Green Options

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Clean Burning Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) are hot commodities in some parts of the country, where fuel can sell for as low as $0.63 per gallon.

Unlike the world’s most fuel efficient car (VW’s 285 MPG bullet), the Honda Civic GX looks like a standard passenger vehicle. What makes it special is what you don’t see: tailpipe emissions that are often cleaner than ambient air.

The Civic GX is powered by compressed natural gas—methane—the simplest and cleanest-burning hydrocarbon available. With an economical 113-hp, 1.8-Liter engine, the EPA has called the Civic the “world’s cleanest internal-combustion vehicle” with 90% cleaner emissions than the average gasoline-powered car on the road in 2004.

And get this: in Utah, natural gas can be purchased for $0.63 per gallon.

Cork is just one of those materials that I never give much thought to. It just keeps my wine fresh and makes a great organizational board. Lately, however, I have seen cork popping up more and more on Etsy and discovered that it is actually a great environmentally friendly product. Here is what I learned:

Cork is harvested from the outer layer of bark of the Cork Oak […]

If you’ve read any of my submissions about hemp, you know I’m a staunch supporter of legalizing industrial hemp in this country.

It has many uses, but I’d never thought of decorative until seeing the story about the “Pastie Lady”. You want to publicize hemp and other natural resources, take a cue from 32 year old Jennifer Moss of Ojai, California.

That’s her on the left, decked out in a g-string, skirt and pasties, all made of hemp. Now, who could turn down a better reason for letting our farmers grow hemp, and establishing an infrastructure to produce such interesting clothing items?

They couldn’t have chosen a more fitting name because the development of an eco-city in Kenya’s tourism hub of Mombasa is the country’s first and probably the boldest in this part of the world.

Mimicking the beautiful haciendas of the Spanish countryside, the developers are looking to something even more spectacular - the design of the buildings will make best use of the sun, wind and rainfall to supply the energy and water needs of the residents and will also involve planting of more than 10,000 trees to complete the picture.

Works have already begun and hacendados (or hacienda owners) are buying into the prime real estate, having seen a sample house in this complex that will consist of a hospital, school, playgrounds and recreation facilities, a police station, commercial centers and office blocks, among others.

Almost nine in ten Americans or 89% use the cell phone, and this can translate into lots of “junk” that needs throwing away, because the average American is not known to own a handset for more than two years at least.

And according to a survey just released, only 40% of the US population actually recycle their cell phones while another 10% simply toss them into the bin while singing away…

But recycling your old cell phone could also be more than a green thing to do. You could be saving the highly endangered and rare Eastern lowland gorillas, also called Grauer’s gorillas.

Editor’s note: This week’s post from our friends at Eco-Libris seemed much appropriate for Ecopreneurist: an interview with author Jill Bamburg about her book Getting to Scale: Growing Your Business without Selling Out. While the book is two years old, Jill’s ideas about how mission-driven businesses can grow and thrive are still very timely. This post was originally published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

Getting to Scale is the second book so far that Swedish publisher Bookhouse Publishing translated and balanced out with tree plantings by Eco-Libris. They are doing great work over there and we encourage all our Swedish speaking readers to check them out.

How can you structure your green or mission-driven business, so that you can grow and even possibly sell it one day, without compromising your ideals, beliefs and mission? How can you fund your growth without finding out too late that your new investors are not at all interested in what you are doing for the environment or society, but only in the financial bottom line? While Getting to Scale is not a “how to” guide, it describes a wide variety of case studies that illustrate key findings. It is based on extensive in-depth interviewes with dozens of CEOs and founders of mission driven businesses such Ben & Jerry’s, Stonypoint, American Apparel, and many others.

I love discovering new companies that feature eco-friendly clothing for kids, and the market for green children’s gear is growing in both supply and demand. I recently was led to Toby and Rei: eco friendly clothes + accessories for you and baby. This Massachusetts based company, founded by designers Alanna Mallon and Kate Browning, features adorable t-shirts and lunch bags made from organically grown cotton, among many other green products for your child.

100% Organic Kids Graphic Tee

The elephant graphic tee is my favorite shirt! I’ve always had an affinity for elephants. The elephant tee is hand sketched and printed on American Apparel’s 100% organic cotton t-shirt. These sweatshop free shirts made in LA are then dyed at Red Fish-Blue Fish Dyeworks in NH “in the most environmentally friendly way possible without harsh fixing agents or formaldehyde.” This is a hip green tee for your child!

When the Internet extended its wiry tentacles to the small town that I grew up in, I had no idea what it was. I pictured it being a room full of wires and lights, like a super computer android version of a phone operator.

As I matured, I realized it wasn’t that at all, but a more mystic existence of floating pockets of digital information in constant flux, existing in digital clouds that were suspended just above the atmosphere.

Of course, neither of those images is or was correct. But as it turns out, I was closer to the target with my first guess. Massive server rooms take up space and energy all over the world, storing the information and websites we web junkies feed on for survival. Luckily, they are starting to go green.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc., a technology real estate company, has taken a bold step into the green world by renovating a 90-year-old printing facility in Chicago. They have turned the plant into the world’s first LEED gold-certified data center. Not only is this a paradigm shift for future data centers—it may change the way LEED building companies approach renovations.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! Did I just see this recycled Capri Sun bag at Target? In amongst the pretty floral and pleather handbags, there they were, in all their green-crafted glory…recycled Capri Sun tote bags - at Target! Wow, green craft is really going mainstream. I had a vision of a young indie crafter, sitting on a mountain of money, drunk on Capri Sun, tied to her sewing machine cranking these bad-boys out. After some research though, I learned the real story and how we can help. TerraCycle, Capri Sun and Honest Kids have teamed up to help prevent the billions of juice packs that Americans drink each year from ending up in a land fill.

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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.

Today is Earth Day, and it’s a great day to remind ourselves why we’re interested in things like renewable fuels and green car technology. It’s also a day to think about the role each of us plays in local and international environmental issues, from air pollution to the increasing cost of food.

Instead of bombarding you with tips on how to save gas or have a car-free day, I think everyone should take a few minutes to contemplate the local context in which these issues are playing out.

Practically speaking, the issues we’re facing can seem to overwhelm individual or even collective action. Oil is moving merrily toward economic depletion, public transportation is often nightmarish, and finding a realistic green car is almost oxymoronic.