- Emily Pilloton Discusses the Hippo Roller and other Designs for Humanity (Part One)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part Two)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part One)
- Andy Revkin - Climate in the Obama Age
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part Two)
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part One)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part Two)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part One)
Entries for June 22, 2008 - June 28, 2008
Total this week: 181
Study Predicts Amount of CO2 Emissions that Could Lead to Greenland Melting
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.28.08
Image from Bart de Haan
The chorus of bad news for Greenland's fate has been growing louder in recent months. I've written at length about numerous studies suggesting that Greenland may not last much longer in light of rapidly increasing carbon emissions. A new study published in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters (sub. required) predicts under which CO2 emissions scenarios Greenland will "irreversibly" undergo total melting.
In short, the team of researchers from France's Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, estimates that if the level of atmospheric CO2 emissions surpasses 3,000 GtC (GtC = gigaton of carbon), total melting will be inevitable. If, however, it remains below 2,500 GtC, Greenland will experience a partial melting followed by a re-growth phase. For some context, the current level of CO2 emissions lies slightly above 350 GtC. ...
Utah Shifts To A More Sustainable Four Day Work Week
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 06.28.08
Around 17,000 or 20 percent of all Utah state workers will shift to a new four-day, ten-hour work schedule beginning in August as part of the state’s one-year "Working 4 Utah" pilot program to save energy and money. By shutting down 1,000 buildings statewide on Fridays, an estimated 3,000 metric tons in carbon emissions will also be cut. Admittedly, though the energy and fuel savings is not as great as telecommuting, the idea of a four-day work week is probably more appealing to reluctant employers who are willing to test more moderate, but still viable, alternatives.
The initiative could also set a precedent for other states to follow. "It has never been done on the statewide level, so we would be the first state actually rolling this out," said Utah governor Jon Huntsman. "So, [in] July we're going to be working very closely with departments and agencies making sure we anticipate ... all of the issues and challenges that'll be associated with doing this right."
::KSL via Urban Workbench
Related Links on Greening Your Work
How to Green Your Work
Telecommuting is Green and Saves Money, but Most Employers still Resist it
All-Nighter PCs Cost U.S. Businesses $1.7 Billion
Image: KSL...
Is it Time to Ditch the MPG Metric?
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.28.08
Image from Science
Given the option, would you prefer to switch from a vehicle that gets 12 MPG to one that gets 14 MPG or from one that gets 28 MPG to one that gets 40 MPG? You might think the answer here is obvious: the second option, of course. Yet, if your guide in picking is whichever switch grants you the better fuel efficiency, you'd be wrong.
Wait, 12 to 14 MPG is better than 28 to 40 MPG?
That would be because, like most people, you probably consider the amount of gas consumed by a vehicle to decrease as a linear function of its MPG. Well, according to an article in Science written by Richard Larrick and Jack Soll (sub. required), two economists at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, the relationship is actually curvilinear -- which means people often underestimate the gains that can be achieved by removing the most fuel-inefficient vehicles....
This Weekend in NY: Dan Deacon at Citysol, Bucky at Whitney, Figment and the Waterfalls
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 06.28.08
If you needed another reason to hit up Citysol, New York's free sustainability-themed art and music event, here it is: Dan Deacon, the inimitable surrealist trash-synth community-building music man is playing tonight. He punctuates a weekend of concerts, comedians, green art installations and panel discussions.
For instance, at 6 tonight, there's a discussion on sustainable design with the chief of design for NYC parks; tomorrow, two discussions will will turn toward solar and the meeting of grassroots advocacy and interactive design. Sitting on that panel will be artist Eve Mosher, whose work Insert _Here, along with other artists' eco-minded art, will be appearing at the event all weekend. Mosher's work asks participants to use small yellow signs to identify sites in need of a bit of greening ("insert solar here," "insert a garden here," etc), and upload photos of the place to the web. From there, Mosher or another artist renders the photo in order to show how the site might look if re-mediated. The idea is to capitalize "on community awareness of place/environment and optimism in the face of climate challenges.”
Also lighting your compact-florescent fire this weekend in NYC: Figment, a multidisciplinary Burning Man-ish party at Governor's Island, the Buckminster Fuller retrospective at the Whitney Museum, and Olafur Eliasson's awesome Waterfalls.
Citysol: Stuyvesant Cove Park, near the East River and 23rd Street. Map and directions here. via Papermag...
Greenpeace Sneaks In, Addresses Coal Conference
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 06.28.08
Who says coal and environmentalists -- even the most hardcore take-no-prisoners kind of activists -- can't get along? Or at least listen to each other. And who says that just because coal companies can rally under deceptively-titled front groups like Americans For Balanced Energy Choices, green groups do the same?
That's exactly what happened this week, when members of Greenpeace crashed a major coal conference, Coal USA 2008 -- by co-sponsoring the event under the buttoned-up moniker “Institute for Energy Solutions." When organizers discovered that the group's site redirected to Coal is Dirty, they not only grudgingly permitted Greenpeace to keep their booth (where, of course, they handed out asthma inhalers, gift baskets of coal, and water samples from coal mining regions) but even invited the green agitators to address the gathered audience of coal executives.
The big moment came yesterday, when Greenpeace spokesman Carroll Muffett was asked to speak to an audience not of "evil, mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash impersonators" but of "(mostly) normal people." Here's the advice and question he posed just before being whipped off the stage by a security guard ......
Berkeley Protesters Treetop Insanity No Help to Environmental Movement
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.28.08
In a case of civic action that’s gone way too far, student protesters at Berkeley living in trees for the last 18 months to protest the removal of an oak grove on campus to make way for athletic fields have begun throwing human excrement at arborists intent on cutting the supply lines they have set up to move in food and water as protesters have cycled in and out during a protracted court case.
But with supply lines cut they’re basically huddled in one tree, informing University officials that they were both not moving and rationing water. Officials at first attempted to cut them off completely, but now they’ve provided the students with water, and police are negotiating to keep them from flinging feces in return for basic supplies.
...
Your Crab Cake May Be Permanently On Back Order
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.28.08
Harvest too many Maryland Blue Crabs, year after year, and they'll go away. Let soil erode badly from farm lands that feed essential estuaries, they'll go away. Spray pesticides thoughtlessly, they'll go away. Only in living systems can "away" be made so permanent, so quickly, so painfully. A predetermined outcome of the present course: no more TeeVee ads for delicious crab cakes shipped to your door. Maryland and Virginia's U.S. senators say there's no time to waste in declaring the decline of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs a federal disaster...In a letter to federal authorities, the senators argue for a declaration that would provide about $20 million in federal aid to watermen and seafood processors hurt by the crab's decline...The letter was sent yesterday to Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland and John W. Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia point out that blue crab stocks in the estuary are down about 70 percent from 1990....
Objects in mirror...could be saved
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.28.08
A guest post by Brian Jones, subject of TreeHugger Post A Story about Losing, Leaving and Buying It All Back and author of ::Buy By Brian
Earlier this month, at the beginning of Chicago's Bike to Work Week, Clinton Miceli died after being doored and knocked in front of a passing vehicle. Less than two weeks prior to this tragic incident, Treehugger ran a poll about the punishment for those who give out "The Door Prize." Clinton, a 22-year old graphic designer, was said to have always worn a helmet and lights, as well as advocating bike safety to his fellow co-workers and friends who rode.
When traffic conditions—or the complacency of riding in a bike lane—leave a rider vulnerable to the "door zone," there is only so much responsibility the rider can take to avoid these encounters. Lighting conditions, tinted windows and larger vehicles don't always allow a rider to see if anyone is in the driver's seat. In these cases, even the most vigilant rider can be caught off guard. Once that door pops, there is very little time to react and this is why the responsibility rests on those exiting the vehicle....
Graphic Of The Day: Worldwide Unconventional Liquid Fuel Production
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.28.08
Following on the heels of yesterday's Graphic Of The Day: The "Not Going To Happen" Scenario about growth in world-wide coal consumption, here we have 22-year projections by US Energy Information Administration for the "unconventionals." The bar graph categories cover growth in liquid fuel not originating from typical petroleum wells: those with unique feedstock, production techniques, processing, or refining technologies. As in yesterday's post, the standout issue, here, is rather obvious: it's the onset of a 20-year race between Alberta Tar Sands and a variety of "biofuels."...
Wing House from Recycled 747 Jet Airplane Finally Under Construction
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.28.08
Francie Rehwald of California is trading in her plain home for a plane home. "My mom is definitely a hippie at heart," says her daughter in the AP video clip below. TreeHugger reported the original plans to build the recycled 747 house already in 2005. It takes time to get approvals for building a house that will need to be marked so rescue teams know it is not debris strewn by a crash!
The Wing House is a sleek and elegant design, without doubt. But we ask the hard questions which the mainstream media, so enthused about the jet plane aspect, neglects to ask: does this newest mansion exemplify sustainable architecture? ...
Ice-Free Arctic by... This Summer?!
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.28.08
Portland's Bike Boxes: The Movie
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 06.27.08
Wallace Broecker vs. Greenpeace: Climate Scientist Argues in Favor of Ocean CO2 Storage
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.27.08
Image from tata_aka_T
The Guardian has been playing host to a lively debate between Wallace Broecker, a world-renowned climate scientist at Columbia University (and originator of a scheme to deploy millions of tree-like CO2 "scrubbers"), and Bill Hare of Greenpeace. It kicked off with a lengthy piece by Broecker challenging Greenpeace's stand on ocean storage last week and has now seen the two take each other's arguments head-on. ...
Vegetarian Eats, Organic Cotton and Eco-Curb Appeal
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 06.27.08
:: Still a meat eater? Strike a balance with vegetarian options.
:: Take stock of your cotton clothing—is it organic?
:: Boost your home's curb appeal with these DIY projects.
:: Grill up some tasty, green food choices.
:: Reduce your hot water use by up to 50% with low-flow devices....
Ottawa Student Could Make Water Desalination 600-700% More Efficient
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.27.08
Water For All
The Economist recently published a very good primer on water desalination. It contains some cautious prediction about future growth of thermal and membrane desalination plants, but all of that could change if Mohammed Rasool Qtaisha, a chemical engineering PhD student at the University Ottawa, has his way. He founded Water for All with the goal of turning seawater into drinking water on a large scale, and it seems like he has a breakthrough.
We can't be 100% sure yet because his technology is secret and patent-pending, but he claims that his new membrane technology is 600 to 700% more efficient than what is currently on the market. "His prototype is able to run on solar panels and produce 50 kilograms of water per metre square of the membrane per hour [...] current technology would produce about seven to eight kilograms per metre per hour."...
Great Apes Granted ‘Human Rights’ by Spanish Parliament
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
photo by youngrobv via flickr
So, the subject of this post is a little outside the boundaries of the normal subjects I cover here at Treehugger, but the implications of this news are great.
Rights for Humans' Genetically-Closest Relatives
Via :: The Guardian
Great apes should have the right to life and freedom, according to a resolution passed in the Spanish parliament, in what could become landmark legislation to enshrine human rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos....
Green Eyes On: Jack Johnson’s All At Once Tour
by Sara Snow on 06.27.08
A little over a week ago, I braved threatening skies and a severe thunderstorm warning to visit with Jack Johnson on the kick-off of his 2008 summer tour. The show was in Noblesville, Indiana right outside of Indianapolis where I live when not in hotels and airplanes around the country. I hit the show with my husband and good friend, photographer and director Matt Mays.
Let’s be honest, this isn’t the first blog or even the first TreeHugger post about the mellow, eco-loving musician, and it’s not likely to be the last. But here’s why I think you’ll enjoy this. ...
Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff Legislation Introduced in U.S. Congress
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
photo by Patrick Boury
While the Senate dawdles with one set of renewable energy incentives, four members of the House of Representatives, led by Jay Inslee (D-Washington), have introduced a new piece of legislation that everyone concerned about alternative energy in the United States really needs to watch.
...
Off-Grid Living Means Solar-Powered Blogging, Even With a Lack of Sunshine
by Deane Brebner and Don Bissonnette, Sutton, Quebec on 06.27.08
Prepping for off-grid, locavore living
Prior to the month of June, we had some preparations to make before we moved our home off the grid and became locavores. A hose was attached to the pond and brought downhill to the house. A small "room heater" wood stove with a precarious home-made chimney was erected near the house. A solar panel and back-up battery was ordered and on the way. The fridge was emptied; we ate the contents or gave them to friends....
Meet the Cardboard Bicycle
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 06.27.08
Cardboard Bicycle Brings Costs WAY Down
We already know how wonderful, efficient, fun, safe and green cycling is. The only problem, however, is that for people interested in getting into cycling--but who aren't sure if they'll like it or stick with it--it's hard to justify making an investment in a bicycle, even if it is of the cheap (some might say schlock) Wal-Mart variety. Well, Phil Bridge, a 21 year old design student at Sheffield Hallam University, has come up with a solution (maybe): build the bicycle out of cardboard! Why? Because it makes it extremely inexpensive. In fact, Mr. Bridge claims he can sell the complete bike for around $30 USD. At that price the up-front cost of the bicycle becomes a non-issue.
What will be an issue, however, is the possibility that the cardboard frame will collapse or break, especially in the rain. Nevertheless, Mr. Bridge claims that "the prototype does work but it is still quite limited and there are a few problems." Learn more about the bike after the fold.
...
Little Known Fact: Thirteen People Can Fit Inside a Smart Car
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.27.08
Don't Try This at Home
What better way for Smart to celebrate its 10th anniversary than to cram 13 gymnasts inside one of its tiny ForTwo urban cars (except maybe making a real Smart Car vending machine)?
But the best thing is, 13 isn't even a record for the Smart ForTwo. "Eighteen people managed to squeeze inside a smart in Germany back in 2002." Yes, 18. We wonder if using amputees would be considered cheating..?...
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting to Begin for Australian Corporations
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
photo by Dallas Ewing
In addition to British Columbia’s efforts to combat climate change, July 1 marks the start of another greenhouse gas reduction initiative: Australia’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System.
