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]
John Laumer said:
"This is a practical impossibility. Interstate Commerce act and other laws would regulate the transfer across state lines by pipeline, allowing ma..." [read]
We recently heard a piece on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition about a school in Cairo's Manshiyet Nasser slum community where the city's young garbage collectors are learning the business and economics of recycling and using solar energy to do it.
The school is called the Mokattam Non-Formal Education Project, and has received funding form UNESCO and Procter & Gamble, a company whose products like shampoo are sold in the plastic bottles that end up on Cairo's streets.
Two years ago we mulled over the notion of whether colourful Crocs footwear might be the Birkenstocks for a new generation. Many respondents argued that without containing recycled content or at least a way of recycling the worn-out shoes they couldn’t be considered ‘green.’
Earlier this year Crocs seemed to have taken steps, if you will, to address these issues. Their new line of SolesUnited are made with grounded up old crocs. The new styles have 20% of this recycled content. Going one further Crocs plan, for 2008, to develop partnerships with shipping companies and worldwide non-profit organisations, so they can donate 2 million pairs of shoes globally.
Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.
When it comes to strategies that help your garden grow, adding compost is a great way to mulch and add nutrients without using industrial fertilizers (not to mention a good use of food leftovers and other organic waste). Here are some tips and products that can help you compost and help the planet for Earth Day. Getting Ready for Earth Day: Compost Your Organic Waste
Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.
Cleaning products are everywhere in our homes, and get everywhere when we use them; on our dishes, countertops, floors, hands...the list goes on and on. They're so pervasive that we follow this general rule: if you don't want it on your skin or in your body, don't use it. Thankfully, there is a large (and growing ever larger) contingent of green cleaning products, strategies and ideas to help you keep your house clean and green. ::Getting Ready for Earth Day: Green Cleaning
Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.
When it comes to equating everyday behavior with saving the planet, few things are as high on the list as recycling. Here are some tips and resources for incorporating recycling into your life, not just on Earth Day, but every day.::Getting Ready for Earth Day: Recycle!
Spring has finally reached the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, and that means amusement parks, and in Denmark's case, lots of beer drinking (it's legal to imbibe on the streets). In addition to amusing and not-so-amusing public drunkenness, the drinking policy also leads to mountains of street trash after a warm spring night.
But at the famous Copenhagen amusement park Tivoli (one of the world's very first in-city large scale permanent parks) there's no trace of plastic cups on the grounds or even in the bins, and that's not because of overzealous maintenance staff - it's due to Tivoli's plastic cup deposit and return system that gets an approximately 80 percent return rate. When purchasing a beer or soft drink at any of the numerous concessions in the park, an extra 5 Danish kroner (US$1) is added to price, and the thick polystyrene cup can be dropped off at one of a dozen on-site recycling kiosks, which refunds the money. The system has been in place for nearly a decade, and studies are showing that with a 5-time reuse (cups are washed off-site and average five to nine uses) the cups score better in life-cycle analysis than disposables and at a break-even cost to the concessions. Seems like a proven technology whose time, with oil at near $120 a barrel, surely must be here. Via Tivoli
P.S. Hit the jump to see the return kiosks and reusable cups
Sometimes we cannot even tell if they know they are greenwashing, or if they are doing it with tongue held firmly in cheek. Like this: Coke is introducing a line of shirts made out of recycled Coke bottles. Their VP of marketing says with a straight face “These fun t-shirts merge trend with consciousness, reminding shoppers that small steps – like recycling a few bottles – can go a long way towards helping to preserve our environment. If the 200 million Wal-Mart shoppers in the U.S. purchase these shirts, they will help us reuse and divert more than 700 million bottles from the waste stream.”
No matter that only 34% of PET bottles are recycled while the rest end up in the garbage or by the side of the road, or in the Pacific gyre, or that it is doubtful that these shirts are made in the USA, so we are probably carting these bottles halfway around the world.
