Weekly Archive for June 1, 2008 : TreeHugger

If you missed What Would Jesus Buy, the satirical documentary produced by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize me) that follows Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping on their magical mystery biodiesel tour across the U.S., don't fret! The DVD came out on May 27th with a special deal for Treehugger readers. You can order the DVD here: http://www.aaadvdstore.com/WWJB.html. TH Code: WWJB ...

Remember how GM's Hummer used to be the toast of the town among Hollywood glitterati and certain high placed politicians? It turns out the past few years (and ever-rising gas prices) haven't been kind to its fortunes -- as the LAT's Dan Neil chronicles in a piece appropriately entitled "Requiem for a heavyweight?" Mike also reported on Hummer's imminent downfall a few months ago; GM has said it will terminate production in 2014. Via ::Infectious Greed: Hummer Bummer (blog) See also: ::GM Kills the Hummer H1, ::RIP Hummer H2? ...

Mindset Six50, a Light and Little Electric Car Murat Günak, former Head of Design at VW, has measured the vital stats of the auto industry and his diagnosis is "too big, too heavy, too expensive". With the support of Swiss millionare Lorenzo Schmid, Günak plans to buck the trend. Günak and Schmid founded the company Mindset and developed a hybrid 2+2-seater they call the Six50, a name which rubs it in the faces of the traditional sleds and SUVs....

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NYT climate reporter, and Dot Earth blogger, Andy Revkin does a great job getting to the bottom of the various cap and "X" policies currently being bandied around by a number of different scientists and legislators -- focusing mainly on NASA climate expert James Hansen's carbon tax and 100% dividend proposal (full presentation can be found on Hansen's website)....

Many of you took issue (not without reason) with a post I wrote a few months ago in which I cited an article written by author Ginger Strand, entitled "Keyword: Evil" (a dig at Google's mantra, "Don't be evil"), to criticize Google's love of cheap electricity. Well, don't take my word for it: For a more critical take on the issue of hydroelectric power -- and, more specifically, the impact of industrial development on Niagara Falls -- see Strand's recent presentation at Google's NYC headquarters to promote her new book, Inventing Niagara. You'll notice a familiar picture around minute 26 of the video....

For decades, now, it's been a challenge explaining climate science. It will be even harder to objectively and succinctly explain the prospective economic impacts (both positive and negative) of "climate actions." Because partisans and lobbyists have a strong and continuing grip on laws and policies that could favorable shape our climate future, we see a need for a simple metric to characterize negative manipulations and grand standing. Hence, TreeHugger is proposing a scale similar to the famed 1935-developed Richter Scale, which quantifies the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. We call our propose metric the Inhofe Scale: named in honor of Senator James M. Inhofe, US Senate Republican of Oklahoma. The Inhofe baseline starts at 1, pegged to this past week's requesting that the entire 500-page text of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Bill be read aloud in the Senate.

“They do not want to address the most important issue of the day, so they stalled,” Mr. Reid said, noting that Republicans insisted on having the entire nearly 500-page bill read aloud on Wednesday. “They are doing everything they can to maintain the status quo.”

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photo courtest of API (left to right Murr, Pfannenstiel, Siegele, Vassallo and Victor) The panel, entitled Energy's Future is in Technology: Innovation in Energy Supply, Energy Efficiency and Alternative/Renewable Energy, was sponsored by Newsweek and the American Petroleum Industry (API). Yes, the American Petroleum Industry; it also sponsored Treehugger’s transport for the event. Many of the comments on the panel addressed the issue that gas prices are driving innovation and people’s choices. I was struck by this trend when renting a car at SFO. Despite having reserved an “economy” sized car, I arrived at the counter after midnight and was told that the only cars left were SUVs. In the past SUVs, like convertibles, were luxury rentals, but now they were sitting in the lot like dogs in the pound. The problem was it was 1am and BART had stopped running so SUV it was. I considered the irony of my first SUV driving experience being on assignment for TH! In any case, in gas guzzling form, I headed down the 101 to the panel, which was held at Stanford’s brand-spanking-new Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building. This green building has only been open since March 2008, and is airy with natural light, as well as energy efficient. David Jefferson, Newsweek’s Senior Editor, kicked off the late afternoon panel and Stanford’s Dr. James Sweeney, Director of Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency gave closing remarks. The panelists included: David Victor, Stanford University Professor, and Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Paul Siegele, Chevron’s V.P. of Strategic Planning, Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, Chair of California Energy Commission (CEC), Trae Vassallo, a partner in the venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and Andy Murr, Newsweek’s L.A. bureau chief. Jefferson kicked off the panel by remarking, “The only time I really think of going green is when I pull up to the Chevron station and $4 a gallon gas makes money fly out of my wallet!” He posed the question: “What in the future will allow me to run my AC and drive my car as fast and as far as I want, without feeling guilty or going broke?” ...

