- 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 July 13, 2008 - July 19, 2008
Total this week: 176
Ecotopia Biketour: "Eco-Mobile" Group Demonstrates "Do-It-Yourself" Lifestyle – On Wheels
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 07.19.08
Image: Ecotopia Biketour 2007, pid.blog.hrWith all their gear and tents strapped to their bicycles and trailers, a small group of young people from several European countries are slowly but surely making their way from Bulgaria to Turkey on the annual Ecotopia Biketour. Despite their self-described status as a “totally chaotic tour, with constantly changing sleeping places, group composition and food quality,” it’s no ordinary bunch of cyclists and it’s no run-of-the-mill road trip. Over cross-border routes that change every year, the tour itself is a mobile demonstration unit dedicated to showing that low-consumption, ecological and “do-it-yourself” methods of travelling are not only possible, but fun. Besides that, there’s also a central element of “action” along the way: Biketour participants also organize and help in events dealing with environmental issues that confront the communities they ride through....
Only The Fools Dye (Their) Young: UK Considers Banning Food Colorants As ADHD Cause
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.19.08
On the inside.
Europe Manages Risk: USA Pretends It Doesn't Exist.
There's a pattern here. European Union nations phase out the more hazardous of the pthalate plasticizers: USA lobbies against it and resists it in the US. Europe tests animals for Mad Cow disease: USA makes it illegal to test them. Europe takes climate action: USA resists. There are plenty more where these come from. You get the idea: when it comes to protecting children from dye marketed mainly to children, Europe leads....
Corals Exposed to Navy Explosives Found to be in Surprisingly Good Shape
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.19.08
Image from ScienceNOW
Bombed out reefs might not immediately come to mind as areas that could harbor large aggregations of healthy corals. Yet that's exactly what Bernhard Riegl, a scientist at Florida's Nova Southeastern University, found in the waters off Puerto Rico's Vieques island, which has been used as a U.S. Navy training ground for the past 6 decades.
As he told ScienceNOW's David Malakoff, the results of his survey weren't "quite what some people expected". Indeed, his study, published in the Journal of Coastal Research, found that the coral reefs found in these waters were in slightly better condition than corals found in adjoining marine protected areas (MPAs). ...
Hundreds of Dead Baby Penguins Wash Up on Rio de Janeiro's Beaches
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.19.08
Image from Tjeerd
It is difficult to imagine what must have been going through the heads of Rio de Janeiro beachgoers in recent months as they have seen hundreds of baby penguins wash up onshore dead. At last count, more than 400 penguins, swept from the shores of Patagonia and Antarctica, have been found dead on Rio de Janeiro's beaches, reports the AP's Michael Astor....
Pop Quiz: What's Bamboo For?
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 07.19.08
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Ecofestes Reusable Cup Service at Summercase Music Festival
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 07.19.08
all image credits: Sergio Carratala
It is nice to see that Sinnamon, the organisers behind the yearly music festivals Daydream and Summercase in Barcelona, are keeping up the green efforts even without Radiohead asking them to do so. Like for the Daydream festival, Summercase, in collaboration with Intermon Oxfam, are motivating festival goers to actively participate in their water bottle recycling scheme by giving out free water bottles for every 5 empty bottles collected. This facilitates recycling and raises awareness about the waste issue.
Other NGOs like Amnesty International spread insights about fair trade products regarding festival merchandising. To save trees, the festival information is available via Bluetooth in the Nokia tent. However, what we liked most at this year’s Summercase festival, apart from the amazing line-up (Sex Pistols, Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs, Kings of Leon, 2MANYDJS, Cornelius…) are the brightly coloured reusable cups that beam from everyone’s hand or hip. ...
This Week in the Huffington Post
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.19.08
TreeHugger is proud to be contributing original content to the Huffington Post Green section. This week's posts:
Do Big Homes Mean Bigger Happiness? Nowadays, you can take a stroll through a suburban street and actually come across the White House. Well, not the actual residence of George W., but a scarily accurate, humongous replica. Yep, despite the woes of the housing market, Americans are still super-sizing their homes. ::Graham Hill
Ludicrous Lawns, Wasted Water, and Solid Solutions NASA has studied satellite data and concluded that lawns in the US are taking up as much space as the whole state of New York (not the city, the state). That's fifty thousand square miles of grass! ::Michael Graham Richard
Five Products to Green Your Cat Yep, they may be the world's most independent creatures, often scornful, superior, unpredictable, and affectionate only when it comes down to the tuna, but we still love our cats. Here are five products for a tree-hugging kitty. ::Mairi Beautyman
Does Recycling Really Do Any Good? The words "recycled" and "recyclable" often conjure up similar notions of relative greenness; the general idea is that, as long as you aren't pitching it directly in the trash, you're doing something good for the planet, right? Turns out, it isn't quite that simple. ::Collin Dunn
Tortillas, Ethanol, and High Fructose Corn Syrup
What is lost in all the biofuel controversy is the fact that tremendous amounts of land are devoted neither to fuel nor nutritive food, but rather to non-nutritive uses like tobacco, high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar.::Andy Posner
Carbon Tax? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Carbon Tax, We Already Have One. The debate about carbon taxes is over; we are already paying them, and they are working the way environmentalists said they would. The problem is, instead of collecting the carbon tax and using the money for conservation or alternative energy or even reducing income taxes, we are paying the tax to Big Oil, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran. ::Lloyd Alter...
California Introduces Statewide Green Building Code
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.19.08
Where LEED Once Led: California Has A Conservation Rush.
California has proposed a new statewide building code aimed at improving energy efficiency and water consumption.In what was described as the United States' first statewide "green" building rules, the California Building Standards Commission said the code would help reduce the carbon footprint of every new structure in the state.Via::Inquirer.net, Agency France Presse. The Commission proposal is still in the public comment period, but let's assume that something resembling what was proposed will be made final in the winter of 2009. What does it mean; what's next?...
Biking America with We Add Up to Raise Awareness and Fight Global Warming
by Carson Poe and Eric Plosky, Boston, MA on 07.19.08
Bombardier Launches Fuel Efficient Jet
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 07.19.08
The Bombardier CSeries: Marketed as a "green jet" (image from Wikipedia).
Life hasn't been easy for the airlines lately. As fuel prices wreak havoc with the industry's bottom line, carriers have responded by dumping older, less efficient jets, lowering flying speeds and carrying less weight - not to mention charging for checked bags.
This week, however, the airlines got a bit of good news when Canadian conglomerate Bombardier announced its intention to release the CSeries in 2013, a passenger jet which it claims will use 20% less fuel than its nearest competitor....
Sierra Snowpack Melting Likely to Be Faster than Previously Expected
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.18.08
While the world (understandably) remains focused on the melting Arctic ice caps, those of us living in California have been worrying about a melting of a different sort. And, according to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the problem may be getting worse.
Indeed, Noah Diffenbaugh, an associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University, believes the melting of California's snowpack may be accelerating at a higher rate than previously thought. By 2100, spring snowmelt could begin up to 2 months earlier in the western U.S. (see here for a description of the image). ...
Summer Festival: Alternative Power By Heroes Of The Environment
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 07.18.08
Love music? Summer festivals like Fuji Rock are huge events here with hundreds of thousands of participants and bands from all over the world. Organizers are adding lectures about the environment, and inviting NGOs to promote their causes. This weekend you can join the AP Bank Festival - an outdoor music festival in Tsumagoi in Shizuoka Prefecture, south west of Tokyo.
All profits from the event are used as seed money for lending to environmental projects and for AP Bank's activity fund. The festival's highlight is the live music of the Bank Band, anchored by Takeshi Kobayashi and Kazutoshi Sakurai, and guest musicians.
Festival-goers get to enjoy organic food and check out environmentally friendly products for sale, presentations on various environmental topics, hands-on workshops, and booths showcasing AP Bank-funded environmental projects. Time Magazine listed Kobayashi and Sakurai as Heroes of the Environment in 2007. Ironically, perhaps, that nature intervened with a typhoon last year, and many of the concerts had to be cancelled. We are hoping this weekend will be rain-free!...
Haagen Dazs' Help The Honeybees: Bee Boy Mayhem
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 07.18.08
Yucky Yoga Mat? Wash It, Or Recycle It
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 07.18.08
While the numbers are not official, it's estimated that about 20 million people practice yoga - and that adds up to lots of well-loved, grimy and sweaty yoga mats.
Luckily, mats can last for years and they can be washed. According to Yoga Journal, just a wipe down with "four drops of dish soap" then clean water and a terry cloth towel-dry are all that's needed, or machine washing in a front-loader. (Tip: Too much soap residue in either case can make a mat slippery, so go easy on the soap.)
Greener yoga mats
Generally, those ubiquitous purple mats are made out of PVC, but there are other greener material choices, including jute, natural rubber, and wood pulp.
Once a mat reached the point of no more Down Dog, however, there was no organized way to keep it out of the landfill. Until Stephanie Stano thought up and recently founded Recycle Your Mat in Eugene, Oregon. ...
Angelina Jolie's Organic Diet, Heidi Klum's Green Project, Pierce Brosnan's Hydrogen Car and More
by Terri MacLeod on 07.18.08
...New moms rejoice! Even the seemingly perfect Angelina needs to work to get her pre-pregnancy shape back. With her twins not even a week old, she's already put herself on an organic diet - one that's high in fresh vegetables and Omega-3. According to her friend, Angelina's menu includes "organic salmon with tomatoes, brown bread and herbs for breakfast, while mackerel or grilled fresh tuna with watercress, spinach tomatoes is typical for lunch or dinner."
Via: ecorazzi ...
The TH Interview: Paul Hawken—Blessed Unrest (Part One)
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 07.18.08
Image credit: Shall.usFor many people, Paul Hawken is a man who needs no introduction at all. As an author, a speaker, a theorist, and a business person, Paul Hawken has shaped the discussion of what sustainability is, and how it can be achieved. His Ecology of Commerce was an eye opener for many people (including Ray Anderson, last week’s interviewee), and Natural Capitalism, that he wrote with Amory and Hunter Lovins, can often be seen in the hands of Bill Clinton, brandished as a wakeup call to industry. Paul’s new book, Blessed Unrest (and its sister web community, Wiser Earth), is something different altogether: an exploration of what he says is the largest movement in human history. ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Special thanks go to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview. (Full text after the jump)...
High School Harvests 280,000 Gallons of Rainwater Each Year
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.18.08
Green High School
The Langston Brown Community Center and High School in Arlington, Virginia, has a LEED Silver rating and has quite a few interesting green features. The enormous water tanks used to store rainwater certainly are the most visible (though the one on the front of the building is hidden by panels that make it blend in the overall design).
The two 11,000-gallon tanks store about 280,000 gallons of rainwater per year, and that water is used for "onsite irrigation, sidewalk washing, and other uses." We wish they would consider using it for toilets too, though they already have waterless urinals that contribute to the project's 23% reduction in potable water use. ...
Tidal Power Alternative to the Severn Barrage Touted
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
Artists’ impression of what the completed tidal fence might look like. Given the height of the ship in the illustration, the fence wouldn’t exactly be unobtrusive. Not that the Severn Barrage would be either.
A fairly recent report said that the Severn Barrage should not be built, based on high cost and the possible damage to local ecosystems. However, alternative tidal power plans for the region are now being investigated, according to the BBC.
A Tidal ‘Fence’ Rather Than a Dam
The main idea, being put forth by the Severn Tidal Fence group, is rather than a full tidal barrier a line of underwater turbines would be built, with spaces between the turbine groups large enough for commercial shipping to pass, as well allowing for the migration of salmon and reducing the risk of flooding upstream by reducing high tide levels upstream from the fence. Mudflat areas used by migratory birds would also be protected.
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Pop Quiz: German Solar Jobs
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 07.18.08
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Wind Turbine Manufacturing Spurs Local Chinese Industry
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
photo by Mike Locke
Given that manufacturing of wind power components can not only help local economies through job creation, but can save money overall, it certainly makes sense for China to make as many of the parts required to continue building its booming wind industry domestically. Illustrating how this is being done, Renewable Energy World gives us a brief glimpse of how China is doing just that....
Forbes Magazine on the Fifth Fuel
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.18.08
Forbes Magazine has produced a special report on a subject dear to our hearts, efficiency, the fifth fuel. Amory Lovins kicks it off with The Case for Efficiency:
"Using smarter technologies, more brains and less money to wring more work from less delivered energy--what energy experts call "end-use efficiency"--is the largest, cheapest, safest, cleanest, fastest, most diverse, least visible, least understood and most neglected way to provide energy services."
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Videos: More on the DIY Kawasaki Electric Motorcycle
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.18.08
California Uses More Gasoline and Diesel than China
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.18.08
California is 35x Less Populous than China
Truly an amazing statistic, via Wired. According to the California Energy Commission, the state with its 37 million people uses more gasoline and diesel than any other country on Earth except the US as a whole. That's more than India with its 1.1 billion people. More than China with its 1.3 billion (California is 2.8% of China's pop.). So while demand has been increasing in China and everybody's talking about that, they forget to look at absolute numbers: 20 billion gallon of gasoline and diesel are used each year in California, 6.7 billion gallons more than in 1988.
Most of that Energy is Wasted
But what's really bad about that is that when you look at efficiency numbers (see the chart here), only about 20% of the energy contained in those gallons of fossil fuels are actually doing useful work. About 80% of their energy is simply wasted as heat. That has to change. ...
Al Gore’s Repowering America Speech Video Clip
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
Ceramic Paint-On Insulation: Does It Work?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.18.08
Shipping container housing has gone so mainstream that USA Today covers it; on seeing the picture of Peter DeMaria's Redondo Beach house I was reminded of a question that I had when I first learned about it. One of the major problems with dealing with steel containers is insulation; the inside dimensions aren't big, and if you furr out and insulate them there is not much left inside. If you insulate outside, they don't exactly look like shipping containers anymore.
DeMaria insulates the shipping containers with "ceramic insulation"- a spray or paint on system "developed by NASA" that the supplier claims addresses "all three modes of heat transfer- Radiated, convected and conducted."
The problem is, everything I ever learned in Architecture School and practice tells me that this is impossible....
Upcycled Art, Thailand's Organic Princess and Summer-ey Tom's Shoes
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 07.18.08
An eco-conscientious artist creates mosaics using discarded take-out menus, business cards, junk mail and other paper trash.
Thailand's princess, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, calls on residents of Nan to plant organic gardens.
Tom's shoes make a splash!