Mandates Greenhouse Gas Emissions Record-Keeping
From next Tuesday, corporate groups which emit more than 125 kilotonnes of greenhouse gases, or produce or consume 500 terajoules or more of energy will be require to begin collecting data on their emissions. Also, corporations controlling facilities that emit more than 25 kilotonnes of greenhouse gases, or produce 100 terajoules or more of energy will also have to begin keeping records. The data collected will have to be submitted, from October 2009, as part of annual greenhouse gas and energy reports. ...
Surreal 'Fish Head' WWF Climate Change Ad
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.27.08
Most Huggable: China’s Double Wind, Green Birthday Books, Not-So-Surprising Car Stats + More
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 06.27.08
Wind power in China is expected to double over the next two years.
Celebrating a book-lover’s birthday? Give them this cool, carbon neutral gift from Eco-Libris.
Gas2 reminds readers of the cost of owning a car and lists the least expensive hybrids.
Make an eco-statement in baby’s nursery or play space with recycled and organic stretched canvas prints.
An environmental leadership program called Be the Change emerges, offering people the direction and tools needed to make a positive difference.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
British Columbia Carbon Tax Criticized on Eve of Implementation
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
Couldn’t find a good photo of Williams Lake so this beautiful photo of trees in BC will have to suffice. Photo by haRee via flickr
Announced this past February, British Columbia’s carbon tax is set to begin on July 1, and though it’s a legislative done deal, that hasn’t stopped Scott Nelson, mayor of Williams Lake, from criticizing the plan.
Reuters has quoted Nelson as saying, “The last thing [residents of his community] need now is a tax on top of these soaring prices to add insult to injury.” He also predicts that taxpayer revolt will scuttle the new tax.
...
Industrial-Scale Waste-to-Ethanol Facility Planned for Edmonton
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
photo by Wade Kelly
Recently it feels like I’ve been writing “world’s first” quite frequently, though “world’s largest” might come in a close second. Greenfield Ethanol's plan for Edmonton, Canada is the latest project to warrant a “first”.
The first in question is the world’s first industrial scale facility to produce biofuels from municipal solid waste. Under a 25-year agreement with the city, the $70 million facility will initially produce 36 million liters of biofuel per year. Greenfield claims that this will reduce Alberta’s carbon footprint by more than 6 million tonnes over the next 25 years, an amount it says is equal to removing 12,000 cars off the road every year. The project will be jointly developed by Greenfield Ethanol and Enerkem....
New Solar Power Projects on U.S. Public Lands Placed on Hold
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.27.08
photo by Petor Smit
After the absurd news of the past week revealing in pathetic detail just how far the current U.S. administration has its head in the sand when it comes to pressing environment problems, for some this next bit may just add fuel to the fire.
Moratorium on Solar in Six Western States
We learn from The New York Times, that citing the need to review environmental impact, the Bureau of Land Management has placed a moritorium on all new solar power projects on U.S. public lands in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. Project applications which were received before May 29 will continue to be reviewed however.
The policy reassessment is expected to take two years to complete and applies to both solar photovoltaic and solar thermal projects.
...
Abilmo Pop-up Hotel Rooms: Instant Accommodation
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
We have shown a few instant hotel room ideas before; they are big in Europe where there are a lot of festivals and a lot of people with a lot of money who need something better than a tent. Abilmo squeezes a lot of stuff into 12 Sqm, (130 SF) including a bathroom with toilet and shower, thermal and acoustic insulation, individual heating and air conditioning. It is an interesting idea- why build an entire hotel for a big event when you can just move it around? ...
Julia Roberts' Green Shopping Trip
by Terri MacLeod on 06.27.08
James Gandolfini, Brooke Shields, Brad and Angelina, and Kermit are rocking the green life as well.
Unlike some green-talking stars, Julia is a genuine go-to-green gal. She knows to shop with re-usable bags. The actress always tries to pack up her goods in ‘organic’ bags, as seen here at a supermarket in Los Angeles. She and her hubby Danny Moder are also fixing up their Malibu home with lots of hip green updates, including building with wood harvested from ‘sustainbly managed forest, solar panels, and recycled tiles.
Thanks: ecorazzi
...
Unlike some green-talking stars, Julia is a genuine go-to-green gal. She knows to shop with re-usable bags. The actress always tries to pack up her goods in ‘organic’ bags, as seen here at a supermarket in Los Angeles. She and her hubby Danny Moder are also fixing up their Malibu home with lots of hip green updates, including building with wood harvested from ‘sustainbly managed forest, solar panels, and recycled tiles.
Thanks: ecorazzi
...
Disney's New Dream Home: Worse Than We Dreamed
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
I adored the 1957 Monsanto House of the Future; it was full of fabulous furniture, ideas for the future, and innovative, original design. OK it was all plastic and sponsored by Monsanto, but they were cool then and as we knew from the Graduate, the future was in plastics. I was disappointed to learn that the new version was to be a 5,000 SF McMansion that "will look like a normal suburban home outside, but inside it will feature hardware, software and touch-screen systems that could simplify everyday living."
But I couldn't imagine how ugly and stupid it actually turned out to be.
...
Stockholm Strives To Be LED Capital
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 06.27.08
Stockholm's Central Station Is Lit On Holidays With LEDs.
Stockholm's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Miljöforvaltningen) said it will light all its new municipal office spaces with only 100% LED lighting in future, eschewing both incandescent lights and the compact fluorescents that are here called low-energy lights. Tiny Torraca in Italy and Ann Arbor, Michigan are two smaller cities that are similarly enamored of LEDs.
First with LED traffic lights
Stockholm was an early adopter of LEDs for traffic and crosswalk lights - which have now become widespread in lots of cities. Now the Stockholm State House, the Medieval Museum and the State Museum in the city are all in the process of switching out their regular bulbs to LEDs to save money and energy. Swedish Optoga has developed less-stark LEDs that IKEA is using for its LED collection. The city reckons it will save five million crowns per year with its ongoing switch to LEDs. Via ::NyTeknik
Basics
How To Green Your Lighting
LEDs At The Office
Office Building Lit By 100% LED Light
On The Streets
LED Street Lights Are Coming
...
War Gardens: Theater among the Vegetables
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
It is estimated that 20 million Americans produced 40% of all the vegetables consumed in the country through Victory gardens during World War II. In Chicago, the Walkabout Theater Company is exploring "the function of gardening in wartime through the story of Captain Streeter, a legendary vagabond, and a Ladies' Auxiliary in a battle over Chicago's open spaces....War Garden seeks to celebrate the institution of the community garden by presenting, through performance, a cathartic experience of civic engagement with questions of patriotism, war, territory and community values.
Not only that, they are performing throughout July in Community gardens around the CIty of Chicago. Sounds like good street theater; I hope they take it on the road. ::War Garden via ::Apartment Therapy
TreeHugger on Victory Gardens:
Victory Gardens : War on Waste
Futurefarmers Victory Gardens
Victory With Rosemary
Victory With Pole Beans
How to Green Your Gardening...
Graphic Of The Day: The "Not Going To Happen" Scenario
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.27.08
The US Energy Information Administration has just presented this graphic as part of "International Energy Outlook 2008 with Projections to 2030," available for download here as a pdf file. The dominant trend shown, obviously, is that China rockets out of control with coal consumption. That's the "business as usual" scenario, with China making cheap goods for the OECD nations and trashing the climate on their (our) behalf.
Other scenarios are equally plausible, involving certain overlooked freed-back loops and consumption drivers. For example:...
Art and Science Mashup at the Solar Collector
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
Think of it as a computer-controlled Sun Jar on steroids, a mix of art and computer science. The Solar Collector is a a sculpture created by artists Matt Gorbet, Rob Gorbet, and Susan LK Gorbet as a commission for the Region of Waterloo, which happens to be the home of Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, and the University of Waterloo, one of the world's best computer engineering schools.
On the "art" side, "the sculpture is solar-powered and interactive, inviting the community to choreograph its nightly performance via the web. Each shaft has three sets of lights, along with three solar panels. Their angles reflect the angles of the sun through the year. The tallest shaft is perpendicular to the sun at winter solstice, when the sun is low in the sky. The flattest shaft faces the high sun at summer solstice."...
Weathercocks, Signposts, and Compact Fluorescents
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
We at TreeHugger promote a lot of small steps toward sustainability, thinking they lead to comprehension and then to political action; we wouldn't have much of a website without our Wattsons and, um, solar bikinis. Bill McKibben thinks small steps are like calisthenics, getting us ready for the big changes we’re all going to have to make.
Alex Steffen at Worldchanging doesn't think much of small steps at all: "change your light bulb today, and you'll move to a walkable neighborhood and sell your car before you know it!" He derides solar bikinis and energy trackers, suggesting that small steps don't make much difference and that "Indeed, between greenwashing and green fatigue, emphasizing little behavioral changes may actually be hurting." He is, I think, counterproductively negative and sounding a bit like Marvin the Paranoid Android again.
...
Bamboo: Finding Solutions Where Others Only See Problems
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.27.08
Bamboo grows wild in forest grooves in Asia, shutting out the sunlight and making forest management difficult. Instead of just complaining, some people at a non-profit group called Tojiba started using bamboo as raw material for market tents that are getting popular here in Japan. An old solution perhaps - using bamboo is as ancient as people have shared the land with the fast-growing plants - but the design is nice and the tents feel great.
Using the bamboo tents turns out to be pretty easy. The bamboo poles are more light-weight than ordinary iron poles, and can be transported easily. Assembly is easy, and people using the tents say they like the fact that they help with forest management and feel a connection to farmers in rural areas....
5 Alternatives to the Buy vs Rent Question
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
When we talk about housing, in North America the discussion almost always comes down to 1) own a house in the 'burbs or 2) rent an apartment in the city. One commentator at Bloomberg wrote:
"With gasoline at $4-plus a gallon, lots of thinking people see the U.S. undergoing a vast demographic shift, with millions of people moving back to cities. The suburbs, and those places beyond the suburbs, the exurbs, will dry up and blow away.
The notion appeals especially to people who like to think they'll be in charge after the revolution. They would apparently love nothing more than for the population to be confined to Soviet-style concrete-block high-rises and be forced to take state-run streetcars to their little jobs at the mill. "
It is in fact not so black and white; there is a range of shades in between. There is, of course, condominium ownership, but also many other models of tenure and design that we just don't think of as conventional in North America but are popular in Europe.
Co-operative Ownership
In Freiburg, Germany, the co-op model is common. They say that co-ops "are the fertile ground for a stable district's community and rise of ecological awareness"- everyone has to work together, they even have "muscle mortgages" where you work toward your ownership of the unit....
Book Review: Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener, World
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 06.27.08
“Women spend 85 cents of every dollar in the marketplace.” That’s an astonishing statistic. It’s so incredible that Diane MacEachern wrote Big Green Purse to inspire women to use their spending dollars to help protect the Earth and to send a message to manufacturers that consumers want environmentally friendly products.
Big Green Purse explains in twelve chapters, how some seemingly insignificant decisions can make a difference, leading to bigger shifts in everyday habits and a cleaner planet. The book starts with easy to understand explanations of issues and concepts. MacEachern breaks things down, like the precautionary principle, chemicals, climate change, and air and water issues so that anybody can understand it, yet she doesn’t over-simplify things. ...
50/50 Bet North Pole Melts Away This Summer
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.27.08
According to the informal betting pool among scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado there's a 50/50 bet that the geographic North Pole will melt away completely this summer.
The ice had retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean, opened up briefly for the first time in recorded history.
According to the center's senior research scientist, Mark Serreze, specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely, but the speed at which the projections for total ice loss at the pole have increased is really disturbing. With many scientists predicting just a few years ago that total loss would not occur in summer until at least 2050.
...
Survey: What Will You Be Driving in Four Years?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.27.08
Economist Jeff Rubin predicts that there will be ten million fewer vehicles on the road in four years, as people switch to public transit because of the cost of fuel. 57 million Americans with cars have access to public transit; will you be making the switch?
...
Cheap Hybrid Auto Rickshaw the Focus of Student Competition
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.27.08
With 100 million auto rickshaws in use across Asia, student teams from Dutch and Indian universities are taking the challenge to design the cleanest, cheapest and most practical upgrade kit to cut carbon emissions from their incredibly polluting, two-stroke motors.
Each of the rickshaws, known as tuktuks in India, creates as much pollution as 50 cars, and project organizers have set themselves the goal of adapting one million of them to reduce their CO2 emissions by 40-60%.
...
Heart-Beans Grinds Coffee With the Rhythm of Your Heart
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 06.27.08
Machines have a reputation for being cold and impersonal, except of course if you rely on your laptop’s hard drive to be your second (sometimes better) brain. But it’s not everyday that designers create things that tune into your emotions like the funky moon rings our sister used to wear in the Seventies.
...
Furniture Takes to the Streets
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.27.08
It's the London Festival of Architecture and the architects have taken their furniture to the streets. Literally. Called 'London's Largest Living Room', the courtyard at Somerset House has been transformed into a complete suite of over-sized furniture on a colourful carpet. It was designed by Studio Weave with a pattern by Eley Kishimoto (a clothing and fabric designer) which is pink (the festival's colour) and inspired by the streetscape.
These delightful wooden plywood cut- out versions of sofas, armchairs, bookshelves and lamps offer a perfect resting place after a weary day at the gallery. Each one has a message written on it, about the location, the festival and other activities taking place. More of the chairs are scattered around town in random places. By taking these domestic items out into the public realm "it invites members of the public to think about the city landscape as their home, and consider how we could better use the often neglected open spaces around us." It's a way of getting people to take a fresh look at their environment....
Americans Direct Scorn Over High Gas Prices Towards Washington, Willing to Cut Safety to Up Mileage
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.26.08
In a break with the time-honored practice of blaming oil companies for high gas prices, Consumer Reports released their latest Auto Pulse Survey on Thursday indicating that 77% of consumers said the root of high gas prices lies with the government’s failure to implement effective energy policy.
Now the question is whether those same respondents realize that even higher gas prices are necessary to break the cycle, or if they’re just wishing for a handout to foot their latest bill.
...
