green

Riverwired.com: Wine in a Box -- It's Good and It's Green

scleaver — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:52:47 -0400

Boxed wine is shaking off tackiness and gaining a green-reputation instead.

As Serious Eats reported, a standard wine bottle (750 milliliter) traveling from a California winery to New York produces 5.2 pounds of carbon emissions; a three-liter box of wine generates only half the amount of emissions per 750 milliliter. (Here’s the original New York Times Op-Ed on the subject).

Opting for a box is especially significant when you consider that, while the majority of wines are made on the West Cost, the majority of wine drinkers are east of the Mississippi, and the U.S. is fast becoming the largest market for wine in the world, so the lighter we can make our wine shipments, the more emissions we’ll save. According to the NY Times, if we drank the wines that are consumed within a year (that’s 97 percent of wines) from a box instead of a bottle, it would reduce greenhouse gases by “about two million tons, or the equivalent of retiring 400,000 cars.”

One impediment to boxed wine right now is quality: the best wine rarely comes in a box. But, all that could change with a little consumer demand.

Riverwired.com: The Ultimate In Locavore Luxury

scleaver — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The latest twist in the local food trend: outsourcing. Take Trevor Paque a freelance farmer in San Francisco who will build you an organic garden in your backyard, weed it, harvest the goods, and leave you the bounty. Paque was the headliner in a recent New York Times article about lazy (luxurious) locavores, city residents who want to live green and eat local but don’t have the time or desire to get down and dirty so they pay others to satisfy their 100-mile diet needs. Other lazy locavores are participating in cow or pork pooling, buying a share of a cow or pig on a nearby farm, or are joining up with companies like FruitGuys, a company in San Francisco and Philadelphia that will deliver fresh fruit to your work.

The key to this trend is the price, it costs a lot to be lazy (some locavores are hiring private chefs to cook them 100-mile meals at home). But, at least, instead of boasting about brand names and how far a food traveled, backyard produce and heritage pork is the peak of chic.

Photo of FruitGuys produce.

Riverwired.com: Green Porno

Orbitmanifesto — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:53:01 -0400

Green Porno is not exactly what anyone would think when they here the words “green” or “porno”. Green Porn is a series of short films created by writer, director and actor Isabella Rossellini that explain the explicit sexual acts of several insects. Green Porn is amazingly funny yet some how very educational. Like a PBS children’s documentary these short films took me back to my childhood with colorful imagery and playful comic like stories that help illustrate a difficult subject to explain.

These low budget films were designed for the “3rd Screen” an independent film term for internet and mobile computing devices like i-pods and cell phones. Isabella uses common materials like paper and fabric to model her costumes & scenery in a artistically creative way that is visually captivating and I hope you find them as delightful as I did.

You can view Green Porn at this URL:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno

Riverwired.com: Which College Is the Greenest?

scleaver — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400

As if choosing a campus wasn’t hard enough, this year The Princeton Review is adding green ratings to some of their college guides. The green rating score is a composite of factors from building and transportation policies, recycling, food sourcing, and environmental courses offered.

Campuses have been going green for a while now. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education has a rating system for schools. The Worldwatch Institute outlines campus greening initiatives on its web site. And, the Sustainable Endowments Institute puts out the College Sustainability Report Card that grades 200 schools that have large endowments according to how they spend those endowments in ways that benefit the environment.

These new scorecards aren’t going unnoticed. As the Christian Science Monitor reported, according to a Princeton Review survey, 60 percent of college applicants and their parents say that the green factor would affect their application decision. Proponents claim that going green, especially with buildings, could lower costs in the long run and fit into the leadership role of universities. But, others, like Richard Vedder at the American Enterprise Institute, are concerned that going green could raise already high costs.

Photo from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Green Campus Initiative.

Riverwired.com: Top 10 Green Excuses

kbutler — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you’re reading this article, odds are that you’re probably at least a light pale green in your commitment to Mother Earth. (That or you’re a friend or relative I’ve harassed to read my blog – you guys rock!) So in honor of the many shades of green out there, I present a list of top ten green excuses for your every day use.

