Blogs

It's time to stop sending letters

Hank Green — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:01:47 PDT

Stamps just got more expensive again! I've decided that 42 cents is too much. It's time to stop sending letters.

In lieu of going out and buying a sheet of 100 one-cent stamps, I say we figure out how to not need them. Here's a helpful little guide to make those "forever" stamps you bought six months ago last as long as possible.

Discover the joys of scanning
I used to think that every time I had to send someone an official document, it required a stamp. The truth is, that's just not so.

Now I invariably ask, "Is it OK for me to scan and email this?" Ninety percent of the time, the answer is yes. I actually have a signed and scanned W-9 that I've sent to dozens of clients. All I need to change is the date.

Scanners are cheap and easy to come by. I actually recently gave one away of Freecycle because I couldn't find a buyer for it on craigslist. It might take an hour or so to figure out how to use it, but once you've got the procedure, you'll save yourself time, money, and paper.

Online bill pay
These days, this probably seems like a no-brainer. But, chances are, you haven't fully switched over yet. You've got most of your bills on auto-pay, but a couple still get paid with a check in the mail. Take an hour out of your day and go completely treeless. Either sign up at the company's site, or schedule monthly transfers with your bank.

And for those bills that you might pay to companies or individuals that don't have billing systems, like my landlord, discuss the possibilities of PayPal. When I showed him how easy it was and told him that it would significantly reduce the number of times per year my payment was late, he was totally into it!

Say 'I love you' in binary
I know that the greeting card industry wants you to believe that caring can only be expressed through dead trees... but it's just not true. While email is certainly too impersonal for a Mother's Day card, and most online-greeting cards are seriously lame, it can be done.

Spend some time in your favorite graphics program doctoring a photograph or visually executing an inside joke. Make it personal and digital. In the end, the thought will be more appreciated, and the delivery will be 100% free.

When all else fails: Post a card
Postcards take far less energy to create and send through the mail. Because they are a single sheet, they can be more easily sorted and sent and are light enough to be mostly trivial in terms of shipping emissions. This is, in the end, why they're so much cheaper to send than letters.

Avoid airmail at all costs
I know this story was supposed to be about $0.42 stamps. But if you ever find yourself thinking you want to send a letter that needs to get on an airplane, think again. While most post is sent over ground -- a relatively efficient way to travel -- air mail is far more carbon intensive.

Anything you can do to minimize airmail will have a bigger environmental impact than what you do to minimize ground mail.Â

These simple steps, if fully executed, should get you down to less than one stamp per month. And while saving forty-two cents a few times per month might not seem like that big of a deal, it's just one more step on the path to ridding ourselves our reliance on physical objects and transportation.

When all we need to send are electrons, the Earth, and especially its forests, will thank us.

Build a better brunch

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:04:29 PDT

Whether it's Mother's Day, Father's Day, or a romantic breakfast in bed, sometimes you want to make a brunch that's really special. And nothing says you care like choosing wholesome, good-for-you and good-for-the-planet ingredients.

Let's start with that morning classic, the incredible, edible egg.

We hope the chicken who laid the little orb on your plate spent her life clucking around on a sunny farm, pecking at worms, and chasing merry chicks. But the reality of modern agribusiness isn't so pretty.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, most egg-laying hens in America are confined to cages with only 67 square inches of space per bird. These crowded battery cages are stacked on top of each other, and the chickens can't walk around or even spread their wings.

This is why many groups advocate for "cage-free eggs," sometimes called "free range" or "free farmed." But as the Green Guide notes, none of these terms are regulated or verified by a third party.

Only the term "USDA organic" is verified, and this confirms is that the chickens were fed organic feed, not given antibiotics, and were given access to the outdoors. But USDA regulations consider five minutes of open-air access each day to be sufficient -- and "access" simply means that a door is available and the chickens can use it. Nobody forces them to go outside, plus the "outside" may simply be a bare patch of ground.

And cage-free birds are not necessarily raised in a cruelty-free environment. Most cage-free hens have part of their beaks removed to limit stress-induced aggression. They live less than two years, which is less than half the normal lifespan.

Plus, it's just not that easy to find cage-free eggs, as the New York Times and others have reported. The idea has become trendy, so Whole Foods, corporate cafes (yeah, Yahoo!'s included), universities, Ben & Jerry's, and even Burger King are flocking to free-farmed yolks.

