Weekly Archive for August 10, 2008 : TreeHugger

What other government in the world, for what other reason, would be able to "guarantee" the weather? One of the biggest feats of China's spectacular opening ceremony on Friday wasn't inside the stadium. As those of us inside the Bird's Nest feared rain -- and secretly, because of the heavy heat and humidity, prayed for it -- the city's meteorological bureau peppered approaching clouds with over 1000 silver-iodide rockets. That triggered intense showers outside the city and preempted a rainfall on China's parade. ::Alex Pasternack, Beijing graham saving planet photo

Saving the Planet? Or Keeping it Livable Let's face it, it's not about saving the planet. The planet is going to be just fine without us. The bigger question is will we be able to live on it for a while, and will be we be able to do so without a whole lot of pain? This is definitely a Save Ourselves situation. ::Graham Hill, New York...

This post is one in a series of video blogs about biking across America with WE ADD UP to raise awareness about how to stop global warming. Check out more posts in this series here. On the first rest day of the bike trip, Eric and Carson paid a visit to WE ADD UP headquarters near Cleveland, Ohio, and interviewed co-founder Jill Palermo about her T-shirt campaign to combat global warming. Jill gave us the exclusive back-room tour, where we heard about how she got the idea to start WE ADD UP, and saw T-shirts getting ready to be sent out so that their new owners can be counted in the fight against climate change. ...

urban%20reconstruct%20competition%20image.jpg

With more than half of humanity now living in cities, and the built environment set to expand massively over the next few decades, the way we create our cities may be the key to achieving a sustainable future. By recognizing that the city block is to the built environment what the cell is to the human body, San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision aims to revolutionize the way we plan, build and experience our cities. Founded in 2006, Urban Re:Vision, in association with Architecture for Humanity and Rocky Mountain Institute, has organized a series of design competitions that ask urban thinkers and innovators around the world to consider the individual elements of the city block: energy, transport, economy and community. In its latest competition, Re:Construct, Urban Re:Vision is seeking ideas for sustainable materials and building practices. The winners of the competition will not only enjoy fame and fortune (there is a cash prize), but their ideas will actually be put into practice in a to-be-announced US city, and could end up forming the basis for a new approach to city building....

Air and noise pollution control devices in Argentina. Photo.

Seems the Buenos Aires government is busy with environmental control. After announcing a new garbage management plan and reaching to an agreement to take out 40 thousand billboards from the streets of Buenos Aires, it has just put to work 42 new Intelligent Monitoring Towers that, they say, will allow more information about air and noise quality in the city and therefore better environmental policies to improve citizens life-quality. The equipments can measure the concentration of cobalt, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, benzene and humidity, among others, and send the information in real time to one of the two monitoring stations the city has (two more will be installed before the end of the year). They required an investment of 2.5 million euros. For the initial stage, they have been installed in a park for calibration and later they will be moved to different points of the city. When the whole system is functioning by the end of the year, the government says it will have a complete map of the environmental quality of the city and will be able to determine, for example, if it's necessary to change the buses routes (a demand by neighbors in some areas with high circulation of vehicles). More pics and news from Buenos Aires in the extended. Via La Nacion newspaper....

Reuters had an interesting piece recently on Bangladesh's thriving Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) recycling industry. The South Asian country exported more than 20,000 tons of PET flakes, the shredded version of plastic bottles, last year sorted from the 3,000 factories across the country dedicated to recycling. The industry generated about $10 million in 2007 and has grown annually at a rate of 20 percent. Once the PET bottles have been sorted and crushed, the flakes are exported to China, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand, according to Sarwar Wadud Chowdhury, the chairman of Bangladesh PET Flakes Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Chowdhury says the importing countries use the flakes to make Polyester Staple Fiber (PSF), which are used in spinning mills. PSF is a base material for clothing, pillows, carpets and polyester sheets....

I'm sure you're probably getting tired of hearing me drone on and on about ocean acidification (even though it arguably poses one of the greatest threats to our planet's livelihood), so I thought I'd let somebody else -- who's actually well-versed in the subject -- do the talking. Though better known for its spectacular exhibits, the Monterey Bay Aquarium also boasts a crack research institute -- the appropriately named Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) -- which has been spending the last few years studying ocean acidification. While a bit on the short side, Lauren Sommer's audio slideshow does a great job of introducing some of the basic science and of showcasing the scientists' latest projects. ...

More Cyclists Means A Need For More Awareness Now that more and more people are getting on their bikes due to high gas prices, summer weather and increased awareness of the environmental and social impacts of driving, there has also been a slight increase in traffic accidents between cyclists and motorists as inexperienced riders and angry, unaware motorists hit the roads. After improving infrastructure (by adding bike lanes, bike boxes, and other measures) the best approach to ensuring safety on the roads is an awareness campaign that also includes training rides for new riders. Oregon, Already Bike-Friendly, Seeks to Do More This is something that Santa Cruz, California, recently began doing, and now the Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Oregon has launched the Eye to Eye Project, a campaign specifically aimed at reducing the number of bicycle-car collisions. Making use of signage, safety rides and flyers, riders and drivers alike will be made more aware of the importance of sharing the road. What's more, several hundred free bike bells and lights will be given away "to cyclists riding without proper headlights and reflectors." This idea was prompted by "a recent rash of serious or even deadly accidents between bicycles and cars in Oregon." It's somewhat surprising that a state as bicycle friendly as Oregon is having these sorts of issues; one can only imagine how strong the need is for similar campaigns in cities across the country. Via: ::Kval.com and ::OregonLive.com More on Cycling Physically Separated Bike Lanes: Concrete is Better Than Cops Car? What Car? . .Hauling Furniture By Bicycle Why Cycling is to Transportation What Efficiency is to Energy Ghost Bikes: A Memorial to Cyclists...

mississippi delta gulf of mexico satellite photo

image: NASA Every year the topic of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico seems to pop up on TreeHugger—most recently in a report which links expanded corn production to the increasing size of the zone. New research shows that it’s not just in the Gulf that ocean dead zones are expanding but throughout the world. Dead Zones Have Doubled Every 10 Years Since 1960s According to the study, the number of marine dead zones—areas which are periodically or permanently starved of oxygen—has doubled every 10 years since the 1960s, with those along coastlines increasing in size and intensity. Currently there are about 400 coastal areas, with a combined area larger than the size of Oregon, with such poor water quality, with so little oxygen that only microbes can survive in it. Fish and crustaceans must flee the area or die. ...

In a baffling shift of climate, Hell has frozen over. The flash freeze wasn’t precipitated by a crumbling ice shelf or rising sea—or maybe it was. Rupert Murdoch, the founder and CEO of News Corporation, has decided to render his global conglomerate carbon neutral, as well as educate the public and green up the many tendrils of his enormous news business. Murdoch’s media empire contains such brands as Fox Broadcasting, MySpace, and the Wall Street Journal. Rachel Webber is News Corp.’s Director of Energy Initiatives. She spoke with TreeHugger about how this unexpected shift came about, and how it’s rolling out. Webber says that greening up News Corp means many things, from offsetting emissions to changing public perception (something News Corp is uniquely good at). Sustainability won’t truly click, she says, until it’s cool for two kids to make out in the back of a Prius. ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Special thanks goes to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview....

hawksbill sea turtle great barrier reef photo

Scientist Ian Bell measures a Hawksbill Turtle off the Great Barrier Reef. Photo credit: Ian Bell. This is the first post from guest contributor and Planet Green NGO partner EarthWatch Institute. In 1971, we opened our doors to scientists of all disciplines and nationalities who needed support to understand the conditions of life on Earth. We studied rocks and stars, plants and animals, ancient peoples and their ruins, their relationships and interdependencies. Earthwatch is the world's largest environmental volunteer nonprofit that engages everyday people in real science research and education. Our primary goal: to build a sustainable future. Today it would be called social venture capital. In the beginning, it was all about mission....

Image source: The White Pebble. Based on the belief that we carry black or white pebbles with us, depending on the choices we make in our lives (black pebbles represent self-focused, irresponsible decisions; white pebbles represent a life of sound, ethical choices), the White Pebble "was founded to offer an ethical choice for everyday living." Purchasing sustainable clothing is not only beneficial to you, but, White Pebble believes, also benefits people all along the chain, both physically and spiritually....

photo by Alistair Howard When most people think of hydro-electric power they probably think of large dam projects such as China’s Three Gorges Dam, India’s dams on the Narmada River , or closer to home (at least to my home) the Hoover Dam. Perhaps needless to say, big hydro-electric projects like this can generate a great deal of power, but there are significant environmental trade offs. A Less Intrusive Way to Develop Hydro-Electric Power A less environmentally intrusive way to develop hydro power is known as run-of-river hydro—skip down if you’re unfamiliar with how this works—and more of this is just what’s being planned for British Columbia. Plutonic Power and GE Financial Services have signed a memorandum of understanding that will have the two developing 1000 MW of run-of-rive hydro-electric capacity. ...

Trying to Fight Air Pollution Only 4 months ago, we wrote about how big cars were the stars at the Beijing Auto Show. But now that air pollution is in the news more than ever because of the olympics, it seems like the Chinese government has had second thoughts: It decided to reduce taxes on small cars, and increase them on big vehicles. And they're not taking half-measures. The tax on some big vehicles can be as high as 40%. China's Tax Scale is Based on Engine Size Starting on September 1st, passenger vehicles with engines bigger than 4 liters will see their tax doubled to 40% from 20%. Engines with displacement from 2 liters to 4 liters will be taxed 25%, up from the current 15%, and cars with engines at or smaller than 1 liter would drop to 1% from the current 3%....

Image source: Marketing Week (subscription required). Cath Kidston, known for her bright, funky textile patterns, recently launched an eco-bag collection, available in 6 fun patterns only at Tesco stores around the UK. The bags are all made from 100% recycled PET and 100% of the proceeds from their sale go to the Marie Curie Cancer Care. A minimum of £250,000 will be donated, which will fund 12,500 hours of nursing care for terminally-ill patients and their families. The bags are perfect for carrying laptops, groceries or even a few items from Tesco, which is encouraging customers to ditch the plastic bags. Tesco even offers a life-cycle page on how Kidston bags are made. Each bag retails for £3.5, with £.5 of each sale going to Marie Curie. ...

sam's club solar information kiosk photo

photo: Sam's Club OK, I’ll get something out of the way right at the start: I can’t stand Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, or any of the other big box stores blighting the landscape of the United States. Suffice it to say they are the complete antithesis of everything I hold dear: diverse small businesses, localization, human-scale development, short supply chains, attractive architecture...I could go on and on. With that out of the way, here’s something which does lift Sam’s Club up a notch. Kiosks Part of New “Home Efficiency Centers” If you live in southern California you now have a new place to go for practical information on solar power solutions: Sam's Club has announced that is has created  “Home Efficiency Centers” in nine of its stores. ...

University of Brighton graduate David Gardener presented his Package Lamp at New Designers in London recently. This lamp is made of pulp packaging material, and is both the shipping box and the finished lamp....

Image Modern Mechanix Sigh. First they monetized the water; now the marketing wiz kids want us to pay for air. And it is working; in New York City it is flying off the drugstore shelves at sixteen bucks a can. Kevin DelGaudio, the "inventor" (it's been around for years) of Instant Oxygen, told CBS "You know you start falling asleep at the wheel a couple of intakes of ox and I'm wide awake." ...

I've written before about the idea of green music. The idea is to cut your footprint by investing in high quality equipment (not gadgets) with a long shelf life, low energy or Energy star compliant, ROHS compliant, obsolescence resistance, streaming capabilities or digital downloads vs CD's. Over three years ago I got a wireless Sonos music system for my house. I've used it every day since then, stopped buying CDs, and stopped buying every new iPod to come down the pike. What started as a two room system (living room & kitchen) eventually grew to add the bedroom and patio. I recently added another one for my office, the new Sonos 120....

...

In Deptford, London, the City's first suburban railway station dating from 1836 is being redeveloped. In the meantime, a pop-up café, designed by Morag Myerscough, has been installed on a historically listed Victorian carriage ramp....

view of wind turbine looking up from base photo

photo by Andrea Paraggio While still a small percentage of overall electric generation, there’s no denying that wind power has been growing consistently in the United States. In 2007, an additional 5,329 megawatts of capacity was added, an amount which was slightly more than a quarter of all new global wind capacity that year. Currently an additional 8 gigawatts of wind capacity is under construction and scheduled to be operational by the end of 2008. The result: This will be the third straight year that the United States leads the world in annual wind power installations, according to a new study by Emerging Energy Research....

