Blogs

My new TV is coming! Now, about my old one...

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:55:42 PDT

It's on the way! The announcement that my local cable provider, Time Warner Cable, had doubled the number of available HD channels to 50 was the push I needed. I went online, did my research, and ordered a (not-too-big-and-wasteful) 32-inch LCD TV that should arrive later this week. Hooray for me.

Now, what about the 27-inch Sony Trinitron that has been my constant companion since 1994?

We've been through a lot together: elections, Olympics, Absolutely Fabulous. What am I to do with this big glass-and-plastic monster that suddenly looks positively antique sitting on its stand?

My current plan is to take the easy way out and post it as a free giveaway at Craigslist. If you can haul it, you can have it. My hope is that it will go to someone who can really use it, or at least to someone who can sell it on and make a few bucks. The truth is that the TV has pretty much no value, if what I've seen on the site is any indication. I could also try FreeCycle, but I find it to be harder to figure out than Craigslist.

Since I've made my purchase online, I can't take advantage of any real-world store's offer to pick up my old TV when they deliver my new one, but I was happy to see that Sci Fi's DVICE blog recently did a useful roundup of the recycling policies of all the major electronics stores. This guide could help you decide where to go to make your next big-box purchase whether it's a TV or some other large appliance.

As for me, if this blogging gig continues to go well, maybe I'll budget for a new Energy Star-compliant air conditioner this summer, and then I'll have another toxic and antique appliance to dispose of.

Landfill gas will fuel garbage trucks

Peg Fong — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:12:47 PDT

Turning garbage into gold isn't going to happen anytime soon, but perhaps all that waste doesn't need to go ... waste. Landfill gas, which comes from the natural decomposition of organic waste, can be purified and liquefied into clean fuel.

A new joint venture between North America's largest waste management company, Waste Management, and Linde, a leading gases and engineering company, is hoping to "close the loop" by producing fuel from garbage and using it to power garbage trucks.

The companies will construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at the Altamont Landfill near Livermore in California that (when it begins operation next year) could produce up to 13,000 gallons a day of LNG.

That gas will be used to fuel the collection trucks. Natural gas is already the cleanest burning fuel available for Waste Management trucks. Additionally, collecting methane for burning has an overall positive effect on global warming, because methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.

Linde North America estimates that capturing and reusing landfill gas could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30,000 tonnes per year.The LNG produced from the Altamont landfill gas will be a virtually zero-carbon transportation fuel and eventually lead to more facilities that can produce more than 200 million gallons of clean transportation each year from the garbage in California's landfills.

There's a lot of garbage out there and any way it can be re-used instead of just letting it rot away in landfills is a great thing.

Waste is a terrible thing to waste.

Via TreeHugger

We've come a long way, baby

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:43:56 PDT

Earth Day is like the environmentalist's Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Fourth of July wrapped up in one.

Some may poo-poo Earth Day as having lost its true meaning, but like Charlie Brown, we can always rediscover the heart and soul of the day.

Stripped of the recent commercialism, the whole point of this day has always been to bring attention to our environment and what we need to do to clean it up.

So what better time than Earth Day 2008 to look at how far we've come in the past 12 months, and to think about what we can do to make our planet a cleaner place in the future.

Top five signs we're on the right track

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize -- Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were recognized for their work to spread the word about man-made climate change.

The Nobel Committee made clear the devastating effect global warming will have on human lives and security. For peace in our times, we have to reverse climate change. And thanks to Mr. Gore's work, millions of people are aware of this.

Prius sales topped 1 million -- The icon for green driving, Toyota's Prius hybrid car, hit a million cars sold worldwide in June 2007. Over half of those cars are zipping around the U.S.

The Prius is Silicon Valley's car of choice -- as evidenced by the dozens in Yahoo!'s own parking lot (and my own driveway). Other carmakers are jumping on the hybrid bandwagon every model year.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law -- This U.S. legislation, while far from perfect, has huge potential to increase our country's energy efficiency.

It raises standard gas mileage for cars and light trucks (aka SUVs) for the first time ages to 35 mpg by 2020. And this act bans the sale of most incandescent lightbulbs by 2014. We should see more Energy Star-rated appliances too.

The Vatican called pollution a sin -- When even the Catholic Church is going green, you know the message has spread. Church official Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti said, "You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming, or coveting your neighbor's wife, but also by ruining the environment."

Rev. John Wauck from Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross added that protecting the environment is implied in the Bible's Book of Genesis. Pollution is a variation on the mortal sin of gluttony or selfishness.

Wal-Mart went green -- Surprisingly, the world's biggest retailer has jumped on the sustainability bandwagon. How much of this is green-washing is debatable, but it's true that the mega-store has made some big eco-friendly efforts.

Wal-Mart sold more than 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs in 2007, introduced fair-trade certified coffee in April 2008, and buys 10 million pounds of organic cotton annually.

Considering the company expects 90% of American households will shop at its stores this year, I think it's pretty important that Wal-Mart is doing something green.

We're more aware of climate change than ever before. We know something about how our choices in energy use, travel, and shopping affect the planet and our own communities. Let's pat ourselves on the back... then let's get back to work.

Top five things still we need to work on

Drive less, carpool more, use public transit -- Gas is climbing to $4 a gallon, so really, who wants to drive more anyway? If the nasty emissions don't make you want to share the ride or get out of the car entirely, the cost should.

Start small by carpooling to work a couple days a week. This really isn't that hard for most people, since statistically our commutes aren't long in distance. It's the time spent sitting in traffic that stretches our workday -- but if your city has carpool lanes, you'll zip to the office and back home easily.

