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Meatrix Interactive 360 is a great way to educate yourself, friends and family about factory farming. Roll over the objects on the farm and click them to get in depth information about each subject. Place your cursor on “go right” and “go left” to move around 360 degrees. But first you have to visit themeatrix.com.
By infusing orange oil into natural rubber, a new line of tires from Yokohama cuts four-fifths of the petroleum needed to manufacture a tire. They lower rolling resistance too, meaning better fuel efficiency.
HAT TIP: greencarreports.com
Goats eat a large variety of vegetation including blackberries, ivy, knot weed, morning glory, nuisance trees and saplings, thistle, and grasses. They have a low impact on the environment due to their cloven hooves and are walking fertilizer factories. Rent-A-Ruminant, LLC – located on Vashon Island in the Seattle area – rents goats to help its customers clear a wide range of vegetation. Those customers include green Construction companies, parks, cities and towns, universities, schools, and the U.S. Navy. For more information, visit http://rentaruminant.com.
It’s chic, supremely functional, and, of course, environmentally responsible. The biodegradable BRELLI is sustainably made from bamboo, a renewable resource, and features a unique, patented, biodegradable PVC clear canopy. The canopy offers vision, superior protection from the elements, and is a bright and brilliant evolutionary leap forward from the dark and damp alternative. Unlike conventional umbrellas it withstands heavy downpours and high winds because of its unique wind-vent system; even better, it is beautiful and durable; it is the ultimate high-fashion accessory that is still green. For more information, visit http://www.thebrelli.com.
originally uploaded by blueberrymom
According to the paper industry, Americans will consume an estimated 23 billion paper coffee cups in 2010. To stem the tide of excessive waste, many coffee houses have begun to encourage consumers to use their own reusable mugs. A study conducted by Sustainability Engineer, Pablo Päster, shows that after 24 uses, a stainless steel mug breaks even with paper cups. Considering that most reusable mugs are designed to be used for 3000 uses, the positive environmental impact of reusables can be enormous.
HAT TIP: sustainabilityissexy
Four beautiful photos of Hawaii. Four arresting quotes. No commentary whatsoever. Friday’s Focus: TAKING A MOMENT TO RE-FOCUS. Aloha from St. Louis Heights on the island of Oahu.
Explosive Lava Plume – Island of Hawaii, originally uploaded by SparkyLeigh.
Missed the cash for clunkers incentives? Can’t afford one of those fancy new hybrids? Here’s ideas on how to drive green, like using regular gasoline instead of premium unless your owner’s manual says otherwise. Contrary to popular belief, high-octane fuels improve neither fuel economy nor performance and will just waste your money. For more green driving tips, check out www.greenercars.org.
Royal Bank of Canada’s “Flame Trail” Olympics commercial touted the company’s financing of the dirtiest oil project on earth. In reponse, Rainforest Action Network added its own voiceover and uploaded the result to youtube. Here it is:
Target has announced that it will no longer sell farmed salmon products. This move towards greater ocean conservation is a first by a major seafood retailer.
HAT TIP and more info: www.greenpeace.org.
Next time you pack a bag and head out in search of adventure, pack a bag that already has a story. Teamwork Bags is cool little company that creates bags from salvaged sails and old inner tubes. As their website states: “We believe that some things, like sails, collect history and soak up soul as they’re used, so we collect materials headed for the trash and turn them into something valuable.”
Ecologic Brands, a Northern California-based company has developed a sustainable and transformative bottle for liquid products. The first-of-its-kind bottle is biodegradable, compostable and recyclable and will be on shelves starting today at select Whole Foods stores in Northern California.
Despite the increase in recycled paper products over the past few years, the paper industry is still the third largest contributor to deforestation all over the world. Thankfully, for businesses with an eco-conscience, the folks at Green Print Alliance have partnered with American Forests to plant trees for every project you print. Their message: don’t just recycle, replant!
What else can we say except that it never hurts to know what “the other side” is thinking. Welcome to Friday’s Focus: DENIAL. No, we don’t mean the river.
One for the innovative use of trash files: UK artist Nick Gentry is creating one-of-a-kind portraits using recycling floppy disks. According to Nick, his work “represents the increasing pace of the modern life cycle, where objects are created, used and disposed of quicker than ever. To challenge this notion, as these personal artifacts of life are cast aside, the obsolete are now given new life and a renewed purpose by using them as a medium for art.” Mr. Gentry’s website is just a click away: www.nickgentry.co.uk.
To help keep beaches clean, the city of Barcelona, Spain, has multi-lingual signs in the sand encouraging beachgoers to dispose of their trash.
