Green Options

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There’s a review of this book that goes by the title “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” and curiosity got the better of me to get to know how I have personally impacted on the future of our planet.

But then it has been around with us since just before Earth Day 1990. A lot of water have since passed under the bridge. Save the forests; there is a website and a rave blog too: 50 Simple Things.

Eco-friendly shopping, for instance, may be fashionable, but critics have argued it won’t reduce global warming. What has been the role of the Green Movement in ecological modernization?

Since the early 1980s, green as a political ideology championing ecological and environmental goals, has given the face of the Green movement a newer look, but not without the usual controversies: global warming, biofuels, or “agro-fuels” in more fluent eco-speak, solar-powered future, etc.

Editor’s note: This week, the folks at Eco-Libris get back their real passion: books. Raz Godelnik Eylon Israely reviews Jim Motavalli’s portrayal of “Nature Man” Joseph Knowles. This post was originally published on Wednesday, April 16, 2008.

A man walks completely naked into the wilderness to survive for two months without any food, human contact, tools or ready made shelter. Sounds like the latest episode of Survivorman? Well, almost. While Survivorman’s Les Stroud is performing quite impressive feats, and is “One man – alone in the wilderness… no food, no shelter, no fresh water, no tools… no camera crew” He is in some ways merely writing another page in the book that Joseph Knowles, the infamous “Nature Man” of Maine, started writing back in 1913. Upon emerging from his ordeal after two months, Knowles became a sensation and triumphantly toured the nation, lecturing about and demonstrating his woodsman survival skills.

In Naked in the Woods, environmental author and journalist Jim Motavalli not only portrays faithfully the life and times of Knowles, and the enthusiasm and controversy around his wilderness exploits, but also opens a window to the era. The author travels with Knowles from the forests of Maine to the Oregon coasts, the newsrooms of Boston to an artists’ driftwood cottage in the Pacific Northwest. Motavalli contextualizes the events in the relationship of humans and nature, Knowles’ life, and the media’s exploitation of popular trends, then and now.

Editor’s note: Normally, we publish our weekly post from Life Goggles on sustainablog, but today’s product review definitely belongs here at Feelgood Style. Life Goggler Adam takes asks his friend Claire to use and review UK-based Beyond Organic’s Hydrating Body Oil. This post was originally published on Friday, April 20, 2008.

Following on our look at some of the Beyond Organic Skincare products is the Hydrating Body Oil. Part of their Sensual Massage Gift Pack which costs £29.92, it can also be bought separately for £14.50.

Once again I roped in Claire (who looked at the Firming Eye Cream) and asked her about this 60ml bottle of body oil which contains a host of ‘good for you’ ingredients such as horse chestnut, fennel, cornflower, green tea, sea buckthorn and macadamia nut.

Nope, not another April Fool’s joke: the Sundance Channel will be rolling out the second season of The Green starting tonight, hosted by Simran Sethi and Majora Carter. At 9 EST, a new episode of the award-winning series Big Ideas for a Small Planet will air. Subtitled “Power,” tonight’s show “explores the booming field of alternative energy as it introduces several individuals who are working to develop clean, renewable energy from resources like the sun, wind and even cow manure.”

Following that, Sundance will air its original documentary Garbage Warrior. I got a chance to screen this film a few weeks ago as part of a package I received from Earth Circle Cinema, and it’s well worth staying up past your bed time (if that’s an issue). Garbage Warrior tells the story of architect and Earthship creator Michael Reynolds, and his thirty-five+ year quest to create self-sufficient, sustainable buildings made from natural materials and society’s “waste”: “tires, beer cans, glass, and plastic bottles.”

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that to live a greener, healthier life, you have to completely reinvent your ways. But more often than not, lasting change comes by making things simpler, not harder. Instead of thinking about all you should do, try a gentler approach - one that goes back to basics. Reusable shopping bags. Manual can openers. A walk to the corner store. Handmade gifts. A sustainable future doesn’t grow out of a to-do list, but from a desire for the kind of lifestyle that brings us back to ourselves. - Terri Trespicio

Here-here to that, sister! Though it is tough to get away from cleaning the bathroom and doing laundry, most “modern” inventions and products end up making our lives more cluttered and complicated instead of relieving us of senseless stress. Keeping things simple (or at least progressing them towards that end of the spectrum) is the overall theme of Body+Soul Magazine’s April 2008 issue - right in time for Earth Day, of course.

Learning how to kick back and take things in stride is the theme of this issue’s Reader to Reader column (page 20) . In celebration of the premiere of Sundance Channel The Green’s second season on April 1st, Body+Soul is giving away a luxury goody bag (worth over $2,500!) to one lucky reader.

Nearly three years ago, I took note of Bill McKibben’s Grist essay calling for more artistic expression about climate change, and lamented the most popular offerings on the subject at the time: the movie The Day After Tomorrow, and Michael Crichton’s global warming conspiracy novel State of Fear. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to read one of the latest efforts to address climate change within the framework of popular fiction, Marvin L. Zimmerman’s The Ovum Factor. This “eco-thriller” is the author’s first novel, and he demonstrates a real talent for spinning a page-turning yarn: I read the book in two sittings. Despite the story’s fast pace, though, Zimmerman succeeds in creating a work that a reader may finish quickly, but won’t simply put down afterwards. The thoughts that reader may have upon finishing The Ovum Factor, though, often won’t necessarily coincide with the author’s intentions..

