In Bizarre News..

A plastic surgeon in SoCal is being investigated for using waste fat from his clients to power his vehicle as biodiesel, which is illegal in the U.S. His office has been shut down while he is under investigation.

image from dralanbittner.com.

They say biodiesel from fast food restaurants smells like French fries when driven.. I wonder what "lipodiesel" smells like?

In all seriousness, this is a wrenching article - I am almost over the weird enough to feel bad for him. I think he's just trying to do the right thing. Apparently his clients knew about it and liked the idea. It's a tough call... biowaste is not something you want to mess around with.

(Thanks to Eve for this weird, weird article from the Daily Telegraph.)

Green will Help America Get Her Groove Back

America has lost its groove, and Thomas Friedman knows how America can get her groove back: the next Green Revolution. "What red was to America in the 1950s, what I'm arguing is that green needs to be to America of the 20th Century. Unfortunately because of 9/11, we went from red to code red... we need to go to code green."

image from mpr.org

He spoke about the world's environmental challenges at "Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World," a conference organized by the National Council for Science and the Environment in Washington, D.C. Friedman introduced his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded. You can listen to Thursday's presentation here at mpr.org.

Minnesota Environmental News - Now Improved, with RSS Format! (tm)

* Minnesota Public Radio is worried that a proposed light rail line running right by its Saint Paul offices would be noisy. Read more from MinnPost.

image from MinnPost

* Nationwide - Obama's "green team" not so progressive? Read more from BeyondChron.

* 3M asks to throw out a lawsuit brought by 4 residents over leached PFCs found in groundwater. Perfluorocarbons were used in products like Scotchgard and Teflon. There is precedent: DuPont in Ohio was ordered to pay $300 million in damages in 2005 on a PFC case. Questions this case will attempt to figure out: When the company dumped leftover materials into landfills (legally), did it know that PFCs are toxic and bioaccumulate? Did it know the chemicals would leach into the groundwater? Do the 4 residents have a substantial enough claim of "subcellular" harm? Are PFCs as toxic to humans as they are to mice? Read more from the Pioneer Press.

* Minneapolis adopts environmentally preferable purchasing policy. Read more from MinnPost.

Gifts that Won't be Wasted

If you are buying Christmas presents this season, and looking for something the recipient won't have to throw away someday, check out Intelligent Giving.

image from goodgiftsshop.org

It includes a link to the Good Gift Shop, where you can purchase a brain cell for 15 pounds (~$30). From the site: "Everyone feels the need for extra greymatter. Bring out the genius in friends and family. Give help to all edgy examinees. 15 not only gives the gift of a sponsored brain cell, but also to fund development of treatments for diseases like Alzheimers, Parkinsons, meningitis and cancer."

It also includes links to more serious sites rating charities using rigorous rubrics. Check it out! It's like Consumer Reports for charities.

Secondhand Shops Become Popular in Poland

Now that Poland is finding itself richer than before, secondhand shops are gaining in popularity, finds an article in today's New York Times. The young, with a growing environmental consciousness and fatter wallets, are finding that thrift stores are a great place to create a stylish wardrobe while waiting for wages to catch up to those earned in the rest of the EU.

image from tomitex.com.pl

For some, there is still stigma attached - the photographer for the Times article was cursed for taking pictures of some who are ashamed to be seen in the store. One even cursed him as another complained that she would look poor.

Minimize Your Commute

Even though gas is getting cheaper, commuting still wastes time. I would be pleased if I never had to fill up, change oil, wait for red lights, and navigate traffic again. And let's face it - cars are pretty much just bad for the environment no matter how fuel efficient they are.

The good news for anyone relocating is that you can choose where to live based on your commute - and you can use the Optimal Home Location tool to help you figure out where would be best. The tool takes the addresses of your 6 most frequently visited locations (work, school, grocery store) and maps your ideal home location for minimal commute time.

The tool will tell you property tax, median condo and home values, median age, and percentage of homes with kids.

Bush Administration Rushes to Entrench 8 Years of Bad Environmental Policy Long After Due Date Passes

The outgoing political appointees in the federal government are trying to pull a fast one on us.

The Bush Administration is rushing to put in place a set of 20 regulation changes - 4 of which slow environmental and worker protection and remove barriers for big companies to cut environmental corners.

image from gailjonas.blogspot.com - too bad there's not one of the entire administration.

Mind you, this is so far past due date it's not even funny - a May memo from the White House Chief of Staff wrote that proposals for regulations should be received no later than June 1. I don't know about you, but if I tried to turn in a paper 6 months late, I would be s#*% out of luck.

According to the New York Times, these proposals include rules that would:

1. Require another step in regulating workplace chemicals (longitudinal studies of exposure over an employee's working life), adding up to 2 years to a process that already takes 8.

