Eric Dewhirst said:
"Congrats - Ben, Ben and Matthew,
Great idea and definitely needed - perhaps some funding could go for some carriers as well? I remember it..." [read]
Dave said:
"20 mins on my bike. 8km. Its always faster than driving/bus and we have little traffic and excellent puplic transport here in Christchurch, New Zea..." [read]
PricklyPear said:
"Well, my family is working hard to be greener... but it isn't always easy.
My husband drives almost every day from his home office into one..." [read]
Christoph Wienands said:
"Hey, where is the three car garage for my family's SUvs :-)..." [read]
ron said:
"thanks for attacking me, warren.
that drivel about the worst part of leather being the tanning process is bs.
it's raising the cows..." [read]
Christoph Wienands said:
"Even if the electricity for an EV was produced by a coal-fired plant, it's carbon footprint would still be by multiples better than if it had an in..." [read]
If you listened to Jacob'sinterview with Doug Fine--and, if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?--then you'll already be familiar with the premise of his book, Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living: World-weary journalist decides to live sustainably, settles down in a New Mexican ranch with two goats and a dog, and all hell breaks loose (just kidding). Now keep in mind that Fine isn't exactly Mr. Green--as he readily admits, he's never grown so much as a single tree or, for that matter, used any farming or ranching utensils (as you soon come to learn). And, in the end, that's perhaps what makes his story so appealing--and, more importantly, believable: After all, if a guy like this can milk his own goats and grow his own peas, shouldn't we all?
Fine's rollicking narrative takes the reader from his very first encounter with the Funky Butte Ranch to his first successful effort to plant his own crops--with all his short-lived triumphs, mishaps and discoveries in between. Whether you're learning the finer points of assembling rooftop solar panels or scratching your head in disbelief over the Kung Pao "smokescreen" (what's a ROAT anyway?), Fine's easy-going writing style and humor will keep you engaged through the end.
Our apologies to Ian Marshall of Wend magazine. Aeons ago Ian wrote to us telling us about the sustainable attributes of his mag. Unfortunately his correspondence went missing in the torrent of email we get. Better late than never.
Wend provides “bold tales to fuel the passion of adventure, born from the love of climbing, cycling, surfing, and kayaking.” It is written for “people with a lust for adventure and a sense of duty to preserve the far out places that give us meaning, hope and identity. Their current issue is available online, as will be future issues, at roughly half the price of the paper editions. And while this is great for the forests it might save from being munched for print pulp, Ian also points out that Wend have never done a specifically "green" issue, because “we have our greenery gear section in every issue, and we promote and discuss green ideas."
Michael Kelly is an Irishman looking for what really matters. Trading Paces follows his path from a high paid job in IT sales, to a low paid job in freelance writing. Along the way, he finds himself falling in love with a life filled with vegetables, hens, pigs, and a leaky roof cottage out in the country. Realizing you don't need to be a voracious consumer to be happy, Kelly artfully recounts his ongoing adventure in making the transition to a more sustainable, thoughtful way of living.
Kelly's style is conversational, thoughtful, and always lighthearted. If you enjoy Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or Omnivore's Dillema, Trading Paces offers a refreshing everyman perspective, Homer Simpson quotes included.
Over the last year there has been a relative rush of books on eco and ethical fashion published in the UK. We think this is an excellent indicator of the public’s awareness of how, what, where and whom produced the clothes in our closets. First was Tamsin Blanchard’s Green is the New Black and Mathilda Lee’s Eco-Chic. Then most recently Kate Fletcher’s Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys and Sandy Black’s Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox (review coming soon).
For all students of new subjects it’s often sensible to start with the general overview and then, as knowledge and interest increase, start digging into the more complex layers. Fortunately the order in which these books have arrived on the shelves has enabled us to do just that. The clear and simple journalistic approach of Blanchard and Lee’s books got us off to a good start and now Kate Fletcher takes the reader into deeper waters with her wealth of experience and knowledge built up over the last 15 years working within the textiles and fashion industries.