It is not green to take a bottle, ship it off somewhere to be turned into fabric and sewn into t-shirts. Deposit and return systems with local bottlers refilling glass bottles are green. But Coke killed that system. ::BusinessWire and ::Brandweek
See how in the they take Coke bottles from Taiwan, make a fabric and ship it to Eastern Europe for tailoring and then sell it in the UK and call it "Ecosmart"
Of course it is always best to bring your own chopsticks, but the next best thing is recycling. Shuhei Ogawara, a retired city hall employee in the Fukushima Prefecture, spent three months gluing 7382 used chopsticks into a 66 pound, 13'-4" canoe, and coated it with a polyester resin coat. I don't know if I would want to run it down the Nahanni, but it looks pretty good. Launch is planned for May at Lake Inawahiro. ::Asahi via ::Pink Tentacle...
The Finnish family business Lasistudio reclaims glass bottles and jars without crushing them in order to create new objects. All the products are hand-made in an old barn in Finland. By taking advantage of the original shapes of the waste packages, only 1/4 of the energy needed to shape new objects from melted glass is used, says Jan Torstensson Oy, glassworks specialized in manufacturing items from recycled packaging glass....
Japanese telecommunication company Oki Electric has just announced it will work with Teijin Fiber’s Eco-Circle process to recycled their worn corporate uniforms back into new uniforms. By March 2009 Oki plans to recycle “approximately 2,000 uniforms, equivalent to a gross weight of 1.2 tons and it has calculated that this process will immediately reduce its CO2 footprint by 3.7 tons.”
Eco-Circle [Flash Warning!} can take products, where the polyester content is higher than 80% (and hasn’t been blended with wool, acrylic and/or polyurethane), sort out the polyester from the zippers, buttons, etc, and reduce the fibre back to its molecular level, so that a fresh batch of high grade polyester can be produced. Which is a pretty smart technology because ......
Three years ago, we were already trying to reassure people about hybrid car batteries. There seems to be a lot of myths surrounding them, and now's a good time for a little mythbusting. Tesla has just released information about what happens to its battery packs (pictured above) at the end of their useful lives, and we think it's a good case study.
First, we learn that the cells are manufactured in Japan where there are relatively strict environmental laws, and meet the RoHS standards. They are mostly made of lithium metal oxides with zero lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBBs or PBDEs. In fact, there no heavy metals, nor any toxic materials. Tesla says that, by law, its battery cells could be landfilled, though that's not what they actually do....
Londoner's have three free newspapers foisted on them every day in the streets. This adds up to a lot of waste and a lot of people are getting pretty upset by it. As a response to this litter, and as a political statement about "making something high-quality out of something that has no value", Sumer Erek has created a five metre high Newspaper House out of all the discarded free papers around. The house has been "built" in a London square. Along with numerous volunteers, he has been constructing it out of donated papers for the past five days. Using almost 150,000 discarded free papers carefully packed inside a wooden frame for the construction, people were encouraged to write their own thoughts and wishes on the paper before it was rolled into "logs".
Saturday was the big opening of the almost finished house. A grey drizzle descended on the hundred or so spectators and volunteers (decked out in paper hats) who came to watch the tarpaulin be removed, and the house exposed in all its glory. Sumer Erek paid tribute to all of the (mainly) women volunteers and noted how appropriate this was, since it was International Women's Day. To great applause and cheers the wonderful neat and tidy little house was revealed and we were welcomed to walk through it....
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
John Milkovisch spent twenty years emptying 50,000 beer cans and recycling them into cladding for his house and workshop, using the tops for a clever sun-shading system. It opens this weekend as Houston's latest tourist attraction. A quote from Mr. Milkovisch is on a wall: “They say every man should leave something to be remembered by. At least I accomplished that goal.”
An art patron explains why Houston is home to so many zany houses: “One good thing about not having any zoning is you can do stuff.” ::New York Times...
