- Emily Pilloton Discusses the Hippo Roller and other Designs for Humanity (Part One)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part Two)
- Janine Benyus on Biomimicry in Design (Part One)
- Andy Revkin - Climate in the Obama Age
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part Two)
- Fred Pearce - Confessions of An Eco-Sinner (Part One)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part Two)
- Chris Goodall - Ten Techs to Save Our Butts (Part One)
Entries for September 28, 2008 - October 4, 2008
Total this week: 207
Existing Ozone Controls Aren't Protecting Human Health or the Environment, Report Says
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 10. 4.08
Image from NASA
updated: As many noted, I (idiotically) cited the Montreal Protocol's success here, which has nothing to do with reducing tropospheric ozone -- rather, it has to do with fixing the ozone layer. Thank you commenters, and my apologies for the gross mistake
Despite significant international progress made in reducing global ozone levels, they are still too high, exposing the environment and humans to their dangerous effects, and could worsen because of climate change, a new Royal Society report finds. Background concentrations of ozone have surged by 6 percent, or 2 parts per billion (ppb) in the atmosphere, per decade since the 1980s in several parts of the world, including many regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
According to the report, even background ozone levels, roughly 35 - 40 ppb, are now believed to have impacts on human health, environment and food crops (by reducing their yield and nutritional quality) in most developed nations. In some cases, when ozone levels reach a peak in these regions during hot, sunny weather conditions, they can exceed 100 ppb. ...
Kuma Bears by Ross Menuez
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 10. 4.08
Photo credit: Areaware
Designer Ross Menuez reinvents a childhood classic with his Kuma Bears, a series of psychedelically patterned teddies so vibrant that the Grateful Dead Bears pale in comparison. Made from 100 percent organic cotton canvas and stuffed with organic cotton filling, the Kuma Bears are hand-silk-screened using eco-friendly (and worry not, parents, child-safe) soy-based inks.
Available for pre-order via Areaware, the Kuma Bears will be available to ship mid-November. More images below the fold. ::Areaware
...
100 Percent Solar Powered Music, Brought to You by Turtuga Blanku
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 10. 4.08
Caribbean musician Turtuga Blanku (it translates into “White Turtle”) plays music powered by the sun. Literally. He records his blend of rock, reggae, and pop in a studio completely powered by photovoltaic cells, proving you can always count on finding solar power in strange places. Looks like Cloud Cult has got itself some competition for the title of greenest musical act out there. In fact, the entire production process for Blanku’s tunes is solar-powered—not an easy feat, but for a musician this dedicated to environmentally conscious music, sacrifices must be made....
Ocean Acidification Conference: Acidity Up 30% Since Industrial Revolution - Producing Toxic Assets For The World
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 4.08
The 2nd Symposium on the ocean in a high CO2 world, is being held at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco from 6th to 9th October, 2008, attended by 250 scientists from 32 countries . "Under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco, the symposium is being convened by UNESCO-IOC, SCOR, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)."
Abstracts for papers to be presented at the conference can be downloaded here (.doc file). Look below for an exemplary abstract of great relevance to the scheduling of "climate action", plus an opinion piece from TreeHugger friend, Russ George.
The bottom lines:
Ocean Acidification must be part of the basis for whatever climate deal world governments can next agree to.
"Toxic assets" currently impacting the world fiancial system could be passing concerns in comparison to the long term risks posed by ocean acidification: a.k.a. toxic oceans...
Recycling with the Scrap Kins: Eco Friendly Website, Clothing Line, and Craft Jam for Kids
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 10. 4.08
Are Biofuels Responsible for World Hunger?
by Josh Peterson, Los Angeles, California on 10. 4.08
photo by wikimedia
There has been concern lately that biofuels may be contributing to the global food shortage. Some worry that biofuels are driving up food prices and that more crops are turned into fuel instead of food, causing people in the poorer and drought-stricken nations to starve. Other analysts worry that there will not be enough grain leftover to feed livestock. This may not be the case. ...
Photo of the Day: What's in a Name? Stephen vs. Stephane
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 10. 4.08
Image: K. MokThis billboard is on top of a four-storey building in the Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal. With the Canadian election day coming up on October 14th, there's a bombardment of plastic election signs everywhere - major pedestrian hazards. (Right To Move, a student- and community-run bike shop at Concordia University, reuses these signs as splash guards. Now that's what I call recycling.) Related Links on Canadian Election 2008 Canadian Election Called for October 14 Canada PM Harper's Green Facade Crumbling? Canadian Government To "Reclassify" Lakes As Mining Dump Sites Canada Sort of Commits to Kyoto. We think. Election Signs / Affiches Électorales Photos (Spacing Montreal) ...
CBS and EcoZone Launch Green Schools Initiative - and the Future of Green Advertising?
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 10. 4.08
Image courtesy of Teacher Magazine
The CBS and Ecozone Green Schools Initiative launched last Wednesday, October 1st in Miami. The initiative features a “Green My School Contest” in which the grand prize is a $250,000 green makeover for the winning school. The money will supply the school with products and services to aid in an environmentally minded overhaul, as conducted by a professional “green schools coach.” Teachers, students, administrators can enter the contest by filling out an application to the Green My School website. Among other things, they’ll have to consider what being green means, and provide a written answer.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, apparently plenty busy with green initiatives lately, was in attendance to call for submissions from Miami schools. And though Miami is the first city to host the initiative, there are plans for the contest to expand to cities across the country. San Francisco’s program is now underway, too. And if it seems like there’s an awful lot of corporate interest involved in a Green School contest, there is—and that’s not a bad thing. Here’s why.
...
Evidence That Taxpayer Subsidies For "Sub-Prime Coal" Not Welcome In Indiana: 'Promote Renewables First'
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 4.08
Six hundred adults "living in private households in the state of Indiana" recently were asked the extent to which they supported State subsidy of co-called "clean coal" projects. The results were surprising, but make sense in light of recent developments in the political arena.
Why is clean coal considered a "sub-prime'" choice for government support?
Although the tag-line of 'sub-prime coal' (a characterization provided by the survey sponsor) has that spin sound, there is an appropriateness which stems from reactions to financial and political developments, recently shared by many US citizens. First, is that the investment banking/sub-prime mortgage crisis and the proposed Federal intervention, has raised suspicions about "big business' subsidies of any sort. Second, the US presidential debates have implanted in public consciousness the notion that both Presidential candidates support, to varying degree, "clean coal" subsidies. Below is a key survey summary finding, as reported by its sponsors:...
Appel and Frank: A Night of Eco-Chic Shopping in San Francisco
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 10. 4.08
Image courtesy of SFluxe
Appel and Frank is bringing a night of eco-themed fashion to San Francisco on Thursday, October 23rd. Eco-inclined shoppers will find the night especially tailored to environmentally friendly wares—and the first 300 guests to walk through the doors will receive a reusable gift bag filled with green goodies like mineral makeup, organic tea, Green Zebra guides, Bloomsberry chocolate, and more. ...
Solar Roof Brings Vatican Closer to Becoming World's First Carbon-Neutral State
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 10. 4.08
The world's smallest state aims to become the first net zero emitter. (photo via Wikipedia)
This week, the Vatican did its part to make the move to renewable energy, as workers began installing the first of 2,400 solar panels on the roof of the papal audience hall in Vatican City. The Vatican's new solar roof, reportedly worth nearly $1.5 million, should need only minimal maintenance for the next 25 years.
Last year, the Vatican announced its intention to become the world's first carbon-neutral state. "Those who destroy the environment are also big sinners", says Italian Cardinal Deacon Renato Raffaele Martino. "It's a big insult to God."...
Rockin' Around Your Celebrity Designed Christmas Tree—Starting October 15th, Bid on Your Celebri-Tree
by Sara Novak, Columbia, SC on 10. 4.08
photo: Smith & Hawken
You're probably wondering why TreeHugger would post something about celebrity designed Christmas trees. But Celebri-trees are really just the newest way to support a green charity. All the proceeds from this online auction will go to Keep America Beautiful. This year why not skip decorating it yourself and have a celebrity do it for you? Find out how to get your very own Celebri-tree....
The "Green Governor"? Schwarzenegger Vetoes Top Air Quality, Fish Protection Legislation
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 10. 3.08
Now, to be fair to Arnie, he has proven himself quite capable of living up to the lofty billing of "Green Governor" in the past -- if not always by deed, then certainly by sheer force of will. Yet it often seems as though every time I start to warm up to the Governator's green bona fides, he has to go and make a few bone-headed moves, dashing what little enthusiasm I had built up.
This time around, the Indybay's Dan Bacher reports that, under the cloak of approving legislation ushering in California's new "Green Chemistry Program," Schwarzenegger vetoed several top environmental bills, including SB 974, an air quality bill that would've raised $300 million every year to pay for air pollution mitigation and freight transportation improvements, and AB 1806, a bill that would've required the Department of Fish and Game to develop oversight protocols to determine fish rescue and relocation efforts in the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta....
ASES National Solar Tour Kicks Off October 4th
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 10. 3.08
Okay New Yorkers, so if you not got to stop by the launch of the new East Harlem, energy-independent, green community garden tomorrow, nor the Pearl-Jam-esque Tree Planting & Rock Concert, how about this suggestion that anyone in the country can do: find a tour of a solar / sustainable building. Each year more homes, businesses and public institutions participate in the American Solar Energy Society's National Tour which kicks off tomorrow. With all the locations to choose from, you simply have no excuse not to get out of the house so that you can, er..., go back into a house. Albeit for the exciting inspiration that only the palpable realization of greenitude can provide!...
Tree Planting & Rock Concert Coming to NYC, LA, San Francisco
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 10. 3.08
If you're not going to be stopping by the launch of the new East Harlem, energy-independent, green community garden tomorrow, why not volunteer for Earthkeepers Dig it Day on Oct. 4th? ...
Solar Panels & Wind Turbines Power NYC Community Garden
by George Spyros, New York City, USA on 10. 3.08
Bette Midler and Target Launch Green Community Garden: Wind & Solar Power, LED Lighting, Rainwater Collection, Composting (full press release here)
Come one come all: Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project (NYRP) will be opening the Target East Harlem Community Garden October 4 and 5 with a special weekend of events and activities, including garden games, educational activities, seminars and meet-and-greet opportunities with NYRP's talented horticulture teams. More info and location details after you jump the boxwood hedge »...
Exciting e-Paper News: Full-Color, Interactive News Papers and Magazines on the Way
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 3.08
Photo via Liquavista
Digital newspapers are on the horizon, but right now there are issues with creating paper-like readers that are interactive, fast and up to par with consumer expectations on how fancy an e-reader should be.
So scientists in Cambridge, UK have decided that a £12m three-year project to create the next generation of e-paper is the logical step forward.
They plan to develop fully interactive, full-color newspapers and magazines that exist on thin, portable, and paper-like readers – the truly Star Trek version of those old fashioned things that are made of trees. ...
Mexico Moves Ahead with Biodiesel Production
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. on 10. 3.08
Photo credit: Jatropha Chile
Mexico, with its serious air pollution, slow progress towards minimizing the sulfur content in its diesel fuel, and burgeoning fleet of cars, is in dire need of some clean fuels. Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently announced a $85 million pilot project to produce biodiesel from non-food crops like jatropha and castor oil plant so as not to avert food crops from the mouths of its hungry populace, EcoAméricas reports. Cost is a major factor here: as the cost of convention diesel has increased to 60 cents a liter ($2.30 a gallon) in Mexico, jatropha is suddenly looking pretty good at 50 cents a liter ($1.90 a gallon).
The government will require the state-owned oil monopoly, Petróleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, to buy biodiesel from small-scale producers to boost the market and streamline alternative fuels into its distribution system. ...
Buy Green: Backpacks, An Eco-Paradise and Flavorful Chickpea Curry
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 10. 3.08
:: Find a sturdy, sustainable backpack with help from our Buy Green: Backpacks guide.
:: Make Panama your next tropical, eco-destination.
:: Lunch for under $4? It's true, thanks to Kelly's One Pot Wonder series! Try her flavorful Chickpea Curry....
The Mini Kin Offers Cheaper Option for Personal Wind Charger
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 3.08
The personal wind power scene has a new mini charger to widen, ever so slightly, the number of options out there for charging mobile devices via the breeze.
Personal wind chargers have started creeping up onto the scene now that people have caught on to the notion of charging smaller gadgets, or even laptops (though not with this little guy), with renewable energy. It's easy, cheaper, novel, and green to be able to charge up devices without having to invest in big systems like solar panels on the house or a wind farm in your back yard.
So what does the adorably named Mini Kin have to offer to portable power customers?...
Walmart's Eco-Jewelry Jive, Coconut-Based Decor and Dallas Does Green
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 10. 3.08
Wal-Mart is busted for making false eco-claims around their new Love, Earth jewelry line.
Discarded coconut shells are turned into beautiful Coco Tiles.
Dallas, Texas is shed in a greener light.
The Green Routine asks, how do people remember their reusable bags?
Ecopreneurist applauds Green Talk Radio's "for the people, by the people" style.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
The Sigh of Relief You Just Heard Was From the Earth Itself: U.S. Renewable Energy Tax Incentive Extension Signed Into Law
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
photo: blueforce4116.
By hook or by crook, the renewable energy tax incentive legislation which was stalled in Congress for so long, only to be passed, then to stall again a few days later, has been approved by both the House and the Senate, and already signed into law by President Bush.
What broke the impasse? Tacking on the legislation to save the US economy from imploding, that’s what. Wall Street may still be in trouble—I wouldn’t want to be a bank exec anywhere near a mob with ropes, pitchforks of open flame let me tell you—but the renewable energy industry is coming out ahead. This is what is being said about the long-awaited renewable energy tax incentive extension:...