The challenge is a rather simple one: set up a life that is local and low-carbon without sacrificing the beloved creature comforts. The kicker is not getting electrocuted, shot, burned, crushed, bitten, or driven insane. Doug Fine has assumed this challenge and actually seems to be doing a bang-up job. He spoke to us from the Funky Butte Ranch, his own low-carbon Neverland. ::TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
The Earth's environment has limits. Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has long recognized that those limits can ignite economic growth and ecological prosperity at the same time. Earth: The Sequel written by Krupp and Miriam Horn, a journalist and staffer at EDF, begins with a case study of how we can solve global warming and improve our economy by addressing the need for limits.
In the early 1980's sulfur dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants caused acid rain, damaging forests and aquatic life. We had reached the limits of how much sulfur dioxide we could pump into the atmosphere. The knee-jerk reaction to this problem was to create strict 'command and control' regulations that required adding expensive scrubbers to smoke stacks. But this solution was not addressing the problem...
The Times commissioned artist Gyongy Laky to create sculptural titles for each section.
Every newspaper and magazine on the stands has a green issue right now, and they are getting to be a bit repetitive. The New York Times has taken a different approach, calling it a catalog and covering dozens of issues, some obscure and some mainstream . It kicks off with a wonderful article by Michael Pollan, who answers the question "Why Bother?" Our own Jasmin Chua advises about pets in the "Live" section, while Planet Green's Bill Nye describes his very green house and greener lifestyle. Even the real estate ads are green in the::New York Times
UPDATE: I admire Joe Romm at Climate Progress, but he has to get over his reviewer shtick where he says "One of my most tedious jobs here at Climate Progress is to read all the crap major articles published on global warming, and sort the wheat from the chaff." Then give it up, Joe. He told people to stay away from Monbiot's wonderful Heat without reading the book; now he dumps on the Times for including a few things he doesn't like in its catalog, with the admonition "You can skip the whole thing", boldface Joe's. His blanket denunciations of anything that has a line in its index that he doesn't like are not helpful; there is a lot in that Times magazine that will open a lot of eyes.
Since he began his career in 1936. Julius Shulman has been photographing the best in west coast architecture. Now, at age 97, he has produced Modernism Discovered, a big (think 29 pounds) and expensive (try 300 bucks, or for all the price-per-square-foot whiners, $10.34 per pound ) but is a wonder that is an absolute must for anyone interested in modern design.There are over 400 architectural projects in it, many of them forgotten gems.
Shulman's photographs concentrate on the connections between indoors and out: “The reason why this architecture photographs so beautifully is the environmental consideration exercised by the architects,” he says in Metropolis, “It was the sense that here we have beautiful canyons, hillsides, views of the ocean. Everyone loves these photographs because the houses are environmentally involved, and this was before the emphasis on what everyone is calling green.” Modernists everywhere, grab your handcart and get ::Modernism Rediscovered found at the soon-to-be-gone ::Ballenford Books
If I have learned one thing in my nearly 20 years as a financial adviser and coach, it's this: It's not what you earn that makes you rich or poor; it's what you spend.
Millions of Americans are burning up money every day while they squander the planet's nonrenewable resources and pollute the environment in ways that lead to global warming and climate change. And we don't even realize it. We are just doing things the way we have always done them.
We buy a car because we like the way it looks and handles. We build a house with as many square feet as the bank's mortgage officer will allow. We renovate our kitchens with Sub-Zero refrigerators to increase our home's resale value. We run the sprinkler on our lawns using water that's so cheap that it's practically free. It's all just common sense right?...
People call the Texas plains “flyover country.” Jarid Manos calls this land a coral reef in a sea of grass. In a region that has been ground under America’s boot heel, Manos and his Great Plains Restoration Council have found a rich ecosystem, dangerously close to collapse. Through aggressive conservation, ecosystem rebuilding, and nature education for the youth of inner-cities and Indian reservations, respect is returning to plains. Even the buffalo have returned. ::TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.
For part one of our interview, click here. Also check out Jarid Manos’ book, Ghetto Plainsman, and some pics after the jump.