PolyFuel creates a methanol fuel cell laptop.
Act2GreenSmart messenger bags are made from recycled PET fabrics.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
Indonesia Needs Jatropha Subsidies To Boost Market, Say Researchers
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
Land cleared for an oil palm plantation in Indonesia. While ultimately this land will be planted again, the carbon sequestration potential of the resultant agricultural land is radically reduced in comparison to the forest that was once there. Photo by Mica Monkey.
Though it’s only occasionally on the public biofuel radar in the United States, what with corn ethanol and Brazilian sugar cane hogging the headlines, in the subtropical and tropical regions where the plant thrives, Jatropha has received much more attention. Most recently Hindustan Petroleum expanded its production of the long-lived biofuel plant. Now, through Carbon Positive comes an update on the debate in Indonesia surrounding Jatropha....
Shelby SuperCars to Build World's Fastest Electric Car, the Ultimate Aero EV
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.18.08
Update: Shelby SuperCars Makes Wild Claims About Ultimate Aero Electric Car
Introducing the Ultimate Aero Electric Car
Shelby SuperCars makes the kind of cars that have over a 1,000 hp and can reach 250 mph. Not what you'd immediately associate with "low emissions" and "powered by clean energy", but the times they are a-changin'. Shelby's next hyper-fast car will be an electric vehicle.
Based on the SCC Aero (pictured above), the Ultimate Aero EV should break electric car speed records (as as we've seen in our overview of 17 electric cars, some of them are speed demons). "Powered by a 500 horsepower electric motor, the Ultimate Aero EV will have true supercar performance. Additionally, SSC is exploring the potential of a twin 500 horsepower electric power plant producing 1,000 horsepower in a 2 or 4 wheel drive configuration." We bet the version with 2 motors can turn you into jelly just with the acceleration G force....
An Alternative to Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in West Virginia
by Greg Haegele, Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Cl on 07.18.08
Lorelei Scarbro lives in a place most of us would envy - on 10 acres of lush, green southern West Virginia mountain, where deer, turkeys and other wildlife make regular appearances.
Now Scarbro's land is threatened by mountaintop removal coal mining. If you're not familiar with this practice - it's the most destructive kind of coal mining out there. Companies literally blow up the tops of mountains to reach the coal beneath - leaving a barren, rocky landscape. The companies fill nearby valleys and streams with the waste rock - ruining entire watersheds and frequently the water supplies of nearby communities as well. (You can learn more about this type of mining by visiting our coal website.)...
Walk Score Ranks The Top 10 Most Walkable Cities in the U.S.
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.18.08
Not too long ago our very own Lloyd Alter pointed out that walking matters. And that a walkable community promotes better health, a reduction in greenhouse gases, a variety of transportation options, increased social capital and stronger local businesses. And now Walk Score, devoted to helping you find more walkable places to live based on a patented algorithm that enables them to compute a walkability score based on the distance to a wide range of shops, necessities and attractions has come out with the top ten most walkable cities in which to live.
But is yours among them?
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Project Better Place Looks to Bring Electric Cars to Portugal
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 07.18.08
Electric Cars and Cell Phones
Project Better Place, the initiative founded by entrepreneur Shai Agassi to bring electric cars and charging infrastructure to countries around the world, has already partnered with several countries, including Israel and Denmark. The idea is to make electric cars sell like cell phones, and the plan works as follows: "purchasers get subsidized hardware — the car — and pay a monthly fee for expected mileage, like minutes on a cellphone plan, eliminating concerns about the fluctuating price of gasoline." Renault and Nissan are working on developing the electric cars, and Agassi's firm is developing the batteries and infrastructure.
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Ethanol And Construction Materials Made From Crop Residue Pose Fundamental Risks To Agriculture
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.18.08
Modern Farming Methods Are Better Than Our Grandparents'
"No-till" or "low-till" cropping systems - increasingly common in large scale traditional agriculture - are superior because they consume less energy, build soil organic matter over time, sequester carbon, and greatly reduce soil and nutrient loss. (The old style moldboard plow behind the mule was actually terrible for the land: with soils deeply turned and broken up with several passes, leading to rapid soil loss and eventually productivity loss for the farm. Such primitive farming practices were a contributing factor to the Dust Bowl.)
Green Products Made With Crop Residues Can Compromise Long Range Food Productivity.
What happens when you scrape up most, or all, of the non-food portions of a crop, and make cellulosic ethanol or kitchen counter tops with it? Soil erodes at a faster rate and, over time, the organic content falls, leading to lower productivity. The latter issue is well described in a report by Washington State University, USDA-Agricultural Research Service soil scientist, Ann Kennedy. Kennedy, whose current research is examining the composition of cereal crop residues and the amount of residue needed to maintain soil quality, said that in direct-seed or one- pass tillage systems at least a ton of residue per acre per year is needed to build soil organic matter over time. In these minimum tillage systems, the intact and slowly decomposing roots also add to organic matter. In fields with multiple tillage passes, every bit of residue is needed and even then, organic matter may not increase....
Toronto Bike Theft King Closed Down. Finally.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.18.08
Naturalkinds on Flickr
Ten years ago I was working on a condo in downtown Toronto when one of my clients had his expensive bike stolen out of the garage. As I handed over the security tapes the cop said "oh, it will turn up at Igor's in a day or two."
Ten years ago, the stretch of Toronto's Queen Street where Igor had his operation was grotty and not very pleasant. Now the schmatta shop has become a bookstore and the junk store has become a high end fish and chips resto and the entire block has been upgraded to Toronto Trendy.
Except for Igor. I have often been critical of Toronto's love/hate relationship with bicycles and the Police department's lack of interest in keeping bike lanes clear or finding stolen bikes, but they do have a lot of bigger fish to fry. However, they finally got around to cleaning up this last little eyesore.
But is it cynical of me to suggest that closing down Igor, an open secret forever, has more to do with real estate values and getting rid of a noxious use than it does with concern about bikes? ::BikingToronto...
Affordable Electric Car Beating Major Manufacturers to Market
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.18.08
Philadelphia Steel Magnate Launching Electric Car for US Market
Call it a do-it-yourself electric car. Do-it-yourself if you are steel magnate Barry D. Bernsten, who is investing his own millions in BG Automotive Group with the intention of bringing affordable electric cars to the American market. Bernsten's production plan is to bring 3-4000 units to market in 2008 and over 20,000 in 2009. Is Bernsten for real? And can he realize his goal to beat the major auto manufacturers to the market and put affordable electric cars on American highways?...
Winners in Sportables Design Competition Announced
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.18.08
The Winners have been chosen in the Architecture for Humanity's Sportables Design Competition sponsored by Google Sketchup, where designers were challenged to "create a highly demountable, portable sports product library, product development studio, and futsal (soccer) play area. "
First Place Winner was Toby R. Keaton :"This brilliant and carefully thought-out compact module is easy to transport and deploy, but also provides incentives for the participants to take ownership in this great community resource, and utilizes simple, available materials."
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Eco-Rabbi Jack Reichert Talks Green God Shop
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 07.18.08
Green values don't have to conflict with one's spiritual and religious values. In fact, the wisdom of ancient teachings can give us insight into problems we have today. This is something that Jerusalemite Jack Reichert, a rabbi-in-training has been exploring on Green Prophet with his weekly series on Torah commentary designed with the environment in mind.
Traditional Jews read the entire Bible once a year. Every week a new section of the Torah (Bible) is read and within that portion, Jews try and extrapolate meaning from it and relate it to contemporary events and personal experiences. And of course, they look for ways to be better people. Everyone can see something different in the Torah and it never dates. That's the beauty of it, according to traditional Jews.
The Jewish religion is governed by 613 commandments, and some of them are directly related to environmentalism and the protection of animal rights. Eco-Rabbi (aka Jack Reichert) is a philosophy student who is looking at some of these commandments (mitzvote in Hebrew), and also the weekly readings and giving them green context.
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Survey: Al Gore's Moon Shot Speech- Is Anybody Listening?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.18.08
It is a terrific, powerful barnburner of a speech that connected the economic, environmental and national security dots. Al Gore issues a challenge: to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.
But will anyone take him up on it?
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Draught Beer Beats Bottled in Life Cycle Assessment
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 07.18.08
Here’s a job we all want – carrying out a life cycle assessment of beer. One would have to really do some serious investigation to get realistic statistics on the “use phase”. But seriously, the cover story on the March issue of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment is the LCA of an Italian Lager Beer (see the full article citation at the end of this post).
When comparing one litre of draught beer with one litre of bottled beer neither one comes out as the hands-down more environmentally-friendly choice. Both have comparable environmental impacts, which are not very significant. Draught beer, due to its “bulk” packaging has lower impacts with an estimated overall environmental load that was 68% lower than bottled beer. ...
Commercial-Scale Tidal Power Turbine Begins Feeding Electricity to Grid
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
photos courtesy of Marine Current Turbines
We’ve reported a couple of times on the progress of SeaGen tidal power turbine project in Northern Ireland, most recently on the project’s installation.
Though not yet fully operational, SeaGen has reached a mile marker in its development: being run at 150 KW capacity and feeding the power generated into the electric grid. Clean Technica reports that during the commissioning phase of the project, the turbine is being constrained to 300 KW, but once fully operational will have a capacity of 1.2 MW. The project is expected to reach this final stage of development by the end of the summer.
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Wind Power Could Grow With Power Transmission Expansion Plan in Texas
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.18.08
photo: Getty Images
Wind power supporters in Texas have been calling for transmission expansion for some time. And though I can’t imagine they planned the juxtaposition, Texas utility regulators have approved a massive expansion of power transmission capacity on the same day that Al Gore has called for expansion of U.S. power transmission infrastructure, to facilitate renewable energy growth.
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CherryAid Encourages Britons To Save Fruit Under Threat
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.18.08
Cherries are so delicious in summer: fresh, plump, easy to pop in the mouth and so beautiful. Unfortunate then that over the last 50 years, Britain has lost 90% of its cherry orchards and now imports almost 95% of the cherries that are in the shops. Why? Because the traditional varieties are grown on trees that can be 30 to 40 feet high and that makes them hard to pick. Supermarkets like consistent, perfectly round little cherries and it is hard to guarantee that with varying weather conditions. In addition, orchards are disappearing due to development pressures.
So into the fray comes: CherryAid, a new campaign that urges everyone to save the British cherry by saving orchards, eating local cherries, cooking with them, encouraging their planting and celebrating National Cherry Day on July 19. Famous chefs are supporting it with their recipes and lots of local producers are making special dishes with them. You can rent a local cherry tree and pick and eat all of its cherries for the season. Or you can plant your own tree. The easiest of all: eat out at one of the many restaurants featuring cherry dishes. Don't forget they stain. :: CherryAid VIA :: Hippyshopper
More on Fruits and Vegetables Under Threat
:: English Apple Days
:: Potato Day ...
Feliciano dos Santos, 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner, on Ecological Sanitation
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 07.18.08
Can music change the world? Yes, if you are Feliciano dos Santos, one of the eight winners of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize. Santos uses a unique combination of music and appropriate technology to push for public health improvements and advocate for clean water and ecological sanitation in Mozambique. He is the director of Estamos, an NGO that installs latrines and clean water sources, and offers hygiene and HIV/AIDS education. The humanitarian organization promotes low-cost, environmentally-sustainable sanitation which composts human waste into nutrient-rich fertilizers and assists communities with sustainable agriculture and reforestation. ...
Fuel Cell Cars Still 15 Years Away Says Government Study
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.17.08
Image from post406
Though a few lucky Californians may already be leasing the Honda FCX Clarity, one of the first-generation fuel cell cars, a National Research Council report predicts that it will be another 15 years until they comprise a significant share of the domestic car market. And that assumes carmakers are able to successfully overcome several major technological and logistical challenges and that they receive significant government subsidies. ...
Graphic Of The Day: Why They Keep "Removing" Appalachian Mountain Tops
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.17.08
Via::US Energy Information Administration, Coal News and Markets, Average Weekly Coal Commodity Spot Prices, Business Week Ended July 11, 2008
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Women Managers Make Greener Business Decisions
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.17.08
A new battlefront has opened on the struggle for equal employment opportunities for women: Female decision makers are more environmentally-conscious than males.This is the conclusion of the first of an annual series of surveys to benchmark green business technology purchasing trends in the U.S., conducted by Hansa-GCR under the sponsorship of several companies, including Xerox. The survey also concludes:
Green has arrived as a business issue....
Bike Sharing Program Launched in Mexico City
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 07.17.08
Determined to prove its not a just a smog-addled city notorious for traffic and pollution, Mexico City had jumped on the bike-sharing bandwagon and launched its own free program called Mejor En Bici (Spanish link), or Better On Bicycle in English.
We love the jewel-toned wheels of the Mejor en Bici white cruisers, which are available at three sites in the Condesa and Roma neighborhoods, the city's hipster and eco-friendly stomping grounds. To use the bikes, users must register, sign a form, and leave a piece of identification and a deposit of 200 pesos (about $20), which is returned when the bike is dropped off at the same station. The bikes are available from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm....
The 8 Most Important Actions To Go Green - Mathematically!
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 07.17.08
David MacKay's online book "Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air" (free PDF download here) is probably the most comprehensive work out there on the five W's and one H of saving our collective fannies. David cleverly and painstakingly reduces everything to Kilowatt-Hours to quantify the gamut of environmental actions.
There's some pretty incredible statistics here - like one flight a year uses almost as much energy as a year of driving - and near the end David gives real, real, real advice about what you can/should/must do. I especially like (5) - been saying that since wayback. You may find that the tips are not exactly popular, but will saves tons of cash e.g at Boston rates, doing all eight for a year works out to about $21 a day, $7665 a year. We're talking serious money here. :: Sans Hot Air
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Sheet Mulching and More: How to Compost Your Move
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 07.17.08
House Move Waste Perfect for the Garden
Only a few weeks ago I claimed that you know when you’re a hippy when you take your compost with you when moving house. Now I’m rethinking that statement – you know when you’re a hippy when you not only move your compost, but you compost your move too. You see, as we all know, moving creates a lot of trash – and much of it is cardboard and newspaper (preferably reclaimed from your local co-op!). And seeing as we are in a new house, with plenty of weeding to do, and plenty of compost needed in the near future – we thought that the best way to get rid of all this waste was to use it in the garden. Cardboard boxes were stripped of tape, flattened and laid out over weeds – they’ll then be covered with topsoil, compost and other organic matter. This is a technique much loved by permaculturists, known as sheet mulching, and can be a great way to tame unruly weeds. When you need to plant something, you simply dig down, puncture a hole in the cardboard, and plant straight through.