But only a reported 5 percent of American eggs are either cage-free or organic (that's up 2 percent in the past three years). And the prices are sky-high -- around $2 more per dozen, or so USA Today estimates.

If you can find genuinely free-range eggs from a small farmer, such as at your local farmers' market, some folks swear that the taste is better and the eggs are worth the price. But if you're in the city or 'burbs with only a big-name grocery store, well, it's hard to say if the cage-free label makes much difference.

A better bet to improve breakfast is organic fruit. Who doesn't love a beautiful bowl of fresh fruit in the morning, or maybe some chopped fruit topping a pancake or waffles? Just make sure you're not serving up pesticides with those sweets of the earth.

The not-for-profit Environmental Working Group has a handy list of fruits and veggies ranked by how clean they are. The results of nearly 51,000 pesticide tests on produce between 2000 and 2005 were analyzed to create this guide. You can get a printable PDF to keep in your wallet and take to the store.

This guide lists the dirty dozen fruits -- these are typically so contaminated, you should always buy the USDA-certified organic versions, which are clean. Common breakfast fruits on the list include peaches, apples, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, grapes, and pears.

The list of the 12 cleanest fruits -- ones you don't need to buy organic because they're usually safe -- also features some morning faves. Look for ordinary pineapples, mango, kiwi, and bananas.

Add a pot of fair-trade coffee, and you've got a brunch to make your mom, dad, your sweetie, and even Mother Earth proud.

6 stupidly simple steps to save billions of gallons of gas

Hank Green — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:58:05 PDT

OK, gas prices are getting out of hand, and carbon emissions have been out of hand for a long time. So let's kill two birds with, well, five stones.

We generally focus on high technology here at EcoGeek, and how we can save energy with smart designs. But sometimes, there are simpler ways.

An absolutely tremendous amount of gasoline could be saved in America with some very simple measures. Such as:

1. Lose some weight = 900 million gallons of gas
Americans weigh about 24 more pounds per person than we did in the 1970s. That weight, when we're driving, has to be moved around with our cars. Multiplied over the three trillion miles driven in America each year, suddenly we need a lot of gas to move around our extra chub. If we could (preferably through walking and biking) lose those 24 lbs. and reach 1970s sizes, America would used nearly one billion gallons of gas less than we currently do.

2. Intelligent traffic lights = 1,000 million gallons of gas
Studies have shown that altering traffic lights to ensure maximum flow can reduce gasoline consumption in cities by between 10% and 20%. Already, lots of places have traffic light systems that use sensors to detect when and how often to change lights.

But a great deal of traffic infrastructure is still extremely primitive, and most of it is programmed by hand. Researchers have begun to attempt to create traffic lights that can make decisions for themselves. Stoplights might soon communicate with other nearby lights about when they plan on changing, how much traffic they've seen, and what's working for them recently to keep traffic flowing. They will even be able to remember what worked in the past, and use those same techniques in the future.

3. More expensive gas = 450 million gallons of gas (so far)
OK, this isn't necessarily the best solution to our problems, especially since most people who really need to drive can't afford to pay much more for gas. But 2007 showed the first decrease in the number of miles traveled since the gas crisis of the '70s. As gas prices sored to upward of $3 per gallon, people actually drove less. The amount driven dropped by about 10 billion miles. At an average fleet efficiency of 22 mpg, that's 450 million gallons of gas saved.

4. Drive a little slower = 600 million gallons of gas (just for semi trucks)
Recently, with diesel prices topping $4, Con-Way Freight, owner of one of the largest truck fleets in America, decided that it would decrease the maximum speed its drivers could drive from 65 mph to 62 mph. This will save the company 3.2 million gallons of fuel per year. And that's just ONE trucking company going 3 mph slower! If this were expanded to all 1.5 million semis on American roads, it would save 617 million gallons of fuel!

If it the national speed limit were lowered to 65 mph, the savings would be extreme. Already, the U.S. trucking industry is calling for a decrease in the national speed limit, first because the difference in speed between trucks and cars creates possible safety issues. And because it would ultimately decrease the price of fuel.

5. More people per car = 1,500 million gallons of gas
If every car in America that transported one person instead transported two people, we'd save about 8 billion gallons of gas per year. But we'll aim lower. If just 20% of these solo-driver trips became two-passenger carpools, we'd use 1.5 billion fewer gallons of gas per year.