2. Remove barriers to building power plants near national parks and wilderness areas

3. Reduce the role of federal wildlife scientists in declaring whether endangered species will be threatened by highway or dam construction

4. Allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mining into streams and valleys.

These proposals are to change the Code of Federal Regulations, a bundle of rules created by federal departments and agencies that have the force of law. While it would be easy for Obama to overturn any executive orders coming from Bush, it would require a public comment period and proof of a "reasoned analysis" to overturn these regulations - easy, of course, but time consuming.

Downsview Park "Trail of Lights" (Toronto)

From November 28 until the end of 2008, Toronto's Downsview Park will host Canada's largest walk-through holiday light show. Stretching 2 kilometers, "Trail of Lights" is powered by LEDs - over 400,000 of them.

It runs from 5 - 10 p.m. and costs $10-12 (more on certain holidays).

Check out this cut from the brochure, or visit this daily dose of imagery picture taken by Sam Javanrouh.

Best Green Blogs

Best Green Blogs is a fantastic directory of green-themed blogs. Many are stories and tips from ordinary people living greener, and some are location-specific (Hawaii, India, Chicago, Pacific Northwest, etc.). Some cover green travel, some cover green weddings, and some cover alternative energy. This directory is definitely worth a look.

It was on Best Green Blogs that I found The Greenest Dollar, a blog with information about how to save money by saving the environment.

The Greenest Dollar featured a post on Monday about Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program, for all those shoes that are "too nasty for Goodwill."

The good news is, there are tons of drop off sites so you don't have to mail your shoes to Oregon - my nearest one is at the Boys & Girls Club in Minneapolis.

Happy reading!

In Weird News...

Check out this article about trash-art from the Wall Street Journal.


image from the Wall Street Journal

This used to be a turkey sternum. Now it is art!

The Stars Weigh In

Two things:

1. A delightful quote from Carl Pope.

image from MoonBattery.com

"Efficiency is the steak," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Renewables are the sizzle."

from "Efficiency, Not Just Alternatives, Is Promoted as an Energy Saver." The New York Times. Matthew L. Wald, May 29, 2007.

2. The Gilmore Girls (Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel) weigh in on global warming.

image from spanielsng.blogspot.com.

Green Wii

image from istyles.com.

The National Resources Defense Council released a report yesterday finding that video game consoles use a significant amount of energy, costing up to $134 per year if not shut off when not in use.

The Wii is far and away the most energy efficient model, says this article from Yahoo!. The console uses between $3-$10 per year in energy (depending on habits of turning the console off if not in use).

Green Honor Roll

image from treehugger.com

The Princeton Review has released its 2009 “Green Rating” Honor Roll, and 11 colleges received a perfect score:

Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
Bates College (Lewiston, ME)
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME)
Emory University (Atlanta, GA)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
Harvard College (Cambridge, MA)
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH)
University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Yale University (New Haven, CT)

Read more from green.msn.com.

Quotable Quotes from Obama

Image from chuckperry.blogspot.com.

Obama spoke today via video to a climate change conference in Los Angeles. Courtesy the New York Times, some notable quotes:

* “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all."

* “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

* “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process."

* “When I am president, any governor who’s willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that’s willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that’s willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.”

I like where this rhetoric is going!

Hazardous Waste

Image from thebeautybrains.com.

I got really annoyed this morning seeing a discarded bottle of antifreeze in a parking ramp. I'm not going to bust out the crying Indian line - even though I have more American Indian in my blood than Iron Eyes Cody (for the record, a Sicilian) - but antifreeze is super nasty stuff. It used to smell sweeter, and kids would drink it and die. It is toxic, making it hazardous waste.

Many household items are hazardous waste, and it is an important part of being a "green" consumer to understand what is hazardous and what is non-hazardous. The EPA started setting down rules in 1974 in the RCRA legislation (depending on what level of government you work in, you might pronounce that "rick-ra" or "wreck-ra") - the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act - defining what is hazardous waste requiring special handling and disposal. It's sort of surprising how many common items are hazardous:

- batteries
- automotive fluids, including oil and antifreeze
- bleach
- paint
- dran-o

There is a rhyme or reason to this: anything flammable, corrosive, or toxic/carcinogenic is hazardous. Governments split it up into "listed" or "characteristic" hazardous waste, but "listed" wastes are mostly things that industries will have to worry about - solvents, etc.

Apart from being a Grammy-winning hit song by Britney Spears, a "toxic" label is one clue that a product is hazardous. If it can poison you, you don't want your garbage person dealing with it. Take it to your local county household hazardous waste disposal site.

If a product is corrosive or flammable (like paint or oil), it is also considered hazardous. Again. Don't throw it in the trash. Take it to your local county household hazardous waste disposal site.

Find out more from the EPA about how to avoid harmful substances.

Government Goes Green

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty unveiled the "Green Jobs Investment Initiative" to the 2009 state legislature yesterday. It's a group of tax exemptions, mostly for business, to invest in green jobs and renewable energy. In total, the initiative would spend $90.25 million in the next six years.

Image from Minnesota Politics blog.