Planet Green and SCJohnson Launch the Give Green Sweepstakes
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 10. 3.08
If you haven’t perused Planet Green yet, here’s another reason to: they’ve got some pretty dope challenges going on like the recently launched Give Green Sweepstakes. If you’re a resident of the U.S. and are at least 18 years old, you can write and tell them about a green cause or project that you (or you and a group of others) are involved in. If you impress Planet Green and contest sponsor, SC Johnson (the cleaning product brand), they’ll cough up a generous grant of $10,000 to go towards your eco-endeavor! Here’s how to enter:...
NEC Launches New EPEAT Monitor
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 3.08
Via NEC
Using an energy efficient monitor is a great way to cut down on energy use. There are a growing number of options out there, including new LED monitors, and monitors that are energy sippers.
NEC doesn't want to get left in the dust, and so has launched an addition to its line of EPEAT monitors, which feature energy-saving capabilities like NEC's ECO mode and built-in carbon footprint meters....
Shoshone Nation Drills Down on Geothermal Power, 100 MW Plant Planned
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
Mountains in Box Elder County, Utah site of the Shoshone Nation’s planned geothermal power plant. Photo: Dave Merrill.
Following on the heels of the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation and Kansas’ Kickapoo Nation, another Native American tribe is getting into the renewable energy game. The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation has announced that they will be investing in a geothermal power plant to provide electricity to Riverside, California. Here are the details:...
Dell's Customers Say: I'll Take the Computer, But Not The Tree
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 3.08
Photo Via Flickr: World Resources Institute Staff
Dell’s Plant a Tree for Me program isn’t going too swiftly. The plan allows a customer to spend an extra couple bucks with the purchase of a notebook or desktop to help offset the carbon emissions generated by that device over the next three years. It's basically an instant carbon offset purchase through which trees are planted to absorb the CO2 created through the use of the laptop or desktop and contribute to reforestation.
The problem is, customers aren’t buying in. ...
On Energy & The Environment Joe Biden and Sarah Palin Probably Have to Agree to Disagree
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
B-Love Sustainable Clothing Showcased at IUCN Congress
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona on 10. 3.08
Photo of Lynx Shirt Courtesy of B-Love Clothing.
Two Canadians living in Granada, Spain are producing some very impressive, sustainable shirts using refurbished materials and all vegetable inks. Ben and Craig, also known as B-Love Clothing , are making these unique shirts by hand and bringing them and their eco-friendly clothing message to the people.
As they say on their website, “All B-Love clothing and accessories are made from recycled fabrics. New life is given to starting materials as they are altered, while reducing environmental impact. Often animals appear in the unique and sustainable clothing environments that are created.”
...
Largest Wind Farm in Kansas (250 MW) Built by Italian Energy Firm
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
photo: Brent Danley
It may not be a world record beater, but a new wind farm in the Great Plains does take the blue ribbon on two fronts: The largest by Italian renewable energy developer Enel and the largest so far in Kansas. Enel’s press release is fairly terse on the development of the Smoky Hills wind farm, but this is what it’s all about: ...
Earthwatching: Seen Any Good Green Movies Lately?
by Earthwatch Institute on 10. 3.08
IBM's iDataPlex is NASA's Supercomputer of Choice for Climate Simulations
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 3.08
NASA scientists are working on better understanding Earth’s climate, our interaction with the sun, and how our planet interacts with the rest of the cosmos. Doing that takes some major calculations, and major calculations takes a major computer. So they’ve decided to select IBM’s iDataPlex supercomputer as their vehicle of choice for cool simulations and model creations.
The supercomputer has some amazing capabilities, but what really got my interest piqued is how this computer aligns with the “Big Green” goals of IBM and how energy efficient a computer can be when it is doing 42 trillion calculations per second. ...
New Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Tested at Texas Grocery Store
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
photo: CJ C
TreeHugger has covered vertical axis wind turbines a number of times. Smaller in scale than most of their bladed cousins, most are intended for smaller-scale applications. Illustrating this is an announcement that Wind Energy Corp. has gotten a pilot project online in Texas, installing one of its turbines atop a 100’ tower next to a Weslaco H-E-B grocery store. Here’s the skinny on this new development:
...
Too Little, Too Late? McCain v. Obama on Global Warming
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 3.08
photo: Andrew Davies
I fear I may have poisoned my objectivity on this one after a recent post I did on Sarah Palin and her views on the cause of global warming; there’s no getting around that Gov. Palin’s viewpoint is at odds with what I consider to be good policy and sound science. Palin’s views aside though, the good thing about both Barack Obama and John McCain is the both have indicated that they will take action to combat global warming: Which is reassuring considering a number of sobering statements made towards the end of the summer about the state of arctic climate change.
As the 2008 presidential race comes into the home stretch, I imagine fewer and fewer people, especially those for whom environmental issues are of top importance, are on the fence between the two major candidates. But for those who still have to make up their minds, and recognizing that energy policy and climate change policy are necessarily be intertwined (only being separated in these posts for the sake of editorial cleanliness), here are John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s viewpoints on global warming:...
Greenwash Watch: 12 Ways Vinyl Siding is Green
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 3.08
Somewhere in Washington, perhaps in a gracious vinyl-clad manse like the one above, resides the Vinyl Siding Institute, bravely lobbying away to promote the wonders of its miracle product. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Someone has to let the world know that vinyl siding is really green. Like Wonderbread for the housing industry, it builds green houses in 12 different ways: ...
Dem Candidate Called "Wacky" For Suggesting People Walk or Ride Bikes
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 3.08
Here is an interesting political ad that attacks Democratic nominee Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania's 3rd district for having "wacky ideas" such as people taking "personal responsibility" and walking places and riding bikes. ...
Matt Simmons: Peak Oil Will Dwarf Financial Crunch Soon
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 10. 3.08
Saying No To Genetically Modified Foods In Japan
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 10. 3.08
No genetically modified crops are grown commercially in Japan, perhaps one of the countries in the world with the strongest consumer opposition to "unnatural" GM foods. Yet, Monsanto and the US government continue their shameless push for the stuff. Again and again, imported foods have been found to be contaminated with illegal GM varieties, including the infamous Starlink corn, that had not been approved in the US either (it was recalled and never heard from again).
Now, a US government official is visiting Tokyo to seek Japan's "help to promote the safety of genetically modified crops among Japanese consumers," as a way to "ease the global food crisis," notes NHK World. Dr. Nina Fedoroff, the Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was interviewed by NHK in Tokyo on Thursday, and said "the planting of genetically modified crops has been spreading rapidly in the United States and stressed the need to spread this kind of crop globally to cope with the food crisis."
Food crisis? This summer, what did Monsanto do? For US corn, 60 percent is GM -- and nearly all of it contains Monsanto genes. During this global food crisis, Monsanto just raised the price of its corn seed $100 a bag. Talk about a novel way to solve the food crisis....
LIGHTEN UP lighting solutions by [re]design (Part 2)
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 10. 3.08
![Lighten Up by [re]design Recreate image](http://www.treehugger.com/lightenup-redesign-recreate.jpg)
LIGHTEN UP, the lighting exhibition for this years 100%Design show in London by eco design group [re]design, looks beyond the bulb to explore an array of sustainable lighting strategies – including energy-efficient technology and design, sustainably sourced and recycled materials, lifecycle thinking and product-user relationships. We featured [re]design’s [re]use examples like the Sun Jar and the Jar Jar lamp, as well as the Eco Desk Lamp and the Nesting Lamps under [re]store and [re]duce examples Circa and Plumen in Lighten Up Part 1 on TreeHugger. Today we’d like to talk a bit more about the categories [re]create and [re]cycle, and find out how pasta serves as a lampshade. Lamp photos and pasta lampshade recipe after the jump....
Stunning Photographs Illustrate Sensitive Dependence Between Children + Planet
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 10. 3.08
Photos: all images courtesy of Kelly Hill - www.kellyhill.co.uk
British environmental photographer Kelly Hill uses the term Sensitive Dependence to describe the theme that inspires her beautiful work; namely the delicate, but fundamental relationship between our children and our planet. She explains, "Sensitive Dependence is a series of images that explore our relationship with the natural world as though through the eyes of a child. It is a body of work that looks at the fragility of the world around us, a child's affinity with nature and concerns I have with environmental damage and the legacy we are leaving our children." Click over the page to see more of Kelly Hill's stunning photography and find out why she's all of a buzz about bees....
Survey: What Will The Future Look Like?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 3.08
When I saw Jaymi's post on the Home of the Future I wondered why are there asphalt shingles on it? On digging into the site further, I found that it really was the home of the past, craftsman style, overlaid with hundreds of thousands of dollars of wonderful gee-whiz technology that very few people could afford to buy or maintain. The future used to be a lot more interesting, like the Monsanto (before they were evil) house of the future on the right.
...
London Design Festival: Chairs Galore
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10. 3.08
We can't leave the London Design Festival behind until we have a survey of some of the wild and wacky chairs that people have created. Designing a comfortable and good looking chair is much harder than it looks and is a mark of a good designer. Then there are the other kind of chairs that are fun, or are trying out a concept, or just plain silly. And there were lots of those.
Niels Schuurmans' Balloon Furniture was one example of whimsy taken to the extreme. He took those long tubular balloons that clowns usually use for making balloon poodles and filled them with fiber reinforced polyester; which made them hard and solid. You can sit on them; they are not very comfy, but they would be colourful and witty outside on a balcony or deck. ...
No Bag Ban in Sweden: Instead, More Plastic Recycling
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 10. 3.08
Soft plastic sneaks into hard plastic stream, and in the coming system that's ok
Swedes do love to be all things green. But amazingly, there's no city or municipality in Sweden that has followed the green trend of banning plastic bags.
Ban Bag Would Rile Consumers
There's two simple reasons for that: 1) in Sweden you must put your garbage into the can inside a plastic bag, and 2) that bag more than likely is one you got (really that you paid for - all bags cost at least U.S.$.10 each) at the grocery store - buying garbage bin liners is basically unheard of. And where do all the trash bags go? Well, mostly they are burned in Sweden's system of incinerators.
Swedes world's best recyclers
Thus there's little municipal incentive to ban bags. Except that Sweden also loves its reputation as one of the world's best recycling nations, and has producer responsibility directives on the books that make it necessary for packagers to take care of their waste - and in plastic's case at least 30% of it must be truly recycled, not just burned. So what's the Scandinavian recycling leader to do?...
Book Review: Go Slow England: Special Local Places to Eat, Stay & Savor
by Kati Stevens, Sherman Oaks, California on 10. 3.08
Farms, inns, bed & breakfasts of all sorts dot Go Slow England, a collection of insights written into the best Slow places to stay in the English countryside. Rapturously reviewed by the authors, these houses and halls and campgrounds are tied together more by how enchanted and out-of-the-way they appear than by commonalities in how the owners run their business. Still, the reviews of each place sometimes seem to have been written by an owner's rapturous aunt and one can't help but be seduced. Take off for some verdant shire where I can spend all day wandering past poets' houses and picturesque ponds before coming back to a converted manor for an organic dinner? Who wouldn't want that?...
Biofuel Crops to be Fertilized By Landfill Ooze
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
Photo Via D'Arcy Norman
Landfills aren’t just dumping grounds. All that rot can produce usable energy. Many landfills are already prized turf with methane being used as a fuel source, and cellulosic biofuel plants pillaging the refuse headed towards landfills as feedstock.
But there is a whole other use for the ooze that comes from landfills. It’s headed towards nourishing plant life that will turn into biofuel....
Going Solar: Lessons from Experience
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 10. 2.08
(One) TreeHugger Goes Solar
We’re not quite at the stage where every roof boasts a solar water heater, as Lloyd has advocated, but there is no doubt that as energy prices rise, solar water heating becomes increasingly attractive. And I’m proud to say that today my wife and I took our first solar showers – yes, we’ve finally taken the plunge and gone solar. Because we weren’t confident enough in our DIY skills, we avoided making our own solar hot water heater, and instead used a recent inheritance (thanks Naini!) to invest in this most practical, and relatively affordable, of micro-generation technologies. Given that there are plenty of readers likely to be interested in renewables for their own homes, I thought it might be helpful to go through our experience. So here’s what we’ve learned…
...
Fiber Composites: Materials Of Green Energy Production
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 2.08
Typically composed of 70% to 75% glass by weight, these aerodynamically designed blades must meet very strict mechanical requirements such as high rigidity and resistance to torsion and fatigue. High static and dynamic loads over a wide temperature range are typical during a 20-yr service life. A standard 35- to 40-meter blade for a 1.5-MW turbine weighs 6 to 7 tons.Image credit:Turbine blade half removal, Siemens AG...
3 Changemaking Water Projects Improve Health & Sanitation in Rural Rwanda, Madagascar and India
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 2.08
The type of water conditions these programs are attempting to address, photo: McKay Savage.
Last week a new water and sanitation program was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative that’s so large it got dubbed a 'mega-commitment'. One of the groups participating in the initiative is Global Water Challenge; and after one long day of plenary sessions, working groups and ‘round the coffee cart chatting I had a chance to sit down with GWC Executive Director Paul Faeth to ask him about some of the innovative entrepreneurial water projects being funded through the Changemakers competition, with which GWC has been involved. I asked him to pick three out of all the worthy projects in development to highlight for TreeHugger readers:...
The TH Interview: Jimmy Wales—Wikifying Green Knowledge (Part Two)
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 10. 2.08
>In part two of our conversation with Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, we get deeper into the nuts and bolts of Wikia Green, but also tackle the role that free culture can play in saving the world (hint: it's a big role). ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Also check out the first installment of our interview with Jimmy Wales. The music you hear is Ratatat....
Read Green Initiative Aims to Cut Deforestation, Trash Creation
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 10. 2.08
If you’ve been looking for a way to green up your reading then the Read Green Initiative may just be for you. Essentially, it’s being organized by Zinio, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of digital magazines, providing magazines in a media-rich digital format for purchase as opposed to the classic paper that shows up in your mailbox.
Of course, you may have reservations about getting your favorite magazine via the internet, but they’ve got a special running for the moment that just may entice you to give it a shot.
