Green: An Old Fashioned View of Living?

Over the weekend I made about 30 jars of apple jelly. I used glass jars I had collected from past purchases and about 250 fresh apples I got through the freecycle network. People think I’m dated because I like canning. It made me think about some of the old fashioned ways of living that work well with a green lifestyle.

Taking fresh locally grown organic produced and pickling it, making jelly or preserving it for future use is a great way to save money and lower your carbon footprint. Canning reduces the amount of prepackaged foods that you consume, reduces waste and provides a healthier non toxic diet.

Mending clothes seems like a phrase out of the dark ages but it’s a great way to reduce consumer spending and in turn your effect on the planet’s oxygen supply. The less new clothes that are produced the lower the carbon emission from factories. Sewing a tear, hemming pants and patching up jeans are great ways to save cash. Wear your clothes with a sense of green honor and keep the needle and thread handy.

Fixing things is another simple way to save money and reduce your footprint. When the bed rail breaks, don’t throw out the bed, repair the rail. Maintain your home with regular maintenance and clean appliances thoroughly to extend their life. Repair and reuse has always been the name of the game for the thrifty and the green.

Barter with friends and family rather than throwing things away or paying for things up front. Swap skills with neighbors and trade a mowed lawn for a new deck chair or a serviced boiler for a few jars of canned vegetables. This helps lower the community carbon footprint, extend the sense of societal unity in your home town and saves money for everyone.

Think before you buy or use something. Our grandparents generation lived through worst economic times than we are facing now and learned quickly what was necessary and what was frivolous. Before buying or doing anything, consider the real cost both in carbon and cash. Living frugally in a poor economy helps everyone.

It may be a little old fashioned, but it turns out, so is being green.

Greening up the Office

When it’s just a small office, ceramic plates, cups, cloth napkins and packed lunches are the best way to reduce the office carbon footprint and keep costs low. But in the high end corporate office, it can be difficult to convince the higher ups of such down to earth solutions to un-green offices. After a little research, I have compiled a top seven (to be different) list of ways to offset the office carbon footprint.

1. Unplug when you can or invest in power strips. We all know that electrical outlets are energy vampires. Spending a little of the office supply budget on power strips will help in the long run. As will unplugging things that are not in use.

2. Encourage co workers to drops extra copies, printing mistakes and unwanted paperwork into a recycling box. Use the back side of this paper or, if dealing with confidentiality, shred the paper and use for packing filler. Recycled paper is of course, the best option.

3. Pull up the blinds on office windows and opt for natural light whenever possible. The amount of artificial lights in offices is not only bad for your health and vitamin D intake but it wastes energy. Choose sunshine and LED lights to save energy and increase health.

4. Make the disposable break room a zero waste environment. When disposable is the only way, choose recycled paper cups, corn plastic containers and bamboo sugar stirrers. Compostable biodegradable, landfill break down plant based plastics are comparable in price to traditional and deletes waste.

5. Be your co-workers friend and car pool. If you live close enough get a walking or cycling buddy to make the green office commute a bit more enjoyable. Remember transportation is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gases, and you go to the office nearly every day so it adds up quickly.

6. Choose Energy Star copiers, water coolers, refrigerators and ovens for the office and break room. This is a simple way to reduce energy and save money. It probably works out as a tax deduction for the boss as well.

7. Consider an office garden or compost heap. This can be a team project and people can take turns feeding the leftovers fro lunch to the worms. Office gardens are fun for both workers and clients and offer a green space to relax.


I’ll probably say it a thousand times but its important to consider every environment you spend a lot of time in when reducing your carbon footprint. The workplace is one area when teamwork can really make a difference to the planet. And while I’m thinking about it, what about handing out carbon credits for the holidays? Talk about spreading the eco wealth.

Greening the Holidays: Considering a Reduce Carbon Footprint Halloween

It may seem a little early to start talking Halloween but for many of us, this coming weekend is when we start getting serious about making plans and buying costumes. And if you are trying to have a green Halloween on a budget, preparation is a must.

A quick scan through the cyber world shows a number of new options for those considering Halloween as another opportunity to reduce and offset their carbon footprint. And some aspects of this sugar fueled spooky holiday have always been green, so why change what works?

Trick or treating is a walking tradition; the door to door ritual is integral to the holiday. Choose local areas for candy canvassing and leave the car at home. Close parental supervision is enough to keep your kid safe and driving the car every block to park it at the end of the street is not just lazy, is a greenhouse gas nightmare. Keep fuel emissions low this year and wear good walking shoes and a warm coat.

Create your own Halloween costume out of used materials.A second hand white sheet is a majorly low impact approach. Browse local thrift stores and dress up boxes for the basics for a home made costume. In these harsh economic times, the budget approach is considered smart so don’t worry. You could even consider a “green” green costume and dress up like a recycling bin or LED light bulb, whatever tickles your fancy. Just avoid buying as little over processed packaged products as possible.

Speaking of which, how about natural decorations this year? The stores abound with an assortment of soy candles both scented and decorative and a bale of straw is a lot cheaper than the plastic emission emitting decorations from the made anywhere but here store. A number of online retailers are offering corn based treat bags or you could buy a canvas bag and use it for many years to come.

If you are giving out the treats this year use it as an opportunity to make a statement. Offer soy treats made from organic low footprint ingredients, collect candy wrappers for future craft projects and hand out candy in recycled packaging when you can find it.

Every holiday or occasion offers the chance to think outside the box. Halloween especially is a good opportunity to teach kids about being resourceful, making do and having lots of low impact fun.

Don’t Bag it Just Carry it

I was at the health food store the other week (where I had previously been chastised for not bringing my own bag) and got stuck behind a young woman who was purchasing a few sugar sticks for her tea. The shop assistant looked at her and asked: “Would you like a bag?” Of course I, and I am sure the line behind me filled with individuals clutching their own canvas bags, presumed the woman would say no.

Never assume anything. And the fact that someone would get a plastic bag for such a small amount of product when she had a purse over her shoulder much larger than the carrier bag made me think: are we just brainwashed into making stupid planet destroying choices?

As explained by reuseablebags.com, the real cost of the plastic bags handed out without a thought at stores across the land is enormous. They are made using petroleum based products that are drilled from the earth, destroy natural habitats and using up non renewable fuel resources. The manufacture of plastic bags releases carbon emissions and toxic chemicals into our atmosphere. The transport of plastic bags to those thousands of stores produces a huge carbon footprint.

Plastic bags are not good. Some would argue they are a small drop in the ocean of landfill waste but to me its one thing we can change.

A plastic bag takes almost 1000 years to disintegrate back into the earth. A canvas or cotton bag can be reused again and again making it a much more sustainable product. We can regrow cotton but we can’t regrow coal and oil. You can pick up a reusable canvas bag for a buck anywhere across the country.

You save money because the cost of producing plastic bags that are handed out for “free” is of course added to your shopping bill. Plastic bags only remain in favor because we the consumers act as though we need them. So the only way to get rid of them is to refuse to use them.

It’s simple. Consumer demand drives this country. If we demand sustainable goods we get sustainable goods. If we demand carbon footprint creating toxic fume emitting greenhouse gas accumulating goods? Well, we’ll get those too.

If nothing else makes you carry a canvas bag or I dunno, carry your purchase in your hands, think about the creatures. Annually, thousands of marine mammals die from ingesting or suffocating on plastic bags. Herd animals on land die from strangulation and suffocation as they investigate the bags that float onto farm lands.

We’re killing our fellow creatures, our planet and our brain cells. So just make this small adjustment and help the planet. If you can’t well then, what about a carbon credit for every plastic bag you use?

Remember, you are the change you want to see in the world.

When You Must Use Plastic and Paper

No matter how hard we try to utilize reusable materials, sometimes the occasion calls for disposable goods. When it comes to hosting a large event, community fundraiser or any larger get together we need to start thinking about how best to offset the carbon footprint of the event by being green consumers.