Pawlenty has suspicious timing. He did not support a Green JOBZ initiative in 2008, and his proposal comes while a task force of department officials and other experts were in the midst of creating a similar proposal. JOBZ is Pawlenty's job creation effort. Said Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL - Saint Paul, "I didn't know JOBZ was (a) chameleon – apparently if it isn't working, it just changes color."

Read more from the Pioneer Press, the Star Tribune, MSNBC, the Governor's Office, Politics in Minnesota, and a related article on Pawlenty and climate change from MinnPost.

What goes up must come down...

image from Sacramento State

Energy rates are going up in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and elsewhere.

Either your paycheck must go up, or your energy use must go down.

So barring any year-end bonuses, I wanted to post an excerpt of strategies from Xcel Energy to help bring home energy costs down without spending any money to upgrade equipment.

1. Heating and cooling uses 45% of the typical house's energy.
Reduce indoor thermostat temperature from 72 to 68 degrees during the heating season to save 5 percent on heating costs.

2. Household appliances, such as ranges, ovens, and microwave ovens, account for 15% of the typical home's energy use.
Use lids to trap steam and help food cook faster.

3. A water heater uses 11% of the typical home's energy use.
Take a short shower. Every minute you cut from your shower time saves three gallons of water and the energy used
to heat the water. You’ll save hundreds of gallons of water a year taking showers over baths, and you’ll save the energy to heat all that wasted water.

4. A clothes washer and dryer uses 10% of typical household energy.
Dry loads back to back. Since your dryer retains heat, dry several loads in a row. You can reduce the heat level on the last load or two. Dry your lightweight items together, using a lower heat setting for less time.

5. Lighting uses 7% of a home's energy.
Turn off lights when unneeded. Every time you turn off lights when they’re not needed, you’re saving energy and money. Keeping one 75-watt bulb off for one hour per day saves $2.15 per year.

6. Your refrigerator uses 6% of your home's energy.
Cover your food. Covered foods reduce power consumption by limiting moisture evaporation into the air. Moist
air takes more energy to cool than dry air, forcing the compressor to work harder. Plus, your refrigerator will smell better.

7. Your dishwasher uses 2% of your home's energy.
Scrape your dishes. Scrape your dishes instead of rinsing to save water and the energy needed to heat the water.

8. A computer & monitor uses 2% of household energy, as do TVs, VCRs, & DVD players.
Unplug when not in use.

Vote

To any Americans reading this,

The most important thing you can do for the environment is to vote on Tuesday. I don't care who you vote for. You can even walk to your polling place.

If you live in Minnesota, find your polling place by address.
You don't even have to have registered yet. Bring your Minnesota driver's license. Or, bring your MN state ID. Or, bring your tribal ID. Any of these must have your photo, signature, name and current address. Failing that, bring a utility bill to your name at your address due within 30 days of Nov. 4 along with a photo ID - student ID, a current ID with an old address, a passport. Or, bring someone who is registered in your precinct to vouch for you.
Most polling places open at 7 a.m., but a few in small townships may open as late as 10 a.m. All polling places close at 8 p.m., but if you are in line by 8 p.m. you must be allowed to vote.

If you live in Colorado, polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Know your name and address. Click to verify your voter registration status.

If you live in California, visit the Secretary of State website.

In any other state, google your state's Secretary of State.

While we're talking national politics, visit The Green Leap Forward, a blog about China's burgeoning grassroots environmental movement.

Weatherizing Your Windows

It got cold this weekend. It's my first year living in a big drafty Victorian house. We can hear the wind blowing through the skylight. So what is one to do? Go out and buy some industrial strength tape, some cling film, and get ready to weatherize! The best part is shrinking the wrap with a hairdryer. The worst part is cutting the plastic film.


DoItYourself.com has a good instructional section about window insulator film.

Temple News talks about other ways to weatherize a leaky window.

Alliant Energy says it should only cost you $10-25.

And Thrifty Fun says that leaky windows can account for up to 40% of your home's heat loss. Yikes!

It's a bit time consuming, but my room already feels a ton warmer. Now if only I could insulate my walls as easily...

Make Your Jack-o-Lantern and Eat It Too

In honor of Sasha, this post is about eating your jack-o-lantern.

Image from RecipeTips.com

Instead of letting all the perfectly good pumpkin food go to waste, it's possible to make tons of sweet and savory treats from your Halloween decor. Carved jack-o-lanterns keep several days before they start rotting. Cut away any rotting parts before you cook. Instead of sooty candles, the the Ultimate Cheapskate recommends using an electric light.

When cutting, remove the seeds, rinse them, dry them, salt them, season them, and bake them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet in a 250' oven for around an hour. Stir every 20 minutes.

Scrape out as much pulp as you can. Steam it for 30 minutes or until it's tender, then puree it in a blender.

Painted jack-o-lanterns are OK too, but make sure you don't get paint in the food. Pop them in the oven and bake them to make the skin flake off.