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Shade-Grown Coffee Ensures A Future Cup-a-Joe
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
Photo Via Melinda Shelton
Coffee is grown in two main ways: in the sun or in the shade. But three University of Michigan researchers show that if we want to look forward to a nice hot cup of coffee a few years from now, shade-grown coffee is where its at. ...
Video: New York CityRacks Design Competition Finalists
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 2.08
Beautiful Bike Racks for NYC
Our friends at StreetFilms went to have a look at the finalists of the CityRacks Design Competition (which we wrote about in the past few months: See Call for Entries: Redesign the Bike Rack and Turning Bike Racks into Works of Art). Some really great bike racks have been designed. Little the little girl, I like the one that looks like a giant paperclip.
You can see the video and photos below....
Adiamo Alghe! Italian Biodiesel Producers Turn to Seaweed as a Feedstock
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 2.08
photo: Karel Hladky
Though they’re not the first group to have a go at using seaweed as a feedstock for biofuels, they may be one of the largest. Reuters is reporting that Italy’s Union of Biodiesel Producers hopes to commercialize the production of seaweed-based biodiesel within five years. They plan on investing €10 million ($14 million) into the project, which hopes to make an end run around the lingering food versus fuel debate by utilizing a non-food feedstock that is incapable of competing with croplands. Here’s how they plan to do it:...
"Home of the Future" Is Sacramento's First LEED Platinum Home
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
Photo via SMUD
The "Home of the Future" is the goal of BP Solar and OCR Solar & Roofing. They’ve teamed up to create a home that is the most state-of-the-art in energy efficiency.
Their design and construction hopes to encapsulate everything a homeowner could want in terms of energy production, storage and consumption. And they've put together quite the home to show off the potential of future dwellings. ...
Super-Efficient Free-Piston Engines Could Replace Traditional Gas and Diesel Engines
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 2.08
Free-Piston Engines: The Future?
While we wait for battery and hypercapacitor breakthroughs to allow us to go 100% electric and ditch internal combustion engines, series plug-in hybrids (electric motors turn the wheels and a gas generator kicks in when the batteries are empty) are our best bet to dramatically reduce transportation-related oil consumption and CO2 emissions.
The first few series plug-in hybrids (like the GM Volt and Fisker Karma) will use regular 4-cylinder gas engines as generators, but free-piston engines could potentially change all that somday: 1) They have very low friction, 2) only one moving part, 3) are about 50% efficient (about TWICE as good as gas engine and better than diesel), 4) and they generate electricity directly. Read on for more details....
GreenPeak Cutting Batteries From Wireless Sensor Networks
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
Image via GreenPeak
When it comes to wireless energy monitoring and conservation, batteries take the bang out of the buck. They are always running out of juice and need replacement. That’s an annoying fact that multiple companies with multiple technologies have been working to fix, and GreenPeak is one such company. GreenPeak offers a new technology that ditches batteries all together. ...
Clean Energy 2030: Google’s Green Energy Future Revealed -- It’ll Save U.S. $1 Trillion
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 2.08
T. Boone Pickens has the Pickens Plan; Al Gore has his ‘Generational Challenge to America’; both John McCain's and Barack Obama's renewable energy plans have been repeatedly articulated. Now Google has gotten into the energy policy act and proclaimed their vision of a green energy future. Under Clean Energy 2030, oal would be entirely eliminated from US electrical generation, oil used for transport would be reduced nearly 40% and foreign oil imports would be reduced by one-third. When Google gets into something, you know they’re going to give it their all, so here’s a summary of what they’re proposing:
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5 Eco-Inspired Sci-Fi Movies, Newman's Own Organics and All-Natural Toothpaste
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 10. 2.08
:: Coordinate a marathon movie night this weekend with these five eco-inspired sci-fi films.
:: Support Paul Newman's admirable charity work by purchasing Newman's Own Organics brand snacks and salad dressings.
:: Keep your pearly whites sparkling without all of the chemical nasties....
Black & Decker Launches Energy Saver Series Tools
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
We are always on the prowl for gadgets that help reduce home energy consumption and save money. Three new Energy Saver Series tools from Black & Decker can soon be added to our artillery for fighting excess energy usage.
Specially designed for easy integration into daily life, the three tools help to cut costs through easy monitoring of power use on home appliances to lower monthly bills, automatic lighting so the lights are only on when you want them to be, and (perfect for this time of year) detecting drafts so you can catch insulation problems before they catch hold of your wallet. ...
Pork-Laden Senate Version of Bailout Bill has Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Credits
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 2.08
...and the Kitchen Sink
The original "bailout plan" by Treasury Secretary Paulson was 3 pages long. The Senate version that was passed last night (H.R. 1424) is now 451 pages long and it has "sweeteners" for everybody and their dogs.
PHEV Credit
One of those is a plug-in hybrid vehicle tax credit that was probably first seen in some GM wet dream: "The credit is a base $2,500 plus $417 for each kWh of battery pack capacity in excess of 4 kWh, to a maximum of $7,500 for light-duty vehicles," up to $15,000 for vehicles weighting more than 26,000 pounds. Because the Chevy Volt has a 16-kWh battery pack, it would get the maximum credit. Read on for more details....
DeSmog's New Election Blog, Inhabitat at London Design Festival, Ecomii's prescription for Babies, and More
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 10. 2.08
Closet Environmentalist: Carnival of the Green #147! by Alina Beloussova
"As you can see, I am on a sort of hiatus right now (busy busy!) and this here little blog is looking as neglected as the environment in a Sh&ll board meeting. Well… sorry about that. I’ll be back soon. Don’t you quit on me now, all 6 of you!"
Ecomii: Greene's Organic Prescription Just For Babies by Dr. Alan Greene
"If I were going to pick only one time of life to eat organic, it would be from conception through age three. Our bodies and our brains grow faster during this period than at any later time. Babies eat more than adults, pound for pound, and are more vulnerable to environmental toxins."...
Honda's All-New Honda Insight Hybrid: Fuel Economy Similar to Civic Hybrid
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 2.08
On Sale Spring 2009, Expected Price: Around $18,500
At the Paris Auto Show, Honda is showing an almost-production prototype of its new dedicated hybrid car, the 5-door hatchback Insight (V 2.0). The company is also working on a hybrid based on the CRZ and a Jazz/Fit hybrid, as well as a new version of the Civic Hybrid. "Honda is planning global sales of more than 500,000 units per year with its four hybrids [with 200,000 of those being Insights], said Takeo Fukui, president and chief executive officer of Honda."
We have a lot more details (engine, MPG, etc) and photos below. ...
Why Pricing Carbon Isn't Enough
by Maria Stamas on 10. 2.08
The successful auction of 12.5 million permits by 10 U.S. Northeastern states brought the cap-and-trade system to the limelight this week.
Although an important first step, RMI co-founder Amory Lovins believes cap-and-trade systems merely skim the surface of what ultimately needs to happen to accelerate reductions in carbon.
Said Lovins in his recent conversation with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper at RMI's 2008 National Solutions Council event, "In the long run, I think, pricing carbon will not be either essential or certainly sufficient. Efficiency gains are a manual undertaking. You actually have to turn the crank."
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Note to Sarah Palin: The Cause of Global Warming Does Matter
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 2.08
photo: Tom LeGro/News Hour
Is this really an improvement on saying that global warming is not man-made? In an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric on Tuesday night, Republican nominee for vice-president Sarah Palin clarified her position on global warming a little bit. When she was initially nominated a number of sources seized upon previous statements she made that global warming was not man-made. Since then she has back off on that position, telling Couric that “It kind of doesn’t matter.” Here’s more of what she said,
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Friggebod Fun: The Mini House by Jonas Wagell
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
Friggebods are small swedish cottages; they don't need building permits for less than 150 square feet. This design by Jonas Wagell is available for purchase for 12,200 euros plus freight, with a solar power module for only 1,400 euros. A bath and kitchen module is also available....
Frank Gehry As Solar Power Developer? Paint-On Solar Steel Could Be Here in Three Years
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 2.08
photo: Chet Yeary II
If Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer, has its way and their new work into developing solar cell paint comes to pass, the whole concept of what types of material can be used for generate electricity through photovoltaics could change. At least that’s the promise. Renewable Energy World is saying that production on Corus’ solar steel sheets could begin in three years, though doesn’t really go beyond that in terms of timelines. The way it would work is this:...
Deconstructing Cleveland: The Art of Taking a House Apart
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
From photo essay by Alejandra Laviada
There are 8,000 vacant houses in Cleveland; the city is demolishing 1,100 by the end of the year. You can push them down and take them to the dump in a day, or you can carefully deconstruct them and recover almost all of the material to be used again. The lumber is drier, straighter, of better quality than anything you can get today.
Jon Mooallem wrote an excellent article, This Old Recyclable House, in the New York Times Magazine, following Brad Guy as he explains the process:...
At IIDEX: Dumpster-Diving Design Students
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
Setting up a trade show the size of IIDEX generates a lot of garbage. The organizers had the bright idea of setting up a charrette for students of design schools in the area, who has 24 hours to go through the dumpsters from the setup and prepare a sculpture.
My favorite was this green wall being built by students from Ryerson University School of Architecture....
Bush Admin to Public: What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
The Bush administration found $700 billion to bail out the banks and $25 billion to bail out the automakers, but can't find $8 million to monitor the pesticide levels in our fruits, vegetables and field crops. It has cut the program that tests them.
According to the Chicago Tribune, "Data from the 18-year-old Agricultural Chemical Usage Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were collected until this year, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used the data to set safe levels of pesticides in food.
The information was also widely used by university and food-industry researchers, including a University of Illinois program to help farmers reduce the amount of pesticides they use."...
BioSolar Announces BioPolymer "Backsheet" for Solar Photovoltaics
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 2.08
BioSolar, Inc. has announced that materials derived from cotton and castor beans compose the company’s newly developed BioBacksheet™ product. BioBacksheet™ is intended to be an alternative to the base layer materials already in use on photovoltaic solar cells. Traditionally, such "backsheets" are made from a petroleum-based film, such as Dupont Tedlar™.
Why Castor Beans?
Nylon-11, which is indeed made from an extract of the castor bean, was developed by German scientists as an adaptation to the petroleum shortages of the World Wars. Much of the castor production is from India. Some other common modern applications of the biopolymer N-11 are roller blades and the brightly colored brake lines of trucks. N-11 is tough stuff....
eROCKIT - the World's Most Expensive Electric Motorized Bike?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 10. 2.08
When inventor Stefan Gulas rides his eROCKIT around Berlin, he still turns lots of heads. Is it a motorcycle, a weird scooter, a souped-up bike? People don't seem to know. For eROCKIT is not only fast, going at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour, it's also pretty - a skinny, streamlined electric motorcycle or a thoroughly decked-out e-bike. Electric assist bikes are popular on TreeHugger, and most of them run between $1,000 to $5,000 - electric motorcycles are around $15,000. ERockiT plans to build just 10 machines in 2009, for the pretty-penny price tag of $44,000 ($35,000 down)! So O.K. maybe not for the masses, but still cool.
eROCKIT's electric assist is made to zip through city traffic
eROCKIT's inventors call it the human-hybrid machine. That sounds like hyperbole until you watch the eROCKIT in motion. The cyclist's pedaling motions assist the motor, which multiplies the rider's effort by a factor of 50, the company says. The faster you pedal, the faster you go. ...
Traditional Medicinals Opens Up World's Biggest Solar Powered Tea Factory
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 2.08
Traditional Medicinal's tea facility; photo via Traditional Medicinal
In a very cool continuation of using the sun to create the world's most consumed beverage, Traditional Medicinals took a giant leap forward and has completed an installation that makes it the world's largest solar powered tea factory.
Traditional Medicinals has always tried to be green – and we don’t just mean in their tea selection. For quite awhile now, they’ve used wind credits to offset their electricity use. But they wanted to do something a little more direct. So, they undertook a massive solar power installation project.
The sun grows tea, then the sun is used to process it. Very cool. But just how much sun power is needed to run an operation like this? ...
Survey: Are You Driving Less?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
Mike reports that the miles traveled by US drivers continues to decline- for the ninth straight month.
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Canadian Election Update: Nothing to Report
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 2.08
Canadian party leaders look ready for a game of poker rather than a debate.
What idiot scheduled the big Canadian leader debate on the same night as the American VP showdown? Who wants to watch five Canadian party leaders all say pretty much the same thing when you can watch the Thrilla from Wazilla? The Canadian election is so boring in comparison. Incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper has done a remarkable job in keeping his radical base covered in duct tape and has been kissing babies instead of eating them. Until he pandered to his base by cutting arts funding last week he had the artsy urban green lefties on the run.
Stephane Dion has the greenshift platform that every environmentalist should love, but the American economic crash and its reverberations in Canada are making him backtrack fast. He also can't explain it, so people are deserting the party in droves.
...
A Great Act: Living Beyond One's Means
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 10. 2.08
(Photo from Blogtorira, a great act from an ancient Kagura performance)
Frugal Green Living made some very important points here on Treehugger. The timing is perfect for change. In his interesting column, Financial Times' David Pilling talks to Chinese and Japanese finance experts, wondering if this is America’s chance to kick its Asian addiction.
Did America hang itself with Asian rope? I put this to a Chinese official last week and, quick as a flash, he responded: “No. It drowned itself in Asian liquidity.” Asia’s part in America’s financial downfall has been two-fold. First, shiploads of cheap goods from China and other low-cost producers helped keep a lid on US prices. That lulled the Fed, with its tight focus on the consumer price index, into thinking it could have it both ways: high growth with low inflation.Second, FT notes, Asian bank reserves, particularly from Japan, funded buy-now pay-later consumption in the US. I can't help but wonder why. "Asians have lived below their means so that Americans could live beyond theirs" - a classic quote....