Special thanks to Calabash Music for the soundtrack....
Many trees are saved when we read magazines online, and many magazines are going that route now. However sometimes it is a poor substitute for the print edition. A magazine flows in an order and style laid out by its designer, and the ads are often as much of the look, feel and content as the editorial, whereas on the web they are almost always an intrusion. Proof is provided by the May edition of Azure Magazine, a pleasure to look at and full of good green design.
Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need, writes about Healing the Suburbs; there is a profile of James Wines, who in the 70's was at the forefront of green design; Rachel Pulfer looks at biomimicry, and I will be milking the "Material World" technical section for posts on sustainable plumbing for weeks....
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone pays somewhere. So it is with books. They provide us with knowledge and enlightenment, but that edification comes with a price. The U.S. book industry emits over 12.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, or approximately 8.85 pounds of carbon for the average book (.89 lb). Much of this (~63%) is a result of forest losing their biomass carbon store. Such is the finding of joint research conducted by the Green Press Initiative and Book Industry Study Group (BISG).
They published their research report Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry. It will set you back $195, or you can see the highlights in a PDF, to read up on the good and bad news from the industry.
...
The book Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies was recently sent to me for review. I was curious to see the "Dummies" take on this subject, because there are few books on green building aimed at the layperson. The book was penned by Eric Corey Freed of Organic Architect. We have featured Freed previously on TreeHugger. He manages a comprehensive survey of green building techniques in the book's 361 pages. You can read some sample chapters. ...
David Bach has written a lot of books with titles like "Automatic Millionaire" and "Start Late Finish Rich" that appeal to many (he has sold millions of them) but I admit to never having had much interest in the genre. However, TreeHugger has always promoted living with less, using fewer resources and having a smaller footprint, and over on Planet Green we often talk of frugality as a green virtue. David Bach takes those ideas to the bank in Go Green, Live Rich.
It is a simple theory: do all the little things we prattle on about, like improving your car's fuel economy (save $884 per year); sealing the leaks in your home and save a little on energy ($129); turning back your thermostat ($85) and brownbaggging your lunch. ($1,560). Take that $3,758 and invest it. What have you got in 30 years? $ 678,146.
Suddenly the genre and going green looks very, very interesting.
Bach writes well, in a breezy style; it is an easy read. However by putting a dollar value on 50 different green steps that you can easily take, he changes the whole message about going green, from doing something good for the environment over time (a hard sell to all but the most dedicated TreeHuggers) to doing something good for yourself and your bank account. Self-interest is a great motivator, and if the result is a dramatically smaller footprint, everybody wins. ...
Wired's April issue has a few nuggets of interest; in its business trends column, Gabriel Sherman notes that "while cutting energy use and rolling out earth-friendly products may attract a growing environmentally conscious customer base, corporate profits still come largely from doing business the old, dirty way," noting that while Toyota is the acknowledged innovator in fuel-efficient hybrids, it relies on conventional trucks like the Tundra for its profits. (We have got into trouble with readers saying the same thing here and here.) He also mentions that GE of Ecoimagination fame has put billions into the petroleum industry and invests in coal fired power plants.
Available online is their evisceration of ZAP for its vaporware electric cars. "If ZAP was in any other business, the company would have been dead long ago. But they keep taking advantage of how much environmentalists want to see electric cars come to market."
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First time I ever saw a trailer for a book.
James Howard Kunstler is a controversial character and a bit of a crank, but his writings on Suburbia and then his book on life after oil, the Long Emergency, have all impressed me. (you can read a short article with his views of the future of cities here) I had not read any of his fiction and approached World Made by Hand with some trepidation; one does not expect to have a good time in his vision of the future. I need not have worried.
...
Innovative Homes started with such promise and ambitions, proceeded to be completely confused and unfocused, and then last issue started getting interesting. The Spring issue sharpens its focus still more, with a solid issue on green design and smaller projects. Built works include a very interesting Dallas condo project called Buzz Lofts, nice cubes by Steven Dynia and the Alexander Residences by Pb Elemental, an interesting design/build firm out of Seattle. There is a good article on green flooring, some neat picks in the "science of small" and Alison Rich wrote an excellent article on understanding "shades of green." It is the best effort yet.