The world of plastics has changed in response to consumer demand for recyclable and compostable products. Plastics that are made from vegetables such as corn and paper products free of bleach and made from post consumer waste are the choice when there is no choice. Although many of us are ready to change on the domestic level the professional transitional will take longer.

So how much do we have to pay for green plastics to cater our professional event?

I love to save money and be green at the same time which can sometimes be a challenge. And it turns out, there are only a few companies stateside really making the move towards only selling green disposables. And a little research shows comparable prices.

Take for instance the classic paper plate. A green version made from sugarcane rather than trees and completely biodegradable without releasing any harmful chemical into the air runs around $50 for 500. A traditional paper plate full of bleach and tree parts with a cute little pattern runs about $140 for 500. hmmm…green always costs more?

Disposable coffee cups. An 8 ounce green cup is about $75 for 1000. Traditional coffee cups? Well you can get a 1000 Styrofoam cups for around $30. It seems some green products are cheaper and some more costly than traditional products. But anyone that would purchase Styrofoam for a corporate event in today’s climate…well.

I guess this entry is aimed at those of us who are struggling with leaving our green homes each day and entering our extremely ungreen corporate lives. Even if you aren’t the person in charge of organizing meetings and get togethers, it doesn’t mean you can’t make suggestions to those in charge of budgets and events to go green.

And in those cases where the green goods may cost a little extra? Well big business can certainly afford and the cost of promoting themselves as a green company (or at least heading in that direction) can’t possible have a price tag.

Persuading corporations and small businesses to invest in carbon credits to offset office waste and emissions doesn’t hurt either. You could even calculate the office carbon and present the info to your boss.

Hey, share the knowledge. Isn’t that what the green evolution is all about?

Over Processed Vanity: Makeup's Impact on the Planet

In my humble opinion, makeup is one of the manufactured items that we can certainly live without. It’s not sustainable, contains numerous unnatural components and in some terrible cases, is tested on the furry folk we are trying to save by reducing and offsetting out carbon footprints. When you take a minute to delve into the ingredients in cosmetics, it doesn’t take long before you realize the true cost of vanity.

Lipsticks, tubes of mascaras, nail polish, foundation creams, eye shadows and all their accompanying holders, containers, applicators and sponges are a big waste of money and a resource drain on the planet. Not to mention the fact that some brands may actually cause you physical harm.

To begin with, the manufacture of cosmetics uses massive amounts of water, electricity and industrial waste create a huge carbon footprint. Some companies such as L’Oreal who own over 40 factories worldwide, have promised to work on their emissions but the only sure way to decrease that footprint is consumer choice.

Then there’s the whole cancer causing chemicals that are created to enhance color and preserve components of makeup. Recent studies found that some red lipsticks actually contain trace amounts of led. Not good for the skin or the fish who deal with the manufacturing waste water. Other chemicals in cosmetics include Propylene / Butylene Glycol (PG), mineral oil, coal tar and Phthalates all thought to cause serious health issues.

Few if any cosmetics come in recycled packaging and to be honest I have never come across anyone who has tried to put their empty plastic compact in the recycling bin. The whole cosmetic industry is pretty much self regulated meaning they can cut as many corners as they want and don’t have to worry about their effect on the planet.

Don’t get me wrong some companies are looking for sustainable alternatives, clean energy resources and making a sincere effort to find sources of post consumer packaging materials. The best we as consumers can do is purchase only organically based products in recycled or sustainable packaging. When the demand for footprint dense products is reduced, manufacturers won’t produce them.

And think of all the money you’ll save. Oh and if you just can’t give up that shiny red lip liner? Buy some carbon credits to make up for it.

Ride Share for Planet Care

We all know that transportation is one of the major contributors to carbon emissions and global warming. Thing is, this country is kinda big and public transportation still isn’t ubiquitous. Sometimes it’s too far too walk or cycle and there is no other option but the car. Ride sharing or car pooling remains the best way to get on with your life while reducing your carbon footprint.

Car pooling usually takes places between co workers who take turns driving to work or paying for gas. A car pool is two or more people choosing to travel in one car instead of traveling separately using double or triple the amount of gas and emitting double or triple the amount of emissions. Car pooling has been around for a while and in major cities, car poolers have their own special driving lane on the highway to reward them for this fuel conserving behavior.

All hail the car poolers.

Ride sharing is a more recent concept in the world of eco travel. Ride sharers do not necessarily work together or even known each other and may only ride together one time. Large urban areas offer ride sharing services which mainly consists of websites where you can post a destination request and see if anyone is heading your way. The cost of the journey is usually split between the travelers. This too reduces fuel and may prevent those who travel long distances infrequently from purchasing a car in the first place.

Let’s stand up for the ride share.

Things is, ride sharing makes me nervous. And that may be an uncool anti green thing to say but I’m trying to be honest here. Just because someone cares about the planet and is heading in your direction is that enough to trusts them? Have we gotten o a point where the label eco-warrior is enough to ensure safety and security no matter what the situation?

Hmmm….

I’m all for saving money and saving the planet but I think sensible shouldn’t be thrown out of the window in the process. The state of Michigan offers some great advice on ride sharing on their website. Take the time to follow up on contact information and given phone numbers to make sure they are real. Swap emergency contact info and make a copy of the driver’s license before departure. And always, always follow your instincts: if a situation doesn’t feel safe it probably isn’t.

A full tank of gas can release up to 350 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon emissions contribute to the rate of global warming. So every time a tank of gas can be saved, the better for the planet as well as the wallet. It pays to be careful though and sensible greenies are healthy greenies.

Greening Up Those Final Wishes: Eco Burials

None of us want to think about it but death is a constant companion to us all. One minute everything is fine and the next…well the next moment never comes. But all is not lost. In fact our final preparations are also a final opportunity to reduce and offset our carbon footprints.

And the green funeral concept is gaining wider acceptance.

So what is a green funeral? The environmentally aware funeral focuses on a natural display that utilizes sustainable materials and eliminates carbon producing choices.

To begin with, embalming is out. As we have already learned we are half embalmed by the time we die anyway from the amount of formaldehyde in many everyday beauty and cleaning products. It’s a choice to reserve a body chemically. Some places may insist that a law exists about such matters but it’s more a funeral home policy than an actual federal regulation. Check with a funeral home in advance to ensure embalming is not an issue.

Grave markers are greened by using only natural sustainable materials. A rock or tree make a perfect replacement for bronze plaques and hard to replace marble. The less processing and manufacturing the lower the footprint. Planting a tree instead of killing one is much better for the planet.

In the green burial, you can even forego the coffin if you want to. Concrete tombs and steel coffins are a no no. A funeral shroud or biodegradable coffin is the preferred choices costing less money and reducing the amount of precious materials that get buried in the ground.

Traditional cemeteries aren’t recommended for the green burial. The preservation of the natural landscape is preferred with private forests and meadows a better option that cemeteries carved out of hillsides and filled with turf grass and concrete.

For those who want to avoid the burial thing altogether and really reduce their carbon impact, cremation is the way to go. Cremations have increased in popularity over the last few years. Not just because of the whole green evolution thing but because they are drastically cheaper than traditional burials. Cremations save space, save trees and fertilize the earth. It’s a win win really.

So when thinking of additional ways to save money and help the planet, think about a green burial. But please plan ahead and always check your insurance covers your wishes.

That way you can definitely rest in peace.

Food Footprints

You learn something everyday so the saying goes. And in my journey to discover the many ways to reduce and offset my carbon footprint while not spending very much money has led to a new insight. That is, the carbon footprint of foods. Turns out, eating a hamburger a couple of times a week is reason enough to buy carbon credits. Whether locally made or not, food manufacturing has a major impact on the planet.

According to treehugger.com, food is the cause of almost one third of the greenhouse gases we have all grown so concerned about. As the atmosphere heats up, the planet undergoes detrimental change. We must stop or reverse this process to avoid the onset of catastrophic environmental change. Yes, hamburgers can kill polar bears.