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Danish Climate Goal 2009: World's Biggest Fleet Of Electric Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 07.17.08
The UN post-Kyoto Copenhagen Climate Conference summit meeting to take place next year is pushing Danes to build up a quick fleet of battery-driven hybrid fuel cell cars.
Based on the electric THINK
The Danish company H2 Logic has gotten a cash infusion of a total of $3.45 million dollars from the government to deliver a fleet of electric fuel cell hybrids to tool around the streets of Copenhagen by the time of the meeting. Hydrogen stations are in the planning - some using wind electrolysis to make hydrogen, others using natural gas or biogas. H2 Logic, which has shown a PEM (proton exchange membrane) THINK electric/fuel cell hybrid vehicle and believes it will take delivery of some from THINK at the turn of the year, will also undertake building up the infrastructure of hydrogen stations to refuel the vehicles. The combined range of the hybrid would be approximately 200 kilometers.
But don't expect the oodles of diplomats flying in for the climate meeting to be seen driving or even being driven around in the electric fuel cell cars. The Danish government recently issued a separate plea for owners of limousines to lend their vehicles to the meeting, and lamented that climate-friendly limos are in exceedingly short supply. Via ::NyTeknik (Swedish)
More on Fuel Cell Vehicles:
Production Of Honda FCX Clarity Begins...
Spy Shots: Honda's Upcoming Hybrid Looks Like... a Prius
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.17.08
Honda's New Hybrid
When hybrid cars were first introduced, most automakers seemed to think that people would want hybrids that looked like any other car. But it turned out that people are not ashamed to drive hybrids, some even see it as a way to spread the word, and the distinctive Toyota Prius became a big hit.
Honda has said that it will soon release a new hybrid-only model (the Insight name might be revived for it), but until now we had no idea what it would look like. Thanks to these spy shots by KGP Photography, we can see that the Honda hybrid looks eerily similar to the Prius. At first, couldn't believe this wasn't just a Prius in disguise, but if you compare the shape of the rear doors to those of the Prius, the hood, the grille, etc, you'll see some differences, so maybe it's real. Read on for more photos....
“A Generational Challenge to Repower America”: Al Gore’s Energy & Climate ‘Moon Shot’ Speech
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
Al Gore speaking in New York City, 2007. Photo by World Resources Institute.
Today at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., Al Gore delivered a speech which outlines his vision of how the United States needs another ‘moon shot’ to solve the intertwined problems of climate change and energy independence. Though he doesn’t come out and say it, he even alludes to peak oil.
Here are some of choice quotes from Mr Gore’s speech:
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Exxon Blocking Toy Safety Bill That Would Ban Phthalates in Toys
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.17.08
Sam Suds- the Movie
We have written so much about phthalates, the gender-bender endocrine disruptor that is a plasticizer for vinyl. While there is some dispute about its danger when used in products like vinyl siding or windows, it appeared that there was a consensus that sticking vinyl toys in the mouths of babes might not be a good idea. And while I am an architect and not a doctor or chemist (and have a medical student checking my work), I don't think you have to be to come to the conclusion that sucking on a chemical that is linked to hormonal changes, genital abnormalities, early puberty and even claims of reduced penis size is unwise.
But not everyone agrees, notably ExxonMobil, which is trying to block passage of a Toy Safety bill in Congress that would ban phthalates in toys. Why? because it is the one of the biggest manufacturers of the stuff. According to toy safety activist Peggy Lo:
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Quote of the Day: US Lawns as Big as New York State
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.17.08
Recently, a NASA-funded study, which used satellite data collected by the Department of Defense, determined that, including golf courses, lawns in the United States cover nearly fifty thousand square miles—an area roughly the size of New York State. The same study concluded that most of this New York State-size lawn was growing in places where turfgrass should never have been planted. In order to keep all the lawns in the country well irrigated, the author of the study calculated, it would take an astonishing two hundred gallons of water per person, per day. According to a separate estimate, by the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly a third of all residential water use in the United States currently goes toward landscaping.Source: Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker...
Kids to Couch Potatoes: Earlier and Faster than Ever
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.17.08
Daily Mail
We know a lot of kids don't get a lot of exercise, but even kids who were active at 9 years old, and getting three hours of activity per day, lose it by the time they are 15 and barely manage to get half an hour. Study author Dr. Philip Nader says the reasons are many:
"There may be competing, more interesting things to do; physical education is being done away with in some places, and so is recess; there aren't as many open spaces or parks, and being outside is one of the main things that keeps people active," he said.
Plus, children don't get the same routine daily activity that youngsters from a generation or two ago did. "Kids used to just run around and ride their bikes everywhere, and kids used to walk to school. Now, parents drive them," Nader noted.
Another Doctor noted that there is nothing new here:...
Biogas Plant in Eastern Germany Will Be the World’s Largest
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
image: WELtec BioPower
The renewable energy industry is changing so rapidly that calling something the “world’s largest” is setting yourself up to be corrected only a few weeks later. In any case, as of today, a new biogas plant in Konnern, Germany can now claim that it is the largest biogas plant to feed gas directly into a national grid...when it begins operations at the beginning of 2009. Ah, qualifying statements. We’ll see if it gets one-upped before then, but here are the details, via Renewable Energy World:
Biomethane Fed Into Natural Gas Supply
This new plant, when operational, will feed 15 million cubic meters of biomethane into Germany’s national gas grid. Normally, biogas contains about 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide, but through filtering technology at the Konnern facility the CO2 will be filtered out so that the methane content of the biogas is similar to that of natural gas. Thus the biomethane can be put into the same pipelines that carry natural gas. ...
Quote of the Day: Americans Demand More and Better Options
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.17.08
Former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening visited by school kids
Former Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening (and now President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute) says that Americans are tired of feeling like victims and are ready for innovative changes in how they live and get around.
"We have to keep pace with demands for public transit, and give this country a reason to be proud of its high-speed trains, light-rail lines, and both rapid and conventional bus transit. We need to make more of our streets safe and convenient for walking and biking to work, school, shops and transit stops. We have to create incentives for developers to invest in our close-in suburbs and urban centers, to meet the huge demand for affordable homes in convenient locations. Americans are not dumb: We would much rather invest in well-located real estate than in gasoline.
We are tired of feeling like victims – whether of oil companies, poor planning, or a lack of vision. We are ready for innovative change, if only our leaders will follow us." ::Planetizen
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Bioenergy in Yunnan, China Video Podcast
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
Al Gore: New 'Moon Shot' Needed to Solve Climate Crisis
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.17.08
Climate Moon Shot
Al Gore is scheduled to make a big speech in Washington today, but he previewed it to the Associated Press so we have an idea of what he's going to talk about:
"Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace. [...]
The Alliance for Climate Protection estimates the cost of transforming the nation to so-called clean electricity sources at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money. But he says it would cost about as much to build ozone-killing coal plants to satisfy current demand."...
More Carbon Dioxide = More, Stronger, Poison Ivy
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.17.08
Washington State
Researchers at Duke University studying poison ivy discovered that higher levels of CO2 caused the plant to grow more vigorously, but also it produced a more toxic form of urushiol, the resin that causes the rash. Ann Raver writes in the New York Times that removing it has become a growth industry.
She interviews Umar Mycka, who has started a business, Poison Ivy Horticulturalist, to kill the stuff; he uses a herbicide, applied to the stem, which is supposed to break down in 46 days. Organic farmers pull the stuff up and send it to the dump in garbage bags....
Solar Power Array Installed at Fresno Yosemite International Airport
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
The fuel powering the planes flying into the Fresno Yosemite International (FYI) airport may not yet come from renewable energy, but a good portion of the operations of the airport will soon be, thanks to a new 2 MW solar array dedicated yesterday.
The array will provide electricity to power 40% of the everyday lighting, air conditioning, controls and tower communications of the airport. The array will by 9.5 acres in size and is expected to save the airport $13 million over the next 20 years.
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NeoGreen US Politics: As Good As It Will Get?
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.17.08
In trying to cast a line to green voters, US politicians can offer a fishing photo-op (as President Hoover did in this photo); or, trip to a melting glacier, while taking great care to prove that they are not Dirty Hippies. There are more substantial and mainstream choices available, which we would like to discuss a bit. A few governors have shown their own Green cred in more interesting and creative ways, for example.
Florida's Governor Crist, acknowledging that "United Kingdom is Florida's top overseas tourism market" realizes that the customer is always right. Gov. Charlie Crist discussed relations between Florida and the United Kingdom with government leaders in London Tuesday, including Secretary of State David Miliband; Simon McDonald, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's chief foreign policy advisor; and John Ashton, special adviser on climate change. Crist also met with members of the House of Lords to discuss Florida and United Kingdom climate change initiatives, a release said....
Kidzsack a Fun, Reusable and Recycled Bag for Kids
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.17.08
If you’ve spent even a short time in a local school or have kids of your own you’ve no doubt run into those drawstring bags slung over their shoulder as they head off to parts unknown. And now Tina Hill, a parent and fan of TreeHugger has come up with the Kidzsack. An eco-friendly backsack for kids on the go made from 100% recycled fabric that comes screenprinted with her original, nature centered artwork and 8 washable non toxic markers so kids can while away some of those long summer hours in a creative way.
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Survey: Do You Go Camping?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.17.08
Fewer people than ever are camping in America. Whether it is video games, parents, competition or conservationists, numbers are down 11% since the mid-nineties and if it weren't for German and British tourists, "the parks would be desolate"
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Public Transportation, Walkable-Community Development Bill Introduced into U.S. House of Representatives
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
photo by paulkimo9 via flickr
Although it’s being pitched as being a bill for the relief of high gas prices, a new bill introduced into Congress could bring greater environmental benefits than its title might suggest.
The Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008 (HR 6495) has been introduced in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), the bill is cosponsored by Chris Shays (R-CT), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Jerry McNerney (D-CA) and Hilda Solis (D-CA).
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Electric Cars Signal How Auto Companies Can Make a Profitable Transition to a New Economy
by Jeff Siegel, Green Chip Stocks on 07.17.08
Last week, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced that it will begin selling its electric car, the i-MiEV, to individual customers starting in 2009. When this news came out, the Company’s stock picked up just over 2 percent in early trading—while pretty much all of the other major auto-manufacturers saw their shares decline.
Did this little piece of news add value to the stock?
Of course not. An announcement that the Company’s rolling out with 2,000 units in the first of year launch does not add value to the stock. However, this announcement shouldn’t be brushed aside. In fact, it’s one more reason investors should be paying close attention to this early transition of personal transportation.
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Solar Power System Rental Model Brings Clean Power to Lao Villages
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.17.08
photo © Cathy Williams/IRIN
The concept of a company renting the homeowner solar panels and providing all the maintenance for the system is not new in the United States. Such a model allows for the installation of solar power with little in the way of up-front costs and little risk for the individual.
Sunlabob Rural Energy Rents Out Solar PV Systems
Such a model is now being employed with success in Laos to bring a variety of solar products to a country where 74% of the population lives on less than $2 per day, and only 48% are connected to the electric grid. The Lao firm Sunlabob Rural Energy provides two different ways for rural people to access solar power where grid access is nonexistent and unlikely to be built in the future.
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TH Blog Love - Our Favourite Greens Of The Week
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 07.17.08
7Gen: The Good News About Rising Oil Prices by the Inkslinger
"There’s no question that the current oil crunch is making it painful for most of us to visit the gas pump.But is there a silver lining in the clouds of this energy storm? Some experts think so."
AIDG Blog: Carnival of the Green #136 by Catherine Laine
"It’s that time of year again. Carnival of the Green is back on the AIDG blog. This week’s carnival features stories on earth-friendly homes in Tunisia (aka Tatooine), a royal’s embracing of the wine-based ethanol for his car, nature photography and more."...
Camping On the Water
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.17.08
We love the idea of camping right on the water; so close you can reach over and dangle your fingers in it. These floating cabins fill the bill. Their base is a raft made from tree trunks, supported by barrels, which should make them fairly stable. They sleep four and each hut comes with camping mattresses, seats, gas stoves and lamps, a Canadian canoe (only the best) and, ahem, a toilet bucket. This is a very romantic or scary set-up, depending on your point of view since the cabins are moored along a river and are only accessible by canoe...
So what can you do on this love-boat...listen to the birds, play with the children, paddle to the little village near-by, bike to surrounding towns, swat mosquitoes or just read a book. The one draw-back for many is that they are located in Holland. A good idea to import to North America? :: camping-raft...
FIB Music Festival Goes Clean & Green This Summer
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 07.17.08
In Spain, the music festival season is in full swing, after Primavera Sound, Daydream’s tribute to Radiohead and the SOS 4.8 Festival, and we are glad to see that more and more festival organisers make an effort to lower the events’ environmental impacts. This year’s International Festival of Benicàssim (FIB) is no exception. The FIB is Spain’s biggest festival, and a point of reference in the international panorama, with more than 100 artists who come to perform every summer in this small town on the coast between Valencia and Barcelona. This weekend none other than Leonard Cohen, My Bloody Valentine, Mika, Sigur Rós and Róisin Murphy, amongst others, are playing. But now to the social-environmental responsibility the festival has taken on....
Trainspotting: New Subway Line Opens In Tokyo
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 07.17.08
Tokyo Metro opened a 13th subway line in June, linking busy Shibuya with Ikebukuro and Saitama prefecture to the north west of Japan's sprawling capital. As Alex noted in his post about Beijing's 5th subway line, this is a costly affair, but with peak oil, rising gas prices and road congestion, what city is not trying to improve public transportation?
Construction of the Shibuya-Ikebukuro section, which began in 2001, cost ¥250 billion. The entire Fukutoshin Line runs 20.2 km between Shibuya and Wakoshi in Saitama Prefecture. Starting in 2012, this line will be directly connected to Tokyu’s Toyoko Line, one of the privately owned train companies here, which runs between Shibuya and Yokohama. The deepest station is Higashi-Shinjuku at 35 meters. Most of the civil engineering costs (tunnels and infrastructure) are being subsidized by the Tokyo metropolitan government’s road-use tax revenue.
This is already my new favourite - the new line goes to parts of Tokyo I often go to, and stops at Nishi-Waseda, near my office at Consumers Union of Japan....
