Manuel said:
"This is great news! I hope all cities pass this into law.The practice of using plastic bags just to quickly dispose of them has been going on far t..." [read]
Jay Knecht said:
"What are the performance stats for the Son of Max? ..." [read]
gazelle said:
"@ Dallas:
The book, and the supplementary videos in the "How It All Ends" youtube series, address this in detail, but I'll try to paraphrase:..." [read]
Barry said:
"Kofi Annan has about as much of a clue about electric cars and developing countries as Ann Ann the Panda.
He underestimates the ingenuity o..." [read]
JJ said:
"Very cool. I didn't thought that biodesel might be our future fuel...." [read]
Derek said:
""I guarantee you this will spark huge debates around the world," she said. "We have to delve into this in a way that hasn't been done in a long tim..." [read]
In his post When Given the Chance, Will Consumers Pay More for Green?, Tom Szaky says "I've presented before groups of all sizes, viewpoints, and interests, from the biggest of corporations to the hippiest of the hippie, and the result is the same: I ask, if you had two similar products of equal efficacy, one green , one non green, the first costing $1, the second costing $1.05, which would you buy? 5% raise their hand for the green product."
Yet I consistently pay more for products that often don't work as well as the cheaper, non-green products, to avoid toxic chemicals that I don't want in my house.
It is a controversial issue. The Canadian government has ordered enough of the stuff to immunize the whole country, but not everyone is planning on it. The Globe and Mail asked some prominent Canadians and got a wide range of answers. Who do you agree with?
Warren thinks I am too negative. He says we should write about the ups, not the downs. I thought about that when I read Mike's post yesterday: Dell HQ Gets a 130 kW Solar Parking Lot with Plug-In Charging Stations. It shows a few big pickups and SUVs sheltering under the Solar Grove. Then I zoomed out a bit with Google and looked at Dell's operations in Round Rock and saw a sea of cars, and wondered, is 130 Kilowatts of power and 145,000 pounds of greenhouse gas savings meaningful in the face of what is really going on here, thousands of cars driving to a Texas sized suburban industrial park? Or is it just greenwash?
When I first read Mike's post From Smart Grid to Big Brother? I thought wow, these people are paranoid. Then I read the comments and find that some Americans think they are living like Will Smith in Enemy of the State.
We have called Teddy Roosevelt the greenest President for establishing so many National Parks, and he loved to hunt. In the forums, a hunter writes "perhaps the most interesting thing to me is how much common ground your average hunter shares with your average environmentalist." Really?
John wonders if 400 Green Labels Do Anything But Confuse The World's Consumers? "Four hundred competing labels is a near-perfect way to devalue the whole idea. Green Globes and Green Leaves: every body's got 'em. Makes me wonder if industries in opposition are donating money to label originators."
Sami rants that Green Doesn't (Always) Come Cheap and notes that we get a lot of complaints whenever we show the green, organic handmade baby and kids stuff that costs five times as much as the offshored Wal-Mart equivalent. He asks "isn't cheap and ubiquitous what got us into this mess?"
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Chrysler always has crazy ideas; my dad once had a talking Chrysler that would complain "a door is ajar" every time it opened. When asked why he would drive a car that nagged him so much, he replied "It makes me feel at home." Now Mike tells us that they are doing something that might be equally silly; in the interest of saving 20,000 trees they are supplying a DVD instead of an owners manual. Good idea?
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image via Icanhascheezburger
I never knew the name for the game we play every year about this time, when it starts getting cool and we see who breaks down first to turn up the thermostat. Will it be me because I can't type? Or my wife because she can't play the piano? Sami introduces us to Thermostat Chicken- "a term used for the practice of avoiding heating in winter, or cooling in summer, and competing - implicitly or explicitly - with other household members to see who can hold out the longest."
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According to Next Generation Food, 25% of Americans eat fast food every day, getting in one meal almost the full recommended dose of fat, sodium and calories. Do you?
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Jaymi loved this kitchen thing that did many functions instead of one; she wrote "A big part of quality, sustainable design is that whatever you're creating should have more than one use, so that you only need one consumable item to accomplish multiple tasks" and concluded that "it seems like we've finally hit upon a kitchen device that isn't eye-roll-worthy." But commenters eyes were rolling as they questioned whether this was a jack of all trades or a master of none.