High Fibre Compost Works: Confessions of a Rotter
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 06.26.08
Compost isn’t Just for Kitchen Scraps
You know you’re a hippy when you move house and take your compost pile with you. Having spent three years in a house too shady to garden, yet composting all of our organic waste, we just couldn’t leave all that beautiful, dark, crumbly compost behind. So on the back of the truck it went, along with all the creatures who call it home. In the process we got to take a good look at the fruits of our labours, and that look validated our approach to composting. We had been experimenting with something called high-fibre composting, in which we not only added kitchen scraps to our heap, but also a good chunk of our household paper and cardboard waste. The idea has been long touted by the Centre for Alternative Technology, and is a great way to stop domestic heaps getting slimy or smelly (heaps with too much nitrogen-rich kitchen scraps, and too little carbon-rich woody materials, can suffer from lack of oxygen). It was amazing how quickly much of the cardboard, paper and other packaging materials had broken down, and I’m only sorry my camera is still in a packing crate somewhere, because (like any proud father), I would have loved to share a picture of my baby (I’ll have to content myself with a picture I took of someone else’s high-fibre system).
Correction to first sentence: you know you’re a hippy when you start calling your compost your baby…
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Yachana Lodge: Training Amazon Youth in Eco-tourism
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 06.26.08
One of the more impressive winners of The Geotourism Challenge, a recent competition sponsored by Ashoka's Changemakers and National Geographic, was Yachana Foundation and Lodge, an education and sustainable development project for poor youth from the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The Yachana Technical High School opened in September 2005 to meet a regional need for practical, hands-on education and is the only school in Ecuador offering a degree in Eco-tourism and Sustainable Development. The school has 128 students, 80 percent of whom are indigenous, from five provinces and four ethnic groups.
The school is linked with Yachana Lodge, a luxurious eco-tourism destination in a remote part of the Ecuadoran Amazon. The students are involved in ecological and cultural programs for the lodge guests, including an Amazon culinary tour where guests harvest and prepare Amazonian foods with students....
40% of Britons Fear the Carbon Police
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
While Britain's Energy Saving Trust has a positive vision for reducing carbon, laid out in a new report with the questionable title Emission Impossible? (they have a penchant for bad puns, their last report was The Ampere Strikes Back) their CEO Philip Sellwood made the mistake of releasing a survey on the same day that is getting a lot more press coverage. He writes:
"Well, according to a survey we carried out recently it appears that people in the UK have a somewhat Orwellian view of what life might be like in 2050! More than four in ten Brits think the UK will need its own Carbon Police to enforce regulations and a quarter believe the worst environmental offenders will be forced to go to energy rehab, or take energy addiction courses."
::Reuters Great cover of 1984 from ::Lundblog via ::BoingBoing
...
California Agency Outlines Plan to Fight Global Warming
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
photo by photoreb via flickr
The California Air Resources Board announced today that they have developed a plan which will reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, from projected levels by 2020 or about 10% from today’s levels.
The report estimates that this means reducing state average individual carbon emissions from 14 tons per year to 10 tons per year. The long range goal of this plan is to reduce emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
...
US Department of Energy to Invest $90 Million in Advanced Geothermal Research
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.26.08
Geothermal Energy Deserves More Attention
Like wave-power, geothermal energy lives in the shadow of its two more popular brothers, solar power and wind power. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is trying to do something about that with a $90 million "Funding Opportunity Announcement"; it plans to award 26 grants to both industry and academia. "A minimum of 20% private sector cost share is required for R&D projects and funding for the awards is subject to Congressional appropriations."
Hopefully, this new investment by the DOE, along with private sector funds, will help geothermal (not to be confused with residential ground source heat pumps) move forward into the spotlight. As we said before, geothermal energy has a huge potential and could be used alongside intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar....
White House Won’t Open EPA Emails on Global Warming, Part Two: The Funnier Version
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
Paul Krugman on Home Ownership
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
When we asked the question Is Home Ownership a Good Thing? the consensus among the commenters was that indeed, it is. When we questioned the logic of mortgage interest deductibility they weren't impressed either. Now economist and New York Times writer Paul Krugman weighs in on the subject, asking
Why should ever-increasing homeownership be a policy goal? How many people should own homes, anyway?
Listening to politicians, you’d think that every family should own its home — in fact, that you’re not a real American unless you’re a homeowner. “If you own something,” Mr. Bush once declared, “you have a vital stake in the future of our country.” Presumably, then, citizens who live in rented housing, and therefore lack that “vital stake,” can’t be properly patriotic. Bring back property qualifications for voting!...
Author Lee Welles on Being Green By Inspiring Children
by Chris Tackett, San Francisco on 06.26.08
Biofuels, Food, and Sustainability Examined: Michael Pollan Interviewed by Yale Univ.
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
photo by Slinger via flickr
By way of intellectual disclaimer let me say that I’m a big fan of Michael Pollan's work. He shows an uncommon insight and clarity of thought, as well as an ability to synthesize the many strands of what I consider to be the essence of environmentalism that is often lacking in the prevaling compartmentalized issue and solution mindset. He’s big picture and little picture equally. So with that gushing behind us...
Yale Environment 360 is running an interview with Michael Pollan that I wholly encourage everyone concerned about biofuels, rising food prices and agriculture to read. He might be preaching to the choir in this audience (something he says in the interview he doesn’t like to do), but there’s some really choice bits in this one.
...
Jeff Rubin Predicts "Mass Exodus" From Cars in US
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
We previously reported on Jeff Rubin of CIBC World Market's prediction of gas costing $7 to $10 per gallon in four years; Now Rubin makes his prediction of its impact.
Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history. By 2012, there should be some 10 million fewer vehicles on American roadways than there are today—a decline that dwarfs all previous adjustments including those during the two OPEC oil shocks....
Rebuilding Green in the Wake of Disaster
by Rocky Mountain Institute on 06.26.08
The May 12th earthquake in Sichuan province, China was completely devastating. In some towns near the epicenter, 80 percent of structures were destroyed.
With more than 5.5 million people left homeless and many more displaced, there is a huge urgency to create new living spaces and get people working again. Dramatic proposals for solutions to this huge challenge range from building entirely new cities in safer locations to relocating millions of refugees to other provinces....
Mercedes Gets It: Plans to Eliminate Fossil Fuels from Car Lineup by 2015
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.26.08
Mercedes Wants to say 'Goodbye' to Petroleum by 2015
If you want to achieve great things, you have to set bold goals and then do your best to meet them. Mercedes now has the first part of the equation down, lets hope they can deliver on the execution.
Their plan is to make their whole car lineup petroleum free in 7 years. To do that, they're looking at battery electric cars, fuel cells, and more efficient combustion engines that can run on biofuels (lets hope that by then we have truly sustainable ethanol and biodiesel). "The company have already spent £2million on their new long-term Sustainable Mobility plan and are set to invest a further £7billion before 2014." Of course, there's a catch: A car that can run on biofuels can still run on fossil fuels, so without a good supply of sustainable biofuels, that's probably how they're going to be used. But still, a step in the right direction....
Energy Drink High, Greener Yoga and Cilantro Coconut Soup
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 06.26.08
:: Don’t be deceived by innocent looking energy drink labels.
:: Practice full eco-mindfulness on (and off) the mat.
:: Spice things up with this flavorful Cilantro and Coconut Soup.
:: Host a dinner party without all the waste.
:: Remove lead paint when salvaging old wood....
New Renewable Energy Plan Unveiled by UK Prime Minister
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
photo by Phil Hollman
As the UK Renewables Advisory Board announces that the nation is going to miss its renewable energy targets under current government policy. In a speech as the Low Carbon Energy Summit, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces a £100 billion plan which he says is “the most dramatic change in energy policy since the advent of nuclear power.”...
Utility Company Spent 76 Percent Of Renewable Energy Funds On Administration
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.26.08
Here's one for the "What were they thinking?" file. An audit report from the Florida Public Service Commission makes it seem as if Florida Power and Light (FPL) saw renewable power as "the competition" instead of as a way to do good by doing well. The voluntary program charges FPL customers $9.75 per month - on top of the regular energy bill - to help develop alternative power sources...Public Service Commission staff said only 24 percent of the $11.4 million collected from customers went toward developing renewable energy. The rest went to marketing and administrative costs.And this, at a time when energy bills are increasing consumer pain. The good news: management systems can be improved. The bad news: complete loss of credibility for the program. ...
Expo Zaragoza 2008: The Biggest Water Festival Opened its Doors in Spain
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 06.26.08
Last year we announced EXPO ZARAGOZA when Lloyd wrote about the Digital Water Pavilion. Now it’s time to visit Zaragoza in Spain, where the international Water and Sustainable Development show opened its doors this month. With 5,000 shows, 2,000 experts and 140 pavilions it claims to be the biggest water festival on earth. The Expo had quite a difficult and ironic debut when during the days before the official opening, unpredicted massive rainfalls almost ruined the site due to flooding of the river Ebro. Luckily the Expo organisers could avoid most of the damage and EXPO ZARAGOZA opened its doors on June 14th and will stay open until September 14th. ...
Sunday Parkways: Portland's First Ciclovia-Style Street Closure
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.26.08
Sweden To Launch Wave Energy Site To Power 20 Homes
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 06.26.08
On an island right off the coast of Western Sweden near the quaint coastal town of Lysekil, researchers from Uppsala University are putting the final touches on two generators and a small underwater turbine anchored 25 meters down on the sea floor that will turn wave action into energy for 20 homes on the island.
The researchers have formed their own company called Seabased to manufacture and install the wave turbine systems, which they say have a simple robust design, adapted to the slow vertical movement of the waves better than systems currently on the market designed for more intense surface wave action. In Seabased's design a buoy on the surface is connected to the generators - the up and down action of the waves activates pistons and strong magnets inside these, which creates the electricity. A first prototype is scheduled to be installed in early July and within two years the site should have ten generators and 40 buoys. Seabased is hoping the buoys create safe havens for local marine life...instead of the opposite. Via ::Seabased
Wave Power
The Suntory Mermaid II: A Wave-Powered Boat (!!!)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/uk_wave_energy_cornwall.php
Wave Hub Off Cornwall Receives Funding...
Ghosn: Nissan to Introduce Electric Car in 2010, Mass-Production in 2012
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.26.08
The Slow Green Conversion of Carlos Ghosn
About 2 years ago, Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn wasn't too impressed with hybrid cars, saying that they are "a nice story, but they’re not a a good business". Then a few months later, he announced that Nissan would license technology from Toyota for its Altima hybrid, and then develop its own hybrid technology. Now this year, Ghosn was heard saying that we needed "zero emission vehicles" to "prevent the world from exploding" (!), and that his preference was for electric cars.
Nissan Shareholder Meeting
The latest stage of Mr. Ghosn's conversion happened at Nissan's shareholder meeting. Ghosn said that Nissan, along with Renault, "has an opportunity to be a world leader in mass-marketing [zero-emission vehicles].” Ghosn said that he hopes to sell 1 million of electric cars a year globally, although without specifying a date. If this was American politics, he would be called a flip-flopper. Thankfully, in the real-world it's a good thing to be able to change your mind....
Climate Change Could Extinguish Two-Thirds of California's Plant Species
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.26.08
Close to 2,300 of California's unique plant species could face "collapse" as a result of global warming's toll on the Golden State according to a new study published in PLoS One, reports the LAT's Margot Roosevelt. Most plant species would need to move 100 miles or more from their present ranges to reach cooler areas or higher altitudes, an unlikely possibility given their slow migration rates and heavy urban development.
Examining the impact of climate change on species mobility
The study, led by UC Berkeley ecologist David Ackerly, examined more than 80,000 organisms from 16 collections over a period of 5 years under 8 different warming and species mobility scenarios. Many of those they studied, particularly the species endemic to Southern California, are "right on the edge" and could tip into extinction at the slightest change in weather patterns. ...
The Tyranny of the Unwanted Heirloom
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
We talk about living with less and having less stuff, but sometimes it's forced upon you, by inheritance or when mom downsizes and insists that you have the old portrait of Uncle Ivins like Melodie Bryant, shown above, is stuck with. I have stuff from my wife's grandmother in storage because my wife's mom would kill her if she parted with it. Joyce Wadler writes an interesting article in the New York Times about the problem. She quotes psychologist Barry Bubetkin, who " has observed this in a number of patients living with inherited furniture they hate. It’s an unhealthy setup, in which people become “slaves to inanimate objects,” he says. “Once you’re defining it as something you can’t get rid of, you’re not in control of your life or your home.” ::New York Times...
Duke Energy Expands Wind Portfolio With Purchase of Catamount
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
Charlotte, North Carolina-based electric company Duke Energy has expanded its renewable energy portfolio with the purchase of Rutland, Vermont’s Catamount Energy Corp.. Catamount Energy was formed in 1992, and since 2001 has been developing wind projects in the several US states, as well as in the United Kingdom. The acquisition is valued at $240 million, plus assumed debt.
The deal will add approximately 300 MW of wind power currently installed, plus an additional 1,750 MW of development interests, to Duke’s growing renewable efforts. The most recent example of this was the $100 million plan to install solar panels at over 850 sites in North Carolina.
Duke Energy supplies and distributes electricity to approximately 4 million US customers. Though approximately 90% of Duke's output is coal-fired, this is another example of the small steps the company is making to green its energy production.
:: Duke Energy
photo courtesy of Catamount Energy Corp.
Duke Energy
Duke Energy Announces 20 Megawatt Solar Power Project in North Carolina
Duke Energy CEO on Transition to Low Carbon Economy
...
The TH Interview: Will Wynn—Austin’s Green Mayor (Part Two)
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 06.26.08
In the second half of our face-to-face with Austin's mayor, Will Wynn talks about his part in the race to be America's greenest city, the decoupling of profits and pollution, and his vision for America getting it right (after we've exhausted every other option). ::TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.
Click here for Part One.
Image courtesy of Kim Lemaire....
Big Solar LED Art in China: Interview with Simone Giostra, GreenPix Media Wall Architect
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 06.26.08
Walls are big in China, both in size and stature, but the GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall is wildly different: it couples -- get ready for this -- the world's biggest color LED display with China's first photovoltaic system to be integrated into a glass curtain wall. Designed by architect Simone Giostra with solar technology by China's solar powerhouse Suntech, the wall, which we wrote about in May, forms the curtain wall of the Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, turning the solar energy it collects in the daytime into Beijing's coolest after-dark digital screen in parallel with a day’s climatic cycle.
