Green Among Gray

Green Among Gray Moves

2010-06-29T11:28:00.001-04:00

Green Among Gray has moved! Check out new posts at www.CaptivateBlogs.com/Green

Oil Spill Access Restricted

2010-06-18T08:20:00.002-04:00

The Associated Press – along with other media outlets – is reporting that BP workers, local police and federal officials are restricting access to the Gulf oil spill.

Journalists have been “yelled at, kicked off public beaches and islands and threatened with arrest,” according to this story about intimidation being used to prevent comprehensive reports on the oil cleanup effort.

There’s a miscommunication going on somewhere. Admiral Thad Allen, the government’s man in charge of overseeing the cleanup effort, issued a directive to allow journalists access to Gulf sites (pdf).

Apparently BP didn’t get the memo.

Virtual Energy Forum

2010-06-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

The world’s largest online energy conference, the Virtual Energy Forum, is happening today and tomorrow at VirtualEnergyForum.com.

Anyone can register and take advantage of the Virtual Energy Forum’s very cool platform to learn about a variety of sustainable energy topics, from the energy bill currently before Congress to building a smart grid to the challenges of climate change.

Speakers include bigwigs from a bunch of companies, including IBM and Microsoft, plus political leaders (a governor, a senator and a congressman) and some of the leading minds in clean energy (reps from the DOE, EPA, FERC, Harvard, and the Clinton Foundation).

The interface is a virtual exhibition hall, and you can visit different “rooms” to learn about all the topics. You can even submit questions and have them answered in real time. It’s one of the best ways to educate yourself about what’s going on in clean energy today, so check it out.

Cooling Down The Green Way

2010-06-11T07:27:00.001-04:00

The EPA recently released a summary of energy-efficient cooling tips. If you want to beat the heat and save money at the same time, try some of these recommendations.

-- Set your programmable thermostat (if you don’t have one yet, get one; they can save you about $180 a year in energy costs) a few degrees higher (such as 78 degrees) when no one is home.

-- Change your HVAC system’s air filter every three months

-- Run ceiling fans only while you’re in a room; they cool you, not the room.

-- Seal air ducts and connections at vents and registers. As much as 20% of the air moving through your home’s duct system is lost due to leaks and poor connections.

-- Buy only Energy Star-qualified air conditioners. If every room AC in the US were Energy Star-qualified, it would save the equivalent of emissions from 80,000 cars.

-- Add insulation to your attic.

Oil Getting Closer To Florida

2010-06-04T08:04:00.002-04:00

Almost a month ago I spoke with experts about what kind of effect BP’s oil leak might have on Gulf wildlife, especially as the spill gets closer to Florida. With reports now that the oil is set to hit the Florida coast as early as today, it seems appropriate to revisit what the experts had to say.

I’ll also post updates as they come in.

Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrass Beds
Dr. Richard E. Dodge, Professor and Dean at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center and Executive Director of the National Coral Reef Institute, says, “Oil entrained in the loop current could be delivered to the coral reefs of South Florida and Southeast Florida, from the Dry Tortugas in the south, throughout the Florida Keys, to Palm Beach in the north. A long duration spill could have toxic substances entering the water column and affecting corals anywhere from mucous production to damaging their reproductive system, to bleaching and mortality.” Dodge says dispersants, now being used to help break up the spill, “should NOT be used in proximity to coral reefs because this will make the oil more toxic and available to corals and the plants and animals that live in coral reefs.”

And if it takes a while before the oil reaches Florida? Could be even worse news, Dr. Dodge says. “If oil arrives during the spawning times of coral in August, this could be highly detrimental to the reproductive success of corals, threatening the next generation on the reef.”

Dr. Dodge is also quick to point out the economic impact loss of such unique habitats would have. “Florida has 84% of the nation's coral reef ecosystems,” Dodge says, “hence it is important to recognize that vital national resources are at stake. It has been estimated in a 2000 study by NOAA that reefs represent an annual economy of over $6 billion for South Florida, as well as over 71,000 jobs.”

Massive amounts of oil could also be disastrous for Florida’s sensitive mangrove forests, home to thousands of animals, from alligators to bobcats. “Mangrove forests serve as nursery grounds for many species of fish and shellfish. They also bind sediment. Loss of these forests would result in the collapse of this type of ecosystem,” Dr. Dodge says.

And if the currents and tides really conspire just right, the oil could infest Florida’s seagrass beds. “If this slick made it up on to the southwest Florida Shelf and was transported in the prevailing current direction to the south, it could end up at the mouth of Florida Bay,” according to Dr. Jim Fourqurean, professor at Florida International University. “This worst-case scenario is not particularly likely – but if it occurs, it will be devastating,” Fourqurean warns.

Due to the complex properties of the bay, the oil “would likely be there for an extended period – maybe even years. Florida Bay averages only 3 feet deep over the 2,000 km2 of the bay, and most of that area is within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Florida Bay is carpeted with seagrass beds,” Fourqurean explains. “One small piece of good news is that seagrasses themselves are quite resistant to the effects of oil spills, so we would expect loss of seagrasses only in places that oil were pushed in to intertidal areas and stranded for extended periods at low tide.” So the seagrass might be fine, but what about the animals that frequent these beds?

“Oil contains many toxic compounds that could kill most of the important animals that reside in the seagrass beds, including commercially import pink shrimp; valuable game fish like tarpon, bonefish, redfish and seatrout; juvenile spiny lobsters; juvenile fish that use the bay as a nursery; and the wading birds that feed on these animals. Air-breathing manatees and sea turtles would be poisoned and covered with oil, wading birds would be covered ...” and Fourqurean leaves it at that, the implication clear.

Fish
Though I’ve said thus far it’s kind of a best-case scenario with the spill, some variables don’t bode well for the survival of fish, according to Dr. David W. Kerstetter, a research scientist at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. “Many of the fish species in the Gulf have pelagic (open-water) eggs that float at the surface, where the oil layer congregates,” Kerstetter says. And he points out it doesn’t take much oil to start causing trouble, saying, “Studies have suggested that concentrations of 1 part-per-billion have toxic effects to fish eggs.”

It’s also just plain bad timing, with now “the time of the year in which the western Atlantic population of bluefin tuna congregate in the northen Gulf to spawn, a population which is already at extremely low levels,” Kerstetter points out. “Should the sheen spread and persist, a loss of a whole year's larval fish production in some species is possible.”

“The spill will likely impact sensitive coastal saltmarsh estuary and barrier lagoon systems in the northern Gulf – some reports are that the oil already is there – systems which are important nursery grounds for shrimp, sharks, and many other species of fishes, as well as adult habitat for species such as oysters, redfish (red drum), and sea trout,” Kerstetter says.

And the top-of-the-food-chain fish, the ones targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen, will also be affected, according to Dr. Kerstetter. “As these pollutants (including the oil dispersant chemicals) are released into the water, they’re likely to be absorbed into the prey species' tissues and then re-absorbed into the tissues of predator species, like tunas and sailfish. We know very little about how some of these substances affect growth, reproduction, and even basic survival for most of these fish species.”

The Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center is probably the best place on the Web to find the latest information about the oil spill. They list a hotline number to report oiled wildlife: (866) 557-1401.

The Dangers Of Pools

2010-06-02T08:13:00.001-04:00

The CDC recently released the results of a 2008 analysis of more than 121,000 public pool inspections. 61% of the inspections revealed code violations, including nearly 23% that showed either a total lack of disinfectant or improper disinfectant levels.

As would be expected, many of the violations occurred at the likes of city-run pools and kiddie spots, but a more surprising fact is that about 35% of pools at hotel/motels, apartment/condos, and water parks had circulation and filtration violations.

The most common health problem from improper pool upkeep is gastroenteritis, which is on the rise, according to the CDC.

There’s not much you can do about how others take care of their pools, other than to avoid them, but if you have a pool at home, you should be aware of proper maintenance, including the right way to use chlorine.

Chlorine, the cleaning agent of choice for the vast majority of pool owners, is a dangerous element that, in certain uses, can pose a major environmental hazard (such as in the production of PVC).

But does the form of chlorine in pools, and the relatively low levels used, present a real risk? The World Health Organization gives a qualified “no.”

WHO explains it’s not chlorine itself that’s a health risk but the chemicals produced when chlorine interacts with other substances in pool water. WHO acknowledges these risks, but concludes, “the risks from exposure to chlorination by-products in reasonably well managed swimming pools would be considered to be small and must be set against the benefits of aerobic exercise and the risks of infectious disease in the absence of disinfection.”

The key phrase there would be “reasonably well managed.” There are some health horror stories as a result of mismanaged pools, but what about when you’re doing everything right with your pool upkeep?

Pool industry group The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals recommends daily testing to ensure a minimum level of 1 ppm of free chlorine – the specific form that acts as the cleanser – in your pool, up to the EPA-mandated maximum of 4 ppm. So optimally you should shoot for around 2 ppm.

However, there are studies indicating even these levels may be hazardous. Research published in 2003 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows a link between regular use of indoor pools and asthma, and a 2004 study in the American College of Sports Medicine shows a link between respiratory problems in trained swimmers and chlorine, even at levels as low as 1 ppm.

So how does the EPA reach its 4 ppm recommendation? Remember, it’s not the free chlorine itself, but the chlorine’s interaction with other stuff in a pool – anything from tree litter to splashed-off makeup to urine – that creates the dangerous chemicals. So the APSP sticks by its numbers, and stresses the importance of overall pool procedures, including maintaining proper pH balance, keeping pools clear of debris, properly venting indoor pools, staying out of the water when sick, taking frequent bathroom breaks, showering before swimming, and, of course, not swallowing pool water (perhaps a physical impossibility).

But beyond the possible health risks, some people simply don’t like the feel of chlorine in the hair and on their skin, not to mention the smell. There are options:

Ozone generators – These machines release ozone into the water to kill microorganisms, and requires you to use much smaller doses of chlorine. But ozone has its own problems, according to the EPA.

Ion generators – Copper and silver are used to clean out the bad stuff.

Organic cleansing – Probably the most extreme alternative, this system pumps water through rocks and plants to clean your “natural swimming pool.”

Good Sunscreens, Bad Sunscreens

2010-05-26T07:28:00.004-04:00

If you want to avoid bad sunscreens – those that don’t work, and even those that may actively be harmful to your health, beyond simply failing to block the sun – you should avoid nearly ALL sunscreens.

It’s that drastic a situation, according to the Environmental Working Group, which has been assessing sunscreens (since the government won’t do it properly) for four years now.

The EWG recommends just 8% of 500 beach and sport sunscreens on the market this season. There are several reasons so many sunscreens fail in the eyes of EWG, starting with this biggie: An ingredient found in nearly half of all sunscreen products may accelerate growth of skin tumors.

The ingredient is a vitamin A compound called retinyl palmitate, found in a slew of beauty products for its skin-rejuvenation properties. But studies that go back as far as the late 1970s show a link between it and photocarcinogenesis in rats and mice. A 2000 overview of such studies, conducted by the National Toxicology Program (pdf), details the findings and says they’re inconclusive.

But the EWG says it’s too risky a gamble and consumers should avoid sunscreens containing retinyl palmitate or even any vitamin A.

Other reasons sunscreens didn’t make the cut include overinflated SPF claims (EWG says in everyday practice, a product labeled SPF 100 really performs like SPF 3.2) and/or the inclusion of the hormone-disrupting compound oxybenzone among their ingredients.

So which sunscreens can we trust? Go to the EWG site to see the full recommended-sunscreen list, which includes the likes of Loving Naturals SPF 30+, All Terrain Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen, and Badger Sunscreen for Face and Body.

Or you could avoid the sun as much as possible and wear a hat and shirt when you can’t. (Advice from the pasty.)

Bug-free BBQs

2010-05-21T07:42:00.002-04:00

Bugs. They’re everywhere. Including in your face as you’re trying to serve your guests a glorious, low-CO2 feast in your backyard.

Lucky for us there are ways to limit the pests. Unlucky for us, it usually involves high levels of chemicals we really don’t want to be associated with. So we’ll just have to make the best of a bad situation, by learning exactly which types of repellents to avoid and which ones might be relatively innocuous.

The EPA’s Pesticides: Health and Safety Web site stresses no one should use a repellent that’s not registered with the agency. So there you can view those that are registered, and choose safely among them.

Now there is a little loophole, as is seemingly always the case when you’re dealing with the government, involving nonregistered repellents. There are some products that contain “ingredients considered to be minimal risk,” and products primarily composed of those ingredients are not required to be EPA-registered. So the issue isn’t necessarily safety, but rather effectiveness: Do these ingredients actually keep bugs away? The ingredients include things like soybean oil, mint, citronella oil, cinnamon, sesame, white pepper and zinc metal strips. The EPA can’t say for sure if this stuff works, so it can’t register them as repellents, but it can say almost definitely it’s not going to harm you from a chemical-exposure standpoint.

The best part of the EPA’s “official” list is it sorts the products by “hourly protection time,” so you can see exactly how long a particular brand is supposed to have you covered. The EPA list also shows a maximum of 30% DEET (the commonly understood “best” way to ward of mosquitoes) in any one brand, so, presumably, that’s the most allowed.

If you see some funky-sounding chemicals among ingredients, it might be a good idea to throw them into the ToxRefDB to see if they have a history of doing bad things to lab animals.

And if you want to avoid the likes of DEET altogether (which has shown deleterious effects in some studies) and give some natural remedies a try, check out this informative post from our friends at Mother Nature Network.

Finally, try simple good sense. One way to avoid bugs AND the repellents is to take steps such as eliminating standing water from around your yard, changing the water in bird baths at least once a week, and staying indoors during mosquito rush hours of sunrise, sunset and early evening.

The Low-CO2 BBQ

2010-05-19T08:40:00.002-04:00

Backyard barbeques – one our favorite simple pleasures, right? And even here, there’s opportunity to cut back on our carbon footprint. Here’s how to limit the CO2 output of your next summer get-together.

Slow Food
It’s said that 30% of the greenhouse gases causing global warming can be traced back to the production of food. So if we’re smarter, more efficient about how and what we eat, there’s big potential to cut back on our carbon footprints.

Sad but true, it’s the staple of the backyard BBQ that’s one of the biggest offenders: Beef creates 19 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every kilogram served, according to studies. And the livestock industry alone is responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, a 2006 UN study showed. Calculating that takes into account everything from gas used by delivery trucks in getting the beef to a store to the amount of methane cows emit by burping.

