly, they’ve found it in a variety of products including the CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit and two brands of play clay including Art Skills’ Clay Bucket; along with home products such as cleanser, roof sealers and duct tape. The CSI Fingerprinting Kit has a collection of plastic tools and three types of powders, two of which had high levels of asbestos, which is especially concerning because kids will be touching the powder as they search for fingerprints. ...

James Timberlake added cooling vines climbing up the side of his building. Brad Pitt says the residents of New Orleans have been homeless long enough. “They’re coming up on their third Christmas,” he said. So he commissioned 13 of the world's top architects to design green, sustainable houses and is building 150 of them, and is showing all of the designs for the first time today in New Orleans. ...

Last week, in an unusual display of unity, the New York City Council unanimously passed the Climate Protection Act. The legislation, which mandates a 30% reduction in citywide greenhouse emissions by the year 2030, puts the force of law behind Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030. In addition, the Act requires annual emissions inventories and analyses along with public education and outreach programs. Finally, voluntary programs will be established to encourage private entities in New York City to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. See also :: NYC’s First-Ever Greenhouse Gas Inventory and :: A Sea of Yellow to Turn Green....

An ambitious scheme to build a number of solar power stations along the Mediterranean shores of the Middle East and northern Africa could generate enough electricity to supply one sixth of the European Union's needs. The generators, individually fitted with thousands of mirrors, would transmit the electricity by undersea cable to Europe, from which it would be distributed EU member states. In addition, the stations, which could soon be capable of generating 100-MW, would be used as desalination facilities to provide desert countries with much-needed supplies of fresh water. The scheme, known as Desertec, was unveiled last week by Jordan's Prince Hassan bin Talal; it was developed by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Corporation and is being supported by countries throughout Africa and the Middle East. ...

Add central North Carolina to the list of knowledge work "boom" areas facing the limits to growth imposed by an increasingly severe drought. The Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill area looks to be facing a drought serious enough to have economic consequences. More on that down-post.

Durham, with just 59 days left in its main water supply, could be on the front lines of this worst-case scenario. Up to now, the prospect has been too far-fetched to entertain in detail, which is why there are few specifics in Durham ordinances about what would happen if the drought doesn't let up. Raleigh also lacks a set plan for an end-times-type drought. Durham would ban industrial water use -- a potentially devastating economic blow. It would hit water-driven businesses such as car washes and laundries directly but also could force businesses to cut shifts or even lay off workers. Residential water would be rationed, but it's unknown how that would be implemented. Limiting water service to certain hours a day or dropping water pressure are possibilities.

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Greg Haegele, pictured here, is the Conservation Director of the Sierra Club. At 116 years old, the Club is America's oldest, largest and one of the most influential grassroots environmental organizations, with 1.3 million members and supporters. Greg will post weekly on Treehugger about what moves him, scares him, and gives him hope - covering the good, the bad and the ugly from the environmental world. He aims to offer a fresh perspective using his extensive background as an environmental and political activist, and as an organizer and campaign manager, to inform, outrage, and even inspire occasionally. We here at Treehugger are happy to have Greg and the Sierra Club aboard for these guests posts. Please see Greg's first effort below....

(Picture: Explorer cruise in Antarctica, via El Nuevo Dia newspaper) About a week ago, the cruise ship MS Explorer with Liberian flag sank in Antarctica leaving a diesel stain five kilometers of diameter. The cruise ship transported 100 travelers and 54 staff members that were rescued, and had 185 thousand liters of diesel and 1200 liters of gas oil. Now 1500 meters deep, until last Friday, authorities claimed the ship continued to spill fuel into the waters. A few days later, concern started to raise in both Argentina and Chile, because specialists worried petrol may damage more than 2000 penguins who go through the place where the stain is every year to reach the Ardley island, where they have their reproduction process. Their journey to the island usually takes place this time of the year. This unfortunate incident has finally drawn the attention of Argentine authorities about the impact of tourism to the delicate region of Antarctica and the National Environment Secretary, Romina Picolotti, has announced that the government might limit permissions for tourism to the area. Via BBC in Spanish....