Another Plastic Bag Free "Village"
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10. 2.08
It's not quite Modbury, the town which has gone plastic bag free for a year now, or Kew, which isn't giving them out in shops, but it is ours. Belsize Park, a leafy neighbourhood in North London has launched a voluntary plastic bag ban. Called "Pennies for Plastic", forty local retailers will be encouraging customers not to take free plastic bags in their shops. For every reusable bag that shoppers bring, the store will donate money to a local Hospice. Or when a customer asks for a plastic bag, they will be asked to make a charity donation. Locals are being urged to buy a very nice-looking cream coloured organic cotton bag with "the belsize bag" printed on it.
To kick off the initiative, Belsize Eco Week has been going on all week. With the slogan "small steps big difference" a series of events have been held in celebration. Films were shown every evening and a debate was held on the Transition Towns movement and whether it can be achieved in this neighbourhood. The local supermarket had a display of eco cleaning products for use in the kitchen and rest of the house.
...
German Scientist Outlines Massive Iron Fertilization Plan to Save the Antarctic
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 10. 1.08
Image from es0teric
To save Antarctica from following the fate of the (doomed) Arctic ice cap, we must place our faith in phytoplankton, says Victor Shahed Smetacek. Though it may already be too late to save the Arctic -- as we've written before, most scientists predict it will be gone by century's end -- it is possible that we could forestall the wholesale melting of the Antarctic ice cap if we start dumping large amounts of iron into the Southern Ocean.
If you're a longtime reader of this site, then iron fertilization won't be anything new to you (in fact, we first described Smetacek's plan a year ago): The basic gist is that, by fertilizing large patches of the ocean with iron filings (typically as iron sulfate particles), you kickstart phytoplankton productivity by allowing them to increase their rates of photosynthesis -- which leads to more atmospheric carbon dioxide being taken up in the ocean. ...
Bush Administration Proposes 48 New Endangered Species in Hawaii
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 10. 1.08
Photo credit: Getty Images
Trust us, we're as surprised as you are: In a bold, uncharacteristic, and long-overdue move, the federal government announced a proposal on Tuesday to add 48 species, found only on the island of Kaui in Hawaii, to the endangered species list. With 329 imperiled plants, animals, and insects, Hawaii has more endangered species than any other state.
Protecting these species would involve a "holistic approach," according to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who, lest we forget, dug in his heels every step of the way before finally reluctantly caving in to pressure to list the polar bear as threatened. If the 45 plants, two birds, and one insect are successfully added to the list, a process that involves a yearlong study, approximately 43 square miles would be designated as critical habitat for all 48 species. While this would depart from a 30-year-old practice of mapping out each species' habitat individually, which does little to help the entire ecosystem, conservation groups remain wary. ...
The Ultimate Carnival Ride: A Human-Powered Ferris Wheel
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Photo by Guillermo Esteves
Southern India has a zero-emissions ride that is equally as good for laughs as it is for the environment. A fun fair operator created a ferris wheel that is human-powered. A team of men take turns hopping on the top of the wheel and riding it down to keep the wheels momentum up and passengers spinning around.
See a video of the wheel in action after the jump...
Clean Tech Investing At Record High
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Photo via Epicharmus
Tired of hearing about record lows on Wall Street? I have some happy news.
Cleantech Group reports that venture firms poured a full $2.6 billion into 158 clean tech companies globally during the third quarter of 2008. That’s a 37% increase from last year, and 17% increase over last quarter.
When the financial market seems to be crumbling around us, that shows some serious confidence in the future of clean tech.
So who is doing the investing and what areas of clean tech made out with the booty?...
R.I.P. Offshore Oil Drilling Moratorium: What Could We Have Done Better?
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
photo: Mark Phillips
Considering that both Republicans and Democrats seem to favor, by and large, opening up US coastlines to offshore oil drilling (even if only part of compromising to deal with other energy issues) this whole thing may be a moot point; but today does mark the first day after the federal moratorium on offshore oil expired. At TreeHugger we’ve covered this issue so many times, and said in so many different ways that offshore oil drilling will have virtually no effect on gasoline prices now or, well, ever, that I don’t know if I can say it again. It appears that short-term appeals to economic populism have won the day from long-term environmental and economic good sense.
That said, Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope is more upbeat on the issue, so read on:
...
Miles Traveled by US Drivers Down for 9th Straight Month
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 1.08
Keeping the Car Parked
A few months ago we reported that "US citizens drove 9.6 billion fewer miles in May 2008 than in May 2007, or 3.7% less." The trend seems to be holding as Reuters reported a 5% drop in June and a 3.6% year-over-year decline in miles traveled on all roads in July.
That makes it the 9th straight month of decline for miles traveled in the US, something that hasn't happened in decades, and petroleum demand hasn't been that low since 1982. Unsurprisingly, high gas prices and a weakening economy get the blame....
Slow Report from PICNIC'08
by Carolyn F. Strauss on 10. 1.08
PICNIC 2008 has come and gone here in Amsterdam. One of the themes of his year’s conference was ‘Green,’ which is ironic given the massive amounts of energy and resources that obviously were consumed to put on this spectacle of international speakers, installations, programs and daily print media, and big, big parties.
So was there anything truly ‘green’ at PICNIC? And, most importantly as to why I’m even writing this, was there anything Slow?...
Confessions of a Closet Environmentalist Hosts Carnival of the Green
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 10. 1.08
This week is Carnival of the Green # 147 and it's being hosted by Confessions of a Closet Environmentalist, a blog that speaks to the journey towards sustainability on a student budget, bypassing the unwashed-hippie stereotypes. So head on over to this week's Carnival to find 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!...
Green at WIRED NextFest: Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 1.08
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
Unfortunately, no big revelations about the next-generation Toyota Prius at NextFest. We did learn that Toyota will modify some Prius hybrids to turn them into plug-in hybrids for fleet testing. These models will use lithium-ion battery packs, though the upcoming official Toyota plug-in hybrid will still use NiMH batteries like the current Prius (they store less power than li-ion, but Toyota tells us that they don't think li-ion is ready to meet their requirements for full scale deployment yet)....
Jatropha Biodiesel One Step Closer to Viability: D1 Oils To Deliver First Shipments of Raw Oil
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
all images: D1 Oils
Though The Guardian is calling it a biodiesel breakthrough, the announcement by D1 Oils that they are (finally) on track to deliver their first commercial quantity, 1000 tonnes, of raw jatropha oil by December of this year seems to be more a sigh of relief than anything else. The firm has lost £13.1 million ($23 million) in the first half of the year, and could see losses as high as £20 million ($35.4 million) by the end of the year. In praising their progress, D1 CEO Elliot Mannis had this to say,...
Study Claims Bovine Growth Hormone Good for Environment
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 10. 1.08
Image: Cow with mastitis (Monica Morgan on Flickr)Just because the cow moos, doesn’t mean that it’s over. Thanks to giant chains such as Wal-Mart, Safeway and Kroger announcing recently that they would no longer carry milk from cows treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), Monsanto – biotech giant and exploiter of genes extraordinaire – then announced in early August that it would be selling the rights to its Posilac brand of rBGH. Commentators were celebrating prematurely, until Monsanto announced that Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical giant with even more money than the GE multinational, would be snapping Posilac up for $300 million. Now comes the predictable public relations spin– that bovine growth hormone is good for the environment....
SkyFuel Making Solar 25% Cheaper
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Image via SkyFuel
While some companies like Ausra and BrightSource are busy building solar power plants, and other companies like Morgan Solar pound down the door of next-gen solar technology, SkyFuel is quietly and diligently chipping away at the inefficiencies of existing technology to bring us better solar power capabilities. In fact, they believe their products can reduce the cost of a solar system by 25% - all with one special material. ...
7 Water Saving Questions, How to Go Green: Job Searches and Donating Denim
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 10. 1.08
:: Ask yourself these seven questions to conserve more water.
:: Make a living off of your love for green with our How to Go Green: Job Searches guide.
:: Find out where and how to donate your old blue jeans....
Green at WIRED NextFest: Paper that Self-Erases After 24 Hours XEROX
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 1.08
The Paper that Self-Erases Within 24-Hours
Recycling's better than sending good paper to the landfill. Even better is not printing in the first place. But there's still a lot of stuff that comes out of printers and some studies show that more than 40% gets discarded on the day it was produced (and a lot of the rest gets discarded not much later, or gets stuffed in a box and is never looked at again).
The researchers at XEROX looked at that problem and came up with a paper that self-erases within 24 hours and can then be re-used. Read on for more details....
A Winter Biking Guide, Ecuador's Nature Rights and Volvo's Hybrid Bus
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 10. 1.08
New Consumer offers a guide on how to stay warm, safe and dry for winter biking.
Ecuador makes history by granting nature rights in its constitution.
Volvo gets ready to unleash the first commercially viable hybrid bus.
TriplePundit test drives green cars at the Consumer Reports show.
EcoLibris interviews Bill Roth, the author of new book On Empty (Out of Time).
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
Green at WIRED NextFest: GPS-Based Personal Environmental Impact Report (PEIR)
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 1.08
Knowledge is Power
PEIR, the Personal Environmental Impact Report, is a piece of software that uses the geographical data fed into it by your GPS-enabled phone to create a report that tells you how you impact the environment (kind of like a next-generation carbon calculator), but also how the environment impacts you (your exposure to air pollution, for example). It can help you look at your everyday routine in a whole different way and help you make better decisions, both for the planet and for you.
Read on for more details....
World's First Underwater Wind Farm, Er, Tidal Turbine Farm
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 10. 1.08
image source: Hammerfest Strøm
How can it be a wind farm if it is underwater? Well, you are right. But although wind farms have become iconic images, the average person still has trouble envisioning the many techniques being tested for harvesting the power of tides. Scottish Power has announced intentions to develop the the world’s largest tidal stream project using the world’s most advanced tidal turbine - known as the Lànstrøm device.
What again? No image pops to mind? So the analogy stands: a wind farm under the sea! Each turbine is 30 meters (100 feet) tall, with blades of 20 meters. They can operate in depths up to 100 meters. Most importantly, tidal power provides a predictable and constant energy source; it does not suffer from blackouts like solar power, or still days, like wind power.
...
Texas Wind Power Continues to Grow: E.ON On Track to Develop 781 MW Wind Farm by 2009
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
Not the Roscoe wind farm but a good representation of the scale of commercial-scale wind turbines... photo: Micky MB
Another Texas wind farm will be able for a short while to stand at the top of the world’s largest heap. Though only at a capacity of 335 megawatts currently, the Roscoe, Texas wind farm will more than double in size by the middle of 2009, consisting of 627 wind turbines and a capacity of 781.5 megawatts. Developed by E.ON (of among other things, London Array fame) it is one of six wind farms the company is operating in the United States, five of which are in Texas. Here’s more on what E.ON is up to:...
Toshiba Creates Better White LEDs With New Breakthrough
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Photo via Oskay
While LEDs create lovely lighting, one thing holding us back from fully embracing white LEDs on a big scale – big as in cities covered in LED streetlights, parking lots, industrial areas – is that they just aren’t as bright as CFLs or incandescents. But of course they’re a much greener option. Toshiba Japan has taken the conundrum to heart and has come up with a way to get LEDs to have 50% higher UV light emission efficiency compared to other white LEDs. ...
Phish Reunites, But Will Their Tour Be Green?
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 10. 1.08
Image credit: toddwickersty @ flickr
After splitting up in 2004, Phish is reuniting for a trio of concerts next spring. The prolific jam band will play March 6-8 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia, with additional 2009 touring announcements to follow. Guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman haven't played together since 2004.
Aside from being one of TreeHugger readers' favorite bands, Phish is notable on the green scene for their tasty partnership with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream -- Phish Food. One of the "Top 10 Flavors," Phish joined Jerry Garcia and Dave Matthews as musicians who have inspired ice cream flavors; according to a Phish statement on the Ben & Jerry's website, "Our share of proceeds from this pint sale goes toward environmental efforts in Vermont’s Lake Champlain Watershed."
When it comes to the actual forthcoming tour, though, we'll have to wait and see if they can build up some more green cred. Phish would do well to emulate some of these green touring ideas from other successful bands....
Solar Powered Refrigerator Could Bring Health and Energy Savings to Rural India
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
I just love new technologies that allow the developing world to leapfrog straight into a renewable energy future. TreeHugger has covered several of these inventions and programs—the e-charkha, solar powered lamps to replace kerosene, more efficient biomass cookstoves, micro-loan programs for solar panels. Here’s another one: A refrigerator powered by a solar-diesel hybrid generator designed to be used in rural India. Check it out:...
50% of Electricity Must Come From Renewables by 2050 to Avert Global Warming: IEA
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
photo: Alejandro Flores
If the collective human we is to get a handle on cutting CO2 emissions, we have to seriously increase investment in renewable energy, the International Energy Agency has said. In a new study titled “Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies” the IEA has said that if global carbon emissions are to be cut by 50% by 2050 (which is less than the 80-100% CO2 reduction which is probably required..) then about 50% of the global electric supply must be generated from renewable sources. Here are the some of the steps the IEA says are necessary for this to happen:...
TreeHugger Welcomes Maria Stamas
by Maria Stamas on 10. 1.08
Bass Fishing Now a High School Sport
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 10. 1.08
You may think it sounds crazy, but Illinois recently became the first state to decree that bass fishing is now a high school sport. And I’m wondering how high school coaches and athletic directors feel about it, because I can say with certainty that it’s going to raise more than a few eyebrows among some of those I know....
Frugal Green Living: Save $1000 Using These 6 Tips
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 10. 1.08
Image credit: Josh Parrish @ flickr
Going green is definitely better for you, and the planet, but it can occasionally mean a little green has to leave your wallet. Even if you'll make the money back in increased efficiency or energy savings, you have to shell out some bucks for compact fluorescent light bulbs, a more efficient dishwasher, a professional home energy audit, or an entire home energy monitor. The waiting is tiresome, and it's tough to calculate exactly how much each light bulb, for example, is saving you.