Produce is much less “carbon evil,” if you will. For example, a kilogram of potatoes, by the time they’re served up baked on your patio table, equates to just 280 grams of emitted CO2.

Chicken is a relatively carbon friendly meat, representing 32% of the meat consumed worldwide but contributing only 8% of meat’s carbon footprint, according to a study out of Canada’s Dalhousie University.

Fish gets more complicated, with so many factors coming into play it’s tough to say which is the most carbon friendly. But generally, you want frozen fish, because it’s been trucked in to your store instead of flown in (as fresh fish is).

Overall, what you really want to do for a low-CO2 BBQ is limit the meat, max out the veggies and fruits, and make sure you buy from a farm close to your house.

For a fun exercise, check out the Bon Appétit Management Company’s Low Carbon Diet Calculator. It puts together a sort of greenhouse gas scorecard of a variety of meals.

Briquettes or Propane?
If you’re aiming for a green BBQ, here the answer is clear: Charcoal grills are far less environmentally friendly than gas grills.

According to a study released last year, charcoal grills have a carbon footprint almost three times those of propane grills (998 kg CO2e vs. 349 kg CO2e). (By the way, “CO2e” means “Carbon Dioxide Equivalent,” basically a way to universally express units of global warming, so it can include things other than just carbon, such as methane.)

A lot of that has to do with the efficiency with which the heat sources burn. Liquid propane gas, according to study author Eric Johnson, burns at near 90% efficiency, while charcoal is closer to just 20%. So you’re wasting almost 70% more energy right off the bat just using briquettes. When you include production and transportation of the two sources, it tips the scales heavily in favor of propane being the greener choice.

Eating It All
Perhaps the simplest way – certainly the most logical – to cut back is to finish your food. Instead of eating what we buy, we throw a lot of it away, which ends up producing methane – a particularly hazardous greenhouse gas – as it breaks down in landfills. According to a 2007 British study, the amount of emissions we’d save simply by eating our food instead of tossing it in the trash would equal taking 1 in 5 autos off the road.

So salute your host, get your fill, and clear your conscience all at the same time just by licking your plate clean!

Meanwhile, in Captivate Web Land, we've kicked off a new feature this week to prep you all for those Memorial Day, unofficial-start-of-summer BBQs: Burger Week! All the blogs are involved, so be sure to surf on over to check out the offerings:

-Captivate Cooking has the burgers and sides to keep your grills sizzling with gourmet treats and your guests begging for the recipes!

-Our online Watering Hole quenches everyone's thirst with 8 simple, delicious drinks.

-Want to imbibe but are unsure of how your bathing-suit diet will be affected? Weigh-In has Slimming Summer Drinks as an alternative to bottle of beer!

-Need a new apron for a man or woman? Don't start shopping until you've read this Indulge post!

Oil Spill's Effect On Wildlife

2010-05-06T15:28:00.007-04:00

No one seems to know yet exactly how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is affecting wildlife. But it’s going to have some effect, obviously. Look no further than the fallout in Prince William Sound for proof.

The situation is summed up best perhaps by Andre Landry, Jr., a turtle expert at Texas A&M, who told OnEarth’s Osha Gray Davidson, "At this point, I can't say if any turtles have died due to oil from the rig explosion. That doesn't mean they haven't. And it certainly does not mean that they won't."

The animals at risk include lots and lots of fish, from shellfish like shrimp and crabs to finfish like red snapper and bull sharks; birds like the brown pelican and royal tern; marine mammals like sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins; and the aforementioned turtles, like Kemp’s Ridleys and hawksbills.

Much of the final damage is predicated on where the oil goes and what exactly type of oil it is, and both of those questions are still unanswered. The prevailing opinion is that the oil is of the lighter type, not the really heavy stuff like what leaked from the Valdez in Alaska, which would be a relatively good thing, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (pdf) describes it, saying, “Light oils contain moderate concentrations of soluble toxic compounds. Light oils leave a film or layer on intertidal resources with the potential of longterm contamination. Cleanup can be very effective on spills of light oil.”

As far as where the spill is headed, that’s up to the current and winds. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracks have the spill staying offshore for a while, which is, as with the type of oil, a relatively good thing. So things would seem to be shaping up, at this early point in what will be the overall life history of spill, to be kind of a best-case scenario. But things could certainly change very quickly.

One of the worst-case scenarios is if the spill gets caught in the right current and heads to Florida, home to very sensitive coral reefs and coastal areas. In fact, a Unified Command was just set up in case the oil does hit Florida. In a bid to pin down more details on just what kind of damage we might see to ecosystems and wildlife, I spoke via e-mail with several experts on various topics.

Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrass Beds
Dr. Richard E. Dodge, Professor and Dean at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center and Executive Director of the National Coral Reef Institute, says, “Oil entrained in the loop current could be delivered to the coral reefs of South Florida and Southeast Florida, from the Dry Tortugas in the south, throughout the Florida Keys, to Palm Beach in the north. A long duration spill could have toxic substances entering the water column and affecting corals anywhere from mucous production to damaging their reproductive system, to bleaching and mortality.” Dodge says dispersants, now being used to help break up the spill, “should NOT be used in proximity to coral reefs because this will make the oil more toxic and available to corals and the plants and animals that live in coral reefs.”

And if it takes a while before the oil reaches Florida? Could be even worse news, Dr. Dodge says. “If oil arrives during the spawning times of coral in August, this could be highly detrimental to the reproductive success of corals, threatening the next generation on the reef.”

Dr. Dodge is also quick to point out the economic impact loss of such unique habitats would have. “Florida has 84% of the nation's coral reef ecosystems,” Dodge says, “hence it is important to recognize that vital national resources are at stake. It has been estimated in a 2000 study by NOAA that reefs represent an annual economy of over $6 billion for South Florida, as well as over 71,000 jobs.”

Massive amounts of oil could also be disastrous for Florida’s sensitive mangrove forests, home to thousands of animals, from alligators to bobcats. “Mangrove forests serve as nursery grounds for many species of fish and shellfish. They also bind sediment. Loss of these forests would result in the collapse of this type of ecosystem,” Dr. Dodge says.

And if the currents and tides really conspire just right, the oil could infest Florida’s seagrass beds. “If this slick made it up on to the southwest Florida Shelf and was transported in the prevailing current direction to the south, it could end up at the mouth of Florida Bay,” according to Dr. Jim Fourqurean, professor at Florida International University. “This worst-case scenario is not particularly likely – but if it occurs, it will be devastating,” Fourqurean warns.

Due to the complex properties of the bay, the oil “would likely be there for an extended period – maybe even years. Florida Bay averages only 3 feet deep over the 2,000 km2 of the bay, and most of that area is within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Florida Bay is carpeted with seagrass beds,” Fourqurean explains. “One small piece of good news is that seagrasses themselves are quite resistant to the effects of oil spills, so we would expect loss of seagrasses only in places that oil were pushed in to intertidal areas and stranded for extended periods at low tide.” So the seagrass might be fine, but what about the animals that frequent these beds?

“Oil contains many toxic compounds that could kill most of the important animals that reside in the seagrass beds, including commercially import pink shrimp; valuable game fish like tarpon, bonefish, redfish and seatrout; juvenile spiny lobsters; juvenile fish that use the bay as a nursery; and the wading birds that feed on these animals. Air-breathing manatees and sea turtles would be poisoned and covered with oil, wading birds would be covered ...” and Fourqurean leaves it at that, the implication clear.

Fish
Though I’ve said thus far it’s kind of a best-case scenario with the spill, some variables don’t bode well for the survival of fish, according to Dr. David W. Kerstetter, a research scientist at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. “Many of the fish species in the Gulf have pelagic (open-water) eggs that float at the surface, where the oil layer congregates,” Kerstetter says. And he points out it doesn’t take much oil to start causing trouble, saying, “Studies have suggested that concentrations of 1 part-per-billion have toxic effects to fish eggs.”

It’s also just plain bad timing, with now “the time of the year in which the western Atlantic population of bluefin tuna congregate in the northen Gulf to spawn, a population which is already at extremely low levels,” Kerstetter points out. “Should the sheen spread and persist, a loss of a whole year's larval fish production in some species is possible.”

“The spill will likely impact sensitive coastal saltmarsh estuary and barrier lagoon systems in the northern Gulf – some reports are that the oil already is there – systems which are important nursery grounds for shrimp, sharks, and many other species of fishes, as well as adult habitat for species such as oysters, redfish (red drum), and sea trout,” Kerstetter says.

And the top-of-the-food-chain fish, the ones targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen, will also be affected, according to Dr. Kerstetter. “As these pollutants (including the oil dispersant chemicals) are released into the water, they’re likely to be absorbed into the prey species' tissues and then re-absorbed into the tissues of predator species, like tunas and sailfish. We know very little about how some of these substances affect growth, reproduction, and even basic survival for most of these fish species.”

We’re waiting to hear back from experts on how the spill might affect birds, too, and will update soon.

World Fair Trade Day

2010-05-05T09:18:00.005-04:00

Many of our most-trusted companies, from Wal-Mart and GAP to Apple and Microsoft, have been caught using sweatshop-like conditions at some point.

To ensure what we buy hasn’t been produced via a process that takes advantage of and/or hurts people, we have to pay attention, which, admittedly, is hard to do. Our attentions are focused elsewhere, and we just want to be able to do our shopping in a relatively unthinking way.

But with World Fair Trade Day coming up May 8, now is as good a time as ever to think about how what we buy affects others. The day is being celebrated through hundreds of events in more than 70 countries around the world in a bid to create a better life for several million workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Get started practicing your more conscientious shopping trips by checking out this list of organizations that are 100% committed to fair trade.

And refer to this list of companies that use union labor, which is a good indicator of fair manufacturing processes..

Are We Killing Ourselves With Chemicals?

2010-04-30T10:46:00.003-04:00

I’ve always been afraid chemicals in many of the products I and my kids use are hurting us. So in the past I’ve written about things like chlorine and PBDEs to help me keep the issue top-of-mind.

But it can be tough to keep track of all the harmful ingredients in the stuff we buy. The EPA has just made it a bit easier, though, by releasing its ToxRefDB database. You and me and anyone else can search and download thousands of toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals.

So this is what I did: I took five cleaning products off my shelf at home, looked at the ingredients (what few ingredients were listed, anyway; they don’t really want us to know, after all), then plugged the ingredient names into the new EPA database.

All Purpose Cleaner – This “Lemon Breeze” 4-in-1 disinfectant only had one ingredient listed: Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides, which, the bottle says, make up less than 1% of the solution. So they’re keeping secret 99% of what’s in there. I couldn’t find in the ToxRefDB the exact chemical combo indicated on the cleaner, so I’m assuming it’s relatively harmless (which is why they chose to display it on their bottle, presumably), but I’m also assuming the 99% of what they don’t disclose isn’t so harmless. Especially when you consider this warning written on the bottle: “Wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling and before eating, drinking and chewing gum, using tobacco, or using restroom.” Lovely.

Hair Clog Removal Gel – The old drain cleaner. Obviously hazardous to our health; this is something everyone knows to handle with care. There were only two ingredients listed, potassium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite. Neither was listed on the ToxRefDB site. (The potassium hydroxide is basically lye, I think). So I threw them into the National Institutes of Health’s MESH database, and it shot back a ton of research on health dangers for both the potassium hydroxide and the sodium hypochlorite. But again, there’s nothing surprising about drain cleaner being bad for us.

Upholstery Cleaner – Gotta keep that couch clean and smelling fresh, right? So in exchange for that fresh smell, we get exposed to butoxyehtanol, which, while not listed as a carcinogen, is in the ToxRefDB has having been shown to cause developmental problems in rats and rabbits. It’s also an ingredient in the dispersant BP’s using on the Gulf oil spill, according to a report on ProPublica.

Abrasive Disinfectant – This one exhibits the trickiness of an exercise like this. The one ingredient listed is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate. I couldn’t find much in the EPA database, but once I searched the MESH database, it returned an article that identifies this chemical as also being known as cyanuric acid, which has caused all sorts of problems in lab animals, from cancer growth to reproductive problems.

Wasp and Hornet Killer – And now we’re to the biggie. The TxRefDB site primarily covers chemicals found in pesticides, which, since they’re meant to kill things after all, probably pose the biggest risks to us. My can contained something called Prallethrin, which, while the EPA database says is “not likely be carcinogenic to humans,” it does list a number of studies showing it causes major damage in lab animals. The other ingredient it listed is called lambda-Cyhalothrin, which the TxRefDB says is inconclusive as to whether it’s a carcinogen, but that, again, messes up lab animals in many ways. The EPA links to another site that has details.

So what are our alternatives to all these hazardous chemicals? There are plenty of ways to clean with natural, nontoxic stuff like baking soda or vinegar. Matt Hickman over at Mother Nature Network has a great series of posts on purging chemicals from your cleaning routine.

Now Is The Time To Replace Your Boiler

2010-04-26T09:06:00.002-04:00

If you’ve got an aging boiler, furnace, water heater, clothes washer, air conditioning unit, you name it – you’ve probably still got time to take advantage of your state’s Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program.

The federal government funded it with $300 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and though it’s already run out in some states (sorry to Captivate viewers in Chicago, Boston, the Twin Cities, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston – funds are gone in your home states) there’s still plenty of rebate money out there.

To find out exactly what appliances are eligible, go to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Savers Web site and choose your state from the list.

You’ll have fill out an application, buy an appliance, ensure your old appliance is recycled and then wait a month or two, but really, for rebates of up to $1,000 (depending on how major the appliance is) – plus all the annual cost-to-run and CO2 savings you'll get from upgrading - it’s well worth it.

The Day After Earth Day

2010-04-23T09:35:00.003-04:00

Today is April 23, the day after Earth Day. It’s not a significant date on any calendar, but it does have meaning for each of us. It can be the start of 364 straight days of not having to think about our role in the natural world, of not having to consider how important it is to live an environmentally conscious life.

Or, maybe, it could be the day we recognize that thinking about nature shouldn’t be a once-a-year obligation. It could be the day we finally get around to reading Walden or Silent Spring; the day we, for no good reason, stop and actually listen to the sounds birds make; the day we notice that the trees that line the walkway to our office aren’t all the same type; the day we stop flicking our butts into the street.

Today can be when we put Earth Day and its distractions behind us to again focus on the "important" things like arranging for the babysitter and getting to the bank before it closes. Or it can be when take a few minutes alone, maybe late tonight, to watch the stars or listen to the wind in the trees, and to rethink the meaning of important.

