Kylie Wrath said:
"Whether or not leather is a product or by-product is irrelevant: there are tons of people who buy it regardless. I think the fact that this company..." [read]
thespyofcharles said:
"hmm... perhaps i shall reconsider my excessive gift packaging gag i was planning... or maybe do it out of old boxes that would otherwise simply hav..." [read]
Louise White said:
"I have a 2002 Prius with 143,000 miles on it. Recently I started checking on my trade in value for a new Prius. Every sales person told me that I..." [read]
Lori said:
"Regardless of whether or not this "soup" exists, the fact is that we need to all be aware and responsible for how we treat this planet. We have to..." [read]
Max P said:
"Lunar soil (regolith) contains Helium-3, a non-radioactive isotope of Helium which is very rare on Earth. The significance of He-3 is that it can b..." [read]
Truespeak said:
"Wind power works. Anyone who says it isn't perfect is correct, but no power generation is perfect, and we still use them all.
I'm in the US,..." [read]
There are now oodles of guides to buying green gifts for your mom on Mother's Day. Here's our take on this year's fabulous finds. And while the organic flowers-organic chocolate-organic spa basket thing is all well and good, what if your dearest wish is not to just buy green for mom but find ways to get her to be green, or greener? Every mom is different - and some of your moms may be your personal inspiration - but if you want to offer your mom a service rather than just give her a gift, we've collected some TreeHugger ideas for off-beat ways to show your love and support mom on her green path.
1. Start slow, slow, slow. Value shifting is not a short-term process, so don't expect your mom to come around over night. And try not to bombard her with negative eco-facts. Instead, if your mom is a real newbie (or really resistant to your former efforts) choose just a single area to focus you service on - something dear to your mom's heart like her garden, the kitchen, or the bathroom. Danish researchers have found that adopting one environmental behavior usually leads people to adopt another, especially if opportunities are around for further "greening." So basically, if you can find the one green thing that truly resonates with your mom, chances are she'll be started on the road to further greenness. Need inspiration for which area to start with - check our Green Guides.
Often when we post about a company crafting something from recycled PET (polyester) someone will let lose a rant about antimony. And they aren’t, as some might assume, opposing the dollars and cents economy. Rather, they are concerned about a naturally occurring, brittle, silver-white metal that can be used as a catalyst in the polymerisation of polyester resin.
Lauded Cradle-to-Cradle ecodesigner and toxins campaigner William McDonough. has been on Antimony’s case for years. His company MBDC says of the stuff: “Along with being a carcinogen, antimony is toxic to the heart, lungs, liver and skin. Long-term inhalation of antimony trioxide, a by-product of polymer production, can cause chronic bronchitis and emphysema.”
TreeHugger knows there's an art and a science to dumpster diving, and, even though one person's garbage can often be someone else's treasure, the idea of rooting through the trash isn't everyone's (free) cup of tea, even when there are things like million dollar paintings lurking beneath aging banana peels and chicken bones.
Enter Virtual Dumpsters, a Freecycle-esque online stuff swap that employs the vast power of the internet to help find new homes for old stuff, all for free.
Except for the area roughly circumscribing Olympia and Tacoma in the US State of Washington - depicted as small orange blob in the US Pacific Northwest (top left of the graphic) - air quality in the USA looks pretty good this week. AIRNow, source of this graphic information, also offers free access to graphic air quality reports by region, state, or locality (see Olympia/Tacoma detailed example below).
If I was looking for a healthier place to live, especially if I had asthma or other respiratory problems, this would be my starting information point. AIRNow is far more useful for that purpose than those top "greenest cities" stories that come out in a handful of magazines each spring. Also good for lobbying for better pollution controls or learning where green designs are most needed.
Not a bad place from which to copy/paste a map to send to your Senator or Representative on Capital Hill. "Dear Senator/Representative, just wanting to let you know how much I appreciate your vote in support of/or against upgraded CAFE/diesel emission standards. Have a look how our air quality is back home today!"
We were perusing through back issues of the Use Less Stuff bi-monthly newsletter and found their guide: "Don't Let the Holidays Go to Your Waste." Although it's from their Nov-Dec 1996 (Vol. 3:6) issue, it's still a good read with some interesting, basic tips that we could all put into good use during this festive season to reduce our impacts on our precious Mother Earth. The website was created by William Rathje and Robert Lilienfield, the people who formalized the term garbology.