The G8 Summit: Cutting Through the Spin
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.16.08
Image from gabemac
Given the Bush administration's involvement -- or "non"-involvement, if you prefer -- it was no big surprise to see the latest G8 summit fail to make any real progress on the issue of GHG emission targets. Sure, Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda got the participants to "commit" to a 50% cut by 2050 (a target even President Bush agreed to seriously consider). And, yes, it may be that this pledge will help pave the way for a more significant breakthrough at the UN's climate summit in Copenhagen next year.
In many ways, however, this agreement in fact marks a giant leap backward for the G8 -- both at the level of current emission targets and future ones....
Most Huggable: Home Solar Revolution, Green Remodeling Tips and Green Diapers
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 07.16.08
Get the story on the eco-impact of your morning shower.
Learn how to enjoy all the green benefits of solar power without having to buy or maintain the solar panels.
Here's how to employ green remodeling techniques to improve the air quality, energy efficiency, and comfort of your home while saving you a fortune.
Save some more cash with these four tips on buying organic on the cheap.
Confused by what makes a "green" diaper? Read up and get the scoop on eco-friendly diapering.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
World's First "Multiplayer Forecasting Game" Asks: What Would You Do If Humanity Has Only 23 Years Left?
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 07.16.08
Image: London in 2019? from Futurelab In an increasingly unpredictable world besieged by melting ice-caps, earthquakes and floods, it’s not difficult to see the advantages of so-called scenario-thinking to help humanity quickly adapt to the vagaries of climate change. Take it one notch further, make it virtual, collective and collaborative, and you’ve got Superstruct, the world’s first “massive multiplayer forecasting game.” Developed by the Palo Alto-based non-profit think tank Institute for the Future, it will launch on September 22 for six weeks. Superstruct is another addition to a line of recent “alternate-reality games” (ARGs), such as “World Without Oil” (WWO), which allow participants to use their “collective intelligence” to create solutions that can apply to real-world problems. Like WWO’s motto to “play it before you live it,” Superstruct has a survivalist strategy behind it: ie. imagine the world as it is in 2019 and how we might tackle the problems we will face then. The game is also a race against time, based on a fictional year-long supercomputer simulation called Global Extinction Awareness System (GEAS), which predicts that homo sapiens has a “survival horizon” of a mere 23 years....
Global Warming Changes to Snowmelt Patterns in Western US Could Have Larger Impact Than Previously Thought
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.16.08
Peak times of snowmelt water runoff have become 10-15 days earlier over the past 50 years. Grand Teton National Park photo: Getty Images
Recently we wrote about some rather significant underestimations of the severity of extinction rates and of the amount of soot emitted from cargo ships. Well here’s one more in a continuing series of, “whoops, things are a bit worse than we thought” posts.
Melting Snow Plus Global Warming Causes Positive Feedback Loop
Science Daily brings us the news that, “According to a new study, global warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations.”
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Food and Wine Magazine's Guide to Green Eating
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 07.16.08
While The Onion’s “Obligatory Green Issue” may have raised a chuckle, it’s still great to see more and more mainstream coverage of green living and sustainability. The latest publication to grace the shelves with an eco offering is Food and Wine Magazine, with the August offering covering everything from delicious local food recipes from top chefs around the US to a strategy for supporting local, sustainable honey production in the face of Colony Collapse Disorder. While the editor’s admission that she won’t change her light bulbs because she “can’t stand the quality of light” may not carry much weight with many TreeHuggers, the fact that the magazine outlines “ways to be green that don’t involve any compromise at all” should help draw more people into the sustainability world (if the number of hybrid SUV ads are anything to go by, Food & Wine readers aren’t into compromise…).
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Fisker Karma to be Made in Finland by Valmet Automotive
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.16.08
Fisker Karma to be made in Lowering Energy Consumption Better Than Biofuels for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, OECD Report Finds
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.16.08
photo by Piper Falk
According to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, "Economic Assessment of Biofuel Support Policies", not only is public support of biofuels costly it has little impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions: All the tax incentives, blending targets and other public support policies in the EU, US, and Canada total $25 billion per year, but will ultimately result in less than a 1% reduction in emissions from transport by 2015....
We Don't Have an Energy Crisis, We Have a Transportation Crisis
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
Our favorite graph, which demonstrates that almost all of our petroleum is used for transportation.
Benjamin J. Turon writes an op-ed in the Schenectady Daily Gazette and makes a very good point about how the Kunstlers and Peak Oil Survivalists "forget history and underestimate the technology available to sustain our technological civilization."
Turon points out that oil is used primarily for transport, whereas electricity powers everything else. While his argument is not without problems, (like the need for a lot more electricity generation from all kinds of sources) his main point is crucial- there are lots of alternatives to gasoline if you realize that the problem lies almost entirely with transport.
"First, much of technology is based on electricity, not oil! Computers, telecommunications, lights, industrial machinery, household appliances are electric; electricity can also cook our food and heat our homes. While the power grid needs to be expanded and modernized, North America has abundant energy resources — including coal, nuclear, hydro, tidal, wind, solar and geothermal — to keep us in electricity without depending on oil-run power plants."...
Algae Biodiesel Facility Plan for Maui Announced, Operation Could Begin 2011
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.16.08
photo: HR BioPetroleum
The green/renewable energy initiatives of Hawaii have been coming increasingly into the spotlight lately. Most recently plans for sea-water air conditioning and a mandate for solar water heating in new homes. Though still in the planning stage of development, the state may be getting another piece of green tech: a commercial-scale microalgae facility for the the production of biodiesel.
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What Is Killing Camping?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
We have always blamed the decline in camping and interest in National parks on electronics, quoting the fifth-grader: “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.” The Economists disagrees, and suggests that we should "blame conservationists, not video games."
And parents. "Americans are more fearful for their children and have become unwilling to leave them in the company of strange men, green-hatted or otherwise."
And competition. "Attendance at national parks was not the only thing that peaked between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. In 1991 America’s homicide rate reached 9.8 per 100,000 people. Many cities were known for lawlessness and grot; not surprisingly, holiday-makers were passing them up for greener spots."
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TreeHugger Tip: Alter Eco's Boise Thomas on Reducing the Population
by Emma Grady, New York, NY on 07.16.08
Do Hard-to-get Mortgages mean Better Cities?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
Sears Catalog Home
We previously wondered if home ownership was necessarily a good thing, quoting James Surowieki, Richard Florida and Matt Yglesias. Wendy Waters of All About Cities notes that with the disappearance of 40 year, 100% mortgages, it will not be so easy to buy a house, but notes:
If you are young (or not) and “trying on” jobs and careers, changing employers every year or two, home ownership restricts your options and may hold back economic development in a city.
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Green Speed Dating Hopes 3 Minutes Will Change Your Life
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 07.16.08
Green Singles and the ecosexual phenomenon seem to be gaining steam and so we figured it was only a matter of time before someone thought to bill a speed dating event, where "time is the enemy," green. National Public Radio recently had a piece about an event in Santa Monica in June that in fact attracted a less-than-impressively-green crew to a speed dating event ostensibly for people looking for savvy eco mates.
NPR gently pokes fun at the fact that most of the speed daters valet-parked their Range Rovers and Land Rovers upon arrival. One guy, when asked how he is green, replies, "I recycle, that's pretty much what I do." Organized by LA-Fun, the event attracted 16 singles in their 30s and 40s and attendees paid $20 as a cover charge, which went to the Solar School Project in Nicaragua.
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When Children Are Exposed To High Levels Of Lead And Mercury From Coal Emissions, They Get Hurt
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.16.08
Scientists from the New York City-based Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) have studied the positive effects on children of shutting down a coal fired electricity plant in China. Results were published in a peer reviewed journal: Environmental Health Perspectives. Children born after the closure of a coal-burning plant in China had 60 percent fewer developmental problems, a study released Monday suggests, giving ammunition to those who argue the country should embrace cleaner sources of energy.Here's the remarkable part. No mention was made in either MSNBC or the similar International Herald Tribune coverage as to exactly which components of coal emissions may have been impacting childhood health. ...
First Pix of Home Delivery Prefabs in New York
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
System3 by Oscar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Ruf
(Sob!) Carbon footprint concerns kept me from the preview of the Museum of Modern Art's Home Delivery prefab show, so we asked New York architect Joseph Tanney of Resolution4 Architecture to walk over and have a look. Here are his first pictures; commentaries and reviews to follow soon, we hope...
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Quote of the Day: Yet Another View on Bikes and Stop Signs
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
Stop sign on bike trail at driveway entrance from Bicyclewatchdog
The Atlantic's Megan McArdle on why she disagrees with a correspondent who wrote "I don’t think civil disobedience extends to refusing to obey the law because it tacks three minutes on to your commute."
"Coordination laws, like driving regulations--where the laws themselves have no moral content, but are merely a convenient way to enforce a common standard--are different from things like laws against stealing. Indeed, so different that you don't even think of speeding as breaking the law, allowing you to get morally outraged at bikers without even thinking of yourself as doing exactly the same thing on the highways."....
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School District Eyes Four Day School Week in Bid to Cut Energy Costs
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.16.08
In what sounds like a bright idea there’s a school district in Virginia committed to studying the idea of a 4 day school week as energy costs climb. A practice which would mean less time on the road for school buses along with lower heating bills and CO2 emissions because the schools heat supply could be shut down for a three day weekend.
Not to mention the need for one less set of school lunches to be shipped and prepared, along with one less daily commute for school personnel. All of which would most certainly cut both energy usage and CO2 as well.
But is it a genuine possibility or an implausible pipe dream?
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SustainStyle: Sales, Sales and More Sales
by 1plus1 on 07.16.08
Welcome to SustainStyle, a weekly digest from the writers at 1plus1, a blog dedicated to eco-friendly fashion. SustainStyle runs every Wednesday.
Jane Eldershaw's new book "Junk Jewelry" teaches us how to take trash and make it into the hottest accessories in our wardrobe.
Mega eco retailer the Green Loop starts their 10 day annual summer sale with up to 70%!
Equita throws a mid-summer soiree with tons of marked down items on all our favorite designers until July 31st!
Looking for new swim wear? The White Apricot guides us to the "Top Eco Friendly Swimsuit Designers".
Velvet Leaf celebrates the opening of their virtual retail doors with 30% off all eye catching organic styles. Don't blame us if you go bankrupt!
Zoya's Kara Tangerine/Coral Cream nail color brightens up our day and our feet.
xo....
Jane Eldershaw's new book "Junk Jewelry" teaches us how to take trash and make it into the hottest accessories in our wardrobe.
Mega eco retailer the Green Loop starts their 10 day annual summer sale with up to 70%!
Equita throws a mid-summer soiree with tons of marked down items on all our favorite designers until July 31st!
Looking for new swim wear? The White Apricot guides us to the "Top Eco Friendly Swimsuit Designers".
Velvet Leaf celebrates the opening of their virtual retail doors with 30% off all eye catching organic styles. Don't blame us if you go bankrupt!
Zoya's Kara Tangerine/Coral Cream nail color brightens up our day and our feet.
xo....
Tips For Building a Green Garden Office
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
Garden offices are a well-established industry in the UK; Shedworking has some tips from Lynn Fotheringham of British garden office builderInsideOut Buildings for making them green. They are points that could apply to any kind of building; some of them cost a little more, but when you are building something small, the incremental cost is not that huge.
Another factor when you build small and well is that there isn't a lot of volume to dilute toxins that get into the air, and it is not likely that you are installing a heat recovery ventilator, so it becomes very important that you use healthy materials, or it might end up like a FEMA formaldehyde trailer.
Some of Lynn's points below, my comments in italics. ...
Sloth is the New Black
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
Images from Green Patriot Posters
It is now fashionable to have "staycations"- to reduce your carbon footprint by lolling about at home rather than travelling , or buy less; use it up, wear it out, make it do. All of which uses up a lot less personal energy as well as fossil fuels. Laziness, languor, sloth are all the new green.
Author Susan Slaight describes how her lazy family has a small carbon footprint: "That's because I'm way too lazy to renovate," I said.
"We are incredible slackers," my eldest agreed. "Wait," she added. "It's not that we're lazy, we're like the Marches, in 'Little Women.' We think this is OK, to not care. We think this is a good thing."
"I guess," I said, stirring. "I guess we're kind of transcendentalist." Our eldest daughter is right. We practice a sort of a weird Southern California transcendentalism that doesn't fit in at all with American upward mobility, increasing our equity or impressing our friends. ::LA Times via ::Green Daily
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Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2020
by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 07.16.08
Lester Brown
Since releasing Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, my colleagues at Earth Policy Institute and I have been trying to work out how to draw attention to the plan we developed for cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020. Today we released a report that contains the key elements of this plan. It is called Time for Plan B....
Survey: Would You Take A Pay Cut To Telecommute?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.08
With the rising cost of gas and the lengthening time of commutes, a lot of people are looking more closely at the idea of working from home via computer. When we asked the question "Do you telecommute?" last year, 40% of our respondents said "I would love to but my company won't let me." Now a new study of IT workers suggests that almost 40% of workers would take a 10% pay cut to telecommute.
...
What is Illegal in this Volkswagen Ad?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.16.08
What is illegal about this ad showing a Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion chained to a bike rack? Sorry, bicyclists. It's not the provocative suggestion that automobiles further invade bicycles' territory.
Volkswagen has launched an advertising campaign promoting the accessibility of innovative environmentally friendly technology in automobiles, in line with their reputation as the folks' wagon. And no one disputes that the Polo Blue Motion, with 62mpg (3.8L/100km) and less than 100 grams of CO2 per km is an example of affordable eco-technology. But the Association for Protection of the Environment and Nature of Germany (BUND) has challenged the Volkswagen Ads as illegal. ...
Cutting Your Paper Footprint
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.16.08
Cutting your carbon footprint is one thing, but cutting your paper footprint is a whole other game. As a vivid demonstration of how much paper we use, Mandy Haggith collected and displayed the 250kg of paper that the people in her small Scottish town had thrown away over the past year. In response to this paper mountain, a series of recycling initiatives were started in the town involving students, shop keepers and residents.
Haggith is a long-time forest campaigner and in preparation for her book, Paper Trails she travelled around most of the great forests of the world. What she found is profoundly disturbing--ancient forests being stripped to nothing by huge multi-nationals--all to feed the UK's need for 12.5 million tons of paper per year. She found that Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand had terrible devastation but that China and Finland had very good forest preservation. Russia and Canada are the worst offenders--they also have the most wood--50% of the world's forests. She said that "it was Canada that depressed me the most, Canada is incredibly wealthy, yet 90 per cent of its logging is from old growth forests and its pollution record is horrific. It has some of the worst cases of paper mill pollution I found."