Be a conscious consumer, reduce the stuff you buy -- The first step in "reduce, reuse, recycle" is often forgotten, but it's the most important one. The less junk we buy, the less we need to reuse or recycle. We're nipping the problem in the bud.

Do I really need the latest cell phone when I renew my plan? No, even if the company is giving it to me free. The old phone works fine, so why add it to the landfill?

Now personally, I love fashion, but when I feel like having new clothes, I hit the thrift store or look for vintage garb on eBay. At least then I'm not requiring new resources to be used simply for my pleasure, plus I'm keeping stuff out of the garbage.

You don't have to abandon all your possessions and live off the grid, but we can all think a bit more carefully about what we do buy, consider where it comes from, and what we'll do with it after we're finished with it.

Avoid toxic plastics -- We're starting to learn that some very common plastics leach toxic chemicals into our bodies, and these chemicals have been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and other health dangers.

Two biggies to watch out for are Bisphenol A (also known as BPA) and phthalates. BPA is often found in plastic water bottles and baby bottles -- these containers usually have a #7 in the 'chasing arrow' symbol on the bottom. Phthalates are found in PVC and soft vinyl goods plus in personal-care products like shampoos and lotions. Look for any ingredient with "-phthalate" in the name.

Conserve water -- According to the United Nations, 41% of the world's population lacks access to clean water. The U.S. southeast was hit by a devastating drought last year, and global climate change will continue to screw with weather patterns.

It's always wise to conserve the water we have, and it's easy too. Fix leaks around the house, install a low-flow showerhead, consider drought-resistant landscaping, heck, even let it mellow if it's yellow. I've heard some famous people even do that.

Tell elected officials the environment matters to you (and vote accordingly) -- Our individual actions help a lot. But to make the biggest impact possible, we need our government to act.

Legislation ensures that corporations don't pollute the skies and oceans or use up all our natural resources. Our government can influence other countries to clean up their acts too.

So remind your representatives at the state and federal level that you care about our environment and want them to act with the planet in mind. And in November, when you have a chance to vote for a new president, consider the candidates' views on climate change too.

Inside 'The Story of Stuff'

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:35:52 PDT

If you're like most Americans, you have a lot of stuff. Jeans, MP3 players, kitchen gadgets, DVDs, shoes, TVs, kids' toys, T-shirts, cell phones, sports equipment ... you know, stuff.

We buy it all the time, in stores and online. We're the shopping-ist country on the planet. And our government wants us to shop more to boost the economy -- that's why some of us are getting rebate checks in May. Stores can't wait to help us spend that money too.

While we see the shiny, new gadgets in our hands and the growing clutter in our homes, what we don't see is the series of events that created that stuff and brought it to us. Sustainability expert Annie Leonard has traveled to over 30 countries and looked at factories and dumps. She's investigated the waste we export back to the Third World.

All this experience lead her to create the short film The Story of Stuff, which she launched online in December 2007.

With clever animations and straightforward talk, Leonard makes huge economic concepts approachable. She explains how the things we buy in the store are made from often-toxic chemicals and how factories use up natural resources and harm local communities. Leonard even points out that America's consumer culture is a relatively new phenomenon, created by post-World-War-II economists.

When I interviewed Leonard recently, she admitted that the movie happened because, "I realized I was too deep into this that I couldn't talk about it like normal people talk about it." Fellow activists challenged her to explain these issues so that they could understand her and maybe even so the rest of the world could too.

But Leonard says, "I was not making it to convert anyone, and I was not making it for the general public who was totally new to these ideas. I was making it for my peers who were familiar with these ideas but who didn't see the connections and the systemic nature of the problems."

Still, in four months on the Web, the movie topped 2.5 million views, and in March, it won the SXSW Interactive Award as an educational resource.

She's been surprised by the interest the film's received. Leonard put it online, "because we wanted to make it free. We're not doing it to make money. And we never expected that many people to watch it!"

In response to the buzz, she's also made DVDs available to those without high-speed net access. "We've distributed 6,000 DVDs to Third World countries, to India, China, Russia, Taiwan, and places are using them in their outreach programs," Leonard notes. "Public schools in the U.S., Native American reservations, churches have all asked for DVDs. We give discounts to anyone who asks." Sponsors like Ben & Jerry's have helped her small team support these efforts.

While the film doesn't prescribe specific actions to solve the problems it exposes, Leonard does suggest that we tackle an area we feel strongly about.

"One of the things I think is so important is rebuilding our sense of communities and a sense of engagement," Leonard says. "I think our greatest sense of joy in our lives is from coming together around a shared interest, whether itâs a book club or getting a bike lane in your town."

To encourage this kind of involvement, each section of the movie has a tab at the top of the website with a "Learn More" link. For example, click on "Consumption" if you want a sampling of groups dedicated to helping consumers be more sustainable. Or check the full list of recommended resources.

Deeper involvement is key. She's a little critical of a '10 simple steps' approach to changing the world. "It's better to change the structure and system so that the default is the right thing," Leonard advocates.

"I think the individual actions are absolutely important, but we shouldn't confuse that with political actions," she continues. "We should always choose the least toxic, most socially responsible option possible. But not because that'll bring about change -- it simply brings our day-to-day actions into congruence with our real values."

The 'grumpies' who comment on the movie often say that "they get the problem, they get the personal cost, the cost to happiness, but they don't know how to unplug from the system," Leonard explains.

