- Vijay Vaitheeswaran (part one)
- Vijay Vaitheeswaran (part two)
- Vinay Gupta
- Alyce Santoro
- Mathis Wackernagel
- Tom Price
- Martha Marks
- Paul Hawken
- David Suzuki
- Wal-Mart's Green Gurus
- Alisa Smith and James Mackinnon, authors of Plenty
- Bob Perkowitz of ecoAmerica
- Ed Begley Jr.
- The Weather Channel's Dr. Heidi Cullen
Entries for February 17, 2008 - February 23, 2008
Total this week: 154
Chinese University Professor Predicts China Will Adopt "Toilet-to-Tap" Technology in 2010
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.23.08
Image courtesy of ES&T
While some Chinese scientists are out advocating for hybrid vehicles and solar energy, others, like Tongji University's Siqing Xia, find themselves in the unenviable position of acting as boosters for less appealing technologies, such as "toilet-to-tap" water treatment. Yet despite the challenge of having to convince China's 1.3b strong population of its merits, it is a task Xia has willingly embraced.
Tasha Eichenseher, who interviewed Xia for the latest issue of ES&T, visited his demonstration-scale 400 L/day treatment plant, which turns one lab building's wastewater into clean water that is used for irrigation and experimental procedures. The collected water is treated in a membrane bioreactor, which uses a combination of membrane and bacterial treatment technologies to filter and clean the water....
Abengoa Solar to Build World's Largest Solar Plant in Arizona
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.23.08
Following closely on the heels of Jumilla's announcement comes the news that Abengoa Solar, a Spanish firm (what is it with the Spaniards and solar energy?), will build a 280-MW solar power plant 70 miles southwest of Phoenix. Upon completion, the Solana Generating Solution will become the world's largest solar plant.
As reported by Green Wombat's Todd Woody, Arizona Public Service, the state's largest utility, plans on paying around $4b over the next 30 years to power 70,000 homes. Wired Science's Alexis Madrigal calculates that the plant's kilowatt hour rate should therefore correspond to about 20 cents per kWh - taking into account the consumer markup - or roughly twice the kilowatt hour rate of coal-based alternatives....
America's Greenest Corporations: This List Goes to 11
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.23.08
Getty Images
Hot on the heels of Popular Science's ranking of America's 50 greenest cities, Condé Nast Portfolio gets in the act with The Green 11, "some of America's most eco-savvy corporations." Included in the list are some of the usual suspects -- Whole Foods, Organic Valley, Tesla Motors -- and some that have been working on greening their business over the past few years, like Wal-Mart and General Electric.
Each of the companies on the list has made notable improvements in their environmental performance, whether influenced by altruism or the bottom line (or both). But when it comes to what's driving the list (were there any metrics? And who was at number 12, and why didn't they make it?), there isn't a whole lot there....
Clevr: Create More Counter Space in Your Kitchen with an Oval Cutting Board
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.23.08
TreeHugger is always looking for ways to get the most from small spaces, which is why we like "less is more" and transformer furniture. While not as dramatic as Aaron Tang's wall stairs or an entire bedroom in a box, we like the Corner Cutting Board for the same reasons. In the kitchen, where space is always at a premium and there never seems to be enough space, anything that adds counter space without a remodel gets a thumbs up.
The clever, space-creating design is made of solid beech available from KitchenSource.com ($120) but we also found this one at eBay for about $50. What else do you do to create extra space in the kitchen? via ::The Kitchn ...
MPG Now Almost as important as CPV
by Andrew Posner, Rhode Island, USA on 02.23.08
Here at treehugger we often talk about miles per gallon, be it in the form of an efficient, sporty diesel car, a souped down 1959 Opel, a modified hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, to name a few. Our interest in MPG is rooted in economic, geopolitical and environmental concerns. After years of struggling to gain traction, we now have new CAFE standards and MPG is finally becoming a more important part of what consumers look for in a new vehicle. In fact, General Motors says "buyers now rate fuel economy as third among reasons to buy a GM vehicle (behind styling and value). " However, for all the talk of miles per gallon, a CNW Marketing Research Study found that CPV (cup holders per vehicle) is still more important to consumers than efficiency. According to CNW interior conveniences like heated seats and cup holders are higher in priority (73%) for shoppers than fuel efficiency (67%). Mike J. Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, the country's largest public dealer network, with 322 stores in 16 states, sees this all the time. And he says consumers may talk fuel efficiency, but they don't necessarily buy it....
