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South Africa's Joule electric car to bow in Paris

Alex Nunez , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:30:17 PDT

Optimal Energy

Electric cars. South Africa. Frankly, it's not as if one immediately makes me think of the other.

That could change, however. The Paris Motor Show officially opened to the media on Thursday, and Cape Town-based Optimal Energy is showing off a new EV that it hopes to market in South Africa come 2010. (Who isn't aiming to have an EV out in 2010?)

Dubbed the Joule, the six-passenger car's part-boxy, part-swoopy bodywork was penned by Keith Helfet, who also designed the not-very-green but very, very awesome Jaguar XJ220.

The Joule can carry a pair of lithium-ion battery packs and be charged via a 220v household outlet. Standard operating range is 200 km (124 miles) on a single battery, but it's expandable to double that number if the optional second battery is added.

The car's powertrain setup uses three electric motors -- one for the front axle and one each in the rear wheels. This allows the Joule to be operated as a front-, rear- or all-wheel drive vehicle. Top speed is around 83 mph.

Innovative, neat, and practical -- it's a very likeable package.

Alex Nunez is Associate Editor of Autoblog.com. His blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Treehugging: What you can do about deforestation

Jenn Savedge , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:52:55 PDT

Trees are vital to life on Earth. They trap carbon and other particles produced by pollution. They provide habitat for animals and other plants, affect rainfall, prevent erosion, and help regulate the Earth's temperature. But we're losing trees at an alarming rate around the globe.

According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, the 33 million acres of forestland that are lost annually worldwide are responsible for 20% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

Trees are cut and burned for a number of reasons. Forests are logged to supply timber for wood and paper products, and to clear land for crops, cattle, and housing. Other causes of deforestation include mining and oil exploitation, urbanization, acid rain and wildfires. Worldwide, deforestation is a big problem, particularly in tropical regions.

So what can YOU do about deforestation? Actually, quite a bit. Here are a few ideas:

Plant a tree: The most obvious way to combat deforestation is to plant a tree. And its a great way to show get your kids involved as well. My girls like to plant a tree every year on their birthdays to celebrate the day and the planet. Plant a tree (or several) in your yard, at your child's school, in a community park ... anywhere.

Go paperless: Save a tree by cutting back on the paper you use each day. Keep in touch via email, read news and magazines online, send texts instead of notes, and give e-cards to save both paper and cash. We put up a dry-erase board on our fridge to jot down notes and important phone numbers instead of using paper.

Buy recycled: Purchase paper and paper products made from recycled paper content. Every case of recycled paper you buy in lieu of virgin paper saves about one tree!

Look for FSC certification on wood and wood products: The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wood and wood products that come from sustainable forests. Look for the FSC label on wood, paper, and wood products such as furniture, cabinets, and windows.

Jenn Savedge's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Sweet seasonal tarts

Jay Weinstein, Forecast Earth Food Correspondent — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 PDT

Heading into October, we're comparing apples and apples. Eating apples versus cooking apples, that is.

Since great cooking apples like Rome Beauties, Golden Delicious, Northern Spy, Idareds, Granny Smith, and Newton Pippins abound, the time is ripe for special apple desserts. One that has "fine dining" appeal, but doesn't require a Masters degree in baking to make, is a simple mini apple tart.

Start by cutting phyllo dough into squares, coating with butter and cinnamon, pressing into muffin tins, and baking until they form golden cups. Then, saute sliced apples in melted butter, and make a sweet, maple-sweetened pan sauce with the drippings. Finally, spoon the apples into the cups, drizzle with the sauce, and serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and a leaf of fresh mint. It's local fruit at its best.

Mini Apple Tarts

10 sheets phyllo dough, room temperature
1/4 cup melted butter (divided use)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup maple sugar or organic cane sugar
4 cooking apples, peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
2 Tablespoons cold butter, chopped
Vanilla ice cream
Mint leaves

Cut the phyllo into four-inch squares. Brush each square with melted butter, and sprinkle with maple sugar and cinnamon, and layer in small piles, six squares deep. Press each six-layer pile of phyllo squares into a cup on a buttered cup of a muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before transferring from muffin tins to a cooling rack.