TOP TEN GREEN EXCUSES

10. “I know I smell, but you couldn’t possibly expect me to shower longer than 1.3 minutes and waste an extra 3.6 gallons of water.”

9. You can’t eat dinner at your mother-in-law’s because you can't be subjected to another helping of her non-organic food/soul-crushing criticism.

8. “Of course I’m tired. I was up all night trying to figure out exactly why Madonna is on the cover of Vanity Fair’s 2008 Green Issue.”

7. “I’m sorry, but attending your son’s Bar Mitzvah/daughter’s confirmation/sister’s wedding will offset my carbon footprint.”

6. When you’re pulled over for speeding, you say, “How about I give you 25 useful facts on solar power to make this whole thing go away? Okay, make it 50.”

5. You walked into that adult sex shop because you thought that sign read “We’re totally organic!”

4. “What do you mean, I can’t set up an industrial wind turbine farm in my front yard? What is this, Communist Russia?”

3. You tackled that distinguished gentleman on the street because you thought he shared Al Gore’s dreamy profile.

2. When you’re mistaken for a homeless woman, you explain you’re just taking “reduce, recycle, and reuse” to the next level.

1. “Oh, like you’ve never tried to run a Hummer off the road!”

Riverwired.com: Green Freebie: How about a Toyota Prius?

RiverWired.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Somebody somewhere is getting something green for free – why not you? Jet Blue Airways is making up for all those carbon emissions by giving you a chance to go green every day – with the Grand Prize of a Toyota Prius hybrid. Next prize-- $3000 gift card to Smith & Hawken, some of the most beautiful plants and gardening stuff around. And if you don’t get those biggies, you may still qualify for an Energy Star Sharp LCD TV, or an eco-culinary retreat for four – or a trip for two to an Arizona spa. I’m feeling greener already – how about you?

Riverwired.com: A Greener Father's Day: Five Great Gift Ideas

jplatt — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:01:09 -0400

Let's face it, dads love gadgets. And with Father's Day around the corner, you know your dad or father-in-law is expecting something shiny and electronic from you.

So let's not disappoint. Here are five great green gadgets that would make perfect gifts for the dads in your life:

1. The SOLIO universal solar charger. This great device can charge your dad's cell phone, iPod (if he's hip enough), digital camera, or just about anything else. Solio devices start at $79.95 -- and they even have an eco-friendly gift-wrapping option!

2. The Watts Up? energy meter. Perfect for the do-it-yourself dad, these devices help to identify the energy vampires in your house. Give this gift, then watch your dad run around the whole house trying to make things more efficient!

3. ScanGuage II, the perfect automotive tool for a dad trying to cut down on his gasoline consumption.

4. An LED flashlight. Because come on, no dad can ever have enough flashlights. LEDs use even less power than CFLs, and they provide a great light for tiny and giant jobs.

5. A hand-powered lawn mower. Not only do these not use gas, and help save the planet, the exercise he gets will help cut down on that middle-age spread your dad is no doubt already building around his waist! (Just make sure he doesn't start inviting you over the mow the lawn for him!)

If none of these fit the bill for your dad, why not go the totally green route and make an environmental donation in his name. No products, no packaging, no shipping, and the money will do some good for the world. You can't go wrong with that.

Riverwired.com: Web Browser Gives Back to Green Causes

jplatt — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:00:00 -0400

More than 50% of web surfers today use a version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Another 40% use Mozilla Firefox. But did you know that there are other alternatives -- and that one of them is greener than all the rest?

Flock Eco is a green-minded version of the new Flock web browser. Like its base edition, Flock Eco is billed as a "social web browser." Instead of having a traditional "home page," the Flock browser pulls in content from your friends and your favorite news sites. You can use it to automatically follow people on Fickr, Twitter and Facebook, and to get the RSS feeds you want.

The Flock Eco version is perfectly built for greenies like you and me. It comes with feeds from Grist, Treehugger, Planetgreen and others built right in. The browser is like a one-stop-shop for environmental news and content. It also comes with tools for green blogging.

