Green Options

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Solar System Powers Donggwang Green Village on Semi-Tropical Jeju Island

Donggwang is on the western half of Jeju-do, the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical southern islands. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.

Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.

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Mother’s Day began when social activist and poet Julia Ward Howe wrote the original Mother’s Day Proclamation after the Civil War in 1870.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

This day began as a call to action, and it is only fitting this Sunday on Mother’s Day families take action on climate change and let their voices be heard.  1Sky is asking mothers and their children to create images to send to Congress urging them to remember the implications of climate change on the next generation.  The images will be compiled and be taken to DC to be displayed and given to Congress.

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If the five easy steps in this video are not enough for you, then take a look at this list from Seoul’s 2008 Earth Day organizers of ten more ways to go green, Korean style.

How many people do you know who would leave the suburbs and settle on an unimproved 160 acres of land, build their home with materials from that land, and then set up their own power grid?

That would be me!  I had the honor of being featured on the Lindberg Report, a weekly podcast on Planetsave.  Of course I thought of many things to say after the interview was over, like how my […]

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One recent study published in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that answer is yes, by an amazing fifty percent less incidence of obesity. The study, called the School Nutrition Policy Initiative, was conducted at ten schools in the Philadelphia area. Five of the schools eliminated all candy from the premises, and replaced soda with water, 100 percent juice, and milk for beverages. The schools also improved the quality of food and offered nutritious snacks. Additionally, students received about fifty hours of nutrition education over the course of the year and were given some incentives toward increasing physical activity.

The results of these small changes were an impressive fifty percent reduction in obesity rates among children in grades K-8 for the experimental group. This result was particularly important since the schools selected have a mostly urban population, where the obesity rate can be nearly 42 percent. Many of these children have little access to physical activity in their home environments due to safety concerns and less access to nutritious foods.

Have you joined Huddler yet?

The EcoGeek calls Huddler “The Finest Green Shopping Community So Far“. What is Huddler?

Launched in March of 2008, Huddler is a network of niche product review communities. By focusing each “Huddle” on specific areas of interest, Huddler hopes to provide a home for the most knowledgeable, passionate consumers to meet one another and share what they know in an interface that even novice internet users can take advantage of. By integrating custom built discussion forums, wikis, product reviews, image hosting, and more, Huddler not only helps you decide what to buy, but how to better use what you already own. Huddle together. Shop Better.

Huddler is holding a contest to celebrate its launch. Simply join Huddler, share you knowledge of the green products you use, and win! “From hybrid vehicles to solar arrays, CFL bulbs to green cleaners, efficient appliances to geothermal heat pumps, Huddler wants to know about your experiences and help you learn from like-minded peers.” You could win a green prize pack containing:

Going solar is like purchasing your electricity upfront for the next 20 years with a one-time payment. Yeah, you may save money in the long run, but the upfront payment is no joke. Currently solar photovoltaics cost about $8 per watt (installed), so a four kilowatt system will set you back about $32,000 before state and federal incentives.

Photo credit: Pete Beverly, NREL/DOE

A new model of solar purchasing appears to be coming of age: community solar purchasing programs. Last month, two colleagues in the Local Clean Energy Alliance and I carpooled to a workshop by the Downtown San Jose Solar Project about their experiences setting up a community purchasing program.

Effortlessly perched along the spectacular coastline of Big Sur, California, along the winding Highway 1, rests the Esalen Institute. While waves crash upon the rocky cliffs, up to 250 people per day participate in enriching workshops or research activities, often followed by a soak in the hot mineral baths tucked in a cliffside crevice. Since 1962, the nonprofit educational institute has provided transformational workshops for people eager to explore and realize human potential through experience, education and research.

My journeys along Highway 1, in search for leading ecopreneurial enterprises, brought me to this healing place and, as I discovered, a thriving residential community that draws energy and sustenance from their surrounding biological richness. It’s this residential community of researchers, staff, and educators, along with the enrichment programs and remarkable natural setting, that have drawn over 300,000 visitors from around the world seeking a greater connection to community and the land.

In their Solarium, a building attached to the main lodge where all the meals are taken in the community, I talked with Juliet Johnson, a former water engineer turned sustainability guide for the Esalen Institute as its Sustainability Coordinator.

[There are a number of different approaches to communities and building that serve to support sustainability (and often other aims at the same time; sustainable strategies are almost invariably diverse and multi-faceted in the benefits they offer). Over the next few weeks, I intend to take a look at a number of these types of communities and the ways each of them contribute to improving overall sustainability.]

New Urbanism (sometimes referred to as Traditional Neighborhood Design) is a movement spearheaded by the The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). Its goals are “promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. CNU takes a proactive, multi-disciplinary approach to restoring our communities.” Improving sustainability is one of the Principles of New Urbanism (see below),additionally, New Urbanism advocates a number of benefits. Although there are broad overlaps between using historical, traditional housing forms (or, unfortunately more often, faux-historical looking buildings) and New Urbanist principles, there is nothing magical about gabled roofs and wood siding, and New Urbanism does not require retro-styled throwbacks (although many examples of it do combine visual historical revivalism with the good community principles it supports).

Much of the attention we pay to green building deals with the parts and pieces and how our buildings work. Greener buildings use less energy for thermal comfort (heating and cooling) and less energy for lighting and draw on fewer resources (and less impact from the materials that are used) in their construction. All of these are good and useful steps to take. However, all of this just takes into account the building itself, and perhaps the site it rests upon. With this kind of focus (or lack thereof) one could envision a community of dispersed “green” buildings all individually well designed and well made, but, in the aggregate, contributing hugely to the destruction of habitat, the depletion of resources, and the net degradation of the environment.

An interesting report ran in The Guardian today - offering tips on how your community could become greener by way of the green living awards.

Environmentally friendly scuba diving, a new kind of courier bicycle service, the “scrapmobile” and more. A thoroughly positive and refreshing report as we head into the weekend.

A while ago, I read up on some disturbing impacts of car idling on the environment and decided to join a neighborhood effort to curb unnecessary idling. Our first target was the local school, where parents often idle during pick-up or drop-off time. Sometime, the parents idle up to 10 minutes, emitting car exhaust while other waiting children directly inhale the pollutant.

The group had approached the principal last month and finally she responded last

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