The TH Interview: Edward Mazria, the Man from 2030 (Part One)
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 02.23.08
Architect Edward Mazria was one of the first to draw major attention to the source that emits almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions: our buildings. Architecture 2030 has been his vehicle for communicating a design logic based on stemming the carbon footprint of the built environment, and his widely adopted 2030 Challenge has laid a strategy for rendering those buildings carbon neutral. Mazria was featured on PBS’s e2 series on sustainable design, and his 2010 Imperative is a call to teach ecological literacy to the fledgling designers of the world. ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just listen/right-click to download. (Thanks to Calabash Music for our soundtrack.) Full text after the jump. ...
Germany Gets Creative with Renewables
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 02.23.08
Clarence: The Purple Traffic Calming Wizard
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 02.23.08
SmogGobs: Threat or Thrill?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 02.23.08
As part of their Try Science initiative, IBM has introduced Power Up, a web site which includes a multiplayer online game based on a cry for help from the planet Helios. Those idiots over at Helios have let their planet be threatened by fossil-fuel driven climate change and they need help from bright-eyed young engineering wanna-be earthlings. Fortunately, centuries ago the ancestors of the Helians developed solar, wind and water power which ushered in an era of stability before the current generations got out of control with the energy addiction again. Thus, the technologies need only be re-discovered, Indiana Jones style. How are the reviews?...
TreeHugger + SMITH Six-Word Memoir Contest: Ends Monday
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 02.22.08
Can you tell your life's story in only six words? In SMITH Magazine's new book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure, hundreds of people managed to. Now it's your turn. We've teamed up with SMITH--the online magazine that's best described as People meets the New Yorker--to bring you the green version of the Six-Word Memoir Contest. Got a smart philosophy? Traveled a strange path? Fall off the eco-wagon frequently? Tell us about it. You could win one of several spiffy prizes.
TreeHugger is one of six sites hosting a Six-Word Memoirs contest (though we're certain that our readers will prove to be the most creative!). Read more about SMITH + TreeHugger, contest rules and prizes, and watch the amazing, stupendous, and occasionally tear-jerking Today on Planet Green
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 02.22.08
::Visit our Detox Your Home: Room by Room mini-site for updates on how to keep your nursery safe and green.
:: Just what else can you do with Tyvek?
:: Who would have thought that George Carlin could provide environmental insight into our consumption patterns?
:: Make chic-looking beads out of a unlikely material—used newspaper.
:: Humans aren't the only creatures who need to fight the battle of the bulge. Pets can suffer from obesity, too.
:: Got milk? Fat-free milk may offer protection against high blood pressure, according to a new study.
:: What would you cook for Johnny Depp for the Oscars? Meat pies, of course!
:: No Oscar-themed party would be complete with a gastronomic ode to Ratatouille.
:: Don't break your back carting textbooks around—purchase an eBook or eChapter, instead. ...
Clever Patterns Cut Waste Out Of Fashion
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 02.22.08
At last week's Estethica exhibition, part of London Fashion Week, there were many familiar faces, but as we greeted old friends we also welcomed new talent. One of those that particularly stood out was young designer Mark Liu, a recent graduate of the Textile Futures course at Central St. Martins. Liu's collection firstly stood out for the beautiful fabrics and delicate detailing. However, it was only on closer inspection that we discovered these details are not after thoughts, but are integral to the production of the garment. Mark Liu has a bold ambition and that is to cut waste out of fashion, one pattern at a time. He certainly is nifty with a pair of scissors. ...
Trails of Destruction: The Impact of Bottom Trawling as Seen from Space
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.22.08
Image courtesy of SkyTruth
Arguably the single most destructive human action for the world's oceans, bottom trawling, a practice commonly used to dredge up deep water fish, leaves behind a trail of destruction that can clearly be seen from space. The above image of the Gulf of Mexico, captured by the Landsat satellite in late 1999, shows the sediment trails left behind by individual ships (the bright spots) - a testament to the utter devastation the practice exerts on vast seafloor ecosystems. ...
Sporty Loremo Diesel will Have Electric Version Too
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
Straight from the source, the Loremo blog: "we plan to make an electric Loremo available together with the launch of our Diesel models at the beginning of 2010." The engine output will be approximately 20 kilowatts, with short-term bursts of 40 kilowatts possible, which should be enough for such a light and aerodynamic car. "In regular mode the E-Loremo is likely to consume 6kwh/100km, equivalent to the power value of 0.6 litres of diesel fuel." In comparison, the diesel version should do 2 liters/100km. Top speed for the E-Lomero should be about 170 kph (105 mph).
"The battery capacity hasn't yet been finally specified, however, the goal is a mobility range of around 150 to 200 kilometers [93 to 124 miles]. According to current German e-power rates, round about 1 EURO will buy 100 kilometers of range!" A prototype of the E-Loremo should be ready in mid-2008, but too late for the Geneva Motor Show. Read on for more pictures of the wundercar....