How-to from Mother Earth News:
1. Remove any paint with metal pot scrubber, or peel skin off.
2. Scrape out seeds and stringy fibers with soup spoon.
3. Cut pumpkin into 4-6 pieces, or keep whole and replace the cap when scooped
4. Place on greased cookie sheet
5. Bake at 350'F until tender (about an hour, or an hour and a half if whole)
6. If whole, pour off any collected liquied
7. Cool it quickly in cold water and drain. Cut the meat away from the skin and puree it to remove lumps.
8. If you have lots of pumpkin puree, pack it into pint or quart jars or freeze.

You can make pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread....

Some more ideas from Frugal Fun:

1. Pumpkin butter
(pureed pumpkin plus mace, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and apples)
2. Pumpkin soup
(pumpkin, hot pepper, apple, garlic, almonds, mozzarella)
3. Pumpkin chocolate chip bars
4. Pumpkin chips
5. Chilean Squash Casserole (from Moosewood Cookbook)
(pumpkin, cheddar cheese, carrots, cumin, salsa)
6. Pumpkin latkes
(grated with eggs, onions, and flour, and fry patties)
7. Thai pumpkin curry
8. Baked pumpkin seeds
9. Pumpkin pie
10. Stuffed pumpkin
(vegetables, cheese, milk, bread crumbs, spices)

If you don't like eating pumpkin, there are still ways to get another use out of it - Gaiam Life recommends composting or donating it to your local zoo.

How to Make the Most out of an Inefficient Furnace

So, like many renters, I don't have much say over the furnace my apartment has. As it just so happens, our furnace's efficiency is rated near the bottom. We live in a floor of a drafty old house, and I'm terrified of my upcoming Xcel bill. The Department of Energy says we spend most of our money heating and cooling our home (see this chart).

In honor of this expense, I bring you tips for maximizing the heating efficiency of your living space.

1. Lower the thermostat as much as you can stand. Even turning it down 2 degrees can save you $300/year, according to New Jersey Natural Gas.

This comes from a person who can't stand it any colder than 66, but at least 66 is better than 70. They say you should be able to withstand 60 dressing in layers, but I just can't do it. I do turn it down to 60 whenever I leave the house, though. But don't turn the furnace off altogether - if you do, the furnace will have to spend a lot of energy the minute you get home.

2. Weatherize your home. If you have storm windows, be sure to close both sets of window. When fall has arrived, get plastic weatherization film.

3. Take shorter showers. It means you'll spend less heating the water. Wash clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot.

4. Make sure your vents are unobstructed. I was keeping my laundry basket in front of a vent, which was dumb.

5. Open shades to let sunlight in during the day. Who needs solar panels! Close blinds and curtains before the sun sets to keep the night cold out.

6. Limit the use of kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans. This shoots your nicely heated air out into the world, wasting all that heat!

7. Add a rug to wood or tile floors.

AFUE is the American Fuel Utilization Efficiency rating. Your furnace will say what its AFUE rating is - a rating of 78 means that, of every dollar you spend on natural gas, 78 cents of it turns into heat and 22 cents is wasted.


(more tips from GasSouth)

Energy Vending?

I think one of the smartest business decisions utilities made was divorcing the dollar from the service. By keeping the utility bill as far removed from the meter as possible, and by keeping the meter as far away from the power-using device as possible, it's easy to forget what it costs to turn on the coffee maker.


So I started to wonder and plugged in some numbers. To wash and dry a load of laundry, you pay around $0.79 in energy costs. How different would our energy use be if we dropped quarters in a slot to power the TV?

Here are some common costs for common household actions:

$3.13 to keep the house heated to 70 degrees each day
$0.56 to keep food cold in the refrigerator every day
$0.54 to run a load of clothes through the washer
$0.31 to heat water for showers and handwashing for one person each day
$0.29 to run a load of dishes through the dishwasher
$0.25 to bake something for an hour
$0.25 to run a load of clothes through the dryer
$0.09 to cook something for an hour on the stovetop
$0.06 to leave a single light bulb on while you are gone for the day
$0.05 to dry your hair with a hair dryer
$0.03 to watch TV for an hour
$0.03 to vacuum for a half hour
$0.01 to run the blender
$0.01 to run the coffee maker
$0.01 to toast toast
$0.01 to run a computer for an hour

Check out your own energy use here.

In Defense of Sympathy for Change

One thing I don't like about "going green" being trendy is the insecurity and coping strategy of "holier than thou"ness that goes along with it.

This article, called "It's Inconvenient Being Green," was written in last November's Time about "eco-anxiety," apparently diagnosed as an actual mental condition (dubious, but it makes a point).

Living has an impact on the planet, and Americans are famous for having 20 times the impact on the planet than the rest of the world. Driving is part of our culture, shopping bags are part of our culture, and landfills are part of our culture.

We're figuring out how to change our culture. There will be the unbelievers who will dig in their heels. Most people, though, can be changed with a little persuasion.