Candidate for Darwin Award on Motorcycle And I thought I was so clever with that headline, only to find that Wired did it yesterday. But the issue is serious; We may worry about radiation, but a bigger problem with cellphones is the way people use them. A new study by Thomson-Reuters' Findlaw.com claims that 48% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 admit to texting while behind the wheel. 17% of all adults surveyed say that they have done it, but it skews young: - 18-24 48% - 25-34 27% - 35-44 19% - 45-54 11% - 55-64 2% - 65+ 1% ...

polar cities may be our chance after global warming changes climate image

Real Estate prices in Canada are expected to rise as the effects of global warming set in. Warming temperatures there are expected to make its otherwise frosty winters, a perfect place to live. But we all know that if the predictions are right, our world’s demographic shift to a severe change in weather patterns is probably going to be a lot more complicated than relocating to the higher latitudes. Some scientists predict that if humanity doesn’t stop dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we have about 5 – 8 years (100 months) until life as we know it on this planet changes. What will happen after that time is anyone’s guess. But some like journalist/translator/blogger Dan Bloom who is now living in Taiwan, believes that we can safeguard humanity by building Polar cities, today. ...

suny stony brook southampton greenhouse photo

When it comes to private colleges it’s not so surprising to find a place like the tiny College of the Atlantic that makes sustainability the centerpiece of the education offered to the student body. But what about at a public university in the middle of the Hamptons? ...

darth vader is safe from cell phone radiation photo

creative commons image by kanjiroushi According to Melinda Wenner in the Walrus, "Accounts from a handful of well-respected scientists suggest that since the mid-1990s wireless companies have been doing their best to bury worrying findings, discredit researchers who publish them, and design experiments that virtually guarantee the desired results. “Biological effects are undoubtedly there, no question, and it’s a canard to suggest that they’re not,” says Abe Liboff, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University, and co-editor of the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine. The cellphone industry, he insists, “will use any excuse to avoid the truth.” ...

1. Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Powered By Wind Turbines

The Swedes and the Danes are (among others) big fans of the idea of replacing a part of their transport fuel use with wind power. There's an ambitious goal to erect 6,000 new turbines in Sweden by 2020, while the Danes already get 20 percent of their electricity from wind. Pilot programs are testing how charging stations could work in urban and more far-flung settings to create an infrastructure that flows wind (mostly at night when demand is lower) from the grid to to hybrid-electric cars.

2. Ventomobile Is A 'Wind-Powered Land Yacht'

In the meantime, there are plenty of developers working on ways to use wind even more directly to get vehicles going. A race along a Dutch seawall near the windy North Sea fishing village of Huisduinen next week will pit against each other six inventive prototypes that all directly sail into the wind for locomotion. At TreeHugger we covered one of the wind-driven entries into the 2008 Race Aeolus, the Ventomobile, designed by Alexander Miller and a group from Stuttgart University. ...

Clearly the United States (with roughly 23% of global CO2 emissions has some 'splainin to do when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions, so don't get us wrong, we aren't trying to pass the buck. Yet, we did want to take a look at just how large the impact of CO2 emissions is from the developing world. The rankings below are only targeting human produced (anthropogenic) CO2 emissions, and do not include the other, toxic greenhouse gas emissions. If you look at greenhouse gases overall, then this list changes slightly. Note: Please keep in mind that these are just estimates and that these figures are going up and down each year....

sunpower solar panels nellis air force base photo

photo: SunPower You may have read a few weeks back how I was lamenting all the PR exaggeration in the renewable energy world: Case in point, a 10 megawatt thin-film solar plant claiming to be the world’s largest. Factually true, but tiny in the greater scheme of power generation. Well, here’s something that by all accounts is big: OptiSolar has announced it will be building a 550 MW thin-film solar power plant in San Luis Obispo County, California. No word on the cost to build the Topaz Solar Farm, but it is expected to be begin initial operations in 2011 and be fully online by 2013. I'll remind you again: the previous largest thin-film solar power plant was 10 MW. But wait, there's more:...

Tom Friedman battles Michele Bachmann in the Quote of the Day Olympics with a tirade against McCain for missing all eight votes on the renewable energy tax credit extensions (and Obama too, for missing the last vote). Without this bill's passage, most investment in solar and wind in the US will grind to a halt. " Richard K. Lester, an energy-innovation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, notes, “The best chance we have — perhaps the only chance” of addressing the combined challenges of energy supply and demand, climate change and energy security “is to accelerate the introduction of new technologies for energy supply and use and deploy them on a very large scale.” This, he argues, will take more than a Manhattan Project. It will require a fundamental reshaping by government of the prices and regulations and research-and-development budgets that shape the energy market. Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive — and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency — we will not get innovation in clean power at the scale we need. That is what this election should be focusing on. Everything else is just bogus rhetoric designed by cynical candidates who think Americans are so stupid — so bloody stupid — that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power — when you didn’t." ::New York Times More Tom Friedman in TreeHugger Quote of the Day : Thomas Friedman on Indian Transportation ... Tom Friedman on America's Addict-In-Chief Thomas L. Friedman on "Our Green Bubble" ...

Save cash and save the planet book photo

Living Green Can Mean Living Frugal While TreeHugger has from time-to-time received flack for featuring high-end eco furniture and ludicrously expensive green cars, we do also try to get across that living green does not have to mean spending big bucks. From Lloyd’s tips on a recession-ready lifestyle to Mark’s 66 ways to save on gas, the truth is that sustainability is often about living smarter and using less stuff – both of which should ultimately be money savers. So it’s good to see UK Friends of the Earth embracing this concept with their publication Save Cash and Save the Planet. The blurb promises to save the reader hundreds, or even thousands, and covers everything from DIY energy efficiency improvements to getting organic vegetables on a budget. ...

brittny badger appliance waffle iron photo

Images used with permission of the photographer When it comes to appliances, they don't build them like they used to, to last a long time and to be relatively easy to repair. Now they are built to be thrown away as replacement can often be cheaper than trying to find a repair shop or parts. Photographer Brittny Badger wasn't shy about digging around inside appliances, and took a dozen of them apart for her senior thesis at Hartford Art School....

I was not unhappy when the Sharper Image went bankrupt earlier this year; the store seemed entirely devoted to selling superfluous junk that was all connected to wall outlets. Its demise might have saved us a coal fired power plant or two, except Amazon has stepped in to take its place. Exhibit A: Most people know how to park their car without putting it through the back of the garage; those who do not have lots of low tech options, including tennis balls on strings hanging from the ceiling or a rubber bumper on the floor. But why go low tech when you can have fricking lasers connected to a motion detector that lights up and shines on your vehicle when it is time to put your foot on the big wide pedal? Another example of how we use electricity for such silly things. ::Amazon via ::Red Ferret More Wastes of Energy on TreeHugger: Waste of Energy Dept: Automatic Martini Maker : TreeHugger Waste of Energy Dept: Silly Appliances : TreeHugger Waste of Energy Department: In-Car Microwave ...

We learn from Mike that there are close to 300 million TV sets in the USA; The Utne Reader tells us that half of all Americans have no idea that American TV is going digital next February 17. Many of those sets won't work; the vast majority of them will not be able to take advantage of the new digital signal.

What are you doing about the change to digital TV? ( polls)

...

(Michael Moose/Glaserworks) Terrence Mann said "If you build it, they will come"; I once said at a public meeting about a Toronto streetcar line that "investment follows infrastructure." Portland proved it; 10,000 residential units have been built and $3.5 billion has been invested within two blocks of its streetcar line since it opened. Bob Driehaus writes in the IHT: At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according to the Community Streetcar Coalition, which includes city officials, transit authorities and engineers who advocate streetcar construction. ...

Ruby Red Organic Lemon Shea Butter Photo

Image source: Ruby Red Ruby Red, maker of organic and natural skin-care products, now offers their lemon organic shea butter. Shea butter does a great job, possibly the best, of really keeping dry, chapped skin nice and soft. All of Ruby Red's products are made directly in their London shop, down to the last detail, including the packaging. They feel that the difference is they make their products without heating any of the materials during manufacturing, kind of like what you find with raw foods. The scents are all developed using combinations of organic oils....

allotment gardens grow flowering leek photo

Allotment gardens have been a popular theme on TreeHugger lately and why not--they are the real deal; incorporating all kinds of good things: food, recycling, ecology, and community. Their finest hour was during World War 2 when people all over North America and Europe were cultivating small patches of land in order to feed themselves and their families. In Britain a tenth of all the food produced during the war years came from allotment gardens. They are still going strong due to the latest revival of interest in gardening and the desire to grow one's own fresh and chemical-free food, combined with rising food prices. National Allotments Week is promoting awareness of allotments and encouraging municipalities to provide more land for them. This is important because one of the big problems is that many of the sites used to be on the outskirts of towns, on unwanted land. As cities expanded, many of the sites have become prime development locations and are being lost. Councils may offer alternatives, but they are even farther away and require back breaking work to make the soil good and fertile. Last year a century old allotment garden was demolished for the London Olympic site and the replacement land turned out to be clay soil in a water-logged valley. As part of the celebrations, many gardens will be open to the public. These are fun because each plot is so eccentric and reflects the personality of its owner. Gardeners sell freshly picked produce, home-baked cakes and offer guided tours....

Sure, the Fish and Wildlife Service is interested in reading your comments about the Bush administration's latest gutting of the Endangered Species Act -- just not that interested. In what will likely come as no surprise to long time readers of this blog, the Bush White House has once again decided that, given the choice, it would rather not listen to your lily-livered, tree-hugging blatherings, thank you very much. That is, unless you're willing to deliver them by snail mail. Unbeknownst to me and, I would imagine, the many of you who gave up on this administration's so-called "environmental" initiatives a long time ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service suddenly decided to stop accepting public comments on proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act last December. Andrew Wetzler, the director of NRDC's Endangered Species Project, noticed this earlier today when he was poring over the text of the administration's newest proposal to sabotage the ESA. ...

Where do the Buffalo Roam? Is a question many in the West are trying to answer. Wild herds of American Bison (commonly called Buffalo), once roamed the great plains in the tens of millions as part of a complex, sustainable and highly productive ecosystem. As most people know, due to extensive hunting by the 1880's only 500 bison remained. At the time, Teddy Roosevelt in an effort to save the species from extinction helped concentrate the remaining herds into Yellowstone National Park. Today, there are an estimated 3,000 wild bison still concentrated in and around Yellowstone. But these emblematic beasts are under the gun yet again. ...

(Photo by aaroncorey) National Geographics notes that in recent years, Hokkaido in northern Japan has seen noticeably less drift ice. Arctic sea ice overall has been disappearing much faster than initially predicted, and this may hurt the region's wildlife and tourism. From 1997 to 2007, the amount of sea ice forming in the Sea of Okhotsk shrank by 3.6 percent, says Japan Meteorological Agency. And in 2004 the Shiretoko town of Abashiri had just 54 days of drift ice, much less than the average of 87 days. "If you just look at the last five years of data, the amount of drift ice is decreasing," said Takashi Yamamoto, director of a tour company that organizes icebreaker trips from Abashiri, Hokkaido. ...

Photo credit: Panos / Stefan Boness Several African countries, particularly in East Africa, are facing severe power shortages and declines in agricultural productivity due to drought that experts are linking to climate change. Drought has sharply reduced reservoirs that supply hydroelectric plants in countries like Tanzania, and we've already reported that overuse of water by two hydroelectric dams decreased the level of water in Lake Victoria by at least two meters between 2000 and 2006. Increasingly African leaders are looking to develop national climate change action plans and attract Clean Development Mechanism funds. The CDM is a pollutant trading system mandated under the Kyoto Protocol where developing countries can help offset emissions in developed countries, but so far Africa has only managed to secure just under three percent of the more than 1,000 CDM-approved projects globally. Those projects to day have "saved" carbon dioxide emissions of 135 million tons. (India leads with 32 percent of the projects.) Many Africans have also noted that the CDM’s rules favor pollution reduction projects instead of climate change adaption projects, such as irrigation schemes, coping with drought, soil conservation and flood-control programs. Such projects are instead supposed to be financed by the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund, financed in part by a two percent tax on CDM credits....

photo by Ian Thorpe Although often portrayed as the savior which will allow us to continue exploiting our relatively abundant coal reserves without increasing global warming until something comes along to win the day, a new study to be published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control gives us another reason to believe that carbon sequestration isn’t quite yet ready for prime time. Science News fills us in: ...

Greenspeak Some of the words that were introduced in the 11th edition of the Chambers dictionary have green origins. BBC News reports: "'Electrosmog' refers to the electromagnetic fields emitted by computers and mobile phones, 'eco-village' is a term used for small ecologically-sustainable communities and 'carbon footprint' is the measure of the impact human activities on the environment." There is also 'food miles', referring to how far away your food come from, and 'green tax', in reference to putting a price on undesirable things like CO2 or mercury to reduce pollution. Of course, it doesn't really matter to most if words are in a dictionary or not, as long as others know what you're talking about. But these inclusions are a good sign that green concepts are getting firmly established in mainstream consciousness. ...

Image source: author. Bucking the tide of many developing nations, South Africa has chosen to set a limit on its greenhouse-gas emissions and to increase its use of renewable energy sources. South Africa's Environment Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said the country has a target to "stabilize" emissions by 2020 to 2025, "with absolute reductions in emissions...to begin ten years after growth was halted." How will they meet this goal? Well, first by reducing consumption of cheap coal for electricity and requiring that all coal power plants use both carbon capture and storage technology. There will also be a greater emphasis on using energy from renewable sources. Other options include a possible carbon tax, as well as mandatory energy efficiency measures....

photo by Ken McCown As global warming and rising human population puts increasing pressure on water supplies—Reuters says that currently 44% of people live in areas with high water stress—quick and accurate ways of testing for water pollution are going to become an even more important issue. A new method developed in Israel for doing so is being described as “listening” to algae to detect pollution. ...

MAKE Magazine informs us about this neat time line generator from Dipity. It generates a nice visual of the stories TreeHugger readers have shared on the social media site, Digg. View the TreeHugger on Digg timeline. You may have noticed the different buttons at the top of all posts here on TreeHugger (the ones below the authors name). These link you to different social media sites, which allow you to share stories you like or find important with your friends, thus giving them broader exposure, informing more people and helping the cause, at large....