Comprised of 2,292 color (RGB) LED light points, the screen is comparable to a 24,000 sq. ft. (2.200 m2) monitor. Unlike the typical high resolution screens that increasingly plaster Beijing's facades with ads, starchy local news programs and corny animations, this screen will keep the resolution low -- catering to arty abstract visuals by a group of artists including Xu Wenkai, Michael Bell Smith, Takeshi Murata and Varvara Shavrova -- while keeping the carbon footprint low too. In a city with lots of awful examples, GreenPix is architainment and mediatecture at its best.
The wall opened this week and I spoke with Simone Giostra, the New York-based architect, who shared his ideas about and inspiration for the project.
TH: How did Greenpix begin?
Simone Giostra: We are generally interested in addressing interaction and change in the built environment, possibly without populating contemporary cities with extravagant objects......
Renewable Fuel Standard Waiver Requested By Texas Governor
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.26.08
photo by Carol Von Canon
I’m sorry if this is getting repetitive for our regular readers: rising corn prices, biofuels pushing people into poverty, meat prices set to increase, does corn-ethanol really increase food prices?
One more public political voice is calling attention to this: Texas Governor Rick Perry. Yesterday, Perry held a news conference explaining why he submitted a request to the US Environmental Protection Agency that the Renewable Fuel Standard requirement for ethanol be reduced by half, from 9 billion gallons to 4.5 billion. Basically, so that the corn that would have been used to make that ethanol can be put to better use as food. For cows.
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Plan Your Vacation with Green Roof Safari
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.26.08
Here is a novel green vacation to add to your plans. Green Roof Safari offers a unique opportunity to learn about a diverse array of green roof projects in Germany and Switzerland. The Safari will visit at least three green roofs per day over a six day tour, featuring walkable days and individual time for private expeditions.
The tours are hosted by Christine Thuring of chlorophyllocity and Jörg Breuning. Christine is a Swiss-Canadian with an M.Sc. from the Centre for Green Roof Research at Pennsylvania State University. Jörg is German and works with Green Roof Service in the US. To see a glimpse of the fascinating green roofs which await participants, check over the fold. Don't miss the Hundertwasser Waldspirale:...
Explore Alberta's Latest Tourist Attraction: The Tar Sands Resort
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
We're Sorry Celine: Not Such A Water Hog After All
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
A while back we made a big splash about Celine Dion's use of 6.5 million gallons of water per year for a house that she didn't even live in, and got hosed in the comments by many of her fans. It turns out that her staff doesn't check the bills they pay too carefully, and just sent in a cheque for $36,343 to cover the bill. Once the story came out, they looked more carefully and found a broken water main. According to the Palm Beach Post:
“Except for a few new trees that need heavy watering, barely any landscaping was done during that time,” said the Canadian star’s local lawyer, Michael Weeks. “Something went wrong.”
A water main underneath the $12.5 million property was broken by heavy equipment in May 2007 when crews demolished the existing home.
...
Survey: Should Exxon Have Gotten Off So Cheap?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.08
In 1994 a jury in Alaska ordered Exxon to pay five billion dollars in damages for the Exxon Valdez disaster. Through various court battles over the years since, Exxon managed to get the judgment reduced to 2.5 billion. Now the Supreme Court has thrown almost the whole thing out, reducing the damages to 507 million, less than a tenth of the original in 1994 dollars. One critic said ""This award is a drop in the bucket of Exxon's enormous profits, and it certainly provides no disincentive for them to avoid another accident in the future." But Exxon has already spent 2.1 billion on the cleanup and another 900 million in fines.
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Tokyo to Crack Down on CO2
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.26.08
With nations undecided on what to do, it is great to see cities and states get tough on greenhouse gas emissions. California enacted a cap on global warming emissions in 2006, and yesterday the Tokyo metropolitan assembly adopted an ordinance requiring large businesses to reduce their CO2 emissions to specified levels, the first such obligation in Japan.
By 2020, factories and offices will be required to reduce their CO2 output by 15-20 percent of the average amounts emitted from 2005 to 2007, sources said. A maximum fine of 500,000 yen will be imposed against those that fail to meet their targets. This mandatory program will start in 2010.
Satoshi Yamashita, director at Tokyo's environmental policy planning section, told Reuters that the new limits would help Tokyo reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2021, compared with 20 years earlier. More details below the fold.
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TH Blog Love – Our Favourite Greens Of The Week
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 06.26.08
Canvass Your MP: Help tackle Climate Change by 10 Green Bloggers
"This campaign to help tackle climate change is about encouraging MPs to support tougher cuts in CO2 emissions. You can get involved by speaking to your MP, finding out his or her stance and reporting back here on this website."
EarthFirst: Top 25 Hottest Guys in Green: 10 We Missed Last Time (featuring TH's Jacob Gordon!) by Stephanie Rogers
"When we made our Top 25 Hottest Guys in Green list, we had to make some hard choices, and skipped over some pretty hot green guys accidentally in the research process. Since then we’ve dug up all kinds of fine environmentalists, writers, green business owners, television stars and green media moguls."...
Topshop Gets Green--This Week
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.26.08
Topshop is legendary in Britain; they were the first to make cheap fashion--knocking off designer clothes overnight and selling them at ridiculously low prices. In the last year or two they have become more ecologically aware, as the tide has turned against fast fashion, but their efforts have been small and not publicised very well. But what has happened: this week they are teaming up with Rubbish magazine to sponsor and promote a whole week of recycling. Unbelievable. Supposedly the whole store will be turned over to a celebration of reusing, recycling and restyling.
Hmmm....A quick reccie reveals that their efforts remain small. The front window has a wonderful soft sculpture of a snail, made out of bits of old fabric, that is whimsical and catches your eye. The bin for the clothing swap sale was empty. And that was about all that was visible. After asking, it turns out that there will be lessons on how to make a fabric bag, and fair-trade clothing workshops. As for the raffle for a Pashley bike--couldn't find that (unfortunately). One would have assumed that they would have a rack of fair-trade clothes but that wasn't too visible either. The best item is still jewellery by MADE, produced in Africa and fabulous design. Conclusion: Topshop still has a fair way to go on the road to being really green. :: Topshop
More on fast fashion:
: What! No More Cheap Clothes?
: New Clothes are So Old Hat
: Global Mamas...
Environmental Education Boosted by House Committee Vote
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 06.26.08
Last August 2007, Kenny summed up for us the pros, challenges and hopes wrapped-up in the No Child Left Inside Act before the U.S. House of Representatives. An important short-coming of the proposed law used to be that the bill did not include any funding to fulfill its requirement, however with the recent House vote on June 18, that is the case no longer. The House Education and Labor Committee approved an amended version of the No Child Left Inside Act with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 37 to 8. The Act (HR 3036) as approved by the committee, while amended from its original form, preserves many key goals, including the creation of new funding for training teachers in environmental education and for expanding environmental education programs. The legislation would also provide new funding to states that create environmental literacy plans, which will ensure that all graduates are environmentally literate, and extends the National Environmental Education Act. The bill will go later this summer to a vote in the full House of Representatives which is this year required to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act in which HR 3036 is bundled....
Save Money and the Environment by Choosing the Best AA Batteries
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.26.08
© Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
How often have you stood in front of the overwhelming display of AA batteries and wondered: "How do I pick the best batteries for my money? And what is the best option to reduce the number of batteries I throw away?" With prices ranging from $11.94 and $29.87 for rechargables or $4.25 to $16.84 for disposables, how can you judge whether a higher priced battery will make up the investment in a longer lifespan?
Thankfully, the clever people at Popular Photography have carefully tested a wide range of both rechargable and disposable AA batteries. With interesting results. First and foremost: you cannot depend on the mAh capacity advertised on the battery packaging. But from the green perspective, two messages are clear. ...
More Than Solar Cookers in Kenya
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 06.25.08
In past posts, we've covered the success story of solar cookers in Kenya, thanks to support and training from Solar Cookers International.
According to a recent piece in The Standard, one of Kenya's principal daily newspapers, other solar products are shining now, particularly water pumps and power packs for small-scale businesses in rural areas where electricity is scant.
"For irrigation in rural farms [where there is no electricity] to be successful...solar systems are required," says J.V. Patel with the manufacturer Amedo.
Solar World East Africa is a company that's set to launch $45 solar kits or "power packs" which provide power for lighting, charging mobile phones and other small electronic items.
"Such systems are ideal for locations where the main electricity grid is unreliable or inaccessible or the access is prohibitively expensive," Dave Jayesh, managing director of Jua Moto Systems, told The Standard....
Most Huggable: The Recharge Pod, Solar Powered Cars, Organic Play Dough + More
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 06.25.08
Glastonbury festivalgoers won’t have to worry about dead cell phones thanks to the Recharge Pod.
A vacuum designer gets his hands dirty inventing a solar-powered car.
Eco-crafty kids everywhere delight in DIY organic play dough.
McCain offers a big chunk of change to the first developer of new battery technology.
GreenUpgrader offer 10 tips to trick out your ride—the hypermile way.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
No Car Day in Kunming, China: Video Podcast
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
Sustainable Ethanol Deal for Sweden and Brazil
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
photo by Jacob via flickr
In a deal which is sure to ease Oxfam’s concerns about biofuels and poverty , an agreement to export 115 million liters of anhydrous ethanol, which has been manufactured according the sustainable social and environmental standards, has been signed between Brazilian ethanol exporters and Swedish firm Sekab.
...
Canadian Government To "Reclassify" Lakes As Mining Dump Sites
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 06.25.08
Image: Duncan Lake, B.C., before-and-after by Tse Keh Nay on flickr (waste dump proposal later rejected) Canadian mining companies already have a pretty tarnished reputation abroad in countries such as Guatemala, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo – and now, with a helping hand from the Canadian government, they are hitting closer to home. Using an obscure subsection under mining regulations, the Canadian federal government is about to reclassify sixteen lakes across Canada as toxic dump sites for mining operations. The list of lakes (see after the jump) include prime fishing lakes, fish habitats and spawning grounds from British Columbia to Newfoundland. The stealthy bureaucratic move has environmentalists accusing the government of giving a handout to mining companies, at great cost to the environment and to public health. ...
WineLibrary.com's Gary Vaynerchuk on Organic Wine: Part 1
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 06.25.08
Biofuels Have Pushed Thirty Million People Into Poverty: Oxfam
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
photo by Lorna via flickr
Oxfam has released a new report which claims that biofuel policies in rich countries have forced 30 million people into poverty, based on evidence that indicates that biofuels have contributed up to 30% in the global rise in food prices.
Agricultural Land Taken Over for Biofuels
The report, “Another Inconvenient Truth”* says that “The biofuels being grown today are not an effective answer to climate change. Instead, biofuels are taking over agricultural land and forcing farming to expand into lands that are important carbon sinks, like forests and wetlands."...
TreeHugger Tips: Gary Vaynerchuk on Carpooling
by Chris Tackett, San Francisco on 06.25.08
Bush Administration Puts Hands Over Eyes, Chants LaLaLa I Can't Hear You!
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.25.08
This is probably the most uploaded picture on the web today, as we shake our heads at reading that the White House's method of dealing with information it doesn't want to hear: It doesn't open the e-mail. No matter that the Supreme Court told the Environmental Protection Agency to determine if greenhouse gases were harmful; they just, as Chris put it, "put their hands over their eyes and chanted "la la la la I can't hear you" or perhaps, Elvis Presley's Return To Sender.
The ever-so-helpful EPA put the report through the wash and spin cycle until it came up clean enough for the Government's delicate sensibilities. According to the New York TImes, Over the past five days, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years. Now the report is about to be released and unlike the first document, comes to no conclusions.
Words, and EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, fail us. ::New York Times, and Jon Taplin...
Quote of the Day: Buckminster Fuller
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.25.08
"Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value."via ::Where...
Bicycles In The Spotlight
by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 06.25.08
By Lester R. Brown
This week another Earth Policy Institute staffer joined those on our staff who bike to work.
As my colleague, J. Matthew Roney, recently wrote in Bicycles Pedaling Into the Spotlight, “Promoting the bike as a clean and efficient alternative to the personal automobile is a practical way for cities to reduce traffic congestion and smog. To simultaneously confront those problems as well as climate change and an emerging obesity epidemic, government leaders and advocacy groups are working to bring cycling back to prominence in the urban transport mix.”...
ON-shore Wind Farm Goliath to Be Built in Sweden
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
photo by Ben Leto Ben Leto
BIG CORRECTION FOR A BIG PROJECT
Ah, the difference a word makes... Huge apology on this one dear readers: Apparently my eyes and brain glazed over when I saw 3-3.5 GW and wind together and missed the fact that this project will be an on-shore wind farm and not offshore as I originally stated. Not an insignificant distinction and one I should've obviously caught. Mea culpa, Mea maxima culpa.
Sweden to build 3-3.5 GW new wind power capacity
Yesterday we reported that the US took some first steps in catching up with the Europeans in developing offshore wind capacity, with Bluewater Wind finding a buyer for a portion of its planned wind project off the Delaware coast. At 600 MW the project is certainly substantial, but isn’t even in the same league as what could be in store for Sweden.
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The 100 Thing Challenge
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.25.08
Modern Minimalism
I always aspired to being a Miesian minimalist, but end up more Victorian clutter than the Farnsworth House shown above. That is why I love Dave Bruno's idea of the 100 Thing Challenge His goal: to whittle down the things he owns and needs to a list of 100 things by November 12 of this year, and to live with just those things for an entire year.
He is not completely doctrinaire; he has some memorabilia that he can't part with, that he is storing and not looking at for the year. He is not counting family-shared silverware and plates. Oh, and tools, "Some day I'd like to do more woodworking." And Books, can't get rid of the books. Oh, and most importantly, "I have a small collection of Marklin Z gage trains. This is kind of a personal thing. My father sold his collection of Marklin trains and I cannot bring myself to do the same."
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New Portable Fuel Cell Being Field-Tested by US Army
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
Unfortunately I couldn’t find a photo of the new M-25 portable fuel cell, so this unusual photo from Afghanistan will have to do...You don't see too many photos from Afghanistan looking like it could be a hillside in Vermont. Via Soldiers Media Center.
UPDATED
After I originally posted this, Smart Fuel Cell's PR Agency contacted me and graciously provided the photo you'll now find in the middle of this post. The original image hasn't been removed as a number of comments reference it.