6. Increase mileage to 35 mpg = 55,000 million gallons of gas by 2015
This needs to be said. The current average fuel economy of an American car is 22 mpg. It would be lower if there were no law in place requiring that efficiency. The auto industry has been fighting any increase for decades. We finally have a law on the books that will increase the average to 35 mpg by 2020.

But if we, in America, had 35-mpg cars today, like they currently do in Europe, we would use 55 BILLION less gallons of gas. Looking back through the rest of the list, this trivializes the rest of the options.

Each of these measures would, without a doubt, help us deal with the supply shortages and environmental implications of our massive oil addiction.

Simple tips to green your kitchen

Virginia Lacy — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:48 PDT

We often receive questions about how people can reduce their home energy and water use â and the bills associated with them.

We are strong advocates for saving energy and water by simply using them more efficiently. People shouldn't have to make large sacrifices to conserve, accomplishing less with less. In fact, we often help our clients achieve more with less.

While there's a lot to be said for installing efficient lighting, changing out old appliances for Energy Star models, replacing drafty windows, or re-fitting your sinks with low-flow fixtures (which will pay for themselves over time), what about when you don't have any money to invest?

Fortunately, you can still cut your energy and water consumption by spending nothing at all. That's because a lot of your energy and water use depends on how you use what you already have in your house. Using your current appliances more efficiently, in other words, can lower your consumption and your utility bills.Â

If you're looking to save energy, water, and money this spring, a good place to start is your kitchen. By some estimates, kitchen appliances account for 26 percent of an average household's electricity use. And dishwashing is one of the more water-intensive activities in your home.Â Â

Here's a list of easy habits you can adopt to use your kitchen appliances more efficiently:Â

Oven

Don't open the oven door to check on a dish â use the oven light instead (20 percent of the heat can be lost each time you open the oven door).
Keep preheating to a minimum.
Turn the oven off before cooking is complete (depending on the dish, up to 15 minutes). The heat in the oven will continue to cook the dish until finished.
If you need to self-clean the oven, plan to do it after cooking a meal while the oven is already hot, requiring less energy to raise the temperature to a higher level.

Stovetop

Match the pan size to the element size.
Use the least amount of water and the smallest size pan possible. Otherwise you're wasting energy to heat up excess metal or excess water.

Refrigerator

Let hot foods cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge. Otherwise the fridge works even harder to bring the temperature down.
Keep the freezer full. The more air you displace with food and beverages, the less cold air you lose when you open the freezer door.

Dishwasher

Run the dishwasher when full; it requires the same amount of energy for a full load as it does for a half load.
Use the "no heat" drying option.
Don't wash dishes twice. Although it depends upon the age of your dishwasher, most dishwashers can get your dishes clean without rinsing them first by hand.

Other appliances

Plug countertop appliances into a power strip that can be turned off after use, saving the energy that would be used by the appliances when in "standby mode." (Depending upon how often you use your microwave, the microwave's digital clock could use more energy than the microwave oven itself.)
You can also simply unplug appliances when you're done using them.

Virginia Lacy is a Consultant with the Energy & Resources Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.

Dishpan hands go green

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:33:18 PDT

You've cooked up a tasty meal of fresh, local ingredients. Maybe you even relaxed with a glass of organic wine. Now it's time to clean up after dinner.

What if your charmingly retro house or tiny apartment doesn't include an automatic dishwasher? Can hand-washing the dirty pots and pans still be earth-friendly? Sure, but it takes a little elbow grease.

An oft-quoted study from the University of Bonn, Germany, found that people who hand-washed dishes used 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kWh of water-heating energy on average to clean 12 place settings.

This was dramatically less efficient than the dishwashing machines tested -- they used about 4 gallons of water and 1 to 2 kWh of energy.

But if you just can't afford an Energy-Star machine right now (or, like me, your 1940s kitchen is too narrow for one to fit into!), you can still learn to wash dishes better.

First, install an aerator on your faucet. These inexpensive little devices turn a wasteful sink into a low-flow water saver, and you won't really notice any lack of drippage. Put one in the bathroom sink too, while you're at it. It'll cost you maybe $3 per faucet.

Next, scrape your dishes after eating, instead of rinsing. You shouldn't need to soak them unless food has burned on. And try not to let food sit and dry on dishes, if possible.

