Share. Learn. Shop. Explore. Your world in green.
The Biodegradable Grass Cell Phone
Hay may be for horses, but it makes a pretty great mobile phone material as well. Appearing for all the world like a brick of sod outfitted with a keypad, Je-Hyun Kim’s Natural Year Phone concept carefully considers the life cycle of cellular phones, which are all too frequently disposed of due to obsolescence and the constant cycling of two-year contracts. Designed to last only for the length of its functional life cycle, the grassy green phone biodegrades and pieces apart for easy recycling after two years are up.
Simple Solutions to Complex Problems: The Hurriquake Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
...
We Want Renewable Energy & Green Jobs Too: Native American Groups Tell Obama
Citing the disproportionate burden Native American populations will bear because of climate change, and have borne because fossil fuel energy development (in particular uranium mining), a coalition of Native groups, including Honor the Earth, the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the International Indian Treaty Council, is asking that the incoming Obama administration to give greater support to tribally owned and opera...
Earth Policy Institute: Plan B Efficiency and Conservation Measures Drop Energy Demand by 2020
By Lester R. BrownProjections from the International Energy Agency show global energy demand growing by close to 30 percent by 2020, setting the stage for massive growth in the carbon dioxide emissions that are warming our planet. But dramatically ramping up energy efficiency would allow the world to not only avoid growth in energy demand but actually reduce global demand to below 2006 levels by 2020.
We can reduce the amount of energy we use by preventing the waste of heat and electricity in buildings and industrial processes and by switching to efficient lighting and appliances. We can also save an enormous amount of energy by restructuring the transportation sector. Many of the needed energy efficiency measures can be enacted relatively quickly and pay for themselves.
No Way To Run a Railroad: Amtrak Arrests Photo Contest Participant- For Taking Photos
Photo of where Dwane Kersic was standing in Penn Station. Used, I think, with permission
TreeHugger loves trains and loves Amtrak, kind of like one loves a wayward child. Thanks to underfunding and management, Amtrak gives train-haters lots of ammunition, like when it runs out of gas (a post where half of the commenters called it "incompetent"). Its latest: Amtrak Police arrested photographer Duane Kerzic for taking pictures of trains in Penn Station- for Amtrak's <a href="http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?p...
CleanTechies Beats Out Non-Green Blogs for “Best Business Blog” Finalist
The Weblog Awards are a fairly big deal in the blogosphere, and when green blogs beat out others for prime finalist spots, it's a good sign that blog readers are catching on.
CleanTechies is a business blog focused on information from the CleanTech industry, and it beat out 5,000 blogs for a spot as a finalist in the "Best Business Blog" award competition. But what makes this such an achievement is that it was the only green blog in the category.
Read on for what you can do to help this green blog get some recognition. ...
Aftermath of the TVA Coal Ash Spill: Get Ticketed for Taking Water Samples (Video)
Note: the intro to this is the same as some other clips we’ve shown on this subject, but this one really does a better job at showing the extent of the damage caused by the spill--if you want to get quickly caught up on what's happened over the past since the spill happened, this is the one. One more eyewitness video clip showing the aftermath ...
Green Gizmos Meet Refabs at School of Sustainability
We often complain that there is a lot of embodied energy in existing buildings and that they should be preserved and renovated; we have also repeated Donovan Rypkema's comment that architects are overly fond of "green gizmos" instead of simpler technologies. The new Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University has its feet planted in both camps; it is a refab of an old nursing school and it is most definitely decorated with the greenest of gizmos: cute little AeroVironment wind turbines....
Dishwasher-Poached Salmon - A Recipe for Energy Efficiency
Image credit: Terrapass
Dishwasher Cooking Puts Waste Heat to Work
It’s been a long time since Treehugger covered the rather obscure art of dishwasher cooking, but just like cooking with your car engine, there is some logic to using up heat that would otherwise go to waste. Personally I’ve always been a little too nervous of soap-sud encrusted salmon to give it any serious thought – but Adam Stern over at Terrapass is a braver s...
Robert Redford under Fire from Civil Rights Group
Robert Redford has come under fire from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In what seems like a bizarre veering off-mandate for a movie star and the civil rights group who once coordinated the Washington march led by Martin Luther King Jr, they’ve come to verbal blows over oil and gas drilling.
SwapItShop Is eBay, But With Fake Money
Did you get a bunch of junk for Christmas and you don't know what to do with it? Or maybe you want to clean out your closet and wish you could get something in return for all the things you're planning to FreeCycle?
