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You swap out your light bulbs for energy-efficient ones, keep your house as chilled as a meat locker in winter, bicycle to work, eat little meat and drive a hybrid — yet nagging at you is this thought: Do my small actions make a difference? Author Michael Pollan says they do.
In last week’s Sunday New York Times Magazine (4.20.08), Pollan wrote a provocative essay, “Why Bother? Looking for a few good reasons to go green.” In it, he wrestles with those lurking questions about our everyday choices to stave off global warming. Some excerpts:
Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down…, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?
He looks at the reasons we find for not doing anything: “There are so many stories we can tell ourselves to justify doing nothing,” he writes.
And yet, he resoundingly concludes that those little things are worth the bother.
By Gavin Hudson •
April 26, 2008
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/epJR9tJojX0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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.
By MC Milker •
April 8, 2008
This post is the first in a series of roundups I’ll be doing featuring articles from our community journals and forums. To create your own journal click on the “Get a Journal Now” button at Green Options. com. To contribute to our forums, click on the “community” tab on the top right side of the Green Options home page.
Come join the discussion!
All entrepreneurs are interested in saving money and operating efficiently.
Eco-entrepreneurs also want to do so in a way that benefits the planet.
Perhaps because our companies’ missions, products and services are creatively and often elegantly eco, we find unique ways of doing that.
Take a look at some of Green Options ecopreneurs’ ideas on how to create an eco-office!
By Olga Orda •
March 29, 2008
Uber heavy hitter John Macdonald, Chairman and CEO of the Vancouver-based solar energy company Day4 Energy, recipient of eight honourary degrees and former MIT professor, knows a thing or two about renewable energy.
He also readily admits, with a signature askew smile and hearty laugh, that “being an academic is possibly the worst possible preparation for the business world,” and endorses a strong marketing presence in any renewable energy start up because the engineers “can’t seem to understand why somebody wouldn’t want this marvelous invention!”
It’s 7:52pm Wednesday night at the venture capital-esque forum put on by the VEF on CEO War Stories.
By Olga Orda •
March 29, 2008
Image source: http://timblair.net | Lights out for Sydney, Australia 2007
An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch.
Earth Hour is tonight, March 29th from 8 to 9 pm. The idea is to turn off the lights as a symbolic gesture that us citizens, business owners, uber-corporations (hello, Google’s black screen, hello McDonalds in Toronto saving 10 000 kilowatt hours) local governments and non-profit groups are taking climate change seriously.
Despite gripes that Earth Hour falls on the NCAA basketball regional, it’s lights out for over 23 major cities worldwide like Toronto and Bangkok.
By Sharon Troy •
March 24, 2008
In my last post I touched on a few reasons why vegetarianism is one option to consider in your efforts to pursue a more sustainable lifestyle, and “eat better.” Mark’s original EcoWorldy post on vegetarianism, which inspired my post asked, “Do you have any suggestions on managing the conversion to vegetarianism now that half the food on my plate is off limits?” Whether you’re interested in transitioning to vegetarianism, veganism, or just looking for some ways to supplement your omnivorous diet with some meat-free meals, here are my top 10 suggestions for easing the transition:
1.Don’t think of things as being “off limits.” Some things haven’t changed since childhood. When we tell ourselves we can’t have it, it often makes us want it more. Remember that each meal you consume is a choice, and you will feel empowered to pursue the best choice possible.
2. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I often hear people say “I could never be vegan because I couldn’t give up cheese.” Or bacon, or ice cream, or some other food. OK, so then give up everything but that. The Veggie Police will not come and arrest you if you indulge in a sustainably raised piece of fish every now and then.
By Olga Orda •
March 17, 2008
Image source | www.jiinjoo.com
An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch.
When asked: how “green” are you, the brains behind accounting, IT and architectural firms who, kudos to them – both the closet greens or eco-warriors who proudly bear their eco-badge on their sleeve – jump up to say that they are helping their clients drive sustainability solutions.
Even lawyers are realizing their impact on their environment. No seriously, lawyers are sharp enough to know that using all that virgin paper cannot be good to the environment.
But when it comes to driving internal sustainability initiatives? Many still respond by: “we recycle”. Period.
By MC Milker •
March 11, 2008
In a recent Ad Age article Jacquelyn Ottman, president of J. Ottman Consulting, shared four green marketing predictions for 2008 with readers. While her predictions are meant for the big corporate and big agency readers of that magazine, eco entrepreneurs can develop their own marketing strategies based on what the big players see as the major market trends.
1. Ottman predicts, and I wrote about here , that consumers and manufacturers fed up with regulatory agencies’ inaction in the area of eco-labeling. With minimal or mindless standards governing consumers’ choices, big companies are creating their own standards and vying with each other to do the job the FDA, USDA and other government agencies seem reluctant to do.
By Olga Orda •
March 3, 2008
Photos by Chris Jordan | “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption”
Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.
According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, used or unwanted electronics amounted to 1.9 to 2.2 million tons in 2005, with most of that ending up in landfills. We did a post earlier on the how the chemicals that seep into the soil, even decades later, can have harmful human health effects and the fact that heaps of the stuff are often left abandoned in developing countries.
The first part of this guide should give you some good resources for finding biodiesel at home and on the road. But don’t think you have to rely on retail biodiesel to get by. Homemade (aka “homebrew”) biodiesel may be available in your area, or you may be inclined to make your own.
While fuel quality obtained by this method can vary considerably, it’s still possible (even likely) to get fuel that meets national standards. That being said, you may have to get your hands dirty, and this will require a bit more research than finding a local biodiesel pump.
Options 1-3 of this guide are located here.
4. Biodiesel Coops: Discount Fuel At A Price
Another option for the intrepid is to join hands with other biodiesel enthusiasts and participate in making the fuel yourself. Biodiesel co-ops pool resources, equipment, and know-how, and may be the best way to learn to make biodiesel. While you don’t necessarily have to get your hands dirty to participate in a co-op, it can be satisfying work, builds community, and lies at the heart of the biodiesel movement.
Looking to find a source of biodiesel? Perhaps you followed my previous post, 7 Steps To Buying A Diesel, or maybe you already have a vehicle and feel it’s time to boycott OPEC oil. Either way, this guide will help you figure out how to get from A to B exclusively on biodiesel. Part II (options 4-6) of this post can be found here.
Remember that biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine (warranty issues aside) without modification. The only conversion necessary is where you decide to fill up, and that’s what this guide is intended to supplement. One caveat: be advised that biodiesel use can be tricky in cold weather, and depending on location and season you may have to drop to a 50% or even 20% biodiesel blend (more on that later). Without further ado:
1. At Home: Find Biodiesel At Retail Gas Stations
Without your knowledge, a local retail station may already have converted one of their pumps to some blend of biodiesel. The most common blend is B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% diesel), but don’t be surprised to see “biodiesel stations” with a lowly 5% blend (B5). (Stations now commonly offer B5 to confer lubricity lost by the introduction of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel - ULSD.)
If you’re lucky, you may even find a B100 pump nearby, but there are other ways to get pure (aka neat) biodiesel (see below). You can find a list of retail biodiesel stations at both the National Biodiesel Board’s website, and NearBio.com:
