Green Daily

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Sure, electric cars and hybrids have their place in the green transportation hierarchy, but bikes are universally acknowledged as the greenest way to get around. Completely emissions-free, powered by muscles and sweat, they are the healthy choice for the environment and for you.

However, like so many good habits (or intentions,) biking your way around town can go from difficult to outright impossible when you're traveling. Bikes are a pain to transport on airplanes, and while you can rent in most places, you never know what kind of equipment you'll find. Plus, even if you are lucky enough to get a decent bike, it can still be hard to find important information like where you can safely ride or if there are bike racks at your destination.

Of course, a clever person named George Gill came up with a solution: RentaBikeNow.com. This site lets you research the available bikes in a city or town, see photos and rates, reserve it online, and then get information on the best and safest routes. You can also get accessories, like kiddie trailers, helmets and locks.

We have an outrageous new contestant in the running for the title of world's most wasteful burger. The West Michigan Whitecaps are adding a 4lb, 4,800 calorie burger to the menu at their ballpark in Grand Rapids. It's called the Fifth Third Ballpark Burger ... but I'm calling it "The Deathburger" -- catchier name, right? Leave it to America's favorite past time to dream up the world's most wasteful burger.

When it comes to yoga, we all have the best intentions. One thing I do to make it easier to make it to classes is keep my yoga bag by the door, ready to go with all of my gear -- mat, towel, water bottle, and an extra t-shirt, just in case.

"But what magical bag can hold all this?" You may ask. Why, the Yogoco yoga bag, of course!

It has two compartments -- one for your mat, and another one for whatever else you need. There's also an inside pocket to hold your keys, cell phone (turned off!) and money.

Besides being so functional, the bags are socially responsible, too. They're made from eco-friendly, recycled t-shirt scraps. Also? Incredibly cute!

Best of all, this week we're doing a three-way giveaway of a Yogoco bag in your choice of color and pattern! In addition to entering here, you can enter two more times, at sister sites That's Fit and StyleList!

Ready to OM in style? Here's how to enter:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below telling us about your place to do yoga.
• The comment must be left before 5pm Eastern Time on Friday, March 27, 2009.
• You may enter only once on each site, for a total of three entries.
• One winner will be selected from each site in a random drawing, for a total of three winners.
• Each winner will receive one Yogoco yoga bag (valued at approximately $89).
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

Click here for complete Official Rules.

Winners are notified by email, so make sure to check next week to find out if you're the winner!

At last, the sustainable yoga collaboration between adidas and Rainbeau Mars is about to hit the stores. And it looks very cool!

This is good newes for all of the yoginis who want the reliability of adidas, which means you can wash your yoga pants over and over again and they won't fall down down when you're in tree post, served up with a sweet helping of environmental responsibility.

The line uses Tencel® fabric, which is made from renewable eucalyptus fibers, sourced from FSC-certified forests. Adidas also uses recycled materials for the trim, and water-based dyes for the prints, both of which reduce the production footprint.

Of course, having the endorsement of yoga guru Rainbeau Mars makes everything that much more attractive. If I get the orange top, will I be able to do that side leg out handstand?

Here's something to think about- heavier people have a larger carbon footprint. If two people are the same height and do the same things overall, the heavier person will have a larger carbon footprint.

It will take more power for your car to move you around, which will use up more gasoline. And, theoretically, heavier people would be eating a bit more, adding to food miles, production, etc. It's an interesting thing to add to your reasons to lose weight and something I hadn't considered before.

If you combine some things like walking or biking instead of using the car and eating more locally produced vegetables you'll be accomplishing green goals and hopefully, losing some weight in the process.

How am I to go on? Just last year I was proclaiming a new way to power our homes and fight the obesity epidemic.

All that we needed was a million Michael Phelps. Children could learn his dolphin kick and swim their way to a slimmer waist and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Their pools would be the new dams.

Now that will never happen, not after eight time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps got caught smoking weed at a college party. The environment will suffer for his poor behavior. Who is going to let Phelps teach children the dolphin kick now that there is photographic evidence he knows how to use a water bong?

One has to wonder if the water used in said water bong was then poured into a compost pile or if it was sent into a sanitation system? And was the pot locally and organically grown or was it some of that hydroponic stuff? That weed is grown in abandoned and foreclosed homes under grow lights that suck up lots of water and energy.

How environmentally aware is our 23-year old hero? What is the world to do now that we know his inorganic swimsuit and chlorinated pool is not his only environmental crime?

[via Huffington Post and BBC]

How much does a soccer jersey cost nowadays? $50? $75 sometimes more than $100. And how long do they last? A season concludes and the kids are off to new uniforms and bigger sizes. Why not put those old jerseys to good use in another part of the world?

A program through Bangladesh Relief Fund will take those unneeded jerseys off your hands and provide them to kids in Bangladesh. The program is based in Ohio, of all places. It's relatively small, but anyone is welcome to make a donation. The concept is that soccer unites and heals.

I discovered the program after a local newspaper profiled a team of Minnesota players that donated their old jerseys to the program. Think of it, an entire team's worth of uniforms for kids in a poor nation to use and play in.

This YouTube video has more details on the program.



[via Mankato Free Press]

Nature's Bounty, a vitamin and supplement supplier, is offering $10,000 for a green home makeover. As part of the company's Healthy You, Healthy Earth Sweepstakes, they hope to raise awareness about their environmentally friendly products and policies.