Heads up product designers and engineers, green business gurus, supply chain experts and product development pros: we want to remind you about the Greener by Design conference that's happening next week (Thursday and Friday, June 12 and 13) in Alexandria, VA -- we mentioned it before. Just across the river from Washington, D.C., the conference offers you the opportunity to network with companies of all sizes and sectors who are integrating environmental thinking into their operations, and gives you a chance to share thoughts and bounce ideas off the leading thinkers on the greening of mainstream products. Come to the conference, and you're likely to walk away with a new outlook on green product development. TreeHugger is happy to be a media sponsor, and I'll be there, learning about the latest in green product design and picking the brains of some of the smartest, most interesting individuals in green business. Some big names from some big-time companies will be attending. Joel Makower of GreenBiz.com fame, will be moderating many of the panels, which will feature speakers from Nike's Considered program, Clorox's Green Works cleaners and a head honcho from Wal-Mart's sustainability team, just to name a few. Essentially, lots of smart people from big companies at various levels on the relative "green ladder," working to climb ever higher. Hit the jump to learn more, and, if you're interested in the conference but can't make it, leave your specific questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to get an answer. ::Greener by Design...

By now, we're sure all of you know that this week was a big one for us at TreeHugger. Our parent company, Discovery Communications, launched Planet Green, the first ever 24-7 TV channel dedicated to green living. With more than 200 hours of original green lifestyle programming, Planet Green is a fresh conversation about what it means to be environmental. Over the next few days we’ll bring you clips from the new shows and, in the meantime, don’t forget to use our channel finder so you can watch Planet Green in your home. We've featured Wa$ted and Mean Green Machines and Hollywood Green, and today we're bringing you the scoop on Renovation Nation. The green home building movement is unfolding in real time on each hour-long, information-packed episode of Renovation Nation, which answers the burning questions that every homeowner in America has about going green. Catch a sneak peak below the fold....

EPA granted the right to regulate carbon, April 2007. Congress passes energy legislation, December 2007. Conference of the Parties in Bali, December 2007. …Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act fails in the Senate, 2008. While it’s clear our nation has come a long way on the journey toward a sustainable future in just over a year, we still have some distance to go. The climate change legislation that recently failed to garner sufficient support in the U.S. Senate did not adequately address some of the critical issues facing our nation’s businesses; but, we are committed to continuing the work to get it right....

Who would want to do that? Well a company in Port Arthur, Texas, is currently seeking an exemption from federal law to do just that. If you're not familiar with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), they are a compound once manufactured in the U.S. to insulate electricity transformers, among many other uses. In 1976, after realizing how nasty these things are, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act, which made it illegal to manufacture any more PCBs in the U.S. - or to import them. Yet despite that law, Veolia Environmental Services is asking the EPA to let it ignore the law and import more than 20,000 tons of PCBs from Mexico for incineration....

Image from USGS/NASA Who knew mountains, like awkward teens, could have sudden growth spurts? According to a new study published in Science (sub. required), the Andes mountains may have doubled their height in as few as 2 - 4 million years -- suggesting that the latest plate tectonics science may need some revision. ...

:: Check with your hospital so see if they’re going green using this check-list from Discovery Health’s, Dr. John Whyte. :: Get inventive with this season’s hot stalk by following Kelly’s Asparagus Soup recipe. :: Meet SuChin Pak, host of the G Word and Planet Green columnist. :: See how Arnold took action on World Environment Day yesterday. :: Point your favorite restaurant’s owner to this resource to help them go green....

1200 SF 2 storey Katrina Cottage Some say it is an exercise in bad branding, like naming a line of prefabs ‘Mt. St. Helens Villas’ or ‘Hurricane Andrew Mobile Homes.’ But in fact Marianne Cusato's original Katrina Cottage was so cute that "Katrina Cottage" became a meme for cute little New Urbanist designs. Now Lowes has rolled out a whole line of them nationwide. And not just by Marianne; other New Urbanist designers like Andres Duany, Eric Moser, W.A Lawrence and Geoffrey Mouen get a kick at it. 11 plans range from 544 sf to 1800 sf. You can buy the plans or an entire package, just like Sears and Aladdin did almost a century ago. ...