Plus, Flock Eco has a built-in search engine (powered by Yahoo), and Flock gives back 10% of its proceeds from every search to environmental causes -- causes which will be chosed each year by its users.

Flock is free, and a worthy alternative to something that you use all the time anyway.

Riverwired.com: Signed up for Solar Energy Installation Evaluation

C2 — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:08:43 -0400

I finally signed up for an evaluation from one solar installation company. I expect to hear back in three business days...I'd like to see if it makes sense to use solar energy to take us off the grid one day (wait until another blackout then we're all off the grid). Environmentally it is a compelling scenario...economically is another story...aesthetically it may be problematic too...should I worry that in 20 years when I want to sell our house that it will be outdated (like the Brady Bunch ranch houses)? hey, bite the bullet, God did not put me on this earth forever to exploit and plunder and not care..I plan to sign up for more installation companies...

Riverwired.com: REUSE REUSE REUSE RECYCLE! The NEW 4 R's!

edahmen — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

We all understand the importance of recycling, but there's an extra little step we can take with our recyclable materials on the way to the recycling bin to help reduce our waste even more! To master this new technique we must ask ourselves this question, “How can I use this item again before I recycle it?” The answer will have you reducing waste and getting organized at the same time!

Here are a few fun examples to help you get started!

Tea-boxes as drawer organizers?
I enjoy a yummy Yogi Tea every now and again. The boxes are recyclable, but I’ve discovered that by cutting off the top of the lid they fit snugly in my kitchen drawer and I can use them for organizing twisty ties and rubber bands. If they start to look old you break them down and put them in the recycle bin and replace it with a newer box.

Glass jars for my cleaning pastes?
You may not be used to green cleaning, but a lot of green cleaning methods involve making a paste out of baking soda and water, or oxygenated bleach cleanser and water. I find that reusing glass peanut butter or jam jars are great for this purpose.

Salad boxes for organizing outdoor party supplies?
Many organic salad mixes come in PETE plastic #6 boxes made from corn, like these from Earthbound Farm. While these can be recycled (though many cities won’t take #6’s) they work amazing as containers for organizing outdoor party supplies. I like to separate plastic utensils (that we will re-use, not dispose of!) into these boxes. It makes it easy for guests to find the utensil they need and it allows me to store them clean and separated during the winter. These boxes are lightweight and surprisingly durable, you can also use them for organizing anything from colored pencils to batteries.

Wine bottles in my toilet tank?
Ok, this one does sound funny! But a lot of people are getting wise to the fact that their toilet tanks use way more water than necessary. However, we can offset the water in our tank by putting an object inside that is dense enough to displace the water. Filling a wine bottle with water, sand or pebbles and placing in your toilet tank is a great way to re-purpose a recyclable wine bottle. You can also use recyclable plastic bottles for this as well. For more info on how to do this, click here!

Plastic bags in my purse?
The greener you are, the more you probably HATE the ubiquitous plastic bag. You try to BYO-bag as often as possible, but they just keep multiplying under the sink, don’t they? A little known fact is that plastic bags (when left alone) will breed, especially if left in dark areas. Be that as it may, it is impossible to deny the gazillion uses you can put them to before you recycle them. Here are a few of my favorites.

First, fold them into little triangles so they don’t take up more space than necessary. Instructions on how to do that are here.

For wet umbrellas, keep a triangle in your purse so that when you come into work/ a store/ the car from being out in the rain you can bag it and not worry about making a puddle. This won’t work for long handled umbrellas, but why you’d want to carry around a long handled umbrella is beyond me.

For packing cushion, wad them up and use them instead of bubble wrap or peanuts.

For travel, use them to separate socks and underwear or to store groups of soft items. Once items are in a bag, squeeze all the air out and it will save you space in your luggage. They will also keep your clothes clean in case something from that darn bath bag you had to check leaks!

For when you forget to BYO-bag. Keep a triangle in the bottom of every purse or bag you have. That way when you forget a reusable bag (or) just need an extra one you don’t have to take a new one from the store.

And that’s just the tip of the ice…bag!