Calculate to your LCA-Heart's Desire!
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 02.22.08
Industrial Design Consultancy has developed a simplified LCA tool that is available online for free to everybody and their brother! To estimate the carbon footprint and embodied energy of your product, the calculator guides you through a series of simple forms that cover the four stages of a product’s life: extraction and manufacture, transport, use and disposal. You can see the results image above from the mock product that we entered in to the calculator. They also send you a .pdf document with more detailed results....
Transformer Furniture: Chair >to> Sofa
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.22.08
Dutch designer Roel Verhagen Kaptein doesn't mince words. His transformer furniture concept Chair >to> Sofa is just that: a chair that transforms into a chaise, then a sofa, and then back again; get cozy in the chair; get comfy on the chaise; grab a nap on the sofa. If you've got your eyes on Casulo, the one-room wonder that hides an armoire, a desk, a height-adjustable stool, two more stools, a six-shelf bookcase, and a bed with a mattress inside a box for your bedroom, Chair >to> Sofa might be a nice option for your living room. Hit the jump for more pics and see it all at ::Roel Verhagen Kaptein @ Coroflot via ::Yanko Design ...
This 'Bot is on the Hunt... for Spilled Oil
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.22.08
As was recently demonstrated by the San Francisco Bay oil spill, a rapid cleanup response can make all the difference between limited, short-term environmental damage and a drawn-out, persistent ecosystem-level blight. The aftereffects of the disastrous Exxon Valdez spill, which occurred almost 20 years ago, are still being felt to this day: To this day, only 2 of the 28 affected species have been declared fully restored.
In an effort to help tackle this challenge, a team of engineers at Japan's Osaka University are building an autonomous robot, called SOTAB 1 (Spilled Oil Tracking Autonomous Buoy 1), that will be able to locate spilled oil and provide real-time GPS coordinates. Weighing in at 243 lbs (110 kg) and measuring 9 ft (2.72 m) in height by 11 in (27 cm) in diameter, the robot is equipped with imaging and viscosity sensors to allow it to detect and track oil from a distance; additional devices, including a wind monitor and water thermometer, allow it to provide a continuous stream of real-time data....
New X-Ray Technique Could Lead to Cleaner Cars
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
To extract the most energy out of fuel and burn it cleanly, it is crucial to have the best possible mixture of fuel and air. That's what the injectors try to do in an internal combustion engine, but so far its been really hard for engineers to study some aspects of how fluids behave: "standard laser characterization techniques have been unsuccessful due to the high density of the fuel jet near the injector opening. Scientists have been forced to study the fuel far away from the nozzle and extrapolate its dispersal pattern. The resulting models of breakup are highly speculative, oversimplified and often not validated by experiments."
This is about to change thanks to a new high-energy X-ray technique that could lead to better, and cleaner, automobiles....
Video: Riding Around New York With Ed Begley Jr.
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
Andrew C. Revkin from the New York Times had a chat with Ed Begley Jr., who we've interviewed on TreeHugger Radio episode 26, in a post and he also was a judge in our Convenient Truth contest.
You can see the video interview here and read the blog post on Dot Earth here. Also check out Ed's new book, Living Like Ed....
BuyGreen: Large Wheel Folding Bikes
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 02.22.08
While TreeHugger knows that using what you've got 'til it's gone is the greenest way to go, we all have to replace our old faithful with new favorites eventually. When that time comes, we want you to know some of the good green ways to go. On this list: large wheel folding bikes.
Small wheels, as rule, make for a smaller folding bike, but rules are made to be broken. It’s trickier, but standard-wheeled bicycles -- those with 26” rims -- can also be conjured into tiny travel or storage packages, with some imaginative design and engineering. Larger wheels provide a little extra dampening from road shock and they ‘track’ in a straighter line through sand, gravel, mud and other off-road conditions. And, since bigger wheels are the industry standard, a wider range of componentry and accessories are available to make your ride more fun and functional. For those riders who prefer their bikes to have big wheels (as opposed to the small-wheel folding bikes we covered before), but come in small(er) packages, saddle up and take these folders for a test ride....
New Designs from Barcelona's Damaris & Marc Design
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.22.08
Following their motto "Qui no s'arrisca no pisca" ("Who doesn't dare, doesn't win"), Barcelona-based Damaris & Marc Design have launched a new line of sustainable designs. They use sustainably-forested wood and non-toxic, water-based paints and finishes to create their playful, fun and functional pieces. Equal parts artistic expression and technical creation, the designers embrace social activism as a part of their work as well; they donate a portion of their profits to humanitarian projects and have partnered with Tree-nation to plant a tree for each design sold.
"Cocoro" (above, left) is a sleek, flat-packing hall tree made from MDF and, like many of their pieces, cut with a CNC router (computer-numerically controlled, which gets the TreeHugger thumbs-up for mistake-free production and minimal waste -- read more on that in our previous coverage of Damaris & Marc). "Olam" (above, right), is a playful clock design (does anyone else see a teddy bear there?) that also employs MDF and CNC to create the eye-catching silhouette. Hit the jump to dig deeper in to their new designs. ::Damaris & Marc Design...
Solar Powered Flash Drive Screen - Super or Superfluous?
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 02.22.08
These days it seems companies producing electronic gadgets will go well out of their way to include "sustainable" features in their products, even if they serve no apparent purpose. The latest example of this is the Samsung U.Season Slider USB Flash Drive (pictured above), with a solar powered LCD screen which displays available storage capacity.
We at TreeHugger are all for green technologies, especially when they are cool, sustainable and really clever, like this gravity powered lamp. However, despite our support for utilizing "green" technologies in any form and for any purpose, at some point we have to ask ourselves: "is this really sustainable, or even necessary?" ...
Lean, Green Sliver of a House by Luke Tozer
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.22.08
TreeHugger loves skinny houses; they don't take up much space and they really demonstrate the talents of the designers. Luke Tozer of Pitman Tozer Architects experiments on himself with only eight feet to work with, widening out in the rear. To top it off, as Building Design writes:
"But that’s not enough: the house had to have as low a carbon footprint as feasible. But setting yourself hard tasks has never provided an excuse for failure: you have to make it all work, and Tozer has come out of it all with a beautifully planned and built house — a tour de force of the architect’s skills."
So it has 150 foot boreholes for heat pumps, pumping into space insulated with lambswool. Under the garden is a rainwater storage tank which supplies the toilets. Neighbours are fighting proposed rooftop photovoltaics....
An Oilman's Dream: It's Raining Hydrocarbons on Saturn's Moon
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
Don't tell Exxon, but the January 29th issue of the Geophysical Research Letters contains new findings by the Cassini radar team about Titan, Saturn's moon: "[It] is just covered in carbon-bearing material -- it's a giant factory of organic chemicals. [It] has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth [...] The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes." Wow.
Not exactly the best place to go on vacation, though. It's the average temperatures of around minus 179 degrees Celsius (minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit) that cause methane and ethane to be found in liquid form. There's also probably "tholins", a term coined by Carl Sagan in 1979 to describe the complex organic molecules at the heart of prebiotic chemistry....
Tesla Motors Raises $40 Million for White Star & Roadster
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
Most of you are probably already familiar with Tesla's Roadster, the first model by the young electric car company. But there's also a second model coming in 2010, so far only its code name is known: "White Star". It should be even more popular than the two-seater Roadster, both because it is supposed to be less expensive (around $50k for the base model) and have enough room for a family.
Now Tesla is announcing that they have completed a new round of financing and raised $40 million to continue production of the Roadster and keep developing the White Star. That's good news for anyone who thinks we need practical and affordable electric cars as soon as possible....
US Presidential Candidates' Environmental Records
by Greg Haegele, Sierra Club on 02.22.08
Our friends at the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released their 2007 National Environmental Scorecard today, and it reveals some good and bad news. First of all, the 110th Congress demonstrated solid movement toward a clean energy future for our country, including passing the energy bill in December (which included higher fuel-efficiency standards).
We enjoyed looking at the scores of the presidential candidates. From the LCV news release:
"The presidential candidates' scores all suffered from the occupational hazard of absenteeism. Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) missed four votes each in 2007, although both made a point of being on hand for the key vote that would have allowed a version of the energy bill to move forward that included a provision to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil and put that money toward clean energy programs. Clinton’s score in 2007 was 73 percent (87 percent lifetime); Obama’s was 67 percent (86 percent lifetime)....
Wayback Machine 1936: Linoleum
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.22.08
I love linoleum; it is completely natural (made from linseed oil and flax), durable and nice looking. About the only knock against it is the energy used to bake it. Modern Mechanix describes its manufacture in 1936; little has changed since.
"In 1863, Fredrick Walton, a youthful inventor of Yorkshire, England, made a great discovery in an open paint pot, over the contents of which the usual scum had formed. Turning his inventive genius to the matter of a use for this tough scum, he developed the idea for a new material which brought fine floors within reach of the average family for the first time."
...
Wayback Machine: "Our National Flower is the Concrete Cloverleaf"
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.22.08
Wendy Waters of urban design website All about Cities dug up some zinger quotes from Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), proving as always that plus ça change, plus c'est pareil.
-Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends.
-Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.
-The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.
-New York is the perfect model of a city, not the model of a perfect city.
-Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
::All About Cities
...
NYC's First Documented Bike Move?
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 02.22.08
Survey: Have Your Meat Eating Habits Changed?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.22.08
We devote a lot of pixels to Michael Pollan, and some of us have been profoundly influenced by his writing in books such as The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Way We Eat.
Commenter Ruben reminds us that "Pollan points out in Botany of Desire, food literally wants to be nourishing and delicious. We have gone to great lengths to make it unhealthy."
...
Rocking the Cardboard Cradle
by Karin Kloosterman, Jerusalem, Israel on 02.22.08
Treehuggers love flat-pack furniture and even houses. We rave about it all the time. We also love anything made from recycled materials. When we found Green Lullaby's flat pack Eco Cradle made from 100% recycled cardboard boxes, we nearly flipped our lid.
This baby furniture gives new meaning to the term 'cradle to cradle.'
...
The Stern Report for Australia From Ross Garnaut
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 02.22.08
Image: Karen Tagg
When Britain’s chief bean counter came out and said climate change is likely to be equal to two world wars and the Great Depression rolled in together, people round the world started to take notice. The Stern Report has become credited, along with Al Gore’s little movie, with providing the wake up call that most had been sleeping through.
A couple of weeks ago Australian economist Professor Ross Garnaut, who has been charged by the Australian government to detail the economic impact of global warming on the country, released his interim report. He wasn’t the bearer of good tidings. He found that climate change is "exceeding expectations" and suggested Australia needed to reduce carbon emissions to "roughly 90 per cent below 2000 levels by 2050"....
Sacramento Police Sup Up Their Ride
by Kristin Underwood, San Diego, CA on 02.22.08
On a breezy Wednesday morning, just as the clouds were breaking, the sun was shining through and the birds were starting to chirp, the Mayor of Sacramento Heather Fargo, wearing a green sweater and green leaf earrings, announced that the city is taking greening one step further. Sacramento is the second city to participate in this pilot program with Vectrix, (the first highway-legal all electric scooter) where the company leases 4 scooters to the city for a period of 4 months and for just $1 a scooter. What a deal.
Sacramento is the first city in California to participate in the program and it’s in part due to the tenacity of city officials in making sure this partnership came together. The scooters will be given to the parking enforcement and later used by the police force when the lights, which will also be run off of the onboard battery system, are on installed. ...
Have a Hippy Baby
by Bonnie Alter, London on 02.22.08
There is something so anti-fashion about these hand-made baby clothes. They are irresistible because of their refusal to show off a child's clothing as a reflection of the parent's taste and success. They are so retro. Each one is unique. All of the clothes are made in the U.K., crocheted by hand by a group of women.They are made of high quality natural fibres--cotton, silk or cashmere and dyed with natural colours so they are soft on a baby's skin.
Their German creator started as a clothing designer, worked with luxury brands and then decided to give it up and focus her creativity on her first love--children's wear. She is too young to even remember the hippy days but somehow the look has been reborn in her crotchet needles. The colours are wild---nothing matches anything. Little girls dresses and jumpers, over-alls, sweet little shoes and scarves are a riotous mis-match of fun. With all the patches, stripes, and bright colours the dirt couldn't possibly show. Not for your chic yummy-mummy, but perfect for the next green fair. :: Teenytini...
The World's Most Eco-Friendly Ashtray
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 02.22.08
Well that's what they told us. We can, of course, get in a big discussion about how smoking down a fag is a big no-no in oh so many ways (health, the environment, dear TreeHugger!), but we assume you already know this. The portable Boodi Eco Ashtray is made of recycled, recyclable, and bio-degradable materials. It is also made via ethical local production (local to the firm's office in the U.K.), according to Tony Jones, the man behind the patent-pending invention. Jones came up with the Boodi to give smokers an environmentally-conscious alternative to virtually indestructible plastic ashtrays, which often end up in landfills. The Boodi snuffs out up to five cigarettes at once, via internal tubes. When the butt is inserted into the tube, it immediately runs out of oxygen--and goes out. ...
The Hidden Costs of Roads
by Tim McGee, Helena, MT, USA on 02.22.08
Lloyd has called for sustainable and sound infrastructure. One way to start creating sustainable and sound infrastrucutre might be to show the actual costs of building a bad infrastructure. A new 'green roads program' at the University of New Hampshire aims to establish the criteria for what makes a roadway green.
"A lot of the infrastructure in this country needs to be re-built," says Gardner, University of New Hampshire associate professor of civil engineering and director of the Environmental Research Group. "We have a real opportunity to re-build the infrastructure the right way with sustainable materials and socially sensitive designs that protect air, water, land, and human resources."...