See? You learn something new everyday.

It seems cheap fatty heart attack inducing yummy foods have high carbon footprints. If you think about it, fast food is definitely a planet killer. From the excess methane gas released into the atmosphere from the millions of cows needed to produce the burgers to the forests of trees destroyed to make the millions of wrappers and the gallons upon gallons of petrochemicals utilized to drive to the drive thru…well, talk about increasing your carbon footprint on a budget.

It seems the thing to do is buy locally, buy seasonally and avoid red meat as often as possible. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are not naturally meat eaters and a vegetarian diet is better for the planet, our carbon footprint and believe it or not, our physical health.

Treehugger.com suggests eating seasonal fruits, dry beans and potatoes rather than fast food lowers both your food bill and your cholesterol. Baking your own bread, making your own healthy cookies and choosing soy and tofu over cow and pig is an economical step in the right direction.

I can vouch for the yumminess and low emission factor of lentil cookies. And don’t get me started on the obvious delights of bread fresh from the oven. Being green isn’t always the sacrifice some would make it out to be.

Once you realize that everything has a carbon footprint, smarter choices start happening naturally. And food really is an easy one. Stick to natural local foods and avoid over packaged items from far away. Buy in bulk to save on gas and get creative with the contents of the pantry.

Reducing your carbon footprint is a learning process. Take small steps in the right direction and veer past the drive thru and into your own garage. Home made has always been better. Now its environmentally and economically smart.

Dripping Away the Pennies: Water Conservation on a Budget

I’ve managed to avoid a summer hike on my electric bill by fighting off the vampires so now its time to figure out how to reduce my water bill. Oh and of course, offset my carbon footprint.

Sometimes we think using water is okay. I mean the world is 70 percent water, it rains a lot, water gets reused…it’s okay. Aaaah the blissful naivety of ignorance.

Think about it: cleaning water takes machines, chemicals, transportation and electricity. The process involves synthetic chemicals and petrochemicals and of course, emissions. Emissions contribute to global warming.

Besides measuring our individual carbon footprint, you can also measure a countries water footprint, that is, how much water a single country consumes. America is well into the red zone, far above the global average.

We may be okay for water here but other places aren’t so lucky. Water conservation is a key element in helping the planet get through this bad patch. So we have to reduce our water usage, especially our hot water usage which is a double carbon calamity.

So first off, turn off the tap and make sure it’s actually off. A dripping tap amounts to hundreds of dollars down the drain every year. And all those gallons could have gone to much better use like growing crops for food in Africa (yeah there’s a tap turning off guilt trip for you!).

Turn down the hot water heater. The recommended low temp is 120 degrees. Most tanks are set at 140 so go and check where you stand. This will make a nice savings in the electric bill too.

Reuse water. I know that sounds gross but there are plenty of opportunities to do so, especially when cooking. If you boil eggs in a pan of water and don’t break any eggs in the process what do you have? A pan of hot water. Great for washing dishes. If you boil vegetables in water, what’s wrong with taking a cup of that water to make your mash potatoes with? Nothing.

Get out of the shower when you are clean not when you are wrinkly. Taking a hot shower is great after a run but its not really necessary everyday. It’s a complete waste of water and electricity. Think crops in Africa, greenhouse gases and carbon footprints if you need a motivation to grab for that towel a few minutes earlier.

If you can’t resist a long hot shower or boiling your clothes to death, then at least offset your consumption by buying carbon credits. Water is a precious commodity, just like the money in our wallets. Saving both is a step in the right direction.

Walking For The Planet

I came across an article today that talked about the walkability of my geographical location and the need for people to live in places where they are in walking distance of all of life’s necessities. Walking is a must when it comes to offsetting your carbon footprint.

Walking seems a sort of obvious way to save money and get a little fresh air, but sometimes we need reminders regarding what is good for us and for the planet. Every time we aren’t walking or cycling, we are taking transportation that relies on fossil fuels and emits toxins into the air, causing pollution and contributing to global warming. We have to think about the good that walking does.

Walking reduces carbon emissions.

Walking promotes human interaction and communication.

Walking helps support downtown businesses.

Walking is good for the heart and health.

Walking is one of the lowest impact forms of exercise.

Walking promotes community involvement.

Walking lowers your carbon footprint.

Walking saves money.

Walking allows you to breathe in fresh air, enjoy your neighborhood and interact with nature.

Walking is good. Hurray for walking.

The same walking article suggested that for every ten minutes you spend sitting alone inside your car, your likelihood of being involved in community activities, decreases by ten percent.

If we aren’t trying to fix the planet to promote a healthier world and tighter community, then where is the point? Going green is about getting along with each other and our natural environment better. Community is key.

So get out of the car, buy a pedometer and a pair of good shoes and get to stepping.

Refresher Course

Being green on a budget is always my focus; how to make changes in your lifestyle that help reduce or offset your carbon footprint. We can’t all afford solar panels on the roof or have the space for a windmill in the backyard but we can make smart choices that help the planet as well as helping the wallet. There are few simple things that greenies talk about all the time that some of us layman may not be a reminder. Consider this blog a refresher of the basics.

Turning down the air conditioner and turning down the heat just a few degrees can help offset your carbon emissions and save up to three percent on your bill for every degree above 72. Lowering the temp on the water heater to 120 degrees will help also. I mean do you really need to heat your water to 140 degrees?

Buy wisely and buy local. Always read the labels on packaging and understand what you are buying, what it contains, where it comes from and whether or not it is worth the price tag.

Turn off lights when you leave a room. It’s an easy habit to start that can greatly reduce your energy bill. We worked really hard on switching off lights and unplugging appliances this summer and were lucky enough to notice absolutely no hike in our summer electric bill. It works.

Reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible. Avoid plastic grocery bags, buy food in reusable containers (I recommended the lunch meats that come in reusable tubs), find two or three uses for every item you bring into your home and separate trash for recycling. These actions can save money and after a few weeks or months can become lifelong habits that you can teach to your children.

Car pool, ride a bike or walk to work. This not only reduces your personal reliance on fossil fuels, it saves money and promotes a healthier lifestyle.

Call the telemarketers, the vendors and the mailing lists and get off the selling grid. This saves energy, time, paper and headaches.

Basically what it comes down to is thinking things through, planning ahead and making smart choices. Simple really, but worth the reminder.

The Bees Knees

So I overheard the other day that without bees, the planet would be a very different place. In fact, we would all probably be dead. Part of helping the environment, reducing carbon footprints and lowering the rate of climate change is paying attention to our animal and inset friends. Anyone into organic farming, buying local, fresh food, raw foods and natural ingredients has to know a little about bees.

So here are my green facts about bees.

They provide us with food. Every season, honey bees go out looking for their favorite thing: pollen. In the process they pollinate plants and flowers, providing us with crops to eat, pretty flowers to look at and more green things to eat up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Bees can be used to grow organic honey and aid developing countries in lowering their carbon emissions and provide jobs for the unfortunate.

Bees are essential for the production of useful organic things like honey, beeswax, candles, soap, floor polish, creams and lotions and the vitamin supplement royal jelly.

Bees can increase domestic sustainability. By having a beehive in your backyard, you can reduce your consumer carbon footprint and make your own honey and candles. Homemade honey is much better for the bees and the environment.

So bees are cool and they only really sting when threatened or fighting for their life. Bees are our friends, our buddies, our planetary companions.

But we are killing them with global warming, pesticides, over development of land and the destruction of their natural habitat. Farming is great but organic, pesticide free farming that leaves land for the insects to live in is the only kind of farming that can reduce carbon emissions.

So there you have it. Bees are an integral part of our world but we are destroying them with carbon emissions and pollution. It’s just one more reason to buy carbon credits and offset your carbon footprint. And purchasing a jar or two of organic honey wouldn’t do any harm either.

