Green Daily

Living in Austin but haling from New York, I can assure you that the cultures of the two cities are different.

In Austin, people really like green drinks, farming, eco-landscaping, bicycling...the list goes on. But New York, as a whole, has other less sustainable things on its mind.

That's why I viewed this article on building a wind farm off the coast of Queens, New York with some pride.

It makes perfect sense to build one, especially if you consider that New York's most historic natural advantage has been that it's a city awash in water (rivers, bays, oceans...you name it).

The cost of the project is in the billion dollar range. But we have to start paying our environment back by purchasing our power utilities in a forward-thinking fashion. Which is why I vote: yes (on wind farms).

Architecture for Humanity and Rubicon National Social Innovations have teamed up to sponsor a contest to see who can figure out the best marketable product to salvage (or create, more like) from the body of a discarded mattress.

I wish I had one to work with, because if I did, I'd be using metal coils to make one heck of a lampshade. What would you be making?

The deadline for the contest is fast approaching -- it's December 5th. You can click on the related Treehugger link for contest rules and additional info.

In the UK, you can now donate your old wedding dress to a young Liberian, and conserve a few yards of fabric. Or should I say meters?

According to the bridalwave.tv website, this humanitarian project was born when Reverend Louise Collins of Sheffield got hitched to Alpha Bird Collins, the Liberian ambassador.

Liberia, if you didn't know, is a small West African nation torn by over a decade of civil war. While the nation has recently recovered, its infrastructure is still shaky, and the average Liberian woman only earns around $1 a day.

In consideration of this, says Reverend Collins, "...we take the dresses to Liberia where our local partners will loan them out to Liberian brides, for a small charge to cover cleaning and so on." The couple aims to bring a little joy -- and financial relief -- through the project.

Do you have a dress to send to Sheffield, UK? Here's the address, and, of course, some more info.

I have a family member who inherited a unique perspective about global crisis, since her parents were Polish Jewish refugees who fled to Siberia during World War II. She told me once, "If things ever get really bad, we'll all live in one room together for however long it takes, and we'll be fine." I took great and unexpected comfort in this, because she seemed like one who knew.

Fast forward to the economic crisis of fall 2008. What if our financial system melts like the polar ice caps? How will we afford to eat? Isn't this a problem for which living in one room is not the solution?

Cuba has dealt with worse. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, "[Cuba] lost 85 percent of its foreign trade, including food, agricultural imports and petroleum. Already crippled by the U.S. embargo, the country was financially devastated with its food supply hit hardest." This, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from the year 2000.

Fast forward to 2008. An Associated Press article printed in June talked about how, faced with food crisis, Cubans started farming in empty lots in urban centers (with support from the Cuban government). This agricultural shift prompted a cultural shift. Instead of eating rice and beans supplied by Eastern Europe, Cubans started eating tons of fresh greens. The farms also currently provide about 350,000 jobs nationwide.

To quote Carolyn Murphy, a California-based sociologist interviewed by the AP, "It's a really interesting model looking at what's possible in a nation that's 80 percent urban. It shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits."

So if we all farm in one abandoned lot, we'll be alright.

My grandmother once told me a story about the 1964 World's Fair in New York. She said -- and I'm not quite sure this is true, but it's still a good story -- that there was a fellow there demonstrating the power of a microwave. (Yes -- that Chinese food-reheating, popcorn-popping kitchen device that would belong to the culinary future.)

This man's job was to lay on top of the microwave to show just how safe it was to irradiate food, and how one could do that without, presumably, irradiating his bottom.

What triggered my memory of this were a few teasers on the website for West Coast Green, a Silicon Valley conference coming up in September that focuses on green building innovation and design. To be featured there:

• A bike that creates clean water!
• The world's most energy efficient computer
• A green roof garden...stroll by and pet the roof (and you don't even have to worry about falling off)

Is the green of tomorrow the science fiction of today? And how many other people besides myself want to drink out of their bikes within the next decade?

There's still time to register for this event, at which Al Gore, David Suzuki (PBS), and Sarah Susanka (author of "Not-So-Big House" series) will be the keynote speakers.

As Austin-based EnviroMedia reports, it just became mandatory in Texas for manufacturers to see to the recycling of (new) computer equipment purchased in the state.

Here is the official language from the TCEQ website: "[As of] September 1, 2008, the manufacturer will offer a recycling program -- free of charge at the time of recycling -- to collect and recycle consumers' used computer equipment." That includes monitors, laptops, keyboards and mice. (For more detailed information, you can visit a TCEQ-maintained website for consumers, which includes a list of manufacturers sorted by brand.)

EnviroMedia Blogger Valerie Davis makes two great points about the new law. First: there are only four states with computer takeback laws; Texas, Minnesota, Maine and Maryland. Why not more?

Second: where will all those old TV's go when television goes digital in 2009? Analog heaven, I guess...what a nice place that must be, filled to the brim with mix tapes.

What's nice about the city I live in (Austin, Texas) is that its spirit/heart/lifeblood is a natural springs at the very center of town. Called Barton Springs, its waters are aquifer-fed, a cool 68 degrees year-round, and inhabited by a unique species of salamander. But the Springs -- and its salamanders -- suffer deeply from human impact

I thought of this when I browsed National Geographic's website today. The site features a photo gallery of a coral reef in a remote Pacfic atoll called Kingman Reef. In true National Geographic style, the photos capture something so pristine that they appear nearly cartoonish.