Today on Planet Green
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 02.21.08
:: Refresh and rejuvenate your skin with this easy-to-make aloe-and-cucumber face mask.
:: Visit our Detox Your Home: Room by Room mini-site for tips on greening up your living room.
:: For your Oscar potluck party, find a dish that fits the nominee you're rooting for.
:: Get your bikes off your garage floor by making your own foldaway bike rack.
:: Repurpose a vintage suitcase into a kitty bed that is simply the cat's meow.
:: Could you be hording an entire gym's worth of exercise equipment in your closet?
:: The best way to stay off marketing lists? Don't put your privacy at risk in the first place. Here's how to stay off the radar.
:: Learn how to stitch some vintage scarves together to make a pair of silky lounge pants, in this exclusive excerpt from 99 Ways to Cut, Tie & Rock Your Scarf.
:: Become a plant-whisperer: Learn to tell how much water your plants need.
:: Save money and get sweet-smelling clothing: Find out how to make your own laundry detergent. ...
Caption This: Lemurs in Motion
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 02.21.08
Photo credit: Lemur Kingdom/Animal Planet
Some background on the photo:
Lemur Kingdom tracks the lives of two neighboring gangs of ringtail lemurs in the beautiful protected reserve of Berenty in southeast Madagascar. The two gangs—the Furies and the Graveyard Gang—may be neighbors but there's no love lost between them. They zealously defend their respective territories. Violent clashes and numerous border infringements generally mean war....
Mapping North American Environmental Issues
by Eliza Barclay, Nomad on 02.21.08
Map credit: Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) recently launched a new online mapping tool called the North American Environmental Atlas where North American environmental trends can be visualized at a continental scale. It's a useful offering from the little-known tri-lateral agency created in 1994 in conjunction with the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
The maps contain base layers of political boundaries, populated places, roads and railroads, coastlines, lakes and rivers, and other geographic features. The CEC has also added map layers for renewable energy capacity, priority conservation areas, and other environmental themes. The agency is now exploring ways to integrate these map layers with an industrial pollutant mapping tool, which you can download as a .kml file, recently released for use with Google Earth....
Virgin Atlantic to Demo Biofuel Flight, but Not Quite There Yet
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.21.08
We've written about Richard Branson and Virgin's foray into biofuels for aviation. There are some news on that front, but unfortunately they aren't all good. Virgin was never clear on what type of biofuel it was going to use, but it said it wanted something "truly sustainable" that did not compete with food and fresh water resources.
It seems like it's not quite what we're going to get for the first flight this month: "it will not be an algae or halophyte-derived alternative, second-generation biofuels that come from renewable and sustainable feedstocks. Rather, it will be a first-generation biofuel whose feedstock is generally understood to compete with either land and water use for food crops or carbon sinks such as rainforests." But this is still partly good news....
PakNgo: Bicycle Pannier Makes it Easy to Pack, Go
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.21.08
TreeHugger likes bikes almost as much as Sasquatch does, so we're always glad to see cool ways to make it easier for everyone to get where they're going under human power. We've seen others, and the PakNgo bike pannier, designed by student designer Hayoung Lee at the University of Technology in Sydney, fits the bill.
More luggage than bag, PakNgo is made from rigid polycarbonate, which helps fix the load securely to the back, and protects your stuff in the event of a close shave with a four-wheeler. Waterproof fabric keeps your stuff dry, and neatly detaches from the back when you get where you're going, turning into wheeled luggage or messenger-style bag. The design has been shortlisted for an Dyson Student Award at the Australian Design Awards; we'll cross our fingers that it makes it from concept to product. Hit the jump for more pics, and put the petal to the metal at the ::Australian Design Awards via ::The Design Blog...
Video: Pregnant Tigress Rescued in India
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.21.08
Here's something you don't see every day (at least, not around where most of our readers are).
A pregnant tigress strayed into Deulbari, a village about 150 miles south of Calcutta and close to the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve. Scared villagers threw stones and chased her until she took refuge in a palm tree. "She was eventually shot with a tranquillizer dart and captured before being taken aboard the fishing vessel." Sometimes there's a happy ending. "Her wounds were treated before she was released deep inside the mangrove reserve."
The picture above is of the tigress jumping off the fishing boat. Below you can see her swimming to safety, and you can see a video about the whole adventure here....
Souped Down 1959 Opel T-1 Gets 376.59 mpg
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.21.08
Could you believe that the car above made the 1975 Guiness World Record book? Its claim to fame is getting an amazing 376.59 miles per gallon of gasoline, and that in a 1973 contest sponsored by Shell Oil (now Royal Dutch Shell).