An electric, concept car proves to be faster than a Ferrari. The government of Catalonia commissions an ad campaign in support of the seas. Blogs begin taking a closer look at Obama’s environmental policy. A new report stresses the importance of getting Junior outside. The Huffington Post’s green section goes live—featuring TreeHugger and Planet Green! Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...

J.R. Watkins’ new line of natural home care products brings the fresh-scented carefully crafted quality of their natural body care line to your spring cleaning routine. You might be wondering: “A body-care line that also makes natural home cleansers?” But once you think over it a bit – the concept makes perfect sense. Both types of products are coming under greater scrutiny as we learn about the risks we take by applying toxic ingredients to our skin and using caustic chemicals to clean our homes. For too long we’ve made a Faustian bargain with the products we use in our personal and home care – accepting that to be effective they must also be a bit (or a lot) dangerous....

O, the future. Where we get to live under power lines and mainline all the juice we need. Complete with electric mood control. Yet compared to many visions of the future, this one gets a lot of things right: ...

Sami noted that turboprops were back; It took a while, but Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin left an endowment to ensure that his eponymous airship rose again too. Sean Dodson of The Guardian is full of bad puns as he writes: "it's hard to keep an idea as audacious as the airship down. With the cost of oil at record highs, and airline chiefs warning of the end of cheap flights, the idea of the airship is being seriously floated once more." The 12 passenger prototype is on its way to London, and then crossing the ocean and America to San Francisco. The Guardian concludes: The rising price of oil may one day make them affordable. For a short-haul journeys, they could easily compete with the likes of ferries and trains, but the return to long-haul remains something of a dream. And yet who would have thought, a decade ago, that passenger airships would ever fly at all? ::Guardian ...

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How about freshly “caught” fillets of condoms, a plastic surprise or Styrofoam bites? Here are a few examples of “Catch of the Day,” a guerrilla ad campaign sponsored by Surfrider Foundation to educate people at farmers’ markets about the amount and kinds of pollution dumped into our seas. Working with the ad giant Saatchi & Saatchi, real life trash was collected from various beaches in America (the condoms are from Newport Beach, California), packaged to look like seafood and then offered at various farmers’ markets. (We seriously wonder if the ad execs from Saatchi collected the condoms or if they made the surfers do it. Ick.) Jump over the fold to see what other kinds of “goodies” one can collect from the sea. There is also an educational video from Surfrider worth viewing. ...

Bombardier Turboprop aircraft uses 64% of the fuel of equivalent jets photo

The turboprop aircraft is making a comeback, with sales to one of the only remaining manufacturers quadrupling in 2007 and a continued upsurge expected. With high oil prices, concerns over climate change, and uncertain economic conditions keeping airlines nervous, the return cannot come a moment too soon. As our very own Lloyd Alter testified after his bike/turboprop trip from Toronto to NYC, turboprops are among the most efficient aircraft in the skies, using only 64% of fuel per seat compared to the average jet (we’ve gone into more detail about turboprops in our overview of Porter Airlines and we’ve watched how a UK low-cost carrier has been producing eco-labels to back up their efficiency claims). So it’s no surprise our ears pricked up when we heard a report on NPR’s Marketplace about the renewed interest in turboprops among major carriers. ...

We have shown the work of Dutch designer David Graas before; he does great things with cardboard. However, he appears to work in other media as well; he was commissioned by the Ministry of VROM (love that name!) to design the Net Trophy, " a national prize for energy efficient living and working. The prize is given annually to an initiative of municipalities, building companies, housing associations and project developers that excels in an energy efficient approach." David tells us: "The tulip vase has the shape of an archtypical house, that is familiar to everyone; a house with a pointed roof and a chimney with a cloud of smoke. Only instead of one chimney, the roof is filled with chimneys. And instead of smoke there are now flowers coming from the chimney as a metaphor for the durability that the prize is about." ::David Graas More TreeHugger on David Graas: Davidgraas: Furniture from Cardboard : TreeHugger Not a Box Lighting: More Cardboard Design from David Graas ... David Graas: Finish Yourself Stool ...

After we wrote about Brian Jones losing everything and starting over, one commenter with a similar experience called it "liberating" and another noted "We are chained down by our stuff and what we think we need." Some of us travel light through life; others have bulging basements and storage lockers.

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Just when you thought you’d heard it all, it turns out the EPA is finally getting around to keeping rat poison out of the hands of children. Amazingly, it only took until 2008 to happen, but better late than never. And now it seems you’ll have to be a farmer, livestock owner or certified rodent control employee to buy the stuff in bulk. With bags over 8 pounds no longer sold in stores. And to further ensure this nasty stuff stays out of the hands of kids, they’re making sure that the loose bait-like pellets and the four most hazardous types of pesticides, known as “second-generation anticoagulants,” will no longer be sold for personal use either. ...