Given the economic events of the past months, waiting to start saving might not be a wise choice. These tips will save you money starting today, and will continue to for as long as you continue to do them. And if you get started now, you can save almost $1000 in the next year without buying anything extra! Read on to get the scoop....
British Birds Love Wind Turbines, Except For the Pheasants
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10. 1.08
Eurasian Skylarks were among the species studied which were not negatively impacted by the wind turbines. Photo: Pei Wen Chang.
The whole wind turbine versus bird debate continues to arise every few months. While most of the evidence is solidly on the side of modern wind turbines not being bird killers , at least any more than glass buildings and the family cat, that information hasn’t entirely sunk in. A new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology doesn’t add anything to that aspect of the discussion, but it does provide evidence that wind turbines do not drive birds away from areas surrounding the wind farm. The study looked at birds in England and came to the following conclusions:...
Schwarzenegger Invites Global Leaders to Talk Carbon Caps
by Alex Smith, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Last week, California's Governor Schwarzenegger announced a meeting in November with several global leaders to discuss greenhouse gas emissions and carbon cap-and-trade markets. California and the other states in the Western Climate Initiative plan to cut carbon emissions by 15 percent from the 2005 level by 2020. More on the meeting below the fold....
At IIDEX: Donate your Denim
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
It seems like a contradiction in terms, but they are trying to build a "green" shopping mall in Waterloo, Ontario. The addition to the Conestoga Mall uses Bullfrog wind power, white roofing, solar panels and LED lighting. They are also running a denim drive to collect old jeans from "enviro-chic fashionistas" to collect 4,000 pairs, convert them into insulation and then install it in 8 homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity.
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City Solar Tour Makes Its Way to San Francisco
by Alex Smith, San Francisco, California on 10. 1.08
Today the City Tour for Solar made its stop in solar loving San Francisco to educate the city about solar options. The Tour began August 1st and will travel to fifty US cities in one hundred days to teach local citizens and city leaders about sun power. More on the Tour and its San Francisco stop below the fold....
At IIDEX: Shaw Exoworx Cradle-to-Cradle Carpet
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
"We are working on the design of communities and begin with what we call the Essay of Clues. We look at things like the sun, the wind, the water, the biological history and the culture of the site. Then we imagine that we are birds that evolved for that place and we look down and wonder what we wish to see. And then we get underground and look up and imagine we are a bacterium or a bug or a worm and we imagine what we'd like to see. Then we evolve the design." - William McDonough
And that is how Shaw starts its brochure for its Cradle-to-cradle carpet. We first mentioned Shaw's EcoWorx carpet almost four years ago when they dumped PVC. They have taken it to the next level now....
Ranking Solar Design: Where Are The Artists?
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 10. 1.08
Pittsburgh Hosts International Coal Conference: As The Climate Clock Ticks
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10. 1.08
Businessman Has $17 Billion, Drives Old Toyota
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
Frugal Green Living is hot these days as we try to consume less and save more. The former Masters of the Universe on Wall Street did not, and one of the contentious issues in the bailout is whether they should have their salaries capped. Perhaps they would not have got into such trouble had they lived a more frugal lifestyle and set better examples for their companies.
Azim Premji runs Wipro, the big Indian IT outsourcing company that probably doesn't have too many fans in America but makes him the 5th richest man in India, worth $17 billion. He flies coach.
Marcus Gee writes in the Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine:
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Happy World Vegetarian Day!
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
TreeHugger keeps saying that one of the best things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint is to eat less meat; in the UK some are even proposing that it be rationed. Perhaps today is good day to go without; it is World Vegetarian Day.
The North American Vegetarian Society suggests some other good reasons not to eat meat:...
Video: Crazy Guys Jump Off Wind Turbine
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 10. 1.08
The Limits of What We Know
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
In 1993 filmmaker Amy Bodman travelled to Zimbabwe "to make a film about land as living entity." It has taken her fifteen years to produce a film which pushes "The limits of what we know about ecosystems; about Zimbabwe; about specifics; about the mutual affinities of organic beings; about nature, animals and ourselves."
The Limits of What We Know premieres at the Vancouver Film Festival. It is a slow-moving and graceful film, broken into chapters with titles like Great Zimbabwe 1000-1600 A.D.; On Safari; The Composition of Drought; Lake Kariba; A Map of the World; The Culture of Cattle; Trees; Rain. The director warned me that I might find it boring but I was captivated. I don't know how much of this world has been lost in the political upheavals of recent years, but what Amy recorded fifteen years ago is extraordinarily beautiful and moving. ...
"Eco Friendly" Hilton to be Built in Bariloche, Argentina
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 10. 1.08
Photos: IMOCOM via Perfil.
The Portuguese group IMOCOM presented its latest project in Argentina, a Hilton branded hotel in Bariloche (Patagonia) that was introduced as "eco friendly". According to the company's CEO, Hugo Canessa, the broad term refers to the hotel layout, which will blend with the mountain it's located in to reduce visual impact, and the fact that during the building process and later in its operational phase, the hotel will have efficient use of energy and water and "proper management of soil and drainage."
Besides the green talk, neighbors are concerned about the impact the building will have in this beautiful area. The fact that the hotel is placed in a mountain, is going to get water from the pristine Nahuel Huapi lake, and is surely disposing water nearby, are causes for worry.
Green or greenwashing? Keep reading for more info and pictures....
Frugal Green Living: Find Your Dinner at the Farmers' Market
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
Frugal Green Living - what does that mean? Well, with the current state of the economy, suddenly everyone is watching their wallet. One of the best ways to save money is to make your own food, and this is the best time of year to do it, as the farmers markets overflow with the bounty of fall. At Planet Green, food writer Kelly Rossiter has been showing what you can do with the stuff you find. We round up a few of her ideas here. All photographs by Kelly Rossiter.
Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
When I have an ingredient that is so fresh and wonderful in and of itself, I like to cook it simply to allow the taste to shine through. The first night we had the potatoes barbecued with some onions and olive oil, which is one of our favorite ways to eat them. I left the skins on them and they got a crispy exterior which I love. If I'm feeling particularly decadent, I use butter instead of olive oil and the onions get caramelized and it's fantastic. ::Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
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Survey: Tap or Bottled Water at Work?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10. 1.08
Where I live, they now deliver water in glass jugs for the water coolers at work. It weighs forty pounds, costs twelve bucks, delivered sixty miles to a city with perfectly good drinking water that is too cheap to meter. In the staff lounge at the University where I teach, I can barely hang up my coat because the closet is full of ten empty polycarbonate jugs. How did it come to this?
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Venice Fest Forgets the Eco-Details, but Green Art Installation Doesn’t Disappoint
by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Los Angeles, California on 10. 1.08
Despite the fact that Venice, CA seems to be the epicenter of SoCal’s green lifestyle movement, the 24th annual Abbott Kinney Festival that took over the city’s main drag on Sunday, September 28th was far from eco-friendly. After claiming last year that the Venice Fest had gone green, this year’s event was surprisingly off-base. ...
Cape Farewell: A New Expedition Sets Sail
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10. 1.08
TreeHugger has been following the Cape Farewell expeditions which started in 2001 because they are such a fascinating and important source of first-hand information about the impact of climate change. In this sixth expedition to the High Arctic, Cape Farewell brings together leading artists, scientists and communicators to create a cultural and scientific analysis of climate change as it is occurring in Greenland. The boat will voyage across the front of one of Greenland’s largest glaciers which is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day.
This trip to Disko Bay has a star-studded group of musicians on board: Jarvis Cocker, Martha Wainwright, Laurie Anderson, and KT Tunstall. The author Nicole Krauss is there, along with Sophie Calle as well as TreeHugger's own Graham Hill and scientists and oceanographers. They set sail on September 25, 2008 and several have been writing regular blogs ...
Beyond the Supermarket: Incredible herbs and spices!!
by Stephen Brooks, Punta Mona, Costa Rica on 09.30.08
Audi Q7 SUV Debuts along with the Audi Mileage Marathon this October
by Eric Leech, New York, NY on 09.30.08
Photo by Aaram Safari Photography.
Ever wonder just how great the new Audi Q7 SUV is going to be with its new turbocharged clean diesel technology? Well, now is your chance to find out with the Audi Mileage Marathon. Starting October 6th, 2008, this two week marathon will take the new diesel Audi along with a team of top U.S. executives (124 executives from various locations) across America as they demonstrate to these individuals the exceptional fuel efficiency and dynamic performance of the new clean running diesels.
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A Helping Hand From Toyota to the Yosemite National Park Fund
by Eric Leech, New York, NY on 09.30.08
Photo by Roger J. Wyan
Left to right: Bill Duff, Corporate Manager, Environmental Office, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.; Bob Hansen, President, The Yosemite Fund; Steve Kang, Chancellor, UC Merced; and Mike Tollefson, Superintendent of Yosemite National Park
It's nice to hear of successful companies offering their support towards helping to sustain our earth and our dwindling national parks. Toyota presented a check and five Toyota Prius vehicles to The Yosemite fund today in order to help support their Yosemite Leadership Program (YLP), which will provide today's youth with the hands on experience necessary to learn about preserving and sustaining wildlife by executing good wilderness ethics in our precious parks.
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British Experiments Feel Out Ecology of 2100 With Live Simulations
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo via jo.in.pink
Experimenting with Mother Nature is one way to figure out how climate change will look in 90 years. And with increased cues that climate change is imminent, we're starting to get curious about what changes are going to occur so that we can either plan for what will happen or figure out what changes can be made now.
Imperial College London’s Silwood Park campus in Berkshire is launching an experiment to see how projected changes in climate will affect local plant life. Watching how different plant species react to a changed climate could provide keys to life on Earth, or at least in England, should we reach the tipping point of climate change. ...
New Zealand's Transition Movement Gains Strength
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 09.30.08
Child Climate Cops? Way, Way Over the Top.
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 09.30.08
This just in from the you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up-if-you-tried department. A new website designed by npower, a British electric company, is recruiting children using games, badges and cartoons to enlist as "Climate Cops"; their duties are to actively keep records on their parents and neighbors for violations of "energy crimes" against the planet. Children then use the results of their spying to build a "Climate Crime Case File" on the perps, which they then "report back to your family to make sure they don't commit those crimes again (or else)!" The site also warns children that they "may need to keep a watchful eye" to prevent future violations. Did I mention I'm not making this up? It gets worse....
It’s Still a Dirty Business: McCain v. Obama on Clean Coal
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.30.08
photo: Vattenfall
Writing this comparison less that a week after former Vice-President Al Gore called for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal power plants which don’t included carbon capture and storage is somehow a little eerie.* Also, considering the extensive posts done on TreeHugger about how there really isn’t such a thing as clean coal, it feels odd to type this up. But as both Barack Obama and John McCain have consistently expressed support for ‘clean coal’, it is useful to examine the differences in their rhetoric. If there’s one issue which irks me more than any other in both their campaigns, it’s this one. So, without any more ado, John McCain and Barack Obama on clean coal:
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Smart Meters Hitting Everywhere - Even In Idaho
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo via Sara Goldsmith
Idaho is grabbing on to the smart meter wave and has teamed up with Landis+Gyr for 450,000 smart meters. The meters will be installed over the next three years, and will help with information transmission and energy savings.
Idaho Power has shown a full grasp for what smart meters and the smart grid is all about through combining these smart meters with another set of cool smarty-pants units. ...
People Versus Penguins - Should Antarctica Sell Tourism Allowances?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 09.30.08
Global Warming Watching is now a spectator sport - tourism to the Arctic and Antarctica is on the rise. Whereas two decades ago just a few thousand people braved the chill to discover the wonders of the frozen poles, last season 40,000 people made the trek to Antarctica alone.
How many tourists is too many tourists?
Antarctica is in a particularly vulnerable position vis-a-vis visitors for a number of reasons. It is not a nation with a human population or the ability to completely control its own fate, which has always meant a mixed bag, environmentally. Last year's sinking of the Liberation showed how vulnerable populations such as penguins are to environmental disruptions. Polar stations put up by a number of different countries, including the U.S., Japan, and Belgium, have become deep-freeze trash sites, with old equipment and frozen garbage mingling with the region's unique flora and fauna. Nobody can really say how many Antarctic tourists is too many, which is why Maastrict University in the Netherlands has come up with a plan.
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One Room, 120 Air Purifiers: An Te Liu's "Cloud"
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 09.30.08
Photos © cameraphoto arte and La Biennale di Venezia
The Architecture of Purification
The stuff we breathe indoors can sometimes be worse for our health than outdoor air. Taiwanese architect and artist An Te Liu takes no chances. Cloud, his installation at the 11th Venice International Architecture Biennale, is comprised of over one hundred air purifiers hanging from the ceiling in a looming robotic swarm that Stanley Kubrick and Jacques Tati – and Venice's non-smokers -- would love.
The effect of the collection of 120 air purifiers, ionizers, sterilizers, washers, humidifiers, ozone air cleaners, all running continuously, is eerie -- not least because its mostly rectangular, squat forms and vents evoke the cool, sober designs of modern apartment blocks, and the squeaky clean future they promise. ...
Air Breeze: A Teeny Tiny Turbine for Off-Grid Power
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Images Via Air Breeze
Southwest Windpower has rolled out a new, small wind turbine to help out generating renewable energy on a small, more personal scale. The Air Breeze, successor to Air-X, is for off-grid locations such as ships, rural cabins and even RVs.
It sounds like a great invention, but with most small-scale wind turbines, we have to wonder where's the catch. ...
Frugal Green Living: Seven Tips to get Recession Ready
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian almost exactly a year ago that a recession might not be a bad thing, and that perhaps there can be too much growth. He also wondered if we all have enough cars and cellphones, and don't need to keep making them. Perhaps he should be careful what he wishes for.