As you can see from the photo above and others further down this article, the car is pretty far from our modern "manta ray-shaped, wind tunnel-vetted carbon fiber space car", as the SeattlePI reporter puts it. How did it achieve such high fuel economy when even our modern hybrids are orders of magnitude less efficient? What can we learn from it? Read on....
Dolphins and Whales 3D: An Unforgettable Experience
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 02.21.08
We were very excited to attend the world premier event of Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean last week in Boston. As we previously reported, the film is presented by Jean-Michel Cousteau and narrated by Daryl Hannah, so we couldn’t wait to put our 3D glasses on.
The evening started with a cocktail party amongst the penguins and fish in the New England Aquarium. We were served hors d’ oeuvres and champagne while mingling with filmmakers Jean-Jacques and Francois Mantello, Jean-Michel and Daryl. After toasting to the film’s powerful message and, of course, the cast of 12 species of cetaceans, we stepped into the IMAX theater.
This is when the fun began…...
Gravia: LED Lamp Lit by Gravity Lasts 200 Years, Never Plugs In
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.21.08
When we talk about going off-grid, or otherwise unplugging from traditional power sources, it usually involves solar or wind power, or some other alternative that doesn't involved your local utility. Young designer Clay Moulton has figured out how to harness a different source to create electricity: gravity.
"Gravia" is his LED-lit floor lamp that combines human power and gravity to create a lighting source that will work for 200 years or so, and never need to be plugged in. The lamp has a weight that's raised every four hours or so; as it slowly descends, the downward motion is converted to torque via a high-efficiency ball screw. The torque is overdriven (at 1:160 for those of you scoring at home) by a harmonic drive gear hand, and the output from that spins a set of 12 high-strength neodymium magnets (which act as the rotor), spinning to power 10 high-output LEDs. Simple, no?...
How To Please The French?
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02.21.08
We may soon forget about Three Ways To Piss Off The French, as this French export-by-sail venture makes it easy to race past the hybrid-vehicle ruminations, to some low-carbon French wines shipped on a 111-year old sailing vessel.
Imagine 60,000 bottles of Languedoc-area wines, from hundreds of small producers, shipped to Ireland on a restored three-masted schooner, chartered exclusively for French wine distribution. She is the Belem, built in 1896 and restored several times (as pictured). You can learn her entire history here....
Roundhouse by Eli Attia
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
Architect Eli Attia tells Forbes Magazine "Enough of this nonsense of building homes the way we did 100 years ago, It's all a waste."
So what is he building in Beverley Hills? A 13,000 square foot roundhouse- instead of a McMansion it is a giant round McPatty. It is prefab, recycled steel, has rainwater collection and a green roof. It is true that a circle of a given perimeter encloses more area than a square of the same perimeter, so there is some logic to this if you can figure out how to furnish the round rooms (speak to anyone who has ever lived in a dome about this.) Attia says "We have to be more efficient in how we build,We can't afford not to be." ...
Los Angeles Mayor Announces Big Solar Initiative
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.21.08
Image courtesy of current events via flickr
At a press event meant to highlight LA's renewed focus on clean energy - carefully staged with a row of solar panels as the backdrop - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several state officials, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, announced a solar initiative that would create up to 400 green jobs over the next 3 years to install and maintain solar panels on buildings around the city. ...
Design That Grows With You
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.21.08
New parents will tell you that the rate at which their youngsters grow is both a blessing and a curse: great that there aren't more diapers to change (unless they've gone diaper-free); not so great that they outgrow all their stuff, faster than flipping the desk calendar, it seems. Designers Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri have a solution for the latter: design that grows with your child.
We've seen this kind of thing before, with the Stokke Tripp Trapp chair and Nest high chair; the "Evolutionary Chair and Low Table" adds the extra bonus of a chair to the mix. The pieces stack to create any number of seating needs, including four chair heights and two tables, providing a place for kids aged 6 months to 5 or 6 years to put their feet up. The one-two punch of versatile growth and multi-tasking make this a pretty sleek, ultra-useful design. About the only thing it can't do is change all those diapers. Hit the jump to see all the possible iterations of the slick setup. ::Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri via ::Yanko Design...
Bigger Better Bookcase Stair
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
TreeHugger loves stairs as bookshelves and as storage as a way if getting more stuff into less space, but we have never imagined one like this, designed by Tim Sloan of Levitate Achitects. It is an alternating step design that rises twice as steeply as conventional stairs, turned into an extraordinary library. The architect told Kristin Hohenadel at Apartment Therapy:
...
Bottled Water Drinkers Are The New Smokers
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
A year ago we quoted Giles Coren of the London Times writing "Mineral water is a preposterous vanity." This modest and self-effacing food critic now takes credit for the government taking action about it.