Sharing Bikes

2010-04-21T08:48:00.003-04:00

Why didn’t you bike to work today? It’s healthy, it cuts emissions, it’s a wonderful way to start your day.

Oh. Don’t have a bike, you say? Well of all the excuses for not riding, that would seem the most airtight. But soon, even that may not be viable – thanks to a movement called B-cycle.

B-cycle is a bike-sharing business that launches tomorrow (Earth Day) in Denver, dropping 500 bikes at various points around the city for anyone to use as they see fit (“fit” being the key word here). There are fees – both “membership” and “usage” – but for as cheap as 18 cents a day (with a yearlong membership and minimum usage), you can free yourself of your smog-spewing car.

The company is a collaboration between healthcare giant Humana, Trek Bicycles and ad/design agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Humana has been promoting bike sharing for years as a way to improve members’ health, and seeks with B-cycle to become the first nationwide bike-sharing system.

SmartBike, a predecessor to B-cycle, debuted in Washington, D.C., almost two years ago, but that hasn’t spread in the U.S., popular only in Spain, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. And SmartBike certainly wasn’t the first such service in Europe – Copenhagen’s Bycyklen, rolled out in 1995, holds that distinction. Since then, a myriad of bike-sharing-type programs have taken hold, mostly in smaller iterations, across Europe and the U.S. Check out the International Bicycle Fund for a list of places you can share bikes.

Paul DeMaio, a bike-sharing consultant who’s Managing Member of Washington, D.C.-based MetroBike, feels the time is ripe for bike sharing to take off in the U.S. as it has in Europe.

“It's taken a bit longer for bike-sharing to catch on in the U.S. as bike facilities (i.e. bike lanes, cycle tracks, trails, and parking) are not as well developed here as in Western Europe,” DeMaio says. “Many U.S. cities have made great strides towards becoming bike-friendly during the last decade and having a network of safe places to ride in urban environments is a necessary precursor for bike-sharing. Bike-sharing will do well in the U.S. as it fills the niche of convenient, inexpensive, on-demand transit and allows folks to add activity into their lives.”

And B-cycle is banking on such assessments as it aims to bring the concept big time in Denver, where it’s rolling out 500 bikes at 50 stations across the city.

B-cycle bikes look (above) pretty cool: they feature three or eight speeds, lights and a basket that holds up to 30 pounds, and each is equipped with a tracking system that calculates mileage, calories burned and carbon offsets, with all info Web-accessible.

Denver isn’t the only Captivate market bound for bike-sharing bounty: Boston and Minneapolis will get their own systems this year, thanks to Montreal’s public bike program, BIXI.

Let’s be honest – if you’re commuting miles upon miles to work, you’re not gonna give up the car for a bike. But if you’re in the city, with a relatively short ride somewhere – why not? Studies have shown 60% of car pollution is created in the first few minutes of operation and 50% of car trips are less than two miles. Plus, you can burn 300 calories an hour, or more, riding a bike, according to the American Heart Association.

If you’re totally into the idea of bike sharing but your city isn’t yet, check out the B-cycle map, where you can request your town become part of B-cycle’s expansion.

Companies' Green Promotions - UPDATE

2010-04-16T08:27:00.001-04:00

For those of you who missed Starbucks’ free coffee promo yesterday, there’s still a way you can take advantage of the café queen’s largesse (though a relatively small largesse): they’re taking 10 cents off any order made by a customer who has his own reusable mug.

See below for other great deals you can take advantage of in the coming days.

Companies’ Green Promotions

2010-04-14T09:03:00.001-04:00

With Earth Day right around the corner, all kinds of corporations are looking to take advantage of the marketing power of ‘green’ by running some sort of promotion. Here’s some of the best of them:

Starbucks
The coffee behemoth is encouraging everyone to switch from paper cups to reusable travel mugs, and will give a free coffee tomorrow to anyone who brings in their own mug.

Equinox Fitness
On April 20, the upscale workout chain – voted “America’s Healthiest Gym” by Health magazine – will give free fitness sessions and organic cocktails, tea and snacks to members and anyone who stops by to inquire about becoming a member. They’ll also dispense tips on how to live green, and will plant a tree for every new member who joins that day.

Hanes
Get a free Earth Day tee, and contribute toward the planting of 20,000 trees, when you buy three Hanes products.

Service Experts
This heating and AC servicing company is running a sweepstakes in which visitors to their Web site can win prizes from a Ford Fusion Hybrid to having your energy bill paid for a year.

Purex
The laundry detergent line is attempting a green rebranding, and as part of that is giving away a $20,000 green home makeover. Just tell them what you’d do with the money and you’re entered to win.

Earth Day Events

2010-04-09T09:14:00.002-04:00

April 22 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (Poor Earth. Kickin’ around for 4 and half billion years and only in the last 40 does it get a day for itself) and I’m sure you’re looking for some way to participate. The EPA has a nice list of events, broken out by region. Check that out.

Plus, the Dow Live Earth Run/Walk for Water will be held in nearly 100 cities across the globe April 18. Get in shape while helping raise awareness of the need for clean drinking water.

And here’s a few other events to consider in various Captivate markets:

Atlanta
-- Get down and dirty – but clean your conscience – with the BeltLine Cleanup, set for April 17. Make your city beautiful, Atlantans!
-- Bring the kids to Earth Day Kids Fest at the Chattahoochee Nature Center April 17 and teach the basics of being green.
-- EarthShare of Georgia’s Earth Day Party on Land, on the big day itself, features music, food, lots of green info and an auction.

Boston
-- The Sustainable Living Expo marks its seventh year April 17 in Hull with exhibitors of all sorts of green energies, focusing on wind. There’ll be tours of the Hull Wind Turbine, recycling demos and hybrid vehicle rides.
-- Franklin Park Zoo’s Party for the Planet, set for April 18, celebrates Earth Day with crafts, activities, animal encounters and environmentally-friendly exhibitors.
-- Garden in the Woods in Framingham is marking Earth Day by waiving entrance fees on April 24. Take a guided walking tour and participate in family activities like face-painting and bird-feeder making.

Chicago
-- The National Geographic Speaker Series, at the Field Museum, features photographer James Balog on April 13. He’ll show his latest work, which documents melting glaciers.
-- A 5K run/walk, followed by a green living expo, will be held April 24 at Humboldt Park. Expect music, food and “environmental education and fun.”
-- The Wolfe Wildlife Refuge will be the site of nature walks, hybrid car and other green displays, and kids’ activities April 24.

New York
-- NYU is hosting a week of events, from movie screenings to street fairs to live music.
-- GreenHomeNYC’s Green Building Tour of the Gen. Colin Powell Apartments in The Bronx is slated for April 24.
-- South Bronx Earth Fest is April 24.
-- Eco-Festival 2010 at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn is April 27-30.

San Francisco
-- San Fran gets things kickin’ early with the Spring Green Festival this weekend. With more than 200 speakers and artists and multiple pavilions on green living, this is sure to be a huge event. Even the major will be there!
-- People’s Earth Day at India Basin Shoreline Park on April 17 will feature an educational theater production, restoration projects, live music and plenty of food.

Washington, D.C.
-- D.C.’s big day really isn’t until the weekend, when groups from the EPA to Earth Day Network will hold rallies on the National Mall.

National Cell Phone Recycling Week

2010-04-08T07:16:00.001-04:00

Going green, being conscientious toward our environment, can sometimes be tough, what with all the rules for responsibility and pledges to purity.

But not this week.

No, this week it’s easy to be green, because this week is the EPA’s National Cell Phone Recycling Week.

Recently get a cell phone? Helping the environment is as simple as not dropping your old one in the trash. So what do you do with it, you ask?

Often it’s as simple as stopping by a store to drop it off, and sometimes you don’t even have to leave your house, as some companies, such as LG Electronics and VirginMobileUSA, will send you self-addressed stamped envelopes for sending your phone(s) back to them.

AT&T, Verizon and Best Buy are just some of the stores that will take old phones for recycling. Check out the EPA’s Plug In To Ecycling site for more info.

And, companies like AT&T contribute proceeds from cell phone recycling to Cell Phones for Soldiers, which has distributed more than 75,000 prepaid phone cards to soldiers overseas.

Though about 11.7 million cell phones were turned in last year for recycling, that’s less than 10% of how many are in use in the US. The EPA says the energy saved by recycling just one cell phone is enough to power a laptop for 44 hours.

So be green this week. It’s easy.

The New American Home

2010-02-02T12:12:00.003-05:00

Every year as part of the International Builders Show, the National Association of Home Builders unveils a New American Home to showcase the latest in homebuilding trends and technologies. Looking at the green features in the 2010 model can shed insight into the types of things the average homeowner might do to reduce energy use and save money.

The house (pictured above; general specs: 6,100 sq. ft., faces east) is 49% more energy efficient than a similar house built to code. Its efficiency features are many. I’ll list some here, with links that further explain each so you can look into them and see if they’d be feasible to implement in your own home (or in your plans to build a home):

• Insulated concrete forms for the walls
• Energy efficient windows and doors
• Unvented attic with spray foam insulation under the roof and the inside the gables
• Heat recovery ventilator to provide fresh outdoor air with a minimal loss of energy
• Solar thermal hot water system
• Energy Star-rated appliances
• Fluorescent lamps and LEDs
• High-efficiency heating and cooling systems
• Solar electric system
• Greywater recycling system
• Tankless hot water heaters
• Green roof system
• Low VOC paints, stains, adhesives & sealants
• Dual flush waterclosets
• Low flow shower head and faucets
• Weather controlled irrigation system

Whew. Going through all that really makes you realize just how inefficient your house is, doesn’t it? Did for me, anyway.

Now, the unfortunate postscript to all this is that, for the first time in its 27-year history, the New American Home wasn’t finished in time for International Builders Show participants to walk through it. Today, the home is just 75% complete after the builder, Domanico Custom Homes, ran out of financing.

Fortunately for anyone looking to build some of these efficiency measures into their home, it’s most likely not 6,000 sq. ft. worth of expenses. Let us know if you've got any of these types of efficiency measures in your home by commenting below.

Information Is Power

2010-01-29T08:10:00.003-05:00

The truest way to be a strong part of a citizenry is to be informed. But to be informed, you first need access to information. Which is why it’s so important the government allows the public to see the millions of studies, polls, surveys and everything else it cranks out each year. As the Association of Health Care Journalists puts it in a letter beseeching the FDA for openness, “The free flow of information is essential to democracy.”

Which is why I periodically talk about stuff like government openness and FOIA.

With Obama coming into office, the expectation was that the strict, “assume everything is a national security risk” approach was being kicked to the curb for a more open, “assume our citizens have a right to know” one.

And on the one hand, it has: OMB Watch notes that last week, a bunch of federal agencies published new info via Data.gov. The EPA released three datasets, and there is a boatload of other environmental-related data from agencies ranging from the Dept. of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority.

But not all is as ‘open’ as it might seem. OMB Watch is among watchdogs noting that not all the recently released data is new or of high-value, and the Washington Post has a story saying there were more lawsuits seeking the unsealing of government records in Obama’s first year than in either of Bush’s final two.

Then there’s this story, from nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, about a gag order Obama ordered on the Forest Service.

Like with so many other pledges of the Obama administration, it seems the jury is still out on whether it’ll fulfill its goal of being the most open ever. Time will tell.

Very few of us have ever filed a FOIA request (I haven’t) but you don’t have to be a journalist to do so. Any citizen can. So tell us: What one piece of information would you request from the government? Submit answers via the Comments below.

Greenest Cars

2010-01-27T10:25:00.003-05:00

The nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has been putting out lists of the greenest cars for 13 years now. Their latest countdown was released recently, and, surprisingly (at least to me) it’s not topped by mpg-king Prius.

Toyota’s mean green machine is surpassed by the Honda Civic. But not the Civic you might expect. No. 1 on ACEEE’s list isn’t the Civic Hybrid, but rather the Civic GX.

The Honda Civic GX runs on natural gas, which greatly reduces its emissions (like to basically zero) and propels it past the 50-mpg Prius on the Greenest Vehicles list.

So how exactly does ACEEE decide on their list? It’s based on factors including fuel economy, emissions and specific pollutants.

The top five is rounded out by the Civic Hybrid, Smart Fortwo and Honda Insight.

American automakers crack the list at No. 6 with the Ford Fusion Hybrid and at No. 10 with Chevy’s Cobalt FXE.

Secret Chemicals Revealed And Bear Births Online

2010-01-22T08:20:00.003-05:00

Couple totally unrelated things I want to cover today: EPA does good again, and there’s a Web cam that allows you to watch a wild bear. EPA first.

The new EPA administration has again illustrated it’s putting the well-being of the country’s citizens ahead of that of Big Biz.

EPA chief Lisa Jackson announced companies will no longer be allowed to keep secret the names of harmful chemicals they use.

This comes just a couple weeks after a Washington Post story about all the secret chemicals in products, which followed the Environmental Working Group’s dogged pursuit of the truth through information requests to the EPA. EWG sums up the threat to public health:

A large number of these secret chemicals are used everyday in consumer products, including artists’ supplies, plastic products, fabrics and apparel, furniture and items intended for use by children … Industry has a stranglehold on every aspect of information needed to implement even the most basic health protections from chemicals in consumer products and our environment.

Now about that bear.

If you want to see “how real bears behave,” check out the North American Bear Center’s Den Cam.

It’s exactly as it sounds – there’s a camera fixed on a bear (“Lily”) in her den, so anybody anywhere can see how a black bear behaves in the wild (lots of snoozing, from what I can tell).

But the really cool part is that Lily is pregnant and due to give birth any day – in fact, the researcher heading up the project has her money on TODAY! So go check it out, and you may be among the first people to ever witness a live Webcast of a bear giving birth

Global Warming Doesn’t Mean It’s Not Going To Be Cold Anymore

2010-01-19T12:27:00.003-05:00

The most irritating anti-global warming argument to me is the “How can there be warming if I’m buried in snow and freezing?” chestnut.

What bugs me most about it is not how infantile it is – believing weather in one little corner of the world somehow precludes global climate trends is so logically stunted that it indicates a mental capacity of a five-year-old – but that I know most of the people who use such an argument are smarter than that.

The only other explanation for thinking this way is willful ignorance. They have another reason to not want to believe in global warming (most likely politics-based), so they’re willing to grab onto any counter-argument, no matter how intelligence-insulting it might be. Man is that irritating. And depressing.