While the average soldier may not be carrying around the statistical 27 pounds of rechargeable batteries for a 72 hour mission all the time this announcement still may come as good news to those who do: Dupont and SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG have announced that their M-25 portable fuel cell has now been deployed for limited testing with the U.S. Army....
SustainStyle: Road Trip preparation including maps, snacks and more
by 1plus1 on 06.25.08
Welcome to SustainStyle, a weekly digest from the writers at 1plus1, a blog dedicated to eco-friendly fashion. SustainStyle runs every Wednesday.
Mohop sandals give us one shoe with countless possibilities.
Stationary and envelopes made from recycled maps give us hope our letters will never get lost in the mail again.
Mocuin's organic scarfs are perfection while protecting us from the sun.
Terra Plana's new summer collection has us strapped and ready to go.
Movie night has us popping vanilla vegan delights.
xo...
Mohop sandals give us one shoe with countless possibilities.
Stationary and envelopes made from recycled maps give us hope our letters will never get lost in the mail again.
Mocuin's organic scarfs are perfection while protecting us from the sun.
Terra Plana's new summer collection has us strapped and ready to go.
Movie night has us popping vanilla vegan delights.
xo...
Ethanol Refinery in North Dakota Opening Delayed
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.25.08
images courtesy VeraSun Corp.
Yesterday we reported on rapidly rising corn prices and the effects this could have on meat prices. Coming off that news it’s not surprising to find out that VeraSun Energy Corp. will delay the startup of its 110 million gallon per year ethanol refinery in Hankinson, North Dakota. This marks the third facility this month which has had its opening delayed by the South Dakota-based company.
Volatile "Market Conditions" Are To Blame
The reason stated for the delays is “market conditions.” Would those market conditions be the rising cost of feedstocks? Not in so many words, according to VeraSun CEO Don Endres: “Given the current volatility in the market, we believe that delaying all three of these startups is the prudent decision for the long-term benefit of our company and shareholders. Ethanol is currently being sold at a deep discount to unleaded gasoline, which has caused us to delay the start-up of these facilities until the outlook for ethanol selling prices and overall margins improve [emphasis is mine].
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Shocking News: The Rich Have Bigger Carbon Footprints Than the Poor
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.25.08
larger scale drawing from Globe and Mail here
"The rich are different than you and me; they have more money." That is how Hemingway made fun of the first line of the Great Gatsby, stating the perfectly obvious. One could say the same about the study that just came out from a Canadian think tank, that found that "the wealthiest 10 per cent of the population have about 2.5 times the negative impact on the environment as those in the bottom 10 per cent."
Economist Hugh Mackenzie and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have a point: the poor have less impact, so they should have to bear less of the burden from policies such as carbon taxes. "Most of the heavy lifting in doing something about the [environmental] problem will, just looking at the numbers, have to be done by families with higher incomes," he says in the Globe and Mail. "We don't want low-income families to turn down their thermostats to the point where their kids are cold. We don't want low-income families to get to the point where they can't drive to jobs." ::Globe and Mail
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Future Food Production Could Be Severely Constrained by a Lack of Phosphorus
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.25.08
We've all heard of "peak oil" before. But "peak phosphorus"? Buffeted by soaring global demand and rising commodity prices, scientists are sounding the alarm that we may begin to run out of the precious element, which lacks a synthetic alternative and is essential to modern agriculture, in 30 years, reports The Times' Leo Lewis.
Phosphorus levels worldwide at record lows
Phosphorus is being consumed, mined and wasted in quantities unheard of just a few years ago, say researchers from around the world. In countries like Brazil, where inefficient farming processes and heavy biofuel use have depleted phosphorus to record low levels, the problem has already become a crisis. The government is now discussing plans to nationalize remaining privately-held mines. India's factories are beginning to sputter as they run out of the precious element....
How Do You Go Green? Share Your Video Tips with TreeHugger!
by Chris Tackett, San Francisco on 06.25.08
If there's one thing the Internet is great for, it's pooling the collective wisdom of the masses. And if there's one thing we want to do at TreeHugger, it's bring all that insight together. Since being green means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and since there are myriad facets to living an eco-savvy lifestyle, we're asking readers to tell us how they do what they do.
Do you flush your toilets with rainwater runoff? Make your own biodiesel from fried turkey grease? Bring your own containers for takeout? Maybe you've just begun carrying a canvas bag or growing your own veggies. From the banal to the extreme, we want you to lay it on us, so we can share it with the world. (Okay, the blogosphere.) We'll be posting all the great tips for going green here.
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Green Shift Calls Liberal Party of Canada "Blatantly Unethical" For Stealing Name
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.25.08
We have mentioned Jennifer Wright and Toronto's Green Shift before; it is sort of a cross between a consulting firm and incubator for green products, a "Facilitator of environmental stewardship. Jennifer has spent a few years building her brand and her business; it is a good name. So good that the Liberal Party of Canada decided to steal it for their new carbon tax plan. People are now calling Jennifer and asking if she has ties to the Liberal party, which called her to say "I just want you to know that you are going to get a lot of hits on your website," thinking that she might be pleased. (Jennifer's company is at www.greenshift.ca; the Liberal party creatively bought www.thegreenshift.ca)
So she sent in the lawyers, telling the Liberal Party of Canada to cease and desist.
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Just Like the "Dirty Thirties" - Oklahoma Is Dusting Up
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.25.08
It's not yet as dry and dusty as when Woodie Guthrie first sang "So long, it's been good to know yuh..." But, it's getting there. While heavy rains are flooding crops across the Midwest and most of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Panhandle has been hit with one of the worst droughts in its history. It's drier now than it was in the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s and to date it's the second driest year on record for the Panhandle.Via::NewsOK,com, In Panhandle, the best crops are Dust Bowl memories. This too reduces the amount of grain that will be produced by US farmers, just as the Midwest floods have done. ...
"Change Your World" Encourages Alternatives to Car
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 06.25.08
New Campaign Aims for 10% Traffic Reduction
TreeHugger is all about liveable streets – from Manhattan’s recent announcement of a temporary car-free zone to Bogota’s extensive work to create pedestrian and bike-friendly infrastructure, there are tentative signs of a worldwide movement away from the motorcar and towards alternatives. A new campaign from UK cycling charity Sustrans aims to further encourage that trend. Change Your World, which runs from the 30th of June to the 5th of July, is asking participants to take at least one journey by bike, walking, public transport or car-sharing. The campaigns organizers point out that it doesn’t take much to create a huge difference – if everyone took one less car journey a week we would see a 10% reduction in traffic. There are prizes to be won for those who take part, and a message will also be sent to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, showing just how much support there is for saner transport policies. This from the campaign’s website:
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NEEF Seeks Outstanding Environmental Educator for Bartlett Award
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.25.08
Do you know a terrific teacher who has successfully integrated environmental education into their classroom on a routine basis?
Well, the Richard C. Bartlett Environmental Education Award will be presented to a teacher who is creative, passionate, and effective by the National Environmental Education Foundation this fall with the hope that they can serve as an inspiration for the rest of us.
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Grantham Prize Winners Announced: Environmental Reporting at its Best
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.25.08
The Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment is a big one--its purpose is "to encourage outstanding coverage of the environment, to recognize reporting that has the potential to bring about constructive change, and to broadly disseminate the Prize-winning story to increase public awareness and understanding of issues focusing on the environment." Plus the winner gets $75,000 and serious credibility. It is administered by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, housed at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. The winner has been announced: it is the New York Times. There were three awards of special merit: writers from the Toronto Star, National Public Radio, and the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The New York Times winners wrote a series about pollution in China, definitely a hot topic. They dedicated five journalists, three photographers and a videographer to the year-long effort which was a ten part series. Pollution in China is so severe that it is causing the premature deaths of nearly a million Chinese citizens yearly, killing off species and fouling the air and water of much of the rest of the planet. After the articles were published, the Chinese government responded with reforms which is unusual since they ignore the foreign press. The articles were translated into Mandarin for Chinese readers.
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Save Energy the Shagadelic Way: How to Insulate Your Refrigerator
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.25.08
Impress your friends, who will secretly pet your fridge as they reach in for a beer.How often do you get to start a serious post with a quote like that? Thanks to our friends over at Chelsea Green, for sharing their favorite project from Stephen and Rebekah Hren, authors of The Carbon-Free Home. Chelsea Green explains the step-by-step instructions on how to insulate your refrigerator and add shag carpeting as a finishing touch -- with shagadelic effect. If you are more family-oriented, this project has the perfect answer for you too: a cork-board fridge where your little angels can pin their projects while you save on your energy bills. ...
Save 70% on Electricity and See the Results with Smart USB-programmable Power Strip
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.25.08
The problem of phantom power -- the energy used by appliances doing nothing but standing by -- has earned a slew of solutions, of increasing sophistication. New to the list of options is CheckTap, which won the Grand Prix of the 2008 International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. CheckTap supports a USB link to your computer, so that the management of all peripherals can be optimized to the needs of the individual user. ...
Brooklyn Celebration Gives Bike Helmets and Teaches Littlest TreeHuggers to Ride
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 06.24.08
Brooklyn Summer Celebration for Kids Gives Away Bike Safety Helmets and Teaches Littlest TreeHuggers to Ride
The DUMBO Brooklyn Improvement District strikes again, this time encouraging the littlest TreeHuggers to take root as the next generation of bike-riders on the rapidly-becoming-cycle-friendly avenues and by-ways of New York City.
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Greenpeace Activists Arrested for Stealing Whale Meat in Japan
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.24.08
The Great American Campout, Appetizing Amaranth and Organic Popcorn
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 06.24.08
:: Change your scenery with a campout this weekend.
:: Awaken your taste buds with amaranth.
:: Avoid “popcorn lung” and snack on organic kernels.
:: Get the sleekest, greenest lawn on the block.
:: Fall in love with worm poo and Terracycle’s Tom Szaky....
Green Remodeling Epicenter...Could It Be North Carolina?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 06.24.08
Inhabitat's BRA-Braille wall tiles are molded bamboo paper pulp.
OK, fun facts. Portland and Seattle always seem to take the awards for most LEED-certified green buildings per capita. But dinky little Durham, North Carolina with a population just over 200,000 has the most LEED buildings in the state and ranks in the top five nationally on a per capita basis.
Durham, home to Duke University, has a plan to revitalize its city center using green building techniques. Duke has designed all of its buildings and renovations in the last 5 years to meet LEED standards - it just got its first platinum at a residence hall, and Durham County requires municipal buildings to get LEED certification. For a smallish town, there's a lot going on, and local contractor Trinity Design Build is one business trying to corner the market on green renovation, both on residential and small office sites, and green historic remodels. They've work they've done on their own remodel and in adjacent leased space are a great reminder that green remodels can be as cool or cooler than green new builds. Via ::Inhabitat and ::209 North Gregson
North Carolina Green Building
Greenbridge Developments: Bringing LEED Gold To North Carolina...
Nau, Outdoor Eco Clothier, Lives to Ride Another Day
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 06.24.08
Sad becomes glad
Yep, it seems like a phoenix, Nau will rise from the ashes. Six weeks ago the eco outdoor apparel company, that some had dubbed ‘Patagonia-meets-Prada’, closed its doors due to a venture capital drought. But today the company has officially announced, to paraphrase Arnie, “We’ll be back.”
It won’t be quite as it was, and won’t make an immediate return, but Ian Yolles, head of marketing for Nau 1.0, was nevertheless excited to give us the good vibes on Nau 2.0, as he called it. Much more after the fold....
Lindsay Lohan's Eco-Fashion:
by Terri MacLeod on 06.24.08
...Lindsay Lohan dares to wear second-hand! Yup it's true. The reformed party girl wants to be ‘clean’ and ‘green.’ She’s kicked her habit (at least for the moment) of buying new designer duds for a more eco-statement with vintage threads. The actress is spotlighting recycled fashion as part of the UK’s Visa Swap campaign. The idea is to get folks to trade in their unwanted clothes and cutdown on future fashion purchases by buying second-hands gems instead.
For more eco-star tidbits on Ringo Starr, John Mayer, and Alicia Silverstone jump here.
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Florida to Buy Back Wetlands from U.S. Sugar
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
photo by Bill Swindaman
Kenya may be set to destroy its wetlands to cultivate sugar for biofuels, but Florida is moving in the opposite direction.
Sugar Plantations to Be Bought for Wetland Restoration
The state of Florida announced today that it will spend $1.75 billion to buy up 300 square miles of Everglades from U.S. Sugar Corp. and restore the wetlands to its natural state. The restoration is only theoretical at this point however, as currently the deal only exists as a statement of principles, the final details of the agreement to be worked out within 75 days....
Offshore Windfarm in Delaware Finds Buyer for Clean Electricity
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
Bluewater Wind announced today that Delmarva Power has agreed to a 25 year contract to purchase up to 200 MW of electricity from Bluewater’s planned windfarm 13 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The project, which is in the initial planning stages, has yet to establish a final capacity, but it is currently expected to be in the 600 MW range. Bluewater estimates that the project will cost $1.6 billion and be able to power 110,000 homes. Under Delaware law, by 2019 Delmarva must show that 20% of its electrical supply comes from renewable sources.
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Amazingness - An Exhibition About Urban Nature
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 06.24.08
What is Amazingness? According to photographer and environmentalist Anna Hillman it is the tiniest unexpected nuggets of nature that can be found in our urban environment when we chose to open our eyes to them. The concept of 'Amazingness' has been featured on these pages before with Hillman's Goldsmith's Design graduation project of the same name. Three years on and we find the Amazingness project still evolving in London's Viewfinder Photography Gallery. This exhibition combines new work by Hillman, all shot in London three weeks before the opening, with photos of 'Amazingness' that people have sent into her from around the world and images taken by children in a series of workshops that the artist has led....
Compact Fluorescent Bulb Recycling Now Available at US Home Depot Stores
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
The Home Depot has expanded the recycling program for compact fluorescent light bulbs begun last November in its Canadian stores to in 1900-odd stores in the United States. Customers can bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulb the store’s returns desk. “The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.”
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Bluefin Tuna Fishing Ban Has France Upset
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
Bluefin tuna in the Osaka Aquarium. Photo by Matana_and_Jes via flickr.