"For make no mistake, this is all my doing. Since I first made my stand against bottled water in 2006 – incorporating penalty points for serving it into my restaurant ratings, vilifying its producers and mocking its consumers – consumption of the stuff has plummeted (probably) Far more restaurants than ever before offer tap water first and then bottled only as the Bling-Bling alternative. Punters who opt for the Perrier or Badoit now do so with a blush and an apology to diners at the next table."
"In 2008 drinkers of bottled water are the new smokers."...
Video: Jamais Cascio & the Footprint of a Cheeseburger
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.21.08
Michael Pollan On The Big Beef Recall
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
How Not To Light With Compact Fluorescents
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
I admit to having little tolerance for those who whine about the quality of light from compact fluorescent bulbs, but have learned that they can be used inappropriately. I am visiting mom in a condo north of Miami Beach, in the most un-TreeHugger place I have ever been (more on that later) but where the owners have diligently put CFLs everywhere. However when one puts five exposed CFLs over a dining room table it is more conducive to doing surgery than having dinner.
So I will concede that perhaps in some locations one cannot just swap out the old bulbs and put in the standard CFL; perhaps an investment in dimmable bulbs is appropriate, or a new fixture that diffuses the light a little more....
Is Your House Making You Look Fat?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
That is what author and design writer Allison Arieff asks about the current state of house design. She echoes the suggestion from the AIA Committee on the Environment that perhaps buildings should come with labels like those nutrition labels on food. "If people could see that they might be moving into the architectural equivalent of transfats, would they begin to choose their homes differently?"
Allison's suggestions for lean and healthy housing:
...
My Carbon, My Responsibility?
by Danielle Carpenter Sprungli, Senior Editor, WBCSD on 02.21.08
In an important step forward, the business voice was included in discussions at the Major Economies Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii at the end of January, where the WBCSD presented the business case for climate action.
The US-led talks brought together the United Nations and the 17 major economies responsible for about 80% of the world's emissions. It was aimed at improving understanding of how to reach agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2013 – the Bali Action Plan.
The main stumbling blocks on the road towards a global agreement remain: Who’s carbon is it that is building up in the atmosphere and who is responsible for what actions in the future?...
China To Polluters: Get Insured!
by Alex Pasternack, Beijing, China on 02.21.08
As environmental "incidents" continue to pollute China at a rate of one every other day, the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) this week announced a long awaited "green insurance" scheme to better monitor polluting industries and help victims of pollution get compensation. (We wrote about the proposal last year.) The system, which aims to insure all industries with pollution risks, will be implemented nationwide by 2015 after a trial period.
The scheme would be a victory not just for citizens, but for companies and the government alike. Typically in China, the cost of cleaning up and compensating victims of serious environmental incidents leads to bankruptcy for the responsible companies -- that is, if the companies are held responsible at all. Timely compensation and clean-up, if any are even undertaken, can be rare, leading to high government expenditure in some cases. In October, the State Council earmarked USD 14 billion for the clean-up of Lake Taihu, after an unprecedented algae outbreak last summer that poisoned local water supplies. ...
Commitment to Green at the Interior Design Show
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.21.08
This TreeHugger always covers the Interior Design Show in Toronto and finds a week worth of posts on good green design. Among the events scheduled this year are "meet the innovators" sessions sponsored by Azure Magazine, including TreeHugger favourites Castor Design, Helen Kerr Patty Johnson and Molo.
On Sunday, TreeHugger presents Mark Salerno and Sue Bennett discussing "Living with a Commitment to Green", moderated by our own Jenna Watson. ::Interior Design Show, opening February 21 through 24. ...
SustainStyle: The Perfect Yoga Get-Up, Free Patterns, Green House Boutique + More
by 1plus1 on 02.21.08
Welcome to SustainStyle, a new weekly digest from the writers at 1plus1, a blog dedicated to eco-friendly fashion. SustainStyle will run every Wednesday.
This week we start on the month-old New Year's resolution list we planned for 2008! Just like any girl (and most men), "more physical exercise" is the top priority in the New Year, so we put together the perfect yoga get-up for this week's DRESS ME. Next, we moved to the "do more creative things" resolution and got schooled by Burda Style, the "open source sewing" destination that offers free ultra-hip patterns and tips on how to use them. Staying in a crafty mood, we used our brooch converter tools to recycle old jewelry into new favorites. With our extracurricular schedule filling up quickly, Ashley Watson's recycled leather day planner helped us keep everything organized. And in keeping with our everlasting love of fashion we gave applause to Saks Fifth Avenue's new Green House boutique, Edun's ONE T-shirt, and the Environmental Justice Foundation's pairing up with high fashion designers and models for the Pick Your Cotton campaign.
xo.