In my view, it does not help to accuse. Most cultures on the planet buy things, and consuming "green" has been found to unearth an emotional struggle in a 2007 study performed by the University of Leeds and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Says Dr. William Young, "Consumers find that being green or ethical is a very hard, time consuming, and emotional experience."

Ironically, shopping at my neighborhood co-op is much more uncomfortable for me than shopping at Cub. I walk to the co-op and bring my own bags, and I bring my soap dispensers to buy soap in bulk... so why do I feel so out of place? Sometimes when I'm at my co-op, I feel like apologizing for breathing air and eating food.

So, this is a plea to fellow environmentalists - be nice. It's the best way to win people over to your cause.

As the Guardian suggested earlier this year, "green finger-wagging killjoys would be better off directing their efforts at big business."

So - to end on an optimistic note - keep on living greener. If you are a decision maker at a business, consider suggesting or implementing process changes to pollute less and save more resources. The small stuff adds up, and the more you do, the more you will inspire others. Save the activism for the public sphere, and be gentle to your fellow person.

Home Energy Efficiency, or What Not To Do with a CFL

Image from CNET.com


Hi folks! I have migrated - from a generally "green" job in Santa Rosa, California to energy efficiency work in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In honor of this change, I will provide you with some home energy facts and tips.

* One CFL can save you up to $30 over the course of its lifetime, according to EnergyStar.gov.

* When you break a CFL, don't vacuum it up. To avoid ingesting or inhaling the hazardous mercury inside, follow EPA guidelines: stop air from flowing, get everybody away (especially kids and pets), let it sit for 15 minutes, then "scoop and stick" - scoop as much as you can with a sheet of cardboard, then stick up the remaining pieces with the sticky side of duct tape.

* When a CFL is broken or used up, take it for proper disposal. Home Depot will accept them, as will IKEA. Your local household hazardous waste facility will happily take them in - check with your county waste department.

* The modern CFL was invented as a result of the 1970s energy crisis. Ed Hammer, a General Electric engineer, created the bulb in 1976 - it is now housed in the Smithsonian. It was shelved at the time because of the prohibitive expense to create the new manufacturing facilities required. Read more from CNET.

* CFLs probably won't reign forever. More efficient, less hazardous LED lights will likely overtake CFLs as soon as production costs decrease.

Why Ethanol is a Bad Idea, Part 2

Ethanol is a bad idea. Why, you may ask?

1. ROI? Well, it turns out that you invest a lot of energy, water, and resources to grow that corn and turn it into ethanol. A gallon of ethanol requires 26 pounds of corn. 26 pounds! So a standard 15 gallon tank could be filled with the equivalent of 360 pounds of corn. Once. Do you have any idea how incredibly land-intensive that is? And what if you'd chopped down a forest to grow that corn?


2. Ethical? So people starve in the world, and you're burning edible food to make fuel? Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, called biofuels a "crime against humanity," and in October 2007 called for a 5-year moratorium on the production of biofuels from edible crops. This, he argued, would give time for technology to develop to turn waste (such as corn cobs) into biofuel instead.

3. Bad economics? For human beings lucky enough not to be starving, an Iowa State University study published in May 2007 estimates that food prices rose an average of $47/person because of the 2006-2007 ethanol boom. That's thanks to heavy government subsidies. A 2006 Businessweek article asks, "If the government hadn't mandated this product, would it survive in a free market?" Doubtful. Hey government, don't create that market!

4. Not very effective. Ethanol gets bad fuel mileage. E85, which has 85% ethanol content, has a lower energy content and drops a car's miles per gallon 20-30%. It may even interfere with the performance of some cars.

It makes me wonder why we continue to push ethanol as a green alternative.

Ethanol is a Bad Idea, Part 1 - What is Ethanol?

Ethanol, otherwise known as CH3CH2OH, is also the stuff that makes you drunk. The colorless clear liquid is flammable, and therefore you can put it in your car. They say Henry Ford's Model T ran on 100% ethanol.

In theory, ethanol cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) when you put it in your car's gas tank, although Businessweek tells us that "the EPA's own attorney admitted to the judges that because of its higher volatility, putting ethanol into the nation's fuel supply would likely increase smog where it was used." Greeeeeat. In the Midwest (CORN country!) and certain cities in wintertime (mandated by the 1990 Clean Air Act), "gasohol" is sold at the pump - a blend of fuel including 10% ethanol.


So ethanol is produced when yeast eats sugar, and sugar can either come from sugar (easy) or corn (a little harder). Half of Brazil's cars run on 100% ethanol because sugarcane is a readily accessible crop. If you're not lucky enough to grow a lot of sugar nearby, there are enzymes that will digest cellulose, and scientists have found a way to produce them more cheaply. Why is this important? Cellulose is in CORN. And CORN COBS. And CORN is from the U.S. In 2006, 36% of the world's ethanol came from the U.S and 33% came from Brazil (with runners up China, India, France and Russia). As of July 2007, there were 110 U.S. ethanol plants and 73 more were under construction. Corn grown for biofuel production is highly subsidized, and pro-ethanol legislation sells easily to the right (pro-farmer! reduces dependence on foreign oil!) and to the left (pro-environment!).