About a two weeks ago, we wrote about the bluefin tuna fishing ban hat EU fisheries regulators have enacted to prevent collapse of this valuable fish stock in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. Apparently certain members of the French fisheries ministry value short term financial gain over long term economic and ecological sustainability.
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Plant on Abandoned Farmlands to Make Biofuels Work, Study Says
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.24.08
Image from Thiru Murugan
Biofuels could yet play a pivotal role in future energy generation if done right, according to a study released by scientists from Stanford University's Carnegie Institution. To avoid the need to displace agricultural production or forests, abandoned or depleted farmlands should be used to plant energy crops. This strategy could prove particularly fruitful for developing countries, where the potential exists to produce large quantities of bioenergy that would far outstrip their current needs. ...
Who Owns Central Park?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
TreeHugger extolls the virtues of urbanity and density, and the importance of shared public resources like parks. Surely one of the world's greatest is New York's Central Park, where all is not a bucolic urban idyll, but an ongoing war between the cyclists, the runners and the dog owners. Gabriel Sherman covers it in New York Magazine:
The presence grows louder and crescendos until—whooooosh—they’re upon you: a teeming pack of cyclists bursting around the corner in a flash of neon spandex. Runners brandish their fists—or middle finger. Dogs and their owners scramble across the road, lest they be run down by the onrushing horde. It is every biker, runner, or canine for him, her, or itself. Before many New Yorkers have even had their first cup of coffee, the ongoing battle for Central Park is in full swing. “People think the park is a refuge, when you’re actually going into a cage match,” says Chris Yerkes, who races on an amateur cycling team in the park.
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Ethanol Death Watch As Corn Prices Rocket
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
John noted earlier that the floods on the Mississippi are going to wreak havoc on food prices this summer; They are not doing too much good for the ethanol industry either. According to Citygroup analyst David Driscoll, 3 out of 4 operating ethanol plants could be shut down in the next few months.
Earth2Tech counts 11 proposed plants that have been cancelled because financing was unavailable. As one expert on the biofuel scene said: “US ethanol producers are screwed." ::Earth2tech
TreeHugger on the Ethanol Debate
Green Basics: Ethanol
Corn Ethanol Worsens Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone'
Final Word on Ethanol's Efficiency as Vehicle Fuel
Ethanol : Eco-Labeled Yet Losing Luster Fast
Ethanol Follies in Upstate New York...
Syd Mead Still Cranking Out Visions of the Future
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
Syd Mead has been cranking out visions of the future since the distant past, including ideas for United States Steel from the early sixties that you can see on Flickr here. I had no idea he was still at it, producing drawings like this. fittingly for the Qatar Steel Corporation (does it own US Steel?).
It is nice to know that the future includes parks in the sky, dirigibles and a green waterfront, although I think his vision expressed in Blade Runner was more accurate. ::Syd Mead via ::PSFK
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Ethanol Gets Boost in Nebraska from Novozymes
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
photo by Rachel via flickr
More from the business side of renewable energy in the US today: first wind industry manufacturing expands, now ethanol production receives further investment...even if the corn won’t be knee-high by July and corn prices skyrocket....
Snail Mail in Style: Eames Stamps Released
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
Charles and Ray Eames were so far ahead of the pack when it came to design and technology that they would probably be amused at the idea of stamps honouring their work in this day and age. We noted them earlier but they are in post offices now; from now on, I am mailing in all my posts with them. ::US Post office
Charles and Ray Eames in TreeHugger:
Eames Gets a Stamp (Dad, What's a Stamp?)
Happy 100th Birthday, Charles Eames
Eames Lounge Available in Sustainable Rosewood
The Power of the Power of Ten ...
Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
A recent study from the Brookings Institute reiterates our point that cities have an important role to play: "Rising energy prices, growing dependence on imported fuels, and accelerating global climate change make the nation’s growth patterns unsustainable."
However they note a few problems:
"Numerous market and policy distortions inhibit metropolitan actors from more aggressively addressing the nation’s climate challenge. Economy-wide problems include underpriced energy, underfunded energy research, missing federal standards, distorted utility regulations, and inadequate information. Policy impediments include a bias against public transit, inadequate federal leadership on freight and land-use planning, failure to encourage energy- and location-efficient housing decisions, and the fragmentation of federal transportation, housing, energy, and environmental policies."...
Second Siemens Wind Turbine Plant to Open in Illinois
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
photo by Kyle Eertmoed
Two weeks ago we wrote about the knock-on effects of the expanding wind industry on US manufacturing. Here’s the latest concrete example of that:
Siemens Energy & Automation has announced that it will develop a second plant in Elgin, Illinois for the manufacturing of mechanical drives for the wind turbine industry. The $20 million investment in this plant will create approximately 300 new production jobs and 55 new office jobs. Siemens’ current Elgin plant employs 150 people. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held on June 25th, 2008 and the plant should be completed by March 2009.
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Investment in Solar Cells to Equal Semiconductors by 2010
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.24.08
photo by Jørgen Schyberg
As if we didn’t hit you every day with more evidence that the solar industry is booming...
Market research group iSuppli is reporting that worldwide investments in the production of solar cells will equal those for semiconductor manufacturing by 2010. Global production is expected to rise from 2007 levels of 3.5 GW to up to 12 GW in that time. Production lines capable of manufacturing 1 MW or more of PV cells will increase from the 90 to 100 which existed in 2007, to perhaps 400 by 2010. Factories capable of 1 GW of PV production annually also will be established in the future, the report says.
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Building a Better World, One Delivery at a Time
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
We learn from Green Daily about The New Amsterdam Project in Boston. It's not just a cargo bike, it's a movement:
"New Amsterdam is what we were. New Amsterdam is what we can become. New
Amsterdam can be American cities that are strong, cohesive, clean, safe,
healthy, and vibrant. New Amsterdam can mean movement that is mindful,
fun, sensible, clean, healthy, and constructive."
They also pick up and deliver....
Oil Shale Plant Powered By "Clean Coal"--and Cooled By Colorado River Water?
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.24.08
Bullion Monarch Mining Co. has developed, with modeling assistance by Federal energy lab researchers, an oil production technology which uses the dirtiest solid fuel available (coal) to extract oil from the filthiest possible source (shale)--no doubt with drought-threatened Colorado or Green River water as a process cooling input. A climate "Trifecta!" It will be interesting to see which financial institution chooses to back this scheme. The plant is anticipated to demonstrate a scale feasibility of producing oil from oil shale at a target cost of below $30 USD per barrel...EnShale [the subsidiary company] has a patent pending extraction process that uses coal gasification, a clean coal technology, as a heat source and horizontal kilns. The oil shale is heated to approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which releases the oil from the shale in a gaseous form and then is cooled to become liquid oil. The pilot plant is expected to be completed by late 2008.See also:: A Return To Colorado Oil Shale? Via:: Yahoo Business News/Business Wire, Bullion Monarch Mining Has Begun Construction on a Demonstration Plant for the Extraction of Oil from Oil Shale Image credit::Energy Frontiers International, Image Library, Colorado USA, Paraho Retort....
In Brazil, Marrying Couples, Divorcees Could be Forced To Plant Trees
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 06.24.08
Image: Carlos Humberto Mannato photographed by Laycer Tomaz, image bank from Brazilian Deputies Chamber.
A project by Brazilian Deputy Carlos Humberto Mannato could establish that all people who want to get married, get divorced, buy a new car, or build a house would have to plant a certain amount of trees to offset their activity.
The deputy thinks this will help reduce the effects of global warming in the long term without affecting people's pockets. With this law, "The person who buys a 100 thousand reals apartment would pay about 50 reals for the environment. That's a ridiculous amount that might be symbolic to people but that could mean a lot for the environment," Mannato said to O Globo newspaper. "We have to start somewhere, and that could be this federal law."
Read more about the project in the extended. O Globo via El Blog Verde (in Spanish)...
Obama on Cities: The Solution, not the Problem
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.24.08
What's On Planet Green: World's Greenest Homes
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 06.24.08
We're hoping that you've been following the newly 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. We've been bringing you clips from the new shows and encourage you to use our channel finder so you can watch Planet Green in your home.
We've featured Wa$ted, Mean Green Machines, Hollywood Green, Renovation Nation, and Supper Club, G Word, Stuff Happens with Bill Nye, Alter Eco with Adrian Grenier, Greenovate and the compelling story of Greensburg. Today we're bringing you the scoop on World's Greenest Homes, a new half-hour series with design expert Emmanuel Belliveau. The new series guides viewers on a whirlwind global tour of breathtaking green and glam residences.
Catch more info below the fold. ...
Taking Efficiency To Its Limits: A Train That Doesn't Stop For Passengers
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 06.24.08
How Hard Is It to Go Off the Grid and Eat Locally in Quebec?
by Deane Brebner and Don Bissonnette, Sutton, Quebec on 06.24.08
This is the first post in an occasional series by Deane Brebner and Don Bissonnette, who will be guest blogging about living of the grid. The Challenge
During a lull in the conversation on a road trip, Don suggested to Deane that we go off the grid for a month. A long silence ensued and then Deane said, "That's not hard enough. We should also eat locally." The challenge was taken up and the month of June chosen to begin. June is not the best month for the vegetables grown in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, but a summer birth and fall wedding limited our choices.
As preparation during the winter we read The 100 Mile Diet, by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Rules
No electricity (no use of electrical appliances, hot water, lights etc.), no propane (no bar-b-q), no gas (so, no car, no tractor, no lawn mower). No foods to be eaten other than those grown in a hundred kilometer radius (so, no salt or spices, no tea or coffee)....
UK Government Backs Electric Cars and Plug-In Hybrids
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 06.24.08
Official Government Backing for Electric Vehicles
Japan is not the only country where electric cars are going mainstream. We’ve already seen the virus-like spread of electric vehicle charging points across London, but now we hear from The Guardian that the British government is officially putting its weight behind electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids as part of its long-awaited, ambitious renewable energy strategy:
...
Bra Power: Can Bouncing Breasts Charge an iPod?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.24.08
Guys, just keep on movin'. Ain't nothing to see here. This post goes out to all the big-breasted women who can hear the echo of their own internal monologue in Adrienne So's comment in an article at Slate:
As a woman who loves sports, I've always found the concept of breasts bothersome. If all goes according to plan, they will fulfill their intended function for about three of the 70 years that I have them. The rest of the time, they alternate between getting in my way and embarrassing me....
Millions Of Acres Of Corn Won't Be Knee-High By Fourth Of July: But Meat Prices Will
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.24.08
The knock-on effects of the June of 2008 Upper Mississippi River basin floods will include meat prices being driven up much farther than could have been accomplished only by government incentives for corn-based ethanol. It's too late to replant completely inundated acres and the wet soils that still have living corn may need a reapplication of expensive nitrogen fertilizers. Futures market traders are in a tizzy. The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams....
Sculpture Prize Winner is Eco-friendly
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.24.08
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is an empty pedestal that has been empty since 1841. For the past 8 years there has been a changing exhibition of different sculptures on it, created by contemporary artists, each on display for almost a year. The latest competition featured an eco-option: an illuminated peace sign: 'Faites L'Art, pas La Guerre (Make Art, Not War)' powered by sun and wind. But the winner is Anthony Gormley's "The One and the Other". Over 100 days, members of the public will stand on the plinth 24 hours a day. Each person will take a one-hour shift. It's been called a cross between reality t.v. and speaker's corner.
You couldn't get more ecological or environmental than this. No materials will be used, nothing to recycle, no paper wasted, no paints or pollutants, no freight, no air miles. The only danger to the environment is for the volunteer, breathing the air from the traffic for an hour. As the winner, Mr Gormley, commented: "Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol and allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society." Anthony Gormley is famous for his sculptures using his own body as a model, the most famous being the Angel of the North in Gateshead. :: BBC News ...
McCain Proposes Government-Sponsored Prize For Development of Better Battery Technology
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 06.23.08
McCain Makes A Bold Proposal
Gas prices have so affected American economic and political life that it appears we are beginning to see a kind of 'green arms race' between the two presidential candidates. Granted, the green merits of some of the candidate's proposals have been dubious or downright non-existent: John McCain, for instance, wants a massive increase in nuclear power, a summer gas-tax holiday, and off-shore drilling, while Barack Obama is a big supporter of ethanol and has waffled on "clean-coal" technology. Still, what's clear is that energy policy is a major issue in this year's election, and nothing highlights that more vividly than today's bold proposal by Senator McCain to offer a "$300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars."
You read that right: McCain wants the U.S. government to offer $300 million for the development of a car battery that is 30% cheaper than current technology. As the Senator pointed out in a speech at California State University, Fresno: “that’s one dollar, one dollar, for every man, woman and child in the U.S. . .A small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency. . .’’ But he was just getting warmed up with his plans for how to get America off foreign oil....
Today on Planet Green
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 06.23.08
:: Save your sanity—and Mama Earth’s—by sending Junior to a sustainable summer camp.
:: Eat your way to green at the farmers’ market with these two helpful lessons.
:: Feel so fresh and clean practicing yoga with organic mat spray.
:: Think ahead and start preserving this summer’s bounty.
:: Serve this buttery, sweet Glazed Carrot Soup hot or cold....
Huge Jellyfish Numbers "Signal Something Has Changed" in Oceans
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 06.23.08
Image: mafic on FlickrBrainless, made mostly of water and equipped with a nasty sting, they are set to take over the world’s oceans and beachside resorts. Jellyfish populations have exploded dramatically in the last few years, thanks to overfishing and climate change, leading experts to caution that it could signal irreversible changes to marine ecosystems. "Jellyfish are an excellent bellwether for the environment," explains Jacqueline Goy, of the Oceanographic Institute of Paris. "The more jellyfish, the stronger the signal that something has changed." Data collected from over two centuries indicate that jellyfish populations expand over 12-year cycles, remaining stable for four to six years, and then decline. However, 2008 marks the eight consecutive year that jellyfish numbers continue to increase, thanks to warmer waters and the anthropogenic elimination of marine predators (such as turtles, sharks and tuna) through overfishing. ...
Most Huggable: Mazda’s Duel-Fuel System, The Best Bio-Based Bowls, Sunny Germany + More
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 06.23.08
Mazda hits Japan’s streets with the world’s first hydrogen hybrid car.