"People express concern that if we reduce our consumption how will it affect our economy?" she adds. "This is a valid concern. If we seriously transform our society, it'll involve a lot of hard work. We need to be intentional, strategic, and figure it out. Let's start planning ahead instead of kicking and screaming until the last second."

In this case, knowledge really is power. "The more we can see the connections between these issues," she says, "we can be more transformative, instead of tinkering at the margins."

'The Story of Stuff' is making those connections happen. Leonard has received more than 20,000 emails from people all over the world -- and the vast majority have been very positive. She may not have set out to change minds, but she is. One comment was from "an SUV-driving, die-hard Republican who emailed and had just never considered any of this."

Schools from elementary level through college are using the movie. A fourth-grader in the Midwest saw the film and emailed saying it was "awesome" with lots of smileys. An Oxford professor used it his class.

Watch the movie, and you may not look at your own stuff the same way again.

Same thrill, no bill

Sam Silverstein — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:02:07 PDT

I'm sure my family would enjoy our backyard campfires just fine if we'd paid for our fire pit. But the fact that the hammered-copper disc landed in our backyard for free adds luster to those starry evenings. I also get a warm feeling when I see the same model for sale at Smith & Hawken for $300.Â

Getting stuff through a Freecycle group is satisfying that way. It's like a shopping buzz without the hangover â or bill. You get the same thrill of the chase, the same satisfaction of telling the story behind your discovery. Each Freecycle item is one less deposit to the local landfill, which is good.Â

And it's free. All that's required is effort. And not much at that.Â

Instead of throwing out unwanted furniture, dishes, bikes, or electronics, people in "reuse groups" give them away to other people in their community who want them. The givers and takers find each other online. The first step is to sign up for the reuse group nearest you (minimizing travel time when spot something you want).Â

The granddaddy of all reuse groups is Freecycle.org, with more than 5 million global members the globe and counting. Search here to find the Freecycle group nearest you.Â

Other reuse groups are less well known, but are just as successful in putting perfectly good stuff in people's happy hands. Yahoo! has compiled a master list of reuse groups around the world and plotted them on a map. Use it to find a reuse group near you.Â

The next step? Check your email.Â

Stuff you want to give away, you post as "offered." Whoever wants it responds to you directly, and off you go.Â

For stuff you see offered and want to go get, it's the same process in reverse. Let the giver know you're interested, and set up a time and place to make the handoff. Yes, the whole thing is based on trust. It also works.Â

Reuse groups keep an estimated 300 tons of waste out of landfills every day, according to a University of Iowa study. This profile of Freecycle founder Deron Beal further illustrates the power of the idea in words and pictures.Â

In our own home, we've given away golf clubs, children's toys, and outgrown bicycles, clearing space in our garage. We've added: the fire ring, a garden hose, and a guitar that works fine but sounds awful. Talent is harder to pass around.

Sam Silverstein is the editor of Yahoo! Green.

Nokia's eco-phone isn't so eco

Hank Green — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:42:42 PDT

We've been wondering how Nokia's "eco-minded" 3110 Evolve really is. Our first impression was "not very," and it turns out that's pretty accurate.

Smart Planet did a quick review of the phone and, based on that assessment, I'll give you the same advice I give everyone else: the greenest phone is the one you're already using.

The Evolve's green cred comes from a few places, all of which should be included in every single phone being sold today. These features include: Less packaging, more recycled content in the packaging, bio-plastic keys, and a charger that eats less power when the phone isn't plugged into it.

None of these things are going to have a significant impact on the world unless they're used in all of the billion phones out there. Why is Nokia still using overblown packaging for the rest of its phones? Why doesn't the company use recycled paper in all of its packaging. Why do the vast majority of its chargers suck power from the wall even when nothing's plugged into them?

So your best choice? Don't get a new phone every year -- my LG VX9800 continues to be the only cell phone I've ever owned, and having a phone that lives twice as long is basically a phone that is twice as green.

New Aerogel 37x better than fiberglass

Mick Skolnick and Hank Green — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:45:05 PDT

Aerogel has been around for decades. It's the lightest substance ever created, being 99% air. It's strong, light, and translucent, and is excellent for sound-proofing.

But the really exciting thing about Aerogel is that it insulates 37 times better than fiberglass. Using Aerogel as insulation in walls, ceilings, and (as it's transparent) even between double-paned windows, could drastically reduce the amount of energy used in heating and cooling.

Unfortunately, Aerogel isn't easy to make. In fact, it costs about $1,300 per pound to produce. But a Malaysian researcher at the Universiti Teknologi, Dr. Halimaton Hamdan, has led a team of researchers who have created a way to produce Aerogel that will be 80% cheaper.

What's more, the new Aerogel is produced from rice husks, a discarded agricultural product. As you might expect, Malaysia has plenty of rice husks, so the team is pretty excited about the possibility of turning them into something valuable. As such, the government has given Hamdan a $65 million grant to help develop a technique for the large-scale production of the new Aerogels.

Hamdan's breakthrough was at first accidental. She wanted to do research on silica, but was having a hard time finding the raw material. One night, she saw a television program on the difficulty of disposing of rice husks. And rice husks, it turns out, are 20% silica. After eight years of work, Hamdan finally found a cheap way to produce pure silica from rice husks. And once the silica is acquired, making the Aerogel is a cinch.

If Dr. Hamdan and her colleagues are able to use that $65 million to scale up production of this material, we should soon be seeing it everywhere. If that happens, the energy savings would be incredible.Â As a bonus, the production of Maerogel (short for Malaysian Aerogel) would also make use of an abundant natural waste product.

