A little background: after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared emergency drought conditions in the state early last month, homeowners Matt George and Anne Hartridge decided that lavishing grass with a precious liquid wasn’t the right way to deal with the crisis. So they stopped watering their lawn. Naturally, the grass responded by turning a crisp, dead brown. And, naturally, some disapproving lawn-lover complained.

That complaint brought out a city inspector, who cited George and Hartridge for allowing their front yard to become a “public nuisance.” Had the charges stuck, the couple would have been on the hook for a $746 fine (hey, they did save money by not watering the lawn, right?).

Fortunately, a wiser decision prevailed … spurred, most likely, in part by the outrage of other environmentally minded citizens. According to the Sacramento Bee, more than 160 readers posted comments on the story on its Website, and others went straight to City Hall with calls or emails.

In addition to dropping the penalty, the city is also putting together a flyer to inform residents about code-compliant landscaping alternatives to water-thirsty lawns. The handout is expected to be ready next week.

Let freedom from dumb fines ring!

The original founders: Shane Guffogg , John Scane and Vonn Sumner, will focus on contemporary art as catalyst for good dialogue on current issues and events. The gallery is currently hosting an exhibit on abstract Latino art, called Rebel Legacy and will be offering Artwalk Thursdays as well as hosting an upcoming LA Green Drinks meeting.

]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/07/02/pharmaka/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/07/01/journey-to-the-center-of-floating-junk-earth/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/07/01/journey-to-the-center-of-floating-junk-earth/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:01:20 +0000 Shirley Siluk Gregory http://ecolocalizer.com/?p=426 It’s one thing to be appalled by the monstrous accumulation of millions of square miles of plastic waste spinning slowly in the North Pacific gyre. It’s another thing entirely to build an ocean-going vessel out of plastic waste and set out across the sea to call attention to the environmental catastrophe.

That’s exactly what two men, one from California and one from Hawaii, are now doing. The two — Marcus Eriksen, a Ph.D., Gulf War vet and director of research and education for the Long Beach-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and Joel Paschal, a former businessman in Hawaii and a one-time employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — are sailing across the Pacific in a homemade vessel, Kon Tiki-style, to “raise awareness about plastic fouling our oceans.”

And foul it is: the “garbage soup” swirling in the North Pacific gyre stretches across some five million square miles, an area twice as large as the continental U.S. Worse still, the floating dump is steadily growing and threatening every level of the food chain … yes, all the way up to humans.

The big chunks of plastic — bottles, six-pack rings, caps and more — entangle wildlife or choke creatures that swallow them. But the smaller bits — broken-down fragments and microscopic nurdles from plastics manufacturing — are ingested without immediate harm. It’s then that the longer-lasting damage begins: the tiny swallowed bits attract DDT, PCBs and other poisons, and gradually accumulate in the tissues of jellyfish, fish and other creatures. Sooner or later, people end up eating that poisoned plastic too.

It might be “out of sight” for most of us, but Eriksen and Paschal are determined to make it “out of mind” no longer. That’s why they’re sailing from Long Beach to Hawaii in an ocean-going junk made of actual junk: a discarded Cessna cockpit rigged with plastic waste to 15,000 plastic bottles. The vessel’s name? “Junk,” of course.

Throughout their journey, Eriksen and Paschal will be taking ocean surface samples, reporting on their findings and blogging about their experiences. Through the Algalita foundation, they’re also seeking sponsors for their message-in-a-bottle campaign. After they finish their voyage, they plan to take those messages on a tour of the West Coast before delivering them to state and local lawmakers.

Most environmentally aware Americans would love a personal organic vegetable garden, but how many people actually have the time to cultivate one?. Thanks to a San Francisco-based company called MyFarm, Bay Area denizens can pay a weekly fee to have a backyard garden designed and maintained by professionals.

Customers choose between a Personal Installation (just enough food for themselves) and an Owner Member Installation (enough food for MyFarm to sell to other members). Owner members receive a discounted membership.

The company leaves no gardening detail ignored. Each garden is tested for toxins and receives a drip irrigation system to automatically water the vegetables. MyFarm even maintains a compost pile and takes care of all pesky weeds that arise.