Here are a few examples to wet your whistle before you check it out yourself:
Holiday cards bought in one year would fill a football field 10 stories high! If each of us sent out one fewer card, that huge mound would be reduced by a full story, saving over 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
Local postmasters tell us that up to 20% of all mail is incorrectly addressed or otherwise undeliverable. Save time, money and resources by updating and paring down your list.
Having a party? Turn down the heat before guests arrive. Their extra body heat will help warm the room.
Reuse packaging cartons and shippings materials. Old newspaper makes for excellent packing, too. Shred some at work and bring it home, if you can.
Check out our 2007 Treehugger Green Gift Guide for more tips. We´ll bring you more on the Use Less Stuff life cycle assessment reports this week. Image Copyright Virginia A. Spiegel. See the image at: The Garbage Day Project
You know it’s getting close to the holidays when enviro blogs start coming out with awesome gift guides, and you get inundated with hints and tips on how to recycle your cards. Here’s a fun guide from comedian Ed Byrne, courtesy of UK-based Recycle Now, on cutting the mountains of holiday waste. ::Recycle Now::via YouTube::
Yep, take it from a former disposable-pad user – just like throwing those gory end products in the trash, periods were something to “get over” – the cramps, the fatigue, the plastic-bleached-pad rash. Oh, bloody tribulations. Not to mention that despite the health-risks and environmental impacts associated with disposable menstrual products, many of us still find psychologically difficult (“is it clean?”) or have an impression that it will be inconvenient to switch to reusable alternatives.
Not anymore. If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of selecting a costly reusable alternative and have a bit of a crafter in you, then maybe it’s time to join the hand-made revolution and re-assert your creativity (and to redefine “rag”) by picking out some funky, colourful, pretty fabrics and to make your very own menstrual pads tailored for you (while remembering that not so long along, reusable rags were once commonly used by women). Have a sew-in with some girlfriends or surprise someone with a pretty and useful hand-made gift.
You can find some patterns here, here and here (with tips on fasteners and fabric choices) – and a site here which has links to even more.
Ring the bells! Pop the (organic) champagne! TreeHugger’s 2007 Gift Guide is here!
We've made this guide the most comprehensive yet, with 180+ gift ideas in three shades of green, making it a perfect reference while shopping for everyone on your gift list. In addition, we'll be adding organizations to support and useful tips for making your holidays more efficient.
Looking for an easy way to put a stop to those unwanted catalogs that fill up your mailbox? Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to opt-out of catalogs easily. Via the web site, you can select the catalogs you no longer wish to receive (there are hundreds of common catalogs listed). I found this service to be quite easy to use.
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1) A lot of modern jobs consist of sitting in front of a computer all day, sometimes emailing or instant messaging the person in the next cubicle and phoning someone down the hall. All of this could be done from home, thanks to the internet, with many benefits to individuals, society and the environment. It's just a more elegant way of doing things. Telecommuting, we think, along with better urban planning, clean energy sources and efficient transportation (public and private), is a partial solution that must not be underestimated.
2) Anthony Page has a different take on it; he classifies himself as an extreme telecommuter. Page travels the world and works remotely via laptop. Amazingly, he finds an Internet connection almost everywhere, even in the poorest nations. He got the idea when his job as a web developer in London was outsourced to India; he took the hint and decided to work with clients long-distance over the Internet as well, while simultaneously taking a non-stop soujourn.
3) Some countries, like Japan, have offered tax incentives to employers who institute telecommuting programs for a while now, but the Parents’ Tax Relief Act of 2007, introduced into the US Congress earlier this year, may give Americans the same opportunity. There are a few interesting parts, including a telecommuting tax credit for employers of up to $2400 per telecommuter. Two more after the jump.
For even the most manic committed TreeHugger, doing the math and figuring out if a first (or yet another) green upgrade or remodel computes is a good idea. It's no secret that most "green" things carry a price premium, but many can pay for themselves with increased efficiency over time -- a concept known as "return on investment," or ROI.
While some things, like dishwashers and low-flow showerheads, can be easier to figure -- just compare your old model's water and energy consumption with the specs of a new, Energy Star-rated model alongside your water and energy costs -- other efficiency upgrades, like sealing the leaks in your heating ducts -- can be harder to figure. ...