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We have applauded Prince Charles before for his willingness to spend massive amounts of money on green causes. And now HRH has done it again. He has purchased 1,000 of the rarest British apple varieties. So have Geoffrey Anderton, who owns Lochnaw Castle in Scotland, and the Co-operative Group. The sellers are a trust which looks after the living collection on behalf of the Government. Its collection includes 2,300 traditional varieties of apple, 500 of pear, 350 of plum, 220 varieties of cherry and 320 varieties of bush fruits, such as gooseberry. The apples have all been stored in one location and it was decided that it was too risky to put all your apples in one basket, as it were. The species being sold include the Bloody Ploughman, which was first recorded in 1883, the Fairie Queen, Forty Shillings and Ducks Bill, originating in England, and Great Expectations, which comes from Ireland. Each of the buyers has committed to planting their saplings in different parts of the country. It is assumed the Prince's collection would be grown at the Duchy Home Farm in Gloucestershire. The Co-op plans to introduce the apples to its customers. They are planting the trees at their 800-acre fruit-growing operation in Herefordshire. They intend to press and blend the fruit for their own "heritage" brand apple juice. Watch for the Ashmeads Kernal (pictured) "it's an ugly looking apple, with black spots, and most supermarkets wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, but the taste is fantastic – really nutty, with a juicy, firm texture." :: Telegraph...

How do you get thousands of people to turn off their lights and use less electricity? Since 2003, a small group of people in Japan have managed to do just that through the Candle Night events. Some 3,000,000 kilowatts of energy were saved during last year's event as over 60,000 facilities participated in the nation-wide campaign, with support from Japan's Ministry of the Environment....

It’s not every day you find a classes focusing on the issue of noise pollution and how it affects wildlife, but Tommy Hayes, a rookie environmental science teacher in Boston has done just that; turning the need to confiscate the blaring iPod of a student into a teachable moment that class won’t soon forget. But how’d he turn a classroom distraction into such a great piece of environmental education?...

If electric vehicles aren't your thing, then you may be pleased to hear that at least one company is working on giving that tried and true internal combustion engine a major boost. Artemis, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based company, has developed a hydraulic hybrid transmission that could potentially double the mileage of most vehicles -- by accident, as it happens. The firm's original goal had been to simply reduce CO2 emissions on the highway by 30% (a goal it also achieved). The results were confirmed independently by the U.K. Energy Saving Trust, which found that Artemis' prototype BMW 530i hydraulic series hybrid, equipped with the new transmission, achieved double the MPG in city tests over its manual alternative (you can see a video of the test on Artemis' website). Its breakthrough hybrid powertrain design is based on its proprietary Digital Displacement (DD) technology, which it has spent the last 15 years working on. ...

One of the popular vote-pandering narratives pursued by US Congress Critters, lately, has been 'oil companies making too much money,' bankrupting the Middle Class. This Energy Information Agency graphic is consistent, however, with multiple explanations of high oil prices, including 'developing nation demand growth' and, Peak Oil. The data do not support a convenient single scape goat that can be affected by public policy or law. And that, Dear Reader, is the graphic of the day. Via::Weekly Petroleum Status Report...

:: Park your gas-guzzler in the garage, and hop on a bike instead. :: Nix the raisins in this raisin-less raisin bread—unless you want them, of course! :: Put a hold on hot water and win a free copy of Naturally Clean by Seventh Generation. :: Take note of wasteful minutia and cultivate an eco-mindset. :: Whoop it up on World Environment Day!...

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photo by NYT's Sewell Chan Never a dull moment in New York City or at the New York Times ... an avid building-scaler, with an obvious passion for the environment, attempted today to draw more attention to the issue of global warming, with a breathtaking, and illegal, act of daredevilry. Around noon today, in New York City, a 46 year-old named Alain Robert, known to the world as "the French Spiderman," climbed 52 stories in an attempt to unfurl a green banner that was illegible from the sidewalk, but readable from the office buildings. The banner proclaimed: "Global warming kills more people than 9/11 every week." Robert was also wearing a t-shirt with his website thesolutionissimple.org on it. ...