When it's time to wash a load, do it efficiently by using dishpans or getting a plug for your sink. If you wash dishes with the faucet running, you might as well pour money down the drain. Your water bill goes up, valuable resources are lost, both you and the planet suffer. Who wants that?

Wash the dishes in a pan of hot water and rinse in a pan of cool water. Or if you have a double sink, use plugs and fill up the sinks.

One eco-bonus that hand-washing has over the machine is that many of the detergents for automatic dishwashers still contain phosphates. Dishwasher detergents are one of the last types of cleaning products in the U.S. still allowed to include this harmful agent. Liquid detergents used for hand-washing dishes are usually phosphate-free, so they don't gunk up our waterways.

How low can you go?

Sam Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:26:57 PDT

How far will I go to save energy? I recently read the owner's manual for our dishwasher, that's how far.

Locating the manual was easy: Filing our collection gets done regularly. Actually reading one, however, generally means there's a crisis afoot.Â

And there is. An environmental crisis. Were there energy savings to be found in how we wash our dishes? And if so, what are the tradeoffs?Â

I turned to the manual in search of answers. I'll share what I learned by reading it â and by testing the results â so that you don't have to.Â

Our machine, an Asko ASEA 1502, is made in Sweden, and some critical passages in the manual were lost in translation. The manufacturer relies heavily on symbols to tell the story.Â

With some squinting, I eventually figured out there are three dials I can turn â or I should say buttons I can push â to save energy.Â

The first determines the duration of the wash cycle. A second controls water temperature, which can range from 150 to 110 degrees. The third turns a heating coil at the bottom of the machine on or off, for extra oomph steaming away water during the dry cycle.Â

The most energy-efficient scenario is the shortest wash cycle using the coolest temperature without the heated dry. We were doing the opposite. All three settings on our machine were maxed out, and had been for years.Â

A week-long experiment was conducted, with lots of settings tested - by which I mean, I futzed with the buttons and then eyeballed the results. Did the dishes suffer?Â

Yes, a little. They were clean as always. But cooler water evaporates less completely - and with the coil turned off tiny puddles appeared here and there among the otherwise gleaming glasses and plates. Opening the machine and letting the contents air dry helped.Â

So did giving them a quick twist with a towel prior to stowage. I figure, it's the least I can do to help. And there's no going back. The manual was crystal clear in one regard: "For greatest energy savings do not use heat during drying."Â

A couple extra tidbits from the week, in the name of every little bit counts:Â

Dishwashers do themselves need to be cleaned - at least ours does. Scraping clean a series of filters ahead of the drain made a significant difference in how the dishes turned out -more significant than water temperature.

Loading the machine with care also made a difference. Pointing the silverware up in the basket instead of down mattered most. (Sharp knives should point down, for safety.)

Turn off the machine altogether between use instead of leaving in standby mode. Though the energy saved is "negligible" according to the manual, it's a good habit to be in with all appliances, for minimizing the effect of so-called "energy vampires."

We'd been using too much detergent, filling the receptacle each time. The manual recommends this only for "hard" water with high mineral counts. It took two minutes on our local water district web site to learn our water was relatively "soft," requiring just one tablespoon of detergent.

In addition to energy, a fringe benefit was the amount of *time* saved. Running the machine on the most energy-efficient settings took 70 minutes instead of more than two hours â creating plenty of time to read up on my refrigerator.

Sam Silverstein is the editor of Yahoo! Green.

Eating right

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:39:11 PDT

You've heard of low-carb diets, right? Atkins, South Beach ... but what about a low-carbon diet?

Just like our cars and the power plants the light our houses create CO2 emissions, the food we eat can contribute to climate change. Livestock creates 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, so meat and dairy products have a high carbon count. Processed, packaged goods shipped across the country consume a lot more energy than fresh, local foods.

You can calculate the approximate climate impact of your meal at EatLowCarbon.org, a nifty tool created by the food service company Bon AppÃ©tit. Just drag and drop ingredients into your virtual sautÃ© pan, and dish up an earth-friendly dinner.

I visited a couple places where Bon AppÃ©tit provides food service and encourages eco-friendly dining. See for yourself how college students and tech workers went low-carb this Earth Day.

Bon AppÃ©tit brought its low-carbon diet to more than 400 corporate and university cafÃ©s across the U.S. this year. The company contracts with places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adidas, Seattle Art Museum, Oracle Corporation, eBay, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Best Buy, and even Yahoo!.