So explaining the science behind it all is useless, since those who most need to see it will simply refuse to. But what the heck, let’s throw it out there anyway, courtesy of NASA’s James Hansen.

In his latest draft essay, Dr. Hansen says (pdf) 2009 “tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records,” a full 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than in the period of climatology (NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies uses 1951‐1980 as its base period).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2009 summary generally backs up this assertion, saying ’09 was 1 degree warmer than typical, but its rankings are a little different – it places ’09 as only the fifth-hottest on record. (The discrepancies in NASA and NOAA rankings can be attributed to “different treatment for urban heat effects and different procedure for extrapolation to data poor areas,” according to GISS scientist Gavin Schmidt, a regular contributor to RealClimate.org, climate scientists’ online bible.)

The GISS numbers take into account variables such as El Nino, La Nina, sunspot cycles and urban warming, and Hansen also explains why, exactly, it’s been so cold across much of the U.S. in the past few months. (It comes down to surface pressure, which was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, allowing polar air to kick farther south than typical).

Secret Chemicals In The Stuff We Buy

2010-01-15T10:36:00.004-05:00

The use of hazardous chemicals in everyday products is an issue near and dear to me.

As it should be to all of us. I mean, we’re exposing ourselves to stuff that makes us sick.

But why? For consumers, who just want to grab the things that are most available to us, the answer is because it’s the simplest thing to do. We buy what is most convenient and cheapest.

For big biz, it’s because it’s the way that makes them the most money.

As scary as the situation already is – fueled by corporate greed, consumer laziness and poor government oversight – there comes new news, from the Washington Post, that makes it that much scarier:

“Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States -- from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners -- nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision.”

Read the full article, “Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law,” here.

Stricter Smog Standards

2010-01-08T09:08:00.003-05:00

Smog kills. It’s a fact.

Emissions from factories, power plants, autos, planes and everything else that spews “volatile organic compounds” get boiled by the sun to form a big ozone stew that perpetually wafts about us, causing and/or exacerbating millions of cases of lung disease.

To help reduce smog-caused health problems, the EPA just proposed stricter ozone standards of no more than 0.070 ppm, from the current 0.075 ppm.

Big business is, predictably, up in arms about this. They’re saying it’ll cost too much to comply and won’t really help public health (despite the fact that saying reducing exposure to something harmful is not beneficial flies in the face of logic).

It WILL cost a lot. Up to $90 billion, the EPA says. And guess where big biz will recoup a lot of that $90 billion – yep, they’ll pass it down to me and you, in the form of everything from higher electric bills to more expensive gas. But what price do you put on your health? What price do you put on quality of life for your kids, and your kids’ kids? Plus, the EPA says the benefits – in lowered healthcare costs – may surpass that $90 billion.

This decision just makes too much sense. I wouldn’t trust anyone who doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

Give the EPA your own 2 cents – they’re taking public comment for the next 60 days, with public hearings scheduled (in or near Captivate markets, btw): Feb. 2 in Arlington, Va. and in Houston, Texas; and Feb. 4 in Sacramento, Calif.

Treecycling

2010-01-06T08:01:00.002-05:00

Nothing drives home the finality of the close of the holiday season quite like that somber drag to the curb of your ornamentless, needles-hemorrhaging Christmas tree corpse.

But Earth911 has found a way to put a positive spin on it: The environmental services company tells us the easiest way to recycle Christmas trees (aka “treecycling”).

It’s not so sad kissing your tree (and, by extension, the festive holiday season) goodbye when you think of all the good ways your tree is going to be used: as mulch for landscaping, or chipped and used for playground material, hiking trails, paths and walkways, Earth911 says.

Check out their listings for various cities for recycling times, availability and how to prepare your tree.

If your town offers curbside recycling, they most likely include Christmas trees among their eligible pickup items and once you’ve made that trip to the curb you’ve done all you need to. But for those who don’t have that convenience, Earth911 tells you all you need to know to most easily treecycle.

They even compiled a list of cities with the highest number of treecycling resources, and I’m proud to say Captivate markets dominate the list:

1. New York City, N.Y. – 81
2. Los Angeles, Calif. – 26
3. Chicago, Ill. – 23
4. Las Vegas, N.V. – 22
5. Phoenix, Ariz. – 18
5. Gainesville, Fla. – 18
7. San Diego, Calif. – 17
8. Miami, Fla. – 13
8. San Francisco, Calif. – 13
10. Indianapolis, Ind. – 12

So don’t think of this time of year as the end of the holidays – think of it as just the beginning for your Christmas tree.

Best Time To Buy A Hybrid

2009-12-30T10:37:00.003-05:00

Everyone knows the end of the year is the best time to buy a car. Dealers want the “old” models gone to make way for next year’s and manufacturers are clearing out dead weight – the models they don’t plan on bringing back – so incentives are often at their highest in December and into January.

But the nitty-gritty details you didn’t know (the ones the dealers don’t WANT you to know) – like, Saab is practically giving away its 9-7X SUV – are now available to anyone via the handy and extremely insightful Truecar.com.

The site, just a little over a year old, lists pretty much any detail you could imagine about car prices. Since Green Among Gray is all about helping save our environment, let’s focus on the good hybrid deals Truecar is highlighting: 2009 Saturn Aura Hybrid, $27,045, 20% below MSRP; 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid, $27,370, 17% below; 2009 Saturn VUE Hybrid, $28,905, 17%; and 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid (above), $26,900, 8% below.

Check out Truecar’s blog for the latest info.

2009 Green Among Gray Gift Guide

2009-12-02T10:37:00.016-05:00

Welcome to the Green Among Gray gift guide, where you’ll find highly practical, outrageously fun and eminently eco-friendly gift choices.

Dec. 22
OrganicPedic
If you’re one of those who gets a thrill by surprising your gift-givee, look no further than our next selection: a mattress.

What could be a more surprising holiday gift than a mattress, after all (well, other than an alpaca)?

And what could be a greener mattress than the OrganicPedic, Organic Mattresses, Inc.’s chemical-free, fragrance-free and Global Organic Textile Standard–certified stack of snoozing pleasure?

At around $4,000, this is, admittedly, one of the higher-end purchases (and no, it’s not part of our Bonanza Box) you’d be making. But on the upside, if you can swing the 4 Gs, you shouldn’t have a problem ponying up the $50 to buy the amount of wrapping paper you’ll need to keep it a surprise.

Blum Naturals
Removing makeup can be harsh process. Why not do it with all-natural cleansers?

Blum Naturals, a new organic skin care line of towelettes, removes makeup in a gentle, environmentally friendly way.

Now I know there are a lot of products that make these types of claims, so I did some research. Blum scores really low (that’s good) on Skin Deep’s Cosmetic Safety Database. Plus my wife liked them. So there you go.

Blum Naturals towelettes sell for about $7 per 30-pack at all kinds of drug stores and organic stores, as well as online.

OneTribe Shirts
I, like a lot of people, aren’t as diligent as I probably should be about giving to charities. Making it easier for us, while providing some pretty cool shirts, is OneTribe.

This Colorado-based marketing company has paired with a sustainable shirt-maker to sell colorful, comfortable tees, then turn 50% of sales over to causes you can feel good about. Don’t look it as spending $39 on a shirt; look at it as buying a $19.50 shirt and $19.50 worth of good karma.

The tees are 100% organic cotton, printed with eco-friendly water-based inks, and in a sustainable pièce de résistance, are shipped in recycled cereal boxes.

Wear Your Music
For a 100% recycled gift option that’s 100% cool, go for a Wear Your Music bracelet. They’re made from the used guitar strings of artists from Avril Lavigne to Ziggy Marley.

A portion of sales are donated to charity, with many artists choosing to donate 100% of proceeds to the charities of their choice. Depending on which artist’s guitar you get your bracelet made from, they run anywhere from $50 (Yuto Miyazawa) to $500 (Eric Clapton).

Oil Gone Easy
You try to save a few bucks, and get the self-satisfaction of being a proactive DIYer, by changing your own oil. Then you go and spill it all over the garage, and in your typical short-sighted way, you don’t have sawdust to clean it up, so you’re left to swab with wads upon wads of paper towels, leaving a stain resembling a silhouetted Jesus (or a map of Eastern Europe; tough to say).

If this scenario sounds familiar, you’ll love Oil Gone Easy. This one-step product frees you from the headache that is a garage/driveway oil spill. You simply pour enough to equal the size of the spill directly onto the oil. That’s it. You don’t mop, swab, blot – nothing. You just let it sit there, and it does the work. It biodegrades the oil into CO2 and water, then dissolves naturally within 14 days.

It’s accredited by the EPA and is used to clean up major oil spills around the world, including the Prestige spill off Spain in 2002.

Oil Gone Easy runs about $20 for a 32-ounce bottle.

Dec. 17
Green Among Gray tends to aim the gift guide at the typical office-worker – which means items that won’t break the bank. But there are plenty of high-earners in the Captivate audience, for sure. If you’re among them, the next few days’ featured items are for you, Mr(s). Corner Office.

EcoloBlue Life & Energy’s Atmospheric Water Generators
The first time I heard the term, “atmospheric water generator,” I thought, “what the heck is that?” (When I say it, I get that Marvin the Martian accent in my head – you know, like when he says, “Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.”)

But despite the technobabble-sounding name, AWGs are amazing – and amazingly practical – machines: They give you water from nothing.

Well not exactly nothing; they use whatever water is in the air. EcoloBlue Life & Energy’s AWGs extract up to eight gallons of water from the air with as little as 35% humidity.

Just think of all the plastic bottles that won’t get thrown out or have to go through recycling – heck, won’t even get made in the first place – if you buy one. (EcoloBlue says Americans waste 52,000 bottles every minute.)

So pony up the grand-plus one of these units runs you, and become the office hero.

Dec. 16
Funkoos Baby Clothes
If the tree hugger in your circle of friends is expecting, you can help the ‘rents-to-be set their little seedling down the green path by giving them the 100% organic cotton goodness that is Funkoos baby clothing.

These duds for the diaper-set are free of chemicals and pesticides and made in fair trade work environments, plus they feature enclosed embroidery, which (though I have no idea what it is) I’m told is next to impossible to find in baby clothes.

The company is also involved in charitable endeavors – it’s aligned with the internationally recognized One Percent for the Planet, a coalition that gives 1% to environmental groups around the world. Funkoos also says it’s in the final stages of setting up a program that will directly benefit women and children in the US (details coming soon, they say).

So protect your little papoose from the harsh stuff found in typical baby clothes – and show off just how eco-conscious your whole clan is – by going with Funkoos.

Funkoos items start at as little as $9 with their 40% off sale, going on through Dec. 24.

Dec. 11
Stocking Stuffers: Socks, Drinks, and Journals
Goodhew Socks
The most revealing thing I can say about these socks is that I’m not eager to strip them off at the end of a long workday. Typically my evening wind-down involves freeing my feet from the constriction of my socks (sorry if too much info there). But with the Goodhews, I actually want to leave them on. They’re the warmest-yet-breathable, most form-fitting-without-being-too-tight, could-pass-for-a-slipper sock I’ve ever had. They’re perfect.

Goodhew explains how they reach this perfection: They utilize spandex for the perfect fit, design flat toe seams for the utmost in comfort, and incorporate “breather” panels to promote additional ventilation.

But what makes them green? Goodhew products are constructed almost exclusively of natural materials, including fibers such as wool, bamboo and alpaca. The packaging is printed on recycled paper stock and is fully recyclable and includes recyclable poly bags, which reduces product weight and space in shipping.

Adina For Life

For a refreshing splash of something unique, nothing beats Adina’s line of USDA-certified organic juices (or, as they like to call them, “herbal elixirs”).

The company is the brainchild of the alternative-drink vets behind Odwalla and SoBe, so you know they know what they’re doing. From Blackberry Hibiscus to Pomegranate Açaí, you’re in for a treat, both to the taste buds and your body’s health.

In addition to its dedication to using only the finest natural products in its drinks, Adina has a delivery fleet of electric cars and a school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil.

Barnes & Noble ecosystem

A nice little gift for the writer (or copious note-taker) in your life, Barnes & Noble’s ecosystem line offers green-minded journals across a variety of bright colors.

The 100% post-consumer waste, 100% made-in-America journals, planners and agendas come in brilliant blues, greens or pinks (as well as staid black if you need to stay in “office mode”) and run about $10-$17.

Dec. 9
Eco-Artware’s Cool Corporate Gifts
Want to (or feel the need to) buy for your office cohort or boss, and hoping to deliver something truly unique? Head to eco-artware.com, which offers gifts from recycled, reused and natural materials.

Like what, you ask?

How about cuff links handmade from authentic vintage typewriter keys?

Or a business-card case made from a recycled circuit board?

Or a clipboard made from a recycled aluminum Dept. of Transportation street sign? (Leave a comment below or simply send an e-mail to kscribner@captivate.com and you could win a free clipboard!)

Items run about $30-$50, so you won’t have to break the bank to leave a lasting (not to mention sustainable) impression on your workplace pals.

Eco-Artware also offers plenty of non-office-related choices, from wreaths made from retired street signs to bracelets crafted from old-school vinyl records. (“Houses of the Holy” wristband for that closet Led Zep fan, perhaps?)

Dec. 7
c. marchuska Fashion Line
Until somewhat recently, green fashion pretty much just meant T-shirts. But the industry is growing, and one of the best choices out there for true couture choices that are also truly environmentally friendly is c. marchuska, begun about a year ago by NYC gal Christine Marchuska.

I’m no fashion maven so I won’t attempt to get into the merits of the clothes from that angle. Perhaps it’s best if you just check them out for yourself. But I will indeed get into the green side of the clothes. And it’s actually pretty impressive how much the environment plays a role in c. marchuska’s decisions.

I exchanged e-mails with c. marchuska CFO & COO Brooke Bresnan. She sums the company’s approach up nicely:

What eco-friendly fabrics and methods do you use in your clothes?
The Jen Dress [for example] is crafted from a bamboo fabric blend. We favor the use of the bamboo plant because it grows quickly and does not require the use of pesticides to thrive. Thus, our fabric is grown organically without the use of harsh chemicals that harm the environment. Many people do not realize how harmful the cotton industry is to the Earth because of the use of pesticides. In addition, bamboo is chopped down and not picked, like cotton, thus, the soil is protected and can easily reproduce bamboo season after season, rather than requiring the use of crop rotation. Bamboo fabric has been growing in popularity because it has many unique properties and is more sustainable than most textile fibers. Bamboo fabric is deliciously soft, light and strong, has excellent wicking properties, and is to some extent antibacterial. Many people that have allergies to fabrics like wool and hemp do not have any allergic reactions to bamboo.
Additionally, c. marchuska is proud to manufacture domestically, specifically in New York City. Not only do we want to support Americans by providing jobs, but also, we feel more confident that the United States legal system requires manufacturing plants to cut down on waste and dispose of it appropriately, thus reducing our carbon footprint and supporting America.