Solar v. Redwoods

Oh, California.
You sue-happy, tree-hugging nuts.

Just look at this nonsense from Sunnyvale.

A man sues his neighbor because the neighbor's redwood trees are blocking his solar panels.


image (c) New York Times

Thanks to the Solar Shade Act of 1978, your neighbors' trees actually can be considered a nuisance. California Senator Joe Simitian has introduced a bill to rectify this situation, ensuring that trees planted pre-solar enjoy the right to grow in peace. The bill will undergo committee vote this month.

As for the panels-vs.-trees feud, it ended up in Santa Clara County criminal court, with the tree owners convicted and ordered to ensure that no more than 10 percent of their neighbor's solar panels will be shaded.

Goooooooooood grief.

Quote for Spring

"The green economy needs Ph.D.'s and Ph.-do's," said Van Jones, executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland.

Earth Hour

March 29, 2008
8:00 p.m. local time

Are your lights on?


Across the world, local governments and citizens teamed up for Earth Hour, an international wave of darkness that began as a local celebration in Sydney, Australia last year.

Julia and I celebrated, begrudgingly at first. I took the time (finally) to clean out my crap from the living room. She stretched by candle light (now doesn't that sound like something from a bad romance novel?). Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood, still well-lit (Santa Rosa tends to miss the memo on these things).

Afterwards I felt.. strangely calm! Almost.. better! I vowed to have Earth Hour every day, and of course I promptly forgot today. Oh well. It's nice to know that I depend so little on the existence of electricity.

$104 Billion Appetite for Green Products

The 2007 National Technology Readiness Survey found that the potential sales in 2008 for green products and technology could reach $104 billion.


Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service (University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business) and Rockbridge Assoc. Inc. (technology research firm), the study found that consumers are ready for the green revolution but can't always find what they're looking for.

Read more from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

GREENtings from New York! (har) - A Tirade on Bottled Water

Greetings from New York, where carbon emissions run high and the trash piles up on the streets (and the public transit is AWESOME! but makes your pants very dirty). Yes, New York is a city of contradictions.

The wealthy streets of Chelsea are littered with clear plastic recycling bags full of Pellegrino and Poland Spring Eco-shape bottles. This is the biggest scam I've heard since David Mkwongo offered me $15k of his father's inheritance so long as I wire him $7k immediately. "Saving resources through design" my foot. Bottled water is bottled water to me, no matter how you spin it, and that means it is an environmentally unfriendly, unfortunate adoption into our culture.

For, as Garrison Keillor said on September 26, 2007:

I am sorry, Evian and San Pellegrino and Dasani and all the other bottled waters out there -- Aqua Velva, Wells Fargo, Muddy Waters, Joan Rivers, Jerry Springer, whatever -- but the current campaign against paying good money for bottled water when tap water is perfectly good (and very likely purer) is so sensible on the face of it that I am now done with you. Fini. Kaput. Ausgeschlossen. No more designer water. Water is water. If you want lemon flavoring, add a slice of lemon. You want bubbles, stick a straw in it and blow.

My father, a true conservative, would have smiled on this. All his life he resisted the attempts of big corporations to gouge him by selling him stuff he didn't need and so he was not a consumer of high-priced water, any more than he would've purchased bottles of French air or Italian soil. No, San Pellegrino and Perrier got rich off the pretensions of liberal wastrels like moi who thought it set us apart from the unlettered masses. We ordered it in restaurants for the same reason we read books we don't like and go to operas we don't understand -- we say to the waiter, "Perrier," to give a continental touch to our macaroni and cheese.

Enough. Man is capable of reform once presented with the facts, and the fact is that bottling water and shipping it is a big waste of fuel, so stop already. The water that comes to your house through a pipe is good enough, and maybe better.

Mr. Keillor, you should have seen W 12th St. For a city that claims that the magic in New York bagels is the water they boil them in...

As a side note, I very much enjoyed the billboards advertising Energy Hog, a website where kids learn about energy efficiency from Inspectors Hector and Irene.

City of Seattle Bans Bottled Water

Yaaaaaaaay.


The City of Seattle has internally banned itself from buying bottled water. This is terrific news, because governments have a huge role to play in creating markets, supporting markets, or KICKING MARKETS IN THE SEAT OF THE PANTS! And that's just what the city government has done. Good work, team. That's $58,000 a year you can spend on something better. (As a side note, I'm looking for a job...)

At roughly $1/bottle, that's 58,000 water bottles per year that the city government alone needed to recycle or throw away. That's insane.

Green-e

Green-e is Consumer Reports for renewable energy and carbon offset purchases.

I mean, come on. How easy would it be to peddle hogwash? So easy. "Buy Jennifer Carbon Credits today! I'll just take that there credit card number... gooooood."