...
Navitime Japan Launches Eco-route ASP Service
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 07.15.08
Japanese GPS service provider, Navitime Japan, has launched a new ASP (application service provider) route-finder service, Eco-route ASP. The service is designed to help corporations build applications for their websites to show customized transport routes, such as delivery routes and travel plans, in order to find the most environmentally friendly route and reduce CO2 emissions....
T. Boone Pickens Talks Natural Gas, Energy Independence, Peak Oil and Swift Boating with Katie Couric
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
Wretched Excess Dept: Mega-Rec-Rooms to Keep Kids Inside
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times
Back in the day, you told the kids to go play outside; the outdoors, the street, the park, they were the rec rooms. When they got to be teenagers, they went and hung out with friends. Some got into trouble; most didn't. Things changed. Even though crime rates have dropped to the lowest level in decades, cities like New York are as clean as Disneyland and bikes are cool again, Architecture professor Dana Cuff can say to the Times:
“There is a rise in home technology, all your friends are online, and there are far fewer safe, interesting public spaces to hang out in,” she said. “All of these things come together, and parents start creating houses within houses for their teens.”
So parents are paying big bucks to put in fancy rec rooms with big TVs and Wiis and pool tables. “The nice thing is that they all hang out in their space and do what they do and we don’t have to worry about where everyone is,” [Atlanta parent Beth] Fowler said. “There are drugs and alcohol and sex and a million other temptations out there, and I think the kids are often just as nervous as the parents are. Having a cool place to hang with friends under your own roof just makes it a little bit easier.”...
Does Green Box Biking Reduce Right Hook Collisions?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 07.15.08
Portland is a cyclist's city with expanding bike paths (200 miles installed since 2000) and increasing numbers of riders, but also some pain and problems as more cyclists and motorists try to co-exist. On inner-city rides it is easy to feel that a majority of motorists are accustomed to cyclists and have shifted their habits accordingly, though big trucks still feel like a major hazard.
Portland loves green box biking
Two cycling fatalities last year (and an all-time high of six in 2007) as well as some recent highly publicized bike-car road rage clashes have made the situation tense. Portland's city government responded to safety concerns by thus far setting up eight green-painted bike boxes at busy intersections with a stop line for cars about ten feet behind the boxes. When bikers are in front of vehicles it is thought that "right hook" collisions where vehicles turn right and bikes proceed forward will be avoided.
Time for vehicular bikers?
Portland believes that green-painted asphalt is a great safety tool, and is now going to test an all green-colored bike lane plus bike box on a busy street in the northeastern section of the city. But John Schubert, writing in Adventure Cyclist magazine, criticized Portland's choices, saying that colored bike boxes are not making cyclists safer - in fact, the opposite.
...
Live Chat About Solar Power with General Motors: Thursday, July 17
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
photo courtesy of General Motors
You may have read how General Motors recently announced that its Zaragosa, Spain factory would be hosting the world's largest rooftop solar array. This Thursday you can get your chance to ask GM Green Power Initiatives Manager Rob Threlkeld all about the plant, solar energy in general, and GM’s use of renewable energy. The chat will take place at the GMnext website, from 3-4 PM, EDT. You’ll have to register to participate prior to the event.
:: GMnext
General Motors, Renewable Energy
General Motors Factory to Host World’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array
General Motors Installs Solar Rooftops for Free
...
Could a Century's Worth of Carbon Emissions Be Stored Within the Juan de Fuca Plate?
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.15.08
Image from D G Brown
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences makes the case that 208-250 billion tons of carbon dioxide -- roughly equivalent to a century's worth of future emissions (122-147 years, to be exact) -- could be safely stored within the Juan de Fuca plate, reports The Guardian's Alok Jha.
The tectonic plate, which arises from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, encompasses an area of the seafloor several hundred kilometers from the coasts of Washington and Oregon. David Goldberg, a geologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, believes its basalt layers could be suitable for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. ...
Short Film on Vélib, World's Biggest Bike-Sharing Program in Paris
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.15.08
TreeHugger Tip: Eco-Friendly Way to Kill Fruit Flies
by Chris Tackett, San Francisco on 07.15.08
Spanish Solar Firm to Suspend Two U.S. Projects if Investment Tax Credits Are Not Extended
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
photo: Getty Images
The various renewable energy incentive packages introduced into the U.S. Congress, or stalled in the Senate have been a running post topic in the last month or so on TreeHugger. Now comes word, through GreenTechMedia, that legislative inaction may result in at least one company abandoning two U.S. solar projects.
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Vertical Farms Get the New York Times Treatment
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Eric Ellingsen and Dickson Despommier
Bina Ventkataraman in The New York Times covers vertical farms: "What if “eating local” in Shanghai or New York meant getting your fresh produce from five blocks away? And what if skyscrapers grew off the grid, as verdant, self-sustaining towers where city slickers cultivated their own food?"
The politicians are even getting into it; Scott Stringer, Manhattan borough president, is “sketching out what it would take to pilot a vertical farm,” and plans to pitch a feasibility study to the mayor’s office within the next couple of months, he said. “I think we can really do this,” he added. “We could get the funding.”
The Times also speaks to some skeptics. "“Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment banker for space in a high-rise?" asks planner Armando Carbonell. "My bet is that the investment banker will pay more.”
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Toxic Take-Out, Fuel-Saving Tricks and Summer-ey Soup
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 07.15.08
:: Learn why NYC take-out has left SuChin shocked.
:: Switch off your car's A/C before arriving at your destination to save money and minimize pollution.
:: Chill out this summer with some refreshing and seasonal strawberry soup.
:: Peruse Emeril's smorgasbord of green recipes and then get cookin'!
:: Think about how you might want to exit earth, the eco-way.
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Admit it: Jimmy Carter Was Right
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Jimmy Carter in his Famous Cardigan Sweater
At least that is what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, and they might have a bias. However they do point out that:
- He was right in seeking to raise the fleet auto mileage standard to 48 miles per gallon by 1995. (Even U.S. automakers admitted at the time that they could easily achieve 30 mpg by 1985.)
- Carter was right in exhorting Americans to turn down their thermostats, even if he did look nerdy in a cardigan while urging us to do so.
- He was right to encourage fuel conservation by proposing a 50-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and a fee on imported oil —- in effect, a floor for fuel prices.
- Invoking the pioneering spirit of the 1960s moon mission, he was right to recommend a tax on windfall oil profits to finance a crash program to develop affordable synthetic fuels.
- Carter was correct, too, in setting a goal of obtaining 20 percent of our energy from solar power by the year 2000.
Alberta Oil & Gas Collateral Damage: She Can Light Her Water on Fire
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.15.08
Photo by Will Andruschack.
When Lighting Your Water on Fire Isn't a Magic Trick
Jessica Ernst lives in the village of Rosebud, Alberta, East of Calgary. EnCana, a big oil & gas company, is operating close to her house. The photo above speaks for itself. Read on for her story....
Ontario Boreal Forest Half the Size of Texas to Be Protected
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
It gets harder every day to figure out who to vote for in Ontario if you are a TreeHugger type. It used to be New Democratic Party turf; then the Green Party came along, but one can't overlook the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, which has pushed every TreeHugger button including:
Health: Banned trans fats in schools, smoking in cars with children, lawn pesticides and pit bulls. Planning: Cleaned up the planning act and brought in the Green Belt. Electricity: Banned incandescent bulbs, removed rules against clotheslines, closing coal fired power plants (or trying, anyways) Cycling: Eliminated sales tax on bikes and helmets.
But now he has topped it all; he has banned all mining and logging in half of the boreal forest (an area the size of Michigan) and restricted the other half to a "sustainable development" plan worked out with First Nations. "It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world," McGuinty said.
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Biofuel Cooperation Discussed Between Indonesia, Brazil
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
Indonesian deforestation with fires in the distance, photo by Billy via flickr
Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil, and Brazil , one of the most successful places where ethanol has been produced from sugarcane, have agreed to cooperate on sharing biofuel production knowledge.
Quoted at ENN, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono indicated that Indonesia could learn from the research and development of Brazil’s experience with ethanol. ...
Jatropha Production Expanded in India, Hindustan Petroleum to Plant 15,000 Hectares
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
photos courtesy of The Jatropha System
India is one of the world’s leading cultivators of jatropha as a feedstock for biodiesel, with over one million hectares planted to date. That figure is set to rise slightly on the news that Hindustan Petroleum and the Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) are partnering to plant an additional 15,000 hectares.
Cleantech is reporting that though the exact financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Hindustan Petroleum will hold 74% of the joint venture and will received the entire harvest of jatropha seeds, which it will then refine into biodiesel for sale at its retail outlets across the state of Chhattisgarh. The land used for cultivation will be wastelands obtained by CREDA.
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Dubai Gets Less Dubious with Xeritown by SMAQ and X-Architects
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Finally, after years of criticizing just about everything going on in Dubai, even the so-called green twisting tower that everyone else seems to love, a project that is not, well, dubious. SMAQ and X-Architects have designed Xeritown to be "a novel example of man and nature working in harmony, an entire town is to be built along a north-south axis to take advantage of cool breezes blowing in off the sea." It is sort of like Foster's Masdar in Abu Dhabi, but a little more down to earth.
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Pop Quiz: What Kills Bicyclists?
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 07.15.08
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Another Reason We Like Prefab, and Why Architects Shouldn't Design Cars
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Car designed by architect Zaha Hadid is missing a few things, like headlights...
If Cars Were Designed by Architects: (as an architect I think a better title might be, if Cars were built like houses, it's not all the architect's fault)
Your car would be designed based on what kind of road you live next to. This process would take several years, even though there are already many cars on the street you live on. After your car is designed, your town government will have to approve it. Then your neighbors may complain and force you to redesign your car. When the design is finally finished, your car will be built from scratch. Parts will be sent to your garage, where the workers will then proceed to assemble your car. This will take 50% longer than you expected, and cost 100% more than expected. ...
The Slimfast Diet for Airplanes
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
From cover of Airplane! by Robert Grossman
We learned in back in high school physics that it takes energy to move a mass, and the more mass, the more energy. Paul Kedrosky lists some of the tiny moves that airlines are making to squeeze every ounce out, which add up to big savings in fuel.
- One airline saved over 17 gallons/year per pound of weight per airplane after shedding inflight phones, ovens, excess potable water, and some galley equipment on an older fleet
- In removing seatback phones from its MD-80s and B737-400s, another airline shed 200 pounds per airplane, translating into 3,400+ gallons saved annually
- Alaska Airlines indicated in March 2004 that removing just five magazines per aircraft could save $10,000 per year in fuel; also, the airline has reduced the weight of catering supplies
- Air Canada considered stripping primer and paint from its 767s to save 360 lbs. per plane
Solar-Powered Street Lights to Illuminate Parts of Baghdad
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.15.08
photo by James Gordon
Baghdad may not be able to provide city residents enough electricity from the grid to keep the lights on in people’s homes and businesses for more than half the day, but the streetlights may soon may have a more reliable source of power. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Iraqi Electricity Ministry and the U.S. military are in the process of installing solar-powered street lighting throughout the capital.
Security Impetus For Solar Lighting
The Electricity ministry will be installing 5,000 of the lights at a cost of about $2,000 a piece, while the 1,000 being installed by the army have a price tag of $6,200 each due to the fact that they are bulletproof. Considering that increasing security is the main impetus behind the installation—besides the obvious benefit of added illumination, having the lights not tied to the grid means it will be harder for insurgents to disable large sections of illumination—the added cost of bulletproofing the lights may well be worth it.
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Our Own Three Gorges: Would We Build the St. Lawrence Seaway Today?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Almost fifty years ago, President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth opened the St. Lawrence Seaway, built to generate electricity and open Great Lakes ports to to ocean-going ships. 100 square miles of land, including six villages, home to 6,500 people, were submerged, "sacrificed at the altar of shipping and hydro-electric power," as Peter Gorrie of the Star puts it. Robert Moses on the American side, and Robert Saunders on the Canadian, bulldozed it through.
"In the '50s there was no such thing as protests," Jane Craig of the Lost Villages Historical Society says. "When the government said something was going to be done, it was done. It couldn't happen today the way it happened, for sure. The protest groups that would be out there – I just couldn't see it."
So they just went ahead and did it. But was is worth it?...
Airship Tours of London: A Photo Essay
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 07.15.08
Lloyd noted a little while ago that Zeppelins are back, and they are even offering passenger journeys, as opposed to just cargo (like the SkyHook being proposed for the Alberta Tar Sands, of all places). However for now, when I say passenger journeys, I really mean sight-seeing tours. The Guardian has a fabulous photo essay showing the view that can be had floating over London in an airship at a tranquil 30mph, and while I'm pretty sure that a spin in The London Eye (a giant glorified ferris wheel) would use less resources, this service may still serve to raise the profile of airships once more as a viable, and pleasant, transport option. I'd be surprised to see them adopted by the budget carriers any time soon though - tickets currently cost ₤185 for 30 minutes ($370), ₤295 ($590 for 45 minutes and ₤360 ($720) for the one-hour flight. Still, with gas prices continuing to rise, and with internet technology being what it is, I might one day have the opportunity to float across the Atlantic sedately, writing TreeHugger posts as I go. In the meantime, I can always hang my greener aviation hopes on the return of the turboprop. Another photo and related articles below the fold....
Redesigning Urban Transport
by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 07.15.08
Lester R. Brown
While most people may decry record-high gasoline prices, Earth Policy Institute, we see it as big nudge to redesign our urban transport systems, as I discuss in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
In Mexico City, Tehran, Kolkata, Bangkok, Shanghai, and hundreds of other cities, the air is no longer safe to breathe. Respiratory illnesses are rampant. In the United States, the number of hours commuters spend sitting frustrated in traffic-congested streets and highways climbs higher each year. In response, forward-thinking city planners are seeking ways to redesign cities for people not cars. They have begun to realize that urban transport systems based on a combination of rail lines, bus lines, bicycle pathways, and pedestrian walkways offer the best of all possible worlds in providing mobility, low-cost transportation, and a healthy urban environment....