704.9 million -- That's how many cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions have been sold just in the USA since 1980, according to the EPA. 42.4% -- How many of those TVs are estimated to still be in use. 23.9 million -- Number of CRT TVs that will be thrown out in 2008, adding up to an estimated 711,029 tons of televisions. "Numbers for end-of-life TVs have been over 20 million per year since 2005, and are expected to go up to almost 25 million by 2010. Compare this to 10 years ago, when the numbers were closer to 12 million sets disposed of per year. "...

Often our readers complain that some of the architecture I like looks like a bunker; (see church here) sometimes they are right, such as in this case in Frankfurt. It is, in fact, a World War II bunker in Frankfurt that had been previously disguised as a house because it was too expensive to demolish. In a crappy part of town, "a no man’s land between heaps of gravel and dumps, piled-up recycling-products and containers that await their shipping", the architects decided to rise above it all and build artists' studios and the Institute of New Media on top, a box sitting on a table. The heavy concrete bunker was turned into musician's studios....

photo by Jeff Engel Unless you're in the liquor business you may not have heard of Diageo, but you’re probably familiar with some of their brands: Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Tanqueray. Now, outside of happy hour, there’s another reason to pay attention to Diageo: The London-based firm has announced that it will be installing a bioenergy facility at its Cameronbridge distillery in Fife, Scotland. Diageo is claiming that it will be the largest single investment in renewable energy by a non-utility company in the UK. ...

Just Teasing This probably barely qualifies as newsworthy, but for all of those who have been following Volt news since the concept was unveiled in January 2007 (and there are 33,000 names on the unofficial Volt waiting list), here they are. A corner, and the very back of the car. We can't tell much from these, except that some angles have been rounded up a bit, and that it still seems pretty recognizable to those who have gotten used to the concept version. Seems like shareholders liked what they saw, because GM is up 13.55% so far today (though it might be because of something else). Read on for one more pic....

Short of cupboard space in your kitchen? French designers ibride offer this lovely Ming-like vase which you can keep on the counter. As can be seen below the fold, it comes apart to make a lovely place setting of melamine dishes and bowls, with "poetic graphic interiors." It is hard to tell from their flashy site and their incomprehensible designer-speak, but ibride appears to be a trio of designers and publishers from La Veze, France. ::Ibride via ::Apartment Therapy ...

Image source: KnitGrrl For the crafty out there in the audience, Shannon Okey, author of more than 10 knitting books, now launches a new book for "alternative" fibers - Alt Fiber: 25 Projects For Knitting Green With Bamboo, Soy, Hemp and More. Not sure when the next time will be that we're lost in the woods and desperately needing to fashion together some semblance of a loincloth together with only a pair of knitting needles and banana fiber, but one can never tell these days. Other alternative fibers that Okey works with include milkweed, seacell yarn (a sea-weed material that provides nutrients to the skin when worn), wood pulp, pineapple, corn, ramie, kenaf, flax and milk proteins. With each pattern the author offers tips on how to work specifically with the alternative fiber, how to add it to current projects and any special instructions for how to hand-dye the fiber....

volcano erupting on reunion island photo

Geothermal power is among the energy sources being investigated on Réunion. Photo by Frédéric Caillé. When Al Gore challenged the United States to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2018, I’m not sure if many people took him literally. A nice goal perhaps, but one which is likely to be delayed a number of years seemed to be the general buzz. Any renewable energy targets announced since then municipalities or states fall well short of Gore’s goal. Réunion To Go All Green by 2025, For Electricity Well, it may not be doing so explicitly, but in spirit the Indian Ocean island of Réunion (a French territory) has taken up the gauntlet and has announced a goal not too far off of Al Gore’s vision: By 2025 all of the electricity on the island will be generated from renewable sources. By 2050, all of its transport will be also use renewable energy. ...

Michael Phelps Goes for the...Green? ...So how does the 'greatest Olympian of all time" chill when he's not in the pool? The gold-medal champ watches Discovery wildlife documentary "Planet Earth." "It's pretty much all I've been watching," Phelps told reporters in Beijing. Phelps's coach Bob Bowman reveals watching animals and plants enhances his performance by helping him to relax before a swim. Besides, his appetite for nature documentaries, Phelps also has a recipe for success. The New York Post reports he scarfs down 12,000 calories a day. ..Starting his day off with three fried-egg sandwiches, a five-egg omelet,a bowl of grits, 3 slices of French toast, and 3 chocolate-chip pancakes. A new spin on "Breakfast of Champions." Via: people magazine...

In the Lab vs. Real World Beating solar PV efficiency records in the lab is great - just recently, a 40.7% record from 2006 was beaten by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with a new record of... 40.8% - but in the short-term, what matters most is what makes it to market. 25% Cheaper, On Sale Within 18 Months Day4 Energy, a startup from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, has announced that it has created a process to cut costs for multicrystalline silicon solar panels by about 25%, from about $4 per watt to $3 per watt. Still not price-competitive with coal on a large scale, or even with solar thermal power, steady incremental improvements like that will get us there, and for applications where regular solar panels were already used, this will just improve things (either more bang for your buck, or lower prices)....

With a long-term goal to ensure that every new school and home from 2016 to be built with a carbon footprint of zero, the British state schools are about to be included under the government’s new domestic carbon emissions trading scheme from April 2010 in a move that will enable teachers, students, and school district personnel to jump right into the mix when it comes to recognizing what impact their carbon emissions have on the Planet....

Really, we do try to be non-partisan; we are just pro-environment and anti-jerk. But Michele Bachmann's hits just keep on coming, she is to quotes of the day what Michael Phelps is to Gold Medals. Here she describes her recent flight over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and how she found it to be just the most "perfect place on the planet to drill." Too Much is Never Enough of Michelle Bachmann on TreeHugger Quote of the Day: Michele Bachmann on Why We Don't Need To Save the Planet Quote of the Day: Michele Bachmann on the Secret Green Agenda Michele Bachmann: Caribou have Coffee Klatches 'Round the Alaska Pipeline ...

Typical green imagery for tetra pak wine In Ontario, Canada, the government-owned Liquor stores have been pushing Tetra Paks as eco-packaging, claiming a much lower carbon footprint in manufacture and transport than the traditional glass bottle. They even claim that they are recycled, although I suspect they are just going through the motions; you don't get much value out of pulping seven layers of plastic and paper. I called it greenwash, but after Jenna found a life-cycle analysis showing that tetra-paks were better than new glass, I thought the issue was settled. That is, until TreeHugger emeritus Ruben Anderson gave me a slap upside the head with his article in the Tyee, " New Wine in Old Bottles", pointing out that it is just like the paper or plastic issue: the correct green answer is that neither new glass or tetrapak is green, reuse and refilling is. In Canada we all drink our beer in refilled bottles, nobody has a problem with that. So why not our wine? in Europe, they do. ...

Image source: Consumerist.com The NYC Metro Transit Authority (MTA) upgraded 35 escalators around NYC this week in a test-run to see if energy-efficient escalators save money and cut down on maintenance. The new escalators run with infrared motion sensors on each end and when a rider trips them they speed up to normal speeds, but when no one is on them, they slow down to 15 feet per minute. Normal operating speed is 100 feet per minute. MTA estimates that this new technology will save at least $1,800 per year, per escalator and extend the life of each escalator by 11 to 33%. Treehugger Forums recently chatted about whether escalators should just be turned off to save energy and money....

Johan Stenebo is chief of an IKEA susidiary called Greentech, and a man with a dream. Stenebo wants to invest in the "cheapest, best" PV roof panels available in order to sell them in IKEA stores in the next two to four years. Low-cost solar a tall order Of course, that's a very tall order. But IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad's son Peter is an avowed green tech believer, and Stenebo's Greentech will put about US$75 million into at many as ten companies in five different areas: solar technology, energy conservation, water saving products, alternative lighting, and new product materials. Scandinavian companies are Greentech's first focus. Nearly all of these areas are ones we would welcome the IKEA low-cost approach to, although setting up solar roof panels with just the simplistic diagrams and little Allen keys that accompany IKEA's usual do-it-yourself furniture seems something of a stretch. Then there's the problem than many installations require building and other permits. But IKEA's fabulous distribution network of 270 global superstores would mean green tech for the global masses, a welcome development. Solar supermarkets in four years? Up until now, IKEA has held itself to interior decoration rather than pursuing the constructing and building sector that is dominated (at least in the U.S.) by players such as Lowe's and Home Depot. But these megastores haven't tried to sell green solutions in any organized fashion, so IKEA sees little current competition for its plans to get products to stores in three to four years. Via ::Miljö Aktuellt (Swedish) Read more on IKEA: IKEA Bans Plastic Bags For Good IKEA Gives Out 60,000 Free CFLs IKEA Lighting The Way To Warmer LED Lamps...

car lights on a highway long exposure photo

photo by Chad Johnson The idea, if not the practice, of using the heat absorption capabilities of asphalt roadways to heat water is not new. About nine months ago we reported on a Dutch civil engineering company which places water pipes underneath and then pump it to nearby buildings for heating. Additionally, the system is constructed so that it can actually pump cold water in the summer for use in cooling. In a similar vein, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are investigating whether roadways might also be able to generate electricity. Science Daily provides the details:...

bill nye stuff happens planet green photo

Back when we were tooting our own collective Discovery Communications horn about the launch of the first TV channel dedicated to green living, Planet Green, we gave you a brief glimpse of the new series Stuff Happens. Now that the start of the 13-part series is drawing closer, here’s a bit more about what you’ll be seeing. Bill Nye Shows Us Where Our Stuff Comes From, And Where It Goes Hosted by perennial TreeHugger favorite Bill Nye, Stuff Happens will delve into the secrets of the everyday things around us that we take for granted: What goes into making them, what goes into us when we use them, and what are some unintended environmental consequences associated with them. ...

This week is Carnival of the Green # 140 and it's being hosted by The Evangelical Ecologist, a conversative Christian eco-blog. So head on over to this week's Carnival 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!...

Now that fuel is so expensive, a kid can't cruise the streets in his car with the sound system turned up so high that the road vibrates. Instead, a group of Trinidadian teenagers in Queens are customizing their BMX bikes. Nicholas Randall and Joe Stevens made a movie about it it called Made In Queens. via PSFK...

Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics asked a few smart people- James Kunstler, Thomas Antus, Jan Brueckner, Gary Gates, John Archer, Alan Berube, and Lawrence Levy - and asked them: What will U.S. suburbs look like in 40 years? The answers were from some, predictable, and from others fascinating. Jim Kunstler started off with his apocolyptic vision: “The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins.” Thomas E. Antus says it will be expensive: “To pay for the expanded services taxes will also increase exponentially to the point where individual pay checks are made payable to the government and deposited directly in the general treasury.”...

hypermiling can lead to major gas savings photo

Bringing Better Fuel Economy Closer to Home The following post may classify as stating the obvious for some, in which case I apologize, but as it’s helped me to save some gas – I thought I’d share. Let’s start from the beginning… When I wrote about hypermiling community site CleanMPG, an anonymous commenter confessed that they could never quite get comfortable with the term hypermiling. At the risk of worsening this commenter’s jargon-overload, I’d like to propose a new term that’s been playing on my mind recently – micro-hypermiling. The idea came to me as I was driving home recently – I’ve been trying to learn the art of squeezing the most mileage out of my fuel, using the usual techniques of curbing my acceleration, keeping an eye out ahead for obstructions etc (as well as avoiding unnecessary trips of course!). However, I noticed that it’s much harder to follow these rules on unfamiliar roads, where you are a) distracted by having to learn your surroundings, and b) less able to anticipate stop signs, lights, sharp turns, hills etc. So while I continue to try and drive as efficiently as possible elsewhere, I thought it might make sense to really concentrate my efforts on the route I take most regularly – my route home. ...

It is surprising that this wonderful product comes out of the UK; I would have thought the long commutes in the US and Canada would have proved more fertile ground for a microwave designed for "meals on the move! Compact and portable. It is advised that you start the vehicle prior to using the microwave to improve cooking times and prevent the car battery from becoming discharged."- if it is draining the battery, just drive faster. Just £89.98. Maplin via In-car microwave lets you heat up breakfast as you ram the car ahead ...

Poor Julia Butterfly Hill had to rough it in the bush when she occupied Luna, a giant redwood, for 738 days; TreeHugger favourite Andrew Maynard proposes a much more civilized way of living in tress, to save what is left of the Styx Valley Forest in Tasmania....

Kenny posted recently how schools that have gone on a four day week to save fuel have "reaped enormous benefits" including savings on cooling and improved staff morale. The Christian Science Monitor reported earlier that "flexible hours are not just good for retaining existing workers, but also for recruiting new ones."- people like it a lot. The CSM asks if workers are as productive on longer shifts, if those who are already working too much overtime will put in yet more, and most importantly, what will happen to dinnertime? ...