Unlike, say, your favorite blue jeans, china dishware is not often repairable. Sadly, even if a chip or crack appears, there isn't anything you can do, and with little value on the secondhand circuit, it often goes into the trash.
That is, unless designer Joana Meroz gets her hands on it. The Netherlands-based artist/designer reclaims broken dishes and cups and transforms them into "Crackery Tableware," where, by reglazing each crack and chip, she gives them new life and highlights and even celebrates each cups imperfections. What a nice, refreshing way to think about "broken" items. See more after the jump. ::The Ornamented Life via ::Cool Hunting
See also: Recycled Ceramics and Dishware from Sarah Cihat...
After our initial launch, we were thrilled to find Crate & Barrel's Kona rug. And over the past few years we’ve covered the company's various eco-products, such as their glass food storage containers, their Bamboo Bento collection and, in the past year, their “green sofa.” Nowadays, we’re amazed at what they’ve come up with.
At first, we were skeptical of Crate & Barrel’s most recent e-newsletters, touting their commitment to sustainability, but we’re beginning to see that this might not be a case of your average green washing. “The best place to start making the world a better place is right at home,” reads the introduction to the environmental part of their website. “At Crate & Barrel, green is not a trend. It’s an ongoing mission.”
...
The folks at this week’s Go Green Initiative School of the Week, Valley View Elementary in Northern California are deservedly proud of the fact that they’ve been responsible for diverting 120,000 lbs of paper, 2,400 lbs of cardboard, 200 lbs of plastic, and 319 printer cartridges away from landfill.
Principal Michele Brynjulson calls parent Laura Beer their "one-woman dynamo," and she’s leading the charge along with teacher Elicha Gastelumendi and the Student Council. Of course, there are even more great things happening with the Go Green Initiative in this showcase school...
...
According to our stats, 17.5% of TreeHugger readers are using Macs (0.05% on iPhones!). They might be happy to learn, as we are, that Apple has improved its recycling program. You can now send your old iPods and cell phones (of any brand or model, not just iPhones) for free recycling.
Apple writes: "All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed there and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal. Apple meets the requirements of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundry Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. In addition to annual compliance audits of our recycling vendors, we review the performance of their downstream vendors. Recyclers must comply with all applicable health and safety laws, and we do not allow the use of prison labor at any stage of the recycling process. Apple does not allow the disposal of hazardous electronic waste in solid waste landfills or incinerators, including waste-to-energy incinerators."...
Whatever the reason, there’s always a warm spot in my heart for teacher’s with the guts to dress up for the occasion and get kids excited about learning something new. Enter the school librarian at this week’s school of the week, Richmond Street Elementary in El Segundo, California. She dressed the part of a tree for their school-wide tree-planting assembly, with each classroom planting a tree on campus and every one of the 500 kids taking home a seedling to plant someplace special.
Of course the good folks at Richmond Street Elementary have lots more green things going on; including a terrific hands-on experiment you can try at home or in the classroom, and a simple green change instituted by their school’s principal that every school community could benefit from as well.
...
The wheels might turn slowly but they get to where they are going, eventually. Three years ago we reported that New York was contemplating the toughest laws in the nation on electronics waste. Today the City Council was to vote on what they call “trailblazing environmental legislation” to make manufacturers responsible for the ‘take back’ of their electronic products, no longer wanted by customers.
Apparently the city’s residents currently dispose of “more than 25,000 tons of discarded TVs, computers and other electronic equipment,” which is hardly surprising because it seems they also buy 12 million electronic gadgets and do-dads every year, amounting to about 92,000 tons in total. In applauding the legislation the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) points out that old electronics account for about 40% of the lead found in municipal landfills as well as mercury, cadmium, and other toxic heavy metals in landfills and municipal incinerators. ...