As the world’s largest investment bank, Goldman Sachs raised some bushy eyebrows when it began putting its weight behind green investments. Spearheading the bank’s Environmental Markets Initiative was Mark Tercek, a managing director and longtime veteran of the bank. But now Goldman’s green golden boy is packing his bags to take the top seat at The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest environmental NGOs. Here, Mark speaks about crisis at the Conservancy, his two decades at Goldman, the green bubble, and the end of greenwashing. ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Also see: The TH Interview: Stephanie Meeks of the Nature Conservancy Special thanks to Calabash Music for the soundtrack....

TreeHugger Father's Day Gift Guide Promo with Summer Rayne Oakes VIDEO 30 seconds WATCH>> on Susty.tv TO WATCH HI-DEFINITION CLICK HERE >> Discovery's Planet Green on-air promo for TreeHugger's Father's Day Gift Guide With all the eco-woot-woot around the launch of the Planet Green television channel, we thought we'd bring a little more on-air content your way, specifically a little promo we did to encourage you to visit TreeHugger's Father's Day Gift Guide. You can find out more about the bike blender featured in the promo and our 2007 Gift Guide, and WATCH A ONE-MINUTE HI-DEf VIDEO of Summer Rayne Oakes on set behind the scenes riding it HERE....

Update: You can read my review of the SunLawn LMM-40 Push Reel Mower here. Reel Mowers Don't Need Fossil Fuels to Cut Grass Grass is not a very good idea in the majority of cases. Native low-lying plants that require not extra water or pesticides are a much better idea (or even better: food crops). Yet most people have grass, including my parents. When I was younger (not so long ago - I'm 26), I hated mowing the lawn with the gas-powered lawnmower. It was heavy, smelly, and noisy. I always had the feeling of annoying the neighbors (I know they annoyed me when I was trying to relax outside and they were making all that noise), and I knew that using a gas engine to cut small blades of grass was overkill, but like most people I didn't give it much thought. It was just the way things were done. Since then I've woken up to environmental issues and convinced my parents to try a reel mower. They bought one at a yard sale and immediately loved it. I suppose that like most people, they just never thought about them before, or assumed that they were more work than a gas mower, but now there's no going back....

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Tommy Lee at the Planet Green launch party in Los Angeles last week. If your eyes as puffy as mine are from watching several sweet hours of Planet Green TV last night, you’ll definitely want to check out what went down at the launch party in L.A. last week. Dozens of green celebs—from Tommy Lee to Ludacris to Keenan Ivory Wayans—showed up on the green carpet at Hollywood’s Greek Theatre for a pre-launch partay, and to film the final Tommy Lee versus Ludacris smackdown. (The unlikely duo play the starring role in Planet Green’s forthcoming Battleground Earth reality show, in which the two compete to see who can go greener.) Click the jump for videos from the party. ...

Last month, an Israeli students’ group organized a march through the center of Tel Aviv in support of clean air in Israel. The march, which took place on a Friday afternoon, was attended by hundreds of people - students, academics, politicians and residents of Tel Aviv. The march apparently caught the attention of Israeli lawmakers, and on May 29, the Clean Air Act, which would create mechanisms for monitoring, regulating and enforcing clean air standards, passed its first reading - after being stuck for three years. The law must now past two more readings in Israel's Knesset (parliament) before becoming law. This film was produced by Daniel Cherrin and Jesse Fox. ...

Is green mainstream yet? According to Technorati, the Huffington Post is currently the #1 blog on the internet. Hard to be more mainstream than that when it comes to blogs... So it's with great pleasure that we welcome into the online "green ecosystem" newcomer Huffington Post Green! Arianna Huffington's post about the launch is here. Kudos to the whole HuffPo team! TreeHugger and Planet Green are Involved Don't be surprised if some names over there are familiar. TreeHugger and Planet Green will provide content and help the HuffPo reach as many people as possible with the green message. ::Huffington Post Green...

Billabong's Design for Humanity event fuses art, music and fashion all for a good cause. Gossip Girl gets green with organic beauty products. Earth 911 teaches us how to "green our beach trips". Plover does organic bedding in style. Method clean products set up shop in New York City. Jet Blue starts jetting green. We get gorgeous with made at home beauty treatments. xo....

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Last night was a big one for us at TreeHugger. Our parent company, Discovery Communications, launched Planet Green, the first ever 24-7 TV channel dedicated to green living. With more than 200 hours of original green lifestyle programming, Planet Green is a fresh conversation about what it means to be environmental. Over the next few days we’ll bring you clips from the new shows and, in the meantime, don’t forget to use our channel finder so you can watch Planet Green in your home. We've featured Wa$ted and Mean Green Machines and today we're bringing you the scoop on Hollywood Green, which delivers the latest in news regarding Hollywood stars and starlets who are going green while making headlines in movies, TV shows, music, events and fashion. Also included are expanded stories highlighting how celebrities are living green. ...