The geniuses at Google have upgraded their handy Google Transit bus, train and other public transportation mapping feature -- mentioned here and here on TreeHugger -- and integrated it into its more popular Google Maps. When searching for directions, just click "Take Public Transit" and your route, directions and even cost (with a comparison versus driving) will pop right up. Slick.
Hit the jump to see all the places included in Google Transit's new mashup with Google Maps, including all the way over to Japan. ::Google Transit via ::AutoblogGreen...
Starting today, Energy Star's Change a Light, Change the World campaign is hitting the road, touring the country (see the full schedule here) by bus to spread the good word about the difference we all can make in the fight against global warming by changing our light bulbs to energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (see TreeHugger's earlier coverage of the tour here).
TreeHugger recently had the chance to chat with Energy Star Campaign Manager Wendy Reed about the tour, the campaign, and what it's like to be a part of the Environment Protection Agency's first grassroots campaign.
TreeHugger: What made you choose visiting schools and high-profile events like football games to spread the word about CFLs? How do you expect people to react to your message at those events?
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We have been following Vanessa Farquharson's website Green as a a thistle, where she has been writing about the challenge that she took on in March: " Each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment. The idea is that everything I do, I keep doing (so if I switch brands, it's a permanent switch; if I turn down my thermostat, I keep it down), so that by day 365, I'll be living as green a lifestyle as it gets." It started off easy but she is up to day 217 and notes on the blog that it isn't always so much fun. She writes about her experiences to date in the National Post:
The first move was a simple one -- switching to recycled paper towels -- but gradually, the environmentalist in me came out of the closet and started getting a little extreme. Within the first few months, I had sold my car, unplugged the fridge, turned off the oven, constructed a compost bin for my balcony, traded Kleenex for handkerchiefs, began following the "If it's yellow, let it mellow" rule and so on.
Ever wonder where TreeHugger writers get their inspiration and spunk? Meet a TreeHugger mom, Patsy from Newmarket, Ontario. Israel's writer Karin is back in the Canadian nest for a few weeks where she discovers her mother's latest environmental passion: the new green bin collection program. Patsy says, the bin is in! In an effort to reduce landfill (by up to 65%) York Region has developed a large-scale organic waste compost collection. Diapers, kitty litter, cooked meat products and even used microwave popcorn bags can go in the bin. The city comes and picks it up once a week. ::Green Bin Website
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Part of TreeHugger credo reads "'Tis better to recycle, reuse, renovate and restore than to go with new." With that in mind, here are a handful of renovation resources to help you get the most from stuff that's been around the block a time or two, courtesy of Materialicious:
John Leeke's Historic Homeworks -- "Helping owners, tradespeople, contractors and professionals understand and maintain their historic and older buildings."
Old House Parts Company -- focused on "18th, 19th and early 20th century restoration and home improvement Architectural Salvage and Architectural Antiques."...
TreeHugger is no stranger to discussions on how best to travel lightly on this earth. While we’ve posted on alternatives to flying before, we are aware that many folks will continue to travel by air for the foreseeable future. We were delighted, then, when the folks from online-travel site Kayak contacted us asking for tips to help their customers travel greener [they’ve already published details of some top eco-tourism destinations]. Here’s what we put together for them:...
Tamara Krinsky has a remarkably simple idea to conserve paper: Set your word document's margin settings as narrow as possible before you send it to the printer.
Krinsky was an aspiring (read: starving) actress/writer, who had to print sheaves of scripts and articles, when the brainwave hit her. Narrower margin settings mean you can squeeze in more text per page, which in turn reduces the number of sheets of paper you'll need. For a person of very limited means, Krinsky says, these savings matter. "When a single paycheck stands between making rent at the end of the month and getting an eviction notice," she writes on her Web site, "you do whatever it takes!"
And now she wants Microsoft, the creator of the most popular word-processing software, like, ever, to do whatever it takes for the planet....