For wine fans who haven't used their empty bottles for construction or drinking glasses, or switched to the Tetra Pak or plastic bottles, MollaSpace offers a chic, easy way to upgrade your used bottles into vases (if you don't like the way that a plain wine bottle vase looks, that is). Just slip one of these cute jackets over top that old bottle of pinot noir, and your new vase is ready for display. Kinda silly, but kinda cool.
Two colors and two patterns are available, and all four are reversible; above are white lattice (left) and black blossom (right); hit the jump for their opposites. See also: ::Reuse Those Empty Wine Bottles: 5 Ways on Planet Green.
::Molla Space via ::Better Living Through Design...
Not long ago, we addressed Mexico's struggles in managing its burgeoning mounds of electronic waste.
But there is better news in other areas of recycling. Entrepreneurs are starting to take advantage of the 10 million cubic meters of waste generated every month in Mexico, with particular attention to polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles, known as PET, and cardboard. According to the National Institute of Recyclers, at least 20 percent of the nation's waste can be recycled in one way or another.
Santiago García, general manager of the PET Recycling Promotion Association, says that Mexico's bottle recycling industry is worth an estimated $56 million with close to 120,000 tons captured, only 15 to 20 percent of the country's PET.
...
When it comes right down to it, recycling is a shifting of responsibility from the producer who made a product to the consumers and their governments that use tax money to collect it and deal with it; rarely does it pay for itself. We didn't have a litter or recycling problem when the bottlers had to pay a deposit; that's why they founded Keep America Beautiful- to shift the burden from them to you. That's why we think that there should be producer responsibility, with a deposit on everything from coffee cups to cars.
We are not there yet, but Terracycle has developed a great first step. They pay schools, non-profits and community groups to collect packaging from participants Honest Tea, Stonyfield Farm and Clif Bar. They upcycle the drink pouches into tote bags and pencil cases, the yogurt containers into planters; Clif Bar wrappers are "fused and woven into a strong material, which will then be used to make backpacks, gym totes and other products."...
Grammy nominees this year will be treated to more than just expensive watches and exotic trips in those outrageous bags of swag. Amid all of the pre-partying and pampering going on at this year’s 50th Grammy Awards, green goods are making their way into the scene at Green with Music ‘the first ever, all-green gifting retreat and Ayurvedic Spa’ for Grammy nominees, providing a green treat for all those artists brave enough to battle LA traffic. While checking out the green goods, attendees also got to people watch and mingle with celebs spotted in the crowd, including Omarosa, and the members of Evanescence (who liked it so much they came by both days).
The event was held February 8 & 9, 2008 in the lobby of the South Collection building Elleven, the first and only LEED Gold certified, eco-chic residential building in California. Most of the green companies were based in Los Angeles and, interestingly enough, were predominantly companies that are relatively new. This gave great exposure to smaller, eco-friendly companies that are just getting their wings....
click to enlarge
The New York Times reports that families are going paperless far faster than businesses; they have to pay the price of ink jet cartridges. “Paper is no longer the master copy; the digital version is,” says Brewster Kahle, the founder and director of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library. “Paper has been dealt a complete deathblow. When was the last time you saw a telephone book?”
However while paper consumption is dropping, it is not necessarily a boon for the environment; "While these digital toys reduce dependence on one resource, they increase it on another: energy. Some devices are always plugged in, eating electricity even when not in use, and gobbling huge amounts of power when they are. Others, like digital cameras and laptop computers, use electricity while they are recharging." ::New York Times
...
Maybe it's time to stop giving tax write offs for "educational donations" of computers and peripherals (a.k.a. closet fill). That would stem the tide of toxic electronic junk headed toward developing nations under the guise of being "for educational purposes". This is far worse than poorly rationalized expiation of guilt via purchase of carbon offsets. ...
Simple Shoes, who we met at Bread & Butter recently, have just partnered up with StopGlobalWarming.org, a movement that has so far excited over 993,000 individuals to join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, just like TreeHugger did (click here to join via the TreeHugger partner page).