MyFarm founder Trevor Paque envisions a decentralized urban farm in San Francisco, made up of a network of organic urban vegetable gardens where clients in sunny areas grow tomatoes for those in foggier areas, and those in the foggy parts of town grow broccoli and other cool-weather veggies for those in warmer climes.

Paque and his crew do all work by hand and follow permaculture farming principles to ensure the long-term sustainability of each garden. Sample garden produce includes artichokes, spinach, squash, sweet peppers, carrots, and peas.

While some people may protest that a service such as MyFarm downplays the importance of individual farming and gardening skills, I believe that this is an important step in creating a local food economy. After all, in today’s era of high food and gas prices, shouldn’t we welcome a service that wants to provide high-quality produce close to home?

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.1

Like the people and even their God, then, the farmlands were given time to rest from their productive toil, to rebuild their strength in order to be fruitful again after the period of rest so that they might yield bountiful harvests for years to come. As the ancient Hebrews restrained from working their fields, they honored their God and the land itself.

I mention this practice of a “sabbath of the land,” almost entirely forgotten in modern farming (and especially in agribusiness), because it provides a potentially useful paradigm for more than just agriculture. It also provides a good model for us today, for how we might live sensibly and sustainably in a time when natural resources are threatened and the Earth is endangered, at least to some degree, by human actions.

One recent example of honoring/acknowledging the (imperiled) state of nature is in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call to Californians not to use, heck not even to buy, fireworks this Fourth of July. Gov. Schwarzenegger made this plea for sensibility with wildfires numbering in the hundreds throughout the state and with state resources to fight those fires as threatened as the homes, lives, and habitats themselves.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has asked citizens to think about the bigger picture than simply following a tradition and entertaining themselves with pretty sparklers and explosions. He has risked the fiery wrath of merchants by asking citizens to hold off being consumers and users of fireworks in a time of danger. He has “commanded,” we might say, citizens to take a sabbath from fireworks and do their part to let the land return to a healthier condition.

This conscious use of self-restraint in order to conserve natural resources can be applied in so many ways. We might take a periodical sabbath from driving our cars, from eating meat, even from using (non-essential) electricity. We might honor the Earth by looking beyond immediate self-interest to the bigger picture, to the welfare of the entire global community, by giving it a time to rebuild its strength a little bit at a time.

The Earth and all the things in nature take sabbaths–for example the fallowness of winter, the stasis of dry seasons, or the hibernation of some animals. Sleep is a natural sabbath for humans and all living creatures. There are many sabbaths in nature, big sabbaths and little sabbaths, that reveal the sensibility of resting by self-restraint.

But we can also practice conscious Sabbaths of self-restraint in order to conserve natural resources. We can, indeed perhaps at this time we should, try to live sensibly by taking sabbaths, big and little, when and how we can so that the Earth can give us bountiful harvests for many generations to come. And oh, what a Jubilee we might look forward to…feasting, dancing, and celebrating under a brilliant harvest moon!

Notes
Image credit: Elke Freese at Wikimedia Commons.
1. The Holy Bible. King James Version. The Electronic Text Center. University of Virginia. 26 June 2008 <http://etext.virginia.edu/kjv.browse.html>.

What other things might we take a “sabbath” from in order to conserve resources? Is self-restraint really necessary or useful nowadays, and if so in what areas might it be most useful (e.g., agriculture, consumerism, energy production, land management)? Is it problematic to think of self-restraint and sensible living as a “sabbath” given that word’s connection to Judeo-Christian tradition?

Recent jumps in gas prices have seemingly driven them [sic] to adopt a new chic habit: letting their cars run out of fuel on the highway.

Allstate has announced that the number of Californians running out of gas on the highway jumped 17% in the first 5 months of 2008 compared to the same time period in 2007. Additionally, AAA of Northern California saw a 6.5% increase in stranded “empty-tankers” in April.

Phil Telgenhoff, Allstate assistant field vice president for California had this to say about it:

“We can’t directly correlate this rise in the number of people running out of gas to the rise in prices at the pump, but anecdotally we know that consumers are trying hard to stretch their dollar and sometimes that means stretching fuel into fumes.

In California, the highway patrol hands out free gas to stranded motorists and AAA will do the same. There has been speculation that this is one of the reasons people choose to let their tanks go empty.