Cook apples in remaining melted butter in a skillet over a medium heat, until slightly browned, 5 minutes. Scoop apples from pan, transfer them to a warm plate, and add the cider to the pan. Stir in syrup and vanilla. Simmer until volume is reduced by half, the liquid bubbles, has a sauce consistency. Cool slightly before swirling in pinch of salt and the cold butter, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Add apples back, heat until warm, spoon into phyllo cups, and serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream, garnished with mint leaves if desired.

Serves 12

Jay Weinstein's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

The most walkable cities in the U.S.

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:53:10 PDT

One simple way to "do the right thing" when it comes to living a sustainable lifestyle is use your car less, or to avoid having a car at all. As a resident of the great city of New York, I have lived happily for more than 20 years without driving. It's a lifestyle choice, but it works for me and gives me an automatic leg up to the high moral ground when it comes to guilt-free green living.

New York is famously walkable, of course, but so are lots of other cities. The Daily Green is reporting on the newest list of most walkable cities as calculated by Walk Score, a rather fascinating Web site that ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to help you find a walkable place to live.

Walk Score has a real crush on San Francisco, although many commenters on the site -- as well as me -- consider that city more "hikable" than "walkable." Oy, those hills!

Yahoo! Green invites you to:

Leave your car at home

Pick one day this week to leave your car at home and use another way to commute. This will reduce your CO2 emissions by a whopping 30 lbs this week.

Challenge provided by Carbonrally

Walk Score has a detailed checklist that it uses to determine an area's walkability, and it creates color-coded maps to prove just how walkable a neighborhood is. The site hates suburbs and car-based urban environments such as Houston and its lowest ranker, Jacksonville, Florida.

On a related real estate note, SustainLane ranks cities by their overall sustainability. San Francisco doesn't win on this list, but it comes in second. Not bad.

Don Willmott's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Taking a spin in the Honda FCX Clarity

Alex Nunez , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:35:07 PDT

Consumer Reports

Last Friday, I spent the day at Consumer Reports' auto test center in Connecticut for an event they billed as "The Future of the Car." In addition to getting the rundown on CR's expansive, 320-acre test facility, we got to sample a wide variety of green/alt-fuel vehicles, ranging from a garage-built electric '99 VW Jetta, to the latest clean diesels, to some of the flashiest high-tech offerings out there today.

That last group included the consumer-spec Honda FCX Clarity, and I drove it. I'll say this: Californians fortunate enough to get leases ($600/month for a 3-year term) will be driving a remarkable vehicle.

Open the plum-colored door, climb into the modern, well-appointed interior, and put the car in drive. The shifter is actually an unobtrusive lever integrated on the right side of the gauge cluster. An electric motor drives the front wheels, and it's powered by a compact fuel cell stack mounted between you and your passenger where the transmission tunnel would be in a conventional vehicle. A supplemental lithium ion battery that collects energy captured during brake regeneration is mounted under the back seat.

The Clarity accelerates smoothly and quietly, handling the sloppy, rainy weather (the photo above was taken at the event) and the intentionally-placed imperfections on Consumer Reports' test road with aplomb. It's like driving any other car, only you probably don't drive a car that gets the equivalent of 74 miles per gallon.

Worried about range? Don't be. The Clarity can go around 280 miles on a full tank of hydrogen (it holds four kilograms in compressed form).

As for the cost of filling that tank, Honda's representative told me that Clarity drivers are paying between $5 and $10 per kilogram at the three publicly-accessible filling stations being used for their program. $40 for a fill-up is something I haven't experienced in a long while, and in the case of the FCX Clarity, it goes a long way. This is a very cool car, and it makes a compelling case for hydrogen propulsion.

Now, all we need to do is figure out that teensy, minor detail of getting a solid, national H2 infrastructure in place... .

Alex Nunez is Associate editor of Autoblog.com. His blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Teens and makeup, a dangerous mix?

Jenn Savedge , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:23:52 PDT

I had no sooner finished writing a post the other day about making homemade, eco-friendly face paints for kids when I found the results of a disturbing study recently released by the Environmental Working Group about toxins in cosmetics. Specifically, the study looked at the toxins that have found their way into the bodies of teenage girls who frequently use cosmetics.

