ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY GIFT WRAPPING.

Furoshiki gift wrapping from RecycleNow on Vimeo

If you're a gift wrapping loser like me, watch this.

BITE ME

From Daily Candy:
"Greening your life is one thing (hello, Lexus hybrid), but your sweets?

"Step away from the spelt cookie and indulge in a treat from Eatpastry. The ecoconscious company does for treats what Loudermilk did for fashion, creating scrumptious, organic, fair trade truffles, candies, and cookies.

"Made with French and raw cooking techniques, the dairy-free confections satisfy the sweetest teeth without the sugar rush (and subsequent crash) using healthy fats, nuts and seeds, and other wholesome ingredients."

REQUIRED READING

From Amazon:
In The Green Collar Economy, acclaimed activist and political advisor Van Jones delivers a real solution that both rescues our economy and saves the environment. The economy is built on and powered almost exclusively by oil, natural gas, and coal—all fast-diminishing nonrenewable resources. As supplies disappear, the price of energy climbs and nearly everything becomes more expensive. With costs and unemployment soaring, the economy stalls. Not only that, when we burn these fuels, the greenhouse gases they create overheat the atmosphere. As the headlines make clear, total climate chaos looms over us. The bottom line: we cannot continue with business as usual. We cannot drill and burn our way out of these dual dilemmas.

Instead, Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into the healthy new green economy. Built by a broad coalition deeply rooted in the lives and struggles of ordinary people, this path has the practical benefit of both cutting energy prices and generating enough work to pull the U.S. economy out of its present death spiral.

Buy it here.

HOW AN EGG BEATER COULD POWER THE FUTURE

The Dutch are known for their windmills and their master artists, and this seems to incorporate a little of both. A design that seems almost a sculpture, these windmills solve many of the problems of windmill generators. They work even at very low speeds and are almost silent, which is a very big deal to many people who are bothered by the low frequency throb of typical wind power generators. They also extract power from the wind more efficiently than the fan blades that catch the wind on other models. These ‘eggbeaters’ come in two sizes at present and even the larger 2 meter one would only provide a small portion of the power currently used by the average electricity guzzling American home, but as our homes become more efficient these could be a viable option or the future.

Found on Culture Waves. Original story here.

GREEN-COLLAR JOBS ARE ALL THE FASHION

Investment Could Create 80,000 'Green-Collar' Jobs In Ill.
Same Investment Would Create Fewer Jobs In Oil Industry, Report Says

An investment of $100 billion into clean energy technologies would create more than 80,000 jobs in Illinois, four times as many jobs as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry, according to report release from Environment Illinois.

The investment is comparable to the size of the April 2008 federal stimulus package dedicated to consumer rebates-to be an engine for job creation in Illinois and nationwide, the release said.

Found here.

NICE OBSERVATION FROM SETH GODIN

"When I walked into my hotel room the other night, I was amazed to discover that no less than 18 lights were on (all traditional bulbs) and that the heat was set on three different thermostats to a toasty 75 degrees in honor of winter.

"Then, when I got home, the $125 watch I had ordered from Amazon was waiting for me. The box for the watch contained four pamphlets, a small velvet bag, a cleaning cloth and was more than 10 inches by 3 inches by 3 inches in size. It weighed well over a pound--just the presentation box, not the watch.

"In both cases, I don’t think I would have noticed or cared just a few years ago. Today, both feel wrong. Not all of your customers will feel this way. Many will embrace willful waste as a sign of confidence or luxury. But as more customers change their worldview about waste, you need to consider who you’re talking to and what you’re saying."

Found on Seth's Blog.

WHAT MAKES IMAGERY GREEN?

The image above is a good example of the wrong way to handle environmental imagery according to Getty.

Getty Images just completed a year-long study of environmental advertising and 2500 hundred images later came up with this piece of interesting insight:

"Firms seeking to advertise their green credentials should shun generic images associated with climate change such as polar bears and melting ice floes.

"'When it comes to the visual language of the environment, we are in danger of killing it as a meaningful symbol with visual cliché,'" said Lewis Blackwell, creative advisor at Getty Images."