Verterra creates compostable plates and bowls that can be heated, refrigerated and even reused.
The town of Marburg, Germany mandates solar panel installation.
Obama and McCain continue the ethanol debate.
Car and Driver lists the 10 most fuel-efficient cars in the U.S.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
Obama, McCain and Ethanol Debate: One Thing’s Missing
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
Warning, quasi-political commentary ahead...
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran a piece today about Barack Obama’s support of the ethanol industry, and briefly contrasts this with John McCain’s stance on the issue. Rather than weigh in on the political aspects of this, or the merits and demerits of ethanol which a number of sources have already done (The Daily Green, Triple Pundit), I just want to bring up a related issue which seems to remain in the shadows whenever biofuel policy is brought up in the US: Public Transportation. ...
George Carlin 1937-2008
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
Video of Adam Grosser and his No-Electricity, Sustainable Fridge
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.23.08
Podcast Highlights Chinese Wind Energy
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
Unfortunately the podcast isn’t in a form that can be embedded in this page, but it’s just one click away :: Winds of change: China’s Green Beat
A new video podcast from the Green Brothers over at China Dialogue gives you a glimpse of what we wrote about last week: China’s wind industry is booming. The clip’s in Chinese but subtitles are provided. By the end you may be singing along “Wind Energy, hey...Reduce emissions, hey...It’s green energy, hey, hey, hey!” Just watch the clip, you’ll be laughing at that line later.
:: China Dialogue, “Winds of change: China’s Green Beat”
Wind Power
Chinese Wind Power Set For Big Expansion
Wind Power Mogul Tulsi Tanti’s Big Plans for India
...
Make It Electric Because Israel Needs More Cars Like A Hole In The Head
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 06.23.08
(Pranksters in Jerusalem paint a smiley face on a traffic light)
TreeHugger has partnered with The Huffington Post to help color their new Green channel with content. What have we been talking about? Well Jeremy has recently posted on Sen. John McCain’s Contorted Position on the Environment and Michael discusses the feasibility of Water-Powered Cars.
Not long ago this TreeHugger thought she’d add a voice of reason to Israel’s electric car hype (of Project Better Place) on HuffPo in a post titled Green Smoke and Mirrors. It’s been interesting how the public has reacted to our post. On Autoblog Green they called Huffington Post writers latte slurping, Prius collecting liberals. Hey wait a second – we drink instant or Turkish coffee and don’t own a car. ...
Nascar Driver Uses Hypermiling Tricks to Win Race
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.23.08
Fuel Efficiency Wins the Day
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended a string of 2 years and 76 races without a win by using a few tips that are well known to hypermilers (people who try to get the very best fuel economy possible from their cars).
Careful driving, lots of coasting, cutting the engine, pulse & glide, and other hypermiling tricks allowed Earnhardt to do the final 55 laps - 110 miles - without stopping for gas. That's 6 more laps than he would normally have been able to do. He even crossed the finishing line while coasting, and ran out of fuel soon afterwards....
Metaphor To Motivate Congress: Quintessential Moment For Dr. Hansen
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.23.08
The "Space Race" of the 1960's grew out of Cold War tensions between the USA and "Soviet Union". In the several decades following the first Sputnik launch, each new rocket-propelled venture to follow symbolized the technological might of "Superpowered" enemies. Rockets, being smoking, roaring engines of war, as well as of moon landing, unfailingly got public attention.
Dr. James E. Hansen is, today, schedule to lob the 'ticking climate time bomb' metaphor into the hearing range of the US Congress. He his testimony will step beyond the science and venture into Federal policy making for climate action. On Monday, Dr. Hansen, 67, plans to testify at a House committee hearing that it is almost, but not quite, too late to start defusing what he calls the “global warming time bomb.” He will offer a plan for cuts in emissions and also a warning about the risks of further inaction....
Portable Shelters for Homeless or Refugees Designed by ZO_loft
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.23.08
ZO_loft Wheelly: Shelter Cart
The quest to find a suitable, if not ideal, solution to the problem of people dislocated from more permanent housing is a pressing issue which many designers take very seriously. The challenges are great: housing must be readily portable but robust enough to protect the homeless or refugees from the elements. It must be extremely cost effective. It should preserve some degree of dignity for people who are already suffering loss.
The Italian group ZO_loft architecture & design (Andrea Cingoli, Paolo Emilio Bellisario, Francesca Fontana, Cristian Cellini) now adds their vision to the concept of temporary shelter. The ZO_loft Wheelly is private, portable, and offers a clever trick to solve issues of cost. For pictures of the Wheelly and an expanded-view explanation of the Wheely design, check over the fold....
Biofuel Crop Expansion Will Destroy Important Kenyan Coastal Wetland
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
image courtesy of Vrije Universiteit Brussel
A recently approved plan by the Kenyan government to expand sugarcane cultivation for biofuels in the Tana River Delta will devastate this important coastal wetland, according to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The plan calls for more than 80 square miles of wetland to be destroyed and replaced with sugarcane plantations.
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Telecommuting is Green and Saves Money, but Most Employers still Resist it
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.23.08
Telecommuting Faces Employer Inertia
In these days of increasing environmental awareness and rising oil prices, telecommuting is gaining mindshare. Yet employers are still reluctant. According to CIO Insight Research's Mobility Survey: "51 percent of CIOs and other senior IT leaders surveyed said their companies discourage fulltime telecommuting. An equal number of the 237 respondents—24 percent each—said their firms encourage fulltime telecommuting or remain neutral."
But there is hope, since when asked how their company's policy has changed over the past 3 years, 34% said that it's more positive against 8% replying it was more negative for full-time telecommuting, and for part-time telecommuting, the figures are 46% vs. 5%....
Sailing the Mississippi in a Juice Container
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.23.08
We've had some wild and wacky road trips before: sailing around the world in a boat made of recycled aluminium for one, but here's this summer's pick: sailing down the Mississippi River in a boat made of juice cartons. The inspiration comes from origami and now Rhys Jones, who is only 22 years old, has almost completed work on his boat. It is 12 feet long, and has a wooden cabin encased in a hull made of cartons. The skipper's description of it: "Just imagine a garden shed wrapped in paper. It's not quite as pretty as a garden shed though - it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen."
The father and son duo will be wending their way along the longest river in the US, a mere 4,000 miles, up against alligators, whirlpools, storms and bad food (who would turn on a stove in that vessel?). The daredevil is the youngest person to climb the 7 highest mountains in 7 different continents so he does have a certain fanatical streak. As he says: " It's a challenge to see if it can be done...it's different and also environmentally friendly." They plan to recycle the boat at the end of the journey. Anchors aweigh. :: Metro News...
66 Ways To Save Money on Gasoline
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 06.23.08
While the rising cost of oil has the price of gasoline skyrocketing faster than global warming is melting glaciers, people everywhere are preparing for cross-country road trips to Grand Canyon National Park and summer camps in Maine. We can't really argue with that innate desire to get closer to nature and out on the open road, and whether you're a die-hard cyclist or a still driving an SUV, chances are you plan to get in a car to go somewhere this summer. So whether you're packing up the Prius for some close-to-home camping, towing the boat to far-away shores, or merely fighting the crosstown traffic, these money- and gas-saving tips are designed to help you squeeze every last bit of power out of that precious petrol--and cause fewer CO2 emissions, too. It's a comprehensive list--several tasks should be done before even starting your car; others require minor adjustments to your driving style. All of them aim to help you drive a little greener. ...
Whales Suffers From Loneliness Due to Over-Hunting, Might Lose Will to Live
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 06.23.08
Whales: "Goodbye Cruel World"
We're not whale psychologists, but according to Yves Paccalet, a French naturalist, over-hunting is causing loneliness in the surviving whales and can even make them "lose the will to live". The highly intelligent and sociable mammals could be "so exhausted from their combat with humankind that they have simply have given up the fight," according to him.
Paccalet, who worked with world famous marine pioneer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, explains: "To reproduce, whales need a large number of individuals to ensure that they meet, frolic and excite each other. Otherwise, the species may give in to a kind of sexual melancholy and simply stop breeding."...
Karl Lagerfeld Isn't Afraid To Look Dorky
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
In the USA, people called Barack Obama "dorky" for wearing a bicycle helmet. In Canada, readers thought Member of Parliament Olivia Chow was a bit over the top with her safety gear.
In France, where they know something about style, even Karl Lagerfeld, the head designer at Chanel, knows that if you want to be seen and be safe, it pays to be loudly and obnoxiously dressed.
It is part of a new safety awareness campaign; as of July 1, all drivers and cyclists must have a vest and a reflective triangle. According to Bloomberg, "It's yellow, it's ugly, but it can save your life." says the poster, featuring Lagerfeld wearing the vest and his customary deadpan expression accentuated by dark sunglasses. ::Bloomberg...
Preservation or Parking? Two Takes on Riverview High
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
previously whined about the imminent demolition of Paul Rudolph's Riverview High School in Sarasota, with its "melding of Modern modularity and technology with sensitive siting, daylighting, natural ventilation, and aggressive shading against the relentless sunshine." Two updates:
"If they can see beyond the broken relic and the parking lot, and envision their future to include a beautiful, high-tech, site specific building that supports the local culture, then everyone will win." ::Metropolis
“Riverview High School is a fantastic prototype of what today we call green architecture,” said the architect Charles Gwathmey, who is overseeing a renovation of the Art and Architecture Building at Yale. “He was so far ahead of his time, experimenting with sun screens and cross-ventilation. If it’s torn down, I feel badly for architecture.” ::New York Times
See Also
Another Paul Rudolph Bites the Dust: Sarasota's Riverview High School...
The Road to Hell is Paved With Green Intentions
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
Toronto Mayor David Miller is trying to make Toronto a greener city, but there so often seems to be a disconnect between what he says and what happens on the ground, or in the Buildings department. Toronto architect David Dennis designed a house for himself with a lot of green features, and reminds us of the late Jeff Stinson's discussion about the merits of convention vs invention. He found himself falling down the rabbit hole into the Matrix, "the parallel universe of inventive details."
He notes that while the new house will have between a quarter and a third of the energy consumption of his current house of about the same size, "The City of Toronto consumed seven months of engineering and research to approve the site-specific use of the SIP panel roof. Any thought that the City encourages 'green'- at a bureaucratic level, is fiction."...
Solar Energy Basics Video Clip: “Can Solar Save the Day?”
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
From the Forums: Garden Photo Winners
by Alan Graham, Portland, Oregon on 06.23.08
Well the 22nd of June has come and gone and we've had a lot of interest in our forum garden photo contest. The point was not only to share our gardens with each other, but to inspire others to realize that you don't need a lot of land, and in some cases any land, to grow some of your own food or herbs.
We had a lot of amazing photos entered... ...
Japan Airlines To Make Biofuel Test Flight
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
photo by François Roche
We’ve documented pretty well the nexus of climate change pressure and rising fuel costs which are driving an increasing number of airlines to search for alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. Japan Airlines will join Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa, and Virgin Atlantic on the list of airlines investigating biofuels in an attempt to improve their environmental image and hopefully reduce costs....
Book Review: Spaced Out by Alastair Gordon
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
Nobody takes the hippies seriously any more; even this website's name is a joke about them. But there were literal treehuggers, in rancid ponchos and Birkenstocks living in communes. It was also an incredibly exciting time to be an architecture student, with everything up in the air, new ideas, new ways of putting things together, an incredible optimism that we could all build a better world. Our bibles were the Whole Earth Catalogue and everything ever written by Bucky Fuller. Now we have the history, in Alastair Gordon's absolutely spectacular Spaced Out.
As Alastair says in his overview, "The music and drugs have been well documented, but the fractured sense of space, the softened corners, the communal élan are less easily reclaimed. Where are the landmarks and monuments of the psychedelic revolution, and how do we go back if we don't even know where to begin?
...
Wind Power Expansion in 2007 Beats Nuclear 10-to-1
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
photo by Sarah Elzas
Worldwatch Institute is reporting in a Vital Signs report that in 2007 new wind power installations outpaced new nuclear power plant construction by 10-to-1. Globally, the wind industry added 20,000 MW of new capacity last year, while the nuclear industry added less than 2,000 MW. Three new reactors in India, China, Romania accounted for this small amount of growth.
...
Not your Typical Grandma -- An Interview with Goldman Environmental Prize Winner Rosa Hilda Ramos
by Bonnie Hulkower, New York, New York on 06.23.08
Rosa Hilda Ramos accepting Goldman Prize
Rosa Hilda Ramos is a 63-year-old grandmother, environmental activist, and one of the recipients of the 2008 Goldman Prize, recognizing grassroots environmental heroes. Ramos mobilized her community to legally take on the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Now she is using part of the $7 million she won in a judgment against the Power Authority to permanently protect Cucharillas Natural Reserve, one of the largest wetlands in her area. On Earth Day, she arrived in the Puerto Rican legislature with one hundred children dressed as butterflies. The kids came with songs, dances, and origami butterflies. Rosa’s goal is cleaner air for her community and their children -- in other words more butterflies as neighbors, and fewer trucks!
Treehugger (TH): What inspired you to start Communities United against Contamination (CUCCo)?
Rosa Hilda Ramos (Ramos): My husband and I bought what we hoped was our dream home in Cataño, across the bay from San Juan, Puerto Rico. We soon discovered we actually bought a nightmare, as the town had the most polluted air on the island. At night, the air became a toxic soup. Cataño had the highest cancer incidence of type O cancer in young people, and also the highest morbidity rate in asthma patients. Cataño was surrounded by polluting industry; none of the industries were in compliance with the Clean Air Act standards....
Residential Solar Power Without Buying the Panels: Helio Green Energy Plan
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.23.08
photo by Taran Rampersad
While California is ahead of the curve in offering incentives for solar energy installation, even with these incentives, not everyone who would like to install solar panels is able to shoulder the financial burden of doing so. While the idea of a third party actually owning the panels and the homeowner just paying for the electricity produced is not new, California now has a new player in this game: Helio mU.
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US Government Protecting Us From Too Much Information
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
We noted earlier that the American government is fighting testing for Mad Cow Disease, saying "more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers." Now it appears that in their courageous battle to protect us from information overload, the US Department of Agriculture has cancelled the annual publication of the Agricultural Chemical Usage Report, which lists the kinds and amounts of pesticides applied to crops.