According to the EWG study, 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families -- phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks -- were found in the blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. These chemicals have been linked to serious health concerns such as cancer and hormone disruption. Two parabens in particular, methylparaben and propylparaben, were detected in every single girl tested. Parabens are a group of synthetic chemicals frequently used as preservatives in cosmetics.

The study also found that on average, teenage girls use more personal care products than adult women (17 products each day for teens compared to 12 for adults). So at a time when their bodies are rapidly changing and most susceptible to damage, many teens are unknowingly exposing themselves to extremely high levels of toxins from the products that are supposed to make them look beautiful.

Now, as a journalist with a scientific background, I can't overlook the fact that the sample size for the EWG's study was small at only 20 participants. And I understand that scientifically, the results are not significant.

But as a mom with two daughters, I also can't overlook the fact that this small study further verifies an already established environmental concern regarding the toxicity of ingredients in frequently used personal care products. And for me, it highlights the the very real fact that our children are exposed to an alarmingly number of synthetic chemicals each day, many of which have never been tested for safety in and of themselves and certainly not in combination with the thousands of other chemicals making their way into our children each day.

So what's the answer? Not allowing your teens to wear cosmetics? My daughters are at least 10 years away from the day when they turn in their "play" makeup for the real thing, but even I know that for teens who love their personal care products, an out-and-out ban would spell disaster.

A better idea is to talk to your teen about the nasty junk she's putting on her face (dare her to read the label!) and turn her on to some of the great brands currently available, like Miessence, Jane Iredale, Honeybee Gardens, and Ecco Bella, that are made without those dangerous ingredients. If she's got to wear makeup, at least you'll know that the stuff she's putting on the outside, won't hurt her on the inside.

Jenn Savedge's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Eating a 100-mile diet in a Minnesota winter

Jay Weinstein, Forecast Earth Correspondent — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:12:46 PDT

Kale tacos. That was Marty Walsh's solution to vegetables in midwinter. Oh, yeah, and planning ahead.

I met Marty and his fiance, Sophia Gossman, early this week when I was in St. Joseph, Minnesota, to present the keynote address at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University.

Marty and Sophia have lived on a "100-mile diet" for over a year. "We source 95 percent of our food from farms and producers within a 100-mile radius of our campus," he said. In Minnesota's harsh winter, the remaining five percent is pretty easy to forgive.

I had asked him what he did about vegetables in February and March.

"That was actually the easy part," smiled Sophia, "because we'd prepped vegetables all though August and September and frozen them in small batches. We stocked a freezer as big as a home refrigerator with beans, corn, cooked vegetables, and everything from the farmers market. That made meals in the winter simple and delicious, because everything was cut up and seasoned just the way we like. Dinner was just a matter of pulling five containers from the freezer, warming the food, and combining it on the plate."

Marty says that they got some strange looks as they lugged 25-pound bags of produce from the market week after week during the harvest season, but the payoff was huge in winter.

Their meats were a combination of grass-fed lamb from a nearby organic farmer and chickens, pork, and other meat from Sophia's parent's small farm a short way north of St. Joseph. They baked breads, cakes, and savory rolls using wheat and corn flour milled at Swany White Flour Mill over in Freeport, Minnesota. They didn't count that as local, I believe, because the wheat came from 200 miles away in neighboring North Dakota.

I'd never seen someone so excited about kale. Marty says he'll never go back to lettuce on his tacos. The couple had made tortillas from the locally-milled corn (conceding that the results were mixed at first), and then found themselves at a loss for what to use instead of lettuce in the winter, until they decided to try kale they'd put up.

They bought cheeses from the farmers market too and discussed them at our dinner table with a couple who produced their own gouda, cheddar, and mozzarella (more on the Kutters, who also hand-crafted the presses and molds they use to make their cheeses, in an upcoming post).

I relate all of this to illustrate the possibilities open to people who love both the food and the earth it comes from. We can't all live like Marty and Sophia, but it sure is comforting to know that it's possible (while also going to school full time, and holding a job).