Look out for slick sharks and a transparent shrimp the size of a rice grain when you cruise through.

The cycle of nature offers up a sort of Cracker Jack prize to those who despair at environmental destruction: the world will go on happily without us. Any of us.

That's the premise of a sweet little video on YouTube that's featured on Alan Weisman's site. He's the author of a new book called The World Without Us.

Granted, it may be a little low on scientific accuracy. But, as another YouTube commenter notes, it's high on the Buddhist concept of impermanence, which teaches us that all the styrofoam cups in this world wont amount to a hill of beans. Five hundred years from now.

Same goes for your McMansion.


[via sewgreen]

What follows is an academically fraught way to indicate that fast-actin' Tinactin might rescue water from the blight of red tide:

Our results suggested that antifungal agents are effective against the growth of red tides by interfering with the ergosterol biosynthetic pathway in the plankton cells.

That was Takuji Nakashima of the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation in Kisarazu, Japan. Working with a few other scientists, he found that ingredients typically used to kill athlete's foot could also be used to kill red tide.

Red tide, well known by coastal residents of Florida, is an algal bloom toxic to fish, shellfish and sometimes humans. Experts believe it's triggered by accumulated agricultural runoff.

But don't go sprinklin' yer foot powder off the side of the boat. As Jan Landsberg of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission noted, no one's quite sure how well this stuff will work outside of the laboratory.

Hear ye, hear ye, tea aficionados: there's a new brand of organic tea in (internet) town called Zhi.

The first time I tasted Zhi was at a local shop in Austin, Texas. The blend? A decaffeinated herbal called Sweet Desert Delight. Topped with steamed soy, it tasted as rich as a Thanksgiving dinner -- pretty unusual for a low-cal beverage.

According to Zhi's finely tuned website, this signature brew contains organic Red Rooibos, cinnamon, anise pods, cacao nibs, coconut pieces, safflowers and stevia leaf. In other words: total taste explosion.

The White Blueberry is also a winner, which mixes, "superior grade organic China White Peony...with organic blueberry, blue malva flowers, and botanical blueberry flavor."

Of course, as I write this, I'm sipping on Zhi's smooth-sailing Coconut Assam.

I'm proud to support something organic and certified fair trade that I can't yet purchase at a supermarket. It feels so...exclusive.

And thrifty in a sophisticated fashion, especially when I buy in bulk.

Treehugger reported early this morning on a new environmental magazine called environment360. It was recently launched by the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

The website is sort of like orange juice with pulp -- it's got the green news you need with a little bit of academic flavor for added nutrition. (An apt metaphor? Well, it's colorful, at least.)

In a brief treatment of the site, Treehugger noted a hot-off-the-presses article by "heavy-hitter" Bill McKibben, and offered even deeper praise for a featured interview with Zhao Zhong -- he's at the forefront of China's burgeoning conservation movement, trying to save that nation's Yellow River.

Ah, environment360: you're one more stream flowing into my RSS sea.

I knew that Brazil was big, but I didn't know until recently that it harbors almost 14% of the planet's fresh water.

Actually, it might not be quite appropriate to call it "fresh," since so much of it is threatened by land degradation, soil runoff and heavy agricultural land use.

That's why WWF-Brazil is applying pressure on Brazilians and the Brazilian government to protect water sources like springs. While Brazil's springs are already classified as Permanent Protection Areas or PPA's, they have been under increasing environmental stress.

WWF hopes that grass roots "adoption" measures will return springs to health; the idea behind the adoption is that communities take responsibility for their own local water sources.

A model draft bill detailing the action is up on the web if you'd like to explore further. Unfortunately for many of us, it's written in Portuguese.

Money offers an interesting conundrum for recyclephiles because it's already reused and exchanged. In fact, that's it's function. Hmm.

So I pose this question to all you philosophers: is re-purposing quarters better for the environment than just using quarters as, well, plain old quarters?

I really don't know the answer. But take a look at these interesting chairs made of coinage.

And while you're at it, there's a completely gorgeous origami koi fish made out of dollar bill out there. I just wish I knew how to replicate the folds. Oh, well.

A week ago, I posted about sunscreens and noted that California Baby sunscreen came highly recommended. This week, I wanted to tell you a little more about the entire California Baby body-care line, which I love.

California Baby was started by Los Angeles resident Jessica Iclisoy, who, back in 1991, was raising newborns. She was also having difficulty finding bath/diaper products for them that contained organic, non-synthetic ingredients. Lucky for us, the entrepreneurial spirit drove her to make some of her own.

Today, Iclisoy's line is in health food stores across the country. And even though it's "supposed" to be for babies...who cares?! Try anything of hers, even if you're 102.

Today, Bjork's new 3-D "Wanderlust" video is being released on DVD. Ordinarily, this wouldn't merit mention on an eco website, but her video happens to feature seven minutes worth of (most unusual) animated nature scenes, including a prominent display of water buffalo. (No, it's not your average MTV jam, is it?)

The video was created over the course of 9 months by San Francisco-based company Encyclopedia Pictura. As a New York Times video interview gaily informs viewers, some of the boys over there derived inspiration for it by heading out to the woods hopped up on psychedelic substances. Artists do it so you don't have to: