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Verterra dinnerware is made from fallen leaves and water. Compostable, non-toxic, and biodegradable. Something to think about for family reunion barbecues and backyard weddings.
Hat Tip: verterra.com
The world’s first Plastic Bag Free Day will be on the 12th September 2009. Leave plastic bags at the checkout, help to make your town Plastic Bag Free or join in the celebrations at town’s that have already stopped using plastic bags. You could also write to shops and supermarkets asking them to support the day. For more information, visit adoptabeach.org.uk.
Washup has created a device that integrates a washing machine with a toilet. The hybrid takes wasted water from the washing cycle and reuses it for flushing. Plus, it’s a space saver. Hat tip: tuvie.com.
Above: a Reusuable Fresh Snack Pack from freshsnackpack.com. BPA free, PVC free, lead free, kid-tested, mom-invented. We haven’t tried one but that doesn’t mean you can’t.
The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.
Chili’s Awesome (Onion) Blossom: 2,710 calories, 203 g fat, 194 g carb, 6,360 mg sodium (the fat equivalent of 67 slices of bacon)
Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing: 2,900 calories (the caloric equivalent of eating 14 Krispy Kreme doughnuts), 182 g fat, 240 g carbs
Blimpie Veggie Supreme (12″): 1,106 calories, 56 g fat (33 g saturated fat), 2,831 mg sodium
Burger King’s Quad Stacker: 1000 calories, 68 grams of fat
Hat Tip: eatthis.menshealth.com Photo: Colros Photostream (Flickr.com)
Shopper’s note: the sticker labels (produce codes) on the fruits actually tell whether they were organically grown or conventionally grown with pesticides and herbicides or are genetically engineered.
* Conventional Fruit Labels: Four digits, mostly starting with the number 4
* Organic Fruit Labels: Five digits and start with the number 9
* Genetically Modified Fruits: Start with the number 8
In short, the label 4922 tells you an apple has been grown with herbicides and harmful fertilizers. If it has a sticker 99222, it’s organic and safe to eat. If it says 89222, it could be an alien.
NAMASTE: skrewtips.com
Throwplace.com® – the internet’s landfill alternative – is a web site where global users can list goods they wish to give away. Charities, businesses or individuals registered with the site are able to search it and make requests for items of interest.
The Urban Walking Route Planner was designed to help residents of London, England, make informed decisions about whether to walk for all or part of any given journey. Created by walkit.com, the Planner allows users to get a route map between any two points, including journey time, calorie burn, step count and carbon saving. It’s quick, free, healthy and green. The walkit.com team plans to expand to other cities and towns in the future. Hopefully here in the U.S.A.
Pakistan has set a Guinness World Record by planting 541,176 trees in 24 hours. The young mangrove saplings were planted by 300 volunteers on 15 July without using any mechanical equipment in the vast wetlands of the Indus River Delta in Thatta District. The tree-planting reflects Pakistan’s pledge to plant 120 million trees as part of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign project. Namaste: unep.org.
*opposing expansion of Redwood National Park, 1966
Keep California Beautiful has launched this public service announcement to encourage people not to trash the beach. Okay?
Client: Keep California Beautiful
Agency: BBDO West Prod Company: Tool of North Am
Namaste: Peligro Films
No Impact Man’s #One Recommended Eco-Lifestyle Change: Stop eating beef. Worldwide, beef production contributes more substantially to climate change than the entire transportation sector. Plus, a diet with no or less beef is better for you anyway.
You can read No Impact Man’s entire Top Ten Recommended Eco-Lifestyle Changes list at noimpactman.typepad.com.
Hat Tip: Mike Wagner
On the road for the fifth year in a row, The Big Green Bus is a vegetable-oil powered classroom on wheels manned by 15 Dartmouth University students who’re helping promote climate change awareness and action. The bus is outfitted with solar panels and an interior made entirely of sustainable materials. You can follow the Big Green Bus at thebiggreenbus.org. While you’re there, check to see when they plan to be in your neighborhood.
“Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, Food, Inc., an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy.” Read the entire review at movies.nytimes.com. Then see the film (skip the popcorn).
RelightNY began about two years ago when high school freshman, Avery Hairston and 10 of his classmates began educating the public about the benefits of CFL bulbs. Since then, the RelightNY team has raised significant contributions from corporations and individuals. With those donations, the team has been able to buy and distribute nearly 30,000 energy efficient light bulbs (CFLs) to low-income families in all 5 boroughs of NYC. You can form a team and adopt a building or support them in other ways at relightny.com.
So far, 54 RelightNY teams have: adopted 609 NYC buildings, changed 111,283 bulbs, eliminated 21,811,468 lbs of CO2 emissions, saved New York City $5,497,380.20 in energy costs.*
(*estimate for lifetime savings per bulb based on 3 hours per day usage in New York.)
Light bulb photo: Originally uploaded by purplemattfish
LunchBots are a healthy alternative to plastic containers for packing lunch to go. Made from the highest quality 18/8 stainless steel, LunchBots do not leach chemicals like plastic does. Eco-friendly and reusable means saving money and the environment. Visit the lunchbot website for more information.
Namaste: Peligro Films
The Voltaic solar bags are solar chargers designed to charge virtually all handheld electronics. Embedded in the outside of these solar chargers are lightweight, tough, waterproof solar panels. The new Generator produces up to 15 watts, powerful enough to fully charge a typical laptop from a day of direct sunlight. The smaller bags produce 4 watts of power so 1 hour in direct sun will power over 3 hours of iPod play time or 1.5 hours of cell phone talk time. Visit voltaicsystems.com for more information.
Originally uploaded by jt916
Sustainable Sushi: A Guide To Saving the Oceans One Bite At A Time, written by a fishery and sustainability expert who was himself netted long ago by the allure of Japanese cuisine, Sustainable Sushi offers simple, clear explanations of such topics as mercury and PCB levels, overfishing, and species extinction.
Visit sustainablesushi.net for more information.
The chemicals and heavy metals used in fireworks also take their toll on the environment, sometimes contributing to water supply contamination and even acid rain. Their use also deposits physical litter on the ground and into water bodies for miles around.
Cadmium, lithium, antimony, rubidium, strontium, lead and potassium nitrate are also commonly used to produce different effects, even though they can cause a host of respiratory and other health problems.
The good news is that scientists have come up with some healthier alternatives such as fireworks that burn nitrogen-based fuels – resulting in a cleaner burn, less smoke to obscure the color, and 10 times less barium than the standard kind. Chances are, however, that you won’t be seeing these greener fireworks until the EPA puts stricter caps on the levels of toxic chemicals used.
NOTE:
Whatever you’re doing on the Fourth, reduce, recycle, and follow the tips you’ll find here, at epa.gov.
Hat Tip: environment.about.com.
An update of the Supermarket Seafood Scorecard (released by Greenpeace) gives Trader Joe’s an “F” for continuing to stock “red list” seafood like orange roughy, swordfish, and childean sea bass – some of the world’s most critically imperiled species. In fact, none of the 20 stores Greenpeace is tracking get a green or top score (not even Whole Foods, though it gets the #3 spot).
More on Traitor Joe at traitorjoe.com.
For up-to-the-minute information that can help you become a wise, responsible purchaser of seafood, visit montereybayaquarium.
Hat Tip: Trent
Carnivore Style, originally uploaded by Diana Pinto.
Food writer Michael Pollan recently suggested that if Americans went meatless one night a week, it would be equivalent to taking “30 to 40 million cars off the road for a year.” Regardless, if you can’t bear to be without meat, be careful what kind you eat. According to the journal Environmental Science & Technology, producing red meat requires about four times more greenhouse-gas emissions chicken or fish.
Chew on that. More info here.