Founded on the premise that it's dumb to buy everything you need when you can just borrow it from your friends and neighbors when you need it, Neighborrow is part Freecycle, part Netflix/Swaptree and all product service system goodness. It allows you to pool your resources with your neighbors, and then borrow a food processor when you need one; when you're done, you just pass it back, and round and round we go. Founded by Adam Berk in his New York City apartment, the site gives users the opportunity to both list what they're willing to share and what they're looking to use; you network with your neighbors to get 'em all done without having to resort to paying retail. Users are rated, so you know how reliable each one has been, and the site keeps track of where your stuff is, how long its been there, and when it's due back. Learn more about them at ::Neighborrow and read an interview with founder Berk in ::Gristmill...
Have you made the switch? For tips on how to or the powerful impact on global warming of your light bulb switching actions, check out Philips’ beautiful online campaign A Simple Switch, launched last month. There are quizzes, hints & tips, a glossary and lots of ideas how to get involved in the light bulb changing movement. The best thing about it is the measuring tool of the global impact. At the moment they count 169.086 light bulbs switched which is equivalent to taking 11.836 cars off our roads. Although the campaign in the end mainly promotes Philips’ own products, we still like the globalness of it as well as the hints & tips which are very thorough. Fascinating, go loose yourself in this charming web site. ::A Simple Switch
Other light bulb campaigns:
A Light Among the Nations, Mr Luna’s Bright Idea, Change a Light, Change the World...
In what we hope will be just the first in a long-running series of "Ask EWG" posts, EWG analyst Kristan Markey tackles the subject of hydroponic crops and how they relate to organic and conventional produce. The short of it is that hydroponic produce need not always be organic — growers often use synthetic pesticides on them — though it is possible for it to meet the organic standard if it eschews the pesticides and uses organic nutrient mixtures.
Watch the entire video for a more comprehensive overview and be sure to send your questions along to EWG here.
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We all want to buy more organic foods but don't want to pay the oft exorbitant prices. According to Urvashi Rangan, a policy analyst with Consumer Reports' Greener Choices, organic produce, meat and dairy products can cost up to twice as much as their regular counterparts. As we recently noted, however, that hasn't stopped people from snatching them up at an increasing pace.
Yet let's say you'd like to enjoy all the health and eco-benefits of organic foods without having to drop some major change. Luckily for you, SmartMoney's Keli Grant has several tips that should make shopping for organic produce easier and, more importantly, cheaper:
Supermarket chain Meijer has Meijer Organics, Giant Eagle has Nature's Basket and Publix has GreenWise Market. Many supermarkets are adding organic lines to their private labels, a move that allows shoppers to buy organic at significant discounts over big-name brands, says Teri Gault, founder of The Grocery Game, a program that helps consumers match manufacturers' coupons with store sales. At Safeway, a 20-ounce bottle of store-brand O Organics ketchup is $2.45, a steal compared with the 15-ounce bottle of Heinz Organic at $3.79. Considering price per ounce, you'll save 49%....
It's summer and you love to travel, but you don't want to waste a lot of your money on gas. Fortunately, there's a lot of great advice circulating around the interwebs on effective ways to reduce your fuel usage and, even better, to find alternate, low-impact means of transportation. One particularly helpful guide crossed our desks earlier today, courtesy of Lifehacker, and we thought we'd highlight some of the tips:
1. Brake the right way
2. Ride the slipstream
3. Rent a smaller car
More after the jump....
Those of you who spend part of your daily routines roaming the virtual landscapes in Second Life might find Second Chance Trees, an endeavor dedicated to supporting reforestation efforts, worth checking out. In essence, Second Chance Trees, a joint collaboration between the nonprofit organization Plant-It 2020 and the social media marketing group Converseon, manifests itself as an island in Second Life where you can buy and plant one of 10 species of endangered trees.
For the equivalent of 300 lindens (the in-game currency), or about $1.50, users can purchase and plant a tree on a designated virtual island in the game. At the same time, Plant-It 2020, which will receive all of the proceeds from the sale, will plant an equivalent tree in the particular endangered rain forest to which it is indigenous. "Our Second Chance Tree Project is an innovative way to allow individuals to immersively participate in a reforestation initiative by connecting their virtual world to a real world action," said Rob Key, CEO of Converseon....
As we've continually tried to show you on TreeHugger, taking the necessary steps to conserve energy doesn't have to be an arduous, expensive ordeal. In fact, quite the contrary: it can be a cheap (or even free), rewarding and ultimately enlightening experience.