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Green IT Is Cheaper, European Businesses Catching on to Savings
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo Credit: Darwin Bell
Dell has sponsored what is the first "Green IT Barometer" survey of the state of green IT. Run by IDC, the survey found that nearly half of European companies have already awoken to how much better it is overall to run data centers and operations efficiently, and are incorporating efficient practices.
A full 34% have plans already in place, and 15% more have plans going up that will be acted upon within two years.
There are, however, obstacles that stand in the way, even after realizing that green is good – and cheap. ...
How to Go Green: Job Searches
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 09.30.08
Photo credit: Getty Images/George Doyle
How much time do you spend every day at your job? How much of that time do you spend frustrated that your green personal life doesn't translate in the workplace, wanting to do more with your professional life? If you daydream about aligning your personal convictions with a fulfilling and inspiring professional position, then maybe it’s time to think about a green job search.
"But wait!" you may be thinking. "I work in ________ (fill in the blank: accounting, teaching, metal working, carpentry, chemicals, housekeeping, transport, retail, sales...) How can I find a greener job?" Better to ask yourself: where will my job be in the future, if sustainability is not key to my company's bottom line? You don't want to be left behind; you want to be at the forefront of the new economy, right? Read on for some tips from our guide for How to Go Green: Job Searches.
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Toyota iQ Microcar to be First in the World With Rear Curtain Airbag
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 09.30.08
Making Small Cars Safer
Small(er) cars are back in vogue, even in the US, but one problem you face as you go smaller and smaller is safety. Below a certain size, you simply don't have much crumple zones anymore. You can partly make up for it with better designed structures, advanced materials and with active safety features (shorter braking distance, better handling, etc), but passive safety improvements are always welcome.
Toyota has just announced that the iQ ultra-compact car (the "smallest four-passenger car in the world") would be the first car with a rear curtain airbag. Read on for more details.
Update: 57 MPG Toyota iQ Goes on Sale in Europe, No U.S. Release Date Yet...
London Design Festival: Evolution or Revolution at Greengaged
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 09.30.08
Greengaged was potentially one of the most exciting parts of the London Design Festival. A whole series of events dedicated to eco-design and sustainability was totally unprecedented on the festival calendar and thanks to the programme curated by three amazing women: Sophie Thomas of Thomas Matthews, Anne Chick of Kingston University and Sarah Johnson of [re]design, it didn't disappoint. Each day there were several talks at the Design Council and activities about town. Petz got go on a barge trip along the city canals to a recycling plant, while I got the opportunity to decide whether the world should opt for "Evolution or Revolution"! Click over the page to find out about the Greengaged Design Manifesto. ...
Compartmentalized Concept Refrigerator Cool Way To Keep Stuff Cold
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Image Credit: Electrolux Design Lab
This concept fridge looks like it could be a very interesting solution to the problem with energy sucking cold beasts. While creators at Electrolux Design Lab 2008 had their eye on style and practicality, we look at it and see potential for big energy savings....
A New eReader on the Scene: Astak's EZ Reader
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo: Astak's 9.7" Mentor e-Book Reader
While we’ve lurked around the Kindle for some time now, new readers are popping up right and left. We just saw the launch of the iRex, and digital newspaper readers are on the rise.
Now, adding to its lineup of Mentor e-book readers, Astak is offering the EZ Reader. To be released in late November, 2008, the EZ Reader is touted as the lightest, smallest and thinnest eBook Reader ever introduced in North America. And if the press release is honest, it is going to have some features that make greenie on-the-go readers drool with anticipation. ...
Scofflaw Biodiesel Makers Take Note, It’s Now Cheaper to Come Clean in California
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.30.08
That’s waste vegetable oil biodiesel in that coffee pot. Photo: Jon Eby.
Not having a car myself, and living in a small New York City apartment, the desire to make my own biodiesel from cooking waste oil is one which has not arisen in me. That said, a growing number of people are looking to DIY fuel to power their vehicles. A new law signed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday makes it a less expensive to be on the right side of the law when collecting used kitchen oil. How much will it now cost home biodiesel makers to come in from the cold, read on:...
Green at WIRED NextFest: High-Volume, Small-Footprint, Low-Cost Water Purification
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 09.30.08
XEROX/PARC Spiral Water Filtration Technology
A typical water-treatment plant is very big and very expensive. XEROX's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has come up with a new technology that could make the whole process cheaper and simpler, potentially making life better for millions.
Read on for more details....
Adaptive Reuse, Organic Carrot Cake and How to Cut Clutter
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 09.30.08
:: Expand your eco-vocab and learn about adaptive reuse.
:: Indulge in a perfectly paired dessert such as fair trade coffee and organic carrot cake.
:: Cut your clutter with The Book of Rubbish Ideas by Tracy Smith....
Waste Management Pledges Better Recycling Practices
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo credit: Neubie
Last week, Waste Management stepped up and committed to get serious about eliminating e-waste from landfills. WM signed the Basel Action Network’s “Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship,” which sets out some green guidelines that will help make US and other countries much cleaner by dealing realistically with e-waste. ...
Green at WIRED NextFest: NASA/JPL's Climate Time Machine
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 09.30.08
Climate Time Machine
Because everybody is affected by the weather, it seems like everybody likes to improvise themselves a climate scientist. Amateur theories about global warming are a dime a dozen and, unfortunately, that can make it hard for the general public and policy makers to figure out what's based on sound science and what has just been made up in 5 minutes by someone who doesn't know anything about climate science.
That's the problem that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is trying to help fix with Climate Time Machine. Read on for more details....
530 Gigawatts of Geothermal Power Waits to be Tapped: US Geological Survey
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.30.08
Geothermal power plant in Iceland. Photo: Trey Ratcliff
We’ve heard competing claims about how much geothermal power potential exists in various parts of the world. Recent statements about Australia’s geothermal potential seem incredible: Tapping 1% of it could yield 26,000 years of energy. Obviously more questions are posed by the statement then are resolved. Well, the US Geological Survey has released a new study which estimates more soberly the US’s geothermal potential. It's still substantial, but could be hard to get at it:...
Green at WIRED NextFest: Planilum Light by SAAZS
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 09.30.08
Planilum Lights by SAAZS
Designed by Tomas Erel of SAAZS, these Planilum Lights not only look beautiful, but they are long-lasting (about 20 years, or 500,000 hours), efficient (more than incandescent, though we couldn't get exact info on how they compare to CFLs and LEDs), and they use non-toxic gases and materials....
Green at WIRED NextFest: Human-Electric Hybrid Vehicle by Humancar
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 09.30.08
Imagine_PS by Humancar
We often hear about hyrbid vehicles, and that usually means gas & electric, or sometimes diesel & electric, but the Imagine_PS by HumanCar is different. It is a human-powered vehicle, but we're pretty far from the Flintstones. It is also a PHEV that can be charged by plugging it into the grid, you steer it with your body, by leaning on one side or the other, not with a steering wheel, and it can actually act as a 110V A/C power station.
Read on for more details...
The Enemy is Ourselves: Worst Illegal Amazonian Loggers Revealed by Brazilian Environment Minister
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.30.08
photo: Leo Freitas
You may have read about how the Brazilian government unveiled a draft plan on how it can fight and adapt to global warming, even saying that Amazonian deforestation could be stop by 2015. I won’t go so far as to say that this next bit undermines that statement, but it certainly puts another twist in the road. The BBC is reporting that Brazil’s Environment Ministry has drawn up a list of the 100 worst illegal loggers. Guess who’s at the top of the list? The Brazilian government itself:...
Sony Ericsson's New Environmental Warranty and GreenHeart Concept Phone
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo: Sony Ericsson GreenHeart Concept Phone, via Sony Ericsson
The Sony Ericsson was once reigning supreme on GreenPeace’s Electronics ranking guide. It was recently usurped by Nokia, but it clawing its way back to the top with a couple cool new moves.
First, it has announced a new environmental warranty. And second, it has unveiled a new green concept phone called the GreenHeart. ...
You’ve Got to Be Kidding: Renewable Energy Incentives Held Hostage by Tax Debate
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.30.08
photo: kedziers
Last week when the Senate finally managed to pass legislation which would extend renewable energy tax incentives that are due to expire at the end of 2008 many, including myself, breathed a sigh of relief. These tax incentives are claimed by many both within the industry and without as being crucial to continuing the robust growth the US renewables market has seen in the past few years. All that had to be done was the House and Senate reconciling their two different versions of the bills, sending it to the president (who was expected to sign it) and voilà.
Not so fast. Lawmakers are now saying that they are at an impasse in reconciling the two different version of the bills and may not have time to do so before Congress recesses for the presidential election in November. The absurd thing in this is that, at this point, its not renewable energy which is the sticking point. It’s other tax breaks which are tied to the bill:...
Second Lives: A Mixture of Frailties by Susie MacMurray
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
Image from Susie MacMurray used with permission of the artist
The new Museum of Arts and Design has not been getting great reviews and neither has its opening show, Second Lives. I think that the critics are perhaps a bit harsh, there is some great stuff in it. Everything in it is recycled or repurposed. One of my favourites is Susie MacMurray's "A Mixture of Frailties"- a dress made out of 1400 rubber "washing up" gloves, as they call them in the UK. ...
Drilling For Oil Is Not The Answer
by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 09.30.08
New NETGEAR Routers Help Battle Phantom Power
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.30.08
Photo Credit: NETGEAR
This week, NETGEAR let loose the WNR2000 router and DSL modem-equipped DGN2000, both more efficient routers that come complete with Energy Star-rated power supplies and dedicated on-off switches. But, do small measures like this even matter when it comes to energy savings?...
New Report Calls for Meat Rationing to Slow Climate Change
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
A new report from the Food Climate Research Network at the University of Surrey says people will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change.
According to Juliette Jowit in the Guardian, the report says "total food consumption should be reduced, especially "low nutritional value" treats such as alcohol, sweets and chocolates."
Having fun yet?...
Greenpeace and Ben & Jerry’s Make Climate-Friendly Ice Cream Cooler
by Daniel Kessler, Greenpeace on 09.30.08
Photo credit: Ben & Jerry's
It is now possible to reduce your carbon footprint (but not your actual footprint) by choosing ice cream from a climate-friendly cooler thanks to new “Greenfreeze” technology created by Greenpeace, Ben & Jerry’s, and Unilever....
Sliver of a Green Roof at the ROM by Plant Architects
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
At the top of the "crystal" at Daniel Libeskind's Royal Ontario Museum is a the fancy C5 restaurant; it didn't have a very fancy view over the roof of the older wing. So why not toss on a green roof? Because they are heavy, often 15 pounds per square foot, and the old roof couldn't take it.
Lisa Rapoport of Plant Architect came up with a clever solution: she installed a sliver of a green roof, only three pounds per square foot. It is a three inch slice of eye candy....
Amazon Deforestation Grows in August, Brazil Says Could Stop in 2015
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 09.30.08
Photo credit: Leo Freitas.
As global warming awareness grows and more eyes are posed on the planet's green spaces, it's been a year of many news and speculation for the Brazilian Amazon. There were figures saying deforestation is slowing down, others saying clearing is speeding up, many announcements from the government (like the idea of a permit to enter the jungle or forbidding banks to give loans to illegal loggers) and even the appearance of an international Amazon fund.
Last week it was time for a new announcement, when the Brazilian government presented the draft for a plan to fight and adapt to global warming. In the preliminary document, the government doesn't set goals for carbon emissions reduction, but says by 2015 deforestation could stop in the Amazon. More specifically, that they'll be planting more trees than the ones being cut down.
Just a few days after the launch, new figures released by the Brazilian National Research Institute say deforestation went up by 134% from July to August, and that the 756 kilometers lost represent 228% more than the figures from the same month last year. The annual accumulation in 2008 is 64% more than the 12 months last year.
In front of this, could Brazil's plan be a real solution to the problem? Keep reading to find out more....
Sanyo's Eneloop Solar Light & USB Charger
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 09.30.08
Sanyo eneloop solar light
We came across this nice little addition to the Sanyo eneloop solar family recently while browsing environmentally oriented electronics makers sites.
Sanyo has been working hard to cultivate their green image with the eneloop series of rechargeable batteries, a big hit here in Japan, and thankfully for green geeks everywhere it looks like they will be continuing on this line. The Sanyo eneloop solar light attempts to combine the best of a solar USB charger and a portable 9-bulb LED light. Finally, something practical you can do with a solar panel for less than the price of a new car! (We hope..)...
At IIDEX: Trying Out the Dyson Airblade
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
James Dyson "is a man who likes to make things work better." He is sort of the Steve Jobs of industrial design, looking at problems and coming up with elegant and effective solutions. The airblade is like that; it uses 80% less energy than a conventional electric hand dryer and wipes the water off your hands in twelve seconds, using air travelling at 400mph. I had seen it on TreeHugger before but never tried one; why anyone would ever specify a regular hand-dryer again is beyond me, it is amazing....
At IIDEX: The Lemnis Pharox
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
We first heard about the Lemnis Pharox a couple of years ago; now it is available in America. It isn't as pretty as some of the other LEDs we have seen, but screws right into an Edison socket, uses four watts to put out the lumens of a 40 watt incandescent and lasts 30 years. The colour temperature is 3000K, pretty much what an incandescent is.
Even for a bulb that lasts a lifetime, forty bucks is a lot of money. But President Ron Steen says that they are working hard to bring down the price to where they are competitive with compact fluorescents, which will ultimately be seen as an interim technology. ...
At IIDEX: Greening the Hospital Room
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
The architectural firm Anshen+Allen knows its way around a hospital room, and has built a demonstration of the "Green Patient Room, benchmarking sustainable designs using green materials and new technologies." They brought their travelling show to IIDEX in Toronto and I interviewed Suzanne Drake of the San Francisco office. ...