(Photo: To the right, the Coca-Cola plant accused of spilling in the Bogota sewage system. El Tiempo newspaper.) Industria Nacional de Gaseosas, a subsidiary of the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Latin America (Coca-Cola FEMSA), has been fined with a US$111,000 bill by the Bogota District Environmental Office for illegal spilling of industrial waste in Colombia's capital sewage system and wetlands. In an official communication, the chief of the Office -Juan Nieto Escalante-, said: "we are not going to be flexible with those responsible for environmental damages to the capital. By paying this disciplinary measure Coca-Cola will honor its obligations and will accept the current environmental norms." Via Minutouno....

volunteer at organic farms with wwoof photo

You can't give up your day job to start that organic farm that you have been dreaming about and you don't have any land for an organic vegetable garden--but you really want to give it all a try. What to do? The answer is easy: volunteer for a week or two on someone else's. Through WWOOF-World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms--you can live the life, work the work and learn all about the organic movement. Plus you meet fascinating, like-minded people. WWOOF is a world-wide organisation, with branches all over Europe, North and South America and Africa. Volunteers are not paid, but are given meals and accommodation and valuable training in new skills. Browsing through the listings is fascinating--there are so many people out there living on farms and in the countryside working to grow their own food, sell it, develop markets and make their way. Volunteers can go to Japan, New Zealand, Hawaii, Austria. They can work on one acre or 200 acre farms, Georgian houses, or small cottages, a stud farm in Spain, harvesting wild herbs in the south of France. Volunteering and living with a family is a wonderful way to learn about new cultures without being an intrusive tourist and at the same time you are giving back something to that country. It's really a form of eco-tourism at its best. :: WWOOF More on Ecotourism :: Ecotourism in Lebanon :: Ecotourism Latin America :: Ecotourism in Ecuador...

formula zero first international championship for fuel cell powered racers in Rotterdam photo

Rotterdam, home of the first Sustainable Dance Club due to open next month, the Happy Shrimp Farm and Enviu eco-innovators, to only name a few, is now hosting the world’s first international championship for fuel cell powered racers this August 22 - 23. Formula Zero is a World Premiere that researches and promotes zero emission technology through organising races. It is a new zero-emission race class for open fuel cell single seaters. The only rule: zero emissions....

If I was a teenager that needed some space to myself, I would really like a Dome House out in the backyard. Or as a writer, this could be the solution to all my troubles: who doesn't need privacy! These prefab domes come from International Dome House Co. Ltd. and are approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport. The material is "expanded polystyrene", that is formaldehyde-free, with measures taken for excellent air circulation. The company also claims that the walls have high thermal insulating properties, meaning air-conditioning or heating could be reduced, and the polystyrene is "free from rot, rust and termites". What I don't like: plastic. I am a big fan of wood. Here in Japan I currently live in an old-style wooden farm-house, with the traditional tatami mats on the floor. While I could probably use them in a dome home as well, there is a special feeling when walls, ceilings and other parts of the home are made of natural materials. Having said that, I'd love to try a dome home, maybe as a studio or a meditation room. ...

Green Girls Global: Where does my recycling go? by Katie Fewings "It feels so virtuous putting the paper in the recycling box rather than chucking it in the bin (I hesitate every time I put something in the bin these days - asking myself if there’s anything else I can do with the item dangling over the waste abyss… or whether the god of recycling is about to strike me down!)."...

Image from Wikimedia Commons I don't know about you, but I often have a hard time keeping track of all the new crops being proposed as potential biofuel feedstocks. While switchgrass has garnered most of the attention in recent months, both here and on other sites, a few dark horse candidates have risen to the fore -- such as kudzu and Miscanthus. In a new review article published in the latest issue of Nature, DoE Joint Genome Institute Director Eddy Rubin provides a very helpful, and thorough, overview of all the main crops whose genomes have already been analyzed. ...

Photo: BOMBARDIER REGINA train for Gröna Tåget research project Normally we try to stay away from the third person on this site, but I think it’s safe to say that TreeHugger likes trains. They’re one of the most efficient ways to move goods and people over long distances, and from this passenger’s perspective are the far most enjoyable form of public transit. That said, Bombardier has announced one more reason why you should like trains. ‘Green Train Project’ Makes Test Trip In Swedish it’s a Gröna Tåget, but in English you can call it a Green Train. Developed by Banverket the Swedish Railway Administration and Bombardier, the train is based on Bombardier's Regina model. ...

Don't Celebrate Too Fast The price of oil has been falling in recent days, and some people are already bringing out the party hats and daydreaming about Hummers. We think that a more sober look at the situation is needed, and thanks to the nice people at The Oil Drum Europe, we have this great graph (above). Historical Data: Recent Crude Oil Prices It shows at least 6 different instances during the past 5 years when the price of crude oil dropped by similar percentages to the current drop, but most importantly, it shows an overall trend of 30% yearly increases in price. Nobody can know exactly how big the current drop will be or what the future will hold, but looking at this kind of hard historical data can certainly help put it all in perspective. See also: Offshore Oil Drilling Will Still Not Lower Gasoline Prices, Hidden Oil Subsidies: We Need to END Them...

hyperion power module portable nuclear generator image

image: Hyperion Power Generation About nine months ago we reported on a portable nuclear power generator made by Hyperion Power Generation which we dubbed a “nuclear hot tub” because of it’s size. We weren’t overly keen on the idea and comments ranged from incredulous to defensive. The executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group wasn’t exactly supportive either: “The whole idea is loony and not worthy of much attention. Of course, factoring in enough cronyism, corruption and official ignorance and boosterism, it’s possible the principals could make some money during the initial stages, before the crows come home to roost.” I’m not sure if cronyism and corruption had anything to do with it, but Hyperion Power has just announced that it has received a letter of intent to purchase six of the Hyperion Power Modules (HPG). ...

This post is one in a series of video blogs about biking across America with WE ADD UP to raise awareness about how to stop global warming. Check out more posts in this series here. Day 8 was the last day before the first rest day of the bike trip across America. If only the rest day for the body and mind meant a rest day for the appetite! Kicking back in Stow, Ohio, Carson and Eric cooked a big chili meal of the vegetarian sort. Eat less meat! About a week later, Eric interviewed a giant cow from Denison, Iowa who agreed: eat more veggie chili and help stop climate change! ...

Sustainable Ballard Undrivers License Photo

Image source: Car Free Days Mark Your Calendars, its time once again for the 5th annual Sustainable Ballard Festival, full of fun festival games like “how to grow chickens in the city” and “the best compost contest.” While this is not your typical festival, Sustainable Ballard hopes to encourage self-reliance among community members and reduce dependence on foreign oil. The event is free to the public and will be held September 27th & 28th from 11am-5pm at Ballard Commons Park....

Agree or disagree with him, there’s no misunderstanding where Prince Charles thinks about, well, whatever he chooses to speak out on. In a recent interview with with the Telegraph, the Prince condemned the rush to embrace genetically modified foods as a solution to feed an ever increasing world population. Turning Back the Clock? No, Says Prince Though not in the linked clip above, the Prince responded to a question about whether he was trying to ‘turn back the clock’ regarding agriculture. He responded:...

Deploy Workshop Winter 2008 Samples Photo

Image source: Deploy Workshop While the materials may not be organic, Deploy Workshop has attempted to create outfits that you can mix and match and reuse over and over, regardless of season. With strategically designed snaps, "a dress becomes a skirt, or a blouse becomes a dress." Consider it recycling fashion....

First Modern Bike-Sharing Program in the USA The District of Columbia joins Barcelona and Paris today with the launch of its high-tech Smart Bike Program (other cities have bike-share initiatives, but not as big and sophisticated as Vélib-style programs). At first, 120 bikes will be available at 10 self-service racks, mostly in the downtown area, including near the Gallery Place, Shaw and Judiciary Square Metrorail stations. Not exactly Vélib with its 1,500 stations and 20,000 bicycles, but it's a start. How Does it Work? "A $40 annual fee gets riders a membership card, which allows them to pick up a cherry red three-speed bike." Once you pick up a bike, you have it for up to three hours. If you need it longer, you need to go back to a station. There are no limits to the number of trips. Unfortunately, short-term memberships will not be available at first, so the target audience isn't tourists....

image: BioSolar You might not think that cotton and castor beans could be the answer to making solar panels less expensive, but that’s just what California-based BioSolar is trying to make happen. The company has just unveiled a new backing for solar panels which it hopes manufacturers will find financially and functionally more compelling than the petroleum-based backing sheets currently used for most panels. Renewable and Less-Expensive, BioSolar Says Announced at the Solar Energy + Applications conference in San Diego this week, BioSolar says the new backing sheet is made of a mixture of cotton and a nylon resin made from castor beans. Not only will these be a more environmentally friendly option, but according to BioSolar, will sell for 25-50% less than current backing sheets. ...

Welcome to SustainStyle, a weekly digest from the writers at 1plus1, a blog dedicated to eco-friendly fashion. SustainStyle runs every Wednesday. sustainstyle-marc-jacobs-nordstrom-image

sustainstyle-marc-jacobs-nordstrom-image

Los Angeles Market Week kicks off with a green fashion show including Perfectly Imperfect, Emily Katz and Manimal. A new gossip girl that's green, grown, sexy, and not your average blah blah blah. Equita throws a mid-summer soiree with tons of marked down items on all our favorite designers until July 31st! Marc Jacobs goes polar with a hemp shopper tote complete with penguin and eco-friendly print! A two tone vegan oxford by Ameila gets our feet ready for back to school! Nordstroms' organic boutique is filling up fast with affordable pieces and designer must-haves. Bookmark recommended. xo....

For everyone out there who hates the look of compact fluorescents, German designer Felix Stark of Formstark offers this new design that looks just like an incandescent, with a filament and bulb around it. This will, I am sure, satisfy all objections, right? ::Formstark via ::NotCot Other Lovely to Look At Compact Fluorescents on TreeHugger The Power of the Compact Fluorescent : TreeHugger TreeHugger Picks: Compact Fluorescents in the News AWARE: The Visual Display of Energy Set the Mood, Save Some Energy with "Hollow" How Not To Light With Compact Fluorescents More from Molo: Paper Softlight ...

That's the Kathleen and May, pulling into Dublin with 22 pallets--that's 21,000 bottles of Fair Wind Wine--from Languedoc, carried by the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV). They are the "owners and operators of the first European fleet of merchant sailing ships, and the current market leader for clean, environmentally friendly transport." Transportation by sail has one-seventh the carbon emissions of a container ship. (Why that much? Because they have generators for the navigational instruments and diesel for maneuvering in port or down rivers.)...

Image source: Ambrose Hotel The Ambrose Hotel, in Santa Monica, CA, was just awarded the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) Certification by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for a hotel - this the first-ever US hotel to earn such a distinction....

Architectural writer and teacher does one of his great slide shows of his visit to "Home Delivery," the prefab show at the Museum of Modern Art. He writes, "Prefabricated houses have remained an elusive goal for architects, and the MoMA show is a stylish litany of second-place finishers, also-rans, if-onlys, and downright losers." Good eye candy at ::Slate More Home Delivery on TreeHugger First Pix of Home Delivery Prefabs in New York System3 by Oscar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Ruf Cellophane House by Kieran Timberlake Lawrence Sass of MIT Burst*008 by Douglas Gauthier of Gauthier Architects and Jeremy Edmiston of SYSTEMarchitects Micro Compact Home...

College student one tank of gas for summer photo

One Tank Controversy Yesterday, I wrote about a college student's plan to use only one tank of gasoline this summer. The post generated a lot of comments, so instead of replying directly, I've decided to write this follow up post. I probably should have made it clearer that I thought FOX's sensationalistic coverage was ridiculous ("surviving"?!). She didn't do anything we're not constantly talking about here on TreeHugger (walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, telecommute, live close to the things you need, hypermile, etc). The way I saw the story, it was a nice 'light' inspirational anecdote: "Girl concerned about global warming decides to cut down her gasoline consumption." I wish more people would do it, and I'd rather see that on TV than Britney. Some things that commenters said were along the lines of: ...

When we recently pointed out that some school districts were eyeing a four day school week as a way to cut costs and save energy there were some who thought the whole idea was just too outlandish to pull off. And at the K-12 level it just may be; but when faced with huge cuts in state aid the officials at Brevard Community College in Dayton Beach, Florida took the plunge and the students and staff members are reaping enormous benefits. But what benefits are they now enjoying? ...

photo: Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft Earlier this year, a study done on the visual and aural impact of wind farms in the EU showed that, depending on how close the turbines are built to houses, the noise produced by the whooshing blades is viewed as an annoyance by some people. Even if this percentage is relatively small, for those people affected it could be a genuine problem. Science Daily gives us the details on work being done in Germany that would make wind turbines quieter: ...

How to be a Green Entrepreneur While the traditional economy slows down, green is booming. Riding the wave of the green trend, people are finding or creating unusual new jobs. Earn money and save the planet -- all in a day's work! To further inspire this trend, TreeHugger has collected a list of curious green entrepreneur opportunities we can find in the booming green economy. ...

A few weeks ago I wrote about a company using algae to produce what it calls “Green Crude”, a fuel chemically identical to high-octane gasoline. The advantage of course is that such a fuel, in addition to being renewable, is that it could be used in existing vehicles and shipped through the existing fuel infrastructure without modifications. Similarly, a San-Francisco-based company is betting it’s easier to create a fuel compatible with what we already have, rather than start afresh. In the video clip above, CNN does as good a job as one can do in a two-minute clip at giving us a glimpse of new research by LS9 which has succeeded in using genetically-modified e.coli bacteria (a strain which is harmless, not the sickness inducing variety) to produce diesel fuel. By feeding these e.coli sugar, they secrete the fuel as waste. ...