Useless empty website at ::innovative home and still grossly overpriced; Last issue I complained that the Canadian price should not be three dollars higher than the American when the dollars were at par; this month they simply removed the American price from the magazine and left the Canadian price at $12.95, which I think is a nasty trick....
Vegan alert: it is the Food issue of Good Magazine, and the lead article is about happy meat. "It's not enough anymore to glance at the “antibiotic-free” sticker and dig in. People want to know that their dinner roamed free in a shady pasture, slept on a pillowy bed of hay, lived a happy life, and died a noble death. And then they want to eat." Also What We Eat- "a glossy look at what we eat—from the battlefield to the high school cafeteria." More on meat: Let’s Harvest the Organs of Death-Row Inmates. Unlike most magazines, this is almost entirely available online at ::Good...
Specialty bookstores are a labour of love, a dying breed, a money pit, a host of clichés. I know; a group of Toronto`s best architects, engineers, landscape architects and me bought Ballenford Books out of bankruptcy during the real estate crash in the early '90s. Andrea Kristof and I designed this store (updated since, shown here for the launch of Concrete Toronto) ; I have always thought those steel stud shelves were the best thing I ever did.
But we couldn't make it work either. Susan Delean thought she could, and took it over in 1996. It became a bright, cheerful, welcoming hub of the design community, full of great books, great shows, and great staff. Every book on green design I reviewed on TreeHugger was purchased there. Now she has succumbed too, writing:
...
Dwell is on a roll these days, and the April green issue is no different. They cover houses made from wood (this writer's favourite green building material) including David Adjaye's cedar cube in London, (we seem to be the only site on the net that has not covered it, so here is Inhabitat) There is good coverage of TreeHugger fave Scrapile, (see New Furniture From Scrapile and Scrapile Recycled Wood Stools). Felix Jerusalem's Stroh House makes an appearance, and the Dead White Male of the Month is neither all male or dead, being Robin and Lucinda Day, the UK's answer to Charles and Ray Eames, still cranking out great stuff as they approach a hundred years old. Not yet on line but worth grabbing off the stands. ::Dwell...
photo credit Emma AlterFrom the One of a Kind Show:
I was immediately impressed by Tanya Deacove's hand-bound books, all made with recycled papers and fabrics, but was blown away when I learned that she marbles her cover papers herself. I always assumed these marbled papers were printed, but in fact she "floats a water-based pigment on top of water and some seaweed, and drag a comb through, and the random pigments make a design, then you hold your breath, because if you breathe everything moves, it is very delicate, and then you lay the paper down on it, to pick up the pattern." The results are stunning. Tanya calls herself a "technological luddite" so unfortunately she has no website, but she is at lots of shows and sells out of her showroom near Godfrey, Ontario. More on the marbling process at ::Wikipedia...
Years ago we made mention of a clever little book called Seven Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet. It praised the bicycle, the condom, the ceiling fan, the clothesline, Pad Thai, the public library, and the ladybug.
Now it seems like later this year, in about May, the book will be revised and released under the title of Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet: Everyday Things to Help Solve Global Warming. Some of the original wonders remain, but others have changed. Now they explore the key issues behind global warming: transportation (the bicycle) [see great quote after the fold], population (the condom), fossil fuel efficiency (the ceiling fan), renewable energy (the clothesline), food production and distribution (the real tomato), resource conservation and reuse (the library book), and the information economy (the microchip). ...
It is that time of year when trees fall across the boreal forest to make paper for the green issues of mainstream media magazines. One of the better ones is Outside Magazine, which is chock full of interesting stuff. In the short stuff up front, they recommend TreeHugger favorite movie Chinatown, approve of Planet Green, review green guides and when it comes to eco-travelling, says "Near is the New Far." Articles include the prolific Bill McKibben on It’s Not Getting Any Colder, coverage of Cuba in Red is the New Green and throw in a little technology at The Future is Brilliant. Get much of the content at ::Outside Online....