"If you don't know what's being used, then you don't know what to look for," said Charles Benbrook, chief scientist at The Organic Center, a nonprofit in Enterprise, Ore to AP. "In the absence of information, people can be lulled into thinking that there are no problems with the use of pesticides on food in this country."
http://greenbiz.com/node/24713...
How Ethical! Hosts Carnival of the Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 06.23.08
This week is Carnival of the Green # 133 and it's being hosted by How Ethical!, a site managed by Ethical Superstore which carries eco-friendly, ethical products. So head on over to the site to check out a round up of green news and events from the past week, submitted by other bloggers and green sites.
To learn more about Carnival of the Green, where it will be and how to host, please click here to link to our previous post.
PLEASE NOTE: Because the Carnival of the Green books so far in advance (thanks to all of you!), we are currently not accepting hosting requests. Please stay tuned - we'll open 2010 soon! ...
Tom Friedman on America's Addict-In-Chief
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
We don't always agree with Tom Friedman of the New York Times, but he sure nailed George Bush's new energy plan:
Two years ago, President Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. Now we have the new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.” Actually, it’s more sophisticated than that: Get Saudi Arabia, our chief oil pusher, to up our dosage for a little while and bring down the oil price just enough so the renewable energy alternatives can’t totally take off. Then try to strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.....It is hard for me to find the words to express what a massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for an energy policy this is.It gets better. Read it all in the ::New York Times More Thomas L. Friedman in TreeHugger: Tom Friedman on Toyota's Duplicity Thomas L. Friedman on "Our Green Bubble" Thomas Friedman : There is No Green Revolution ...
Green Roofs in Osaka
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
The nicest thing about Osaka is the train to Kyoto; most of it is drab, grey postwar concrete. However, Justin at MetaEfficient points us to a bit of green, a bit of an oasis on the roof of a shopping center next to the railway station, jammed in between the tracks and a highway. Jerde Partnership Architects "conceived Namba Parks as a large park, a natural intervention in Osaka's dense and harsh urban condition. Alongside a 30-story tower, the project features a lifestyle commercial center crowned with a rooftop park that crosses multiple blocks while gradually ascending eight levels. In addition to providing a highly visible green component in a city where nature is sparse, the sloping park connects to the street, welcoming passers-by to enjoy its groves of trees, clusters of rocks, cliffs, lawn, streams, waterfalls, ponds and outdoor terraces."...
Ready, Set, Green: My Eight-Week Journey To A Greener, Guilt-Free Me
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 06.23.08
Ahhhh, relief. After three weeks of chagrin as I am reading my way through Ready, Set, Green and have realized I have some pretty intractable non-green habits, i.e. meat and plastic, Chapter 5's "Greening Up Your Act: Cleaning and Interior Decor" feels like a lot of fun. I am happy to report that I no longer have any conventional household cleaners in my house. So I can whip through Meaghan O'Neill and Graham Hill's "Save The Planet" tips in this chapter with no sweat. Switch to Earth-friendly cleaners, already done. Crack the windows when cleaning, no problem. Vinegar and water in spray bottle, been there done that.
Vinegar, baking soda and Dr. Bronner's
Two things helped me in my attempts. My cleaning bible Better Basics For The Home by Annie Berthold-Bond, and my collection of different sized spray bottles. Also the common trio of vinegar, baking soda and Dr. Bronner's together cover nearly all of my cleaning needs. Vinegar is the best cold-water laundry booster I've found in the absence of bleach of any kind here in Sweden, (new tip!) and pressing cornstarch into grease stains in clothing and letting them sit overnight before washing is showing pretty good success. So, no suspicious bottles under my sink...or so I thought, until I came upon troubling news about dioxane in my dependable Ecover dishwashing liquid....
Game Show for Freegans and Dumpster Divers: Ready, Steady, Skip
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 06.23.08
MIT Architect Develops Solar 'Curtains' for Home Applications
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.23.08
Image from MIT
Proving that photovoltaic materials need not always be part of large, bulky solar panels, Sheila Kennedy, principal architect at Kennedy & Violich Architecture and a lecturer at MIT, has developed solar textiles -- membrane-like surfaces that can be draped like curtains or used to cover walls or roofs -- using 3D modeling software. They work just like conventional solar cells are made of similar semiconductor materials.
Kennedy recently exhibited her project, called "Soft House" (see above picture), at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany in which she transformed typical curtains into energy-harvesting surfaces able to track the sun -- and generate up to 16,000 watt-hours of electricity. ...
END Outdoor: Greener Footwear for the Long Run
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 06.23.08
For the past month or so we’ve been in conversation with the newish start-up: END (Environmentally Neutral Design) Outdoor. The company will, as of August 2008, be selling a range of eco-aware athletic footwear for the outdoors. They say they’ll be “questioning every seam, every stitch and every material. Once a new design is born, we will replace toxic materials, glues and solvents with renewable, sustainable or recycled (R/S/R) materials that can withstand the rigor our outdoor athletes require.”
Based out of Oregon, a small team has been hard at work for the past 18 months or more, refining their designs. They haven’t been slack on the funding side of things either, scoring a goodly whack of Angel Investor finance along the way. Like winning hundreds of thousands in both the “Best Non-Technology Company” and “Best Overall Investment Opportunity” categories from the Zino Zillionaire Investment Forum. They also teamed with sustainability consultant, Jon Blumenauer, of Hutani Sustainability Strategies to audit all aspects of the design, materials and manufacturing for their line.
The shoes are designed by Andrew Etsey, END’s Creative Director, who’s a former Global Design Director of Footwear at Nike. His co-founder and business partner, who previously work with eFusion, GE and Philips is Ben Finklea, who's handling the Sales & Marketing. Hear what Ben has to say about their business adventure, in an extended interview after the fold. ...
Survey: How Does Your Garden Grow?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.08
We couldn't think of a survey this morning, so we gratuitously steal one from Apartment Therapy, with thanks. TreeHugger and Planet Green talk often about what a good idea it is to have a garden; do you?
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Great American Backyard Campout Set for June 28th
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 06.23.08
If you’ve got a wish to get outside and check out the great outdoors with friends and family, consider getting involved with the Great American Backyard Campout set for this upcoming Saturday.
Sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, they’re asking folks to register their campsite and take part in what may be the largest concerted camping effort in backyards across America since the Revolution.
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Designer Bird Houses for Designer Birds
by Bonnie Alter, London on 06.23.08
Question: do designer bird houses attract a better class of bird? Or do the same grey sparrows come, no matter what the place looks like... Here's a chance to test the theory: a display and charity auction of birdhouses by the most fashionable architects and artists around. Adventure Ecology and Phillips de Pury auction house invited 20 famous artists to recycle the paper, plastic and wood waste from the debris of packing and moving art works and create houses for birds,bats and bees. These new, recycled creations would be habitats for their rapidly declining numbers in urban areas. The three best houses will be replicated and sold at museums.
Starting with the ubiquitous Stuart Haygarth who has made his out of plastic take-away food trays and salvaged wood and ending with Tom Price's ball made of silver plastic bottle tops, coir (coconut hair), latex and wire, there is a lot of ingenuity and fun to be seen. While we aren't sure how much of a sense of humour a hungry bird has, who could fail to be amused by Gavin Turk's Radiator Hive, made out of an abandoned radiator, stuck high in a tree. Or terrified by Dracula's Four Season's Bat hotel, made out of wooden crates and pieces of wood.
...
Glass Breakthrough May Lead to New Sustainable Materials
by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 06.22.08
Photo by Duke LeNoir via flickr
Glass is a Molecular Traffic Jam
Is glass a liquid or a solid? An article published today in Nature Materials provides evidence that glass is actually more like a 'traffic jam'. It turns out the atoms in a glassy solid would 'like' to form a crystalline solid, or regular structure, but just aren't able to get organized enough. Instead the atoms loosely organize themselves into groups or relationships shaped like an icosahedron.
If you tried to stack many of these icosahedral shapes together in 3 dimensions you would not be able to form a solid surface where all the sides touch, a requirement for a crystalline solid. Yet, because they do form some shape, they get stuck in a 'traffic jam', so it is not a liquid either. This geometry gives glass unique materials properties....
A New "Aeon" Dawns for Japanese Electric Cars
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.22.08
(image courtesy of Wikipedia commons)
The Japan Times reported this week that leading supermarket chain, Aeon Co., Ltd., is contemplating setting up electric car charging ports at its supermarkets in conjunction with Japanese automobile manufacturers. The announcement comes in the wake of a bevy of plans for the commercial release of electric vehicles such as Mitsubishi's i MiEV (pictured above) and Subaru R1e from Fuji Heavy in 2009.
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Ford Adjusts to Gas Prices, Cuts Back on Production of SUVs
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 06.22.08
Ford Responds to Changing Market
"We view the move to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles as permanent, and we are responding to customer demand." When the CEO of Ford makes a statement like that, you know that high gas prices have really had an effect on the economy. Not only is Ford aware of the need to respond to changing customer demand, it is also acting on that by delaying the launch of its new F-150 pick up truck, producing "90,000 fewer pick ups and SUVs in the second half of the year than it originally planned," and preparing to make more compact, efficient cars like the Ford Focus and Escape.
F-150 Pickup Truck Loses Popularity
The F-150 has been America's top-selling vehicle for over two decades, but industry insiders believe that the Civic will take over that title this year. To give a sense of just how strong the trend toward efficient cars has gone, the average car in the U.S. sells in 57 days, while "the Toyota Prius hybrid sells in just four." Honda, Nissan and Toyota are well-positioned to take advantage of the current market; Ford continues losing money and it remains to be seen how well it responds.
Via: ::Telegraph.co.uk
More On Gas Prices
::More Motorists Running Out of Gas
::Even Cheney Thinks Gas Tax Holiday is a Bad Idea
::Graphic of the Day: Americans Driving Less
More on Compact Cars
::Compact and Hybrid Cars Becoming More Popular in the USA
::Smart Car: How Smart is It?
::Sales of Hybrid S.U.V.s Lower Than Expected
::Toyota Prius Hybrid: 1 Million Served...
British Government Unveils Ambitious Renewable Energy Agenda
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.22.08
Image from foundphotosjl
After several false starts, the British government is set to finally unveil its renewable energy strategy next week, The Guardian's John Vidal reports. The UK will need to invest £100 billion (roughly $197 billion) to build up its clean technology infrastructure if it is to successfully meet EU-imposed guidelines to produce 15 percent of the country's energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Renewable plan guidelines
The renewable push could allow the country to slash its emissions production by almost 20 percent and cut its oil consumption by 7 percent over the next 12 years. To do so, the UK will need to generate 30-35 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Two key components are outfitting 1 in 4 British homes with solar heating equipment and building 3,500 new wind turbines across the countryside. ...
Ocean Surface Tracking Satellite Launches from California
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.22.08
Image from NASA
A satellite which may help scientists make more accurate climate and weather predictions by monitoring the shape of the world's oceans launched Friday morning from California, reports BBC's Jonathan Amos. Jason-2, a joint project between NASA and CNES, the French space agency, will send back a topographic map of 95 percent of the planet's ice-free oceans every 10 days. The readings will help researchers track sea level fluctuations and the movements of water bodies around Earth. ...
LEED For Houses: Prada Label or Prickly Hair Shirt?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.22.08
LEED Platinum house built by Tom Schey and Kelly Meyer
Felicity Barringer explains LEED for houses in the New York Times and provides an entry for the tired cliche of the month, quoting Kelly Meyer: something energy-conscious “doesn’t have to look as if you got it off the bottom shelf of a health-food store. It doesn’t have to smell like hemp.”
Barringer notes that not everyone is happy with LEED; David Hertz is designing a green house for Pierce Brosnan, who “is not going to live in a 2,400-square-foot home.” Hertz goes on to call the rating system rigid and cumbersome.
Counterpoint from Michael Lehrer: “They have mundane things in there that are pretty nonsensical and others things that are pretty profound.” He added, “At a time when everybody and their sister and brother are saying ‘We are green,’ it’s very important that these things be vetted in a credible way.” ::New York Times
Read about LEED:
First LEED -H house certified in Western US :
LEED Platinum in Canada: Designed to Bore
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Danish IKEA Intros Fleet Of Trailer Bikes To Get Those Flatpacks Home
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 06.22.08
From personal experience I can attest that going to IKEA by bus is really no fun here in Europe, because you aren't allowed to bring your flatpacks home on it. So it was a smart move that after a survey found that 20 percent of its customers arrived by bike, the IKEA outside of Copenhagen has hooked up with the Danish Freetrailer service to offer (relatively free) Velorbis bikes with trailers to customers.
Bikes for getting to big box stores is a concept whose time is definitely ripe. Freetrailer started as a service for Danes to loan car trailers for free but has now included bike trailers at one IKEA in the Copenhagen region, with plans for more. Bike users must put down a deposit of about U.S. 100 and can then choose to pay for a seven dollar insurance policy for each loan or be liable for the larger amount in costs if the bike is damaged or stolen. A bike with trailer can be loaned for more than one day to give you time to return it. From the looks of the trailer it might possibly still be too small to move you new Ektorp sofa, but you could get quite a few flatpacks onto it. Via ::Copenhagenize
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First Solar City in Germany: Marburg City Council Approves Law Requiring Solar
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.22.08
The times they are a-changin'. The bucolic skylines of tiled roofs which define cities in Germany could soon be sporting a new look: solar.
If the Marburg City Council gets its way, Marburg will be the first city in Germany to legally require solar collectors on rooftops of private and commercial buildings. The goal of Fritz Kahle, the Green Mayor of Marburg: No south-facing roof shall be left unused.Kahle further defines his goals for Marburg: "We don't want to save the World and we don't claim that Marburg will revolutionize climate action. But we must chart new territory in order to ensure a future supply of energy independent of oil and gas." The City Council has passed the law, which will not take effect until approval of the regional authorities in Giessen is granted. The imaginary photo of Solar-Marburg shown above will not fully represent reality: historical buildings such as the Marburg Castle and the Elisabeth Church will be exempt from the requirement. Unfortunately, not setting a very good example, Marburg's City Hall is also granted an exemption....