At Santa Clara University, I talked to students and staff to see how they enjoyed the sustainable lunch choices. The response was very positive. An environmental studies major complimented the cafeteria for emphasizing local produce. The students also admired how Bon AppÃ©tit and the university worked together to educate people on making smart food choices.

Lindsey Cromwell, the university's sustainability coordinator, pointed out that the low-carbon diet is in line with the institution's long-term goal of going carbon-neutral. "As a Jesuit university, we're concerned with the ethical implications of all our decisions," she commented. Stewardship of the planet -- down to the food we choose -- is part of the life education Santa Clara University provides.

Bon AppÃ©tit's Director of Culinary Support, Marc Zammit, gave me a tour of the university's kitchen and pointed out what made the Earth Day meals 'low carbon.'

Cutting out beef is a big part of it, but this doesn't have to mean going totally vegetarian. Raising chicken, pork, and fish uses fewer resources than beef. If you can go meat-free a few days a week, that's great (and pretty healthy too). But trying a tilapia fish taco instead of a hamburger like some satisfied students did is a start.

Cheese is a tough one for many of us to give up. But at the university deli, Zammit showed how you can create delicious sandwiches without a slice of cheese. Yummy spreads like hummus and pesto add creamy texture and loads of flavor without dairy. Definitely worth trying at home!

I also checked out the corporate cafÃ© at SAP Labs. Executive chef Melissa Miller showed me around her kitchen, where she makes tasty meals like chicken pho. This Vietnamese noodle soup traditionally has beef, but her low-carbon version was just as popular as the standard.

Miller's crew also makes potato chips from scratch -- this avoids packaging, since they can serve them from big glass jars. And fresh chips taste better too! What a treat.

The cafÃ© also provides crackers for soups in jars (instead of individually wrapped), and condiments like ketchup and mustard are served in refillable containers (not packets). All of this reduces garbage.

This is something we can easily do at home too. Buying in bulk is often cheaper than buying lots of individually packaged items. We'll spend less and have less trash, so it's a win-win.

Both cafeterias encourage diners to use real china and silverware whenever possible. Paper and plastic to-go containers are frequently not recyclable or just not recycled, so they end up in the landfills. At Santa Clara University, the cafeteria uses 7,200 to-go boxes each week. If you stacked them up, that'd be almost as tall as the Empire State Building!Â

That's something we should remember when we get take-out food or are tempted to use paper plates at home for parties.

Want to learn more about how you can go low-carb? Check out Bon AppÃ©tit's low-carbon diet tips, including research behind why this helps the planet.

And get a recipe from the chef at San Francisco's de Young Museum for seafood stew to whip up your own sustainable dinner tonight.

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.

Sustainable, affordable alternatives to salmon

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:35:30 PDT

Last week, the salmon fishing season was cancelled before it even began. Due to surprisingly tiny numbers of Chinook salmon (aka king salmon), the Pacific Fishery Management Council banned commercial and recreational fishing for 2008 of this popular fish.

The only wild-caught salmon left are smaller varieties from Washington state and Alaska, so prices are expected to soar. Estimates are about $30 to $40 a pound.

Atlantic salmon is still available, but that farmed fish has a host of health and environmental problems. Environmental Defense warns about high levels of PCBs and dioxins in farmed salmon. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch notes that salmon farmers use a lot of pesticides and antibiotics, which get into the fish and the nearby ecosystem.

So what's a fan of fish dinners to do? Where do you go for those all-important omega-3s? What do you look for at the market or on a restaurant menu?

U.S. Tilapia - this fish is becoming more common in stores and is very affordable. U.S.-farmed Tilapia are more eco-friendly than the Latin American type, so make sure to ask.

Rainbow trout - A good choice for grilling and sometimes available smoked. Reminds me of childhood camping trips!

U.S. catfish - A Southern favorite that I find easy to cook, catfish is farmed responsibly. And it tastes great with hush puppies on the side.

Arctic char - Farmed in an environmentally sound manner, this fish comes from the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Iceland. It's also called Alpine char.

White seabass - Not really a seabass, this is also known as king croaker, weakfish, or seatrout.

Want more ideas about sustainable seafood? Read through our safe fish guide for expert resources about the best from the ocean.

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.