Juvenile Delinquents Don't Hang Out in Diners, They Restore Them
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
We love restoration and preservation; we also love a good diner. There is nothing like a classic American diner, except nobody goes to them anymore, McDonalds is so much more convenient. "These were places where Americans dawdled, debated and dated, kibitzing over sliders (sausage patties), sinkers (donuts), and Adam and Eve on a raft (poached eggs on toast)."
But at the Rhode Island Training School, four classic diners are being rebuilt from the ground up by teen offenders. Pam Belluck writes in the New York Times: "The whole poetry behind it is that these are kids who have been pretty much cast away emotionally and criminally, getting a chance to restore beloved eateries that have been cast off from society, too," said Daniel Zilka, the acting director of the American Diner Museum, who rescues decrepit diners and helps run the project....
Garimpo+Fuxique: Repurposed Fabrics Furniture, Clothes and Accessories
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 07.15.08
Garimpo+Fuxique is the combination of a clothing and deco shops in Sao Paulo, Brazil, both centered on the idea of fabrics repurposing.
Garimpo stands for the decoration part of the shop, which hosts refurbished chairs, bed clothes, pillows, lighting accessories and even beach-ware such as umbrellas and bikinis. The style of the shop is defined by its hosts as a combination of extremes: romantic and modern, chic and popular, simple and luxurious, new and old. Fuxique is the clothing brand, which offers a whole line of garments, bags, accessories and necessaires. The clothes are produced with rare vintage pieces of fabric, some over 50 years old.
Even though not based in a new idea, this shop's great looking creations show how good repurposing can look when done right. Check many more pics in the extended.
Via Design Natural....
Quote of the Day: Architecture Is Like Sushi
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
Bamboo House by Kengo Kuma
Architect Kengo Kuma lecturing at the Royal Academy of Arts, being critical of Frank Gehry, mass production and industrialization of architecture:
'Sushi is a good metaphor for my architecture. The importance in sushi is to choose the best material from the place, in season.
'If the journey of the ingredients is too long, the taste of the sushi is compromised. That is a problem that can't be solved by modern technology, and that programme of using local material in season is the secret of good taste, and the secret of my style.' ::Architects' Journal...
Turkish Gov’t. Leaves Eco-Dark Ages Behind By Lending Books to Students in Bid to Save Trees and Cash
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.15.08
In a practice I can hardly fathom, the Turkish government has been giving 155 million new textbooks each year to students, most of which are thrown into the trash at the end of the year rather than simply requiring they return them for use by next year’s crop of students.
Of course there’s not only an environmental cost to this enormous waste of resources, but an economic cost as well, with the books costing the Turkish public more than $800 million annually.
...
Broadway Gets a Bicycle and Pedestrian Friendly Makeover
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 07.15.08
Image Credit: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
NYC Improves a Major Mid-Town Street
New York City, which recently unveiled a plan to be more bicycle friendly and is considering a bike-share program, will soon boast a bicycle and pedestrian friendly public esplanade along one of its most famous streets, Broadway. When the new street, to be called Broadway Boulevard, is opened in August, it "will run from 42nd Street to Herald Square" and "change that section of Broadway from a four-lane to a two-lane street." Removing two lanes will enable the city to add "a bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway with cafe tables, chairs, umbrellas and flower-filled planters."
Will Broadway be Part of a Broader Trend?
The makeover of Broadway is part of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to reduce emissions and traffic in the city, and is a sign that although he failed to introduce congestion pricing in the city, Mr. Bloomberg "intends to push ahead with smaller-scale initiatives to wrest at least part of the street from cars and trucks." At at cost of $700,000, the project will bring more open space and greenery, as well as fewer cars and noise, to a prominent thoroughfare in one of the world's most prominent cities. Will this be an isolated, cute initiative, or part of a broader trend towards cities build on a human, rather than vehicular, scale? Time will tell. . .
Via: ::NY Times
More on Cycling
Cyclists, Motorists and the Law
Cycling Has an Image Problem
Physically Separated Bike Lanes
Internet Outrage Makes State Farm Pull "Humiliated Cyclist" Ad
More on New York City
Manhattan to Enjoy 6.9 Mile Temporary Car-Free Route
New York City: Sustainable City?
BicyTaxi Comes to New York City
New York Infrastructure Fails Again
Sexy Cycling NYC?...
1% Water and Our Future: Art + Design Exhibition Gets Creative With H2O
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 07.15.08
Trying to impart the idea that our planet has a serious water shortage is a real challenge. It's most especially difficult to convince those of us that have hot and cold running water day and night that we really need to conserve this precious resource. A new exhibition at the Z33 Gallery in Belgium aims to bring the message home using creative installations from artists and designers discussing cultural attitudes towards water and the many ways in which it is used and often abused. The show's title '1% Water' relates to the fact that while 70% of our planet's surface is water, only 3% of this is freshwater and even more shocking is that only 1% is suitable for human consumption....
Survey: Do You Think Vegetarians Live Longer?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
There was a rumble in the comments on Christine's post Proven: Vegetarians Live Longer where some interesting points were made. Which do you agree with?
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The Most Important Report You'll Read This Year: "Breaking The Climate Deadlock"
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.15.08
Times Are Changing
The climate science debate is over. Policy action is what it's all about. In spite of the US' delaying actions, other developed nations and many large companies are focused on real policy choices. Even Tony Blair has stopped 'beating around the bush'.
Scan Tony's recent speech on Breaking The Climate Deadlock, given to the Climate Group. Then download the full report on Breaking the Climate Deadlock (downloadable pdf file here).
Think Ahead, Think Positive - Immerse Yourself In Policy
You'll not find a better capsule summary of what we face and what needs to be done for the rest of your life - and your childrens' lives. Honestly. Read the report. The details are gripping. Then, have a look at who belongs to the Climate Group: many familiar faces....
Brad and Angelina's Twins, Nicole Kidman's Green Baby, Christy Turlington's Model Charity, and More
by Terri MacLeod on 07.15.08
...Just in case you haven't heard. The world's seemingly most anticipated twins have arrived. Brad and Angelina are the new parents of a boy named Knox Leon and a girl called Vivienne Marcheline. Although barely days old, a magazine already reportedly coughed up $11 million dollars (the amount could exceed $15 million) for the first "official" photo of the twins. A crazy, ridiculous sum, agreed! ...One redeeming reality to this insanity for celebrity baby pics is the eco-conscious couple are donating all of the money to charity. ...Hopefully some of the cash will go to environmental causes or towards Brad's passion for building green communities.
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Large Scale Fuel Theft Hits Scotland
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.15.08
Fuel Thieves - Reincarnated From 1981 Oil Crisis
Large scale fuel theft is a nasty problem that hits the poor and elderly hard. Happened before so we should not be surprised. Won't be but a few months...certainly by winter...that it'll surface in North America. Scotland is in the grip of a new crime wave with organized thieves stealing tens of thousands of litres of fuel each day from farms, homes and petrol stations across the country. Record oil prices have made fuel a targeted commodity for gangs of criminals. Thieves are reselling the stolen fuel through independent, rural petrol stations or selling directly through a network of criminal contacts in Scotland's major cities....
New Prize for Photos Showing Sustainability
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.15.08
A hearty welcome to the Prix Pictet; a new global photography prize that focuses on sustainability. The award is sponsored by Pictet & Cie,a Swiss bank, in association with the Financial Times newspaper. Each year a different theme will be the focus of the prize; this year's theme is water. The prize is $100,000 and the chance to work on a water-related project. Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations is the Honourary President: "Climate change is not just an environmental issue, as too many people believed for too long. It is an all-encompassing threat. It is a threat to the world's supply of fresh water, our source of life."
The mandate for the photographers is: "works that are of outstanding artistic merit that also communicate messages of urgent global significance." The 18 finalists have been announced, chosen from the 200 photographers from 43 countries who entered the competition. The finalists include TreeHugger favourite Ed Burtynsky who has photos of the impact on the landscape of the Alberta tar sands and the oil fields in Azerbaijan (photo). Others include photos of Colombia, Antarctica, icebergs, dust storms in China and waste in Lahore. The winner won't be announced until October, but the public can vote on-line for their favourite photo.
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Rokkasho Documentary Screened In Hawaii
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 07.15.08
Last month, on International Surfing Day, we talked about Rokkasho in Japan. Last weekend, the documentary on the controversial nuclear reprocessing plant and its potential effects on the rest of the world screened at the University of Hawaii.
"Now in the middle of the village at the highest point with the best views, a plant has been built for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants," Hitomi Kamanaka, the film's director said to KGMB9.com:
The radioactive substances released from the chimney will be carried on the wind and spread out across the farmland that lies downwind. Radioactive waste will also be discharged into the ocean through a huge pipe that extends two miles off shore, and that worries surfers and fishermen who have complained to the government. "What they say is the ocean is big, so no problem. That's not the point; it's going to get to the fish," said David Kinoshita, a surfer from Japan. Ryo Kubota, a UH graduate student, says discharge from the plant could even affect Hawaii. "The North Pacific current goes from Japan all the way to United States and current comes back to Hawaii. so that if something happens in Japan, that pollutant can reach Hawaii," said Kubota. That's why Kubota helped bring the documentary called "Rokkasho Rhapsody" to the University of Hawaii. The film chronicles the efforts of Japanese activists to call attention to the danger of radioactive contamination....
Save Money, Reduce Carbon Emissions: The Energy Detective is on the Case
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.15.08
TED, The Energy Detective, Sits Where You Will Notice It
Saving energy, thereby protecting the environment and saving money, keeps getting easier with new tools to help you see and manage your energy use. People who live off-grid know where every watt-hour goes. You can do a similar thing for your whole house or apartment with TED, The Energy Detective. With TED, you can see your real-time energy use either by watt-hours or by dollars. ...
New Leaf Cafe Dinner and Film: Exclusive Advanced Screening of “A Man Named Pearl”
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 07.14.08
New Leaf Film & Dinner Experience - July 15th
If you're in New York City and weren't fortunate enough to get tickets to Transportation Alternatives sold out Summer Benefit tomorrow night (way to go T.A.!), you have instead the unique opportunity to dine under the stars while viewing an advanced screening of the award-winning documentary A Man Named Pearl at the New Leaf Restaurant & Bar on July 15th. And to celebrate the film's preview, be the first to experience the New Leaf's new signature cocktail, The Pearl! The New Leaf Café itself is a unique undertaking whereby a non-profit, Bette Midler's organization New York Restoration Project, operates a for-profit restaurant and all net proceeds support the restoration and maintenance of Fort Tryon Park. Details and link to the trailer for A Man Named Pearl after the jump....
Wine's Green Winners, Phantom Power and Saskatoon Berries
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 07.14.08
:: Think beyond organic when buying wine.
:: Unplug appliances to reduce phantom power.
:: Try the berry that's related to the apple but tastes like an almond—the Saskatoon!
:: Check out Lloyd's handbuilt, funky A-frame outhouse.
:: Before you jet-set...carbon-offset!...
Kenyan Biofuel Expansion in Wetland Halted by Court, Temporarily
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
photo by Erin Collins
Plans by the Kenyan government to approve expansion of sugarcane cultivation in the Tana River Delta by Mumias, the nation's largest sugar cane producer, have been dealt a blow by the courts.
As reported by Reuters, the Malindi High Court ruled last Friday that environmentalists and representatives of local livestock groups could apply for judicial review of the project. Until this judicial review is completed the project has been halted.
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Clean Car Materials, Shrinking Trucks and 1000 Sunscreens
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 07.14.08
The Eco Elise Roadster goes beyond fuel efficiency with cleaner materials.
U.S. Congress considers placing size and weight limitations on tractor trailers.
The Skin Deep database ranks over 1000 sunscreens.
Aid workers in Darfur warn that climate change is a recipe for war.
Engineers at MIT create a new approach to solar.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
Whale-Watching Report: Whales More Valuable Alive Than Dead
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 07.14.08
Image: ichie on flickrFrom origami whale campaigns to Mr. Splashy Pants, it’s pretty obvious that those big, intelligent and lovable cetaceans are massively popular. And according to a recent report focusing on the phenomenal growth of whale-watching in Latin America, watching whales (as opposed to killing them) could have a much greater economic benefit to local communities and governments worldwide. However, the report also highlights the fact that standards and regulations are greatly needed to make the industry sustainable....
Biofuels, Food, Population Growth to Put Increasing Pressure on Forests
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
Photo of land cleared for cattle in the Amazon by Leonardo F. Freitas
A new report from the Rights and Resources Initiative starkly quantifies the amount of additional land which will have to be put under cultivation to satisfy the demands of a growing world population for food and biofuels.
Land equivalent to 12 Germanys will have to go under the plow
Unless agricultural productivity of land rise sharply—the exact opposite of trends since the Green Revolution and the subsequent introduction of GM crops—an additional 515 million hectares (1.273 billion acres) will be have to be put under new cultivation by 2030. Over half of this land will likely come from tropical forests, which will only increase the effects of global warming on already stressed croplands.
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Tesla Motors "Breaks Logjam", Electric Roadsters Start Shipping
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.14.08
Tesla Electric Roadsters Finally Ship to Customers
As they say, if you never fail, you're probably not trying. It took a long time, and some even lost faith in the young company, but Tesla has now "broken the logjam", in the words of Ze'ev Drori, its president and CEO. Tesla electric Roadsters are now shipping. "Already 9 production Roadsters have arrived in California, another 3 arrive this weekend, and they will keep arriving at the rate of 4 per week" until December when production should ramp up to about 25 per week. There are currently 27 Roadsters in various stages of assembly in the UK Lotus factory, and a transition to "Powertrain 1.5" (which should increase performance) is scheduled to happen in mid-September. We wish Tesla the best of luck, and especially hope that their plans to create new less expensive and more mainstream electric cars will go smoothly. At the end of the day, their biggest impact on the market might be to inspire people who weren't interested in electric cars and pressure other automakers, though. Thanks to Willy Bio for the tip.
More Tesla Motors News
Tesla Hires Chrysler Exec to Become VP of Engineering and Manufacturing
Tesla's Next Electric Car to be Called "Model S", New Factory to Open in North California
First Tesla Electric Car Store Opens in Santa-Monica...
17 Electric Cars You Must Know About
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.14.08
Update: See also our slideshow on 23 Electric Cars that are Driving the Revolution!
Electric Cars: You Want 'Em? We've Got 'Em!
Over the past 3 years, we've written about many electric cars here on
TreeHugger. We think it's time to look in the rearview mirror, so here's an overview. If you see anything you like, just follow the links to see the original articles.