If you need a tiara for your next eco ball or costume party, here's the answer. These tiaras are modeled after historical Russian and English designs and modernised for today's glamorous world. They are made out of red, purple or red Waitrose supermarket plastic bags collected by the designer's sister who gets them from home deliveries. Then they are baked and moulded into shapes. Some are crotcheted into little evening bags to match the tiara, or knitted into tam's. The designer likes doing things that don't exist, so she creates hand fans and fantasy hats for debutantes and super-heroes. Self-taught, she also makes bespoke, kinky gloves out of old fabrics, recycled stretch material, and dish clothes. At London Fashion Week, she was wearing a sweat shirt with huge holes crotcheted all over and she looked quite wonderful. These one-off creations have been featured in Italian Vogue and now we can join in the fun. :: Glovedup Gloves Via :: London Fashion Week...

From Swedish short film, "Music for one apartment and six drummers" As treehuggers are probably starting to realize, the Swedes are very fond of researching their green habits, or the lack of them. Just in the least few days, for example, reports were released in Sweden showing women are greener than men (though men are supposedly catching up), people are buying more eco-cars (over 27,000 registered last month), and it shouldn't be a problem to build a whopping 30 TWh of new wind power in Sweden over the next dozen years (that's a three-fold increase from the previous goal for wind of 10 TWh by 2015). Of course, surveys don't tell the whole truth, but still the news is encouraging. Media coverage of climate change has caused more people, and especially more men, to become environmentally conscious, according to Länsförsäkringar, an association of Swedish insurers. Swedes seem generally open to culture-changing initiatives when it comes to the environment - the Moderate-led coalition government recently proposed higher gas taxes to help reduce CO2 emissions, and the proposal is getting widespread support. Since last year's Länsfösäkringar survey, the number of men who think green when deciding how to heat their homes (now 59 percent) and which car to buy (now 49 percent) jumped around ten percentage points. And fully 90 percent of both men and women surveyed say they sort their trash for recycling - that's equivalent to 230 kilos of trash recycled for every man, woman and child. Swedes are the best recyclers in Europe. The positive numbers drop considerably, however, when men or women consider their purchases of bank services, insurance, and strangely enough, home decoration (!) where the percentages hover between 20 and 25 percent. Via The Local (in English) ...

It seems the folks at UK-based electric vehicle retailer GoinGreen had good reason for their recent pre-Christmas clear out. They are now taking orders for the new, improved version of their popular Indian-made G-Wiz commuter vehicle. According to the company’s website, the G-Wiz i features a whole raft of improvements, including roomier cabin layout, an extended range of up to 48 miles per charge (previously 40), and an increased top speed of 50mph (previously 45). Importantly, given the fact that the G-Wiz has come under fire for its crash test performance, the vehicle also features new and improved safety features including increased front and side impact protection (developed in collaboration with Lotus), a strengthened space frame, a collapsible steering column, a hill rolling restraint feature, plus new front disc brakes that deliver a 30% improvement in performance. It should be noted that because the vehicle is officially classed as a quadricycle, it is not legally required to undergo the same rigorous tests as a car. GoinGreen has now voluntarily submitted the G-Wiz to a front-impact crash test at 25mph but, especially given the new top speed, we don’t expect this will completely silence those concerned with the G-Wiz’s safety. We are, however, pleased to see the company investing in both safety and performance improvements, and we hope to see them making continued efforts in the future. ::GoinGreen::via site visit:: ...

The ground beneath your feet contains energy, vast sums of energy. It has been estimated that in the U.S. alone the geothermal energy resources are enough to power the entire U.S. for 30,000 years. Yet, there are serious questions about geothermal energy development. It has been named the 'poor cousin' of renewable energy: likely because it is mining a finite resource and there is the little issue of causing earthquakes. Yet it is also a non-polluting, constant source of energy that is readily available using todays technology. No matter if you decide it is a good option or not, one outstanding problem with geothermal energy is that it can actually be tricky to find. Sure, we have 'heat' maps like the one shown below (the fold), but the only surefire way to tell if geothermal energy sources are easily available is to drill, which can be an expensive endeavor. Now scientists have found an easy way to tell if geothermal energy could be bubbling up in your neck of the woods....