Eco-mythbusting

Trystan L. Bass — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:28:24 PDT

Think CFLs aren't worth it because of all that mercury? What about the idea that recycling costs more than chucking junk in a landfill? Hear the one about wine corks being endangered?

These and other myths keep many folks from going green and helping the environment. But a little bit of fact-checking shows that you can clean up the planet in lots of small, easy ways. And you may save some money too.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) save energy and money, that's a fact. But the incredibly tiny amount of mercury they contain has scared off some people.

I can't remember the last time I broke an incandescent bulb (maybe when I was a teenager?), and I've never cracked any of the CFLs in my house and garage. If it did happen though, I'd head to the Environmental Protection Agency handy guidelines for cleanup and disposal. No big deal!

Recycling is another no-brainer that occasionally gets harassed. Sure, you might have to sort bottles from cans in the bins, but that's better than creating a mountain of garbage. The benefits of recycling are huge -- less trash in the landfills, energy saved from not using virgin resources, and more jobs are created.

The City of Fort Collins' recycling program notes that recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy that it would take to mine new aluminum. The Curbside Value Partnership (PDF) estimates that recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs -- but dumping that same waste into a landfill only creates six jobs.

Biodiesel has been the source of many eco-myths lately. I pointed to recent studies that decried biofuels, while also mentioning that different types have different impacts. Clayton B. Cornell goes into more depth on biodiesel and separates it from ethanol. Useful info if you want the real deal, not just the hype.

Have you heard that making little changes won't help the environment? What one person does can't possibly matter? Not so. In a detailed article on Bankrate.com, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council reminds us that if everyone in the U.S. bought just one package of 100% recycled paper napkins instead non-recycled ones, we'd save 1 million trees.

And if you do want to go green on a larger scale, it's not that hard either. Building an eco-friendly house doesn't have to be expensive or horribly complicated, according to the home gurus at HGTV.com. Start with a tight building envelope, use low-flow toilets (which are mandatory anyway), and choose from the thousands of mainstream products that will make your new home or remodel sit more lightly on the earth.

For the garden out back, don't fall for those myths about composting either. The process doesn't have to be a lot of smelly work, and you can even compost in an urban setting. You'll keep useful organic matter out of the trash and improve your soil.

The myths just keep piling up! From computer sleep mode (which could waste 20% of your energy bill) to driving with the windows down (same as the AC), we get suckered in. Some folks even question whether local food really is better for the planet.

And what about that cork myth? Yep, there's a rumor that good old-fashioned wine bottles with natural corks are bad because the cork trees are endangered. Not so. Green Living Online says that the trees aren't chopped down to make wine corks -- the bark is merely stripped. The trees aren't damaged at all, and this has been going on since time immemorial.

So drink up -- you can enjoy life while saving the world.

Living lighter with Aveda

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:56:12 PDT

Beauty products company Aveda is celebrating Earth Day during the month of April, which its done for the past decade. This year's campaign supports organic farming and clean water.

Known for using sustainable ingredients and renewable energy, now the company is selling a limited-edition candle with organic lavender. All proceeds will go the Global Greengrants Fund to protect clean water around the planet.

If you're going into an Aveda store, make sure to bring your old bottle caps -- the plastic ones from soda bottles, laundry detergent, cleansers, shampoo, etc. Most of these aren't recycled by standard recycling systems, so they're tossed into the garbage.

Aveda and Shape magazine have teamed up to get those caps back. Through May 10, 2008, Aveda stores will collect hard plastic bottle caps. The company will use them to make caps for a 30th-anniversary shampoo coming out in September.

You can even get a free sample of Aveda's hair or body-care products when you bring in 25 or more caps. If there's no Aveda store nearby, you can also mail the caps in. Read all the details on Shape.com.

Trash-talk radio

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:51:09 PDT

You may not expect trash talk on National Public Radio, but recently it had a four-part series that took on garbage.

Getting Rid of Junk, Staying Green looks at the stuff Americans throw away. From our seemingly endless stream of mobile phones to the plastic bags we dump the garbage into, NPR explores what's current and what the future may hold. Each article also has related info and links that may help you take care of your excess junk.

Think we can ever get to zero waste? It's worth trying, not just talking about.

Shoes and your carbon footprint

Trystan L. Bass — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:30:56 PDT

Did you know that America has more than seven pairs of shoes per person? (If you're female and anything like me, you may have triple that in your own closet.) Did you realize that 84% of those shoes were made in China?

Sustainablog does the math and wonders about the environmental impact of all this footwear. Leaving a small footprint isn't easy when your very soles are steeped in sweatshop labor and unsustainable materials.

According to the Green Guide, everything from the leather to the glues holding our Nike cross-trainers and Manolo Blahnik stilettos together are rather toxic. Shoe factory workers get sick from the chemicals. Production waste is dumped into rivers and delicate ecosystems.

If your shoes are made of synthetic materials, the impact is just as bad. Faux leather and vinyl are made of PVC, and making this plastic creates environmental problems.

So do we have to walk barefoot if we really want to live lighter on the earth? Not necessarily.

Walk on
Ecolocalizer points out that we can start by taking better care of the shoes we do buy. Don't throw 'em out if they get a little scuffed -- repair those Jimmy Choos! I've been doing this for ages because once I find shoes I like, I want to wear them as much as possible. Getting a new sole, capping old heels, or repairing a buckle doesn't take long at a cobbler shop, and the cost is certainly less than new shoes.