Zimmerman’s protagonist, investment banker David Rose, isn’t particularly unique: like a number of John Grisham main characters, he’s successful, but unfulfilled. He’s looking for meaning in work driven almost solely by profit margins. Ironically, it’s the head of the firm for which David works that provides him an opportunity to find such meaning: billionaire Isidore Steinmartz sends the junior associate to Southern California to assess a project underway by Cal Tech professor and Nobel prize-winner Charles MacMillan. The project is titled PANDA, an acronym for Project for Accelerated Neural Development in Anthropoids. In short, MacMillan is studying how to increase the brain’s development during gestation, and produce super-intelligent children. Steinmartz, a member of an elite secret society charged with watching for, and heading off, the extinction of the human race, believes a generation of such beings will be needed to tackle the massive ecological challenges facing the planet and humanity.

Editor’s note: The phrase “greener transportation options” conjures up images of hybrid cars, bicycles, and buses. This week, Adam at Life Goggles takes a look at at yet another option: the Magic Wheel. This post was originally published on Friday, March 21, 2008.

If you ever look what category posts on Life Goggles are put in, you may notice this one says Product Reviews, but also Transport. That’s in the loosest sense of the word as I haven’t been able to go anywhere on this yet.

But I’m jumping ahead. The Magic Wheel, as you can see from the videos and pictures, is a cross between a unicycle, skateboard and scooter. Sort of. It’s a wheel with steps either side (and a shopping trolley/cart wheel on the back) that you have one foot on while you push off with the other like a skateboard until you reach sufficient speed to put both feet either side and glide to your destination. Well glide for a bit until you need to start pushing again.

First of all - it’s trickier than it looks in the promotions video - check out my video for my (embarrassingly, not first) attempts at mastering the Magic Wheel. I know April 1st is coming, so I might as well look at fool. To be fair, I’m not very good at skateboarding, etc., which I think would have helped, but it’s a bit tricky and young, cool kids are probably better at it than me. The package comes with some vague safety instructions and a dvd with some dubious English subtitles. But between them they tell you enough about the product to be able to give it a go.

Editor’s note: How “green” is your toothbrush? You’ve probably never asked yourself that question. Neither had Joel at Life Goggles until he received some toothbrushes from Radius in the mail and tried them out. This post was originally published on Thursday, March 13, 2008.

I know a lot of readers have been wondering what toothbrush I use…ahem. Well it’s a rechargeable one. I like it as I don’t have to buy a new toothbrush each time when the head wears out, but it does use electricity sometimes. I never really spend much time thinking about the “eco-ness” of my toothbrush, but every little thing helps. Now, the Source toothbrush from Radius may have become my new favorite, but why?

Let’s start from the beginning. I was actually sent two toothbrushes by Radius — the Original and the Source — so let’s take a look at them both.

After the immense enjoyment I got from Gaia Girls - Enter the Earth, I had some high expectations for the second book in the Gaia Girls series. I’m happy to say that author Lee Welles delivered yet again!

With the first tome based around the element of earth, the second tome is all about water (as the title suggests). Miho’s scientist parents were lost at sea and she now has to move to Japan to live with her uncle. Though she speaks no Japanese and has never met her uncle, she has no other choice but to move in with her only living relative.

While visiting the beach house of her grandparents (who have already passed on), Miho meets the already infamous otter, Gaia. Miho is quickly swept up in the excitement of being able to talk to all the creatures of the sea and makes friends with a large group of dolphins. Of course, her adult uncle thinks she is nuts and simply can’t follow orders when he tells her to be home at a certain time and she continues to come home dripping wet.

Finding fiction to enjoy has aways been a challenge for me. Thankfully, that issue didn’t arise while I was reading the first book of Lee Welles’ Gaia Girls series titled Enter the Earth. (Full disclosure: Lee Welles writes for this blog, but I was assigned to review her books before she came on board.) The premise of her series, listed as for ages 9 and up, is as follows:

What would you do if you could hear the Earth asking for help? In the Gaia Girls book series, that is what happens to four girls, each from a different region of the world. They are approached by Gaia, the living organism of the Earth. Each is endowed with powers over one of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. They must learn to use their powers to help Gaia survive the effects of modern humanity.

The first book centers around a girl named Elizabeth Angier and one very eventful summer at her family farm in New York state. She and the family’s undeniably lovable dog Maizey take on a big business factory farming operation that is trying to buy up all the farms in her town. On top of that, her best friend is moving not only out of town but out of state to Florida. Just as her troubles start to reach their boiling point, Elizabeth is greeted by an eager otter named Gaia who will change her world forever.

I’ve been putting off this review for almost two weeks now. Why? Worry … worrying about the job I will do. So far, my reviews of Body+Soul magazine have been quite detailed and, in my eyes, seem like more of a "re-hash" of each issue’s contents instead of more personal opinion pieces. With my plans to change things up firmly in place, all I had to do was start

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