Embalmed Alive

I’ve got to stop watching the television. Bill Nye the Science Guy told me today that I’m being embalmed alive. Yes ladies and gentleman, turns out that morticians use half the amount of embalming fluid to preserve corpses than they used 20 years ago.

It’s time to add “stop using formaldehyde” to our list of ways to reduce and offset our carbon footprint.

Because this toxic embalming fluid is everywhere.

It’s in the fiberglass home insulation, the press board used to construct the walls of trailers, campers and mobile homes. It is in paper, wood and fertilizers. It is used to preserve food. It is in makeup and beauty products. It is some vaccines and medicines. When formaldehyde breaks down it becomes two different chemicals: formic acid and carbon monoxide.

Formaldehyde is bad for your health, can irritate and damage the lungs, affect the nervous system and in large quantities kill you. Some studies show a connection between formaldehyde exposure and cancer. Others say it “just” irritates the eyes and can cause asthma. Its bad for our health, our homes and the environment.

Formaldehyde is just one more chemical that is synthetically produced in factories that wastes energy and release carbon. If we stop supporting the manufacturer of such products by not buying them, it will eventually stop. It is a VOC (volatile organic compound) and if it was in your house paint, you wouldn’t buy it. But because it’s openly “hidden” (if you know what I mean) in everyday items, we bring it home without realizing.

How to avoid the formaldehyde? Shop organically, read labels and if you can’t give up that favorite cosmetic just yet? Buy some carbon credits to offset your use of poisons and help plant a tree or two.

We’ll need the extra wood for the coffins.

But at least we can save 50 percent on the price of embalming.

(shudder)

Putting it all on the Line

Choosing to use a clothes line to dry clothes rather than an electric dryer is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Besides saving money on electricity and dryer sheets, not using the dryer reduces the amount of heat in your home. Less heat means less use of the air conditioner in the summer months and did I mention the savings on the electric bill? According to the California Energy Commission, a single dryer will cost over $1,500 in operation fees over its life time. That doesn’t include the initial cost to buy the dryer which runs into the hundreds of dollars.

According to electric use calculators, if you wash a single load of clothes on hot water, put that load into the dryer and then iron that load with an electric iron, it costs you about $1.10. If instead you simply washed the clothes in cold water, hung them on the line to dry and become naturally wrinkle free, a single load of laundry would only cost 12 cents.

That’s a big difference. And reducing your energy consumption is simply a wonderfully side effect of your budget laundry choices.

So once you realize the logic of drying clothes on a line, you have a number of choices. You can buy a clothes line from an online store which can cost anywhere from 20 bucks to a couple hundred dollars depending on style and size, or you could buy a line of rope and a bag of clothes pins. This would cost less than ten dollars. Tie the rope between two trees or other points in the yard and pin your wet clothes on the line. Wait for the power of wind energy to do its work and enjoy line dried, fresh smelling, footprint reducing, alternative energy promoting, clean clothes.

Sometimes it isn’t being green and helping the planet recover from the effects of carbon emission and global warming. But sometimes it is. Sometimes being green is just good old fashioned common sense that benefits both the bottom line and the world.

I mean, its not like clothes lines are a new invention. Sometimes being green isn’t about innovation and looking to the future. It can also be about reviving past ways of doing things to change the present.

A rope, a few pins and a clear day. Easy.

Partying Green

I went to an outdoor wedding yesterday and it reminded me that every occasion is an opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint. Making a happy occasion better by partying green is becoming an essential for all responsible planetary citizens.

And it actually saves money.

Getting over the idea of using plastic at events is a big must for this nation. We have become obsessed with easy clean up and hygiene at the expense of the planet. Plastics, plates, plastic silverware, plastic serving dishes, plastic utensils, plastic cake bags, plastic decorations, plastics drink cups, plastic straws, plastic favors, plastic wrappers, plastic, plastic, plastic. Urgh! What are we doing? Just because something seems convenient in the moment, doesn’t mean it actually is.

A plastic straw can take 200 years to degrade.

A plastic container can take 30 years to degrade.

The little plastic rings on the top of a six pack? 450 years.

A plastic beverage bottle? Thousands of years.

Of course, every plastic is different and some are made using recycled products. Nevertheless, they remain a ubiquitous blight on the planet and the less we buy and use, the less manufacturers will produce. It’s that simple. We are consumer culture. If we don’t consume it. They won’t make it.

Buying sustainable products wherever possible will save money in the long run (as you can use them over and over) and reduce the impact you personally have on the local landfill. Pick up extra silverware, serving dishes and plates at a yard sale or thrift store. And just don’t buy straws: they aren’t really necessary. Cotton table cloths, paper cake bags, paper or natural decorations, organic favors (bird seed, flower seeds, grass seeds) and cards and wrapping paper made of recycled materials.

For beverages use glass glasses and buy alcohol in glass containers. A glass recycling box at the corner of a party next to the garbage for the compost heap isn’t difficult. Actually having guests separate their trash will certainly make for a conversation starter.

Whenever you have a large event, you have to realize just how much carbon you are producing. It’s not just about using ceramic plates and real silverware. The distance people travel to attend your event, the energy it takes to cook for a lot of people, the fossil fuels used in the forms of gasoline and electricity, the new clothes that are bought for the occasion (and all those associated costs in human labor and carbon emissions); even the gifts have a carbon footprint. So for every large event that you have, it is a good idea to buy a little carbon credit and offset the celebration.

The world is changing. It’s becoming more aware of itself. It’s not about being a tree hugger (although everyone can use a little love), it’s about responsibility and stewardship. It’s about taking the time to think about cost effective, practical and earth friendly choices.

Alright, lecture over. Party on dudes.

Just party green.

I Like To Ride My Bicycle

I was walking through my wonderfully small Wyoming community the other day and was both surprised and happy to see a grown woman riding a bicycle. You see, bikes are not some freakish event here in rural Wyoming. We are lucky enough to have a town where it is actually safe for the local kids to ride around all day long, pretty much unsupervised, burning off energy and hopefully staying out of trouble without fear of interference. But a woman on a bike in business attire in the middle of the day. Well, it’s not the norm for “conservative” Wyoming.

Not yet anyway.

But obviously the idea of leaving the car at home and taking a healthier form of transport to work may be catching on. Not because it’s a part of a green craze, the latest must do herd mentality inspired activity; rather, because it’s logical, practical and saves money: all good old fashioned cowboy values.

And I think the woman on the bike was a great lesson. We can make changes that not only help the planet but help us as individuals. We get so caught up in trying to lower our carbon footprints (which we should do right?), we forget that this stuff is good for us as individuals.

Riding a bike reduces the use of fossil fuels, reduces carbon emissions, saves energy, burns calories, increases muscles strength and tone and well, makes you feel good about yourself. I repeat: riding a bike is good for your health.

It’s a green guilt free pat on the back.

Now I don’t want to give the impression that other transport changes haven’t been taking place around here. Actually before the bicycle made its entrance, the golf carts showed up. Yes, a number of townsfolk have decided that getting on the golf cart saves gas money, especially when one is just running errands around town. And the fact that no-one blinks as the streets fill with carbon lowering cowboys driving golf carts is a good sign for the oncoming Wyoming bicycle revolution.

I’m not saying that bikes and walking will completely take over transportation methods in my state. We actually do need the trucks and sturdy cars to navigate between towns (30 to 40 miles between population centers is the norm) that you see advertised on TV. You know the ones where you wonder who the heck needs a truck that goes through blizzards, carries loads of bricks, gravel or wood, has snow chains, headache racks and two fuel tanks in case you get stranded (we do). This is the middle of nowhere after all. But that doesn’t mean we can’t ride a bike at lunchtime or walk to pick up the kids.

And if we can do it here in truck country, reducing our planetary impact, lowering our carbon footprint and reducing our carbon emissions well…

What’s your excuse?