Buy green
If those loafers have truly loafed their last, replace them with eco-friendly brands. Lime has a guide to stylish green shoes -- Birkenstocks are no longer the only option.

MooShoes, a vegan shoe boutique in New York, sells more than 100 styles. Hear store owner Erica Kubersky's perspective on "fashion with compassion" in this video interview.

Want something a bit more rugged? Timerland's Earthkeepers line of shoes are made of organic and renewable materials. The company is working with its suppliers -- especially leather tanneries -- to be more sustainable. You can even see the environmental footprint those hiking boots will leave, thanks to Timerbland's nutrition label on the box.

For casual kicks, Simple Shoes sells sneakers, sandals, and more made of materials like hemp, organic cotton, and recycled car tires.

And if you're a real Carrie Bradshaw type (with a green streak), step over to Great Green Shoes for almost-daily recommendations of vegan and earth-friendly shoes.

A snake the mice love

Hank Green — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:48:20 PDT

I don't generally get excited about people making art out of trash ... because it's not generally this awesome.

My one question is: why do the mice seem to be running toward the snake?

I guess that's for the artist Choi Jung Hyun to explain.

Via Metaefficient

Bottles, bottles, everywhere

Ramon Cruz — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:38:01 PDT

This post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.

It's ironic. In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too â more than $15 billion a year.

Worse of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills and contributing to global warming. Take a look at this video from Doug James:

Also illustrating the case against bottled water:Â

More than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water, including Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola's Dasani. Despite this, bottled water consumption is growing at 10 percent a year, faster than any other beverage. We drink 15 times more bottled water today than we did in 1976.

This doesn't mean we're healthier, despite the ads. Federal regulations for municipal water are far more stringent. Bottled water rules allow higher levels of many contaminants, with more lenient requirements for filtration, testing, and reporting. See NRDCâs bottled water report for details of contaminants by brand.

The earth isnât healthier for it, either. According to the Pacific Instituteâs fact sheet (PDF), manufacturing the 30+ billion plastic water bottles we bought in 2006 required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, and used three times the amount of water in the bottle.

And these numbers don't include transporting the bottles. Nearly 25 percent of bottled water crosses national borders before reaching consumers.

Adding in transportation, the energy used comes to more 50 million barrels of oil equivalent -- enough to run 3 million cars for a year.

Case study: Fiji water
Fiji Water produces more than a million bottles of water a day, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have reliable drinking water (see this Fast Company article). Adding to the irony, Fiji itself uses almost no bottled water, according to a Pacific Institute report (PDF). They export it.

Shipping Fiji Water around the world increases its environmental footprint. Manufacturing and shipping a one-liter bottle produces over half a pound of greenhouse gas emissions and uses nearly 7 times the amount of water in the bottle, according to calculations by Pablo PÃ¤ster on TriplePundit.

The heavy use of water is as serious as the greenhouse gas emissions. Water is fast becoming a scarce resource.

What about recycling?
Recycling would help, but we donât usually do it. Less than 20 percent of the 28 billion single-serving water bottles that Americans buy each year are recycled. Some estimates are as low as 12 percent.

According to a Container Recycling Institute report (PDF), the national recycling rate for all beverage containers is 33 percent. In states with deposit systems, the rate jumps to 65-95 percent. But of the 11 states with deposit laws, only three include containers for non-carbonated beverages (like water), though non-carbonated beverages now comprise 27 percent of the market.

Last November, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a national bottle bill to address global warming that includes water bottles and other non-carbonated beverage containers.

The beverage industry, which long resisted deposit laws, has started to cooperate â mainly because it sees bottled water as the answer to the soda sales slump. Following months of bad publicity, manufacturers like Coke, Pepsi, and NestlÃ© have begun making lighter-weight plastic bottles and are encouraging consumers to recycle.

Better yet, carry tap water
If you buy bottled water, recycle the bottle. But the better solution â for you and the environment â is to drink tap water, both at home and at restaurants:

Tap water is cleaner than most bottled water.
Tap water is delivered to homes and offices for $0.002 a gallon. Bottled water, which can cost as much per gallon as gasoline, is a thousand times more expensive.

The quality of municipal water in the U.S. is generally excellent. Donât let the recent reports about pharmaceuticals in tap water deter you â see this TreeHugger post for why.

But if you donât trust tap water or you have old plumbing or you think tap water tastes funny, then try a water filter like those from PUR or Brita. To learn more about water filters, check out the rated list of water filter review sites at Consumer Search.

To carry water with you, use a reusable container filled with tap water. But donât reuse single-use water bottles. This can expose you to bacterial build-up and carcinogens leached from the plastic.

Quite a few companies make reusable water bottles. Thereâs an ongoing debate about the safety of the polycarbonate plastic some use, but there are many safe reusable bottles made from other materials.

Use it or lose it
National Geographicâs Green Guide notes, "the federal share of funding for water systems has declined from 78 percent in 1973 to 3 percent today." This places the financial burden almost entirely on local governments.

Food and Water Watch also talks about how important it is to stop this trend and maintain the quality of municipal water. Its Take Back the Tap (PDF) report gives a detailed overview of the issues surrounding tap water versus bottled water.

U.S. Army turning waste into energy in Iraq

Hank Green — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:16:42 PDT

The U.S. Army is shipping a couple of giant trash-powered generators to Iraq in order to, hopefully, decrease the amount of fuel that needs to be transported around the volatile region.

