I think I can pinpoint my beginning as an advocate for Earth when, as a photojournalism student several years ago, I photographed a neighbor's filthy, littered back yard for a class assignment.
The debris had laid scattered there for months. The day after I made those photographs, it was cleaned up. I liked to think I had been spotted documenting the crime scene and that somehow influenced the improvement.
Now, after a handful of years as a journalist -- using camera and pen -- I focus heavily on the writing side of life.
I write as a corporate communications guy by day. I tend to a blog -- iHappy -- for writings on a positive, happy life.
And I'm on my way to an all-'round obsession with efficiency and re-usability for everything.
By writing for Green Options, all facets of my life have finally merged.
A bill introduced by assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) aims to reduce waste, litter, and greenhouse gases and create thousands of green jobs. The California Product Stewardship Act, AB 283, also would tackle the front end of product life cycles by incentivizing producers to design products and packaging that are less toxic, more durable, reusable, recyclable and/or biodegradable.
Chesbro, the chair of the Assembly’s Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, says:
Hilarides Dairy, in California, has converted a pair of big rigs (18-wheelers) to run on biomethane produced from cow manure. The effort is thought to be the nation’s first trucks powered by chow chips.
Hilarides plans to use manure produced by 10,000 cows, generating 226,000 cubic feet of biomethane daily — enough to reduce the company’s daily diesel fuel consumption by 650 gallons.
Source: Wired
In the second annual Radical Innovation in Hospitality Awards competition, sponsored by the John Hardy Group and Hospitality Design (HD) magazine, an oil rig hotel & spa took top honors (and the $10,000 prize).
The winning design came from the Houston office of Morris Architects.
“The Rig is much like the ICEHOTEL. It’s that kind of unique experience. We were trying to create a hospitality experience that is unique [...]
The state of economics and print journalism have converged to send Plenty Magazine (tagline: “The World in Green”) into the it-was-fun-while-it-lasted category. Plenty published not only the hard copy version of the magazine, but had begun a digital version, as well.
Not all is lost, though. Plenty RSS feed subscribers are now automatically receiving content from Mother Nature Network.
As for those who, like me, had just subscribed to the [...]
These space-age-looking glasses soak up rays while protecting users’ eyes from them. The solar juice they collect can be used to power iPods and similar gadgets while out at the beach, the ballpark and a thousand other places, more or less.
Chinese mobile phone manufacturer ZTE recently unveiled its Coral-200, a solar-powered cell phone. eNews 2.0 reports:
The phone model is powered through a pack of solar cells mounted on the top of it. In a nutshell, while the technical specs of the phone are not quite detailed at this moment, analysts do not expect that the device will do many things besides voice calling and text messaging, especially
Yesterday I posted here about plastic bag fees and bans being frozen in — or before reaching — legislatures. Supposedly that’s due to economics, though reality seems to be more connected to politics. That, coupled with a post here by Low Impact Living about the green benefits of the stimulus plan signed by President Obama recently, got me thinking about a potential solution to our financial woes.
Maybe we don’t need to argue along partisan lines about small versus big government, or about a trillion-dollar stimulus plan versus whatever it is the Republicans think President Obama should be doing. Maybe instead of tax credits and billionaire bailouts, we need to impose a fresh idea of corporate social responsbility: cost-of-living increases + merit salary increases.
The New York Times reports that various plastic bag-reduction initiatives around the country are stalling – or flatlining – due to economics. The plans in the works in places like Seattle, San Francisco and New York have included charges of 5 to 20 cents per plastic bag – and in some cases, paper bags – at, for example, grocery stores.
The intent is – was – to foster a reusable bag culture and wean consumers off their plastic bag dependency. Now, critics are saying the rough economic road we’re on these days is cause enough to halt progress of those initiatives – and related legislative proposals.
Why?
Project H has completed a Learning Landscape design, putting reclaimed tires to uses of exponential value: educating youth at the Kutamba School for AIDS Orphans in southern Uganda.
The tires are used in various math lessons, teaching the kids addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. When the sandbox grid of tires is not being used for math games, wooden benches are placed atop the precisely spaced tires, serving as [...]
As an owner and cross-country driver of a classic Volkswagen camper bus, I’m excited to see this futuristic design. The new generation of VW road fun includes solar power, Internet and other high-tech niceties.
TrendLand shows four colors for the Volkswagen Verdier, and says a camper bus could be bought for $69,000, with the top-line model going for $129,000.