In addition to the makeover money, other prizes offered are a Nintendo® Wii Fit®, Nature's Bounty recycled fiber tote bags, and gift certificates up to $100 in value. To enter, go to their website and play a brief game of chance. You'll know immediately if you are a winner or not.

What would you do with a $10,000 green makeover? It's not enough to buy the kitchen of my dreams but I could certainly use it for solar panels.

Good news for lazy bikers! Sometime in February, Schwinn will be launching its first foray into the pedal-assisted hybrid bike market. Their first e-bike frame will be named (appropriately) the Tailwind, and with its user-friendly, fast charging battery system made by Toshiba, it's sure to be one of the most low maintenance hybrid two wheelers around -- pretty much the polar opposite of the 48V Flat Tracker.

If you're into the whole pedal-assist idea, it sounds like Schwinn has worked out the kinks. The Tailwind plugs straight into a regular outlet, and can be fully charged within 30 minutes (or as few as 7 with an aftermarket charger), that's about 1/8th of the charge time for similar bikes. Also, its battery maintains a 100% charge after 2000 charges and only drops to 80% after 6000 cycles. Here's the only downside I see with the Tailwind -- and it's a pretty big one -- price. According to Schwinn, this baby's going to cost $3,199. Do you think anybody's going to be willing to pay that for a pedal-assisted bike these days?

[via CleanTechnica]

Sure, it's no surprise that every now in then, some city planners don't take bicycle transit seriously. They throw in a couple of completely useless token bike lanes just to say their city is bike-friendly, score some brownie points, and move on to the next luncheon, ribbon cutting, or strip club. If no one complains, then can go about their business pretending that they've made everyone happy.

That's why the guys at SlateV.com decided to go around drawing attention to these so-called bike lanes, an awareness campaign that I think is pretty impressively vigilant. Of course, bikers do have a reputation for going vigilante, but I digress. This is the type of stuff bikers should be doing to pressure their towns to take bike commuting seriously. Slate asked cyclists around the globe to report all stupid bike lanes, and the results came pouring in. Check out some of these idiotic lanes after the break.

Besides striving to make quality running shoes that deliver quality while having as small an impact on the environment as possible, Newton Running thinks shoe boxes as we know them need an eco-friendly makeover and they've taken the initiative to do it. Made of 100% post consumer recycled materials, their shoe "boxes" are really just molded cartons. Because they fit the shape of the shoes they waste less space during shipping and transport, and a pair of socks in one shoe and a reusable shoe bag in the other takes the place of tissue paper stuffing.

Very cool, and the shoes aren't too shabby either.

Actor Matt Damon is a charitable guy. That's no secret. He and Charlie Engle co-founded the H2O Africa Project to help communities in Africa gain access to clean drinking water.

It's the new year and getting in shape is on everyone's mind but have you thought about how green your workout choices might be? I'm not going to say anyone is making the wrong choice if they are actually working out but, let's look at some ways you can make greener workout choices.

• Go outside! Ok, I know, many of you are dealing with snow. If you can, go outside and walk or job, hike a trail, go snowshoeing, do something. Even shoveling snow will burn some calories. While you're out there, enjoy the nature around you and take a moment to pick up any trash you might see.
  
• If you can't go outside, use some of the workout DVDs you already have or pick some up used as the people who have already gotten in shape tackle their clutter and sell them off.
  
• If you must purchase a treadmill or other exercise machine, buy it used and do your research to find something that is energy efficient.
  
• Look for more natural fabrics in your workout wear, or fleece and other fabrics made from recycled plastics.
  
• If you need to join a gym because of space and weather limitations, think about only joining for the winter months and make sure to be eco-friendly while you are there. Use only one (or no) towels, bring your reusable water bottle and encourage others to do the same.
  
• Create power from your workout with tools like the Pedal-A-Watt.

We just installed a woodstove at our house so I'm guessing my winter workouts will be coming from lots of wood chopping, splitting, stacking and hauling.

Remember going to the local science museum's elecricity exhibit? You get on a bike hooked up to a generator and pedal away until soon that generator feeds a light bulb, that flickers and burns bright.

The Green Microgym in Portland is using the same concept to power the TVs and stereos at the gym. Solar power feeds the lights. Bikes are linked together using a technology called the Human Dynamo.

The Human Dynamo is a bike connected to a battery that stores the energy people create while they pedal. That energy is then converted and appliances plugged into the box feed off its power. The system is particularly effective in group spinning classes, and any other class that involves some sort of wheel.

To save energy the gym also shuts televisions and equipment off when no one's using them.

The Green Microgym's next step in becoming carbon neutral is sending their energy to Portland's power company to create long term energy storage.

[via BBC]

All of the dogs I know are good running partners and sleeping partners, but I would be pained to see them serve as leads of a dog sled. Now, instead of lashing a group of dogs together to lead a human through the Arctic wilderness, a group of athletes are competing in an iditarod without four-legged creatures.

The Iditarod Trail Invitational is over a thousand miles in frozen Alaska, and competitors can run, bike or ski their way to the finish line. But they cannot use any motorized power and they cannot use dogs. Last year's winner completed the race in just over 18 days. A few food drops are set out along the path, but competitors carry their own gear, cross ice and snow and move continuously until the finish line.

Not many people finish the race. The 350-mile race is more popular. But those who do the longer race and complete it may feel a bit like the dogs who arrive at the end of an sled-dog mush paws bloodied, teeth rotted from dehydration and ready to sleep for a week.

This year's race starts March 1, 2009.

[via NY Times]