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We have described Tassimo as "a machine that creates a captive audience for an overpriced coffee system that creates unnecessary waste" and a prime example of "design for unsustainability."
Now we learn that they are going to start accepting used coffee pods for recycling in the UK. This isn't easy; Bill McDonough called this kind of thing a "monstrous hybrid".
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Tim LaSalle writes in Why GM (Genetically Modified) Foods Have Failed at Producing Healthy Food for More People that "no currently available transgenic varieties enhance the intrinsic yield of any crops" and questions whether they are healthy. But 89% of soybeans in America are GM, 60% of the corn and 75% of the canola. So unless you follow a strict organic diet you are eating lots of the stuff. Do you care?
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TreeHugger wasn't supposed to be political, but the discussion on every post we write, from SIGG Bottles and Bisphenol A to fuel economy in cars to whatever, let alone Van Jones, has turned into a reflection of the culture wars that seem to divide America. What can be done?
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Alex writes in How Cell Phones Are Helping (and Occasionally Harming) Us -- and How We Can Use Them Better: "In the space of a decade, cell phones have gone from novelties to arguably the most central objects in our lives." A lot of people I know would argue that point; because of the cost, the possible health hazards, or just the annoyance, they refuse to have one.
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I was completely shocked by Christine's post Hatchery Horrors: Video Shows No Mercy for Baby Chicks, where the cute fuzzy things are ground up alive. I was almost as shocked by the comments, where many thought that this was no biggie at all, that this is how food is made and we should get over it. Who do you agree with?
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We need to use every trick in the book to increase awareness of environmental issues, but really, bikinis and boobs? Jaymi writes in Angry Green Girl Puts Boobs and Sex Appeal Front and Center to Sell a Green Message "While we're certain a lot of the viewers are there to see something other than which low-flow shower head to use, there's still got to be some amount of green awareness being picked up." But at what cost?
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A new study concludes that by the time you read 23 books on your Kindle, it has a lower environmental inpact than the production of books. Other people are jumping into the E-book biz and soon they might be common, affordable and even DRM free. Would you get one?
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David is shocked by a survey that finds far more people worried about the economy, healthcare and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than they are about the environment. I am not surprised at all; the graph was titled "top concerns sorted percent ranking #1, so we are not seeing people's second choices, but what is top on their mind at the time of the survey. I would be surprised if a survey of our own, more committed readership turned out much differently; let's see.
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Not a few TreeHugger readers (and writers) almost had a core meltdown over Brian's post The Next Nuclear Renaissance is Already Underway. Others think it is the only realistic solution for carbon free electricity. Who do you think got it right?
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Americans don't pay much of a gas tax, as Brian notes in his post Is the United States Ready for a Higher Gas Tax? It also is no surprise that there is a direct correlation between the price of gas and the fuel efficiency of the cars people buy. It also covers the cost of infrastructure repairs and could fund alternatives. Is it time to crank it up?
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After the news came out that SIGG was being, shall we say politely, a bit disingenuous with statements like those in the ad above, I suggested that people might as well keep using them, suggesting that this was an issue of trust and transparency, not safety. Others disagreed. What are you doing?
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Bike lanes might be useable on Saturdays if the US Postal Service eliminates Saturday delivery as Pablo suggests. Up in Canada, they haven't had Saturday delivery for decades, even since pre-internet times; they get by. After all, what is in it beside bills and junk mail?
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I am constantly amazed at the level of political discourse in the US. So a debate about health care degenerates into scares about "death panels" and boycotts of Whole Foods because their CEO is against it. It is all a bit much, and a complete mystery to citizens of every other developed country in the world who take universal health care for granted. At the end of his post on the subject, Brian asked:
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Trevor writes that when he had an electric bicycle, cyclists were disparaging, suggesting that it implied laziness on his part, "that their choice of transit was more earth friendly and provided better exercise than mine." He asked: "What do YOU think? Are electric personal mobility vehicles considered a novelty or a viable and recognized form of transportation?"
A flurry of comments ensued. Who do you agree with?
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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.
on 11. 5.09
Tim LaSalle writes in 
I was completely shocked by Christine's post 
A 