Detroit Bailout Loans On The Road To Approval, With Condition Attached - Car Makers Meet 35 MPG By 2020
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 09.30.08
Remember when the Wizard of Oz was spotted from behind his curtain, after which he admitted to being a 'very bad wizard' (audio link via NoPlaceLikeOz)? Obviously, industry lobbyists have not figured out that the climate is changing; and that the jobs retained by these loans can't be called "green" until the wizards come out from behind their marketing curtains.The U.S. Congress moved Saturday to provide $25 billion in low-interest loans to the auto industry as part of an initiative to accelerate the development of fuel-efficient vehicles...The Senate voted 78 to 12 to pass a broad, must-pass spending bill that includes $7.5 billion to start the loan program. The House passed the bill earlier in the week, and President George W. Bush is expected to sign it...The loan program was approved as part of a 2007 energy bill requiring vehicles to have an average fuel economy of 35 miles a gallon by 2020 -- a 40% increase over the previous standard.Twelve more years to achieve a fleet average of 35mpg! Cars capable of that mileage existed almost 30 years ago (Mercedes 3000SD, pictured)....
Survey: Are You Flipping Out?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
Almost exactly a year ago George Monbiot said "bring on the recession!" complaining that so much growth and expansion was unsustainable, and that "Growth is a political sedative, snuffing out protest, permitting governments to avoid confrontation with the rich, preventing the construction of a just and sustainable economy." Now that he has his wish, can the green movement build on this?
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Save Energy, Put A Meter On Everything
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.30.08
As we head down the rabbit hole of recession, one of the best tools we have for reducing our consumption is transparency; being able to see what we are using and how much it is costing us as we use it. Prius drivers find that the fuel consumption gauges improve their driving as they watch what happens when they accelerate too fast; in the 70s cars had vacuum gauges, they should again. In fact, there should probably be a meter on everything.
Where we live, they don't even meter water yet; one pays a flat rate at the same time they are asking us to conserve. Smart electric meters are just beginning to be installed. But what if electric meters like the Wattson were required in every living unit?
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London Design Festival: Sustainable Furniture
by Bonnie Alter, London on 09.30.08
BlueGreen & Co. make good looking, sustainable, modern furniture with a twist. In addition to being good designers, they are also a social enterprise project. Working outside Edinburgh, the group was started up by two furniture designers who met with a furniture charity and had one of those moments of genius: take their unwanted furniture, recreate it into something new and work with low-skilled people in the production.
Furniture dumping is a big business in our throw-away society: even charities end up sending 15% of what they get to the landfill because it is in unacceptable shape. BlueGreen&Co. take the broken down furniture acquired from donations from a charity and destined for landfill sites. They dismantle it and recreate new, contemporary pieces. And they work with unemployed, low-skilled people to teach them the tricks of the trade. The skill development starts at the most simple levels and then proceeds to more complicated techniques as the employees' skills progress.
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Green Eyes on: Day of Decadence Done? Simplify.
by Sara Snow on 09.29.08
Sara and her mom discovering the great outdoors.
I think, and I think you’ll agree, that our days of decadence are done. I mean, who can afford a $5 daily coffee fix everyday anymore? Who can afford the bottomless tank of yesteryear’s monster SUVs? Who can afford to travel? Or heat and cool their McMansion? It seems that we have been living in a time of decadence; a time of $100 burgers and $12.5 million bras. Key words: have been. Is it safe to say that those times have come, or are coming to, a close? So what now? Well, times like this, there’s only one thing to do. Simplify!...
UK Conservatives Plan Trains not Planes - Not Everyone is Happy
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 09.29.08
Image credit: Stephen Fung – a typical high-speed train in Taiwan
UK Conservative’s Plan for Trains No Planes – Green or Not?
We TreeHuggers tend to be big advocates of the environmental benefits of trains vs. planes, so we should all be overjoyed that the UK Conservative Party, who are currently riding high in the polls, have announced plans to scrap a third runway at Heathrow and to instead build a £20bn (US$36bn) rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. And according to The Guardian, the Conservatives’ radical rethink of transport policy has certainly received a welcome response from some environmentalists, including John Stewart, the chairman of Heathrow anti-expansion group Hacan:
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James Kunstler on Financial Crisis: There’s Another Tsunami Rising On The Horizon
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
photo: Stanley Johnson
Leave it to James Howard Kunstler to remind us of how bad things can still get...With all the volatility on the stock market today, and the dismal U.S. financial news, I thought it appropriate to turn to the post-peak oil apocalypse sage for some words of wisdom. In today’s installment of Clusterf**k Nation , Kunstler continued his ongoing harangue against what he sees as essentially a ponzi scheme writ large on Wall Street, with a slight bit of ‘I told you so’. He then addressed the ‘unseen tsunami’ of energy scarcity looming large behind the financial crisis:...
"Exclusive Gated Community" to be Built Under Guise of Delhi's 2010 Commonwealth Games Village?
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 09.29.08
Image:Construction workers work on the site of the residential complex of the Commonwealth Village being constructed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in partnership with private builder Emaar MGF (Getty)Whether it’s Beijing or Vancouver, it seems that big-ticket developments for “the big games” can be smoke-and-mirrors operations for shipping out ‘undesirable’ populations (the poor, mentally ill or homeless persons) or conveniently sidestepping public accountability (sure, the 2010 Vancouver are going green, but take a look at some of the accusations of “corporate welfare” being leveled against the massive project). In the case with Delhi’s 2010 Commonwealth Games, there is a lot at stake here: it is India’s first time to host the games, and expectations for a big debut are running high as more sponsorships and funding are being funneled toward athletes and development alike. There have been promises to make it green. But as with other Games, the "green" promise may be a diversion from the ground realities: to banish any unseeming poverty, evictions have begun and on top of that, there is concern that the planned games infrastructure may actually have a negative environmental impact, focusing on the intended site of the Games Village. ...
Protecting the Environment Will Combat Poverty: Wangari Maathai
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
photo: Ricardo Medina
The morning plenary session at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting last Friday was on the “Global Impact of Rural Innovation” and had quite a distinguished panel of speakers. Well, every session at CGI had impressive credentials, but this one was particularly inspirational. Here are some of the highlights from Wangari Maathai , founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya:...
Endangered Chimpanzees Could Get Respite In Rwandan ‘Forest of Hope’
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
Though much of the talk at last week’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting was about improving the lives of our fellow human beings, Rwandan president Paul Kagame was in attendance, seeking support for a historic conservation corridor in his country, which it is hoped will provide relief for endangered chimpanzees in the region. The Gishwati Area Conservation Program is being promoted in conjunction with the Great Ape Trust of Iowa and Earthpark is being billed as a “forest of hope”. This is what it’s all about:
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Calculate Your Carbon Footprint Just By Carrying Your Phone
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
Image Credit: The Guardian
A new software app for your phone takes all the calculating part out of figuring your carbon footprint. All you have to do is carry your phone around - which most of us do anyway - and it does the calculations for you. But, that also means it knows what you're doing at all times. ...
Intelligent Dashboards: The Next Big Thing for Smart Sustainability
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
Intelligent dashboards are quickly becoming the major way in which people track and manage carbon footprints and environmental impacts. From home energy use to businesses carbon output, all the way up to the green-mindedness of a city, a state, or a country, we are beginning to use dashboards as an effective way to know where we stand.
West Coast Green 2008 highlighted this point through several avenues. First, the showhouse Harbinger featured a whole house energy monitoring system from Agilewaves. The system shows a homeowner what energy resources they're consuming, how much, the cost, and how to cut down. But homes are just the beginning.
Also at WCG was a workshop lead by leaders in dashboard technology. Highlighted was the fact that energy monitoring is a must-have technology if we are to make progress. Yet while advanced science is utilized, it is a basic human trait that is captured and will make dashboards effective in reducing human impact on a global level. ...
How to Go Green: Commuting
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 09.29.08
Photo credit: IMAGEMORE Co., Ltd./Getty Images
With gas prices ever on the rise, people living farther from the workplace, and traffic conditions worsening by the week, the daily commute is increasingly having an impact on our wallets and our lifestyles -- as well as global climate change. From getting the best gas mileage to work-from-home jobs to reducing air travel and international travel (by holding teleconferences, for example), improving your commute means improving your quality of life.
To help you do so, we've rounded up our best tips for eco-friendly commuting, improving your green travel, starting a carpool, commuting by bike, and much more in our guide for How to Go Green: Commuting. Read on for a sampling of the tips you'll find....
The Atlantic’s ‘Blowback’ is Just Wind Power Fear-Mongering
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
photo: Ana
A recent article from The Atlantic found its way into my inbox and I feel the need to comment. Simply titled “Blowback" it asks the question whether the robust expansion which wind power has seen in the United States (and indeed the world) of late may not be subject to the same sort of bust that has hit the ethanol market. In it author Matthew Quirk correctly identifies, if overstates, some of the genuine issues with wind power making further inroads into the US energy mix and the goes on to simplify the solution:...
3 Green Apartment Tips, Soy-Based Ink Toner and Pretty #6 Plastic
by Jessica Root - Brooklyn, NY on 09.29.08
:: Are you a renter? Live green legally with these landlord-friendly renovation tips.
:: Speak up in the office and suggest a switch to soy-based ink toners in the copy room.
:: Transform pesky #6 plastic into pretty jewelry charms....
Solaleya Makes Weird Houses Feel Normal
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
Solaleya makes highly efficient homes. They showed off their designs at West Coast Green last week. The thing is, they look a bit like landed UFOs. Not that dome houses are exactly new, but they also aren't the most common of house forms.
Even so, I have to admit I totally wanted to live in one by the time I finished listening in about their designs at their booth on the tradeshow floor. ...
Toxic Teens, Apple's Aluminum Laptop and MOMA Gets Pre-Fabulous
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 09.29.08
:: The Environmental Working Group exposes the high levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals found in teenage girls' bodies.
:: Apple is rumored to soon release their eco-friendly laptop stateside.
:: The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) pumps up prefab in their current exhibit, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.
:: Sony Ericsson develops an energy efficient cell phone called GreenHeart.
:: With solar panel steals on the rise so are anti-theft devices and strategies.
Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...
Integrity Block and Straw Wall Bring Ancient Construction Back To The Future
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
Integrity Block may be a brand new company, and Green Design Systems might be struggling to find funding to launch their Straw Wall, but the concept behind their products is as old as the human desire to build shelters.
Shown off at West Coast Green 2008, the compacted earth blocks of Integrity Block, and the compressed straw panels of Straw Wall were among the greenest and most basic options for building materials. Yet there is still a science behind them. ...
At IIDEX: Elegant LEDs From MPLighting
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
LEDs used to be rare and noteworthy; now they are just expensive. There were a couple of rows of LED vendors on display at IIDEX, most clunky and inelegant, still put together by engineers instead of designers. A rare exception was MP Lighting from Vancouver, Canada. They had a booth full of LED eye candy that really stood out. Shown above is an integrated wine rack and LED illumination that would look lovely in my wine cellar....
Forest Groundcover Turned Into Beautiful Home Accessories
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
West Coast Green 2008 showed off innovative green ways to build homes and structures. But it didn't stop there. Also featured at the convention were eco-friendly ways to decorate. NaturesCast is one such way, utilizing dry leaves and twigs harvested from forests around Compostela, Province of Cebu, The Philippines.
More photos of the beautiful creations after the jump....
Forgive Me Earth For I Have Sinned, It's Been One Week Since My Last Carbon Offset
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
photo: caribb
There’s no getting around the fact that despite the best intentions of many of us in the green movement, we live and work in a society which spews out a lot of carbon emissions. It’s part of the structure of our nations and no matter what we do on an individual level, it’s unlikely that we really can reduce our carbon footprint below a certain level. All but the most eco-ascetic of us have a higher carbon footprint than is optimal. The easy answer to addressing that excess carbon is to offset it, using one of the myriad services available.
A new piece in Yale Environment 360 examines the knotted issue of carbon offsets. Are they really more than an environmental analog to the old practice in the Catholic Church of buying indulgences for sins? Read on:...
At IIDEX: Green Concrete Counters from Concrete Elegance
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
TreeHugger visits IIDEX, the International Interior Design Exhibition, an annual trade-only design show in Toronto.
"Green" and "concrete" are two words that I never thought I would use together, but Alla Linetsky convinced me. She mixes up a special blend that is 77% recycled, 92% local and 30% lighter. She significantly cuts the amount of cement that goes into the concrete (the manufacture of cement is responsible for 5% of the world's greenhouse gases). This stuff won't pass any tests for concrete used in construction, but you don't need a structural countertop....
No Shortage of Alternative Energy Innovations at West Coast Green 2008
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
Ricardo Baiáo has some very cool concepts for products that utilize alternative renewable energy sources. A solar powered outdoor stereo system, a futuristic golf car-style EV, and a kinetically charged cell phone are three of the ideas shown of at the Innovation Pipeline of West Coast Green 2008.
The Sunflower - pictured above - is a cd player and loudspeaker system that charges via sunlight. It's a cool-looking way to have a renewably powered party on your patio. The concept is just one of many bouncing around in Baiáo's head. Get a closer look at his other innovations after the jump. ...
At IIDEX: Revive Socially Responsible Recycling
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
Jim Reid and Melody Syne of Revive
TreeHugger visits IIDEX, short for International Interior Design Exhibition, an annual trade-only design show in Toronto.
Often when companies downsize, move or redecorate, the old stuff gets carted off to the dump. What is a Lehman Brother to do with a building full of furniture? Call Revive. They take it away for the same cost of a regular pick-up-and-dump service, and transfer it to their Green Solutions Foundation, a registered charitable organization. The Lehman Brother gets a tax receipt to use against last year's bonus, while the furniture and other items are donated to non-profits, schools, health care facilities and other deserving and needy organizations (DAN’s) locally, nationally and internationally....
Bamboo Mountain Bikes are Growing on Calfee Design
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 09.29.08
Bamboo has long been a material of interest for TreeHugger. And, of course, bicycles are, in the words of Julie Andrews, one of our favourite things. When the two hang out together it is extra exciting and such is the case to learn via Wired that Craig Calfee of Calfee Design has expanded his bamboo/hemp offerings beyond road bikes into mountain bike, and beyond that he has a vision that one day he’ll be able to ‘grow’ his own frames. Another pic and more detail follows.
