Green Options

We all give to environmental non-profits for different reasons.  Sometimes, with local groups, it’s to fight a certain development or to protest a local company’s toxic emissions.  With national groups, it’s usually to fight policies we don’t agree with that come from governments or multinational companies.  Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t.  And even when we do, there are often compromises that make our hard fought victory less effective.  It seems there is never a sure bet.  Or is there?

There is one surefire way that donations will result in decreased emissions, decreased consumption, and slowing of environmental degradation.  Can you guess how? 

Yesterday, I wrote about the new DH9 from DewPointe, one of the cool eco-innovations to be showcased at West Coast Green October 1-3 in San Francisco.  The DH9 is capable of extracting water vapor from the air and converting it to (very) pure drinking water, at a rate of about 6.5 gallons per day.  The technology is inspiring, in that this is a free-standing water manufacturer, needing no water supply, and conjures up images of moisture farms and growing forests where once there was desert.  Indeed, even in 30% relative humidity, which is akin to some of the driest deserts in the world, the DH9 can produce 4 gallons of water per day from the air.

The big drawbacks are the cost ($1600 retail price) and the need for electricity.  While standing, the DH9 uses 80 Watts, and while actively filtering, it uses 500.

Researchers in Stuttgart, however, have solved one of those two problems:  their system is completely based on renewable, on-site energy. 

Oatmeal has gotten a bad rap.  Kids (and adults) may view it as a health food with all the flavor of drywall.  There are a lot of ways to get kids of all ages to wake up and WANT oatmeal for their breakfast of choice.

Of course, the health benefits are clear.  I’m 34, and while I don’t worry about this kind of stuff, my family history of very high cholesterol had me wondering about the claim Wilford Brimley made about Quaker oats removing cholesterol from your bloodstream.  So I decided to run a little self-experiment.  In one year, my cholesterol dropped from over 300 down to 164.  Call me a believer.

But what about that drywall?

Sea vegetables offer nutrients from the sea that are more sustainable than our fisheries.

Healthy school lunches the key to a sustainable future, lower health care costs, and happier citizens?

Just like many other social phenomena that are good for the environment, the exploding trend of people growing their own chickens in the backyard has its naysayers.  Naysayers come in a wide variety of stripes.  For example, the widespread understanding that global warming is real and that we’re causing it has its naysayers, many of whom stand to lose a lot of money when their oil and coal has to internalize the cost of the pollution they’ve been making us pay for since their inception.  Or those that say that electric cars are not realistic…sure there are naysayers…wait, is there a trend here that the oil industry is against everything good?  Hmm…

But I digress.  Suffice it to say, there are naysayers who don’t want us to live well, to live with a lower carbon footprint by producing our own food.  Kimberly Willis and Rob Ludlow, co-authors of Raising Chickens for Dummies, can be counted among those that are dispelling these myths and empowering the people. 

Conservatives don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to protecting our citizens.

Where does municipal compost go?

What advice would Ray Anderson of Interface give to Barack Obama about creating a legacy in sustainability?

The Fourth Annual Sustainable Industries Economic Forum will feature ecopreneur Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface, a company specializing in sustainable carpets and other industrial products.  The event will showcase a panel discussion with rock stars of the green business world, representing a broad swath of green industries.  The timely discussion for this year’s event will focus on the current economic realities of the green business sphere.

Other speakers and panelists including Anup Jacob, founding partner of Virgin Green Fund, a consulting and venture capital firm affiliated with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Laura Rodormer, Division Manager of Green Construction for

Last week, in an experiment some cast aside as a PR stunt, several drivers drove a Ford Focus Hybrid car 1,445 miles, approximately double how far Ford estimated it could go, on a single tank of gas using Eco-Driving techniques.  The drivers were well versed in Eco-driving methodology, making the results of the test far less likely to occur in the general public.  They averaged just above 20 miles per hour over their 4 day test, which is 3 days, 23 hours, and 58 minutes longer than the average American’s patience driving without speeding.

Eco-driving technology might help keep people from losing patience–and interest.