In case you didn’t see it during the Super Bowl:
Of the many green architectural ideas we’ve come across, this one is particularly praiseworthy. Built in 1980 in the Appalachian backcountry, Thorncrown Chapel exults its natural setting. Constructed with native timber and designed by a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, the chapel gives us faith in the future of sustainable building. If you’d like to take a virtual tour, visit thorncrown.com.
“The Earth from the Air” was first issued just over a decade ago, but the groundbreaking collection of photography was recently revised and expanded for the 21st century, featuring additional photographs, all-new essays and updated information. The global environmental crisis propelled Arthus-Bertrand on his unrivaled mission to create a portrait of the world – both of its natural beauty and its precarious condition, including the impact of human civilization on the land.
To buy the book, click amazon.com.
Pavlopetri, the world’s oldest known submerged town, is located off the southern Laconia coast of Greece (it’s thought to be 5000-6000 years old). According to marine geo-archaeologist Dr. Nic Flemming, underwater researchers have “almost the complete town plan, the main streets and all of the domestic buildings. We can study how it was used as a port, where ships came in and how trade was managed.” Do cities really disappear beneath the waves? Cities do. More information here: www.sciencedaily.com.
Thanks Diesel Ad (photo above).
Friday’s Focus is Green Lit. It’s a celebration of writers who celebrate the planet and, by nature, those of us who call it home. The gravesite above belongs to Henry David Thoreau and of course, it’s priceless.
PLEASE NOTE: the green and red squiggly lines that underscore some of the excerpts you’re about to read are the result of our decision to convert text to jpeg images and not doing it very well. In short, you’re not seeing things and you’re not having a problem with your computer.
According to worldcentric.org, 73 billion styrofoam and plastic cups and plates were put in the trash in 2003 in the USA alone. World Centric provides high quality compostable food service disposables and food packaging products for use in schools, corporate cafeterias, restaurants, hospitals, and homes. They use renewable resources like corn and discarded sugar cane and wheat straw fiber to make sustainable alternatives to plastics and styrofoam.
You can order a “generic sample pack for $7.50 plus shipping and handling at
worldcentric.org.
Taking place in New York at the end of the month, the Greener Gadgets Conference tackles all of the issues surrounding energy efficiency and sustainable design, from innovative advances in packaging and product manufacturing to end-of-life recycling solutions. Save the date: February 25th.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, refers to the mountains of broken or obsolete computers, printers, televisions, stereos, and telephones that have entered the world’s waste stream over the past couple of decades. In fact, Greenpeace International estimates that up to 50 million tons of e-waste is generated globally each year. Bringing the e-recycling message to the streets, Best Buy gets kudos for a very clever billboard.
HAT TIP: scoutingny.com.
Wind power is currently one of the great hopes for long-term sustainable energy technologies… so you might be surprised to learn how long it has been around. The earliest known windmill design dates as far back as 500 A.D., to ancient Persia, where they were used to grind grain and pump water. Reeds were bundled together to create vertical paddles that spun around a central axis. More windmill history here.
The Campaign For Dark Skies is a sub-section of the British Astronomical Association but its membership is made up of a wide range of people, from lighting engineers to astrophysicists. The group was created in 1989 to counter the ever-growing tide of skyglow which has tainted the night sky over Britain since the 1950s. According to the CFDS, inefficient lighting wastes over $2 billion a year in the UK alone.
In light of all the pre-Oscars buzz going on this month, we decided to share some of our favorite Green films. In short, Friday’s Focus highlights a few movies that entertain and inspire the environmentalist in us all. Starting with:
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: You’re probably well aware of this Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, featuring Al Gore and his tireless efforts to bring the reality of global warming to light. If not, go rent it now, before the video store floods.
KOYAANISQATSI: LIFE OUT OF BALANCE This 1982 film is less a movie than a visual tone poem. No narration. No dialogue. Just majestic cinematography by Ron Fricke set to a score by Philip Glass. A magnificent and thought-provoking look at the environment and our place in it.
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? This 2006 documentary film explores the development, marketing, and systematic destruction of the General Motors EV1 in the early 1990s. This film is all the more remarkable given the number of electric cars now gearing up for production. Irrefutable evidence of the shortsighted nature of the American automobile industry.
Baraka: Much like Koyaanisqatsi, this film is notable not for what it says, but for how it makes you feel. A fascinating look at human society and our impact on the planet.
FOOD INC: As the saying goes, you are what you eat… and this film is an alarming journey of self-discovery. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat and the mega-corporations that produce it.
THE LORAX: Originally created as a book by Dr. Suess, the 1972 animated adaptation of the Lorax (see clip above) teaches children about the environment and the dangers of capitalist consumerism. A wonderful, whimsical, and empowering classic. Now available on DVD.
ERIN BROCKOVICH: Starring the inimitable Julia Roberts at the height of her game, this film tells the true story of how a low level law clerk takes on a large electric utility that poisoned the water supply of a small California town.