Left: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 2003: A graceful balance of natural forests, agriculture and human settlements. Right: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 29 December 2004, after the tsunami: an inundated wasteland.
Just released in paperback, mapmakers Collins Bartholomew's new book Fragile Earth: What's Happening to Our Planet? documents the dramatic changes that the Earth has experienced during the past half century - some due to natural disasters and extreme weather events, others to direct human intervention in the landscape - and provides a few frightening visual predictions.
From the book's foreword:
Human conflict, caused by many factors including ideology and competition over resources, can cause great damage to our world. Today’s society is capable of impacting the world in irreversible ways and such changes can have devastating effects on people’s lives and on the environment.
Below are a handful of particularly striking images from the book....
Image credit: Max Meyers.
I had the great honour of seeing Michael Pollan on the only Canadian stop of his book tour for In Defense of Food. I also had the pleasure of sharing the experience with Planet Green’s resident foodie, Kelly Rossiter. If you haven’t already, you can read Lloyd’s book review that succinctly sums up the how Michael Pollan thinks we should eat.
I won’t get into the nitty gritty details of every single word he said, but he was inspiring, engaging, funny and real. A must-see if you have the opportunity. One of the interesting points he makes is our lack of “food culture” in North America. We eat to get nutrients and "fuel-up", instead of eating to enjoy time with our families and savour the flavours of the stuff we put in our mouths. His eloquent words really made me think......
Any reader who has been paying attention will know that we are big fans of the Transition Town movement that is sweeping across the UK, and is beginning to make its mark abroad too. We were delighted to see that training courses are now being provided for those leading their communities through the transition process, and we look forward to seeing the concept spread further as founder Rob Hopkins (who we interviewed here) launches his long-awaited Transition Handbook this weekend. Above is a promotional video for the publication, and you can click below the fold for a brief excerpt from the introduction.
...
Check the bottom of this post for a link to a free pdf copy of Plan B 3.0
First off, a disclaimer: Lester Brown has been a hero of mine (and featured on TreeHugger TV interviews as well as posting himself on climate refugees) at least since 2003, when in front of a gathering of sustainability experts in a Portland conference room I asked him why he didn't help us all out and run for U.S. president. Brown laughed with the rest of the crowd, then moved right on to the next question. He obviously had a much bigger agenda in mind - such as saving the entire planet.
At that time, Brown was just publishing the book Plan B, which in its first edition was subtitled "Rescuing A Planet Under Stress And A Civilization In Trouble." In that first and subsequent two editions Brown does a commendable job of spelling out and interconnecting all the stresses on the Earth - eroding soils, falling water tables, rising temperatures, poverty and population pressures. After all, as president of the Earth Policy Institute (and founder and former leader of Worldwatch Institute) Brown has been studying the big picture for a while. By the time Brown updated Plan B to version 3.0 this year, however, the subtitle had changed to "Mobilizing to Save Civilization." Why the change? ...
“You've travelled the world. Now change it.” says We Are What We Do, the global social movement. They have been changing the world (for a Fiver and 9 to 5) for three years now and thought it was high time to raise their sights about … 35,000 feet! We Are What We Do has launched their new campaign to tackle Action 95: Earn Fewer Air Miles, and are proud to announce their on-board, in-flight 'Change the World at 35,000 Feet' booklet with Virgin Atlantic. The book aims to inspire passengers to make small changes and lists simple holiday actions to reduce their carbon footprint; from travelling smarter and packing leaner to addressing the steward with a friendly demeanor. WAWWD believes in “small changes that, times lots of people, add up to a big change”. But they also admit that reducing air miles is a tough one:
...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
TreeHugger breaks it down for you in a series of in depth how-to articles that will help you green your life. No time like the present!