The generators separate food waste from solid waste like trash and plastic. The food is converted to ethanol in a bioreactor, while the solid waste is converted to low-grade methane and propane.

The innovation here is the ability to convert all trash, not food or plastic or paper, but all of them combined in one unit to produce power. The device can eat about a ton of trash every day, while producing about 50 kilowatts of excess power.

I was a little surprised to hear how much trash was being generated by the Army, but it turns out that pretty much everything they eat and drink from is disposable. I suppose it's better to turn that into fuel than send it to some landfill in Iraq, but it makes me wonder whether this is the most intelligent way to do things.

Via SFGate and TreeHugger

How many miles on that computer?

Hank Green — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:29:27 PDT

When you're buying a used car, you don't just check to see how old the car is and then hand over the Blue Book value. High on the list of things to check is the mileage. If a car's only a couple years old, but has been driven across the country and back dozens of times, you might not expect it to last that much longer.

Unfortunately, when you're in the market for a computer, there's no way to tell how hard the machine has been driven. It could have been owned by some grandmother who merely drove it to AOL.com once a week. Or it could have been an over-clocked gaming PC that only powered down for reboots.

This uncertainty contributes to slow used PC sales. If there's no way to tell whether a hard drive is gonna crash in the next few months, there's no reason to invest in used equipment. The result is a lot of good computers never finding second homes -- aside from landfills.

But researchers at the University of Limerick in Ireland are hoping to change that. By logging computers' internal temperatures and hard-drive faults, they're hoping to create a kind of score. This score would be a fairly accurate representation of the possibility of failure for the machine.

It seems like an excellent solution to me (though my machines would likely have unfortunately high "mileages"). But the question remains: Will there ever be a viable after-market for computers? Would having a better idea of the state of a used computer increase your chances of buying used?

Via New Scientist

RecycleBank gives you credit

Hank Green — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:39:26 PDT

What if there were a financial reason to recycle? Wouldn't it be cool if you were reimbursed for all that sticky-fingered, paper-cutting work that you do once a week?

I mean, after all, you are performing a service. Basically, you're a miner. Mining your trash for aluminum, PET plastic, silica, and cellulose. So why not get wages like miners do? Some people have been asking those questions, and that's why RecycleBank was formed.

But that's not why RecycleBank just got $13M in venture capital funding. It got that money because this system actually works.

RecycleBank puts an RFID chip in all of its recycling bins. The chip is linked to individuals' names and accounts. The recycling trucks then weigh your recycling (if properly sorted) and give you credits based on the amount of stuff you're recycling.

The credits can then be exchanged like airline miles. Except, instead of flights, you get a buck off your latte at Starbucks or cheaper dog food or a free rental at Blockbuster.

Of course, there are a few problems with this idea. First, it kind of encourages people to consume more. I don't have much recycling because I drink tap water and read the newspaper online. If I got incentives for cans, I might start drinking Mountain Dew again.

Another possible issue is theft. As weird as it sounds, neighbors might start swapping bins under the cover of darkness or even plundering recyclables.

But so far, in pilot projects, this doesn't seem to be a problem. Two Philadelphia communities saw recycling rates increase from 7% and 35% to 90% each!

I haven't heard of a 90% recycling rate anywhere outside of Europe, so those are very exciting numbers. Especially because more people recycling means more raw material per man-hour and vehicle-mile, which significantly increases the probability that recycling authorities will actually make money.

Via Earth2Tech

Recycling by mail

Hank Green — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:54:06 PDT

Imagine a world where trash is so valuable that, instead of throwing it away, the post man comes and picks it up from your doorstep and whisks it off to some exotic location to be re-used, re-purposed, or recycled.

Well, that day may actually be here. Except, instead of any old trash -- it's your small electronic gadgets and printer cartridges.

The U.S. Postal Service recently decided that it's going to house a new kind of recycling center. It has teamed up with CORE Recycling Concepts (part of Clover Technologies) by placing free mailers in over 1,500 post offices.

The Postal Service is asking people to put their electronic "trash" into these mailers. The post office then pays shipping to Clover's sorting centers. Once there, the items are sorted, and then either sold to companies that can use them or recycled.

The project is centered on a few large cities right now. But if Clover can make enough money and pay the Post Office back for it's trouble, it could expand the program nationally in the fall.Â Here's hoping!

Via Computer World

TV recycling picking up steam... because it must

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:42:53 PDT

When the government-mandated switch from analog to digital TV takes place next Februrary, countless old TVs will suddenly become not quite junk but something approaching it.

Sure, lots of people will try to figure out the whole digital-to-analog converter box thing (your grandparents may be calling you), but many more will simply decide it's time for a TV upgrade. And then it's off to the landfill with the old Trinitron.

Or maybe not. Sony is leading the way in holding "takeback" events to which you can bring your old electronics for recycling. Green Daily reported that Sony will even bring back a few of its vintage TV commercials from the good old days as a way to remind us to recycle.

A successful event was held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego in early March, and up to 40 more all around the country are planned for 2008 although the schedule is not yet definite.

Try to participate if you can. The EPA says that only 380,000 tons of e-waste were properly recycled in 2005, while more than two million tons ended up in landfills.

Cow-based motor oil

Hank Green — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:01:53 PST

There's too much cow fat in the world...

No, for real, there's so much cow fat that we no longer know what to do with it all. We used to be able to fry things in it, but saturated fats, when fried, turn into trans fats. And, nowadays, people are frightened of trans fats.

So what are we going to do with the 200 lbs of tallow that result from the processing of just one cow?

Make motor oil from it, if course!