Ratings are a good thing.

iReuse

Does your office have a lot of old office chairs?
Some nonprofit wants it!
Are you near San Francisco or Los Angeles?
iReuse will take it!

Vegan Shoes, Natalie?

Am I the last person to hear about Natalie Portman's collaboration with Té Casan to create a line of vegan shoes?


“All of my shoes are from Target or Stella McCartney," says Portman. "As a vegan, it's been challenging finding designer shoes made of alternative materials." The line launched January 15 online and hit stores February 1.

Now, call me old fashioned, but any reference to vegan clothing always throws me for a bit of a loop. I'd prefer a more technical description, such as "leather free" or "no animal products." The "vegan clothing" label stresses me out, as if I'll be expected to eat it or something. Maybe I just have unfortunate associations with the early days of spelt egg-free cakes that tasted like chalk. All it means is that the shoes are made free of leather or any other animal products, and 5% of the profits (all of Natalie's share) will go to as-yet undisclosed charity (various non-profit organizations dedicated to environmental preservation and animal rights) - one source said it would be The Nature Conservancy.

Speaking of old fashioned, does anyone else think the shoes look, well.. a bit outdated?

My read: save energy, wear your old shoes, and donate $10 to charity (equal to 5% of the $200 you would have spent on the vegan footwear).

But mistake not my sarcasm! I appreciate Natalie's efforts. Maybe someday I'll find a pair of $20 animal-free classic-style shoes and 100% of the profits will go to charity (oh wait, it's called Goodwill...).

I kid, Natalie, I kid. I'm just jealous.

Recycle This?

There isn't a lot of land left for developers in New Jersey.
How about recycling plots previously polluted?


This state-funded deal would allow new developers to recoup 75% of cleanup costs for these brownfields.

Recycle That!

So San Jose's GreenTeam handles recycling for many of the city's residences. On Friday, the recycling center found something it couldn't recycle.

Five pounds, or several thousand dollars worth, of marijuana.

Does that qualify as compost? Yard waste?

Green Absence Explained

I fell off the face of the planet for a week, but at least I have something to show for it!

Going green, saving green, Mike Coit, (c) 2008 Press Democrat

Your normal blogging service to continue ASAP.

Detox Your Home

So you've heard of juice fasts and spring cleaning, but have you ever thought about detoxing your home?

Planet Green has! Room-by-room instructions for sprucing up your house.

Santa Rosa Recycles Plastic Bags

Thanks to our hauler North Bay Corporation, we Santa Rosans will now be able to recycle plastic bags in our regular old blue bins.

We toss 'em all in one bag (the "bag bag") and then they are taken away to be recycled!

Read about it in the PD.

Top 50 Greenest Cities

How does your city measure up? Popular Science's Top 50 Greenest Cities ranks cities based on electricity, transportation, green living, and recycling/green perspective.



Top 5:

1. Portland, OR
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Oakland, CA
5. Eugene, OR

(St. Paul, MN is number 12, Denver's 19, and Santa Rosa's 23)

Green Dentistry

There are things dentists can do to be more green. A famous user of mercury in dental amalgam, dental offices are a regulated industry. The San Francisco Green Business Program has developed a checklist for dentists. Dr. Patel is one green dentist in San Francisco.

Here is a student initiative from the European Dental Student Association to increase environmental awareness among European dental students/practitioners (Word document). There is more information on this group here.

Environmentalism as a Cultural Phenomenon

I'm always impressed (and not in a good way) that the environmentalism I walked into is an overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly upper-class, overwhelmingly psycho crowd. I'm also excited that this seems to be changing as the pragmatic, chic and money-saving aspects of environmentalism come to light. Normal people are jumping on board!



EcoTopia traces the environmental movement from Henry David Thoreau (1845) through John Muir to Julia Butterfly Hill (2005). It's kind of an awkward birthing for a movement: the Sierra Club, Green Peace, the Green Party, WWF, ecoterrorists...

Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank bemoan the place of corporations in this new green movement while encouraging eco-activists to work alongside the working class for real change. An interesting piece, a definite counterpoint to my own views, co-written by the author of Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me (St. Clair) - which is not, unfortunately, about race and the environmental movement, but about how politicians ruin things.

Robert Gottlieb writes Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement and in true green fashion, it is posted in its entirety on Google Books. "In January 1990," Gottlieb writes, activists from the Gulf Coast Tenant Leadership Development Project sent a letter asserting "that the 'racism and the "whiteness" of the environmental movement" had become its 'Achilles' heel.'"

And find a very interesting piece from grist.org on the environment and poverty.

There's even a course at Drexel called Civil Society and the Environment: The Mobilization of the U.S. Environmental Movement, 1900- 2000. I want to take it!

Finally, Michael Specter writes in the upcoming Feb. 25 New Yorker about the problematic tendency to moralize environmental issues.