We all know about shampooing oily hair, but it took Phil McCrory, a stylist from Alabama, to realize that hair was also an efficient and abundant material for collecting and containing petroleum spills. McCrory manufactures “Oil Spill Hair Mats” for that purpose with clippings mailed to him from thousands of salons across America. Hair can also be stuffed into tubes (booms) made from recycled nylons, tied together to surround and contain a spill.
And that’s not all. Hair Mats are extremely efficient for drip pans during oil changes or under leaky cars, machinery, pipelines, even as booms for storm drains.
By the way, Hair is also great fertilizer with a slow nitrogen and karetin protein release. Hair prevents weed growth, snail infestation and reduces water evaporation up to 50%.
HatTip: matteroftrust.org
Painting your roof white will reduce global warming and conserve energy, according to Steven Chu, the Nobel prizewinning physicist who now runs the U.S. Department of Energy. Chu says that if we paint all our roofs white, and paint pavements a concrete-type of color rather than black, and we do this uniformly, it would save the equivalent of 11 years of carbon emissions from all the cars in the world. More information here.
As people across the nation have become more in tune with impending environmental concerns, more are doing their part to lessen their impact. Many have decided to contribute by collecting rain water for everyday watering of plants and gardens around their homes with rain barrels. A rain barrel is a large container placed under a home’s gutter downspout to catch water that would otherwise run into a city’s drainage system or nearby streams. One 55-gallon barrel can fill completely in 10 minutes during a hard rain. One inch of rain on one square foot of rooftop will create 0.60 gallons of water. More information here.
Aluminum beverage cans:
* Are 100% recyclable.
* Can be recycled over and over and over again.
* Go from recycling bin to the retail shelf in as few as 60 days.
* Recycling one can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours or a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.
* Recycling 40 cans conserves the same energy as one gallon of gasoline.
* Aluminum is the only packaging material that more than covers the cost of collection and reprocessing for itself, and subsidizes other containers, including PET and glass!
* Recyclers paid nearly $1 billion for aluminum beverage cans last year.
Namaste: Peligro Films
More about aluminum recycling here.
Slaughtered Pig, 1972, originally uploaded by Anthony K..
Paul McCartney and two of his daughters, fashion designer Stella and photographer Mary, are heading an initiative called Meat Free Monday, which hopes to persuade Britons not to eat animals one day a week. Britain’s National Farmers Union opposes the idea. Stay tuned.
Hat Tip: ecorazzi.com
Popular clothing maker Billabong is using a new material called ECO Supreme Suede for some of its boardshorts and swim suits. The exclusive material is made from recycled textiles and plastic soda bottles.* The company says its cool new material doesn’t sacrifice on quality.
• Approximately 10 plastic bottles are used to create one pair of boardshorts.
You can see more eco-products from Billabong at billabong.com.
LazyEnvironmentalist.com is a resource for people who want to easily and enjoyably green their lives. We recognize that one thing almost of us do everyday is shop. Consuming products is intrinsically tied to the very fabric of our lifestyles. Reducing the impact of our consumption on the planet while still maintaining the quality of our lives is where The Lazy Environmenalist comes in. Our website features informative articles, videos, and specific green product recommendations intended to help really busy people figure out which green choices to make. It’s also the online home of environmental author and television and radio host Josh Dorfman whose new TV series – The Lazy Environmentalist – airs on Sundance Channel beginning in June.
The Ecopod is an earth-friendly coffin made by hand from recycled newspapers and finished with paper made from recycled silk and mulberry leaves, It comes in a range of colors with and without screen-printed motifs. Each Ecopod is supplied with a calico mattress, straps and carrying handles. As an optional extra, the walls of the interior can also be lined with feathers in a choice of colors, including white, red, cream or pale blue.
ARKA Ecopod Limited is based in Brighton, East Sussex, in the United Kingdom. You can visit their website at ecopod.co.uk.
Also available:
The Acorn Urn, made from recycled silk and mulberry leaves. The stalk of the lid is made from a twist of recycled paper.