Simple Shoes donates $5 from every pair of StopGlobalWarming edition products they sell. These include the Toepeeka flip-flop in two colors (launched in 2007) and the StopGlobalWarming ecoSNEAKS collection launched recently. Like all Simple Shoes, the ecoSNEAKS are made from sustainable materials: hemp uppers, recycled car tires bottoms, organic cotton linings, recycled plastic bottles (PET) shoe laces and foot beds, and water-based glues, and on top of that, they look great! ...
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!
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Of course it is always best to 
The Finnish family business 
Japanese telecommunication company Oki Electric has just announced it will work with Teijin Fiber’s Eco-Circle process to recycled their worn corporate uniforms back into new uniforms. By March 2009 Oki plans to recycle “approximately 2,000 uniforms, equivalent to a gross weight of 1.2 tons and it has calculated that this process will immediately reduce its CO2 footprint by 3.7 tons.”
Three years ago, we were already trying to 
Londoner's have three free newspapers foisted on them every day in the streets. This adds up to a lot of waste and a 
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
John Milkovisch spent twenty years emptying 50,000 beer cans and recycling them into cladding for his house and workshop, using the tops for a clever sun-shading system. It opens this weekend as Houston's latest tourist attraction. A quote from Mr. Milkovisch is on a wall: “They say every man should leave something to be remembered by. At least I accomplished that goal.”
An art patron explains why Houston is home to so many zany houses: “One good thing about not having any zoning is you can do stuff.” 
Unlike, say, 
After our initial launch, we were thrilled to find Crate & Barrel's 
The folks at this week’s Go Green Initiative School of the Week, Valley View Elementary in Northern California are deservedly proud of the fact that they’ve been responsible for diverting 120,000 lbs of paper, 2,400 lbs of cardboard, 200 lbs of plastic, and 319 printer cartridges away from landfill.
Principal Michele Brynjulson calls parent Laura Beer their "one-woman dynamo," and she’s leading the charge along with teacher Elicha Gastelumendi and the Student Council. Of course, there are even more great things happening with the Go Green Initiative in this showcase school...
...
According to our stats, 17.5% of TreeHugger readers are using Macs (0.05% on iPhones!). They might be happy to learn, as we are, that Apple has improved its recycling program. You can now send your old iPods and cell phones (of any brand or model, not just iPhones) for free recycling.
Apple writes: "All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed there and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal. Apple meets the requirements of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundry Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. In addition to annual compliance audits of our recycling vendors, we review the performance of their downstream vendors. Recyclers must comply with all applicable health and safety laws, and we do not allow the use of prison labor at any stage of the recycling process. Apple does not allow the disposal of hazardous electronic waste in solid waste landfills or incinerators, including waste-to-energy incinerators."...
Whatever the reason, there’s always a warm spot in my heart for teacher’s with the guts to dress up for the occasion and get kids excited about learning something new. Enter the school librarian at this week’s school of the week, Richmond Street Elementary in El Segundo, California. She dressed the part of a tree for their school-wide tree-planting assembly, with each classroom planting a tree on campus and every one of the 500 kids taking home a seedling to plant someplace special.
Of course the good folks at Richmond Street Elementary have lots more green things going on; including a terrific hands-on experiment you can try at home or in the classroom, and a simple green change instituted by their school’s principal that every school community could benefit from as well.
...
The wheels might turn slowly but they get to where they are going, eventually. Three years ago 
For wine fans who haven't used their empty bottles for 
Not long ago, we addressed 
When it comes right down to it, recycling is a shifting of responsibility from the producer who made a product to the consumers and their governments that use tax money to collect it and deal with it; rarely does it pay for itself. We didn't have a litter or recycling problem when the bottlers had to pay a deposit; that's why they founded
Grammy nominees this year will be treated to more than just expensive watches and exotic trips in those outrageous bags of swag. Amid all of the pre-partying and pampering going on at this year’s 50th Grammy Awards, green goods are making their way into the scene at 
