Editor’s Note: This is part four of an exclusive sit down I had with Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of their Global Zero Emission Business Unit, at last week’s U.S. debut of the LEAF in Los Angeles. Part one is devoted to battery swapping, part two to battery leasing, and part three to the quietness and safety of EVs.

During the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, Renault invited Gas 2.0’s own UK-based Chris Milton to an exclusive event detailing the company’s electric car strategy. The event introduced some rather quirky (and quirkily named) electric cars, including the Twizy, the Kangoo, and the Zoe. These aren’t just concept cars, they are cars that Renault intends to build and sell—some by next year.

Based on those releases—and the fact that Nissan hasn’t invested anything in battery swapping while Renault has jumped in head first—it started to seem that the Renault-Nissan Alliance was taking two completely different paths on the road to EV world domination. On the one hand you have Nissan with the rather mainstream-looking LEAF and plans for a luxury Infiniti electric car. And on the other you have… the Twizy.

In my recent sit down with Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of their Global Zero Emission Business Unit, I asked him to explain why Nissan and Renault were apparently moving in opposite directions.

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Editor’s Note: This is part three of an exclusive sit down I had with Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of their Global Zero Emission Business Unit, at last week’s U.S. debut of the LEAF in Los Angeles. Part one is devoted to battery swapping, part two to battery leasing, and part four to the different zero emissions directions of Renault and Nissan within their alliance.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn made it a point to highlight how quiet the upcoming Nissan LEAF electric car will be during an event in Los Angeles last week to mark the car’s U.S. debut. “LEAF has no engine, no tailpipe, no fuel tanks,” he remarked. “As a result LEAF has zero carbon emissions, zero particle [emissions] and zero noise. It’s quiet and clean.”

The gathering crowd of electric car makers has been drumming this “quiet mantra” since day one, and, indeed, it is certainly a great selling point. But recently the quietness of EVs has come under scrutiny as a potential safety hazard to the blind, the elderly, and children; if you can’t hear the car, it’s one less warning you have of an impending accident.

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Some of you may not be aware of the intricacies of the British parliamentary system, but one of its stranger quirks is something called the House of Lords - an amalgam of hereditary aristocrats, ageing bishops and a range of other assorted oddballs.

Over the years (centuries), this ‘upper house’ has cultivated something of a reputation for eccentricity - but the latest outburst from Conservative Lord McColl takes the biscuit. In order to tackle the safety risk posed to pedestrians by quiet electric cars he suggested the following proposal:

“My Lords, does the Minister accept that there might be a simpler solution? When I purchased one of these cars a few years ago, my wife, being very practical, said that the answer would be to put on the front of the car a small Swiss cowbell….”

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The Munchgear Soup to Nuts Kit made by Citizenpip (such a cute name) is an “everything in one kit” that, in my opinion, provides more flexibility and durability than a Laptop Lunch. The Soup to Nuts Kit includes:

• 1 insulated lunch bag with nametag and carabiner that easily attaches to a backpack
• 1 stainless steel water bottle and insulated food jar
• 4 BPA-free airtight food containers
• 1 stainless steel fork + spoon set
• 5 100% cotton napkins

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One of the things people who’ve driven electric cars seem to enjoy (including myself) is the complete silence of the electric motor. The only noises you hear while driving an EV are dependent on how fast you’re driving, the kind of tires you have, and the condition of the road. For a commuter, this feature alone can be worth millions in sanity.

But at low speeds while driving around town, EVs represent a bit of a threat to people who aren’t able to pick up on the visual cues of such a silent car — namely the visually impaired, children and the elderly. In an effort to address this problem, Nissan has decided that at speeds under 12 mph, the upcoming LEAF EV will emit a “beautiful and futuristic” noise reminiscent of the sounds that flying cars emit in sci-fi movies such as Blade Runner.

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What would happen if your Chevy Volt’s battery pack got wet during a carwash?  What if you tried to drive it through a foot of standing water after a rainstorm?  What would happen if you lost control of your Chevy Volt and drove it into a canal?

Water and electricity do not go hand-in-hand, exactly, and despite the excitement and energy surrounding Chevy’s upcoming Volt EV, a number of people are still asking questions about the basic safety of the Volt’s powerful batteries.

GM took those concerns to heart, and released some rare “behind-the-scenes” commentary on the car’s underwater testing on GM’s VoltAge blog.

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The Board heard hours of impassioned public comment in support of implementing the city’s desperately needed Bike Network; they voted unanimously this afternoon to approve the Bike Plan EIR and finally adopt the complete Bike Plan.

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In a sudden reversal, Transport Canada announced on Tuesday that it would release the results of hundreds of tests on child car seats conducted since 2003.

Prior to Tuesday, they were refusing to publicly release the six years’ worth of tests — paid for with the public dollar — because “there may be a potential for unfair material damage to the private sector without cause.”

On Monday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on this issue.  They learned that these tests were similar to ones carried out by the NHTSA in 2008, which revealed problems with some seats, such as failures in side impact crashes and numerous cases of infant seats detaching from their bases. These results led to recalls and changes in car seat safety policies.