While you are waiting for the new bike to arrive, why not offset some carbon? Every conscious change is a change in the right direction. And if you get to where you are going riding a bike, alls the better.

Seeing the Light

If you aren’t already using the new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) why not? Well this great way to reduce energy and carbon emissions has a few setbacks which dissuades the average Joe from making the commitment. But it seems, in the long run the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

I wasn’t much of a believer. The husband started buying these uber expensive light bulbs where bargain shopper me wanted to buy the six for a dollar box at the local made anywhere but here super store. It was easier. It was cheaper. And it didn’t cost a fortune and bring potential hazards into the home.

But like the TV show says, sometimes “it's not easy being green.”

But the husband was insistent. Not because he wanted to reduce his carbon footprint or help the planet but because he said it was cheaper because they would last longer. So they were cheaper.

Huh?

I’ve never been one for math, even simple math. But it turns out each CFL bulb saves $30 in energy use during its lifetime and compared to bargain bulbs that blow when you sneeze too hard and need replaced almost weekly, the CFL bulb lasts well…a long time. We still have some we bought in 2007. Some claim eight years, thousands of hours or ten times the old school type bulb but it seems to vary. Overall, they just last and so save money.

But what about when they blow?

A friend of mine said no way on the CFL bulbs “because they don’t tell you about the mercury.” Huh? What? Mercury? In my house? It can’t be. Green is better, more natural. Right?

Well, it’s like this: the CFL bulb works differently from the more traditional incandescent bulb. Instead of heating a filament like in the incandescent bulb till it glows making light, the CFL bulb emits light because electricity goes through a mixture of argon and mercury. Each bulb contains about 1 milligram of mercury. It’s not that much, really. I mean breaking a bulb could release a tiny amount into the house for a short time (open a window) but how often do you smash a bulb really? Is that enough of a reason to waste all that energy?

Each CFL bulb uses 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. 75 percent less of a drain on the overloaded power grid. Less energy, less carbon. Each bulb saves about 150 pounds of carbon. Count the light sockets in your house and think how much carbon you could save.

Offsetting carbon starts with realizing that all the small things add up. Carbon credits and tree planting are bright ideas.

But I'm starting to see the light when it comes to CFL bulbs.

Heat Waves, Smog Warnings & No Man's Lands

In the evolutionary, historical sense, human beings really aren't that different from other animals. The human species emerged as a result of optimal environmental conditions. There are lots of places on Earth that human hands had never touched up until the last few hundred years, and although they've nearly all been explored save a few, at most of these hostile locales it just doesn't make any sense for people to stay.

The interior of Alaska comes to mind. The Rub' Al-Khali might be another. Maybe that god-forsaken Black Rock City. You won't find any permanent encampments or signs of civilization there, because the climate is just too forbidding, too harsh for humanity to exist in any substantial way.

With some exceptions, you can mostly trace the spread of human civilization as it developed, and along the way you can pick out the places people broke ground with some accuracy. Follow the water. Look where the climate is most palatable. Catal Huyuk didn't spring up from the empty quarter of the Arabian Desert, it emerged from a place where an agricultural life could be easy for people. As humanity transitioned from a pastoral lifestyle to a sedentary, urban one, it assembled into organized enclaves in places that were most conducive to life.

The oral traditions of humanity are rife with stories of cataclysmic change leaving cities unlivable. Plato describes an unrecorded, prehistoric civilization that is undone by all-too-human hubris and swallowed by the ocean. Western mythology, especially the mythology of the fertile crescent, all share the common thread of a great flood that covers the whole world. And in more recent times, fanciful Romantic authors and 19th century Spiritualists described the lost continents of Mu and Lemuria sinking and leaving a diaspora of people in their wakes.

But there's no need to look to sandaled philosophers of great antiquity or tarot-reading occult-book-store crystal-wavers for the truth about what it looks like when a place becomes unlivable. The truth is, it might happen so slowly and so imperceptibly that you wouldn't notice it, and you one day wake up and realize you can't leave your house.

This summer has been the hottest on record for the Pacific Northwest. It had a late start, and I recall often opining that if it stayed as mild as it had been, it might not get very hot at all this year. Then, in late July, the thermometers broke, and Seattle's previous record temperature was shattered by a 103°F afternoon. Lucky for us, Seattle's topography contribute to a weather pattern that keeps the air quality here pretty decent. It's almost always clear enough to see Mt. Rainier from the I5 bridge in the University District. We've got it pretty good here.

Not so for Vancouver BC. Wildfires in Lillooet, record breaking heat and an urban population that owns 2.3 cars per household despite a vast mass transit system, along with geographic features surrounding the city that trap smog in to boot, all coalesced as factors in a perfect storm to send the air quality index in the Metro Vancouver area hurtling to level 6, the highest in memory for the bourgeois business-class yuppies who make their living there. Asthmatics and people suffering from respiratory diseases were recommended to stay indoors, and though it would dissipate in a matter of days, the effect of the air quality warning was troubling. How could a place with such strict emissions controls and an incomparably responsible society, bent on being green, be so thick with pollution?

But Vancouver's air pollution problem pales in comparison to Beijing's. Following the failure of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Deng Xiaoping led the Communist Party of China to adopt what it termed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics", a pastiche of both ideological Marxism and, with a certain grudging acknowledgement to pragmatism, contrarian Capitalist concepts as well. With barely a sliver of an opening to the absurd vastness of the Chinese consumer markets, virtually overnight the country became solvent, and within a decade the poverty rate had been slashed from more than half of the country's 1 billion during the Mao era to a shrinking 12% in 1981 and single-digits more recently.

The Beijing of 2009 is just under 3 times as large as it was prior to the economic reforms, and duplicate success stories raise metropolises across the country at a rapid clip. With the new-found prosperity came all the trappings of modern first-world nations: cars, skyscrapers, airports, luxury apartments, corporate identities, advertisements and, at the heart of it all, manufacturing plants making the export goods that fuels China's economic breakthrough.

Beijing has arrived, and by 2009 China has become the reigning economic power in the world, but rapid modernization brought the unintended consequence of unchecked, unchallenged release of greenhouse gases the likes of which the world has never seen. Forbes Magazine estimates that the 10 most polluted cities in the world are all in China, and the Chinese government claims nearly one and a half million premature deaths occur as a result of poor air quality every year. Where Vancouver's air quality might be dangerous for people already at risk, Beijing is consistently shrouded in a dark grey porridge that chokes healthy people to death and reduces visibility to less than the length of a city block.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that humanity is turning the places it makes it's bed unlivable. The non-stop, uninterrupted release of not just the greenhouse gases that feed into self-perpetuating feedback loops and precipitate global climate change, but also the real nasty stuff that comes out of your exhaust pipe and your chimney and every coal power plant you use when you charge up your iPhone, is slowly but surely making those archetypal myths of cataclysmic change seem prophetic at best and at worst like observations that self-similarity in man's inhumanity to man scales up and will eventually kill us. There's no sense in this. We're committing suicide on a global scale, and we're doing it in a really weak, wimpy, cowardly way that betrays our imprinted consumerist apathy.

That's why offsetting your personal carbon footprint is so important. If everyone in Seattle, Vancouver and Beijing paid for their yearly carbon output, we would solve the global ecology crisis in less time than it took for China to awaken from it's ideologically-lullabied slumber. All it takes is pointing your browser at http://www.offsetcarbonfootprint.org/. All the links are there, they'll help you calculate your carbon footprint and give you all the tools you need to decide how you'd like to offset your carbon. They make it easy! They'll accept all major payment methods and will even offer you a certified guarantee. All you've got to do is make the choice to take responsibility for your share of climate change.

Are you ready to do the right thing? Time is of the essence, so don't delay. Do it today.

Trees Glorious Trees

There is something about the constancy of trees that I admire. Their towering longevity and inherent grace always gains my respect. Yes, trees are one of my favorites from Mother Nature’s collection. And the fact that they allow me to breathe just completes the perfection of their design.