Why is sustainability important to you?
Sustainability is important to us for many reasons. Most importantly, producing versatile clothing that can last through different trends and seasons in order to produce less waste is essential. Women are always going to want to look good and feel confident in their clothing. c. marchuska aims to provide her customer with versatile pieces that can be worn to the office, hanging around the house, or for a night out on the town. The ability to dress up or down with different accessories to be able to stay fashionable for season after season is our first priority. Building your wardrobe with classic pieces that last is essential for staying true to the sustainable fashion mantra of producing less waste, not to mention on your bank account!

Are there any green partnerships you might be planning on in future?
Christine and I are very involved in charitable donations and volunteering our time. We actually met in April 2008 while volunteering for the Safe Horizon Junior Council. Safe Horizon is the nation’s largest victim services organization and we are very committed to the cause. We continue to support the cause that brought us together by donating a percentage of sales to the organization annually. Furthermore, we donate product to charities around the U.S., including The Nature Conservancy, www.kiva.org, Young Women Social Entrepreneurs, and Pet Helpers of Charleston, South Carolina.
Additionally, we have several green partnerships, including the online site ecosumo.com, hair product brand KMS California and makeup brand ELF Cosmetics. We are looking into partnering with Go Green Expo and have also worked with green companies such as Tarte and Yes To Carrots in the past. We are always interested in helping other worthy causes, so don't hesitate to contact us with suggestions.

c. marchuska will also be participating in The Greenshows as part of Eco Fashion Week in New York City in February 2010 to unveil the new Fall/Winter collection.

For truly fashionable, truly green clothing choices, c. marchuska’s the way to go.

Dec. 4
Blooming Easy
With all the different ways to “go green,” perhaps it’s best to start with what generated the term in the first place: plants. The purest way to be eco-conscious is simply to plant something.

But if you’re like me, the whole planting/growing/not killing of the process isn’t simple at all. I need all the help I can get.

That’s where EasyBloom comes in. It’s a device you place anywhere you want to grow a flower, plant, vegetable, herb or tree, and it collects information like light, humidity, temperature and soil conditions to tell you the best thing to grow in that place.

It’s the perfect fool-proof gadget for the fledgling (or flailing) green-thumber. And I thought it could be especially helpful for Captivaters, who often live/work in the city and are looking for easier ways to bring nature into their small spaces.

I haven’t tried out EasyBloom myself yet, but there are many positive reviews out there, including this one from the Cheap Vegetable Gardener. Seems like a can’t-miss present.

For more options, check out last year’s gift guide.

Greening Your Home With The EPA

2009-11-25T07:45:00.003-05:00

Green Among Gray has always tried to help average homeowners shrink their footprint and save money right where they spend it the most: at home.

In the past, I’ve offered tips on measuring your home’s energy use, how to get tax credits for energy improvements, and utilizing energy-efficient mortgages.

And now, the EPA has collected information on all this, plus a lot more, in one handy spot: EPA.gov/GreenHomes. Here, the EPA makes it easy “to find clear, consolidated, readily accessible, and credible information” on going green in and around your home.

Every room of the house is covered, from learning the best ways to conserve water in the bathroom, to cutting energy use of your kitchen appliances, eliminating Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from your bedroom furniture and carpets, and using environmentally friendly cleaners in your living room.

EPA’s GreenHomes site also has info for renters, such as the best ways to find green units for rent, and a boatload of other info, including a glossary of green terms and how to keep your yard a low-footprint area.

Check it out, maybe as you’re digesting your Thanksgiving feast. Then when you host next year, maybe you’ll do it in much greener surroundings.

Sustainable Restaurants – Santa Monica’s Wilshire Restaurant

2009-11-18T09:12:00.009-05:00

Green Among Gray’s overview of sustainable restaurants in various Captivate cities continues today with Wilshire Restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif.

Though Wilshire is going on 5 years old, its current iteration really didn’t begin until February of last year, when Andrew Kirschner stepped in as executive chef. I haven’t had the pleasure of dining there, but I trust the Los Angeles Times review, which calls Wilshire’s food “completely successful as contemporary California cooking” and “a breath of fresh air,” while lauding its patio as “a magical outdoor space.”

Wilshire says its menu is “developed around local, organic, and seasonal ingredients, taking advantage of our uniquely rich and diverse farmers markets. Dishes originate from a fusion of American and International influences, presented in a simple and accessible style. We call this ‘New Urban Cuisine,’ reflecting the modern sensibilities of supporting sustainable farming.”

The restaurant is now offering three-course prix fixe dinners for just $39 per person. And it’s not one of those limited deals either, where you only get to choose from one or two entrees; the entire dinner menu (except steaks) is available. You can create your own tasting menu!

I asked Executive Chef Andrew Kirschner a couple questions via e-mail. (Mr. Kirschner won a live cooking competition in April centered on the importance of choosing environmentally responsible foods. Check out the details on how his cooking impressed celebrity judges such as Julianne Moore.)

What drives your passion for organic ingredients?

Our culinary team creates seasonal menus based on the enormous availability of organic produce and sustainable products that are part of California's agricultural heritage.

Do you find patrons dining at your restaurant as a result of actively seeking out organic options, or are they more often simply looking for good food and the organic aspect is just an afterthought for them?

More and more, guests feel secure when knowing that what their eating comes from reliable sources. California is a leader in green industries and a philosophy for our future. As a restaurant, we want to set the bar and illustrate that the best food comes from choosing the best ingredients.

Sustainable Restaurants – The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards outside San Francisco

2009-11-04T09:53:00.004-05:00

One particularly burgeoning sector of the green movement is the organic restaurant. They’ve sprouted all around the country, offering fresh, local food to legions of diners who care about how their eating habits impact the environment (or maybe they only care about eating yummy, nutritious stuff; either way, organic restaurants fit the bill).

Green Among Gray is focusing on a few of these restaurants in various Captivate cities. Today we focus on The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards, in Livermore Valley, Calif., about an hour east of San Francisco.

I’ve not had the pleasure of dining at any of these restaurants, but the accolades each has received speak for themselves. If you’ve eaten at Wente Vineyards, or any of the restaurants in this series, please let us know your impressions either in the comments below or via kscribner@captivate.com.

The recently remodeled Restaurant at Wente has been serving fine food for more than 25 years (a mere child compared to the vineyard’s 125-year history), relying heavily on their extensive organic vegetable and herb gardens, so they certainly can’t be accused of bandwagon-hopping. The kitchen pledges to use the best sustainable, local ingredients in their daily changing menus focused around the season’s freshest produce. The staff utilizes a composting system, water is conserved in energy-efficient dishwashers, the dining room’s floors are made from sustainably harvested timber, and the Restaurant is outfitted with hand-crafted furniture made from recycled materials. They also convert kitchen waste to biodiesel fuel by recycling oils.

Wente’s organic sensibility may best be seen in its “Farming for the Future” program. Created in the early 1990s, its system “enhances the vitality of the soils, creates a balanced, sustainable ecology, minimizes water use and reduces non-organic wastes.”

For example, Wente’s use of drip irrigation and data from its on-site weather stations allows it to deliver the optimal amount of water to its vines at the most advantageous time.

Also, Wente naturally controls pests through the growth of native grasses and beneficial broadleaf species to maintain an ecological balance, and in 2000 was awarded the Integrated Pest Management Innovators Award by the California EPA.

Wente is also a drop-off spot for ReCORK America, which recycles used and
surplus corks from wineries.

I asked Christine Wente, senior vice president of hospitality and fourth generation winegrower, for more about the Restaurant’s organic sensibility:

What drives your passion for organic ingredients?
Our belief in sourcing the freshest local, organic ingredients stems from our belief that the most delicious meals are ingredient-driven. At The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards, we put our own innovative twist on familiar dishes with our inspiration from French and Italian provincial dishes. Our organic kitchen gardens supply The Restaurant with the freshest flavors of the season.

Do you find patrons dining at your restaurant as a result of actively seeking out organic options, or are they more often simply looking for good food and the organic aspect is just an afterthought for them?
Organic ingredients do matter to many of our guests. And even those who don't eat organically at home appreciate the quality ingredients that come from our organic gardens and local purveyors. Our patrons like dining in a vineyard setting and pairing their meals with wines grown a few hundred yards away.

Through Nov. 9, the Restaurant is offering a prix-fixe $29 “Celebration Week” dinner that includes two courses and a glass of wine.

The Wente complex also offers a Greg Norman-designed championship golf course, a concert venue, and wedding and special event hosting.

And of course, don’t forget to check out the vineyard itself, which draws from 3,000 acres of sustainably farmed estates, and, in an interesting bit of trivia, is the source clone for the majority of Chardonnay grapes grown in the US.

Sustainable Restaurants – Boston’s L’Espalier

2009-10-28T08:51:00.005-04:00

One particularly burgeoning sector of the green movement is the organic restaurant. They’ve sprouted all around the country, offering fresh, local food to legions of diners who care about how their eating habits impact the environment (or maybe they only care about eating yummy, nutritious stuff; either way, organic restaurants fit the bill).

Green Among Gray is focusing on a few of these restaurants in various Captivate cities. We begin today with L’Espalier, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Mass.

I’ve not had the pleasure of dining at any of these restaurants, but the accolades each has received speak for themselves. If you’ve eaten at L’Espalier, or any of the restaurants to come in this series, please let us know your impressions either in the comments below or via kscribner@captivate.com.

L’Espalier is known by many simply as Boston's best restaurant. It’s been AAA Five-Diamond rated (pdf) for 10 years and consistently gets top ratings in various magazines and on all the resto-rating Web sites.

So don’t mess with perfection, right? You’d think so. But L’Espalier owner, Chef Frank McClelland (above), wanted to recapture the simplistic, sustainable goodness of his rural New Hampshire roots, and recently introduced sustainable agriculture to the upper echelon of fine dining in Boston.

He revitalized a 14-acre farm a few miles north of Boston, Apple Street Farm, which centralizes his restaurant group’s (in addition to L’Espalier, there’s Sel de la Terre and Au Soleil) sourcing of organically grown produce and proteins (eggs, fowl and pork).

Chef McClelland literally starts his days in the fields on which he lives and cultivates organic-quality vegetables, herbs, fruits and all the rest, and delivers them daily to the restaurants, as well as sells them at a downtown farm stand (Prudential Center Farmer’s Market). The leftovers return to the farm as compost and feed for the livestock, which come back to the restaurants, and so on.

I e-mailed a few questions off to Chef McClelland, and this is what he had to say:

What drives your passion for organic ingredients?
The purity of the products - they are fruits and vegetables in their simplest form. The true, untainted, natural flavors of each product.

Is your move to organic being embraced by your patrons?
Absolutely - they love it. We get many questions about the farm and they love to see "Apple Street Farm" on the menu descriptions.

Do you find customers dining at your restaurants as a result of actively seeking out organic options?
Yes. People are definitely excited about the "farm to table" concept. It's refreshing. Our story is being told and retold.

So that’s Boston’s L’Espalier. Keep an eye on Green Among Gray for an upcoming overview of a sustainable restaurant in your city.

350.org

2009-10-23T08:44:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is International Day of Climate Action. A site called 350.org, backed by some of the biggest names in the environmentalism movement, is calling for us to participate in one of the day’s 4,300 events in 170 countries aimed at raising awareness about climate change. 350.org says it will be “the most widespread day of political action in history.” It might be cool to be a part of that, so I’ll list some of the activities planned in Captivate markets in case anyone wants to join in. But first: Why is it called “350.org”?

They got the “350” from the concept, which I first heard of through James Hansen, that to maintain life as we know it atmospheric CO2 levels cannot exceed 350 parts per million for any extended time. Unfortunately, we’re already beyond that level and pushing closer to 400 ppm every day. So in order to get us back down, Hansen and others say, we have to take pretty drastic steps, such as cutting out coal use and replanting vast swaths of forest.

While the International Day of Climate Action isn’t about getting us to immediately stop using coal, it is about making people think about the ramifications of their actions, even the simplest ones, like flicking on a light switch (which draws electricity from your local power plant, which is probably powered by coal).

So take part. It’s a simple action, it’ll give you something fun to do on a Saturday, and it just may, when all is said and done, help save the planet. Check here for all U.S. events, or simply peruse these:

New York City
The 350.org organizing team will gather in Times Square, where the giant video screens will display “350” representations from around the world.

Philadelphia
In what will be a common theme Saturday, participants on Independence Mall will form a giant “350,” as well as hear from speakers such as city green czarina Katherine Gayewski and “environmental heavyweight” Ray Anderson.

San Francisco
The Justin Herman Plaza/Ferry Building is the site for the San Fran gathering, where cyclists completing a 350km route will rally with surfers, artists, poets and activists.

Seattle
You know you’ve always wanted to take part in one of those “Thriller” dance-a-thons. Now’s your chance. Admittedly, the link to climate is pretty weak here, but, hey, it’s probably gonna be fun.

Washington, D.C.A march to Lafayette Park will be followed by participants forming a giant "circle of hope" across from the White House. This "O" will serve as third in a series of 3, 5, and 0 photos taken from around the world.

Green News Roundup

2009-10-21T08:08:00.004-04:00

Welcome to another of Green Among Gray’s periodic green news roundups, in which I list a few items when ~~I don’t have a proper blog post prepared~~ there is more than just one big thing to talk about.

Fuel Economy Guide
The EPA and the Department of Energy have unveiled the 2010 Fuel Economy Guide, which tells you what you can expect to pay for fuel for 2010 model year vehicles.

As I said last year, one of the coolest things about the guide is that it’s mobile-accessible, so you can look through data while you’re at a dealership checking out cars.

Toyota’s Prius once again tops the charts, at 51/48 mpg (up from last year’s 48/45), followed by Honda’s Civic Hybrid at 40/45.