Electric Roadster by Tesla Motors
The electric car that made a lot of people do a double-take (in a good way). Yes, it's expensive, and yes, it's only a two-seater, but it can make people want it like few other green cars, and someone has to pay the early-adopter 'tax'. Our first post about it was in two years ago. Since then, we've written about the opening of the first Tesla Motors store in California, about what happens to a Tesla battery pack at the end of its life, and recently about Tesla's hiring of a new VP of Engineering and Manufacturing. Update: The Tesla electric Roadster has just started shipping to customers and Martin Eberhard Blogs About Getting his Tesla Roadster....Climate Saving Is No PICNIC, But Is Possibly Worth A $750,000 Prize
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 07.14.08
PICNIC '07 winner Igor Kluin flanked by award creators and Richard Branson, jury chair.
Give us - or rather the PICNIC Green Challenge - your best climate-friendly, greenhouse-gas-cutting idea, and it could be worth a $750,000 cash prize sponsored by the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
While that may seem like an offbeat organization to be dabbling in eco-entrepreneurship, it's no joke. Last year's winner Igor Kluin (pictured above accepting his prize) revved up his company Qurrent with prize winnings, and is well on his way toward launching a system for connecting and managing local area networks of renewable energy. Translation: small groups of homes or businesses can maximize their wind turbines, heat pumps and solar installations by sharing energy and having a computer-controlled 'brain' keep track of usages and implement efficiencies.
Directly reduce greenhouse gases
Judges for the PICNIC competition will choose three to five finalists, and coaches will give the finalists a few days of intense preparation on presenting their business idea this September - Igor Kluin has said the coaching helped him marshal his thoughts to present Qurrent's concept in an entirely new way. In addition to a product or service that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, judges are after concepts that can be implemented within two years (by you or your company), and that score well on convenience, quality, and design.
Don't wait, formulate your eco-friendly idea now
But act now, the Challenge deadline is July 31. While that's a tight timeframe, Qurrent's Igor Kluin wrote his proposal in one day and still managed to impress from among the 439 other entries. Go straight to the entry form at Green Challenge. Via ::PICNIC
More:
PICNIC Green Challenge: It's Time To Act
Win 500,000 Euros With Your Green Idea...
Solar Powered Hindu Temple in California to Open Summer 2008
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
Eastern elevation rendering courtesy of BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir
Recently I wrote about how Hindu temples in India have been making efforts to green their energy usage and commented that, given the core belief of the interconnectedness of all life in Sanatana Dharma, it wasn’t surprising that Hindu temples would embrace cleaner energy. Now comes word, via Inhabitat, that a new mandir (temple) and cultural center in Chino Hills, California has also embraced renewable energy.
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Cargo Ships Emit Twice as Much Soot as Previously Thought: NOAA Study
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
photo: Getty Images
Usually when we talk about transportation emissions causing climate change here at TreeHugger, we focus on CO2 emissions or methane emissions—the usual suspects in the global warming discussion. In regards to cargo shipping, companies are investigating how much slowing down ships can reduce emissions. A new study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado shows, however, that it’s not just the carbon emissions from cargo shipping which are a serious global warming concern, but also the soot these ships produce.
The findings of the study were published in Geophysical Research Letters, but Science Daily gives us the layman’s translation:...
UN Report: The Future Could be Swell... But We're Blowing It
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.14.08
Image from hdptcar
Time for another round of good news, bad news. First, the good: According to a weighty new UN report (it's 6,300 pages long and includes submissions from 2,500 experts) uncovered by The Independent, the world stands poised to enter a new era of peace, prosperity and empowerment. Increased democratization, economic and technological advances and medical breakthroughs have the potential to bring millions out of poverty and make the world "work far better than it does today".
Now for the bad: Despite these promising developments, we are still more likely than not to screw it all up through sheer violence, inequality and environmental degradation. Worse, governments are not even properly equipped to take advantage of these advances or to prevent many of the looming crises. ...
Kick It Up a Notch with Planet Green Tonight: Emeril Green Premiers!
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 07.14.08
Tonight, one of our favorite celebrity chefs (from right up the road in Fall River, Mass.), Emeril Lagasse, will be starring in a brand new series on Planet Green. Not one but SIX episodes will debut tonight – BAM! Called Emeril Green, Lagasse will be helping viewers solve their cooking dilemmas and will shares his philosophy for fresh, locally grown foods and inspires consumers by using high-quality produce, seafood and meats.
Picture an ultimate foodie fantasy store. Then drop in some real people who have real culinary challenges and watch as Lagasse comes to their rescue. What do you have? A recipe for a fun, new series that unleashes all the information about how everyday cooking can be healthy, organic, and eco-friendly....
Cyclists, Motorists and the Law
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 07.14.08
Caught at a Red Light
Last night I was biking home from the movie theater when I got caught at one of those red lights that cyclists dread. If you are a cyclist, you know the situation: you're on a small road and need to turn onto a larger road. Unfortunately, the light only changes if a car trips a sensor under the road. Your options now are limited: you can either run the light, wait for a car to trip the sensor, or climb off your bike and push the cross-walk signal (if there is one.) Well, at first I waited for a car to come, to no avail. Nor did the street have a cross-walk signal. My only option was to run the light, but as a law abiding cyclist, I wasn't terribly excited about the idea. One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing cyclists running lights and stop signs, riding on the wrong side of the road, etc. After all, while motorists often don't seem to know how to share the road and put others in danger, cyclists greatly damage their image by not obeying the laws of the road.
A Bicycle is Not A Car
I ended up running the light after making sure there were no cars in the vicinity, but that's not the point. I tell this story because it got me thinking about the fact that while cyclists have the same rights--and responsibilities--as motorists, a bicycle is NOT a car, and perhaps shouldn't be treated as such. (Of course, I believe a bicycle can do everything a car can!) Conversely, if we are to really view bicycles in the same way as cars, at a a minimum from a legal perspective, then we have done a pitiful job of providing the requisite education and infrastructure to make that a reality. ...
Ethical Eating: Our Endangered Food Supply Chain
by Stephen Brooks, Punta Mona, Costa Rica on 07.14.08
Stephen Brooks is the co-founder of Kopali Organics and a correspondent for Planet Green’s G Word http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/g-word/. TreeHugger.
In this day and age we try and consider all of the certifications and seals on the packages of the food we buy. Is it organic? Fair Trade? Wild harvested? Rainforest friendly? Local? What does this all mean anyway? Who is actually growing my food and who is profiting when I buy it?
Most people do not want to contribute to destroying our planet’s ecosystems, nor do people want to support child slave labor in the Ivory Coast when eating their favorite chocolate bar. Yet, somehow, these atrocities are taking place with many, many of the products we consume everyday. Now the question is: Is it possible for our food to be both affordable and not destroy the planet?
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New Biomass Cookstoves Significantly Reduce Fuel Requirements, Indoor Air Pollution
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
photo by Matthew Logelin
The problems: 1) Indoor air pollution in the developing world caused by cooking fires and sooty illumination results in an estimated 1.6 million deaths per year, 2) Deforestation resulting from over use of wood as an energy source causes serious ecosystem degradation in many parts of the developing world.
A solution, as Envirofit sees it: New cookstoves, which while still burning biomass (wood, crop waste, dried animal dung) reduce indoor air pollution by 80%, reduce fuel usage by 50% and decrease cooking times by 40%.
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Morgan Freeman and the Sierra Club: Protect Nature So it Can Protect People
by Greg Haegele, Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Cl on 07.14.08
Actor Morgan Freeman is teaming up with us here at the Sierra Club on a project to provide people, communities, and companies in severe-storm and hurricane regions with the information they need to protect themselves from the effects of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. That includes sending the message that communities must work to protect, restore, and strengthen their natural line of defense: the wetlands, forests, and floodplains that buffer against high winds and absorb high water.
Freeman founded the Grenada Relief Fund in 2004 after Hurricane Ivan – a Category 5 storm – devastated the rain forest and communities (it ripped the roofs off 90% of the homes) on the small island of Grenada. A small group of highly passionate people led by Freeman formed the relief fund, and with the help of partnerships, Grenada became a gold star example of how to recover from severe storm and hurricane disasters....
TreeHugger Tip: Ludacris in the Bathroom
by Emma Grady, New York, NY on 07.14.08
Come the Climate Crisis and the End of Oil, Who is Going to Save Who?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
illustration from Freakangels via Worldchanging
Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing and Alex Steffen of Worldchanging got together for coffee and had an idea.
"What would it be like, we wondered, if folks who knew tools and innovation left the comfy bright green cities and traveled to the dead mall suburban slums, rustbelt browntowns and climate-smacked farm communities and started helping the locals get the tools they needed. "
"Imagine these folks...Helping rural landowners apply climate foresight and farm biodiversity...creating local knowledge management systems, launching microfinance projects, mobilebanking and complementary currencies..Hacking together DIY windmills and ad hoc smart grids, communication systems, water treatment systems -- and getting really good adaptive reuses of outdated infrastructure. In other words, these folks would be redistributing the future at a furious clip."
I might suggest that Cory and Alex watch King Corn before they send out their Peace Corps of Green Urbanites to the "climate-smacked farm communities." Farmers know more about microfinance, mobile banking, Geolocation and computers than most people; they have to keep on top of the latest subsidies, finance their crop and equipment out on the raggedy edge of credit limits, keep on top of weather, fertilizer prices, and make costly bets on which product is going to move in an environment where the the subsidies and the entire farming system is designed around corn, because that's what government policy said it should be. If the policy was to grow organic tomatoes, they would, and could.
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Quote of the Day: Andy Grove
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 07.14.08
Former Intel CEO Andry Grove recently wrote an interesting piece on energy. His angle is not totally green, but it's worth reading. Here's a good quote:
"New technology often shows up in this manner: it is not completely satisfactory in the beginning, but good enough to get going. The first personal computers, for example, were little more than toys. They fascinated cognoscenti and hobbyists, but compared to the mainframe computers that were the workhorses of that time, they were limited. PCs quickly grew in capability and eventually reached parity with mainframes and then surpassed them in efficiency and computing power. Such approaches, of starting low and moving up, have been named 'disruptive technologies.'
The automobile industry, in the main, has not embraced disruptive technology. It has been waiting instead for batteries to improve until they can allow electric cars to enter the marketplace with the same driving range as gasoline-fueled cars. Battery developers, in turn, have been waiting for demand from the automobile industry to develop before fully committing the resources required to do the job. The generation and transmission infrastructures have not been built up to service the potentially explosive demand from transportation. The wait has gone on for some time."...
UK Invests Big Money In Bikes
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
While certain American politicians complain about a million bucks being included in the country's energy plan to promote bikes, in the UK they are investing £140 million (about US$ 280 million) to create dedicated bike lanes, provide bike parking, safety training, on-street bike rental networks and a campaign to promote bicycling in 12 Cycling Demonstration Towns.
The Transport Minister, Ruth Kelly says "A quarter of journeys made every day by car are less than two miles, Cycling is an alternative that could bring real health benefits to millions of adults and children, as well as helping them save money and beat congestion."
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Eight New Nuclear Plants Must Contribute to “Post-Oil Economy” says UK Prime Minister
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 07.14.08
photo by Tim Duckett
Gordon Brown recently announced that a £100 billion government investment in renewable energy would be “the most dramatic change in energy policy since nuclear power”. Such an investment will allow Britain to generate 30-35% of its electricity from renewables by 2020. Based on recent statements in Paris, we now know more clearly about his commitment to nuclear energy.
New Plants Required to Replace Existing Aging Ones
The Guardian is reporting that Brown has stated that “at least” eight new nuclear reactors are needed over the next 15 years to replace those which will come offline due to age during this time period or shortly thereafter. These new plants would generate approximately 10 GW of power in total and the first could begin generating electricity by 2017. ...
The Hot Poop on Fertilizer from Sewage
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
In Ontario, Canada, they get a lot of sewage sludge out of the treatment plants; 120,000 tonnes are spread on 37,000 acres of agricultural land. Some farmers love it because it is free, while other fertilizers are getting very expensive; others refuse to touch the stuff. The Star is running a fascinating series on it, starting with the scary ingredients:
"Feces, urine, vomit, blood. Synthetic hormones, heart pills, antibiotics, illicit drugs, Viagra. Bacteria, viruses, E. coli, parasites. Household cleaners, shampoo, solvents, pesticides and traces of arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxins and flame retardants."
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Germany Considers Allowing Seventeen Nuclear Plants To Remain Operating
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.14.08
Germany May Keep Nuclear Plants Running
The plan adopted in that preceding German administration had been to phase out nuclear power generation by 2020. Apparently, there are 17 nuclear plants still operating in Germany; and, Chancellor Angela Merkel, reacting to the political sentiments unleashed by growing electricity bills and the need to meet GHG-equivalent emission reduction commitments, is asking for a reconsideration of the nuclear phaseout goal. In spite of the fact that Germany did not, historically speaking, have much nuclear capacity to begin with (see graphic), there is popular sentiment behind this changing vision. Polls show most Germans oppose nuclear power but skyrocketing energy costs have sparked the calls to reconsider the phase-out...Some conservative leaders have proposed using the potential surplus from allowing Germany's power plants to continue operation to lower energy bills -- a suggestion polls published at the weekend showed is gaining some support....
Law amendment allows Brazil to give larger lands for rural use in Legal Amazon
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 07.14.08
(Picture: the Brazilian Senate in session. Credit: Agencia Senado Brazil.) The Brazilian Senate approved last week a modification to the law that establishes the amount of land the government can concede for rural use in the Legal Amazon without the need for a tender process. The previous limit was 500 hectares and now it's gone up to 15 fiscal modules: each municipality establishes the extension of the modules, and in some places they reach 100 hectares, which sets the maximum to 1500 hectares.
According to an official communicate, with this measure the government's goal is to "monitor and control deforestation in the Amazon, as it seeks to inhibit and fight land-grabbing (grilagem) of public lands in the region, and regularize situations that are legal and in a sustainable frame." This official text also communicated that the Agricultural Development Ministry said this will, "allow better order and more control in the territorial occupation of the Amazon."
However, the fact that the measure was treated as a fast amendment instead of a new law project raised complaints among some senators and environmental sectors, which strongly criticized the decision claiming it will speed the "invasion of the Amazon"....
Quote of the Day: Richard Florida on The New Spatial Fix
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
Andreas Feininger
Richard Florida writes about the decline of the sprawling exurb toward urban neighbourhoods and inner suburbs, suggesting it isn't just about the price of gas.