If it’s true, this is a silly strategy because people who are known to abuse the system stop getting the free gas. Plus, it can end up costing the driver a thousand dollars or more when they have to replace a dead fuel pump.

I can’t believe this is really a problem, so please excuse the following semi-sadistic tirade: It seems to me the best solution would be to rip the gas tanks from repeat offenders’ cars, strap them to the drivers’ backs, and make them walk home.

Bada-bing, bada-bang — you’ve just doled out the punishment and taken another pollution-causing car off the road in one fell swoop.

However, Allstate, being the good corporate entity they are, came up with a slightly less confrontational response and has issued some fuel conservation tips:

• Slow down.
  • Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas.
  • Every 5 miles per hour that a person drives over 60 miles per hour is like paying an additional $0.15 per gallon for gas.
  • Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

• Keep your car maintained and running smoothly with regular tune-ups and upkeep.
  • Checking and replacing air filters can improve your car’s gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, and will help protect your engine.
  • Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent.
  • You can also improve your gas mileage by 1-2 percent by using the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil

• Use your engine wisely.
  • Using cruise control on the highway will help you maintain a constant speed.
  • Using overdrive gearing helps keep your car’s engine speed down, saving gas and reducing engine wear.

• Be smart about driving.
  • Run errands together, rather than taking separate trips.
  • Take advantage of carpools, mass transit and telecommuting options.
  • If you can, stagger your work commute to avoid peak rush hours.

• Keep your car light.
  • Too often cars become long-term storage facilities. Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones.
  • An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your miles per gallon by up to 2 percent.

• Make smart vehicle choices.
  • If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets the best gas mileage whenever possible.
  • Also, consider purchasing a more fuel efficient vehicle.

I’d also like to add something to the above list which a company that sells car insurance wouldn’t dare to: ride your bike if at all possible.

We’ve written about many of the above strategies before, and Edmunds.com has done its own field testing of some of them, but a little repetition never hurt anybody now, did it?

As for the last point suggesting you buy a new, more fuel efficient car, consider that it might be better to buy a used vehicle with decent fuel economy or to convert your old gas car to electric before buying a new one.

Posts Related to Fuel Economy:

• The Illusion of MPG: Is It Really A True Measure of Your Car’s Mileage?
• Company Turns Familiar Gas Cars Into Electric Vehicles
• First Time Ever: Prius is Most Searched New Car on Cars.com
• Low Impact Living: Hypermiling — My Mileage is Better than Your Mileage
• Save Gas Without Losing Your Shirt: 3 Gas Saving Devices with High Scam Potential
• Goodbye Trucks and SUVs; Hello Gas Saving… Geo Metro?
• How to Get 70 MPG Out of a Honda Civic
• 100+ EcoDriving Tips to get Better Mileage in Your Car

Image credits: U.S. Geological Survey via Wikimedia Commons, and Jacob Bøtter’s Flickr library under Creative Commons

Sources: Allstate press release, Sacramento Bee

As if there isn’t enough bio-diesel controversy over the food for fuel debate now we have a little skirmish arising here in San Francisco. When we walk by any San Francisco restaurant (particularly the ones that have that delish yet oh so bad for you fried cuisine) we can smell where this fuss originated – the fryers. Yes, it’s that oh so wonderful french fry grease that companies like Blue Sky Bio-fuels and Got Grease work with to create biofuel. To us this method makes much more sense to reuse old oil and grease than to the create fuel directly from real food.

In this case the grease skirmish remains between the City of San Francisco and the private sector. Both Got Grease and Blue Sky pick up grease (usually for free) from small restaurants, but now the City jumped into the fryer and collects it as well. The fact that the City collects the oil isn’t a problem but the fact that the City has been using health inspectors to secure oil from the restaurants smells like burnt oil to us. Apparently a letter from the City exists that says something to the effect of “The City has been so busy collecting restaurant oil that we haven’t had time to write up violations.” Should we call this mess “Greasefellas”?

We’re all about promoting recycling of oil and grease but this slippery slope of “socialist” thinking doesn’t exactly scream fair competition. Apparently the City uses taxpayer dollars to pick up grease from Google and Stanford University which aren’t exactly in San Francisco. Also, the City ships the grease to Nevada. That’s not what we hoped the City would do to lower its carbon footprint. Aren’t there enough biodiesal plants in the Bay Area?