Prince Charles may be the last person you'd expect to find in Beijing's hutong. The alleys are Beijing's version of Venice's canal-crossed calli, Cairo's qasaba and Rio's favelas: a lively, inscrutably charming network of streets that better accomodate the chit-chat of neighbors than the honk of cars. Their Medieval roots, rich history and distinct character notwithstanding, the hutong's old-fashioned and resource-minimal courtyard-home lifestyles are increasingly the target of Beijing's eager high-rise estate developers. They're abetted by a government eager to rid the city of what it sees as slums. For those of us who like to feel human in the city, not cogs in a smoggy machine, the hutong is far and away the best part of Beijing. And it's estimated that one entire lane disappears every week. Enter the green Prince. His Foundation for Architecture and Urbanism has proposed a plan to preserve Da Shi Lan, or Da Zha Lan, one of Beijing's famous remaining hutong neighborhoods, located just south of Tiananmen Square. Charles's planners say that by renovating and rebuilding the courtyard homes that make up the hutong, they can preserve heritage while building Beijing's environmental credentials. ...

Bonnie wrote last summer about what one might call the 34 floor diet- the roof garden on the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto where Executive Chef David Garcelon grows herbs and vegetables. Now he has added bees. "The only other place that's brought bees to such heights is the Paris opera house," Royal York spokeswoman Melanie Coates told Anthony Reinhart of the Globe and Mail. He writes that Chef Garcelon came up with the idea last summer, when he noticed a multitude of bees buzzing around the herbs, vegetables and edible flowers in the raised wooden beds of the hotel's 10-year-old rooftop garden. He evidently has "visions of fresh honey dripping into his salad dressings, soups, pastries and countless other creations." ::Globe and Mail ...

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A few years ago when we wrote It's getting harder to hate Wal-Mart, we concluded, after reading Lee Scott's environmental and other plans, that "If these words came out of the mouth of Yvon Chouinard or John Mackey, everyone would stand up and cheer- it is a remarkable speech that all should read and hold up as a standard for any company. That it comes from Wal-Mart? We will wait and see." According to the New York Times: after waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are putting down their cudgels. “It’s fair to say we have been less in-your-face,” said David Nassar, the executive director of Wal-Mart Watch. On environmental issues, they must be making progress, because they are under attack from the right: " Wal-Mart's support for the anti-free market agenda of the environmental movement... may be undermining the company's financial future. " and "NLPC Calls on Scott to Revoke Support for CO2 Emission Regulation That Will Devastate Wal-Mart Customers." Nassar of Wal-Mart Watch concludes: “As the company makes changes, it becomes harder to be critical,” Mr. Nassar said, “because our critique has to become more nuanced. But that’s O.K.,” he added. “We didn’t sign up for an easy job.” ::New York Times ...

First post from greenz.jp! We are happy to see that Japan's media is going green and catching on to the global environmental message. With the upcoming G8 Summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, the level of concern is rising and so is the citizen driven green movement. One indicator is that over 120 people showed up at the Green Media Alliance launch party in Tokyo on May 29 in collaboration with green drinks Tokyo (which greenz.jp is hosting monthly), with participants from major TV networks, independent media, environmental activists as well as mega advertising agencies like Hakuhodo and Dentsu (see more photos here). And green.tv Japan is a success on the Internet with special programs you can enjoy on World Environment Day, June 5. ...

photo courtesy of Brian Jones Guest reviewer Brian W. Jones is a designer, photographer, and cultural observer who recently "relocated to Chicago just in time for the longest winter of his life." More on Brian in TreeHugger here. A few weeks ago, the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit opened at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The exhibit is a pre-fab modular home, designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs (MKD), and its surrounding landscape, designed by Jacobs/Ryan Associates. The Smart Home has been outfitted with some of the most sustainable and responsible options available for building and furnishing a house, while the landscaping illustrates many ways to sustain and replenish the surrounding environments we live in. It’s really spectacular to see the museum’s courtyard transformed in this way. ...