"But what's happening here goes a lot deeper than the end of cheap oil. We are now passing through the early development of a wholly new geographic order – what geographers call “the spatial fix” – of which the move back toward the city is just one part.
Suburbanization was the spatial fix for the industrial age – the geographic expression of mass production. Low-cost mortgages, massive highway systems and suburban infrastructure projects fuelled the industrial engine of postwar capitalism, propelling demand for cars, appliances and all sorts of industrial goods.
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Kite For Sail: Kite-Powered Yachting Product Launched
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 07.14.08
When Warren first reported on Kite For Sail’s innovative yacht propulsion system back in 2007, the company had apparently slated the next five years for further R&D. However, with rising gas prices hitting the headlines daily, it seems like the Maui-based yachting enthusiasts may be bringing their technology to market earlier than expected – they are now accepting down payments on orders via the Kite For Sail website, with delivery expected in the next 6 months (a full system will set you back between $3,320 and $3,545) . The makers claim the systems are safe and easy to install, and may save as much as 90% on fuel costs in optimum conditions. Click below the fold for a TV report on the prototype vessel in action, and for further reading on other kite-powered shipping options....
house 108 Follows Terrain To Minimize Disruption
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
all images STARP estudi
Here is one way to minimize one's impact on the environment when building on a slope- follow it. H Arquitectes (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó) built this cute little 109 m2 (1179 SF) number in Costa Brava, Spain.
"this project looks to respect the natural environment on this strongly slopped plot with dense Mediterranean vegetation. We tried to modify as little as possible the environment by building the house on a slope, and thus reducing the land movements, foundation and generation of waste products. We also have maintained the vegetation in order to not lose the current shaded and cool ambience as well as a sensible design of the exterior elements - wooden stairs following the natural slope and a minimal perimeter fence."
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Largest Solar Power Plant In the United States Planned for Florida
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.14.08
The beauty of "largest" records is that they just keep on growing. Florida Power & Light Company announces the selection of SunPower to build the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the United States, a 25-megawatt power plant in DeSoto County, Florida, expected to go on-line in 2009, contingent on approval of the Florida Public Service Commission. SunPower's reputation rests on the high-efficiency (22 percent efficient) Gen 2 technology photovoltaic chips, which have been in mass production since 2007....
The AIDG Blog Hosts Carnival of the Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 07.14.08
This week is Carnival of the Green # 136 and it's being hosted by the AIDG Blog, a blog that focuses on appropriate technology, development and environment. So head on over to the site and 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! ...
Vandals Trash Nationally Acclaimed School Nature Center
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.14.08
When Hillside Intermediate began their butterfly garden back in 1997 they probably had no idea that one day it would grow to 7 acres worth of carefully reconstructed wildlife habitat devoted to biodiversity that would earn awards from institutions like the Jane Goodall Institute and National Wildlife Federation. And no one could have predicted the enormous damage inflicted by vandals intent on destroying their hard work, even plugging up the entry to a bluebird box with golf balls and killing the chicks inside.
Of course, there’s often a brighter side when caring, decent human beings work together. And the outpouring of support shows just how much impact a community effort like this one in Bridgewater can have on an entire town.
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High Gas Prices = Fewer Auto Deaths
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
A new study indicates that high gas prices could reduce auto deaths by nearly a third, and even more among price-sensitive teenage drivers.
According to LiveScience, "Professors Michael Morrisey of the University of Alabama-Birmingham and David Grabowski of Harvard Medical School found that for every 10 percent increase in gas prices there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent, and for ages 18 to 21, it was 3.2 percent....
"I think there is some silver lining here in higher gas taxes in that we will see a public health gain," Grabowski said. But he cautioned that their estimate of a decline of 1,000 deaths a month could be offset somewhat by the shift under way to smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars and the increase in motorcycle and scooter driving. "
"When that happens we drive more, we drive bigger cars, we drive faster and fatalities are higher," he said. ::LiveScience...
Eco-Tourists In The Middle East Explore Jordan
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 07.14.08
If you are a safe traveler, then a European holiday is a safe bet. If you do have a taste for the exotic, traveling around the Middle East is full of surprises and intrigue. And eco-tourism is spreading through the Middle East. A typical journey (by land) could start in Turkey. With a convenient bus system in place, it's easy to travel around Turkey in a non-impacting way to get primed for the Middle East. After Turkey, it's possible to travel to Lebanon and Syria for an unspoiled and authentic tourist experience, and then down to Jordan, Israel and Egypt (on the Sinai Peninsula).
Word of caution, Syrians don't like the mention of Israel. If you plan on traveling to Israel keep it a secret. Other like-minded tourists (travelers), when in Syria, use a code word for Israel. Last time we checked it was "Disney Land."
Last week TreeHugger explored eco-tourism options in Lebanon. And today, Karen Chernick from Green Prophet introduces us to the options in Jordan. She writes:
Between all of the eco guesthouses popping up and the Israeli Tourism Ministry trying to go green by 2009, there's no absence of environmentally friendly vacation options in Israel (hint hint, to all those out-of-towners planning their summer vacations in Israel).
There are lots of great eco-tourism options available in Jordan - ranging from tour companies that specialize in green adventures to environmentally friendly housing options. Here are some of our favorites:
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WSJ: Time To Stash Your Undies In The Icebox?
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 07.14.08
Today, even the Wall Street Journal offers energy conservation advice to its readers. I guess it has gotten that bad, finally. I wish they had done so, say 30 or 20 years ago (or why not 3 years ago, when the IEA published its report called 'Saving Electricity In A Hurry', where the agency - correctly -predicted there would be more outages like those experienced in the United States, Japan and Canada).
Wall Street Journal: Pulling the Plug: Summer of '08 Sparks Creative Conservation
With electricity costs rising -- along with global-warming guilt -- consumers across the country are struggling to wean themselves from the A/C. It remains to be seen whether they'll take a cue from Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" and stash their undies in the icebox. But they're trying just about everything else. In Thousand Oaks, Calif., Adina Nack keeps the thermostat at 82 -- and lets her toddler dance around the house in a bathing suit, spritzing herself with cool water from a spray bottle. Cara Cummins, in Atlanta, turns on the air conditioner only when she's expecting guests. Otherwise, she makes do by snacking on watermelon cubes soaked in chilled bourbon. Because many power plants run on natural gas, which has shot way up in price, utilities in every region of the nation have imposed -- or are planning -- big rate increases this year, some approaching 30%....
Eco-Towns: Three Models of Green Urban Planning
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
Sutton, UK
Even as the British real estate market crashes with as much of a thud as the American one did, and even though local residents and some environmentalists are against them, the British government is still planning to build up to ten "eco towns" as utopian visions of carbon-neutral 21st century housing. The Guardian looks at three existing prototypes:
Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm
"Homes include rainwater harvesting and solar panels, and there is a vacuum-sorted underground waste removal system. Residents are given colour-coded biodegradable bags for their waste. Even the street lights are solar-powered. Sewage is processed to become gas to fuel cookers, buses and cars in the car pool. The sludge by-product fertilises a forest which is managed to provide wood to heat the houses. They are oriented to maximise natural light and to allow access to outside space which includes parks and footpaths throughout the development."...
Survey: Are We Too Political Or Not Enough?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
Founder Graham Hill has always insisted that TreeHugger be nonpartisan and positive, that there are environmentalists on both sides of the political fence and we don't want to be on one side of the chasm that seems to now divide every newspaper, tv station or blog in America into red or blue. Sometimes it is tough to restrain ourselves, with Republicans like Patrick McHenry or Michele Bachmann, but we have criticized Democratic senators pandering to big coal as well. We like to say that we are not anti-anyone but pro-environment. Do we succeed?
...
If You Want Safe Food, Know Where It Comes From
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.14.08
According to Sylvain Charlebois of the Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business, writing in the Globe and Mail, “Food-crisis investigators in the U.S. are in the dark. With more than 1,000 cases of illness reported in 41 states (and two deaths reported in Texas), officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention now believe tomatoes may not be the only culprits in the national salmonella outbreak. Some hot peppers are suspect, too.”
Charlebois notes that “Tomatoes are a logistical nightmare because of the complex channel they follow from farm to fork. Because tomatoes are perishable, suppliers usually depend on more than one grower to fill orders. Once the tomatoes arrive at a processing facility, they are usually sorted according to consumption readiness, size and grade but rarely according to origin. It has been reported that Florida-grown tomatoes are shipped to Mexico for packaging before being returned to the U.S. for sale to American consumers. Once tomatoes are cut, diced and assorted for use in products such as salads, guacamole and spaghetti sauces, tracing their provenance becomes unfeasible.”
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Sun Chairs are So Solar
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.14.08
You wouldn't want to waste your time just lying in the sun. Now you can make the sun work for you whilst you are soaking up the rays.
This chaise lounge has a panel over the head made of solar panel fabric that acts as a sunshade and moves to protect you from the sun. At the same time it collects solar energy. This is converted into electricity that can be used to charge all those essential gadgets needed for the beach such as a dock to download your digital camera pictures and load up MP3 players and even a GPS in case you get lost. It has a sliding laptop table so that you can read TreeHugger at the same time. Of course there are speakers and long-range WiFi antennae. Called the "Tech Chair", the humble sun lounger has been transformed into an "advanced technological hub of summer entertainment". Just pull on that solar bikini and you are ready to roll. :: PC World Via :: Hippyshopper...
Train to Coachella Music Festival Reduces Cars
by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 07.13.08
This years Coachella festival was the first of its kind with its own train and train station. To help reduce the carbon footprint of a 3-day music festival held in the desert, organizers found a way to make one giant carpool – that came in the form of the Coachella Express. After a year of planning between Coachella, Global Inheritance, Golden Voice and Amtrak, this train idea got, well, rolling....
Global Fisheries Hit by Climate Change and Overfishing
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.13.08
Image from Greenpeace
It's bad enough fish already have to deal with the consequences of overfishing; now, according to a new study authored by a team of UBC fisheries scientists, dozens will be faced with the prospect of extinction by 2050. Even slight fluctuations in temperature could cause many cold water species to perish as they attempt to seek out new, more amenable habitats, reports ScienceNOW's Christopher Pala.
Another study authored by Daniel Pauly, a fisheries expert at UBC, has found that fisheries catches in some tropical island countries may be up to 17 times higher than officially reported, writes IPS's Stephen Leahy. ...
The TH Interview: Peter Barnes, Senior Fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.13.08
Peter Barnes is no dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist. A successful entrepreneur, writer and now senior fellow at the Point Reyes Station, Calif.-based Tomales Bay Institute, Peter has co-founded and led several companies, including Working Assets (with former TH interviewee Michael Kieschnick).
He is a prolific author -- some of his recent books include Capitalism 3.0 (you can download a free copy here) and Climate Solutions: A Citizen's Guide -- and former journalist who has written for The New York Times, Newsweek, The New Republic and others. He is also a frequent contributor to Grist, where he has written extensively about the benefits of a cap and dividend approach to climate mitigation.
I recently had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about how a cap and dividend system might work in practice and why it is a preferable alternative to cap and trade or a carbon tax.
TreeHugger: Can you describe how a cap and dividend system would work?
Peter Barnes: Let’s start with the basic idea. What we need to do, to solve the climate crisis, is to raise the price of carbon emitting and make clean alternatives economically attractive. The problem is, raising the price of carbon is like putting a sales tax on energy. It hits low- and middle-income families hard. And with gas approaching $5 a gallon, people just aren’t willing or able to pay more. So we need a system that raises the price of carbon with one hand, and gives that money back to everyone in an equitable and trustworthy way with the other. That’s what cap and dividend does. ...
Proven: Vegetarians Live Longer
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.13.08
Vegetarians Live Longer
The battle has long been waged, and will certainly continue in spite of this study. Are humans designed/evolved to eat everything and at risk of malnutrition as vegetarians? Or is vegetarianism the healthy and ethical choice? The most impressive data arises from a study of 1904 vegetarians over 21 years by the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum). The study's shocking results: vegetarian men reduced their risk of early death by 50%! Women vegetarians benefit from a 30% reduction in mortality. ...
Houston Mayor Attacks EPA over Air Pollution
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.13.08
In response to our post Why do Republicans hate bicycles? Commenter Michael wrote: "Not to mention that Mayor Bill White (Republican mayor of Houston) is pushing the EPA to make refineries and chemical plants verify their emissions. Of course, considering this piece of news shows a Republican actually being green goes against Treehugger, nothing about it will get posted."
We take umbrage at that; we are not anti-Republican, we are pro-bike and pro-environment and perfectly happy to do EPA-bashing whichever the source. Here goes:
Bill White, the Mayor of Houston, thinks the air over his city is a toxic soup because of emissions from chemical plants and refineries. But he doesn't know for sure, because the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't test for it, it just relies on estimates from the producers....
Carbon Nanotubes Could Make Artificial Photosynthesis Possible
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.13.08
Image from Wikimedia Commons
Scientists may be getting closer to unraveling the secrets of photosynthesis, reports New Scientist Tech's Colin Barras. In a new study published in the journal ChemPhysChem, a team of Chinese scientists from the Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology has found that carbon nanotubes, which have been used in many nanotechnology applications including solar energy and adhesive material, can mimic a key step of the process. ...
Robot-Assisted Pivo 2 Electric Car To Debut In 2011?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 07.13.08
When does a fanciful concept of an electric commuter car actually become the real deal? Possibly only when the first few or the first few hundred start rolling off the assembly line. Nissan and Renault have been making the rounds of the auto shows showing off the robot-assisted electric Pivo 2, but last week the Associated Press reported that Portugal has agreed to set up a network of electric charging stations and the Pivo 2 is going to be released there in 2011. It's a bit hard to imagine this funky, funny-looking bug-like vehicle anywhere but in a Pixar movie.
"Laminated" lithium-ion battery
The Pivo 2 is reported to have four wheel-based engines and a robot instructor communicating with the driver on the car's different functions, using voice and feature recognition to sense a driver's mood. One of Pivo's coolest features is that the rotating cabin and pivoting wheels enable sideways driving, making conventional parallel parking a thing of the past - great for cities such as Tokyo and San Francisco! Three people can fit in the bubble-shaped cabin. No word yet on range for the Pivo 2, or the estimated price. Seems like Nissan/Renault are going to have to work fast to get this out the door in 2.5 years. Via ::Associated Press
Read More:
More Concept Cars Than You Can Shake A Stick At
Nissan Shows "Pivo" Concept Electric Vehicle...
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