The process of photosynthesis always used to bore me in science class. It was one of those school facts that had little relevance to my life. Now I realize what the teachers were trying to get me to understand. My life depends on those tree related processes, now more than ever.

In case you too blocked it out in school, photosynthesis is the means in which a tree, plant or any green thing lives. The chlorophyll in the leaves (the green tone we see) soaks up water and carbon dioxide in the air. This absorbed energy is utilized in processing the minerals taken in by the roots to help nourish the tree. After the process is complete, trees release oxygen and water back into the atmosphere.

So, essentially, we breathe in tree waste. We are dependent upon trees for our lives.

Sure, there is natural oxygen in the atmosphere making up about 20 percent of the gases but without the constant replenishment from tree waste, the chemical composition of the air would begin to change drastically. And with the ever increasing carbon emissions adding to the temperature of the planet i.e. global warming, it’s all the trees can do to keep up.

A single medium sized tree provides enough oxygen for one human to breathe in ideal circumstances.

So with carbon, pollution, toxins and goodness knows what else in the air, the situation is far from ideal. And what about all our furry friends? They too require oxygen to breathe. And our fishy friends? Water plants release oxygen into the water which allows them to breathe. We need trees for our continued planetary existence.

And of course, to offset all this bleeping carbon.

The connection between people and trees isn’t some throwback from the sixties or belong to people with flowers in their hair and sandals on their feet. That connection is foundational to everything and everyone.

You might not have an urge to go out and hug a tree after reading this but you might consider a little internal nod to the grand design.

Yes, for me, it’s definitely a case of trees, glorious trees.

Clean Coal Can't Get A Break In City Hall

Call it a strange twist of fate or just a failure of the democratic process to resolve a crisis. Call it a case of NIMBYism, or, perhaps in this case, NUMBYism. Call it whatever you want, but the cat's out of the bag and the truth is out; the famous German coal capture and storage (CCS) project, which proposed to produce electricity through traditional coal-powered means but then capture the carbon emissions and bury them underground, has been releasing CO2 gas into the atmosphere all along.

The plant was opened in September of 2008, and was immediately heralded as a solution to the developing world's growing demand and sharp cost margins. With CCS systems, countries like India and China, which have both relied heavily on coal power plants to fuel their explosive economic growth over the past decade, could retain their existing infrastructure while curbing the wanton release of CO2 into the atmosphere. In other words, coal capture and storage was going to let the developing world have their cake and eat it too.

At least in theory. In a stunning admission, Staffan Gortz, a sort of PR figure for the project, said at a recent conference that the plants have been releasing CO2 gas directly into the atmosphere all along, citing resistance from the public as the main reason that the CCS systems haven't yet come online. "It was supposed to begin injecting by March or April of this year, but we don't have a permit. This is a result of the local public having questions about the safety of the project."

The prospect of a public backlash against clean coal is troubling, and potentially chilling. While numerous environmental profiling teams have shown time and time over that there would be very minimal consequence if any to public health in storing CO2 underground, the grave consequences of recklessly releasing carbon into the atmosphere are all around us, evident at every level of the natural world, and throw the very future of humanity into question. With Vattenfall (the Swedish company that has invested €70m to build the plants) meeting resistance at every turn from an uninformed public armed with veto power to forbid the project from moving forward, the danger is that the quasi-populist meme of perceived undesirability for CCS projects among town councils and city halls might gain a foothold and become a more broadly held position, permanently stunting the spread and adoption of CCS technology and prolonging our planetary nightmare. Unfortunately for us, only time will tell.

(Source: http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gmg/op/sr9W_6zSGd03e3RtcOrYA_w/view.m?id=137163&tid=120787&chk_my-text=t,1;c,1&cat=Climate_change)

Managing Your Carbs: A Learning Process

I’m a big believer in awareness being the first step to correcting a problem. After discovering what a carbon footprint is, using a carbon footprint calculator to determine the size of your particular imprint, its time to start thinking: “what can I do to make this situation better?” Because no matter how hard you try, you can’t eliminate your carbon footprint overnight and you must understand how offsetting is a great stop gap between awareness and complete elimination of the problem.

Offset is a game of tit for tat, of losing and gaining, of finding balance. For everything you take away, you should give something back. And there’s nothing wrong with being creative about the whole thing. For instance if you are a big paper consumer, maybe planting trees could be your thing. Maybe you don’t have time to plant trees. So paying someone else to plant trees for you could be your thing. Maybe trees are not the way to go at all. Maybe energy reduction is your thing. Maybe you can’t really reduce your energy output anymore so maybe you could help pay for someone’s else energy. Maybe you could support a fund that provides clean energy to people or maybe you could start building windmills.

Maybe a lot of things.

This whole offsetting business is quite involved. There are so many ways to restore a sense of balance to our lives and to the planet as a whole. Reading about what is happening to the planet may be another way to go for some of us. Learning about global warming, how it occurs and what can be done about it. Education is a good second step after initial awareness of the problem. It’s all about choice.

There is a great freedom in being green because there are so many ways to do it.

Managing carbon is the same for me as managing carbohydrates. Something I know I should be doing but sometimes it’s hard and seems an unattainable goal. But I know its good for me in the long run. So I make tiny changes and concentrate on learning what I can do. Cut out a cookie here, walk past a cupcake there and slowly start realizing the effect of my good choices.

Awareness. Education. Balance. Change. Reward.

Whether reducing or offsetting, the management of carbon is a learning process. Realizing we have a lot to understand and research is a good start.

Saving the Planet With Global Yard Sales

It was another weekend of yard sales and thrift stores and the dawning realization that in buying a shirt for 50 cents and a baby toy for a nickel, I have discovered another easy economical way of offsetting my carbon footprint.

Yard sales and reusing goods has become popular for two reasons: everyone is broke and most of us are concerned about the impact we are having on the planet (a.k.a our carbon footprint). Manufacturing new products uses up vital energy resources releases toxins into the air, increasing the nation’s overall carbon emissions and contributing to global warming.

So why do it if we don’t have to?

Sustainable goods with low or neutral carbon footprints are also increasing in popularity but they do little to rid us of the billions of tons of waste we already have. Living in a consumer society as we do, we have an urge to buy things we don’t need from companies we don’t really like at prices we can’t really afford. The end result being, we throw these items away and they clog landfills and reduce recycling rates.

But a yard sale is a form of recycling most of us can get behind.

Yard sales, reuses and recycle as they reduce the amount of unsustainable products in landfills. They save money for customers and make money for the owners. The yard sale process feeds our consumer need to buy but doesn’t cost too much and helps a neighbor get rid of their unwanted items responsibly. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

The concept of yard sales to reduce carbon emissions has gone viral with waste exchange sites popping up all over the web offering people and companies the chance to dispose of goods in other places than the local landfills. Exchanging goods reduces disposals costs for businesses as it helps ease the carbon emission burden on the planet. Waste.net is one example of this online recycling craze and it offers both exchange as well as purchase of previously used goods and industrial scrap for reuse.

It’s like one huge yard sale for businesses except the yard is the internet and the junk is industrial. A perfect green solution for a consumer society. So rather than thinking a morning at the yard sales is a cheap way to get that extra cooler for camping or save money on clothes your little guy will grow out of in a few weeks anyway, it may be better to see the healthy planet saving job you are doing by spending just a buck to reuse, reuse, recycle and of course, offset carbon footprints.

Generating Electricity With Mixing Entropy: The Weird Science Of Salinity Cells

Physicists have long held that there's energy abounding in naturally occurring chemical reactions, and one of their most prime candidates from which to harness this energy has been the process known as salination, wherein freshwater rivers drain into the salty ocean. The notion of collecting the energy lost to entropy during salination has been only theoretical since the process came to light, however a paper by University of Milan-Bicocca physicist Doriano Brogioli is due to be published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters describing a power cell that converts this lost energy into electricity.