Green Earth Technologies is taking all of that excess, inexpensive, and previously useless tallow and turning it into motor oil for cars, lawnmowers, and boats. The company's slogan, "Be Green, Sacrifice Nothing," is kind crap...because your motor oil is one small part of the impact of whatever device you're putting it in, but that doesn't mean this isn't pretty cool.

The website talks a lot about sustainability...packaging made from recycled milk jugs, soy-based inks, etc. But it doesn't talk a lot about the fact that their products are pretty much made from lard. I suppose they're entitled to their marketing strategies but, honestly, the cow fat part is the coolest thing about this stuff!

Via TreeHugger

Rascally rabbit ears and your old TV

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:57:50 PST

We've written about how to recycle your old TV, but what if you want to keep the vintage boob tube around?

Starting February 17, 2009, all U.S. television stations will start broadcasting only in digital signals. This means the old analog TVs -- yep, ones with rabbit ears -- won't work.

But over on Green Options, Jim Gunshinan points out that you can get an analog-to-digital converter for around $50. Better still, the government is offering coupons that will cover most of the cost.

You have until March 31, 2009, to request up to two coupons. Go to DTV 2009 to apply, and the coupons will be mailed to you.

If you have a working analog TV, this is a great way to keep it out of the garbage and reduce pollution. Plus, you'll save money. Thanks for the tip, Jim!

Turning poop into fuel

Hank Green — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:31:30 PST

You gotta hand it to people who are creating real-world solutions to real-world problems. Giant solar-collecting space lasers are pretty cool -- but Sintex is for real.

The Indian plastics company has created a very simple "digester" that takes something we have too much of (poop) and turns it into something we don't have enough of (energy).

This digester can actually take any organic material, including agricultural waste, kitchen scraps, or cow dung, and convert it to methane. This happens naturally, of course, and is happening in your septic tank (or at your sewage treatment plant) right now.

The difference is that Sintex's biogas reactor has a little tube that moves the methane into a storage container. From there, the methane can be used for any natural gas application, such as cooking, drying clothes, heating the home, boiling water, etc.

A "primed" digester (primed with cow dung, for a source of good bacteria) can digest all the waste of a four-person household and produce enough energy for that household to cook all of its meals! The device costs $425 and will pay for itself in less than two years.

The Indian government has agreed to subsidize 1/3 of the cost of the units. In theory, that will actually save the government money, as they won't have to deal with the waste in other ways.

Sintex has only installed about 100 of the devices ... but just wait. When real-world problems get real-world solutions, it's hard to hold them back from success.

Via Forbes

A modest proposal: an extreme green Valentine

Vera H-C Chan — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:19:20 PST

The day is upon us.

The annual homage to St. Valentine thrills millions, but this is when I go into one-day winter hibernation. As a pragmatic sort of female, I'm not especially prone to romantic swooning or succumbing to the pink-festooned blandishments of Valentine's marketers.

Instead, every February 14, I go around scowling at perky salesgirls armed with perfume atomizers, blowing out candles at romantic restaurants, and watching action flicks in the dark of my living room.

Don't mistake me: I'm not entirely without a sentimental streak. Rather, romance to me should be spread like fertilizer on topsoil throughout the year, rather than having it dumped ceremoniously on a single day. Plus, these yearly demands for a tangible reassurance of affection seem, well, suspect in these environmentally sensitive times.

Has that rose bouquet lain in a bed of pesticide? Did the chocolate flourish by clear-cutting habitats of twittering birds and hissing reptiles? I'm not even going to get into non-recyclable Mylar balloons and politically conflicted diamonds (and how schlocky that Leonardo DiCaprio movie was).

Surely I'm not the only one who warms hearing her love's declaration, "I'm not getting you anything for Valentine's Day." Still, eco-psycho as I may sound, I grudgingly see the desire for a heart's spring thaw. So, I present to you three, bold, outside-the-gift-box ideas to celebrate this day:

Clean out the garage
Or fix the gurgling toilet. Or donate those Hooters T-shirts, stat.

Chances are, your beloved has been hounding you about that environmental cesspool of undone deeds. History (or at least the History Channel) may back you up, as the ancient Romans "ritually cleansed" homes in February.

In one fell swoop (or over a series of weekends), you can express your devotion, restore harmony, and wrangle a tax donation receipt out of the whole venture.

Recycle your exes
Probably a very compelling reason exists as to why your former love interest(s) is (are) in the past tense. Then again, you always hear tales of reunited high school sweethearts... and haven't your years of hard-fought romances put true love into perspective?

Besides the very meta-nature of this romantic philosophy, contemplate the savings: A second go-around cuts down on the flowers, cards, and other courtship fripperies. You've already seen each other at your best and your worst, so you can skip the extraneous wooing process and go right into hard-core relationship.

And yes, after a five-year breakup, ex-boyfriend number four and I have been wed for nearly six years now. Savings so far in avoiding divorce proceedings: priceless.

From dust to diamonds
Who says romance is dead? Well, actually, a mortal coil can be used to immortalize your eternal love.

The Illinois-based LifeGem "capturesâ the carbon from cremains to create a diamond -- anyone from great-aunt Bertha to your late Rottweiler Peaches.

A six-foot body can produce about a 100 stones, but if you'd prefer not to have the Grim Reaper be your ring bearer, a lock of hair will do. Make that a fistful, just to be safe: According to Dean VandenBiesen, one of the LifeGem founders, five grams can yield three one-carat diamonds.