As you might expect, this news prompted considerable backlash.

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This great video has been circulating around the birth-activist regions of the blogosphere recently, since it first aired a few days ago.  It’s a television commercial for a bed, and the characters in the commercial are no actors.  It’s actual scenes from an actual family, giving birth at home while a peaceful soundtrack plays, and voiceovers talk about the miracle, the specialness, the joy of birth, and the tradition of birthing at home.

There is no fretting about whether or not home birth is safe.  There is no screaming and panicking.  There is a secure and confident woman with her family by her side, bringing her baby into the world in front of our very eyes.

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“You’ve got a small group of multinational corporations who control the entire food system, from seed to the supermarket.”

A new documentary film, “Food Inc.“, exposes a frightening portrait of how dysfunctional and destructive our food system has become, and how dishonest corporations repeatedly compromise safety for profit. The movie illustrates how our nation is almost totally divorced from seasonal food, biodiversity and local production. We have entrusted the safety of our food system to a small handful of huge greedy corporations that are destroying us and the planet with massive monoculture factory farms and poisonous chemicals. According to Michael Pollan, this movie is “The most important film about our food system in a generation”. This excellent documentary was made by Robert Kenner and co-produced by Eric Schlosser, of Fast Food Nation fame; it is scheduled to be released on June 12 of this year.

Federal food officials are warning Americans to avoid any food containing pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination.  (Just like the recent problems with peanuts.)

All of this food recalling makes a person wonder if anything is really safe to eat anymore?

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In March of last year, the Organic Consumers Association published the results of a study examining 1,4 Dioxane contamination in what most of us considered to be natural and safe beauty products. This particular chemical is a known carcinogen and environmental pollutant, a cheap short-cut used to make harsh detergents more gentle on the skin. In other words, it clearly has no place in so-called natural brands like Giovanni, Jason, and Whole Foods 365. The California Attorney General’s office agreed, launching a series of lawsuits against companies whose products tested high for 1,4 dioxane but provided no warnings that their products contained high levels of this dangerous chemical.

Fast-forward one year, and the OCA conducts a follow-up study to determine if any of these companies have cleaned up their act, as most promised to do once faced with a lawsuit (and quite a bit of negative publicity, which I can’t imagine made them very happy, either). So…did your favorite body wash, hand lotion, or go-to hair spray make the cut?

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Choice Camps, a Boston-based summer camp and youth travel referral service, has just launched a great resource for parents - ChoiceCamps.com.  It’s a website designed to improve the way families find summer camps and teen travel programs online.

Says Nick Riotto, co-founder of Choice Camps:

“Until now, there has been no comprehensive, trusted resource for families to find safe, reliable, and top-rated summer camp and teen travel programs online. Through our online and phone components, it is our goal to inspire families to send their kids to camp, help them make informed decisions, and guide them in selecting an appropriate summer experience.”

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Or are they?

In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t.  They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“

In Part 1, we questioned the crib.   Part 2 bemoaned the bucket.  Part 3 scrutinized the stroller.  Part 4 ditched the diapers.  This week, let’s scrub the tub!

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Open any pregnancy or baby book, and you’ll find that list: the baby essentials, the things you absolutely cannot live without.  While many accessories are easily recognized as frivolous, certain items are truly indispensable: the basic necessities for life with a baby.

Or are they?

In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t.  They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“

In Part 1, we questioned the crib.   Part 2 bemoaned the bucket.  This week, let’s scrutinize the stroller.

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From the peanut butter recall to lead in toys, parents are searching for information to keep their children safe and protected from dangerous products.

Parents.com has just launched a Toy and Recall Finder where parents can discover and follow up on product recalls.  The site makes it easy to search by product names, model numbers, brand names, categories, and/or time periods.  The following categories are featured on the Toy and Recall Finder:

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Or are they?

In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t.  They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“

In Part 1, we questioned the crib.   This week, Part 2 bemoans the bucket.

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“It is often difficult to know which cleaning product is “greenest” but there are a few key words and phrases to look for which will help you identify those products with reduced adverse environmental and health effects, “says Lindsay Luhnau, environmental educator. 

She’s authored the Green Cleaning Guide For Businesses and Individuals, one in the Clean Calgary Association GUIDE Series.

What should you look for in a green cleaning product? Luhnau recommends looking for the following words and phrases on green cleaning products:

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Or are they?

In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t.  They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“

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So, we live a green life, eat a natural and mostly organic diet, and share this information in non-threatening ways.

For instance, when a group of Moms was talking about laundry, I shared using apple cider vinegar in the wash instead of bleach when a Mom mentioned that she felt bleach was necessary to get rid of the musty smell. A couple weeks later, when I saw that Mom again, she told me she had made the switch and it was working great.

We recycle everything and usually have at least twice as much recycling out as our neighbors. When they ask “why”, and “how”, I get to share some recycling tips and help educate our neighbors on what is recyclable.

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