A man with something to prove could change the world. And Rene Nunez had something to prove. After dedicating his life and fortune to his invention, he had to prove it could be done to show his family and friends that he is not following a crazy dream. Nunez claims to have succeeded. His invention, the Turbo-cooker (or turbo-cocina), could make life better for 3 billion people who rely on primitive wood- or biomass-burning stoves for cooking and heating. ...

You can see the full-size version here. ::WWF website, via ::JibJab and ::WWF: Paper Dispenser...

Despite the green merits and stress-free nature of train travel relative to flying or driving, Americans have been slow to abandon their “homes on wheels,” and seem content to tolerate an increasingly unpleasant air travel experience. Not that we should have any illusions about the magnificence of Amtrak’s underfunded service, which is slow, rickety and prone to delays compared to trains in Europe or Japan. Still, Amtrak has its fans, and this writer is certainly of the opinion that increased ridership would mean better cities, cleaner air and, if the laws of economics hold true, increased funding. Supporters of this scenario would agree that the best way to increase ridership isn’t for a train to run out of fuel eight miles from a station, which is precisely what happened last week to a Pacific Surfliner train going from San Diego to Santa Barbara....

Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times is an optimist but notes that we do not have a lot of time do deal with climate change. He also suggests that the names we use do not conjure an image of what is likely to happen: "And sweet-sounding “global warming” doesn’t really capture what’s likely to happen. I prefer the term “global weirding,” coined by Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because the rise in average global temperature is going to lead to all sorts of crazy things — from hotter heat spells and droughts in some places, to colder cold spells and more violent storms, more intense flooding, forest fires and species loss in other places." ::NYTimes Wayne Roberts of Now Magazine is a pessimist. ...

The so-called "Doha Round" of trade talks has been going on in Mombai. Press coverage of the outcome on climate has been largely positive, including citations of US and European trade representatives on the need to '...remove tariff barriers from solar and wind power and similar technologies.' We noticed right off that only one or two examples from a supposedly 43-item list of 'climate-friendly technologies' were cited in press reports. And, no links were provided to the "list". That, and too-frequent use of the "climate-friendly" descriptor has just set off our Bovine Exrement Detector alarm. Hear that creaking sound? It's the sound of hotel meeting room doors being slammed shut in far off places. Think Tanks like AEI aren't needed anymore because the power to control design and big picture incentives has just been pulled into the dark halls of international trade negotiation. Think we're being unnecessarily cynical and negative? Fine...search around and find a World Bank-published list of 'climate friendly technologies' that does not include 'clean coal' and nuclear power. Make note of how long it took (assuming you don't work at World Bank) to find the official list (there are several of various descriptions). These technologies remain controversial in the US and Europe - US Presidential candidates and Congressional representatives certainly don't agree on them - so why is it is good idea now to create export incentives, before the most highly educated, democratically governed populations in the world can reach public consensus and before goals are set for national emission reductions? ...

One in three Canadian households have an old fridge full of beer cranking away in the basement or back porch. They tend to be older vintage power hogs; University of Alberta researcher Denise Young calculates that savings would total 1,165.7 million kWh annually if Canadians threw out their beer fridges. "A reduction in the use of 'beer fridges' or a movement towards the use of newer and smaller energy-efficient models in Canada would lead to lower levels of energy use in the residential sector and, in some regions, lower emissions of greenhouse gases," says Denise. Alternatively they can ship them to Quebec; it gets all of its electricity from hydro power so there are no greenhouse gases generated keeping their beer cold. So we should all be like Franke James and dump our fridges, and use the tried and true Canadian method shown beneath the fold. ::CBC...