The EPA also lists the worst vehicles for fuel efficiency. Among the bottom-feeders: the Lamborghini Murcielago, at 8/13 (which is why I don’t own one) and the Bentley Azure at 9/15.

And in an interesting side-note, the EPA names the most efficient vehicles it’s ever certified. The leader? A minivan!

It’s the 2000 Nissan Altra EV (above), an electric vehicle that got the equivalent of 123 mpg. Who knew? Previous records like this should be falling soon, though, with the likes of Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf on the horizon.

Animal die-off numbers
Animals around the US die off for any number of reasons, some alarming – they can be a predictor of a bigger problem, such as a human health threat – some just a natural course.

The National Wildlife Health Center tracks these wildlife mortality events to allow any number of government agencies – or just regular folks like you and me – to better understand them and try to stem them, as necessary.

If you’re a nature lover, it’s interesting to read up on this stuff. And if not – why aren’t you!? Get out there and observe! You’ll love it, I swear.

Check out the most recent list of animal die-offs to see if there are any near your particular stroll-through-the-woods area. These reports offer eye-opening data, like the fact that botulism is wiping out thousands of water fowl across the US, or that millions of amphibians are dying of fungal infections.

Green restaurants
One particularly burgeoning sector of the green movement is the organic restaurant. They’ve sprouted all around the country, offering fresh, local food to legions of diners who care about how their eating habits impact the environment (or maybe they only care about eating yummy stuff; either way, organic restaurants fit the bill).

Over the coming weeks, Green Among Gray will focus on a few of these restaurants in various Captivate cities. Stay tuned.

Areas With Air-Pollution Violations

2009-10-14T12:11:00.001-04:00

Cars, power plants, factories. We need ‘em all. But though they bring benefits, even necessities, to our society, they bring something else too: soot. Or what the EPA refers to as “fine particulate matter.”

This particulate matter has been proven to cause health problems. So the EPA monitors it. And a few years ago, they lowered the maximum amount of particulate matter allowable, to 35 micrograms per cubic meter from 65. So now, 35 micrograms is the maximum amount of particulate matter any county in the US can have in their air in any given 24-hour period.

When a county is over that amount, the EPA flags it as “nonattainment.” If you live in a nonattainment county, you are at a greater risk of health problems from the tiny bits of chemicals infesting the air you breathe.

The good news is that fine particle pollution in the US has fallen 19% since 2000. The bad news is that there are still 31 areas across the country that are classified as nonattainment.

I looked through the data to see what Captivate cities might be included in the nonattainment list. There are several: Stamford, Conn.; New York City; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; and San Francisco.

Check to see if you live in one of the EPA’s flagged counties.

National Energy Awareness Month

2009-10-07T07:34:00.001-04:00

Pres. Obama has declared October National Energy Awareness Month to “recognize the contributions of individuals, organizations, and companies that are committed to advancing energy innovation and efficiency.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking, my mega-sophisticated, hyper-jaded urbanite readers: “Oh goody – this hard-hitting presidential proclamation will really take care of things.”

But don’t be so quick to snark – Obama’s followed up this hollow announcement with something substantial: An executive order mandating federal agencies set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2020 within 90 days. Among requirements are a 30% reduction in government vehicles’ petroleum use and a 26% improvement in water efficiency.

So Obama’s helping take care of the “organizations” aspect he refers to in his Energy Awareness Month declaration; it’s up to each of us to take care of the “individuals.” What are you going to do to help advance energy innovation and efficiency?

Not sure? Start here.

A Storybook Tale in Greensburg

2009-09-29T09:43:00.002-04:00

There is one storytelling device that, when used well, draws a reader (or viewer, or listener) deeper into a tale than any other, and gives it an immediacy: the story within a story.

Story within a story works so well because it authenticates by adding subtle layers of complexity – just like what we see in our own lives. It’s everywhere, from Nabokov to Kaufman.

What’s this got to do with the environment? Well, I was going to do another green story for this week’s blog entry, about the town of Greensburg, Kansas. It’s a true story but one that reads as though it came out of Hollywood: A small town is decimated by a tornado. In the aftermath, the community comes together determined to rebuild. They don’t sit back and wait for help, but take the lead by deciding to create a place that can serve as a model of sustainability for the rest of the country, and the world.

Compelling enough all by itself, right? But as I researched it, a story within a story emerged. And this one, too, sounds like it could’ve come from a screenwriter’s imagination but is a real-life account. And as I read it, I realized nothing I could say in my little retelling could approach the understanding you get of Greensburg upon reading about Emily Schlickman and Mason Earles.

Their inside story – and how lovingly it’s told by the writer – draws you in and makes you understand the overarching tale of Greensburg better than any statistics or interviews. The more cynical among you may find it hokey – on one of my particularly snarky days, I might be with you.

But today I happen to be feeling optimistic. And the tale of Emily and Mason is the story within the story that gives Greensburg immediacy, and should give us all hope.

Hopenhagen

2009-09-22T08:55:00.002-04:00

This week is Global Climate Week, which means we’re now inside 80 days before the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen begins December 7.

In a bid to ramp up support and enthusiasm for a climate treaty that is “ambitious, fair and effective in reducing emissions,” the UN has partnered with the likes of Siemens, Coke and SAP in launching Hopenhagen.org.

The goal is to get people just like you to sign a petition, which will be presented before the world’s leaders at the conference.

It only takes a moment, and the website is pretty cool in that you can put in a short message about what “gives you hope” and it shows up on a glowing global map.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon puts it, “World leaders will come together for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December and every citizen of the world has a stake in the outcome.”

Here’s your shot to claim that stake.

Surprising Stats About Solar

2009-09-16T12:19:00.004-04:00

The man behind Cash for Clunkers is taking on a new enterprise in hopes he can help you convert your home to solar power. (And make money doing so.)

The newly established Global Solar Center says it will assess your specific information (location, power needs, etc.) and give you an estimate on what it costs to go solar at your home or business, and hook you up with installers. The Center, headed up by Jack Hidary, has released survey results about the spread of solar energy in the US.

Mr. Hidary has a long history in the sustainability/efficiency realm. Among his accomplishments, listed at HidaryFoundation.org: He rallied for NYC taxis to switch to hybrids, he’s on the National Renewable Energy Lab board, he’s a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and he’s chairman of the nonprofit SmartTransportation.org. It’s through this last connection that he ended up helping launch the popular Cash for Clunkers initiative. (Greentech Media has all the interesting details.)

Why list all this? To establish bona-fides. After all, this is a company that obviously has much to gain from the dissemination of their survey data. That doesn’t scream objectivity. But when you know a little about the founder, you get a sense that perhaps the Global Solar Center is not only about making money. It feels like they may be driven just as much by a desire to do some good in the world.

The main reason I wanted to post this is that the prospect of going solar really intrigues me as a homeowner. I figure there are many in the Captivate audience who feel the same.

The study – which is based on National Renewable Energy Lab solar potential analysis, the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, and national utility average rates for residential and non-residential customers – concludes:

Though California is known as a renewable-energy leader, it is New Jersey that has the most generous incentives for solar power.

If you combine city, state and local incentives, residents in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Colorado can make all their money back from a solar installation in three years.

The new hot market for solar electricity is Pennsylvania, with incentives covering 60% of installation cost.

Solar hot water is now a one-year payback in Florida and southern Texas.

Green News Roundup: Efficiency

2009-09-09T12:36:00.001-04:00

Here are some recent news items, all pertaining to favorite green buzzword “efficiency,” that probably affect you in some way but that you might’ve missed:

Using Energy Wisely
Consulting firm McKinsey & Company’s got a new report saying maximizing energy efficiency would save Americans $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. And that doesn’t even factor in inefficiencies in modes of transportation.

Doing things like manufacturing more-efficient products, educating buyers on the most efficient appliances available, and making products accessible to the masses can help reduce Americans’ energy consumption by 23%, the report claims. Why aren’t we just doing it, then? Why, cost and apathy of course. To get to that trillion dollar-plus gain it’ll take an upfront investment of more than half a trillion dollars and a whole lot of convincing people to actually, you know, care about how much energy they consume.

Greener TVs
The EPA is raising its minimums for qualifying Energy Star televisions. Starting next spring, TV manufacturers that want an Energy Star label will have to ensure their appliances use 40% less energy than standard sets (aka, dirty, no-good, energy-sucking boobtubes). And in 2012, that number rises to as much as 65%. Current Energy Star TVs use at least 30% less energy than standard sets.

EPA says the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the higher efficiency is equivalent to the emissions of 3 million cars. I love those equivalents. It really brings it home. If I extend the math to the individual, it works out that my purchase of a new Energy Star TV next year will keep a half of a side-view mirror off the road. (Yikes – that could be dangerous!)

Greener Churches
Speaking of Energy Star, the EPA is expanding its super-successful program to allow houses of worship – churches, temples, mosques, etc. – to use its Portfolio Manager tool to track energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Schools, hospitals and hotels already are eligible, so adding the nation’s 370,000 (wow!) houses of worship seems like a natural progression.

If you’re a regular house of worship attendee, it only makes sense to bring Energy Star for Congregations to the attention of whoever’s running the joint. After all, saving natural resources is something that would make any god smile.

Water Consumption
It’s easy to forget when you live/work in a big city in North America, as we Captivaters do, but water is a precious commodity. Scarcity affects 40% of the world’s population, according to the World Health Organization. So we need to make sure we use it wisely.

And if you have any ideas on just how to do that, you could be in line for a nice wad of cash and prizes. Submit a viable water-efficiency business plan through the just-opened Imagine H2O Prize competition, illustrating “breakthroughs in the efficient use and supply of water,” and you could pocket $70,000.

Green Happenings Across The Captivate-Sphere

2009-09-02T12:11:00.003-04:00

Did you know Captivate’s Office Tower Network airs in 27 North American cities? (Though with our new Web site, we’re totally global now).

Yes, dear viewer, your building is just one of 940 among the Captivate family. You’re part of a wide-reaching, yet – we like to think, anyway – close-knit group. And like any family, we like to share. And argue. And borrow each other’s stuff. And argue about borrowing each other’s stuff. But for today, we’ll just focus on the sharing.

As in, sharing how you can get involved in green happenings, wherever you do your elevator riding:

BOSTON
The Boston Landmarks Orchestra Presents Green Masterpieces – Hit the green grass of the Esplanade tonight for this free Hatch Shell concert featuring nature-themed works from the likes of Mozart, Debussy and Mendelssohn.

Prudential Center Farmer's Market – Nothin’ like getting all country smack dab in the city. Pick up fresh fruits, vegetables and other earthy goodies from producers including Drumlin Farm, Sel de la Terre, Taza Chocolate and When Pigs Fly Bread. Runs Thursdays through October.

ATLANTA
The Homeowner’s Guide to Green Remodeling – This hourlong class at the Decatur Library the night of September 8 teaches how greening your home can save you money.

Living Green Festival in the Park – Go through the garage and see what you can dig up to bring down to this giant recycling shindig at Chastain Park Amphitheater. The September 19 event will feature recycling of electronics, metal, toner, printer cartridges and orthopedic equipment, as well as a living green market, an organic farming exhibit, hybrid vehicles and kids’ activities.

SAN FRANCISCO
“NextNew: Green” Conversation with the Artists – Check out contemporary art that comments on climate change and other environmental issues, and get the straight dope from the exhibition’s nine Bay Area artists. You can speak with the artists September 10, and the show runs through the 20th.

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival – The 14th annual celebration of “writers,
nature and community” will be held September 26 at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley. In addition to readings from the likes of former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, this free event will feature interactive nature and art activities, book signings and a guided walk around Strawberry Creek.

NEW YORK CITY
“No Impact Man” – This film, which screened at January’s Sundance Film Festival, documents “guilty liberal” Colin Beavan and the effects on his young family as he abruptly decides to live a truly environmentally friendly life. It debuts in NYC and LA September 11. Screenings continue in various cities through next month.

SOKHOP – This two-day charity event emphasizes the importance of sustainable living practices for children’s health. The Saving Our Kids, Healing Our Planet festival runs September 12-13 and includes interactive exhibits, kids’ activities, organic food and “25 presenters in the fields of preventative pediatrics, nutrition and green living.” Kids under 15 get in free.

CHICAGO
Edgewater GRalley – It’s just in its second year, but there’s already a lot of buzz about this music fest with a green edge. The Edgewater block party features a dozen bands, plus environmentally friendly activities that include a kickoff bike parade with State Rep. Harry Osterman. The party goes noon-10 pm on September 19.

Chicagoland Car-free Day – Ditch the jalopy for public transit – or, even better, your own two feet – for this day that celebrates auto-free transport. Active Transportation Alliance, RTA, Pace, Metra and CTA are teaming for the effort on September 22. If you commit to the day, you get a Caribou Coffee coupon. And you can then put that caffeine jolt to good use by scurrying around the old-fashioned way: bipedally.

And if you’re too busy to head out, or there aren’t any events near you, you can always participate in the comfort of your own home. The United Nations has a new campaign, “Seal the Deal,” that aims to prod countries into coming to terms on a global pact on climate change. Sign the petition and help spur action as we get closer to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Delving Into The ‘Lost’ World

2009-08-26T13:32:00.005-04:00

We’re departing from the usual green stuff today to dip our toes into the world of TV blogging.

This post was moved to the Captivate 'Out and About' blog -- click here to read the review in its entirety, and to follow Captivate's other ventures out of the elevator!

Center For Inquiry’s Credibility Project

2009-08-19T11:33:00.000-04:00

There is a pretty substantial amount of opposition to the Waxman-Markey bill (the Democrat-penned global warming legislation passed by the House and waiting in the Senate, probably to be taken up next month). So much so that there are strong doubts it and its cap-and-trade provision will ever become law.

There are many different rationales for Waxman-Markey opposition, but they can all be categorized under either of two general headings: “I don’t agree with the premise,” or “I don’t agree with the details.” We’ll get to the detail disagreers at another time. Today we’ll deal with the hardcore dissenters – those who aren’t behind Waxman-Markey because they think manmade global warming is a bunch of hooey.

The hooey-ists are led by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee who for 15 years has been the Senate’s loudest global-warming skeptic. (To give you an idea of where he’s coming from, he lists a “Lifetime Service Award from the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association” and an “A+ rating from the National Rifle Association” among his accomplishments.)

Sen. Inhofe put together the United States Senate Minority Report on Global Warming, a collection of 400 (700, in its latest iteration) scientists who question or outright reject man-made global warming. Basically it’s intended as a retort to the IPCC, and it’s often cited by global warming skeptics, as in, “look at this; there are tons of well-educated, highly qualified professionals out there who don’t believe the global warming hype.”