Hopefully free market conditions will prevail because we don’t want this controversy to impact our thinking when we head out for fish ‘n’ chips.

First, keep in mind that the best way to find out about any job, including green ones, is through networking. Most job seekers find new opportunities through people they know - many positions never even make it to the job boards. So get out there and meet people! Keep in mind that the key to good networking isn’t finding people who can help you, it’s finding people that you can help. By providing the information and making the introductions they need, you’ll form relationships with people who want to help you in return.

I’ve found green networking events to be great for this. My favorite one here in LA is Green Business Networking, which I wrote about a while ago. I’ve met many a client there, and have made some friends, too. It’s pretty casual, but business focused - make sure to bring plenty of cards. It’s fine to let people know what sort of job you’re looking for (how else can they help you?) but avoid the mistake made by one attendee, who moved from person to person asking if anyone worked in solar, then moving on quickly if not. Manners, people!

Nationally, Green Drinks is the go-to networking event for green. it guarantees a casual way to meet others interested in environmental issues; thus, the crowd tends to be a mix of all sorts of greenies. With a meeting every Thursday in different locales around town, there’s sure to be one near you.

Another organization appears to be growing around the country: Eco Tuesday. With a bit more structure, the event includes a new guest speaker each month, followed by brief introductions from the entire group, and then open networking. Other organizations, like the Sustainable Business Council of LA, host events on a regular basis, which usually include plenty of time for networking.

Of course, scouring job boards also provides an opportunity to apply directly to open positions. There are many out there, but I tend to keep an eye on these:

• Grist
• Sustainable Industries
• Care2
• Environmental Career Center
• Business for Social Responsibility
• Net Impact
• Green Biz
• Green Dream Jobs
• Idealist
• And, of course, Green Options Media’s Green Options Jobs

If you have other sources, I’d love to hear about them. Happy hunting!

Image credit: Andy Welsh at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

The combined sales plan for the US and Japan calls for a few dozen to be leased the first year with about 200 total units leased over the next three years.

The FCX Clarity was designed from scratch as a dedicated fuel cell vehicle and is powered by the relatively compact Honda V Flow fuel cell stack. With a 280 mile range per tankful of hydrogen, Honda claims it has a miles-per-gallon-gasoline-equivalent (GGE) fuel economy rating of 74 mpg (how’s that for a confusing tongue twister of a concept?).

Honda chose California as the starting place for the roll-out because, currently, California has the best liquid hydrogen distribution network in all of the US — with plans to expand the existing network of hydrogen fueling stations even more.

Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity to run a vehicle in the same way as a battery powered vehicle. However, fuel cells need to have their electricity generating substance (e.g. hydrogen) constantly replenished, whereas batteries are a closed system that can be recharged by plugging them into an outlet.

To accommodate the special equipment needed in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Honda has designed and built a new dedicated assembly line. The assembly line includes processes for installing the fuel cell stack and hydrogen tank. Because of the potentially explosive nature of storing compressed liquid hydrogen on board, the attention to detail must be very high.

Obviously, the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at any meaningful level is going to be entirely dependent upon accessibility to compressed liquid hydrogen refueling stations (unless hydrogen can truly be produced in large enough quantities in the vehicle and on-demand by some other means). This is no small road block and it leaves me still wondering if hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will ever really make it big.

But I guess it’s a good thing to research all the different possibilities for cars of the future. Eventually a few technologies will settle out as the winners and the world will be better off for it. I could be eating my words in 10 years, but I just don’t think hydrogen fuel cells are going to be one of those winners though.

Posts related to Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles:

• VW Debuts Tiguan HyMotion Fuel-Cell Vehicle and 2009 Clean Diesel Jetta
• GM Backs Hydrogen Refueling Station Near LA
• Toyota Announces New 516-Mile Range Fuel-Cell/Electric Hybrid
• Want to Test Drive a Hydrogen Powered Car? GM’s “Project Driveway” Looking For Drivers
• Provoq Concept Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle
• Company Unveils Hydrogen Hybrid Supercar: Available Fall 2008
• Safe Hydrogen Fuel System Ready for Market and Your Car!
• Save Gas Without Losing Your Shirt: 3 Gas Saving Devices with High Scam Potential

Image Credit: Honda Motor Company

It’s a question I’ve taken on before in a post titled, “What Do I WIMBY (Want In My Backyard)?,” and it’s now cropped up in the news. The place: Southern California. The plan: San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s proposal to build one of the planet’s biggest solar power installations in the desert, along with wind and geothermal facilities. The opposition: environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.