Why waste the fluff that you clean out of your dryer when you can turn it into art? Saira Lloyd’s work "consists of sculptural pieces that try to capture and retain the minute and microscopic residues of everyday life that we constantly leave behind. This precious debris contains fragments of skin, hair and dirt, which document the passing of time." Warning: Inpenetrable Brit accent. via ::Splurch...

It is much like trolling through old Popular Science or Modern Mechanix: The jetpacks and flying cars and wrist TVs that never happened. We have our own jetpacks in the archives; those posts promising solutions that never came, or just. keep. taking. forever (eeStor anyone?) Three years ago we promised you Motorola phones that you could plant in your garden when you were tired of it; Self-cleaning clothes (shades of the Man in the White Suit!). Stirling engines, after two hundred years in the wilderness, were going to take over the world. Sigh. Where's my jetpack? More from three years ago in TreeHugger...

Image courtesy of othermore Confirming what we've been arguing all along, a new study by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company has indicated that, even with little effort (and at low cost) on the part of industry and the government, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced fairly significantly - up to 28%. Many of these slight changes would quickly pay for themselves in lower energy bills and more cost-effective technologies. What Jack Stephenson, the study's director, describes as "negative cost opportunities" - which include potential modifications in the lighting, cooling and heating of buildings - would both lower emissions and reduce costs. He acknowledges, however, that even implementing these modest reforms will prove challenging in the short run....

Now that Brazil is poised on the edge of joining the world's big oil powers, some energy analysts and environmentalists are wondering whether its new-found oil abundance will dampen support for renewable energy sources - particularly in the area of biofuels, in which the South American nation has led the way with its sugar cane-based ethanol. According to experts' estimates, the massive deep-sea deposit recently unearthed in the Tupi field by Petrobas, the state-controlled energy company, could harbor as much as 8 billion barrels' worth of light oil and natural gas. If true, the Tupi find would constitute the largest petrol find in the past 7 years and would rank Brazil as 12th in the world in oil reserves. Yet some analysts are dubious of Brazil's potential to become a large-scale oil exporter in the near future, citing the difficulty inherent in extracting the deep oil deposit and the country's own voracious appetite for oil....

A recently preserved building on Tel Aviv's Ben Yehuda Street. The city of Tel Aviv finally has a historic building preservation plan! After almost 20 years of planning, negotiations, arguments, you name it, national planning authorities gave the plan the official stamp of approval last week. The plan extends to some 1,000 apartment buildings in central Tel Aviv (an area recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site), and creates a legal and economic framework for their renovation and preservation. Tel Aviv, known in Israel as “The White City,” and with some of the most expensive real estate in the Middle East, is home to thousands of buildings built in a style which combines elements of the International/Bauhaus style with traditional Mediterranean elements. Apartments built in this style are valued not just for their aesthetic value and functional layout, but also for their sophisticated climatic elements. With design elements such as generous verandas, cross breezes, solar shades, flat roofs and greenery on all sides, these buildings use much less energy and are more comfortable in the hot summer than most of what is being built today. ...

We’ve looked at the concept of organic solar cells before, and while they are unlikely to reach the operating efficiencies of silicon based PV any time soon, they do offer the potential for substantially cheaper manufacture. Now we hear from the UK that the Carbon Trust, which is already well known for handing out cash to worthy projects, is funding a research project, led by the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory with The Technology Partnership, to the tune of £5 million (US$10 million) that aims take organic solar cells from the laboratory and on to rooftops. The eventual aim is to have 1 gigawatt of generating capacity installed by 2017. However, the researchers have no intention of replacing conventional silicon-based solar, merely to complement it: ...

Recently, I've become intrigued by people who are able to integrate truly green actions into their daily lives. Allison Rogers is certainly someone who does this with style. She first gained the attention of TreeHugger when she was competing in the Miss America Contest as Miss Rhode Island. During the competition she promoted green issues extensively — in fact, I suspect she may have entered the competition just to inspire others to go green. ...

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Entries for December 2, 2007 - December 8, 2007

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