But in a retort of its own, the Center for Inquiry – a non-partisan nonprofit that “advocates for science, reason, freedom of inquiry and humanist values” – released its Credibility Project.

The Credibility Project concludes that 80% of the Minority Report’s “dissenting scientists” haven’t published peer-reviewed climate research, an indication that the vast majority of the skeptics the Minority Report considers authorities are, in fact, not.

The Project also found 8% on the list not only aren’t climate scientists, but they’re not scientists of any kind. It also shows 11% of those on the list aren’t truly AGW skeptics.

If the Minority Report is pretty much a “best of the best” argument against there being a consensus on AGW in the scientific community, and the Minority Report doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, what do skeptics have left?

Applying the Center for Inquiry’s math, about 120. About 120 climate scientists skeptical that global warming is caused by human actions, compared to the roughly 2,000 scientists who contributed to the latest IPCC report.

So where does that leave us re: opposition of Waxman-Markey? It means if you’re against it, it probably should be because of the details, not the premise.

We’ll cover the rationales of those who buy AGW but don’t like Waxman-Markey in a soon-to-follow post.

The Story Behind Volt’s Staggering MPG

2009-08-12T14:06:00.003-04:00

GM came out yesterday with the news that their Chevy Volt, due for sale late next year, will get 230 mpg.

To quote one of my favorite old-school Howard Stern soundbites, “whaaa whaaaa whaaaaaat?”

How exactly is Chevy of all carmakers going to effectively quadruple the mileage record for a standard-production vehicle? Is this just a massaging of the figures or could it actually be legit?

The EPA told Edmunds.com’s Green Car Advisor it hasn’t confirmed the 230 number, but that it “does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future.” Hmm. That’s not very definitive sounding.

But it’s apropos, because there’s nothing definitive about the method apparently used to come up with the 230 number. In fact, it’s pretty arbitrary. Let’s start at the beginning.

The Volt is powered off an electrical charge, which comes from plugging it into a regular wall socket, that lasts for the first 40 miles. After that, its electricity is generated by a good old-fashioned internal combustion, gas-powered engine.

GM’s calculations – according to Volt project manager Tony Posawatz, as cited by Edmunds.com – don’t include whatever mpg equivalent the electric motor uses. (Mpgs for electric vehicles like the Volt are conversions, equivalents, computations of computations. They’re not the same as for standard-fuel vehicles, because their fuels are measured differently – you don’t have gallons of kilowatts, after all. But forget about all that, because GM isn’t even taking that into account for their 230 number. Yikes!)

This is how I imagine GM’s simple (disingenuous?) logic went (anything in parentheses is my editorial voice butting in on my pretend GM voice. Get it?): OK, here’s the mileage our motor gets when its electricity is gas-generated (let’s call it 40 mpg, based on reports that the gas tank is 8 gallons and it’s expected to be able to go 300 miles). Now, only a certain percentage of the time will a driver even need to use the gas-generated aspect, since the motor can go 40 miles on a plug-in charge (so the more often a driver goes fewer than 40 miles before plugging back in, the higher his mpg will be). And the Dept. of Transportation tells us the average American drives 29 miles a day. So let’s say our typical Volt driver will do this five days a week. Then on the sixth day, he rests; he only goes like 5 miles. And then on the seventh day he’s ready to really take off, so he’ll go like 80 miles. So let’s call it 230 mpg, since our typical Volt driver goes 230 miles (5 x 29 + 5 + 80) using one gallon of gas.

I know, kinda whacked. But it appears that’s the kind of approach going on here. And as arbitrary as it is, it still makes some sense, still seems honest in a way. What seems dishonest, though, is that they’re discounting whatever equivalent of mpg comes from charging via the plug-in. Once that’s included, it changes the calculations quite a bit. In the above scenario, for example, those six days when no gas is used currently amounts to an infinite mpg, but with a fixed, definable mpg equivalent, it would count against the 230 significantly.

Plus, there’s the emissions aspect. As I wrote when Chevy first announced the Volt, there are still emissions coming from somewhere; just not your tailpipe.

Kimberly-Clark Responds To My Calling Them An ‘Eco-baddy’

2009-08-06T08:06:00.001-04:00

So I gave paper-product king Kimberly-Clark a backhanded compliment in my last post, praising its inclusion on the EPA’s on-site green power usage list while ragging on its sustainability track record.

Apparently I struck a nerve. Here’s the new news: “Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle brands, today announced stronger fiber sourcing standards that will increase conservation of forests globally and will make the company a leader for sustainably produced tissue products.”

Yep, when Green Among Gray talks, people, and humongous conglomerates, listen.

Or, Kimberly-Clark’s change of heart could have something to do with a little Greenpeace campaign called Kleercut, through which the highly respected environmental organization has been rallying since 2004 for changes in K-C’s forestry practices.

But let’s not quibble about the ‘why;’ it’s the ‘what’ that’s really important: “Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100% of the company’s wood fiber for tissue products, including the Kleenex brand, from environmentally responsible sources,” Greenpeace says.

Well I say to Kimberly-Clark, in totally forward-handed fashion, “Job well done.” And to Greenpeace: Thanks for chipping in. Your work helped - even if just in a small way - Green Among Gray affect real change.

Making Their Own Energy

2009-08-05T11:35:00.003-04:00

The EPA, through its Green Power Partnership, recently recognized companies and organizations that are producing their own green electricity. And the names may surprise you.

From major corporations to municipal departments, groups all over the U.S. are implementing solar, wind, hydro and biomass power more often, representing greater percentages of overall energy consumption.

In fact, the EPA says, the green power consumed by just the top 20 organizations generating renewable energy on-site is 736 million kWh annually – enough to power 61,000 homes.

I was surprised to hear some of the big-time companies on the list. Guess I figured their PR machines would’ve made me aware of their green do-goodness already. These are household names, like BMW, Macy’s, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s.

But the big daddy, No. 1 on the EPA’s list, is none other than traditional eco-baddy Kimberly-Clark. Perhaps they’re compensating for a lack in other sustainability areas. Or perhaps it’s just convenient and economically prudent to use biomass energy because they’ve got so much tree refuse lying around. No matter the reason, it’s pretty cool that a massive conglomerate like K-C gets 7% of its annual energy consumption – nearly 193 million kWh a year – from on-site renewables.

Suhas Apte, Kimberly-Clark’s VP of Environment, Energy, Safety, Quality and Sustainability (kinda sounds like a ministerial position out of 1984), says, “Kimberly-Clark’s number one ranking on the EPA’s On-Site Green Power Users List is a reflection of our commitment to sustainability in our operations. Our teams around the globe are continually working to reduce our environmental footprint, and we are very proud this work has been recognized by the U.S. EPA.”

The biggest surprise to me, though, was Kohl’s. You never hear about them being green. Wal-Mart, BMW, those guys you hear stuff about. But did you know 50% of Kohl’s energy comes from solar power? Most of it is bought from other providers, but 2% it actually produces itself at its stores and distribution centers. That’s pretty neat.

Dominating the list are government organizations, and even entire cities. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, and Alameda County, CA/GSA Facilities are joined by the likes of San Diego; Nassau County, N.Y.; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Gresham, Ore.

San Diego stands out as getting 27% of its power from methane, solar and hydro plants right in the city. This blows away other major metro areas and shows the city of more than 1.25 million people is well on the way to its goal of becoming “energy independent.” (Though it looks like it’s got some friendly competition from a northerly neighbor.)

How does your city, or your favorite company, compare? Check out the entire on-site green power usage list. And let us know how you feel – should we be celebrating companies for being 7% green, or be outraged it’s that low – by commenting below or e-mailing us at kscribner@captivate.com.

Getting All Namby-pamby On Manmade Global Warming

2009-07-27T12:41:00.004-04:00

I have a nasty secret.

It’s ugly.

It’s embarrassing.

I don’t want to even tell you. But I feel I must:

I sometimes question anthropogenic global warming.

I know, I know. AGW must be true; it’s what all these guys agree on. And, forgetting all the messy details for a sec, AGW just makes sense: If humans send a bunch of gases into the air that wouldn’t be there naturally, it’s bound to have a deleterious effect.

But there’s a lot of people out there who don’t buy it. From scientists who publish peer-reviewed work (though relatively few) to clowns that post in “Comments” after seemingly every climate-change article on the Web, there’s a broad spectrum of skepticism. And it gives me pause, to be honest. Can all the deniers really be in cahoots on some sort of agenda? Can all these voices, some with very respectable pedigrees, be that off the mark?

I asked colleagues at the Society of Environmental Journalists (I use the term loosely; I’m a colleague of theirs only inasmuch as they were kind enough to accept a neophyte, smacking-of-bandwagon wannabe journalist into their respected group, whose members include many reporters who’ve been working the environment beat for 20-plus years and from whom I’m constantly learning) if they ever wavered in their belief of the AGW consensus, and what “one, definitive source” initially convinced them.

Not one of the handful of SEJ members who weighed in said they doubted the AGW consensus, and most said narrowing it down to one source was impossible, because being convinced of AGW means understanding the science, which means following the countless peer-reviewed studies over the years, or, as one member put it, the “gradually strengthening conviction formed out of an early skepticism over more than two decades of accumulation of more and better data and personal study of this complex multidisciplinary science topic.”

Some said even debating the “if” of AGW was counterproductive because it’s such a settled issue and that time and energy must go toward the “how,” as in how to stop it.

If they absolutely had to name just one source, then it would have to be the IPCC, was the general consensus. Other sources members referred me to include

The SEJ’s own climate guide

Lester Machta research from the 1970s

Roger Revelle’s seminal 1982 paper

Charles Keeling’s work

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

And then there’s Coby Beck’s blog, A Few Things Ill Considered. In his How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic, Mr. Beck gathers the pertinent consensus science into one handy Web presentation, laying it out in simple terms (helped by the fact he is not a climate scientist; he’s a software developer who’s followed climate change as a passion since 2006.) This stuff is so good green-site heavyweight Grist has made it their official line.

So if the science is so clear, why are skeptics seemingly everywhere? The obvious answer is money (and politics. Is there a difference?). There’s much riding on the country’s and the world’s approach to the environment, economically speaking. Old-school energy providers stand to lose a lot. (I dealt with this topic in a post on 2008 article “The organization of denial.”)

But then there’s subtler reasons, like how believing in AGW might threaten a person’s ingrained beliefs, or how we might feel overwhelmed by climate change. As another SEJer put it, “What are the reasons skeptics have for doubting? One reason is the overwhelming enormity of the problem vs. a lone individual's inability to make a noticeable difference.”

I read something recently that speaks to this. It’s a comment from one Dan W., in response to a particularly comment-inducing post on FiveThirtyEight:

“The question is: how much do we really care? The answer is surely: we care relative to how much it will effect us and our children with a highly diminishing curve as the generations pass. Even at record avg lifespans humans don't live long enough to care, intrinsically, about what they do to the planet.”

And another reason – the one that explains my own occasional lags into AGW denial – is plain old wishy-washiness. I’m always questioning beliefs, even those that would seem fundamental, and can be swayed by sound (or sound-sounding) arguments. Ugh. I hate that about me. But I kind of like it too. It’s what gets me in trouble when I read an informed-sounding voice (see A1965bigdog’s comments) that seems to make a good argument against AGW. But it’s also what gets me out of it when I head back to the Coby Becks of the blogging universe. And to the James Hansens. And to our very own government.

Phew. I feel better. It’s all clear to me again. Of course AGW is real, and of course something needs to be done about it.

Now just keep me away from those comment sections.

Beach Rescue Project

2009-07-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

How do you improve on a summer stroll along the beach? How about by making it a community-bettering, soul-purifying, mood-lifting-via-free-wine stroll?

That’s just what the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project does, and it’s coming to a surfside near you.

The project, a collaboration between Barefoot Wine and the Surfrider Foundation, encourages residents to help keep their beaches “barefoot friendly” by volunteering to clean up litter, restore dunes and plant native species.

In return (in addition to the swell of pride you get from performing such philanthropic acts) Barefoot rewards you with a post-cleanup celebration of wine, music and beach-inspired food.

The tour is hitting 25 cities across the US on Saturdays through August. This weekend, beaches in Washington, DC; Boston, Mass.; Amagansett, NY; and Long Beach, Calif. are the targeted cleanup sites.

The Boston event will be held at King’s Beach in Lynn (which could use it, apparently), 10a-1p this Saturday, followed by a party at Nahant’s Tides Restaurant from 2-4p.

Check out Barefoot’s site for details about all upcoming Beach Rescue tour stops.

If any Captivate viewers out there participate, let us know at kscribner@captivate.com. Send us photos and maybe you’ll end up on Captivate Network.

Hohm Shows Promise

2009-07-10T11:50:00.002-04:00

To answer the cliffhanger question from my last post, using Hohm – Microsoft’s new site that helps you figure out how to cut your energy use – turned out to be a friendly, pleasant experience.

Collecting the info Hohm needs to compose a snapshot of your energy use may not be, though. You’ll be searching high and low, as the Hohm form goes deep into your energy-use habits and home layout, from how many CFLs you have to the variety/thickness of your insulation (the question that gave me the most trouble) to the type of glass in your windows to where your ducts are. So you better have all your ducts in a row if you want to do this thing right. HA!

But what’s nice about it is the form saves your info automatically wherever you are, freeing you up to go hunt down the answers to questions like, “Is there radon in my windows?” or “Is my insulation R-11 or R-13?” So you can collect info over any number of days or weeks or months, and it will give you an exponentially more-accurate overview as you add data.

And if you have an older house, it’s pretty cool to dig up info that you’ve always sort of wondered about but might’ve not known or hadn’t thought about in a long time, like construction date (1920 here – doesn’t bode well for insulation, I’m afraid) or precise square footage.

So, how accurate is it?

In the four days I spent gathering info, I was able to fill out 94% of the Home Profile, enough for Hohm to be able to return a pretty close to real-world scenario, if it does what it’s supposed to. And it appears that it does, telling me I spend $3,912 annually on energy costs. Because my wife is a meticulous record-keeper, I know we spent $3,634 last year on gas and electric. That puts Hohm’s estimate within a respectable 9% of actual. Not bad, especially considering it was working with 6% less data than it wanted.

And Hohm breaks that down, telling you how much you spend in each of six energy categories, like lighting, heating and appliances.