Found via treehugger.

CARBON LITERACY ON THE RISE

"Alex Williams writes in the New York Times that suburbanites are getting greener, quoting corn-burning environmental writer Mike Tidwell: 'In the American suburbs, people are suddenly literate in the language of carbon emissions and carbon footprints,' he said. 'I’m hearing it in most mainstream places.' Like at parties: 'This very nonhippie, not-environmental-cliché-type woman I heard asking another person, '‘I wonder what the carbon budget of these kiwis are?’ ' he said. 'I was just astonished.'"

From the New York Times story below.

Found here.

HOW GREEN IS YOUR VALLEY?

Found here.

HIGH WATER LINE

"High Water Line is a public artwork on the New York city waterfront designed to create an immediate visual and local understanding of the affects of climate change. I will be marking the 10-feet above sea level line by drawing a blue chalk line and installing illuminated beacons in parks. This line marks the extent of increased flooding brought on by stronger and more frequent storms as a result of climate change."

High Water Line

Found here.

WINNING THE OIL ENDGAME

"Energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It's the subject of his book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple: On one hand, the deadly risks of continued dependency, and on the other, some win-win solutions."

We love the idea of fee-bates he introduces late in the talk. Legislation along these lines would greatly increase conversion from inefficient oil-burning boilers to gas.

Found here.

TOP 50 THINGS TO DO TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING

"Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort or investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!"

THE WINDBELT, ONE TENTH THE COST OF TRADITIONAL WIND POWER GENERATION

From Popular Mechanics. Click on frame to go to video.

Video and schematics found here.

FIND YOUR FOOTPRINT WITH THE EARTH DAY FOOTPRINT QUIZ

A great tool for figuring out your individual impact on the Earth.
Go here to take the quiz.

EARTH STATS IN REAL TIME

Poodwaddle.com

A BOLD PLAN FOR SOLAR ENERGY

This from Scientific American:
"A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.

"Well-meaning scientists, engineers, economists and politicians have proposed various steps that could slightly reduce fossil-fuel use and emissions. These steps are not enough. The U.S. needs a bold plan to free itself from fossil fuels. Our analysis convinces us that a massive switch to solar power is the logical answer."

ENERJAR

The grand prize winner of the Core77 Greener Gadgets Design Competition is the Enerjar, an easy to make device that accurately measures the power draw of any appliance. The purpose of the DIY device is to "help people better understand the power draw of their appliances, investing them in the knowledge and leading them to reduce their energy use."

For all the winners go here.

JOHN DOERR MAKES A CASE FOR GREENTECH

"'I don't think we're going to make it,' John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world tour -- surveying the state of the art, from the ethanol revolution in Brazil to Wal-mart's (!) eco-concept store in Bentonville, Arkansas. KPCB is investing $200 million in green technologies to save the planet and make a profit to boot. But, Doerr fears, it may not be enough."



Found here.

CAN WE GROW ENERGY?

"Juan Enriquez offers a glimpse of some ground-breaking research to explore the potential of bioenergy. Our current energy sources -- coal, oil, gas -- are ultimately derived from ancient plants -- they're 'concentrated sunlight.' He asks, Can we learn from that process and accelerate it? Can we get to the point where we grow our own energy as efficiently as we grow wheat? (Less than a month after this talk, his company announced a process to do just that.)"

Found here.

GLOW IN THE DARK GLASS

From Inventibles: glass that can emit light without power.

What a great idea for interior lighting.

Inventibles has a really great mission: "To build a living showcase of what’s possible to deliver inspiration and innovation to the dreamers of the world."

WILLIAM MCDONOUGH ON SUSTAINABILITY

"Architect William McDonough practices green architecture on a massive scale. In a 20-year project, he is redesigning Ford's city-sized River Rouge truck plant and turning it into the Rust Belt's eco-poster child, with the world's largest 'living roof' for reclaiming storm runoff. He has created buildings that produce more energy and clean water than they use. Oh, and he's designing seven entirely new and entirely green cities in China."

Found here.