I am not certain that bentwood chair inventor Michael Thonet would approve, but the wiz kids over at Evil Mad Scientist show how to mash your favourite old jeans with your favourite old chair in need of reupholstering. After all, "A broken-in pair of jeans is one of the comfiest things in the world. Unfortunately, they do eventually wear out. Luckily, they leave behind the best upholstery material: soft, comfy, durable denim. Chair seats wear out, too, especially kitchen table chairs, which can take a lot of abuse."...

Colin Beavan, aka no impact man, receives a letter from a military officer he knew, not someone he expected agreement with on regarding climate change. "Yet, he wrote to me a kind email in which he remarked on how my attempt to live environmentally, during the No Impact experiment, ended with my discovering the shortcomings of materialism as a way of life and the strengths of living with contentment, gratitude, relationships, and love. The point is that, where people like my friend the military officer are concerned, when it comes to building a societal consensus on climate change, the science-based approach may not be the best. Arguing the ins and outs of greenhouse gases may not work. But a values-based approach may. Indeed, I think it creates a way to lovingly reach some citizens who don’t believe in climate change. Ultimately, we'll need to build broad consensus, as a society and as a culture. We have to talk across the aisle and, more importantly, listen. If people like my military friend are willing to reject overuse of resources because he finds it gets in the way of "contentment, gratitude, relationships, and love," then why can't those of us who care about climate change form a coalition with them?" ::No Impact Man...

Folding Bike World Championship Comes to the UK There’s no doubt about it, the Brompton folding bike is a fantastic machine – I used to own one when I lived in the UK and dearly miss it at times. But however convenient this granddaddy of folding bikes is, I’m not sure it's what most folks would think of as a racing bike. Unless, of course, there were a category of racing specifically for the Brompton… Well it turns out there is. The video above shows footage from the 2007 World Championships, and eager riders are gearing up as we speak for the 3rd annual Brompton World Championships on Sunday 28th of September, to be held at at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, UK. Up to 500 riders will compete over a set course and prizes being offered for the fastest competitors in the following categories: Men, Women, Junior (under 17), Veteran (60 plus) and Team, as well as Best-Dressed (it is a Brompton race afterall…). We are presuming that electric-assist Brompton’s are not qualified for the race. ...

The great outdoors is full of yummy wild mushrooms just waiting to be fried up in a little olive oil, but why wait until you get home? Bring along designer Stefani Santilli's field cooker and you are ready to go. ...

I've been part of the environmental movement for a long time, but I learned about something ominous that happened this week -- something that made the hair on my arms stand on end. The Associated Press broke the story of an egregious and sweeping assault by the Bush administration on regulations that helped bring the bald eagle and other creatures back from the brink of extinction. The worst part is that I believe it's probably a foreshadowing of the havoc that will be wreaked in the final months of this administration. The AP obtained a draft of a proposed rule by Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne that would allow federal agencies -- not scientists -- to determine when a particular project would harm endangered animals and plants....

Fox thought it was big news: Danni Brancaccio goes all summer on one tank of gas in her Honda. She even blogs about it. TreeHugger readers were not so gobsmacked, and were rather strong in their opinions. ...

Image Source: SustainLane SustainLane, publisher of the annual Sustainable Cities Rankings, is once again publishing its list this fall, but before they do, they are looking for a few good submissions. People in the 50 cities studies in the rankings are encouraged to send in personal anecdotes of how their city is greening, or not greening. Submissions used in the report this fall will earn the author an easy $100. SustainLane is accepting submissions between August 8 and September 1, 2008. For a list of eligible cities, visit SustainLane US City Rankings. Submissions can be entered on their online form. Good Luck!...

A sneak peek from Ryan Frank can only mean one thing. Yes, the London Design Festival is drawing near and getting a preview of new work by this star eco-designer is always a good way to get warmed up for the big event. Next month Eco, Olivia Firth and Nicola Giuggioli's green lifestyle store, will be transformed into a showroom for the duration of the festival and there, alongside 7 other specially selected designers, Ryan Frank will debut 'Isabella'. ...

oddly-shaped vegetables are legal in europe photo

In Europe and North America supermarkets like to sell fruit and vegetables that are round and plump and perfectly shaped...and they know their customers. However many of us are learning that the gnarled carrots and funny-looking tomatoes found in farmers' markets actually taste better than the apples that are perfectly formed but tasteless. The European Commission, the parliament of Europe and arbitor of all standards, has now recognised that throwing away imperfectly shaped food is wasteful and is part of the global food crisis. They are reforming the strict rules governing matters such as the colour of leeks, the bendiness of cucumbers and the shape of carrots. These rules have caused thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables to be dumped. For example, the banana: according to the Commission “the thickness of a transverse section of the fruit between the lateral faces and the middle, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis . . . must be at a minimum of 27mm”. Hmmm.... and " a string of onions must consist of no fewer than 16 onions bound together" and "asparagus must be green for at least 80% of its length." But the times are changing and so are the standards: the Commission is planning to scrap standards for 26 fruit and vegetables including apricots, onions, peas, carrots and melons. But France, Spain, and Italy are opposed, claiming that standards “play an important role in market operations while protecting consumers”. The compromise: keep the standards for tomatoes, apples, pears, strawberries, lettuce and kiwi fruit. :: The Times ...

school solar panel ohisama fund japan photo

Seiyu, a major supermarket chain here in Japan, is committed to promoting and using renewable energy. They are certified by the Green Energy organization and now they are helping others to set up solar panels as well. Seiyu has launched a fundraising campaign with a civic group called Ohisama Energy Fund to promote solar energy and tackle global warming. Seiyu placed donation boxes at its 392 stores nationwide from August and is calling on the public to make donations to increase solar energy power generation. The money will go to a private energy fund, launched by the NGO. The fund has so far set up solar power panels at 140 public facilities and nurseries in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, where it is based. ...

If the rapidly depleting amphibian populations are any indication, we could be in for another mass extinction. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which finds that humans are worsening the impacts of climate change and disease on frogs and their fellow amphibians -- to the point where they are vanishing at an unprecedented, alarming speed. The fatal infectious disease in question, chytridiomycosis, is caused by an aquatic fungus that only targets amphibians and is able to jump from one species to the next; it is believed to have already wiped out over 200 species. ...

Image source: Smock Paper Smock Paper is the first company in the US to offer "printing on luxury bamboo paper." For those of you hosting a party, getting married or just looking for something different to write home to mom on, Smock Paper offers an alternative paper made on fast-growing and pesticide free bamboo. Smock offers a product that harks back to an earlier era when artisans took care, time and attention to detail to make a good product. While the paper is made in a european mill, the paper is printed and pressed in their workshop in Syracuse, NY and this is where the magic happens. ...

Stephen Brooks is the co-founder of Kopali Organics and a correspondent for Planet Green’s G Word . Combine the words “permanent” and “culture,” subtract a few unnecessary letters and you end up with one amazingly efficient term - “Permaculture.” How does that roll off your tongue? You have just derived another one of those brilliantly synergistic terms, a single word that signifies an entity bigger and more productive than its individual pieces. And this is exactly what the term Permaculture set out to do - Permaculture doesn’t tell you what to do, but tells you how to think in a systematic and logical way that is efficient for you as well as the planet....

Controversy and Confusion About Bicycle Saddles and Erectile Dysfunction There has been controversy and confusion about the connection between cycling and erectile disfunction ever since urologist Dr Irwin Goldstein said, in a Bicycling Magazine article, that “there are two kinds of cyclists: those who are impotent and those who will be.” Obviously, that's an overstatement. In fact, having ridden a bicycle nearly every day for the last 7 years and having spoken to countless other cyclists, I am of the opinion that bicycle saddles only cause numbness 1)if the bike is improperly adjusted; 2)when a rider isn't fit and 3)after a very long and intense ride. Three Preventable Causes of Numbness The first problem is the most common, and can be remedied by a simple visit to your local bike shop. Proper bike fit means more than a saddle that is adjusted to the right height; stems can be made longer or shorter, saddles can be moved back and forth, handlebars tilted up and down, etc. In addition, you want to be sure that you are riding a frame that is the right size! ...

Image source: Getty Images. Nalgene is working with the City of Davis, CA to reduce its carbon footprint, starting with reducing its use of bottled water. Nalgene plans to donate reusable water bottles to all city employees and community members and is using this momentum to create a community sustainability program. Davis, CA was already headed down the ban-the-bottle road when fall 2007 it enacted a city-wide restriction of the purchase of single-serving plastic water bottles. Additional Nalgene bottles can be purchased, with proceeds going to fund the Davis Sustainability Program. Davis, CA is the first community in the Nalgene Community Sutainability Program, with additional communities to be announced this fall. ...

Our favorite Member of Congress from the State of Minnesota is now in the lead with the most quotes of the day of anyone on TreeHugger, with her latest complaint about Nancy Pelosi and the fight against climate change: ""[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that." ::Think Progress All Michele Bachmann all the time at TreeHugger Quote of the Day: Michele Bachmann on the Secret Green Agenda Only in America: The "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act" Michele Bachmann: Caribou have Coffee Klatches 'Round the Alaska Pipeline ...

Concept images: GreenPlug You’ve probably heard it so many times now that you’re sick of it: “Unplug any electronic device with a ‘wall wart’ when you’re not using it. Power down your computer at night instead of just putting it to sleep. Don’t leave battery charges, cell phone chargers and the like plugged in if you’re not actually charging something. Et cetera. Et cetera.” You are doing those things, right? That said, Green Plug has another way which, provided the electronics industry is keen on adopting it, could take reducing vampire power to a whole new level. And in the process not only reduce the number of power adapters you may need to own, but also cut down on e-waste. ...

It is a stunning website with poetic copy- "Underlying the concept of WASARA is the legacy of the Japanese aesthetic and value sense. Japan has a tradition of good manufacturing backed by excellent skills and techniques, one of the most refined food cultures in the world, and a spirit of hospitality and courtesy. These are essential for days of spiritual fulfillment." -for a disposable paper plate....

Nicole Cooke Gold Medal Beijing China photo

Nicole Cooke, Olympic Champion All this biking stuff we constantly write about isn't only good for your health and for the environment, it can also pay off! UK gold medal winner Nicole Cooke shared her cycling history with the Telegraph, and not surprisingly, she started young: "Britain's Olympic cycling champion Nicole Cooke began honing her fitness from the age of 11 when she would race her father twice daily on the seven-mile trip to and from school. The young Miss Cooke and her father shunned the bus to dash from their home to school." Via Cyclelicious...

church washington to be demolished photo

We have noted previously that I.M. Pei's Church of Christ Scientist in Washington is under threat of demolition; Brutalism isn't in style these days and Churches don't have a lot of money, and they want to tear it down. The City says it is of historic importance. Now, according to the New York Times, the Church as filed suit against the City, "accusing it of trammeling religious freedom by declaring the church a historic landmark and refusing to allow church leaders to tear it down." and now, design is on trial. The Church says “We believe this brutalist, unwelcoming, bunkerlike building is not a proper representation of our practice or our theology and, that without a compelling government interest, our members, not the Historic Preservation Review Board, are in the best position to determine that representation."...

Clean Car or Dirty Pedicab? While we're all for encouraging the use of more pedi-cabs in urban environments, MINI's publicity stunt in Beijing isn't exactly green. Not the worse thing happening in China right now, of course, but probably the most polluting pedi-cab in the world when total footprint is calculated: The body of the car was shipped from Germany to Hong Kong, where it was modified and assembled. From there it was shipped to Beijing for the olympics. Read on for more photos....

"World's Biggest Wind Farm" It seems like "the world's biggest wind farm" gets announced every other month these days. The one on everyone's radar is T. Boone Picken's 4 gigawatt Texas monster, scheduled to be completed in 2014. Now the new contender for the title is a joint venture in South-Dakota between BP Alternative Energy and Clipper. Over Two Thousand Wind Turbines 2,020 Clipper Liberty wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.5 megawatt, will add up to a total of more than 5 gigawatt of clean energy production capacity. Too bad they aren't using Enercon E126 Turbines (rated at 6 megawatt per unit)......

image: Energy & Meteo Recently I wrote about a new online solar power calculator which, though it appears to currently be in unannounced public beta testing, will give consumers the ability to try out various configurations of solar panels before taking the renewable energy plunge. Software Allows Wind Farms to Predict Output On a different scale entirely, a new piece of software developed in Germany is being used to predict electrical output from existing wind farms. By providing a level of predictability, the Previento system allows German grid operators to determine how much additional fossil fuel energy will be needed to compensate for lulls in wind energy output....

I am a sucker for designs that can slide under a door; that is why I loved Australian designer Adam Goodrum's Stitch Chair, which was selected as a Best design in the concepts category of the 2004 American International Design Review. Now we learn from Ponoko that Cappellini has put it into production. It is made from laser-cut aluminum sections with rolled hinges; rods are inserted to assemble the chair. When folded it is only 15mm (about 5/8" inch) thick; 25 folded chairs fit in the space of one open chair. Cool idea via ::Ponoko ...

With those lazy days of summer soon to be gone and the promise of school days on the horizon, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Parent Teacher Association have teamed up to distribute funding to clean the air and protect school children from harmful particulate matter by retrofitting school buses. The funding comes from a portion of penalties assessed by the commission that is used to support Supplemental Environmental Projects and it turns out the amount of funding the PTA can receive is up to a maximum of $5 million per year, though the number of locations and projects may vary. ...