If you listened to Jacob's interview with Doug Fine--and, if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?--then you'll already be familiar with the premise of his book, Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living: World-weary journalist decides to live sustainably, settles down in a New Mexican ranch with two goats and a dog, and all hell breaks loose (just kidding). Now keep in mind that Fine isn't exactly Mr. Green--as he readily admits, he's never grown so much as a single tree or, for that matter, used any farming or ranching utensils (as you soon come to learn). And, in the end, that's perhaps what makes his story so appealing--and, more importantly, believable: After all, if a guy like this can milk his own goats and grow his own peas, shouldn't we all?
Michael Kelly is an Irishman looking for what really matters. 
Over the last year there has been a relative rush of books on eco and ethical fashion published in the UK. We think this is an excellent indicator of the public’s awareness of how, what, where and whom produced the clothes in our closets. First was Tamsin Blanchard’s 
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
If I have learned one thing in my nearly 20 years as a financial adviser and coach, it's this: It's not what you earn that makes you rich or poor; it's what you spend.
Millions of Americans are burning up money every day while they squander the planet's nonrenewable resources and pollute the environment in ways that lead to global warming and climate change. And we don't even realize it. We are just doing things the way we have always done them.
We buy a car because we like the way it looks and handles. We build a house with as many square feet as the bank's mortgage officer will allow. We renovate our kitchens with Sub-Zero refrigerators to increase our home's resale value. We run the sprinkler on our lawns using water that's so cheap that it's practically free. It's all just common sense right?...
Many trees are saved when we read magazines online, and many magazines are going that route now. However sometimes it is a poor substitute for the print edition. A magazine flows in an order and style laid out by its designer, and the ads are often as much of the look, feel and content as the editorial, whereas on the web they are almost always an intrusion. Proof is provided by the May edition of Azure Magazine, a pleasure to look at and full of good green design.
Chris Turner, author of 
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone pays somewhere. So it is with books. They provide us with knowledge and enlightenment, but that edification comes with a price. The U.S. book industry emits over 12.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, or approximately 8.85 pounds of carbon for the average book (.89 lb). Much of this (~63%) is a result of forest losing their biomass carbon store. Such is the finding of joint research conducted by the Green Press Initiative and Book Industry Study Group (BISG).
They published their research report Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry. It will set you back $195, or you can see the highlights 
The book 
David Bach has written a lot of books with titles like "Automatic Millionaire" and "Start Late Finish Rich" that appeal to many (he has sold millions of them) but I admit to never having had much interest in the genre. However, TreeHugger has always promoted living with less, using fewer resources and having a smaller footprint, and over on 
Wired's April issue has a few nuggets of interest; in its business trends column, Gabriel Sherman notes that "while cutting energy use and rolling out earth-friendly products may attract a growing environmentally conscious customer base, corporate profits still come largely from doing business the old, dirty way," noting that while Toyota is the acknowledged innovator in fuel-efficient hybrids, it relies on conventional trucks like the Tundra for its profits. (We have got into trouble with readers saying the same thing 
Innovative Homes started with such 
Vegan alert: it is the Food issue of Good Magazine, and the lead article is about 
Specialty bookstores are a labour of love, a dying breed, a money pit, a host of clichés. I know; a group of 
Dwell is on a roll these days, and the April green issue is no different. They cover houses made from wood (this writer's favourite green building material) including David Adjaye's cedar cube in London, (we seem to be the only site on the net that has not covered it, so here is 
photo credit Emma Alter
From the 
Years ago 
It is that time of year when trees fall across the boreal forest to make paper for the green issues of mainstream media magazines. One of the better ones is Outside Magazine, which is chock full of interesting stuff. In the short stuff up front, they recommend TreeHugger favorite movie Chinatown, 
Left: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 2003: A graceful balance of natural forests, agriculture and human settlements. Right: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 29 December 2004, after the tsunami: an inundated wasteland.
Just released in paperback, mapmakers Collins Bartholomew's new book 
Image credit: 
Check the bottom of this post for a link to a free pdf copy of Plan B 3.0
First off, a disclaimer: Lester Brown has been a hero of mine (and featured on 
“You've travelled the world. Now change it.” says 