The SwapItShop is an online trading system that lets you trade unwanted stuff for points, which you then put towards other items on the website that strike your fancy. ...
Motorola Renew is World’s First Carbon Neutral Mobile Phone
Motorola has announced plans to launch the world’s first completely carbon neutral mobile phone, at CES 2009 in Las Vegas.
The shell of the W233 Renew is made entirely of recycled water bottles, and will be available via T-Mobile within the next three months. The struggling cell phone manufacturer has also teamed up with CarbonFund.org to offset the energy used in the manufacture, distribution and operation of each phone throughout its lifetime.
Foster + Partners Green Building in Buenos Aires: The Aleph
English architecture studio Foster + Partners is about to start building a sustainable luxury apartment building in one of Buenos Aires top neighborhoods, Puerto Madero. The first of this high profile firm in South America.
The building, called The Aleph, was designed with the aim to selectively recycle some parts of an old property and to take the most advantage of the city's sun for light and climate control. Plus, the architecture firm is closely analyzing the buil...
Green Crafter Profile: Recycled Jewelry by Garbage of Eden
Garbage of Eden Designs artist Stephanie Huffaker takes plastic that would be headed for the landfill and turns it into lovely necklaces, bracelets and earrings.
On top of diverting plastic from the waste stream, the Brooklyn, NY artist aims to raise awareness about plastic’s effect on our water supply through her designs.
Wild Food: Seven Herbs To Celebrate The Return Of Green
(Photo from Shizenjuku)
Sirerdrick made a good point in the comment to Bonnie's post about Food Foraging, noting that in Japan, you can find a lot of wild foods, including bamboo shoots, fern saplings, and ginkgo nuts. Actually, today, January 7 is a traditional day to celebrate the first herbs that grow this time of year. This afternoon I noticed that my supermarket sold the herbs, so I didn't have to do much foraging, but I like the way they make stuff available:...
Book Review: Andrew Nikiforuk’s Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent
Northern Alberta’s vast stores of bitumen–a.k.a. “tar sands” or “oil sands” or “dirty oil”–may well be one of the worst environmental tragedies you never heard of. At least that is what Andrew Nikiforuk, a prize-winning Canadian journalist, wants you to believe.In his recent book Tar Sands: Diry Oil and the Future of a Continent, Nikiforuk lands a knockout blow on the kissers of the oil industry, oil-friendly bureaucrats, and petrol-guzzling North Americans. It is obvious that this Canadian is sick and tired of watching his own beloved habitat mutate from a pristine Northern ecosystem to a veritable toxic wasteland.
That said, Nikiforuk is clearly perturbed (another “p” word springs to mind…but this is a family-friendly blog). His book combines intensive research with a lively, caustic writing style…sort of enlightened invective. This makes for an astonishingly entertaining read that raises your hackles while raising your awareness about a seriously dangerous issue.
US Scientists Make Car Parts and Biodiesel From Coconuts
A team of researchers at Baylor University, Texas, have figured out a way to make car parts from coconuts, opening the door to the replacement of environmentally damaging plastic with an abundant, renewable resource.
The team have also created biodiesel from coconut oil, and are confident the new fuel could be an economically viable substitute for gasoline, as well as a vital source of income for more than ten million coconut farmers worldwide struggling on tiny annual incomes, typically as little as $500.
ZapRoot: Rights for Chickens and Rocks for Carbon
This week, our eco-vlogging friends at ZapRoot take a thorough look at animal rights, food labeling, and sequestering carbon in middle eastern rocks. Mix in some of their trademark snark and - poof! You’ve got a finished product that is both educational and entertaining.
This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.
Food Foraging Lessons for the Recession
image from ajooma.net
Food foraging has moved from being something out there on the fringe to an almost mainstream hobby. Or necessity, if things continue the way they are going. Given the mood of these times, more and more people are taking it up. Courses are being offered to city slickers so that they can become educated in the ways of the forest--a good idea because there are dangerous plants that can be eaten mistakenly. Even a pro like Nicholas Evans, author of the Horse Whisperer, recently needed dialysis after eating the wrong wild mushrooms in Scotland.
Hugh Fearnley-Whitti...
Motorola Unveils The World’s First Carbon Neutral Cellphone
Green innovations are taking center stage at this year’s CES, with many big name companies embracing sustainable design. Motorola is doing their part to tackle the massive problem of consumer e-waste with the release of the world’s first carbon negative cellphone. The Renew W233 is the first certified Carbonfree cell phone on the market and features a 100% recyclable housing made from recycled water bottles.