Nursing a rock, however, takes anywhere from six months to a year depending on carat size. You'll have to wait until next year to give this gift -- but now you have some time to cultivate maximum hair crop.

Clothing for the examined life

Kastle Waserman — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:16:45 PST

Oh Patagonia, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways...

Not only does this company make comfortable, rugged outdoor wear, Patagonia's devotion to the environment is one of the strongest in the industry.

When you buy new garb, know that the company commits at least 1% of sales or 10% of pre-tax profits -- whichever is more -- to grassroots environmental groups. Since the Environmental Grants Program began in 1985 (long before being green was fashionable), Patagonia has given over $29 million to more than 1,000 organizations.

But that's not all. Through Patagonia's Common Threads recycling program, you can return worn out fleece jumpers, Capilene Baselayers, and cotton T-shirts for recycling into new Patagonia garments.

And Patagonia's employees personally give back into their company's initiatives. Over 50 employees have voluntarily journeyed to the place that gave the brand its name to help with the creation of Patagonia National Park. They've offered up manual labor to work with ConservaciÃ³n PatagÃ³nica in Argentina (created by former Patagonia CEO Kris Tompkins) and the Patagonian Foundation (not affiliated with the store) to remove fences and restore habitat in one of the world's last great landscapes that lies between Chile and Argentina.

Through an environmental internship program, Patagonia employees can leave their jobs for up to two months to work full-time for an environmental group of their choice and continue to receive salaries and benefits while they're gone. The environmental group gets the workers for free.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is also cofounder of 1% for the Planet, a movement that has brought together over 700 companies to donate 1% of their sales to a network of environmental groups worldwide. They work together with the understanding that it's good business to protect the natural resources that keep you in business.

We could go on, but it's enough to know that while Patagonia's clothes can be worn by the most extreme outdoor adventurer, they're also stylish enough for city dwellers (like me) who want to do the right thing -- right down to their sleeves.

Every little bit counts

Sheryl Canter — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:00:07 PST

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

Have you ever been on a diet, gone to a function with delicious-looking desserts, and told yourself, "One cookie isn't going to make me fat"?

One cookie may not make you fat, but how many "cookie moments" occur during your day, your week? If your answer is always that this one little cookie can't hurt, you will not lose weight.

Conserving energy is sort of like going on a group diet where every person, dozens of times a day, has a "cookie moment."

Does it really matter if I leave on the lights in my home when I go out? Does it really matter if I don't recycle this container? Does it really matter if I keep my chargers plugged in when not in use?

The short answer is yes, it matters. There are myriad things you can do to conserve energy and fight global warming. Each action by itself is small and painless, but taken together the effect can be huge.

Here's a list of easy things you can do that will make a big difference.

Most of the electricity in this country comes from coal-fired plants that emit huge amounts of carbon, so:

Turn off the light when you leave a room, and turn off all the lights when you leave your home.
Change your bulbs to compact fluorescents (now - don't wait for the old bulbs to burn out).
Don't leave chargers plugged in when not in use. They suck up electricity just sitting there.
Buy energy-efficient appliances.
Turn off your computer at night rather than leaving it in stand-by mode.
Many appliances, such as televisions, can't be completely turned off except by unplugging them. Appliances in stand-by mode account for 5 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. To turn them off completely, use a power strip.

Paper comes from trees, which suck up carbon, so:

Buy recycled paper products. Visit our Paper Calculator to learn more about why this helps.
Use only the paper towels and toilet paper that you need.
Only print out emails and articles when you really need to.
Recycle paper -- newspapers, magazines, scratch paper, junk mail, everything you can.
Cancel unwanted catalogs at Catalog Choice.
Bring a reusable shopping bag with you to the store.

Manufacturing products of any kind uses energy and creates emissions, so:

Don't buy things you don't need and won't use.
Borrow from your local library instead of buying books you'll read only once.
Give away or recycle what you no longer want.
Give old eyeglasses to your local eyeglass store -- they can pass them onto people in need.
Bring your old cell phone back to the cell phone store for recycling.
Give away old appliances, computers, clothes, etc.
Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources.

It takes a significant amount of electricity to supply municipal water, so:

Take showers instead of baths, and don't linger in the shower.
Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
Don't run dish washers and clothes washers half full.
Don't water your lawn unnecessarily.
Fix leaky faucets, and install low-flow faucets and shower heads.
Check out more water conservation tips from the EPA.

Heating and cooling use a lot of electricity, so:

Make sure your house is adequately insulated. If snow melts quickly off your roof, you need more insulation in the attic.
Wrap your water heater in insulation.
Wash clothes in cold water -- they will still be clean, and they'll last longer, too.
Line-dry clothes if you can, instead of using a clothes dryer.
Keep your thermostat down in winter and up in summer -- don't overheat or overcool your home.

Cars are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, so:

Group your errands so you only drive into town once for all the things you need to buy and do.
Have your car tuned regularly, and check tire pressure. An
untuned engine burns more gas, as do cars with underpressurized tires.
When buying a new car, buy the vehicle with the best mileage that meets your needs.
Walk, bike, or use public transportation instead of driving whenever possible. If you have to drive, carpool where possible.
See our previous post for more tips for cleaner driving.

If you're willing to go to greater lengths, that's wonderful. Many homeowners are finding that lowered costs and state subsidies are making solar panels much more affordable. See "No Impact Man" for how a New Yorker eliminated his carbon footprint altogether.Â

But you don't have to do the hard stuff to make a difference. Every little bit counts.

You can find more tips and ideas on our Fight Global Warming Web site.