Jay Weinstein's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

How to get paid to recycle

Don Willmott, Forecast Earth Correspondent — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:24:31 PDT

I'm just cynical enough to believe the only way to change people's most ingrained habits is to hit 'em where it hurts: in their wallets. Systems of financial penalties and rewards have power. Tax cigarettes high enough, and some people will quit smoking. Pay kids $100 for perfect attendance, and they won't skip school.

Green Daily has found a new company that agrees with me. The innovative RecycleBank will reward you for recycling, and it'll pay by the pound. Chances are, your town or city demands that you recycle at least some of your household trash already, so here's a way to get paid for what you're already doing.

In the RecycleBank system, the truck that picks up your recycling bin, weighs it, and that amount is converted into points that turn into coupons that turn into savings when you shop.

Companies such as Coca-Cola, PetSmart, Stonyfield Farm, CVS, and Kraft are participating, with more expected soon.

As Green Daily points out, one potentially bad side effect of this plan is that it implicitly encourages you to go ahead and make more waste, since the more you trash, the more you make.

We'll see how that goes, but in the meantime, it's a clever idea that should be given a chance to succeed. Right now it's kicking off in 13 states, and you're invited to ask your town to participate.

Don Willmott's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Why they call it climate "change"

James Hrynyshyn, Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:54:48 PDT

Every winter it's the same complaint: If global warming is real, why is it so cold?

Most such comments are made in jest, but it is important to understand that not every spot on the globe is going to warm at the same rate as we push the climate toward a warmer average. Some places will even experience a cooling trend, at least in the first few decades of the rest of this century.

Scientists on both the east and west coasts of North America are talking this week about exactly that. Here's the opening to a story in Tuesday's Globe and Mail: "Some scientists are cautioning that global warming could mean colder weather for Atlantic Canada."

Such a scenario, which was raised at a meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, is "more remote" that those predicting a warmer future for the region, according to Ken Drinkwater of Norway's Institute for Marine Research. But, he told the newspaper, "It's not really clear what would happen."

The problem is our understanding of the massive ocean currents that redistribute heat around the world is weak, and what happens to them if Arctic ice continues to melt at record rates is even more of a mystery.

Over on the west coast, Scientific American is reporting "that as temperatures rise in California, so do pressure differences that control cool Pacific winds. That means higher temperatures inland create lower ones at the coast."

According to Jorge Gonzalez and Bereket Lebassi, both of Santa Clara University, while inland temperatures are rising in California, winds on the coast are picking up and daytime highs are dropping. Their study is scheduled to appear in the Journal of Climate, but it's already picked some criticism for implying that wine-growers might actually be spared the worst of global warming.

The fact remains, however, that climate change can mean different things to different people, depending on geography.

James Hrynyshyn's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Is a "sustainable lifestyle habitat" paradise or paradise lost?

Don Willmott, Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:25:03 PDT

The first time I visited Hoover Dam I thought to myself, "Wow, this is an incredible dam." Then I thought, "Wow, I bet this was a gorgeous canyon before they ruined it with this dam."

I feel sort of the same way every time I read about eco-tourism or eco-resorts or sustainable vacation villages.

What was there before they cleared all those acres to build the clubhouse, the pool, and the villas? Virgin forest? An unspoiled beach? Sure, you can recycle the water and put solar panels on the roof, but it's still new construction.

This all came up again when during my normal course of environment-related Web surfing I kept running into ads for Alouatta, a new "sustainable lifestyle habitat" being built on a seaside cliff on the west coast of Costa Rica.

The slightly ungrammatical website says: "Delivering the ideal balance of access and escape, consummate attention to detail offer guests amenities and services that foster warmth, intimacy and a sense of familiar pleasures admist in the jungle and you have Alouatta."

You'll find "Bio-climatic Condo Clusters" as well as 16 lots for sale on which you can build your own house.

The entire resort is hoping to achieve LEED Platinum status, which would be impressive, and yet I can't help but wonder if I should be happy because it's sustainable construction as opposed to not, or whether I should be sad because any construction in the jungle is a step in the wrong direction.

What do you think?

Don Willmott's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.