Two years ago we covered DesignBoom's Shelter in a Cart competition, noting that "While it may not be an answer to the problem of homelessness, it certainly raises questions and challenges our ideas. We also are intrigued by ideas for living with less and nobody does so like the homeless. Smart camping equipment manufacturers should look closely." ...

photo by Shannon via flickr It’s not too often when you see someone try to put a positive spin on rising obesity rates, but that’s just what Bermuda's Royal Gazette tries to do. Over 400 Restaurants Could Supply Used Cooking Oil The Bermuda Biodiesel Project is hoping to bring a commercial biodiesel plant online by February 2009, with used cooking oil as the feedstock. The initial goal is to produce 500,000 gallons of fuel from the over 400 restaurants on the island. Currently Bermuda Biodiesel is querying restaurants to see how much oil they could supply and how many trucks would be required to pick it up. ...

Danni Brancaccio, one tank or bust girl photo

One Tank or Bust Danni Brancaccio, picture above, knows the importance of setting goals. Concerned about the high price of gasoline and global warming, she decided that she would go through the whole summer using only the 12-gallon tank of gas of her 1997 Honda Civic. She even set a sub-goal at the start of August: A week with zero miles of driving. What's Her Secret? There's really no secret to doing it, except maybe willpower. She took the bus, rode her bike, and walked a lot. The same things that many of our readers have been doing (share your story here). Of course, college students who don't have cars will think it's easy, but we think it's cool she stopped using the car she already has for eco-reasons. If you want more details, you can read all about her adventures on her blog, One Tank or Bust. There's also a short interview with Fox News here. Follow up update: How do *You* Cut Your Gasoline Consumption?...

Showing GM There's Demand for the Volt Gm-Volt.com, an advocacy/enthusiast Chevy Volt website has created an unofficial waiting list to show GM that there is high demand for the upcoming plug-in series hybrid. The latest news is that the list has now passed 33,000 "handraisers", people who have shown various levels of interest in the Volt. According to Lyle of GM-Volt, they have enough people on the list to generate about $200 million in sales for GM (though it's always hard to know if people who said they would buy will actually do it when the car comes out). "Top level GM officials are aware of this list and have mentioned the possibility of working with it."...

photo by Fort Photo via flickr Recently we heard about research done in Spain to develop a solar material capable of using the infrared portion of the spectrum. Researchers say this material has a theoretical absorption limit of about 63%, compared to about 40% for traditional solar materials. Well, another piece of new solar research shows that by using nanoantennas it may be possible to use a much greater portion of the infrared spectrum. Keep in mind this is a long way from commercialization, but it certainly is interesting. Flexible Sheets of Nanoantennas Could Collect Sun’s Energy Developed by the US Dept. of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, researchers say that one day lightweight, flexible ‘skins’ containing billions of nanoantennas could one day be used to cover building roofs or the outside of electronic consumer products, essentially turning the entire product’s surface into an energy source....

This new daddy seems to pride himself on his crunchy, laid-back parenting style. He has taken his newborn son, Levi, to the beach, to a John Mellencamp concert, and even to a photog-crazy red carpet event. But the latest on Matthew and baby Levi strikes me as bizzare - if not a bit too down-to-earth. The actor saved his son's placenta and plans to plant it in an orchard (it's true, folks). In an interview with CNN, he says he was inspired to do this after visiting Australia and seeing a tree that had grown with the placenta of a tribe of Abroriginals. "It's going to be in the orchards, and it's going to bear some wonderful fruit," reveals the surfer dude dad. ...

This video clip gives a demonstration on how the RoofRay online solar calculator works. Don’t adjust your speakers. There’s no sound. Ever wonder what potential your roof has for solar power generation? Want to tinker around with different system configurations before even talking with a solar installer? If that’s you then RoofRay may be just the solution you've been waiting for. What you do is: Enter an address so that a satellite image of your building pops up, draw your chosen solar array configuration, choose your roof tilt angle and hit calculate. From there you can look at the potential power of the system, power per square foot, financial data, etc. ...

We’ve already seen from the Fast Money team’s hilarious response to Matt Simmons' sensible advice, that the twin threats of peak oil and climate change have the potential to turn conventional financial wisdom on its head. And while Lloyd’s suggestions of 11 lifestyle choices that can help you prepare for recession are certainly useful, I’m pretty sure all of us can do with more advice on this subject. Now Peak Moment TV, which normally concerns itself with subjects like backyard permaculture or community-wide peak oil planning, brings us an interesting interview with market analyst Marc Cuniberti, who discusses how to keep your money safe in troubled times. ...

In 1993 Ballard Power Systems drove a bus through the streets of Vancouver, powered by hydrogen in the first public demonstration of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. Ballard and his company were Canadian icons of technology, which unfortunately was always just around the corner and just too expensive for prime time. However, as Tom Koppel put it in his book on Ballard, they “kick-started and expedited the movement, which initially had very little money.“They showed the fuel cell could be improved, made more compact and powerful, at relatively little cost, and that the hydrogen economy was a long-term concept for governments to aspire to.” According to the New York Times, Dr. Ballard remained stalwart in his belief in the superiority of hydrogen over petroleum-based fuels. He argued that governments would have to adopt the new technology and make “experimental fleets” of vehicles before economy of scale would ever make it affordable for consumers. Geoffrey Ballard, dead at 75. ::New York Times Ballard in TreeHugger: Ballard Throws In The Towel on The Hydrogen Car Fuel Cell Update Plug Power Passes 600 Fuel Cells Sold Mark :...

Another clever billboard telling the public to use only what they need, even as it sucks electricity to deliver its minimalist message to the people of Denver. via ::Adfreak Summary of other billboards we have admired below:...

We’ve had packs, sleeping bags, footwear, apparel, etc, made with recycled content, (see below) but no-one has yet stepped up to the plate and served us with a tent made from recycled material. Until now, that is. Backpacker Magazine correspondent, Kelly Bastone, trawling the aisles of the Outdoor Retailer Show reports for that mag’s blog that two such beasties are in development. Big Agnes, who we previously noted were doing interesting things with recycled content sleeping bags, have a a two and three person tent coming in 2009. The Salt Creek is said to use recycled polyester floor, inner, mesh and flysheet. According to the reports even the zippers have recycled content zip tape. But not yet so for the tent poles ands clips. Although the team at Nemo are working on this. More on that, after the fold:...

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says large whales are less threatened, according to its assessment of marine mammals for the IUCN's "Red List" of endangered species. The large whales, the commercially important ones, have for the most part responded well under protection, notes Reuters. The world imposed a moratorium on hunts of whales in 1986 after many were driven towards extinction. Minke whales are still harpooned by Japan, Norway and Iceland. The humpback whale, which grows up to 50 feet and is found in all the world's oceans, was moved to "least concern" from "vulnerable" in the new Red List. IUCN: Humpback whale on road to recovery, reveals IUCN Red List What can be done? One powerful idea is whale watching. In the late 1980s, whale watching became popular outside the Ogasawara islands south east of Tokyo where they claim to have a 90% success rates for watching humpback whales by boats during the past few years. Scheduled whale watching trips, 2 to 6 hours each, are offered daily, and charters any time. The types of boats are various; diving boats, pleasure boarts and commercial/sports fishing boats. (Image from Moricha's Ogasawara Whale Watching blog) ...

Wind-Power-Makes-Samso-Energy-Independent photo

Samsø is more known for potatoes than turbines. Photo Maloutte @ flickr To Danes and other Scandinavians, the island of Samsø sitting in the geographical middle of Denmark is better known for its strawberry fields and its early potatoes than it is for being the "largest carbon-neutral settlement on the planet" as Wikipedia puts it. In this week's New Yorker, climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert travelled to Samsø to figure out why its 4,200 inhabitants have been able to achieve on their 114-square-kilometer island what the rest of the world seems reluctant to take on: clean, low CO2 living. Early adopters to communally-owned wind As Kolbert explains, Samsingers didn't volunteer to turn to renewables - a zealous Danish engineer (not even an island resident) submitted an application to a renewable energy contest in Denmark which he thought Samsø would be perfect for (as did contest judges. At first there was no rush to set up windmills and solar panels and switch to geothermal heat. Only after a critical mass of early adopters warmed to the idea of generating their own energy did it become a sort of contest between residents to see how close they could get to carbon neutrality. About a dozen offshore turbines and a dozen land-based ones are the key electricity generators on Samsø - some communally owned - while heat pumps and biofuel-based boilers provide warmth....

Kristin uncorked a controversy with her post on corks vs screwtops on wine bottles. This issue has been round the TreeHugger block before, as we discussed the relative merits of real cork vs plastic cork vs screw top vs PET vs aseptic tetra-paks. What do you favor? ...

Image source: Lumeta Solar. The Centre For Sustainable Design recently reported that solar panel manufacturers, SunPower and Lumeta, manufactured by Suntech, are developing solar panels that more closely resemble and hide in roof surfaces. While most people don’t have a problem with the rectangular panels, as that's just the way they have always looked, some people would like the panels to blend in as much as possible, including matching the roof color and mocking the angles of the roof surface....

Billboards in Buenos Aires. Visual pollution plan to remove them. Photo.

(Photo: alex-s.) The Buenos Aires government and a group of advertising associations have agreed to remove 40 thousand billboards that are infracting the city's code, Clarin newspaper informed. This represents about 60% of the total amount of billboards. This agreement is part of a government plan to put in order outdoor advertising in Buenos Aires, which includes modifications to the advertising code to establish areas in the city and authorize different types of signs according to the neighborhoods' characteristics. The government's goals are to reduce visual pollution, improve the neighbors life quality and prevent accidents. Even though visual might not be the worst pollution the city has to deal with, the amount of signs that have emerged during the last years and the dangers some of them represent make this plan a step in the right direction. More details and images of how the city would look like, in the extended. Via Clarin newspaper....

portavilion is public art in london photo

Watch out in the park--these little houses keep popping up all over this summer. Portavilion is a public art project that plunks specially designed pavilions by famous artists into four parks across central London. The project is a celebration of London's glorious parks as important sites of stimulation, recreation and inspiration. The artists had full range of creation but their building had to respond and connect to the park environment and acknowledge the importance of urban green spaces. The Primrose Hill portavilion (pictured) is a wooden structure which is influenced by the wind-swept slopes of this park where many people come to fly kites. The small building is made of wood, with geometrically-shaped bent walls and an off-kilter roof that looks like it is being blown away. The artist likes to create structures and spaces that serve no specific function; they offer a physical experience and a chance to talk and make chance encounters with a stranger. It helps to engage the passers-by if the artworks are fun and inter-active in some way. One structure is a small moveable cinema that seats six and is towed around on wheels to different locations in Regent Park. It is showing films of the history, activities and secrets of the park. Fashionable Holland Park gets the most fashionable artist, Dan Graham. His piece features glass and mirrors that the public can walk through and is influenced by the position of the sun. :: Portavilion More on Public Art :: National Theatre Goes Green :: National Theatre Goes Brown :: Chicago's Wildflowers :: Art or an Environmental Statement...

Image from exfordy It turns out there's a lot of truth to that old saying, "Mom knows best". A new study published in Biology Letters hypothesizes that old female elephants' redoubtable memory may have helped them steer their family groups toward food and safety during past incidents of drought and famine. This, the authors argue, may give them a crucial edge over other species during future extreme climate change-induced events. ...

Image source: Getty Images. Reuters reported last week that a Congolese-government funded study recommends that ¾ of logging contracts should be ended immediately for not meeting required standards. The study, which looked at 156 logging deals, was conducted in order to recoup millions of dollars in tax money and to put an end to a “business ripe with corruption." In 2002, the Congo put a 5-year halt on any new logging contracts but that has been largely ignored as new contracts are still being approved....

photo by Ian Sanderson A new report from the University of New South Wales says that Australia should be farming kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle if it wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. According to the study, if Australia replaced its 7 million cattle and 36 million sheep with 175 million kangaroos is could lower national greenhouse gas emissions by 3% a year while producing the same amount of meat. Reuters provides the details: ...

BYD China F3DM Plug-in hybrid car battery photo

Chinese Electric Cars and Plug-in Hybrids in Israel BYD is one company we've been keeping an eye on for a while. So far we know about two plug-in hybrid sedans, the BYD F6DM and the smaller Corolla look-alike F3DM, and one electric car, the BYD E6. We already know that the company wants to sell some of its vehicles in Europe by 2010, but now we learn that Israel is going to get a sneak preview: "BYD plans to sell BYD E6 Electric and Plug-in Hybrid F6DM in Israel, a country that strongly supports environmental technologies," a BYD executive in charge of the company's export operations said....

It's the greatest show not on earth, the Perseid meteor shower that happens tonight and early Tuesday morning. The full moon mucks it up earlier in the evening, but sets at about 1:30 EDT. The peak is estimated to be at 1100 GMT or 7:00 AM EDT, and you might see as many as 60 meteors per hour (although I have seen more than that for short bursts) You will be watching us pass through the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle, as its dust is incinerated in our atmosphere. There are other showers that are almost as nice, but for northerners this is the only one in nice weather....