Why? Because the Sunrise Powerlink clean-energy project calls for 150 miles of high-voltage power lines, including spans through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the Cleveland National Forest and other protected parks and preserves. In fact, state and federal agencies analyzing seven potential routes for power lines ranked the path through Anza-Borrego as the second-worst in terms of potential environmental damage.

The Center for Biological Diversity says its opposition goes beyond just aesthetics, though. It claims the main reason for the Powerlink project is access to cheap, polluting energy from Mexico, a charge San Diego Gas & Electric has dismissed as a “myth.” The center, in turn, has offered testimony arguing that the utility’s contracts for renewable energy “aren’t viable.”

“The project would ravage habitat, contribute to global warming, and even pose a significant threat to people from wildfire,” reads a project summary from the center.

Which position will carry the day? California residents might know by August, when the California Public Utilities Commission could give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the proposal.

The situation involves not just the local governments but the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) that claim that the LBAM will cause major destruction of crops in California. The feds think that we must take swift action or suffer the economic impact of quarantines, which they estimate will cost CA millions of dollars.

Something curious happened on the way to this economic thinking. To date, the LBAM has caused ZERO crop damage. The economic damage has been due only to quarantines imposed on the Golden State by Canada and Mexico. When the Feds sprayed Santa Cruz and Monterey counties last fall the counties recorded over 640 health problems. This number represented only the reported cases, and conservative estimates of actual health impacts by local agencies put the number of cases at ten times the number of reports claimed.

It gets better. But of course numerous unbiased, third party agencies have tested the safety of this spray, right? In a word, NO. The Feds have waived all safety tests and environmental impact reviews due to the “emergency status.” The “inert” ingredients (which in pesticide speak means that the pesticides, though chemically active, are not targeting the moth in this particular cocktail of chemicals) of the spray that was used last year in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties contain known carcinogens, mutagens and endocrine disrupters.

It’sSanta Cruz and Monterey not like this moth has been part of a recent invasion but most entomologists including Dr. James Carey, a professor of entomology and invasion pest biology from University of California - Davis, contend that the little critter has been in Cali for at least 30 years.

This moth resides in New Zealand and as of 2003, they manage to control it by natural predators. We don’t have the space to cover this whole story but we have to think why do they want to spray this “agent orange for moths” over urban areas like San Francisco and Oakland. We’re sure that the babies and pets will react well to the days and weeks of poison sprayed over our fair metropolises.

Maybe the best thing that will happen (aside from the the governemnet coming to its senses) is for Mothra to eat everyone in Washinston who greenlighted this order. Maybe then they would be right to spray.

Photo credit - veganreader.com

Biodiesel lovers of San Francisco, rejoice. Starting next Winter, you might not have as much competition when you scour the back alleys behind Chinese restaurants trying to get your car fuel fix.

That’s because the city has just received a $1 million dollar grant from the California Energy Commission to build San Francisco’s first grease-to-biodiesel production facility.

Instead of using the more popular “yellow grease”—fryer oil— the production facility will make use of “brown grease”, or pan scrapings and oil residue trapped in grease interceptors under a restaurant sink. In the past, brown grease has been discarded at sewage plants. Now San Francisco wants to make use of the more than 2.5 million gallons of the stuff that’s in the city.

The plant will refine the grease into 3 grades of biodiesel that can be used to run vehicles, serve electrical and heating needs, and run sewage treatment plant diesel turbines and pumps.

Hopefully, the new effort will help cover the one billion gallon shortfall of biodiesel in California that is anticipated by 2022, since there is nearly twice as much brown grease in the city as yellow grease.

According to Mayor Gavin Newsom, the brown-grease-to-biodiesel plant, scheduled to be completed in December 2008, will “break new ground for sustainable fuel production in California and serve as a model for the entire state.”