The strange physics of mixing entropy are intuitive to understand. Imagine you're at a bar, and there's dancing music playing. You're feeling very acutely the long day behind you, so you order a Red Bull and vodka, the perfect drink for dancing. The bartender pours half a can of Red Bull into a glass, then pours 3 ounces of vodka. You are now officially ready to party. But wait! The resulting solution is less than the sum of it's constituent parts! This loss of energy is called the entropy of mixing and is precisely the physical process that the salination cell aims to capture.

The device itself is more difficult to describe. It's functional core is comprised of two electrically-charged chunks of activated carbon that collect negative and positive ions from salt water. When fresh water is flushed in, the ions are released from the carbon chunks, increasing the voltage of the charge and generating electricity. Scientific abstracts and illustrated diagrams are out there, but the weird science of it places real understanding somewhat beyond the reach of layfolks. Suffice it to say, the lab models work, and the science suggests it can be scaled up to provide a new source of renewable clean energy.

As usual, there are skeptics. Many in the scientific community are quick to point out the logistical difficulty in scaling the lab models up from experimental devices to the megawatt-generating plants needed to make capturing the energy inherent in the process of salination worthwhile, noting that the relative scarcity of places where a great deal of fresh water hits the ocean makes the new technology potentially less than ubiquitous. Others such as Fred Schlachter, retired staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, go further to say that the figures cited by proponents of the technology don't account for the enormous upkeep and maintenance overhead necessary when dealing with the very corrosive properties of ocean water.

Still, those figures are impressive. Scientists who first described the physics underlying mixing entropy deduced that the potential energy inherent in the process worldwide is equivalent to every river in the world ending in a 223 meter waterfall. Those numbers, along with the presumed success of a large-scale salination plant, suggest that salination energy might one day comprise a significant chunk of the renewable, green energy that offset brokers resell.

(Source: http://www.physicscentral.com/buzz/blog/index.cfm?postid=8192106608311312838)

Recharging to Offset Carbon Emissions

Non rechargeable batteries may seem like a small pebble in the large pond of carbon emissions but the lasting effects they have on our environment en masse is devastating. Clogging landfills with toxic chemicals that leak into ground water, using up metal resources and releasing carbon during the manufacturing process adding to global warming, non rechargeable batteries are cheap, convenient and extremely harmful. Not to mention their effect on the old dead weight of guilt better known as your carbon footprint.

Not everyone can afford solar panels on the roof or a wind generator in the back yard, but we can spend a couple of extra bucks and buy rechargeable batteries. Of course, they aren’t as cheap and less convenient, as they need to be recharged and take time to do so, but they do reduce carbon emissions. We use the same two batteries over and over effectively recycling, reusing and reducing all at the same time.

So what to do with all those non rechargeables we have lying around the house? The ones we feel guilty about putting in the regular trash but don’t get picked up by the local municipality except maybe twice a year? What to do when we are running out of room what with all the broken hairdryers, computers, cell phones, used motor oil and half empty paint cans we are also stock piling waiting for that toxic waste date to show up on the municipal calendar?

What to do? What to do?

Well, turns out there are scrap and salvage yards that will actually purchase these non rechargeable batteries from you for a nominal fee and recycle them along with the large scrap metal waste they collect in the form of rusty pipes, old cars and worn out ovens. Check with local scrap dealers to get specific details for your area. Aaah, another way to offset carbon emissions. Doesn’t it make you want to smile?

And if you are feeling extremely ambitious and even a little flush, you may want to consider the latest in rechargeable batteries, the USB cell battery which actually plugs into your lap top to recharge, reducing energy waste by having a separate recharging unit plugged in.

Finally, I can take my huge box of old batteries out from under the sink and trade them in for just a small pack of rechargeables. One more item off my save the planet checklist.

India Environment Ministry Says Climate Change Is Western Baloney

The chasm between the Indian environmental ministry and the self-evident truths of climate change widened precipitously today when Jairem Ramesh downplayed the danger of climate change and characterised fears of the Himalayan glaciers melting over the next 40 years as "... preconceived notion[s] ... based on the western media".

Speaking at an environmental threats conference in Delhi, Mr Ramesh dismissed predictions that the glaciers might disappear within 40 years as a result of global warming. "We have to get out of the preconceived notion, which is based on western media, and invest our scientific research and other capacities to study Himalayan atmosphere," he said. "Science has its limitation. You cannot substitute the knowledge that has been gained by the people living in cold deserts through everyday experience."

The comments by a close ally of Sonia Gandhi, the ruling Congress party president, are likely to discourage environmental campaigners hoping that India might help forge an agreement at United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Earlier this week, Mr Ramesh challenged Mrs Clinton over her appeal to India to embrace a lowcarbon future and not repeat the mistakes of the developed world in seeking fast industrialisation. He said India was not prepared to agree to legally binding greenhouse gas emission caps, although developed countries are not asking for such caps.

Ramesh's flippant dismissal of the matter is in stark contrast to the facts. The scientific consensus has repeatedly reaffirmed the fact that climate change can be directly attributed to the breakneck speed with which the first world industrialised in the 19th and 20th centuries. Still, the climate change denial meme survives, in large part due to the insidious, interdependent relationship of the sleazy, amoral career-politician suits in control of the state and industrial business interests whose revenue-model relies on exercising free license to poison you and spurn catastrophic climate change, all the while manufacturing reams of disposable consumer junk.

The comments seemed to drive further nails into the coffin of the notion that the Indian state might join the emerging bloc of nations committed (in theory) to sustainable industrial practices. Ramesh's faux-skepticism comes on the heels of India's refusal to agree to binding carbon caps and long-term reduction goals at the G8 summit and later at a press conference during American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first visit to India in her capacity as chief diplomat for the Obama administration. Between today's statement and the habitual aloofness of India with regard to environmental concerns, the future of the Indian subcontinent looks hazy, stinky and possibly underwater.

(Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43702396-77ea-11de-9713-00144feabdc0.html)

Offset or Reduction: What’s the Difference with Carbon Footprints?

As I scan the internet reading the latest environmental findings, as well as the latest ways to go green, two phrases continue to pop up: reducing your carbon footprint and offsetting your carbon footprint. It seems a little explanation of the difference between reducing and offsetting can make green savvy web surfing all the more productive.

When we reduce our carbon footprint we find ways to lessen our personal impact on planet earth. Everything we consume, every product we purchase and every lifestyle choice we make add to the impression, the footprint we leave behind us. Choosing green products, sustainable goods, locally grown products and recycling and reusing when we can helps reduce that impact.

Offsetting our carbon footprint is a matter of determining how much of a carbon footprint we have and then finding ways to balance or off set that impact. For everything we take away from the planet, we give back to the planet. We can do this as individuals or we can support organizations and companies that can offset the footprint for us.

It begins with a carbon footprint calculator. The one used by this site is the same one endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency and provides a pretty accurate look at individual impact. After determining the number of tones of carbon you produce annually you can redeem yourself by donating to green programs that allow you to buy carbon credits that add rather than take away from the planet.

Donating money towards trees, protecting wildlife habitats, opting to buy green power (wind, solar or water) for your home as well as assisting organizations at the grassroots level who are trying to reduce carbon and add oxygen. The number of ways we can commit to the planet is pretty limitless when you start top think about it. The more I analysis my way of life and how my family consumes goods and power the more I see where there are opportunities for change.

We can’t all stick a windmill in our backyards, especially when we don’t have a backyard. We can’t stick solar panels on a roof we don’t own or green windows into panes we rent, but we can make smarter choices. Driving less and walking more, switching off and unplugging appliances and supporting those individuals and organizations trying to do the right thing has to be the right way to go, at least for me.

It seems a combination of reducing and offsetting may be the best way to contribute to real change in America.