Natural weed whacking

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:28:15 PDT

Spring showers may be making lawns green right now, but they can also help weeds sprout too.Â Plenty magazine reports that weeds are getting "more robust and aggressive, thanks, in part, to global warming."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service has found that rising carbon dioxide levels and overall warmer temperatures are helping weeds in urban areas grow like, well, weeds. The USDA has measured city weeds four times as tall as usual.

So how can we deal with these annoying plants -- without dumping nasty chemicals into the ground and contaminating nearby water systems?

The Green Guide has some handy tips. For spot killing, pour boiling water on a weed. Vinegar is also a good herbicide.

You can buy organic herbicides too. These rely on strong acetic acid (the active ingredient in vinegar), plus essential plant oils.

Another method for ridding your garden of weeds is soil solarization. Basically, you cover the area with plastic tarp for a few weeks and bake out the weeds. This also kills fungal pests.

Of course, the best way to stop weeds is to prevent them. About.com has useful info about mulching, landscape fabrics, and even using corn gluten to keep weeds from rooting in the first place.

Something to think about for the next growing season!

Clean, green sweep

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:25:50 PDT

So you're throwing open the windows and beating the winter blues out of the house. Spring cleaning is under way -- why not do it in an eco-friendly fashion this season?

Many of the cleaning products found in the kitchen and bathroom are full of harsh chemicals that are toxic for you and your family plus the planet.

The Union of Concerned Scientists notes that most cleaners contain petroleum products, phosphates, phthalates, or chlorine. These ingredients are either nonrenewable resources, polluting to the environment, or harmful to our health. Bad news all around!

And frankly, they're not necessary to get stuff clean. Our grandmothers kept the homefront spotless with good old-fashioned ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, borax, and plain soap. If you want a fancy scent, add a natural essential oil. Planet Green has a bunch of easy recipes to make your own green cleaners.

If you don't have time to mix your own stuff, look for certified biodegradable products, such as Planet brand. The EcoLogo certification is a globally recognized environmental certification worth looking for on cleaning products too.

Seventh Generation has an excellent guide to getting the toxins out of your home, and this brand of papers and cleaners lists all of its product ingredients on its website.

Even eco-celeb Ed Begley Jr. has weighed in on green cleaning with his own line of products called Begley's Best. The cleaners earned a Crade-to-Cradle certification, which means the product is not only environmentally safe but the design itself is efficient and the company is socially responsible.

Lastly, when you do get rid of any toxic cleaners, be careful. Don't just pour them down the drain. Check this saftey info about disposal, and contact your local hazardous waste department (check your phone book), if necessary.

Preparing your organic garden for spring

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:58:39 PST

While much of the U.S. is still feeling winter's chill, gardeners know this is a great time to plan for spring planting. They pore through the seed catalogs and dream of lush green veggie beds.

Why not start an organic garden this year?

Cutting back on pesticides and chemical fertilizers is safer and better for your soil in the long run. And you'll find a wide variety of unusual plants to experiment with when you look for organic and heirloom seeds.

Many seeds sold in big garden shops are hybrids that have been breed to be uniform for commercial purposes. This sometimes sacrifices flavor and has put a dent in plant diversity.

But you can find a wide variety of seeds online. Heirloom seeds are for plants that were generally found before the 1940s and which are open pollinated. You can also get organic seeds that haven't been exposed to chemicals.

Here are some of the most frequently recommended sites:

Seed Savers Exchange: A non-profit organization selling seeds for heirloom veggies, flowers, and herbs.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Ozark Mountain-based company offering 1,200 unique heirloom seed varieties.

Seeds of Change: A research farm and business selling over 600 types organically grown seeds.

Wild Garden Seed: Pacific Northwest farm producing organic seeds for salad greens, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Also, Mother Earth News has an extensive list of seed companies in each U.S. state, plus some Canadian listings. This is a great way to find open-pollinated and organic vegetable and herb seeds near you.

Once the seeds are on the way, you'll want to get the soil ready and learn to maintain your garden without chemicals.

While soil prep is a a huge topic and will vary a lot depending on local conditions, several websites have good pointers to get started.

Organic Gardening: This is the mother lode of tips and techniques for all things about your green garden. Don't miss the simple seed starting article and slideshow.

HGTV's Organic Gardening: Tons of info., plus videos, on everything from picking the right plants to mulching to using water wisely.

The Organic Gardeners Podcast on Lime: Short weekly audio shows about gardening topics with handy advice.