And with biofuel prices in San Francisco currently at $5.52/gal, alternatives are sorely needed.

Despite claims to the contrary, it seems like General Motors is getting more and more involved in the refueling business. GM has already invested heavily in two different cellulosic ethanol companies (Coskata and Mascoma), and has now partnered with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to open a hydrogen fueling station near the Los Angeles Int’l Airport (LAX). The station will be located at Clean Energy’s compressed natural gas (CNG) facility and should be operational by the fall.

Mary Beth Stanek, GM’s director of energy and environmental policy & commercialization made it clear that this is just a continuation of the company’s general policy to advance the development of refueling infrastructure for their future vehicle fleet. No one wants a car they can’t buy fuel for, and GM isn’t go to wait around for the government to step in and mandate or subsidize one of the options.

“Developing and growing hydrogen infrastructure is vital to GM’s efforts to bring larger volumes of fuel cell vehicles to the market.”

Reforming hydrogen from natural gas is controversial, especially since California already has a reasonably well-developed CNG refueling system powering some of the cleanest cars on the road (14,000 daily according to GCC). But proponents argue that natural gas is an ideal transition feedstock until a more sustainable alternative for hydrogen production can be developed.

Hydrogen from the new station will be used primarily for Chevrolet’s Project Driveway, which is the largest market test of fuel-cell vehicles to date. If you want to test drive a Chevy Equinox Fuel-Cell Vehicle, check the link to see if you’re eligible (I tried to get through Project Driveway’s survey, but gave up after answering 50 questions that still wouldn’t tell me if my area is included—I’m pretty sure it’s not).

Final words from Andrew J. Littlefair, Clean Energy president and CEO:

Developing a cost-effective hydrogen infrastructure is a challenge. By leveraging the growing network of natural gas stations, a variety of hydrogen station designs can be introduced to the public. Ultimately, reforming pipeline natural gas to produce hydrogen at our stations may be done inexpensively, thereby taking advantage of the ready infrastructure. This approach can help accelerate a larger-scale deployment of hydrogen vehicles.

Posts Related to Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles:

• Toyota Announces New 516-Mile Range Fuel-Cell/Electric Hybrid
• Want to Test Drive a Hydrogen Powered Car? GM’s “Project Driveway” Looking For Drivers
• Natural Gas Cars: CNG Fuel Almost Free in Some Parts of the Country
• GM Announces New Cellulosic Ethanol Partnership with Mascoma Corp.
• Provoq Concept Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle

More: GM partners with Clean Energy for new hydrogen statiion in Los Angeles

Photo Credit: Clayton B. Cornell (Detroit Auto Show)

Dedicated to providing entertaining films (with an emphasis on the entertaining part) that raise social and environmental awareness, this isn’t your mother’s old book-of-the-month club. With ECC, members receive four films (short, full-length, and documentary films) on one DVD through the mail every other month. The films are yours to keep, or pass along to friends. All packaging is 100% recyclable, and the shipments are carbon neutral, thanks to contributions to The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program.

Though you can’t specifically pick only the movies that you want, an acquisitions team at ECC previews all of the films, selecting those that bring entertainment value, in addition to their social or environmental aspect. Most of the films distributed by ECC are independent films, so many of them have never been seen outside of festivals - joining ECC helps support these filmmakers by providing wider distribution for their  work.

But, if you prefer the theater experience check out the LA Film Festival, which begins next week on June 19th. With this, its 13th year, the festival expects 95,000 patrons over its 10-day run. Several films with an environmental focus will be screened, including Warner Herzog’s latest, Encounters at the End of the World, described as a “tongue-in-poetic-cheek” study of the people and creatures living in Antarctica.

Whether you choose a theater or your sofa, great films are a fun way to expand your knowledge of the world around you.

Clean Tech Call for Entries

“The California Clean Tech Open is unique among business plan competitions: it seeks entries from professionals, scientists and students alike; focuses solely on clean technology; and […] the prize package of cash, services and office space goes above and beyond other awards and is not typically available to early-stage start-ups.“

Eligible entries are accepted in categories as diverse as green building; smart power; air, water and waste management; energy efficiency; renewables; and transportation. Competition winners will be showered with an incredible array of resources designed to fast-track the startup phase. The generous prize packages include $50,000 in cash, one year of office space, legal and insurance services, marketing support, accounting services, and enrollment in the exclusive Summer Workshop Series for entrepreneurs.