M takes her seafood watch very seriously, originally uploaded by jovino.
At a time when the world’s oceans are severely over-fished, your seafood choices make a big difference. Make sustainable seafood choices quickly and easily – whether you’re eating at your favorite restaurant or shopping for dinner – with a Seafood Watch iPhone App. Don’t have an iPhone? Seafood Watch recommendations are available for all mobile devices with an Internet connection. If you don’t have a handheld device, you can also view the recommendations here: montereybayaquarium.org
Namaste: www.nmoe.org
Recycled old folk this way (I like to think this is Martin Parr(ish), originally uploaded by Tony Worrall Foto.
A free iPhone app called iRecycle makes it easy to find recycling locations anywhere in the U.S. Find places to drop-off your old cell phone (or water bottle or motor oil or… well, you get the idea), get directions and find out what else they accept. You can get iRecycle at the iTunes store.
Hat tip: earth911.com
Toby Buckland’s Ethical Garden, originally uploaded by best4plants.
Toby Buckland is the main presenter on BBC Gardeners’ World. At Gardeners’ World Live in June, he designed, built and planted The Ethical Garden, made from recycled materials he collected and handcrafted from beaches and the countryside in the West Country where he lives. His garden not only won a coveted RHS Gold Medal but also won Best Show Garden. His creativity and attention to detail was outstanding, demonstrating just how much he cares about his gardening.
Demon child, originally uploaded by MsBlueSky.
The Belgian city of Ghent has declared Thursdays meat-free. The Flemish university town of some 200,000 people has now introduced a weekly “Veggie Thursday.” The city hopes to improve public health, reduce its impact on the environment and enhance animal welfare. “If everyone in Flanders (population: six million) does not eat meat one day a week, we will save as much CO2 in a year as taking half a million cars off the road,” said an Ethical Vegetarian Association spokesperson. You can read the meat of the story here.
Bicycle + Plants = Going Green, originally uploaded by Mohan.M.
The bicycle-friendly city of Muenster, Germany, has an advertising campaign that compares the space used by various modes of travel. These are the relevant statistics: (1) 72 people transported on 72 bikes requires 90 square meters (2) based on an average occupancy of 1.2 people per car, 60 cars are needed to transport 72 people, which takes 1,000 square meters and (3) 72 people can be transported on 1 bus, which only requires 30 square meters of space and no permanent parking space, since it can be parked elsewhere. For more information, click here.
unisex toilet, originally uploaded by Illuminated.
American actress Cameron Diaz recently revealed on the Tonight Show that she’s doing her part in helping the environment by not flushing the toilet. “I do follow the rule: If it’s yellow, keep it mellow and if it is brown, flush it down,” she told host Jay Leno.
Poo Bags, originally uploaded by sand dragon.
Without further a-doo, meet the BioBag, the world’s largest brand of 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable bags and films made from the material, Mater-Bi. The company’s environmentally friendly, petroleum-free bags are made from GMO free certified corn. Making bags from crops instead of polyethylene is a major advance in environmental technology. You can purchase BioBags at Amazon.com, Whole Foods, and a variety of other retailers.
Hat Tip: Pauline for the link to earth911.com
Ocean Motion, originally uploaded by Nick Carlson.
The ocean is the birthplace of life on earth. But it’s in trouble. Here’re just two of many reasons why:
(1) A recent National Academy of Sciences study estimates that the oil running off our streets and driveways and ultimately flowing into the oceans is equal to an Exxon Valdez oil spill – 10.9 million gallons – every eight months.
(2) Over half of the world’s original coastal marshes and mangrove forests are now developed as industrial parks, residential areas and farms.
(3) More than 2.8 billion gallons of industrial waste water per day are discharged directly into U.S. ocean waters, excluding electric utilities and offshore oil and gas effluents. Heavy metals released from industry, such as mercury and lead, are often found in marine life, including many of those often consumed by humans.
What can you do about these and other problems affecting our oceans? For starters, visit see-the-sea.org.