G-Living also has some detailed articles on seeds and soil preparation in the organic gardening section. All this should be plenty to keep you busy before the spring thaw.

Guaranteed payment for recycling your electronics

Jozef Winter — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:16:30 PST

Here on EcoGeek we've written a lot about how to recycle your old electronics. First, because it's a great idea and there are so many electronics out there not being used but with lots of useful and expensive parts. And second, because many of those parts are poisonous, so many end up in landfills that it's posing a huge environmental problem.

We've written about Target selling re-furbished electronics, how Staples is trying to make recycling easier, how Dell is going Cradle to Cradle with all its products, and even how to recycle your old laptop yourself and even make some money at it! But what if you actually got paid to bring your old electronics back when you no longer needed them?

TechForward Inc., a Los Angeles-based company, will actually do just that. For an upfront fee ($9 for an iPod for example) you get the right to sell the device back at a pre-determined price, based on how long you keep it. If you send back the iPod after a year, you get $40, $20 after two years.

"The trade-in prices don't look competitive with eBay auctions, but TechForward offers the convenience of free packaging and shipping. Its prices assume the item is in good condition. The company won't pay for an item that's broken, though it will supply packaging, pay for shipping and arrange to recycle it."

However, we've also discussed "buymytronics" here at EcoGeek, an admittedly smaller operation that actually will buy your electronics without any pre-fee, and even if they're broken. The price, of course, changes based on the condition of your device, and the range of devices they accept is more limited.

All in all, a good situation. Even if you're not planning on selling the item back but want to keep it beyond its "payback" period, for the convenience of recycling and proper disposal, $9 seems like a fair deal to me.

via Physorg

Nine no-cost ways to reduce your home energy use

Cher Seruto — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:34:57 PST

Cher Seruto is an analyst with the Built Environment Team at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

There's a crispness to the air, and winter is again upon us. Colder temperatures and longer nights bring more frequent indoor gatherings with family and friends. But, if you're anything like me, you're having trouble socializing because you're anticipating a spike in your energy bills.

The average American household spends about $1,900 annually on energy and also creates more than 26,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Collectively, residential energy use accounts for about 20 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

We all want to be warm this season, and we often don't mind the increased cost. In fact, some of us may view those increased energy costs in the winter as a necessary evil.

But what if you had some no-cost, quick and easy ways to reduce that energy bill while saving the environment and maintaining the same level of comfort?

Well, here you go.

The Rocky Mountain Institute recently compiled energy usage information for the typical American home. In the process, we found dozens of ways ordinary people can cost-effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions from their own homes.

These nine suggestions cost nothing and will save you money:

Â	CO₂ Saved (lbs/year)	$ Saved ($/year)
Lower water heater temperature to 120^Â°F	214	$12.12
Lower thermostat in winter by 2^Â°F	353	$19.04
Wash clothes in cold water	327	$18.58
Turn off unneeded lights	376	$21.04
Turn off home-office equipment	137	$7.68
Unplug extra fridge in garage	448	$25.04
Use energy-saving mode on appliances	769	$43.04
Increase AC thermostat by 3^Â°F	339	$18.90
Air dry clothes during summer	779	$43.60
TOTAL SAVED PER YEAR:	3,742	$209.04

Not only can these free tricks save the average household more than $200 a year in energy costs, but the carbon dioxide reductions are equivalent to taking 10 miles off of your daily commute.

So be a do-gooder this season and year round, keep your guests happy, and give your pocketbook a boost, too.

Also, stay tuned, because next week we'll provide further energy efficiency measures you can purchase for less than 20 bucks per ton of saved carbon.

When to turn off your engine

Mel Peffers — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:18:10 PST

This post is by Mel Peffers, Air Quality Project Manager at Environmental Defense.

In the winter, many people idle their car engine after starting it up because they think it needs time to warm up. Not true! Today's fuel-injected engines don't need a warm-up period, and idling for long periods can lead to excessive engine wear.

Worse, cars idling for more than 10 seconds use more gas and create more global warming pollution than simply restarting the engine. Surprised? It's true - the 10-second rule has been proven empirically.

The 10-second rule was originally published on the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's Idle-Free Zone webpage. Their results were replicated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which found that restarting uses the same amount of fuel as idling with the air conditioner on for 6 seconds.