Not ready to share your big idea with the world? CCTO offers a wealth of resources for non-entrants, including:

CCTO Sustainability Starter Kit

Formerly reserved for competition winners, CCTO’s extensive Sustainability Starter Kit is now available for download at no cost to curious clean tech ecopreneurs. Proposing concrete solutions to a broad range of challenges faced by sustainability change agents, the kit includes information on topics such as:

• Sustainable supply chain management
• Waste management strategies
• Company case studies
• The five rules of green marketing
• B2B resources for forward-thinking companies

Smart Power Innovators Symposium

Focused on opportunities in the power market, tomorrow’s Smart Power Innovators Symposium in Sunnyvale, California brings together industry professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to discuss the future of the global power grid. Expert panelists and CCTO competitors will be on hand to educate attendees about developments in “smart meters, improved storage, real-time monitoring and demand management” as components of the emerging “Smart Power” infrastructure. Later this summer, learn how California companies are tackling alternative power sources at the CCTO’s Renewable Energy Symposium (July 14th) and driving efficiency at the Energy Efficiency Symposium (July 30th).

Trendwatch: 2007 Clean Tech Competition Results

Reflecting broader trends within the clean tech sector, CCTO competition categories continue to evolve from year to year. Updates from 2007 included a new Green Building category and expanded Water Management category to include Air and Waste projects. This year, organizers even considered adding a category focused on projects for the developing world, prompted by an increase in proposals geared toward international development. With 121 business proposals submitted last year in total, the following breakdown demonstrates the relative appeal of the existing competition categories:

• Renewables: 21%
• Transportation: 19%
• Air, Water and Waste: 17%
• Green Building: 17%
• Energy Efficiency: 13%
• Smart Power: 13%

Ready to join their ranks of past CCTO winners, including Microvi Biotech, BuildFast, and Synchromatics? Gather your team, fire up your computer, and submit your clean tech innovation by the competition deadline on June 14th. Keep an eye on the contenders and expect an announcement of the finalists on July 21st.

Related Business Competition Posts

• Eco-Effective Ideas: Got ‘Em? Enter Them in a Competition!
• 100 MPGe Automotive X Prize Offers $10 Million Purse
• 2009 Solar Decathalon Teams Announced
• Eco Effective Decisions: Vote on Sustainable Design for the Future
• Enter the Re:Connect Design Competition for Urban Entrepreneurs

Image credit: California Clean Tech Open

That’s the message from “Stop Trashing the Climate,” a report prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.’s 417 coal-fired power plants.

Why? There are two basic reasons. One, by trashing stuff instead of reusing or repairing it, we create the demand for new resources … and extracting, manufacturing and transporting those resources generates carbon dioxide. And, two, by tossing biodegradable materials into landfills instead of composting them, we’re creating emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is shorter-lived but 72 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

“Recycling is as important for climate stability as improving vehicle fuel efficiency, retrofitting lighting, planting trees and protecting forests,” said Brenda Platt, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and lead author of the “Stop Trashing the Climate” report.  “By avoiding landfill methane emissions, composting in particular is a vital tactic in the battle to stop Arctic ice melting. Biodegradable materials are a liability when buried and burned but an asset when composted.”

The report asserts that “A zero waste approach based on preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling and composting is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies to protect the climate.” It also notes that, per megawatt-hour, a trash incinerator produces more carbon dioxide emissions that a coal-fired power plant. Incinerators also waste three to five times as much energy as recycling helps to conserve.

“A zero waste approach is not only good news for climate stability, it’s also good news for America’s businesses and economy,” said Eric Lombardi, a report co-author and director of the Boulder, Colorado-based Eco-Cycle.

“Stop Trashing the Climate” urges a local and national 20-year goal of zero waste. We can get there, the authors argue, by not subsidizing landfills and incinerators, putting an end to waste incineration, composting biodegradable materials and expanding the nationwide infrastructure for reuse, recycling and composting.

As part of World Environment Day, community supporters of better recycling and composting lobbied officials in several parts of the country, including Tallahassee; Providence, Rhode Island; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Los Angeles; and Massachusetts.