You are What You Eat: Organic Foods and Carbon Footprints

As I continue to discover how my way of life can have either a positive or negative on the environment, I realize what a learning process reducing my carbon footprint can be. I decided to utilize the carbon footprint calculator to see how my journey was going. Surprisingly, I scored a good 30 below the national average. But a household footprint of 49 carbon tons is nothing to be happy about. The big plus in our favor was our daily consumption of organic foods. So it seemed appropriate to figure out why what we eat can make such a different to the planet.

So after a little research, the connection between carbon footprints and food consumption became obvious. When we purchase the overly packaged, chemically laden, not really sure what we are actually eating food from the mega mart, we support an industry that utilizes chemicals, plastics and transports goods over long distances using innumerable gallons of petrochemicals and releasing toxic fumes into the air which contributes to global warming.

Ah ha. Connection made.

So, why is organic different? Well for one thing, organic farming means naturally grown produce that eliminates pesticides from crops and toxins from soil. Many organic farmers use traditional sustainable farming methods that lower their carbon footprint which in turn lowers their consumer’s carbon footprint. The main similarity between organic farming and commercial farming is the transportation issue. Whether the goods are produced in an environmentally friendly way or not, they still get shipped long distances to get to consumers.

Carbon footprint lowering solution? Shop locally. We hear it all the time but its one small way to make a big difference. Sure, sometimes you may pay a couple of cents more for choosing to shop on your own doorstep but the cost to the planet is enormous, especially if everyone does it. Besides supporting your local community, shopping locally for organically grown produce is good for your health and can force change on the food consumption market as a whole.

The only reason mega marts and commercial food producers transport goods over long distances and put them in wasteful packages and fill them full of toxic chemicals is because they are filling a consumer need. They are only responding to the market. If people stopped buying it, they would stop making it. Its pretty logical when you think about it. We live in a consumer driven economy. We are the consumers. What we eat makes all the difference.

Our choices make changes.

And organic food produced in your own region is one way to get your voice heard while reducing carbon emissions.

India Balks At Carbon-Caps While Bengali Tigers Dwindle

A meeting today in India between American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Indian Minister of Environment and Forests began innocently enough. It was meant to be just another dull photo op, one more chance for the venerable state figures to shake hands, mug gleaming, straight aristocratic grins for the cameras and have their pictures snapped by hordes of press photographers, this time in the ITC Green Centre, corporate headquarters of the ITC hotel chain and a "platinum certified green building", to punctuate the message that India is committed to limiting it's carbon footprint.

But then, everything went wrong.

“There is simply no case for the pressure” the U.S. is exerting, considering India produces among the lowest per capita emissions in the world, Minister Jairam Ramesh told Clinton during an unexpected discussion of climate negotiations during an event intended to showcase U.S.-Indian cooperation on clean energy at a “green” office building outside New Delhi.

“As if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours,” Ramesh said, referring to a climate-change bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26 that imposes tariffs on exports from countries that refuse to adopt greenhouse gas controls by 2020.

[ . . . ]

“We look upon you suspiciously because you have not fulfilled” the commitments made by developed countries in earlier climate treaties, Ramesh told Clinton and Stern, adding there’s a “credibility crisis” that industrialised nations will have to overcome in their demands of poor nations.

This is, of course, problematic for the Obama administration, which has been pushing for emissions caps on the developing world since the G8 summit earlier this summer, likely to ramp up worldwide support for a binding cap-and-trade initiative come December at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Thus far the response from those developing nations has been tepid at best and at worst hostile -- witness China's visible absence from the G8 summit this year, along with their stated intention to increase emissions in response to demand.

The signs of ecological decay aren't far from the ITC Green Centre. You need only travel to one of India's largest swaths of protected wilderness, Panna Tiger Preserve, to see for yourself the end result of our impact on the environment.

The park, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, was part of the country's efforts to save the famous Royal Bengal Tiger from extinction.

State Minister of Forests Rajendra Shukla said that the reserve, which three years ago had 24 tigers, no longer had any.

A special census was conducted in the park by a premier wildlife institute, after the forest authorities reported no sightings of the animals for a long time.

[ . . . ]

While this controversy rages, there have been reports that another national park in Madhya Pradesh, Sanjay National Park, which was included in the tiger project three years ago, also has no tigers left.

One is lead to wonder if the iconic Bengali Tiger, symbolic of the exotic and mysterious character of India, will become another statistic, another miscalculated sacrifice for the creeping lurch toward unipolar regional dominance.

(Sources:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aLjVkAtjjyr0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8150382.stm)

Enough Potential In Wind Energy To Power The World Might Not Be Enough Anyway

Chris Meyer is a new writer at OffsetCarbonFootprint.org. He enjoys noise music, bicycling and vegan mayo. He lives in Seattle, WA.

---

A study published April 29th, 2009, conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, concluded that building extensive new networks of 2.5MW wind power turbines in un-forested, ice-free, non-urban areas could provide 16 times the current energy needs of the entire country. It went on to suggest that their conclusions scaled globally, and that a worldwide network of turbines operating at just 20% capacity could provide 40 times the total electricity needs of the planet.

The study was conducted by analyzing data gathered by a network of 8,199 meteorological stations concentrated in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. This seeming geographic bias lead some to speculate that the extrapolated global data might not be as reliable as the data covering those regions, however the concern is largely an academic one and the assertion that wind alone holds enough potential to power the planet many times over is self-evident.

Not so for hedge fund manager and cartoonishly evil energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who reneged on his grandstanding 2007 announcement that he would build the world's largest wind turbine farm in Texas. The cancelled project would have generated 5 times the electricity generated by the second largest turbine farm in the world had it been completed, but it seems even endorsement by the absurdly rich can't make solar power an attractive investment for energy interests, as Pickens points to logistical and budgetary problems that sent the ambitious initiative to the scrapper. T. Boone Pickens of course has oodles of experience backtracking from ridiculous initiatives, as he publicly boasted in 2007 that he would pay $1 million to anyone who could disprove the assertions of Swift Boat Veterans For Truth made during the 2004 election. Laughable premise notwithstanding, when confronted first by John Kerry and later by a group of Vietnam-era veterans who had served with Kerry, Pickens predictably dithered and stammered that their proof certainly wasn't proof enough, leading one to wonder if he was ever really interested in the truth to begin with.

Still, the study offers a glimpse of a different world. One of the observations gleaned from the conclusions of the paper is that China, which is rapidly producing coal power plants to meet the demand of a nascent, modernizing populace, could increase it's energy output by 18 times by constructing vast arrays of wind turbine power plants. The rub then lies in dissuading governments of the world from being lulled into the illusion of instant gratification by carbon-based energy production and instead invest in clean, renewable energy such as wind power. The task is daunting, but the alternative is gravely negligent.

Global Stewardship

I'm thrilled to be using the library at http://www.offsetcarbonfootprint.org/ to further educate myself about global warming. Overwhelmingly I appreciate all efforts toward sustainability and stewardship of this planet and our universe. The article about carbon friendly dining especially appeals to me regarding our food choices. Not just the choices we make at the restaurants we choose but what we bring home to cook as well.

OCF Now Paired With Chicago Climate Exchange

We are proud to announce that OffsetCarbonFootprint.Org has teamed up with Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). CCX operates North America’s only cap and trade system for all six greenhouse gases, with global affiliates and projects worldwide. CCX Members are leaders in greenhouse gas (GHG) management and represent all sectors of the global economy, as well as public sector innovators. Reductions achieved through CCX are the only reductions made in North America through a legally binding compliance regime, providing independent, third party verification by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly NASD).

The commodity traded on CCX is the CFI contract, each of which represents 100 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. CFI contracts are comprised of Exchange Allowances and Exchange Offsets. Exchange Allowances are issued to emitting Members in accordance with their emission baseline and the CCX Emission Reduction Schedule. Exchange Offsets are generated by qualifying offset projects. Make sure to visit the our website for CCX products as well as 5 other ways to offset your carbon footprint!