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Google Earth Layer Maps Renewable Energy Potential of US Contaminated Land
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 09.29.08
All those dots are EPA-managed contaminated land... Image: EPA
If you’ve ever been playing around with Google Earth and thought that it would be a great tool to help inform people about the renewable energy potential in various parts of the United States, you’ve been thinking along the same lines as the Environmental Protection Agency. A new Google Earth layer they’ve released allows you to view the potential of various type of EPA-managed contaminated land for a full spectrum of renewable energy types. When you first load the layer, with all the defaults on, the US looks like a pincushion of colored dots. Check it out:
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A Few Familiar Faces at West Coast Green: PaperStone, Aquaduct Bike, and LiveRoof
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
There were a few familiar faces at West Coast Green 2008 and it's great to see cool technology continuing to grow.
First off, the Aquaduct made an appearance. The Aquaduct is a pedal powered water filtration system useful for people in developing countries.
The person collecting the water rides the bicycle over to the water source, and fills up the 20 gallon tank. As the person pedals back home, "the peristaltic pump draws the water from the storage tank, through a filter to a 2 gallon clean tank. That tank can be removed and taken indoors. When more water is needed, the tank is replaced, the clutch engaged and the person then peddles while remaining stationary."The bike appeared on the "Innovation Pipeline" section of the tradeshow floor. But it wasn't the only item at the conference that TreeHugger has crushed on in the past. ...
Dr. Laura Jana on Cellphones for Kids
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
Stair of the Week: The Prefabs at Home Delivery
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
With only 570 square feet to play with, Oscar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Ruf devote a good portion of the System3 house at the Home Delivery exhibition to this lovely stair, with hundreds of mini-portholes lighting the way. ...
Home Delivery: Modern Prefab Lives Fast, Dies Young, Leaves Good Looking Corpse
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
The show starts on the sidewalk: Visiting Home Delivery at the at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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San Jose Shows Off Water Recycling Program at West Coast Green 2008
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 09.29.08
San Jose is working hard on its Green Vision, part of which is recycling 100% of its used water by 2022. Well underway is expansion of the South Bay Water Recycling, a program that ensures water is cleaned and reused for industrial purposes to help take the load off the water table so drinking water is always available.
One way to prevent water shortages is to reduce use, and the city is providing some serious monetary incentives for businesses willing to cut back on water consumption. A booth at West Coast Green 2008, a conference centered around innovation in the green building industry, along with a sign blasting a $50,000 rebate for water-conserving retrofits is sure to turn a head or two towards their conservation program. ...
Dumpster Diving in Style
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
When artist Michel de Broin gets home from a hard day's pedalling in his Flinstonemobile, he can relax in style in his converted dumpster....
Z-Pitcher from Zero Water Removes Almost Everything From Your Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
In Bottlemania, Elizabeth Royte concluded: “I come away from my investigations with at least one certainty; not all tap water is perfect. But it is the devil we know, the devil that we have standing to negotiate with and to improve."
Many of us do exactly that, eschewing bottled water but using Brita or other filters to polish it a bit, while still worrying about lead, perchlorates, antibiotics, hormones and other contaminants. Perhaps now we have a little help from the Rajan family, who have invented and produced the ZeroWater filter. It is a five-stage unit that takes almost everything out of the water- it is certified to meet the highest standards for removal of lead, iron, zinc and mercury. Although there are no standards to certify it for antibiotics, hormones and perchlorate, they tested it and it removed almost all of them as well. ...
A Picture is worth...When Shipping Container Housing Goes Bad
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
Jimmy Stamp at Life Without Buildings compares current shipping container architecture proposals from LOT-EK, Adam Kalkin and others to Icelandic designer "B. Börkur Eiríksson’s dark vision of a smoggy dystopic future where we’re all crammed into mile-high towers by colossal mobile crane systems."
Extraordinary image follows:...
Survey: Should We Fix or Tear Down our Expressways?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.29.08
It happened all over North America: Ports were industrial land that nobody went to so they could conveniently build highways there. Then the industry turned into parks and we had walls of highways separating citizens from their waterfronts. In Jesse's post Top 10 Potential Freeway Teardowns, The Congress for the New Urbanism wants to tear them all down and look at "Transportation models that support connected street grids, improved transit, and revitalized urbanism will make reducing gasoline dependency and greenhouse gas emissions that much more convenient."
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Greener Leather Tannery in Vietnam to Supply Global Footwear Brands
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 09.29.08
Leather is a very contentious material. Certainly whenever we mention it here, we are inundated with emotional responses from readers. Leather has been a integral element of human history from at least 2,000 BC. But, even setting aside issues of animal welfare, it has not been the greenest of industries, as this report on the leather production process in Pakistan clearly indicates.
So it was pleasing to see a recent media release announcing the construction of a greener leather tannery in Vietnam, that will service clients such as Timberland, New Balance, Keen, Reef, Simple Shoes and Hush Puppies. The plant operated by German/Chinese consortium, ISA TanTec, will produce what they call LITE (Low Impact To the Environment) leather. They make this claim by reducing energy loads by 30% and water use by 50%....
Japan To Subsidize Solar Panels For Your House
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 09.29.08
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images from the AIST display of new, flexible solar cells)
80 percent of newly-built homes will be equipped with solar power systems by 2030? Sounds good to me. Japan plans to provide a subsidy of about 200,000 yen (just under $2,000) to households that buy a solar power system to promote its use and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Nikkei. The subsidy represents 10 percent of the cost of a standard solar power system, which is about 2 million yen:
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry hopes the subsidy will help stimulate mass production of such solar power systems and lower costs. The subsidy payment could be introduced as early as the current fiscal year to end March 2009, it said. Home-use solar power systems in Japan now generate a combined total of 1.4 million kilowatts of electricity, the daily said.In June, the government set a target of boosting solar power generation by 10 times from current levels by 2020 and 40 times by 2030. http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE48R0UB20080928...
The Go Green Initiative's School of the Week: Groton Central School in Groton, NY!
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 09.29.08
When you hear that our Go Green Initiative School of the Week is located in Groton, NY and has a terrific lunch scrap recycling program called Rot-N-Groton, you know they’ve got both a sense of humor and a knack for getting students involved in cool ways recycling and putting together a greener campus.
Of course, their Goin’ Green T-shirt initiative also has students raving about the worth of a dollar and the benefits of recycling.
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London Design Festival: Gnocchi Bar
by Bonnie Alter, London on 09.29.08
It's not your usual addition to a Design Festival, but it tastes good and it is very stylish, so why not. Arabeschi di Latte is a group of Italian feminist architects who focus on food and our relationship to it. They create events and performances relating to experiential responses to food.
At London Design Festival they set up a gnocchi bar and a tiny temporary cooking studio. In a small corner of Designersblock, passers-by could learn to prepare gnocchi, a traditional italian potato dish. The pot of water was boiling away and participants were given their own pre-boiled potato. They peeled it, minced it and and rolled it and made it themselves, and then ate it. It's performance art....
From Kitchen Scraps to Biogas - Stockholm Embraces Garbage Disposals
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 09.29.08
From the 'everything that goes around comes around' department: in Sweden it is a rare thing to find a kitchen equipped with a garbage disposal, those noisy finger hazards that are extremely commonplace in American kitchens. And while many TreeHuggers eschew the garbage disposal habit for composting of kitchen scraps, a surprising counter-trend is occurring in Sweden's larger cities.
From a hefty fee to a discount for garbage disposals
Previously, a high annual fee discouraged apartment dwellers from thinking about owning a garbage disposal - municipal engineers were worried about gas build-up in sewer lines and other blockages from running liquid garbage through regular pipes. So only about 40 apartments in the entire city went through the expensive hassle of getting and owning a garbage disposal. In the U.S. 50 percent of ALL homes have a disposal - it increases a home's water consumption and electricity usage and forms more of a burden to municipal sewage treatment. Why are the Swedes encouraging it, then? They want to mine the waste stream for biogas....
A Picture is Worth... The 2008 Visualization Challenge Winners
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 09.28.08
Images from Science
In its latest issue, Science, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, has revealed the winners and honorable mentions of its always eye-popping International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. My favorite, and, as it so happened, the winner of the photography category, was Mario De Stefano's "The Glass Forest" (sub. required) -- a set of images of the diatom Licmophora ehrenbergii captured by a scanning electron microscope.
This particular micrograph shows diatoms hanging off Eudendrium racemosum, an invertebrate (in brown). Some of my other favorites include Jessica D. Schiffman's and Caroline L. Schauer's "Squid suckers: the little monsters that feed the beast" and Chris Harrison's and Christoph Römhild's "Visualizing the Bible." For both, along with the accompanying descriptions by Rachel Zelkowitz, go below the fold.
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Results of the 2008 Organization Carbon Offsetting Trends Survey
by Eric Leech, New York, NY on 09.28.08
Artwork by Readygolfer.
Planet Green is currently featuring a regular column on their website called Changemakers, featuring various everyday people and their businesses, and how they have made a commitment to not only reduce the carbon footprints in their own life, but also in regards to their work. This new corporate attitude has been helping to create a more sustainable world.
There are more of these types of businesses than most of us might realize. EcoSecurities and ClimateBiz announced a few days ago, that out of 65 leading multinational organization surveyed, covering a wide variety of geographies and industry sectors, most of them reported that they were involved in implementing environmental strategies to their day to day business practices.
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Kids, Bicycles, and Art
by Eric Leech, New York, NY on 09.28.08
Photo property of East Village Community Coalition.
Who could think of a better mixture of fun and environmental awareness. The East Village Community Coalition in New York is gearing up for their 2nd Annual LES (Lower East Side) Kid's Art Bike Parade to be held this coming Saturday, October 4th, 2008, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on the Northeast corner of Tompkins Square Park (10th Street and Avenue A)....
Inconvenient Youth: Teens Taking On Global Warming
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 09.28.08
Photo courtesy of Inconvenient Youth
The Inconvenient Youth are taking the nation by storm. And no, they’re not an eyeliner wearing rock band (though they’ve got one of those in tow) or a Warriors-esque street gang (though they’re acquiring quite a cult following).
No, they’re a group of teens dedicated to raising awareness of global warming. And they’re heading to a city near you.
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Debunking Timber Industry Spin with a Slideshow
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 09.28.08
Photo courtesy of WKTV
Oregon Wild Sets the Record Straight on Timber Industry
Ever wonder what the precise impacts of logging and deforestation are, and whether the timber industry’s defensive environmental claims hold any water? Well, Oregon Wild, an Oregon forest and wildlife preservation group (among other things) has taken the liberty of putting together a comprehensive slideshow detailing and combating misleading myths promoted by the logging industry. They’ve created a factual, in-depth look at logging practices, forest fires, and the impact of global warming on forests. ...
Redewin: New Online Eco-Store
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 09.28.08
Climate Change? This Looks Like a Job for Captain Ozone, Environmental Hero
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 09.28.08
Photo courtesy of Captain Ozone
Calling Captain Ozone
Perhaps what the modern environmental movement needs is more masked, spandex clad superheroes who make public appearances perched atop latrines lashed to the roofs of cars. Or who chop through Petrol signs with hemp oil powered chainsaws. These are merely a couple of the (semi) heroic deeds done by the enigma of environmental activism that is Captain Ozone....
How to Recognize Bear Tracks in the Woods
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 09.28.08
Image source: Anorak UK
Bears have been a theme on these pages recently. There was the shocking encounter between a bear and a bicyclist and the amazing true story of a man who saved a bear from drowning. Then came the tragic news that polar bear cannibalism is on the rise as their ice habitat shrinks, and the mournful death of Cute Knut's keeper. So to lighten things up a bit, get a guffaw from this sign, posted at the Fort Steele campground in British Columbia.
In case the text is too hard to read in the picture, the full text is shown below. And don't miss the collection of links to other popular, true-life, amazing or humorous bear stories at the end of this post....
The Harvest of the Month Program Brings Seasonal Favorites to Portland Schools
by Sara Novak, Columbia, SC on 09.28.08
photo: Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods has been the target of green writers in the past for having some hidden eco-demons, but in this case the organic giant has stepped it up in providing the best in local foods to schools across the Portland area. Check out the results when Whole Foods and EcoTrust partner up for the Harvest of the Month Program....
Ten North American Freeways Without Futures
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 09.28.08
San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway. Torn down after the 1989 earthquake, the freeway was replaced with a vibrant, multi-use boulevard. (photo via Flickr)
Back in the 1950's and 60's, when gas was cheap and there was plenty of federal money to go around, highways were built on a massive scale in North America, often slicing through city centers or blocking off waterfronts. While they added little charm to American downtowns at the time, today many of these freeways are not only eyesores but downright dangerous.
So what is to be done with all this aging infrastructure in an era of rising gasoline prices and scarce funding for repairs? "Tear them down!" suggests the Congress for the New Urbanism, which has come up with a list of ten North American highways that have passed their prime and are ripe for demolition and replacement by functional, attractive and sustainable urban boulevards....
Rare Plant Thought Extinct Re-discovered in Upstate New York
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 09.28.08
Image source: Tony Eallonardo in Syracuse
A salt-marsh plant thought to have vanished from upstate New York is back. But it has not come back to the inland salt marshes, of which only four remain (three in New York and one in Michigan). Rather, the rare goldenrod was found growing alongside local streets, probably competing well where run-off from winter road salt suppresses other plant life. The species was discovered serendipitously by Dr. Leonardo of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) as he was out walking.
"They're coming out of asphalt, with no soil anywhere," Leopold is quoted in an article in Syracuse. "And it's striking because they're all blooming right now. It's a visually spectacular plant." But the seaside goldenrod's beauty is not alone among it's benefits to humanity and the environment....