Discovery News takes a look at the new wave in surfboard construction. New materials, such as bamboo decks & fins, linseed oil resins and UV curing, offer alternatives to the conventional toxic materials going into surfboard production. "Surfboards of the past have been sort of surfing's dirty little secret" admits Ned McMahon – General Manager/Partner of HomeBlown US, a San Diego, CA maker of surfboard blanks. Instead, Homeblown is swapping out Swaps out toxic materials with natural products such as using biofoam, which is 50% soy, for the foam blanks. To watch the full episode, go to Discovery News....

photo by Vyacheslav Stepanyuchenko We’ve written a number of times on the environmental disaster that is oil shale and tar sands. These so-called “unconventional” fuels are so energy intensive to produce that they can be up to eight times as dirty as normal petroleum. And that doesn’t even consider the amount of water that is used in the process and which remains toxic afterwards. Jordan to Exploit Oil Shale Reserves Well, it appears that Jordan never got the WWF-UK report which called the environmental and economic consequences of exploiting these plentiful but supremely polluting natural resources “unthinkable” as Yahoo News is reporting that Jordan is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell to tap into the kingdom’s 40-billion tonne oil shale reserves....

Greencore solar-powered air conditioning photo

Is any Technology more Overdue than Solar-Powered Air Conditioning? We've been writing for many years about how solar-powered air conditioning is a big "duh!", and should be used more widely. After all, it's when you have lots of sun that you need A/C the most, and anything that helps smooth out peak demand on the electrical grid can help delay the construction of new polluting power plants. Greencore's Solar A/C System The Greencore 10200 comes in two models: a fixed one, and a mobile version (which can be had with 2 or 4 batteries). Using a single 170-watt solar panel, it can keep a 600 square-foot room cool. One of the good design decisions was to make it run on DC current, so no AC inverter is needed and conversion losses are avoided....

We have shown rotating houses before, but this one predates them by decades- Angelo Invernizzi's house has an upper section that rests on a circular track and follows the sun, 1,500 tons powered by two motors with a total of three horsepower. ...

"This is New York Utopia!" Sami recently wrote about New York City's Summer Streets, three consecutive Saturdays, August 9th, 16th, and 23rd, when almost 7 miles of streets will be closed to cars (like the original Ciclovia in Bogota) in NYC....

If you are a fan of Elizabeth Royte's writing, you will want to drink up her story in the New York Times magazine about her visit to the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System, where they take sewage, clean it and pump it back into the ground to top up the water supply. "I gazed balefully at my hotel toilet in Santa Ana, Calif., and contemplated an entirely new cycle. When you flush in Santa Ana, the waste makes its way to the sewage-treatment plant nearby in Fountain Valley, then sluices not to the ocean but to a plant that superfilters the liquid until it is cleaner than rainwater. The “new” water is then pumped 13 miles north and discharged into a small lake, where it percolates into the earth. Local utilities pump water from this aquifer and deliver it to the sinks and showers of 2.3 million customers. It is now drinking water. If you like the idea, you call it indirect potable reuse. If the idea revolts you, you call it toilet to tap." ::New York Times More on Elizabeth Royte in TreeHugger: Book Review: Bottlemania Garbage Land- a Review TreeHugger on Toilet to Tap Recycling Water for Drinking Care for a Drink... of Toilet Water? ...

photo by Michael Foley Last week I pointed out a piece that Yale Environment 360 had about the great elephant in the environmental room otherwise known as population growth and resource overconsumption. In the broadstroke I agree with Ehrlich regarding population growth, but even more so on resource consumption. Especially insofar as that I quite openly believe that no technological solution alone will solve the environmental problems we currently face. No green deus ex machina is likely to appear. Changing habits and attitudes toward material consumption could have far greater an impact than any technological breakthrough. However, this week Yale is running a rather hopeful counterpoint to Ehrlich. Not a refutation of the idea that we need to be paying attention to population more than we currently do, but an observation that population growth is slowly slowing itself. Please read all of “The Population Bomb: Has It Been Defused?", but as per usual, here are some quotes to get you going: ...

Image credit: Coffeeshopdays.com New to Baltimore is Bluehouse, a fabulous organic, eco, sustainable store (& coffee shop). Those not in Baltimore can enjoy Bluehouse online, but you won't enjoy it as much as if you were able to visit this new store, located just 2 blocks from the Chesapeake Bay shoreline. This area once was a warehouse district and Bluehouse has taken advantage of the huge warehouse space. Located in what once was an industrial area, Bluehouse owners likesto say that they recycled their 7,000 sqft space and kept all of the best elements. You can get to this location with an easy walk from the Inner Harbor or Convention Center. Inside the store, you will be rewarded with a beautiful and clean, clean, clean space. The enjoyment of the arrangement and space is as much a benefit as the purchases you will make. The huge space is peaceful, and the showroom uses its space well as a backdrop for the artfully displayed items; it is not filled, crammed and cluttered. Along one wall, integrated into the floor plan, is a coffee and tea-shop with small food items, voted the best WiFi spot by the Baltimore City Paper – Best of Baltimore 2007. ...

image: Terra Grains Fuels At least south of the 49th parallel, when most people think of ethanol they think of corn. However up in Saskatchewan wheat is being tapped to produce the biofuel, and has gotten a big boost with the opening of a new biorefinery. Locally-Sourced Wheat to be Feedstock Located near Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan, the Terra Grains Fuels ethanol plant has officially opened and is claiming to be the largest wheat ethanol project in North America. The $130-million plant will produce approximately 150 million liters (40 million gallons) of ethanol and nearly 164,000 tonnes of dried distiller grains annually. To do this the plant will require 15 million bushels of wheat each year, which Terra Grains says it will be sourcing locally. ...

Not just because of safety; Fire Marshals have been demanding that for years. It is probably necessary if we want to build healthy as well as safe houses. Perhaps if houses had sprinklers, then manufacturers would not have to use flame retardants that are showing up in our blood. Some, like penta-BDE and octa-BDE have been banned, but deca-BDE is still used "despite being tied to cancer, reproductive problems, irreversible changes in brain development – and being found in the breast milk of many women in the US. These and dozens of other flame retardant chemicals are used in drapes, carpets, upholstered furniture, electronics – pretty much anything in your home that contains polyurethane foam, textiles or plastics. " A new study by Heather Stapleton of Duke University has been studying dust bunnies in Boston and found four different flame retardants. According to an article in the American Chemical Society Journal, ...

sixth street austin, texas during south by southwest photo

photo by Ryan Mattson Anyone who’s been to South by Southwest, Austin City Limits or any of the other big public events in Austin, Texas knows how much waste, in the form of plastic water bottles, plastic beer cups, and disposable paper items, gets produced. Come on, one atomic taco means at least two plastic cups of beer just to put out the fire and be able to think again. Multiply that times thousands over multiple days and you get the picture. Events Without Recycling Plan May Be Denied Access to Public Facilities Now, the city is mulling whether to mandate recycling requirements for events over 100 people which wish to use city facilities. Those who do not comply may be denied access to city facilities or requests for public street closures, the Austin Business Journal reports. ...

Image credit: Getty Images. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that several communities around Los Angeles actually ban artificial lawns, meaning that residents are not eligible for the $300 rebate from the Orange County Municipal Water District. In an area that is very drought prone, and with advances in the “look” of artificial lawns, city officials are taking a new look at the legislation. The regulations were initially put into place when the aesthetics of fake lawns were not as pleasing as they are today. Also there was concern over the lead content in many of these, which the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that children are “not at risk from exposure to lead in newer artificial turf fields.”...

SmartWool To Branch Out Into Cycling Apparel SmartWool, the company that specializes in making outdoor activities more enjoyable thanks to their wool baselayers and socks, has announced that starting next Spring they will unveil a line "of road and mountain bike apparel, including jerseys, shorts, socks, and sweaters for men and women." Photos of the clothes aren't yet available, but one of the more interesting products will be the "recycled mountain bike shorts which feature a two-in-one, removable short inside. The outer is made of recycled nylon, wool, and elastic stretch while the inner, a removable road-like short, is lined with merino wool, including the chamois." ...

Although not large in capacity, an interesting first has taken place in the state of Oregon. Construction has started on what will be the first demonstration project of using highway rights-of-way to develop solar power. Germany and Switzerland have utilized unused spaces on the side of roads for 20 years, but until now the United States has not done so. 28% of Interchange's Electric Needs Met On Right-of-Way The 104 kilowatt solar PV system will consist of nearly 600 solar panels covering 8,000 square feet at the Interstate 5 and 205 interchange. The project will generate 28% of the electricity needed to power the interchange’s lights and signage. Cost for the installation is $1.3 million, with the solar array expected to come online in December 2008. The Oregon Department of Transportation estimates than 20 miles of similar solar installations will be needed to offset the 45 million kilowatt-hours needed annually to power the state’s highway system. ...

TreeHugger loves ideas that think out of the box; Dutch architects Arthur Rottier and Peter Jongman developed the Woonbox as a house for a "temporary stay"- the box opens and unfolds into a bath, shower, kitchen and toilet....

image: Google Maps Now this is a world record worth talking about! Although still very much at the planning stage, The Business Standard is reporting that the Clinton Foundation is investigating developing what would be by far the world’s largest solar energy project in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Over Five Times the Size of the Current Largest Solar Project The project would be an ‘integrated Solar City’ with a capacity of 5 gigawatts. Yes, 5 gigawatts. ...

timothy treadwell grizzly man diaries photo

When you think of the lengths some folks have gone to in the name of environmental education there’s certainly few who have gone further than Timothy Treadwell. The recovering alcoholic and drug addict who devoted the last 13 summers of his life to living among the grizzlies in Alaska's Katmai National Park while attempting to understand them better and credited his newly found passion for wildlife adventures for his recovery. Of course living so closely among the bears finally led to his untimely death, a footnote that other aspiring wildlife adventurers may want to take note of as they consider their own forays into what some may call extreme outdoor education. ...

Solar water heater produced with pet bottles in Parana, Brazil. Photo.

The State of Parana has added one more star to its green reputation: since a few days ago it hosts the largest solar water heater Brazil, built with 1.8 thousand PET bottles and 1.5 thousand tetra-packs. The heater was installed in Palmas, in southern Parana, over a building belonging to the Brazilian army that serves as home for 50 soldiers and consumes eight thousand liters of water daily. Solar heaters are becoming an important alternative in Brazil, where electric water heaters account for 47% of the household energy consume in critical hours (source: Tierramerica). More on Parana's big PET bottles heater in the extended. Via Tierramerica....

Not far from where I am writing this, three kids on vacation were killed recently when one of them flew his dad’s Audi off the road, shearing trees 40’ up and ending upside down in the lake, after collectively downing 31 drinks. Dad, quite logically, tells the press that “his son would still be alive if he hadn’t been drinking or speeding that night.” Now I already know everything there is to know about driving; like George Carlin, I know that everyone going slower than me is an idiot and everyone going faster is a maniac. Indeed, reading Tom Vanderbilt’s book “traffic”, one learns that it isn’t rocket science; it is a lot more complicated. One learns that whenever a new safety device is installed in cars, the rate of death and injury decreases, but as much as predicted, as drivers go faster and take corners harder because of the added confidence. Or that more accidents happen to people who are not wearing seat belts- it is a form of self-selection of Darwin Award candidates. ...

waterless urinals at train stations photo

Nankai Electric Railway has introduced 73 waterless urinals at 18 stations on the Nankai and Koya train lines in Osaka, Japan. The urinals are the first of their kind in Japan and provide savings of around 22,000 metric tons of water and 12.7 metric tons of CO2 a year. There has been some controversy over waterless urinals, notable opponents including the plumber’s union of Philadelphia. However, joint research by Falcon Waterfree Technologies and UCLA, as well as research by other independent bodies, suggests environmental, economical and health benefits beyond saving water include improved hygiene compared to manual flush urinals (although these are uncommon in Japan as most flush urinals use automatic sensors), lower maintenance costs and energy savings leading to reductions in CO2 output. ...

(Hamas children's show at the Gaza Zoo shows kids how to fling cats by the tail and throw stones at the caged lions. Note the laughing children. Where are the zookeepers?) Their aim is to one day squeeze an elephant through one of the dozens of underground tunnels leading from Egypt to Gaza. For now, owners of the "Heaven of Birds and Animals Zoo" in Gaza are content with their lions, a pair of monkeys, a few gazelles, and a parrot. Some $40,000 worth of animals, the AP predicts, have been smuggled in through the underground tunnels. The newswire reports that lion cubs were drugged and put into sacks to weather the journey to the dusty zoo in Gaza. Although Egypt has been working to blow up the tunnels and prevent the illegal smuggling of everything from guns, cigarettes and lingerie, they're impossible to control, report smugglers. ...