Diesel engines can use more fuel idling than moving a vehicle - as much as four times more (see this study on school buses in Los Angeles, and also this EPA study with similar findings). Besides contributing to global warming, diesel engine emissions can cause a host of health problems: asthma attacks, impaired lung function, heart problems, and even death.

Idling is a significant problem in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, where people are often stuck in traffic. A car in gridlock emits up to three times the pollution as one in free-flowing driving conditions.

Environmental Defense is working with the City of New York on reducing traffic congestion. We're also working with Mayor Bloomberg on tougher enforcement of the existing idling law, which has been in effect for five years. Plus, we're working on a no-idling policy for school buses in Texas, and on Truck Stop Electrification (TSE) expansion, so truckers won't need to idle overnight while sleeping. And our GreenFleet initiative helps fleet owners reduce emissions.

Avoiding pollution and engine wear aren't the only benefits of not idling. You also can save gas and money. Here are a couple of studies that demonstrate this:

Edmunds.com: "... you can drastically improve your gas mileage."

Homemade Hybrid: "I kicked the idling habit and saved a gallon of gas per tank ..."

With this cost-of-idling worksheet from Argonne National Laboratories, you can calculate the savings for your own vehicle. For more tips on clean driving, visit Car Talk's Driving Tips for Tree-Huggers.

Not idling is good for the environment, good for your wallet, good for engines, and good for health. Everyone wins by simply turning off an idling engine.

'Mainstream Green' = 'This Old House' + green

Nino Marchetti — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:03:00 PST

A new digital television show has surfaced promoting ideas for going green in matters related to building practices and sustainable living. It's called Mainstream Green and it's appearing for free via online media company ON Networks.

Mainstream Green, designed to be viewable on a computer or iPod/iPhone or through a television connected to an Apple TV, promotes green building ideas for new and existing home owners.

It's hosted by a "high-performance" home builder by the name of Alex Pettit, who talks about everything insulation to master-planned communities. The show, which airs in four- to six-minute episodes, is described by ON Networks as part HGTV, part This Old House.

The show will attempt to balance going green with saving money and living more healthy. Episodes already posted cover topics of insulation and integrated pest management.

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.

Ask the EcoGeek: recycling CDs

Hank Green — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:13:00 PDT

Dear EcoGeek,

Is it possible to recycle old CDs or DVDs?
Thanks,
Rob

The perpetual scourge of EcoGeekiness is obsolescence. We pay good money for what we see as a good product, and then five years down the line we're surrounded by useless junk!

But I can't help but answer this seemingly straightforward question with several different answers.

First, I'll actually answer the question: Yes, you can, but it's not as simple as curbside pickup. CDs and DVDs do contain valuable materials (CD-Rs even sometimes contain gold) and there are techniques to harvest that material for reuse, but those same materials make them too complicated for regular recycling centers. Unfortunately, the materials aren't expensive enough that someone will pay for them. To recycle CDs you'll have to ship them to a special recycling center. Several are listed at the bottom of this post.

Second, destroy the data: Whenever you're trashing something that might contain personal data, always take the time to wipe it clean. For CDs, this can be accomplished with gloved hands, scissors, a hole puncher or, for a more entertaining (and dangerous) destruction, microwave on high for two seconds.

Third, dubious re-use: The Internet is littered with cheesy ways to reuse old CDs. Give people lemons and they'll make coasters, disco balls, clocks and maybe even miniature hover-craft. However, this isn't really helping anyone. At the very least, it's delaying the landfill for another few years. It's fun to play with trash, but this kind of re-use doesn't make much environmental sense.

Forth, stop the cycle: As with any article about obsolete materials, we'd be fools not to mention how evil forced obsolescence is. The good news is, nowadays we don't need to buy physical objects anymore. We can download pretty much everything we need straight to our hard drive, consume it, and throw it into the virtual trash can on our desktop. Whenever you can, go digital. But avoid the temptation to burn all your files to DVD. You'll just be staring at them in five years wondering what the heck you're going to do with all those coasters.

CD Recycling Services in the U.S.
NESAR Systems
420 Ashwood Road
Darlington, PA 16115
724-827-8172

Digital Audio Disk Corporation
Attention: Disc Recycling Program
1800 Fruitridge Avenue
Terre Haute, IN 47804-1788
812-462-8323

And in the UK
The Laundry CD Recycling
Lauren Dean
London Recycling
4d North Crescent
Cody Road
London
E16 4TG