And the Best Place to Buy Food Is… February 6, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Uncategorized.Tags: local foods, paper bags, plastic bags, reusable totes, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods
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To be honest, in a celebrity death match between Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, I would totally be cheering on the sidelines for TJ’s, who’s friendlier, less corporate, and way cheaper. Oh, and also, chock-full of cute boys (The only reason I’m on the sidelines is cuz I haven’t yet bought a reusable tote with which to do my grocery shopping. I sorely regretted this negligence this past Superbowl Sunday, when, after having first waited in line for hours, I then got stuck in the rain with my two super-heavy paper bags. Let me just say that the walk from the supermarket to my apartment is more fun in the sun). Anyways, Whole Foods does have this commitment to locally-grown foods, which are healthier, cheaper, better for the environment and for the community’s economy. Just between us, though, I give my business to Trader Joe’s and their boys.
Sundance of the New Age February 5, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Uncategorized.Tags: An Inconvenient Truth, carbon footprint, Earth Pledge, Earthkeepers, eco-luxury, Fields of Fuel, Flow-For Love of Water, Half-Life, Lexus, Project Greenhouse, Sundance, Timberland
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I guess it makes sense that a festival named Sundance would finally go green. All the pretty hippies floating around honoring the sun and the earth… Oh, wait. That’s not at all what it’s about. But people involved in this formerly non-earth-focused festival are finally shifting their attention away from celluloid to carbon. From the movies themselves being green-themed (”Fields of Fuel,” “Flow:For Love of Water,” “Half-Life”), to on-site groups selling environmentally-friendly products (like Timberland’s new recycled boots), to the non-profit group Earth Pledge helping filmmakers reduce their carbon footprint and Lexus’s Project Greenhouse showing those of us with money how to live in eco-luxury, Sundance is getting a total makeover.
Sundance promotes eco-friendliness February 4, 2008
Posted by raffiki07 in Energy, Lifestyle, Pollution.Tags: Fields of Fuel, Flow-For Love of Water, Sundance
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Reduce, Reuse, and Renew- this was the mantra Sundance promoted at this years film festival. Sundance, the spot Al Gore chose to premiere his movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” has been dedicated to promoting energy conservation for decades, and did not slow down this year. Celebs received goody bags loaded with trendy eco-friendly fashion, such as shoes made out of tires, earrings made from bottle tops, and a skateboard made from bamboo. Also, Sundance premiered several eco-conscious movies this year, such as “Flow-For Love of Water,” and “Fields of Fuel.” Looks like I’ll be hittin’ up blockbuster for some eco-friendly films!
A Wink and a Smile February 1, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Uncategorized.Tags: coal power, George W. Bush, Kyoto Protocol, nuclear power, State of the Union, UN
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That’s what our president gave us during his most recent State of the Union. He’s obviously unconcerned about–well, pretty much everything–but in this blog we focus on the environment, and he sure as hell couldn’t care less about that. The great US of A is the only developed country not to have entered into the Kyoto Protocol, and his main plans (if you can call them that) for improving the environment involve nuclear and coal power. January 20th can’t come soon enough.
Point of No Return February 1, 2008
Posted by raffiki07 in Energy, Lifestyle.add a comment
In October of last year, the UN sent out a warning to the people. There are limited resources on earth: a finite amount of trees, animals, and soil for food. Yet the population continues to grow… and grow… and grow–up 34% to 6.7 billion in the past 20 years alone. A study showed that each human requires 3 times more land than the earth can supply. What’s going to happen when we run out of resources? This is a question we don’t want to answer, because there aren’t too many options, except to move to the moon (yea, right). Isn’t it easier just to reduce energy consumption? You’re right, the moon thing is waaaay more practical…
TI-I-I-M-MBERRRRR January 30, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Ecosystems.Tags: certified lumber, Forest Stewardship Council, Gibson guitars, Home Depot, Julia Roberts, Les Paul, Lowe's, Rainforest Alliance, Scientific Certification Systems, Smartwood, sustainable forests
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I blogged a while back about Julia Roberts’s new Malibu mansion, built from sustainably forested wood. A sustainably managed forest is more than just one where trees are planted to replace those cut down; the entire ecological balance must be taken into account as well as the state of communities affected by the forest. There’s a whole certification process that goes into this type of wood, headed up by people who really aren’t motivated by money (yes, there are still a couple of those folks kicking around) and surprisingly enough, encouraged by such giants as Lowe’s and Home Depot, who give preference to certified lumber and thus a big boost to small, conscientious manufacturers. This certified lumber tends not to be sold at prices that accurately reflect what goes into the process (while people like the idea of sustainably forested wood, the average consumer will only spend slightly more on it). Your average guitar player, however, may be a different story.