Now that we are in the midst of the dog days of summer and hitting record highs in several parts of the country, saving energy on cooling has become more important than ever. Fortunately, the fine folks at Flex Your Power have just released a comprehensive list of mostly cheap and free energy saving tips that should go a long ways towards making your summer a bit more bearable (and lighter on the wallet). Some highlights after the jump....
The beat goes on in The TreeHugger Forums, with a small explosion over the Vegan-Hummer vs. Omnivore-Hybrid debate we covered last week (let's keep it civilized, folks. We're all playing for the same team here). Aside from that, there's lots of worthwhile discussion and important issues being discussed; remember, you can register (it's free!), log in and add your thoughts to any and all topics. Some highlights from the past few days are below...
1) User gizzigoo is looking for some clarification when it comes to genetically-modified foods and organisms. "I thought I had a reasonable understanding of this topic, I have followed it through from the controversial beginning till now and as far as I know I have avoided GM foods. This was the statement that made me stop and think about this: 'We have to remeber [sic] that GM's were the start of the green revolution...'" Hmm. Thoughts?
2) User Collin McConville puts the forum polls to work, asking, "Should the American Government increase minimium [sic] fuel efficency [sic]?" While the majority of poll voters seem to be coming down on one side (guess which one...), there's lots to talk about when it comes to the international geopolitics of selling cars and whether or not CAFE standards will ever really make a difference in the US. Discuss...
3) JiltedCitizen wonders "Why do vegetarians feel the need to fake meat? If they don't eat meat why fake eating it? Why all the veggie burgers, fake hot dogs, etc etc etc. There has to be a better way to prepare the same ingredients. Is it a social thing? Don't want to be different?" Anyone of the vegetarian persuasion care to weigh in? More good discussion after the jump...
It's a heat wave, and we all want to join those New York kids at the fire hydrant, but we have work to do. Lifehacker is full of suggestions for keeping cool in the Stay Cool Roundup of its earlier posts on the subject, from making ice straws for summer cocktails, keeping cool on the cheap (Use a bloody fan for Pete’s sake!) and "Replace the seal around the doors and windows or just make sure they are shut when the air in the house is being cooled. As my Mom would say, "We aren t air-conditioning the neighborhood, shut the door!", finding the top ten summer cocktails and more at ::Lifehacker....
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!
We were perusing through back issues of the 
Looking for an easy way to put a stop to those unwanted catalogs that fill up your mailbox? 
For even the most 
The geniuses at Google have upgraded their handy Google Transit bus, train and other public transportation mapping feature -- mentioned 
Starting today, 
We have been following Vanessa Farquharson's website 
Part of TreeHugger credo reads "'Tis better to recycle, reuse, renovate and restore than to go with new." With that in mind, here are a handful of renovation resources to help you get the most from stuff that's been around the block a time or two, courtesy of Materialicious:
TreeHugger is no stranger to discussions on how best to travel lightly on this earth. While we’ve posted on 
Tamara Krinsky has a remarkably simple idea to conserve paper: Set your word document's margin settings as narrow as possible before you send it to the printer.
Krinsky was an aspiring (read: starving) actress/writer, who had to print sheaves of scripts and articles, when the brainwave hit her. Narrower margin settings mean you can squeeze in more text per page, which in turn reduces the number of sheets of paper you'll need. For a person of very limited means, Krinsky says, these savings matter. "When a single paycheck stands between making rent at the end of the month and getting an eviction notice," she writes on 
Founded on the premise that it's dumb to buy everything you need when you can just borrow it from your friends and neighbors when you need it, 
Have you made the switch? For tips on how to or the powerful impact on global warming of your light bulb switching actions, check out 
We all want to buy more organic foods but don't want to pay the oft exorbitant prices. According to Urvashi Rangan, a policy analyst with Consumer Reports' 
It's summer and you love to travel, but you don't want to waste a lot of your money on gas. Fortunately, there's a lot of great advice circulating around the interwebs on effective ways to reduce your fuel usage and, even better, to find alternate, low-impact means of transportation. One particularly 
Those of you who spend part of your daily routines roaming the virtual landscapes in 
As we've 
It's a heat wave, and we all want to join those New York kids at the fire hydrant, but we have work to do. Lifehacker is full of suggestions for keeping cool in the Stay Cool Roundup of its earlier posts on the subject, from 