ReadySetGo My Eight Week Journey To A Greener Guilt Free Me graphic

I'm very good at guilt. Not just mama guilt, daughter guilt, and even sister guilt, but also something I'll call global world guilt (GWG). It's not just that vague unavoidable guilt about the less fortunate or those hit by tragedy, such as the recent victims of the earthquake in China. It's also this deep down guilty feeling that I'm not doing enough, never doing enough - not volunteering enough for causes I really care about or doing all that I can in terms of living the greenest eco-lifestyle. And while a little eco-guilt might be good - it keeps me reaching for ways to get greener - too much eco-guilt is just a drag - counterproductive and bad for my bitten-up nailbeds. I was definitely ready - no, eager - for a book like Graham Hill and Meaghan O'Neill's Ready, Set, Green Eight Weeks To Modern Eco-Living. Not because they are (disclaimer alert!) my bosses. And not only because I secretly worry I have some decidedly non-green habits. Mostly because I wonder if maybe along the way in my own green journey I may have missed a few important basics. So I've decided to take Ready, Set, Green's eight week challenge....

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In August last year, designer Brian Jones packed a rental van for a move to Chicago and went to bed, planning to clip his bikes on and leave in the morning. When he woke up, everything he owned in the world other than what is in this picture was gone. No story there; lots of people lose everything in floods and hurricanes. Lots of people run off to Wal-Mart to restock; Brian made it into an opportunity. He wrote: "Design is used to sell. Period. Whether its the newest Nikes, or someone else's ideals. My job is to communicate their message. And since the dawn of advertising, the overwhelming majority of messages sent to the world, is to want what you don't have. Someone else wanted what they didn't have, which happened to be what I had, and no longer have." ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger meets Tony Blair to continue his fight agains climate change photo

Schwarzenegger Continues to Push Climate Group's Together Campaign Today on World Environment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be continuing his push on climate change by helping spearhead the arrival of The Climate Group’s Together campaign on the US scene, with partners that include major brands like JP Morgan Chase, Dell, MySpace, Target, Nestlé Waters, Timberland, Fox, and Time Warner as well as seven major US city governments: New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The campaign, which has been rolling in the UK for a year now, has already chieved some remarkable results, including getting Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and London’s new supposedly climate-change skeptic mayor on one video; uniting major corporations like British Gas, BSkyB and Tesco to work together to reduce emissions; and let's not forget the groundbreaking, and very funny Energy Wasting Day. More details on today's initiative follow: ...

Yesterday we quoted Barbara Kingsolver: "we have in every part of the world lost control of our food systems to agribusiness… [Monsanto has] quite systematically removed seed banks, have contaminated [and] diminished the genetic material that all people in the world have with which to feed themselves, and it’s a terrifying problem." Also yesterday, Monsanto promised to "develop by 2030 new strains of corn, soybeans and cotton that can yield twice as much grain and fiber per-acre while consuming just two-thirds the water."If we succeed in doubling yields, it absolutely changes the opportunity for food availability," [CEO Hugh] Grant said.

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Fashion Made Fair: First event in Bristol this weekend by Jules Hau "The UK’s leading ethical fashion sale, Fashion Made Fair, will take place from 6th to 8th June 2008 in the heart of Bristol, at 36 Park Street BS1 5JG. The event, which has become a regular fixture in every London ethical fashionista’s diary, will once again showcase the UK’s best selection of eco and ethical fashion and lifestyle brands." Green Girls Global: Are You Enjoying The Asparagus Season? by Clare Are you making the most of the incredibly short asparagus season? Blink and you miss it…May and early June see the brief few weeks when we can get hold of locally-grown asparagus (I’m talking UK and Europe here - apologies to the rest of the global community!)"...

tokyo mayor pushes carbon cuts photo.jpg

Tokyo's mayor has seen the (green) light and is taking major steps to introduce a climate change programme for the city despite Japan's reticence nationally on the matter. Mayor Shintaro Ishihara is a 75 year old self-acknowledged rightwinger who has decided to go it alone and impose strict curbs on local green house gas emissions. Some have compared his initiatives to those of California's Governor Schwartzenegger's differences with the Bush administration. As of 2010 Tokyo will impose caps on emissions on its largest polluters, along with credit trading for those who go over the limit. The city has budgeted $191M for green initiatives this year including subsidies to small businesses to help them comply. Building regulations are being tightened for new buildings and increased energy efficiency is being promoted in Tokyo homes and offices. Almost 1,000 hectares of new parks and trees will be planted in the next 8 years. Tokyo has a population of 13M people but it is only responsible for 5% of Japan's emissions because it is has little heavy industry. However this stance will certainly send a strong message to the Prime Minister in time for the G8 summit next month where he has promised to put global warming high on the agenda, and hopefully show more leadership in this area. :: Financial Times...

