Green Options

I recently watched a video on Ecostiletto featuring Rachel Sarnoff & Josie Maran dishing on this mascara - in fact, not just chatting about its accolades but actually giving it the onion test. That’s right… the onion test. Translation: taking an everyday onion and chopping it with your eyes wide open. Unless you’re wearing safety goggles or have your eyes shut, this will usually produce streaming tears in the most hardened among us. The conventional mascara was a washout. Josie Maran’s mascara… not a smidge of mascara anywhere except on her lashes!

In the short time since she has launched the haute green newsletter and site, EcoStiletto, which encourages all the ladies to stiletto-size their carbon footprint from an Ugg Boot to a tiny Manolo, Rachel Sarnoff has made a huge impact of her own.

I got a chance to get the scoop on her inspiration and objectives and couldn’t wait to share them with the FGS readers. Keep reading to hear about her Fashion Week eco-find and what gets her going to inspire other green fashion mavens.

According to an article in the latest bulletin from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, Prairie Mines & Royalty, Ltd. (PMRL) and Norit Canada are building Canada’s first activated carbon plant. This plant will manufacture activated carbon for a mainly Canadian audience of coal-fired power utilities.

PMRL is a subsidiary company of Sherrit International, the largest producer of thermal coal in Canada (about 90% of total Canadian coal production volume). Additionally, 90% of Sherrit’s coal is sold to nearby power plants located at what are called the “mine-mouth”. Norit on the other hand, is the world’s largest manufacturer of activated carbon and has been in the industry for over 80 years.

It’s fairly obvious why it makes sense for a joint venture building an activated carbon production plant between these two companies, but why build an this type of plant now?

The South African government has announced plans to increase spending into the research of hydrogen and fuel cell technology over the next three years. They believe that, with the country’s metal rich resources, an increase in research could create more manufacturing and more income for the country.

The government announced to spend ZAR 400 million, which equates to roughly $49 million USD.

EcoStiletto is launching EcoStilettoKids, the newest blog on the block for eco-kids, that is devoted to all things green parenting-related, from sustainable faux fur teddy bears to the waste-free lunch kits—plus the cutest organic kids’ clothes, reusable diapers

This Sunday, September 21st in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, as part of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots celebration of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, the division in hosting it’s launch party [...]

In an attempt to cut their dependency on fossil fuel driven energies, the British government hopes that renewable energy will provide 20% of electricity by 2020. And thanks to a new report, the UK might be looking to Scotland to double their hydropower generation by 50%.

The study by the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland showed that there were still 657 megawatts of fiscally safe, small scale hydroelectricity schemes available to them. This figure equates to about half the amount of installed hydro generation currently running in Scotland, and could power about 600,000 homes, a quarter of the nation’s homes.

Encouraging all eco-chic ladies to reduce their carbon footprints from the size of an Ugg to a Manolo, the very fashionable Ecostiletto.com is launching this month.

Taking the content formerly accessed on greengirlguide.com (which many of you know is sadly being shut down by Nat Geo), the new destination will maintain the mantra of “If green is the new black, shouldn’t you know what you are wearing?” [...]

It’s been suggested by some that the popularity of the Toyota Prius was brought about not by it’s technology, but by marketing - leading edge technology perception, and the gadget factor of that LCD display showing you how much energy you were regenerating made it a must have for many gadget nuts.

So could the same hold true for solar energy? There is a certain coolness factor to generating your own electricity, and just like the Prius you get a nifty display showing the amount of energy being produced by your solar installation.

However, there are few people in Europe who fully understand solar power, with many believing it to be too expensive or impractical in the less sunny parts of the continent. With this in mind, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association has organised ‘Solar Days’ this weekend in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Britain.

High speed trains, jet engines, or solid German engineering? What gets you there faster, in more style and with less stress? There is only one way to find out.

Air travel is widely regarded as the bad boy of the green world, yet it is essential for many of us who must regularly travel due to work, family or other commitments. Therefore the airplane is frequently seen as the only option for international travel.

However, airlines in Europe are coming under increasing pressure from the train as a viable means of long distance travel. In France and Germany the TGV and ICE rail networks are providing stiff competition to airlines on many routes, offering reduced check-in, security and boarding formalities, fewer delays and direct connections between city centres.

Travelling at speeds in excess of 300kmh, these services are encroaching on what has until now been the plane’s primary advantage – speed. Recent upgrades to the Paris to London Eurostar service bring the journey time down to little over 2 hours, and passengers generate less than 1 tenth of the Co2 than they would travelling by air.

But just how realistic is the rail alternative in practice? And how does it stack up against that icon of the industrial age, the automobile? The only way to find out is to pit each against the other in a head to head race across the continent.