Open Wide the Green Gates January 28, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Uncategorized.Tags: Africa, agriculture, Beill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bono, Microsoft, World Economic Forum
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Bill Gates is going out with a bang. He’s stepping down from Microsoft and donating $306 million (a mere drop in the bucket of his billions, but a respectable chunk nevertheless) to a foundation for African farmers that he and his wife have started. This foundation is geared toward teaching new agricultural methods which will enable people to work their way out of poverty. Some of its goals are to help with farming education and training, to provide crops such as rice that can thrive in Africa’s often-harsh environment, and to strengthen connections to both local and global markets.“Of the billion people who live on less than $1 a day, three-quarters are small farmers,” he said in explanation of the agricultural focus. Think about this one: Mr. Gates is worth roughly $60 billion. If he were to distribute that to every one of the earth’s inhabitants, that’d be $10 a person, which would be ten times as much as 1/6 of the world lives on a day. And about what I have allotted to myself for a weekly budget.
It’s a Smorgasbord of Cardboard! January 25, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Climate, Pollution.Tags: California, cardboard, compost, Fiberwood, humanure, hydroseeding, landfills, mulch, Sacramento
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I’ve been reading a lot lately about humanure (a term which, I believe, is self-explanatory), but I gotta say, this concept is a little less… icky. Fiberwood, based out of Sacramento, CA (yay California!!!!), is a company that’s making mulch out of cardboard. In brief: tons of manufactured goods are constantly coming into the state, mostly in cardboard boxes. The cardboard winds up in landfills if not recycled. So Fiberwood is putting it to use–up to 100 tons a day!–for hydroseeding (mixing water and mulch at a ratio of 100 gallons for every 75 lbs. and then adding seeds to the mix; one application of this would be to restore ground cover in areas devastated by forest fires), and hydromulch (the mix minus the seeds; used to cover landfills in order to cut down on the smell emanating from them; 1/4″ thick layer of this mixture does the trick as well as a 6″ thick layer of soil). Thank God for people who are thinking outside of the (cardboard) box.
Less Julia Roberts and More Bilbo Baggins January 24, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Ecosystems, Lifestyle.Tags: Bilbo Baggins, compost toilet, J.R.R. Tolkien, Julia Roberts, Lord of the Rings, low-impact home, solar paneling, The Hobbit, Wales
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Not so much a $20 million Malibu mansion as a lovely hillside home in the Shire. But the concept’s the same… roughly. Ok, I’ll admit I’m stretching the association a bit. This house in Wales is slightly less, shall we say, ostentatious than a multi-million-dollar mansion. For about $6000, if my pound-to-dollar conversion skills are at all accurate–not even a 30,000th of Miss Roberts’ cost–this “low impact home” built into the side of a hill uses straw bales throughout for insulation purposes, as well as a woodburner for extra heat. Underground air is used to cool the fridge. Solar panels provide the light, and there’s even a compost toilet, and so much more. And you get to feel like you live in a fantasy novel, at no extra cost.
But Think About the Trees, Angels, the Trees! January 21, 2008
Posted by shomriel in Ecosystems, Lifestyle.Tags: Canada's Boreal Forest, Forest Ethics, Gisele Bundchen, Ipanema, Victoria's Secret
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I don’t know why it never occurred to me when I was perusing the shiny Vicky’s Secret catalogs that get delivered to our apartment on a weekly basis. Probably because I was too busy wiping up my liquid envy from Gisele’s legs (All of me reaches up to her knees). But hot damn! A lot of paper goes into these catalogs. And if my household alone can fill up our entire recycling bin just with the ones we get every month, then how many forests are getting chopped down for the 395 million catalogs that get sent out every year? Initially, none of the paper used for their catalogs was recycled and Canada’s sadly unprotected Boreal Forest was providing this paper. Once protests were staged, VS did start to come around. Good thing. In the age of Internet, there is absolutely no need for ecosystems to be destroyed in order for us to flip through glossy pages.
