Green Options

A Web site that lets San Francisco homeowners type in their address and get information on how much money they could save using solar power will be completely operational this month.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the site will make the City by the Bay the first in the world to be completely mapped for its solar power potential. By entering their address, residents or business owners can get an estimate of the cost to install panels, and the savings they could generate, the paper reports.

Climate change, developers, and logging are blamed

Since the winter of 2006, when a state of emergency was declared for 18 counties in the state, Western Washington has experienced increasingly dramatic annual flooding episodes creating a state of emergency in growing numbers of counties each year.

For the past three years here, the number of roads, farms, buildings, and houses damaged or destroyed increased—helped along by the landslides that usually follow in the wake of such flooding. Although with this year the number of landslides has been somewhat constrained, the total area of flooding has increased from the previous two years (several sections of Interstate 5 remained shut down as of Saturday night, Jan. 10), and tens of thousands of people have had to be evacuated over the past 10 days. The governor declared a state of emergency in late December, which has only abated in the past couple of days.

It would seem that a “trifecta” of reinforcing factors is to blame: climate change (an extra heavy dose of snow, followed by several days of heavy rains), upland forest clear-cutting (leaving less vegetation to soak up water and hold the soil in place), and over-development in flood plane areas (leaving too many people’s houses too low in the face of rising rivers) …all of which set the stage for the current state of emergency. The damage is still being tallied, and although the heavy rains have largely abated, repairs to roads and highways will take months if not a full year (and with state budgets so tight) or more.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of its most wanted environmental criminals, many of whom may be ‘armed and dangerous,’ and wants your assistance in helping to hunt them down.

The list is published on a new EPA website, which also contains photos of the accused, summaries of their alleged environmental violations, and information on each fugitive’s last known whereabouts. It is hoped that the site will enable the public to help in tracking down fugitives accused of violating environmental laws and evading arrest.

So you’re starting a green business. Congratulations! Now that you have a dream, a business name, and a plan, how do you go from the initial idea to making that first sale? If you’ve done your homework, you probably have a marketing plan for your business (it’s wise to make it part of your business plan). One of the most important pieces of your marketing plan should be your company web site. Your web site will be the first impression many of your clients and customers have of your business, so it’s important to invest the time and money necessary to create a well-designed, informative, easy to use, and sustainable web site.

Not only does your web site offer you a chance to market your company, it’s also an opportunity to exercise your commitment to sustainability. One way to green your marketing is to make the web your primary advertising focus. Through e-mail newsletters, online ads, and promoting your domain name on all company correspondence, you can drive traffic to your web site and cover a lot of marketing ground without having to waste paper. Focusing your advertising efforts on the internet means less printed advertising, which means less paper waste and fewer pollutants released (the printing process and ink pigments create a lot of them).

In the last-minute rush of Earth Day press solicitations yesterday, it was easy to get a bit bogged down, and even let some things slip through the cracks. One email that did catch my eye, however, was web browser Flock’s release of its “Eco-Edition.” I’ve used Flock on and off for over a year now (it was fantastic for uploading a massive collection of stock photos for our writers last year), and was pleased to see that the browser had created a version that allowed for seamless “green” browsing, and tools optimized for green blogging.

I’ve always liked Flock for its focus on integration of social media functions into the browser itself: right now I’ve got one-click access to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. The Eco-Edition adds a one-stop shop for green news and blog hounds: the “Green” page that loads when the browser starts features feeds from most of the web’s top destinations for information and opinion on sustainability and environmentalism (including sustainablog — thanks, Flock!). The refresh button even features the ubiquitous recycling symbol — a nice touch! As our friend Michael d’Estries at Ecorazzi noted, this creates a seamless experience: the best of the green web is right at my fingertips. Combined with Flock’s integrated social media and blogging tools, the Eco-Edition provides an efficient interface for all of the steps we green bloggers go through in writing, publishing and promoting our work.

Thanksgiving is only a week away, which means the gift-giving season is in full swing. To make your seasonal shopping easier and more sustainable, I’m bringing you a series of green online stores that offer a wide variety of eco-gifts that would make anyone on your list feel appreciated. The first offering in this series was Max and Zane and now, for my second installment, I bring you Organic Style.

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We’ve still got some tweaking in the works, but no matter: sustainablog, the sustainability blog I launched in July, 2003, has a new home here at Green Options. I’m eager to get back to my blogging routine, but before I do that, I wanted to share some of the other changes that you’ll see in this new version.

• Multiple bloggers: As regular readers know, I’ve toyed on and off with the idea of bringing

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Editor’s note: This week, Lighter Footstep editor Chris Baskind shifts gears a bit to give attention to a big event next month: Blog Action Day. Of course, we’ll be participating, too (though it’s not much of stretch here!) This post was originally published on August 19, 2007.

On October 15th, many of your favorite blogs will go green.

We’re talking about sites which aren’t usually focused on environmental issues, including many of

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MakeMeSustainable.com

Editor's note: As many of you know, we often do a Weekend Web Review, but decided we'd wait one day to introduce you to MakeMeSustainable.com, which launched today.

So, you've installed CFLs, started walking instead of driving on those walkable trips, and set your hot water heater at the recommended 120 degrees. You're doing your part to help fight climate change, and that's great. But, do you ever wonder how much impact

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Imagine this, business owner: what if you could have an icon next to your company's title when someone Googles you that shouts: “ This is a sustainable business!”, or “This is an all organic restaurant!” Would that make you proud? For those of you who aren’t quite there, would this give you an incentive to go even deeper with the responsibility of your practice? On the flip side, what if the Google results

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Web sites and online tools for swapping used items seem to be springing up on a fairly regular basis, and that’s a good thing sustainability-wise: why throw out a used item if someone else can get some value out of it? The newest addition to this group is SwitchPlanet, and founder Chris Samarin has come up with a pretty unique model for facilitating the trade of [...]