Definitely Swedish chickens, possibly not climate declared. Photo Steffe @ flickr. Sweden wants to climate label many of its foods - but the very process of doing so has brought strife to both sides of the food aisle - biodynamic growers accuse the organic (KRAV) and domestic growing organizations (Svensk Sigill) of using labeling to push them out of the market, while more mainstream political voices have said climate labeling will confuse consumers. That last seems pretty absurd - most of us can read a nutrition label these days, or learn to. Happy chickens emit less CO2? The farmer's group Lantmännen has started life cycle analysis on some of its more common products, and has already put a "climate declaration" label on Kronfågel fresh (not frozen) chicken. The LCA (following ISO 14040 and 14044 standards) found that the chicken had a farm-to-grocery store CO2 emissions of about 1.7 kilos CO2-equivalent to each kilo of chicken meat. Chicken feed (imported soy!) was the biggest contributor to emissions, which may be one reason Lantmännen just purchased the only organic chicken operation in Sweden (which uses portable coops to provide some grass feed to its "happy" chickens). To get forthcoming climate labeling, Sweden's organic organization KRAV is suggesting that products must have 25 percent lower CO2 emissions than the average for the product category. A kilo of chicken's CO2 = 8 kilometers in the old Volvo Right now there aren't other products in the Swedish market that have officially declared their LCA CO2 emissions - but the Lantmännen say it's equivalent to what a gas-driven Volvo V70 emits during an 8-kilometer journey. Swedish pork production emits about three times what chicken does, while beef is 10 times as potent, according to Lantmännen. Carrots, on the other hand, emit about 100 grams (per kilo), and bread about one kilo CO2 per kilo bread. Carrot sandwich, anyone? Via ::Lantmännen Read about climate labeling: Climate Carrots Is There Climate-Friendly Ice Cream? Inquiring Swedes Want To Know Holy Cow! Beef Takes Backseat In Climate Debate Swedish Climate Carrots Delayed But Consumers Eager...

We have made our own comments about John Tierney's recent fishwrap fodder; Food writer Kerry Trueman one-ups us with a hat trick- "I've barely got enough digits to count the noxious "let's not save the planet" columns that John Tierney, Stanley Fish, and Stephen J. Dubner have tossed off in recent weeks like rancid croutons." She reiterates the point that one cannot compare greenhouse tomatoes or lettuce to field-grown that is trucked in: "Ah yes, the old greenhouse red herring. Locavores don't advocate buying out-of-season lettuce grown in a greenhouse--the whole point of being a locavore is that you base your diet as much as possible on what's in season in your region. As for inhospitable environments, is there a horticultural zone anywhere in America where you can't grow lettuce in the spring or fall?"...

The architectural profession is broken in the single-family house biz; the vast majority of people live in houses that were built by developers from generic plans. The number of houses designed by architects to suit the needs of specific clients is negligible. It is also expensive; a small house can take as much time to design as a very big one, and as much time as a much more profitable commercial job that doesn't require client meetings on evenings and weekends. It is the reason so many architects (including myself) fell in love with prefab; it would make architecture more like industrial design, where the cost of development would be spread over a number of units, and where a design could actually be prototyped and refined as it was produced. But prefab needs factories, installation trades, and a service infrastructure that is not yet widespread....

The permaculture convergence is a gathering of community activists and gardeners photo

A Gathering of Activists Permaculture is one of those concepts that’s a little difficult to explain – and while Warren’s post did a good job of laying out the basics of “permanent agriculture”, I often find it’s not until folks really immerse themselves in both the theory and practice that they get a complete grasp of all that permaculture has to offer. One fantastic opportunity for UK-based readers to learn more, and to discover the vast network of permaculture projects around the country, is to attend the Permaculture Association UK’s annual convergence – which is coming up on the 5th, 6th and 7th of September in the Wharfe valley in West Yorkshire. ...

The Magazine Publishers of America are taking a lesson from the bottlers and their "America-Keep it Beautiful" campaign, and asking their readers to "please recycle" as if people with blue boxes didn't know that magazines are made of paper. "The key objectives of the campaign are to overcome the lack of public awareness that magazines can be recycled in the vast majority of communities in the U.S. and, thereby, increase the percentage of used magazines that are recycled." Right. Like the bottlers who used the campaign to shift responsibility for dealing with waste from the manufacturer to the consumer, the magazine association looks for points for promoting recycling, while Jeff Bercovici of Portfolio tells us: ...

Aside from discussing a small project in greening a retail store, (and the old connection to Esprit’s Ecollection and Parque Pumalin in Patagonia) we haven’t made much mention of outdoor clothing and equipment company, The North Face, on these pixels. But now they are celebrating their 40th birthday, the company might get more of a look in. Not only have they signed on board with the bluesign, (the Swiss-based organisation that helps the textile industry understand the chemical impact of the production processes), but The North Face (TNF) have also announced they will offset 100% of their North American energy use. This will be a three pronged action. Their west coast distribution centre will derive 25% of its energy needs from a 1MW solar plant hosted by EI Solutions and Recurrent Energy. They’ll also buy Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from Bonneville Environmental Foundation‘s Green-e wind program, and finally any remaining emissions will be offset under the Conservation Fund‘s Go-Zero land restoration and tree planting programs....

inhabitots is a website for green baby design photo

Inhabitat is a must-read architecture and design site packed with information about new housing, architecture, transportation and design products. What happens when its editor-in-chief gets pregnant...Inhabitots is born. It's a new website with a baby and parenting focus; its motto: “Sustainable design for the next generation“. They say that "becoming a parent does not constitute having to sacrifice style" which is a bit optimistic (try that line out after a sleepless night with a cranky baby) but their postings so far have some pretty cool stuff. We love the Eames rocking chair, which some TreeHugger babies were lulled to sleep in during its first time 'round. It looks great, is quite comfortable, and is a timeless addition to any bedroom. Igooplay does a more modern rocking chair which is ergonomic and fluid looking in pressed wood. These wooden birds (pictured) are Danish, from the '50's and are made of locally-sourced oak. There are some wooden, solar-powered helicopters that store up energy as they sit on the windowsill and will delight any little boy. Of course there are the obligatory adorable floppy toys made out of recycled sweaters and lost socks. Clothing includes tee-shirts for young revolutionaries with slogans such as "this shirt saved a life" and "I'll change the world some day". All in all, a welcome addition to the wonderful world of green baby wares on the net. :: Inhabitots More on Green Baby Websites and Resources :: How to Green Your Baby :: Etsy Debuts Handmade Kids Series :: Baby Clothes...

That is the question that Fetzer will be putting to the world as they attempt to take sustainability one-step further. So what does a screwtop have to do with saving the planet? Well, for example, if you’re at a restaurant, and you order a bottle of wine, the waiter will ask you to sample it first. What you are testing for is to see if the wine has been ‘corked’ (among other things) - where the wine has taken on a ‘wet dog’ taste because, while harmless, the cork allows some air in and also because of some of the materials the cork is treated in. (Its more complicated than that, but that’s the rough gist.) It’s estimated that 1 in 10 bottles will be “corked”, and if you are a wine producer, losing 10% of your stock is not good odds....

Images courtesy of author. This article is continued from yesterday looking at how Bonterra winery is the leader in organic grape growing, and just how do they keep their plants healthy and the bugs away without the help of pesticides. When we left off, we were talking about the use of organic and biodynamic planting methods. Part II of this article will cover several of the organic research projects ongoing at the vineyard, the importance of water, particularly with the threat of climate change, as well as some of the other sustainable practices that Bonterra implements....

china beijing olympics opening ceremony rainmaking rain cloudseeding cloud seeding weather modification

What other government in the world, for what other reason, would be able to "guarantee" the weather? One of the biggest feats of China's spectacular opening ceremony on Friday wasn't inside the stadium. As those of us inside the Bird's Nest feared rain -- and secretly, because of the heavy heat and humidity, prayed for it -- the city's meteorological bureau peppered approaching clouds with over 1000 silver-iodide rockets. That triggered intense showers outside the city and preempted a rainfall on China's parade. It was one of the more fitting, if unacknowledged, touches to the super-sized ceremony, which after all was about China's human daring and ingenuity. Ever since Mao Zedong, who declared that "man must defeat the heavens," the country has used cloud-seeding mostly to alleviate drought. Though NASA plays with the technique to provide good weather for shuttle launches and Los Angeles and Wyoming have relaunched their own programs, Friday's ceremony may have marked the world's most critical and singular rainmaking mission, one which scientists had in their sights for years: clearing the skies for the world's largest event....

Thomas Friedman compares how Scandinavia deals with energy. "Unlike America, Denmark, which was so badly hammered by the 1973 Arab oil embargo that it banned all Sunday driving for a while, responded to that crisis in such a sustained, focused and systematic way that today it is energy independent. (And it didn’t happen by Danish politicians making their people stupid by telling them the solution was simply more offshore drilling.)" ::Thomas Friedman in New York Times The Editorial is even better." A toxic combination of $4 gasoline, voter anxiety and presidential ambition is making it impossible for this country to have the grown-up conversation it needs about energy....Here is the underlying reality: A nation that uses one-quarter of the world’s oil while possessing less than 3 percent of its reserves cannot drill its way to happiness at the pump, much less self-sufficiency. The only plausible strategy is to cut consumption while embarking on a serious program of alternative fuels and energy sources. This is a point the honest candidate should be making at every turn." New York Times When Friedman's Hot, he's Hot Tom Friedman on America's Addict-In-Chief Thomas L. Friedman on "Our Green Bubble" Thomas Friedman : There is No Green Revolution...

The whole idea of packaging embedded with seeds has been a Cradle-to-Cradle staple for a long time (seed "bombs" were even used by the Green Guerillas in New York in the 1970s) though never successfully transferred to the mainstream. Since packaging still has so far to go to be anything approaching sustainable (Bought any electronic media lately? It's seemingly swathed in a double layer of impenetrable and unredeemable plastic) any efforts to point out that packaging need not be so over-the-top and unfriendly are still welcome. Helium-filled gnome balloons made from fully biodegradable PLA (polyactide) film and lined with flower seeds were an entry in the Temporären Gärten art manifestation in Aachen, Germany this summer. studioTX, the art and engineering firm responsible for the gnome balloons, started out with the aim to show a different take on yard art - generally a strange kitschy subculture with things like gnomes, trolls, ostriches and worse - and planned to use mylar in its gnome balloons until discovering the harm the film can cause to wild life. So a switch was made to NatureWorks biodegradable helium-fillable film with a chalk-based paint on the inside for decoration. Once placed in a yard (using grass clumps as ballast) the balloon decomposes in 4 to 6 weeks and should yield a burst of meadow flowers next summer. Instead of just using embedded seeds as a novelty, why aren't packagers to do their part in reducing waste. It comes down to a simple cost and convention equation. Any serious home recycler and composter after a while realizes their only trash is plastic packaging. If more of it was natural plastic embedded with seeds the chance to beautify our surroundings would grow exponentially. At the very least we should see more PLA balloons at green parties and other gatherings. Via ::Inhabitatand Moonen Packaging (Dutch only) Read more on embedded seeds: Bloomin' Flower Cards Card-to-Cradle Sharpen, Write, Plant, Repeat: "Seed of a Pen" by Zeev Zohar ...

PHOTO: Gehrlicher Solar via IEEE Spectrum The quest for inexpensive solar panels continues, with cadmium telluride generating enthusiasm among investors and hopeful followers of the advance of alternative energy technologies. Over at IEEE Spectrum, Richard Stevenson speculates that First Solar might beat over 80 competitors to achieve manufacturing costs low enough to market solar panels at less than $1 per Watt, the target considered necessary for solar to compete with coal-burning electricity on the grid. Tempe, Arizona, based First Solar's main market currently is Germany, where government policies promote solar power growth....

Latest TH Radio

Latest THTV

Keep Rolling. Hit the Front Page >

We add over 30 posts each day
to our archive of over 35,000. For example...

Getting All Shook Up to Produce Electricity

Cost of Renewable Energy Dropped in 2009

Terrific Green Tool: Precautionary List From Perkins+Will

Rust Belt to Clean Energy Industry: Help Us Help You

Cheap 3D Solar Cells Are 6x More Efficient, Work Underground

Goodbye Cruel World - Ants Save Mates from Danger & Macaque Grandmas Nurse Their Grandchildren

Green Eyes On: Cook Up Some Change With MicroPlace

Sugar Cane Waste to Replace Coal in Coal-Fired Power Plants?

Is Algae the Fuel of the Gods?

UK Charging Ahead with £30 Million Investment in EV Charging Stations

Voices from Hopenhagen: Andrew Winston

Drool-Worthy Wooden Mouse Has Debatable Eco-Credentials

Is There a Future for Compressed Air Cars?

Andrew Maynard on Sustainable Design and Teen Sex

The Human Face of Hunger Demands Climate Action at Copenhagen

Help Wanted: Extreme Green Consultant to Help TreeHugger Founder Renovate 420-square-foot Apartment in NYC

Latest TH Radio

Latest THTV

Entries for August 10, 2008 - August 16, 2008

Total this week: 174

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.16.08

by Carson Poe and Eric Plosky, Boston, MA on 08.16.08

by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 08.16.08

by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 08.16.08

by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 08.15.08

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.15.08

by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 08.15.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.15.08

by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 08.15.08

by Earthwatch Institute on 08.15.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.15.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.15.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.15.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.15.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Alan Graham, Portland, Oregon on 08.15.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv on 08.15.08

by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 08.15.08

1. Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Powered By Wind Turbines

2. Ventomobile Is A 'Wind-Powered Land Yacht'

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.15.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.15.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.15.08

by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.15.08

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 08.14.08

by Tim McGee, Western Massachusetts on 08.14.08

by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 08.14.08

by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.14.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Chris Tackett, San Francisco on 08.14.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Terri MacLeod on 08.14.08

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 08.14.08

by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 08.14.08

by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08.14.08

by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.14.08

by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 08.14.08

by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.14.08

by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 08.14.08

by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 08.14.08