Dewy's Adventure

There is a kid's video game
for Wii
called Dewy's Adventure
where the player
is a CREEPY ANTHROPOMORPHIC WATER DROPLET
who, throughout the game, must save a mythical life-giving tree
by defeating anthropomorphic pollutant enemies.


omg. Amazing.

They are everywhere, these creepy anthropomorphic water droplets!

Recycling Poll!

North Bay Corporation just put a big blue recycling bin in our building's trash room. Mostly, there is trash in it. And you know... sometimes I throw a stray bottle or a can into the trash at the airport. It says "contents recycled off site," but how do I know?

So now, dear reader, I will ask you! What are your thoughts on recycling?

How many gallons does YOUR toilet use per flush?

When you flush away your cares/TP/Goldie the Goldfish.. how much water are you using?

There are standards, but each toilet will perform differently. Check the labels printed on the little rectangle of porcelain behind the seat - but be aware that these are not always an accurate representation.

1 gallon per flush = urinal
1.2 gallons per flush = high efficiency
1.6 gallons per flush = low flow (mandated in California post-1992)
3.6 gallons per flush = high flow
anything higher = yikes

Even if you know what your toilet is SUPPOSED to flush, it's hard to tell exactly how much water it's using without measuring. Some conservation specialists are so attuned that they can tell the toilet's capacity by the sound of the flush. Us laymen need a little more assistance. The good news - especially for those of us teaching junior high schoolers about volume - is that there is an equation you can use!


(picture: "Fish n' Flush," which, for the record, is 2.2gpf)

You will need a measuring tape.

1. Take the top off your toilet. I know, I know, this isn't the most fun in the world. Don't balk at this step. I promise, it will be worth it.

2. Measure the length of the toilet. Measure so the metal tab at the end of the tape fits against the inside edge of the tank. Record this number (usually about 15.75").

3. Measure the width of the toilet. Again, make sure you are only measuring the inside of the tank. Record this number (usually about 5.25").

4. Now send the metal end of the measuring tape down to the bottom of the tank to record the inches of water when the tank is full. Remember this number (about 8") and leave the tape there, as you prepare for the most exciting step which is.....

5. Flush the toilet!! Watch your tape carefully and record the inches of water when the tank is at its lowest (about 4").

6. Subtract the full inches - empty inches. This number is called the "drop." This is the number of inches of water that leave the tank and go into the bowl every time you flush. (about 4")

7. Now take your drop (about 4") and multiply it by the length and width. This gets you cubic inches of water for each drop (volume!). (usually 400-500 cubic inches)

8. Your magical constant is 231. Divide your cubic inches by 231. Add .5.

9. Suddenly you have converted to gallons per flush! This number should be between 1 and 7.

1.6 gpf = low flow
3.6 gpf = high flow
anything higher = yikes

So again, the equation is ((length) * (width) * (full-empty))/231 +.5

If you see no water in your tank, only a black box, that means that you have an HET (high efficiency toilet). Good for you! Make sure there's no water in the tank, or else you've got a leak.

So now what? If you have a 3.6 gpf toilet or higher, contact your local water retailer. They probably will offer you some kind of rebate. Some will even direct-install an HET (all you do is say you want it and let them in. They show up and do everything free).

Who offers one? Dallas does! Petaluma does! Southern California does! Who do you pay for water? Call them up and demand an HET rebate!

And, for good measure, a creepy anthropomorphic water droplet from ecojoes.com.
Actually, this one does not look so much creepy as stoned.

We Heart the Compost Club

We heart The Compost Club!



This Sonoma County nonprofit was founded by Peace Corps volunteer Rick Kaye, and implements educational composting programs at local schools. The schools then sell their compost as a fundraiser.

Oh, Peace Corps. Encouraging sustainable programs since 1961.


Anyway, this program is super cool and is gaining momentum. If you are a Sonoma County resident, consider purchasing a $75 Smith and Hawken compost bin from the Compost Club - they'll deliver it! If you live outside Sonoma County, take this program as a model. It's good for the kids, good for the schools, and good for the environment.

In other news, my roommate threw an avocado skin in our mini undersink compost bin. 24 hours later, the thing's covered in spidery white mold.



Neat-o! It doesn't even smell!

Scottsdale, AZ Sends Free Self-Water Audit Kits to Residents

Hey Scottsdale!

You should get one of these. If only Santa Rosa offered free water audit kits to residents and businesses. I want one and I can't have one! *pout* Free dye tabs! Free flow bag! Free drip cup!



Creepy anthropomorphic water droplet picture from Broward County, FL.

Creepy Anthropomorphic Water Droplet Tells You To Save Water

So apparently local government agencies really enjoy humanizing drops of water. "Pleeease conserve me!" Maybe we are meant to empathize?

Oak Harbor, WA

Cape Cod, MA

Roaring Fork, CO

Rockford, IL "Willy"

Dakota State University "Roxanne"


Creeeeepyyyyyyy! I'm drinking Willy and Roxanne!