Utensil cases, of recycled materials or otherwise, may not be at the top of anybody's list of shopping necessities. But once you start to contemplate the vast amounts of plastic and wood made into cutlery that gets used only a few minutes (3 minutes is average) and then landfilled for eons, toting your own starts to make more sense. We've covered the Carry Your Own Cutlery (CYOC) movement before. And ten-year-old company To-Go Ware has been importing bamboo utensils - fork, knife, spoon, and chopstick sets - for a few years. Now they've got a full line of cutlery cases made from recycled plastic bags, from Indian NGO Conserve. A small army of workers in the streets of India's New Delhi collect pounds of discarded bags each day. The bags are washed, sorted, cut and then heated and pressed into plastic fabric to make the cases. Though To-Go Ware doesn't carry them, Conserve also makes a line of colorful carry bags - view a video on the labor-intensive process of plastic bag recycling after the jump....

Ecoogler, the ecological search engine, has created quite a bit of confusion online about whether it is real and whether Google is behind it or not. With Ecoogler, you can basically google the same as with Google or any other search engine, but in addition your clicks help reforesting the rainforest and safeguarding water resources in the Amazon, which nowadays represents one fourth of our planet’s fresh water reserves. How is this done?...

After posting on JetBlue’s new green initiative, we were eager to hear about the latest changes at Delta Airlines to go green as well. Heck, after all of the news this week about airlines suffering more setbacks due to rising costs, we figured that getting back to basics and greening their fleet couldn’t hurt. ...

Pooh Bear offers wisdom in the face of peak oil cartoon

With Planet Green, the first ever 24/7 TV channel dedicated to green living, launching today – it’s an interesting time to reflect on the changing role of us TreeHuggers and environmentalists. Not too long ago, we as a movement spent most of our time trying to convince people, sometimes a little shrilly, about the imminent dangers of climate change, resource depletion etc, and trying to get across the gravity of the situation we were facing. Yet while the doubters remain, the debate has noticeably shifted in recent years from “Is there a problem?”, to “Heck yes there’s a problem! What are we going to do about it?” Rob Hopkins has an interesting post about this over at Transition Culture, specifically discussing how the peak oil community is shifting from sounding the alarm, to leading people towards the fire exits. And what better way to illustrate his point, than to draw on the age-old wisdom of Winnie the Pooh: ...

We just can't help but say it again: the big day is finally here with the launch of Planet Green coming to television sets near you! The first ever 24-7 TV channel dedicated to green living goes live in millions of homes tonight at 6:00PM and we can’t be more excited. With more than 200 hours of original green lifestyle programming, Planet Green is a fresh conversation about what it means to be environmental. Over the next few days we’ll bring you clips from the new shows and, in the meantime, don’t forget to use our channel finder so you can watch Planet Green in your home. Earlier, we featured Wa$ted, and today we're also giving you the scoop on Mean Green Machines, a turbocharged thrill ride jam-packed with the latest, fastest, and greenest vehicles, bikes, and even aircrafts. ...

We have discussed the so-called greening of Fiji Water, and ran a survey on it. Rob Walker of the New York Times' Consumed column, looks at the ambiguity of this. He writes: But it’s probably wrongheaded to see Fiji’s greened-up image as being aimed at eco-opponents. It really speaks to consumers who are conflicted. Not so long ago we all felt good about drinking less soda; do we now have to feel guilty unless we drink tap water? Reid Lifset, the editor of Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology, says that bottle bills are a good idea but doesn’t swallow Fiji’s advocacy or other green measures as justifying the practice of transplanetary water shipments. Yet he empathizes with the consumer. “People don’t want to spend their lives wrapped up in ambiguities over one consumption decision,” he says. We want to be told whether something is terrible or perfectly acceptable. Fiji is offering its answer — an answer that, so far, people are still buying." ::New York Times via ::PSFK image: Peter Arkle...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday told off critics who have accused Brazil of reducing food production in favor of ethanol, according to a report from Bloomberg News. Instead, Lula says record oil prices and rich countries' farm subsidies are to blame for soaring world food prices. "Biofuels are not the villain menacing food security in poor countries," Lula said at a global summit in Rome on world food security. "They can play an important role in the economic and social development of developing countries." Various analysts, including many members of the environmental community, have noted that biofuel crop cultivation is responsible for about one-third of the increase in global food prices that have catalyzed riots in more than 30 countries. But Lula told the summit that cultivation of sugar cane for ethanol accounts for just 1 percent of Brazil's 340 million hectares of arable land. ...

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Entries for June 1, 2008 - June 7, 2008

Total this week: 143

by Bonnie Hulkower, New York, New York on 06. 7.08

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