The handiest – and, in my case, most depressing – info on the easy-to-read layout results page (they call it ‘My Hohm Center’) is the Average Annual Energy Costs In Your Area scale. It shows you how your costs compare to others near you (how near, I’m not sure; couldn’t find a definition of “area”).

Hohm then delivers its detailed Energy Report, pointing out the best changes you can make to save energy and money.

For really accurate reports, Hohm allows you to connect to your energy provider to view your home’s actual energy-use data. But that feature wasn’t enabled for my area.

The site also features a collection of statistics on saving money, such as how lowering a water heater’s setting saves $49 a year, and a section on rebates and tax credits for making efficiency improvements.

There were a couple failings. Hohm offers no choices other than CFLs or traditional bulbs when asking what kind of lighting you have. My house has a bunch of old-school fluorescents, so that must’ve thrown off my results a bit.

And there’s a Hohm community, featuring a blog and a forum. But the forum is through a third party, so if you want to contribute you have sign up with them. Or you can sign in through your Windows Live account (which I never wanted to begin with but you have to register to use Hohm), but to do so, it takes you away from the Hohm forum to a new page, where you sign in, which takes you to a second page, where you have to input more info. Sound confusing? Good, because that conveys how it feels. I don’t want to have to jump through hoops just to comment that the Home Profile should have more lighting options.

And it would’ve been nice to have been able to actually connect to my energy providers. It’s like a big tease. They say they’re working to add more though, with recent agreements with Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy.

Overall using Hohm taught me a lot about my house and my family’s energy habits. It’s a useful tool for anybody who wants to get a little more familiar with their footprint

Hohm ... Hohm ... Hohm

2009-07-07T07:34:00.004-04:00

Ah, yes. Relaxing. The mantra-esque name of Microsoft’s latest green app, Hohm – which claims to save you money by giving you a better understanding of your home’s energy usage – combines with a simple layout and subdued green-and-orange motif to create a tranquil-looking website indeed.

I headed to the Hohm beta site skeptical about whether it would be user-friendly enough to actually deliver on its claims, but I was immediately disarmed; my first thought was, “this is nice.”

BUT – and isn’t there always a but with Microsoft (I should disclose I’m particularly perturbed at Microsoft right now because I recently “upgraded” to IE 8 and it’s giving me issues) – the nice wore off as soon as I began the signup process.

To use Hohm, you have to get a Windows Live ID, which means you have to fill out the typical form: name, e-mail, etc. It’s not too involved and wasn’t a hassle until the end, when it requires you to type in the jumbled, distorted numbers/letters you see in a box. You know, the Captcha thingy. Not a big deal, but in this instance I couldn’t read the damn symbols (Was it an “L”? A “T”? A “1”? I guess I’ll never truly know.) and I had to do another one. This one I could discern, so I keyed in the letters, but, just as I hit ‘Enter,’ the info form timed out. I had to go back and fill in the whole thing again. It’s little things like that that give those Mac ads resonance, even as smug as they are.

So what will Hohm turn out to be? The inviting, rewarding app it appears on first blush, or a frustratingly engineered tool of subtle torture? I plan to find out over the coming days.

Check back Friday, when I’ll report on how the full Hohm interface works.

Solar Projects On The Horizon

2009-07-01T07:58:00.002-04:00

The economy has hit venture capital as hard as it’s hit anything else. But a new report shows promising signs for green technology companies, especially those dealing in solar.

Green-sector VC investments soared close to 50% in the second quarter to $1.2 billion, according to Greentech Media’s Greentech Innovations Report. The biggest chunk of that infusion – $330 million – went to solar energy projects.

So there’s a lot of action out there in the land of the sun-as-power-source. Some examples:

The government is setting aside federal land exclusively for the purpose of building large-scale solar projects. If all goes according to plan, there will be “landscape-scale” solar-energy plants across the West generating almost 100,000 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 29 million homes. Check out the areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

Wells Fargo, which has provided $1.75 billion in financing for renewable energy projects in the past several years, is ponying up another $100 million in a deal with California-based SunPower. Wells Fargo will finance new solar power systems built and maintained by SunPower at various businesses and institutions. The first two projects are in central/southern California: a 1.1-megawatt system for University of California, Merced, and a 1-megawatt system for the Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority.

Another California solar company, Sunworks Solar, is heading cross-country for its next project: a solar panel manufacturing facility in western New York. The company said 175 permanent jobs will be created through its $200 million plant, slated for construction through next year. And in a double-renewable twist, the New York Power Authority will sell Sunworks 5 megawatts of affordable hydropower for construction.

Virtual Energy Forum

2009-06-26T12:38:00.004-04:00

How exactly is $787B in stimulus funds being spent to help America become greener?

Which hotel is California’s first to become LEED certified (and just what does that mean, anyway)?

What Rockies town has become America’s “first smart-grid city”?

How can my company become more sustainable?

Interesting questions, huh?

And you know all the answers if you took my advice and participated in the Virtual Energy Forum, held yesterday and Wednesday at VirtualEnergyForum.com. But just in case you missed it, here’s a recap of two of the presentations I found most interesting:

Green stimulus funds
Mark Ginsberg, director of the Department of Energy, kicked things off with a not-quite-rousing but still informative presentation on U.S. energy management under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He described the nation’s major metro areas (or as I like to call them, “Captivate hotbeds”) as the “action places where energy efficiencies can really be applied.” (Since almost all Captivate viewers live and/or work in the big city, he’s basically calling on you, dear Captivate viewer, to help usher in a new era of environmental responsibility!) He reiterated the U.S. plan to get 10% of our energy from renewable resources by 2012 and 25% by 2025, and to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. Mr. Ginsberg explained the DOE and EERE (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) has almost $60 billion to spend toward those goals, with that money being allocated to states, which in turn allocate to businesses, municipalities and/or homeowners. He pointed out where to find energy funding opportunities and how to track where the money is actually going.

Orchard Garden Hotel
Melanie Lapointe of Swinerton Builders and Stefan Muhle of San Francisco’s Orchard Garden Hotel explained how the 86-room boutique hotel received California’s first LEED certification. LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council’s way of recognizing environmentally responsible architecture. In addition to the usual greening techniques – such as incorporating low-flow aerators on faucets; using Energy Star appliances; and utilizing planters that retain water to feed a plant over time, eliminating the need for an irrigation system – the pair pointed out some interesting angles you don’t normally give much thought to. Take worker training. You can have all the green tools in place, but if people aren’t using them correctly, Muhle says, what’s the use? One example he cited was breaking the old chef’s habit of defrosting food by keeping it under a stream of water. Huge waste of resources that can be solved simply by breaking an old habit. Another method the hotel uses to minimize footprint is to contract with environmentally aware companies, so not only is the hotel green in and of itself but also in its outside relationships. One example Muhle gave was how the hotel, too small for onsite laundry facilities, hired a local laundry that uses Earth-friendly cleansers and energy-efficient equipment. But the coolest thing the pair talked about was the futuristic-sounding Energy Key Card System, in which a guest’s key card doubles as an activator for the room’s lights and heating/cooling system. With this thing, you never have to worry about turning stuff off – or on, for that matter. It takes care of it for you. And they point out there are a couple traditional outlets in case you need power for something, like a laptop, when you’re not in the room. They say the system shows energy savings of close to 25%. Among the hotel’s other green aspects: It’s close to multiple modes of mass transit; car-sharing and carpooling services; a “bike to work” program, including bike racks and employee showering facilities; and a “cool roof” system that reduces the sun’s heat impact.

There’s a ton more greening info at the Virtual Energy Forum. If you sign up, you can still check out archived content on demand for the next 90 days.

Greenest Cities

2009-06-24T08:00:00.004-04:00

Mother Nature Network just released its list of America’s greenest cities. And no, San Francisco is not on top (No. 2, actually).

The Top 5:

Eugene, Ore., which boasts an award-winning hybrid public transit system.

Oakland, Calif., and its “zero waste and oil-independent by 2020” plan.

Boston, Mass., home of the "Green by 2015" goal.

San Francisco, Calif., whose recycling facility features an artist-in-residence.

And in a grand move to enhance anticipation, I’m not revealing No. 1. You’ll have to visit MNN’s list to see it (though I will give you a hint: I not too long ago wrote about the city).

One of the cool things about Mother Nature Network, other than that they’re a content provider for Captivate, is their staff. Peter Dykstra, formerly CNN’s science director, headed up MNN’s editorial group until just last month, when he left to become Deputy Director at the Pew Charitable Trust’s Environment Group. And MNN’s Director of Environmental Affairs is keyboardist for the Rolling Stones! That’s Chuck Leavell, who, in addition to being in one of the most iconic rock bands ever, is a renowned environmentalist and author.

World Wide View

2009-06-12T15:38:00.002-04:00

How often have you looked at the policies politicians come up with and thought, “I could do better than that”?

Well here’s your chance.

The U.N. Climate Change Conference, being held in Copenhagen in December, will determine THE global climate agenda. What the world’s heavyweights decide upon in Copenhagen will replace the Kyoto Protocol and dictate how thousands of countries approach climate change for years to come.

And you can help shape just what topics those heavyweights will focus on.

World Wide Views on Global Warming is giving citizens around the world the opportunity to tell the decision-makers what to do. The “global citizen deliberation event,” launched by the Danish Board of Technology, will gather roughly 100 residents in each of a variety of cities across 40 nations on September 26 to get input on policy recommendations like emission reduction, implementation and funding. It’s perhaps the public’s best chance to have a real say on one of our generation’s most important issues.

There will be seven U.S. locations: Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.; Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.; Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo.; Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga.; North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.; University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.; and Museum of Science, Boston, in Boston, Mass.

David Sittenfeld of the Boston Museum of Science says, “The Museum and its partners are honored to lead Boston citizens in a discussion that will influence climate change policy-making on a global scale, and thereby impact the health of our planet. Their contributions will help ensure a more sustainable planet for their children and for future generations around the world.”

To be considered for inclusion in one of the panels, you need to apply through each venue. I believe the application deadlines vary; Boston’s is July 31. For more information, click on the city nearest you:

Atlanta

Boston

Claremont

Golden

Madison

Raleigh

Tempe

Some venues had yet to update their information as of this posting. You can also check out the World Wide Views listing.

Climate Wizard

2009-06-10T08:13:00.001-04:00

Global warming, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put it, is unequivocal. Now a group of scientists from the University of Washington, University of Southern Mississippi and the Nature Conservancy are attempting to put a finer point on that assertion, with the release of the Climate Wizard.

The Climate Wizard is an easy-to-use, plain-to-read tool that localizes climate change data down to the state level. It allows users to see temperature and precipitation projections for their home states, all the way out to the year 2100.

It’s a tricky thing, because simple 3-day weather predictions, never mind decades-out climate projections, are notoriously difficult to pin down. But the tool is based on IPCC data, which is generally accepted as the best we have available (or at least was at the time of its release two years ago. Some have said it’s overblown, while other studies have since shown the IPCC projections are too conservative).

In any case, it’s an amazing tool that renders boring blah-blah science-speak in a neat graphical format.

And if you’re skeptical about projections, check out the feature that shows PAST temperature changes. It illustrates the trend over the past 50 years, and might just be the best predictor of all. (If so, the news ain’t good. New York, for example, shows a nearly degree rise just between 1950 and 2006.)

Weaning Yourself Off Plastic Bags

2009-06-05T13:19:00.004-04:00

I had always heard about how bad plastic bags are for the environment. So about a year ago, I decided to stop using them. It seemed like a pretty simple way to help out.

But it isn’t simple. I quickly realized I couldn’t live without the stupid things. When I wasn’t looking, they had ingrained themselves into the fabric of my life – not only did they get my groceries home, but they had become a variety of valuable tools: my lunchbox, my soiled-diaper stink isolators, my recycled-items holding units, etc., etc.

But I was determined. The replacement for their main use, getting groceries home from the store, was easy, because my wife used to be a teacher and, apparently, teachers accumulate reams of canvas bags from years of giveaways at seminars and through textbook promotions. I use the biggest one to hold all the others and leave it hanging on a hook in the basement stairwell so I can easily snag it on my way out to the store.

The challenging part was eliminating all those secondary uses. But I did it, with the help of one really simple little mindset switch I made. I’ll reveal it farther down.

But first let’s get into why we should even bother to stop using plastic bags. Why is it, exactly, that Ireland, India, China, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and the latest, Washington, DC, have enacted bans or taxes to discourage plastic bag use?

Most obviously, they’re unsightly. Hundreds of billions of plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year, making them one of the most common pieces of litter blowing across the nation’s streets and into our waterways. And once they’re out there, they’re not going anywhere – plastic bags don’t biodegrade, but rather eventually break down into tiny pieces that can harm wildlife. And as for harming wildlife: By collecting by the trillions in the oceans, bags are killing sea turtles and untold legions of other marine animals.

A less-obvious reason to stop using plastic bags is revealed when you take a look at how they’re made – they’re composed of polymers, which come from fossil fuels like oil or gas. The more plastic bags we use, the more CO2 we release into the atmosphere.

So what are the alternatives? If you don’t happen to be married to a teacher, you’ll have to go buy some reusable bags. Suggestions:

Revenge Is … bags, made from recycled bottles

Mission Playground’s organic cotton bag

Wavyo, for a big selection of recycled/cotton bags

Simple Shoes’ assortment of multiple-use bags

Calypso Studios’ woven rice cloth totes

Passchal designer bags, which aren’t going to help you all that much at the grocery store but felt I had to mention because they’re made from tractor tire inner tubes. Very cool.

Or you could just pick up a bunch at your local store, since they all have them now for super-cheap.

And that little change I made that freed me from using grocery bags for little household duties? I realized I had enough plastic bags already in the house from other sources, and simply started re-using those. I now stuff the smelly diaps in empty bread, produce, or newspaper bags, or food-storage bags after they’ve been used a couple times.

Global Humanitarian Forum

2009-05-29T08:23:00.002-04:00

Kofi Annan wasn’t done serving society when his 10-year tenure as UN secretary-general ended in 2007. He went on to establish the Global Humanitarian Forum, whose mission, basically, is to save the world.

The Forum plans to focus on different causes through the years. Their first cause: climate change. They see it not necessarily as a political or environmental issue, but as a human one, with many lives at stake – lives they aim to save.

To that end, the Forum has released its first report on climate change’s human toll. Their research found 300,000 people die each year due to climate ‘side effects’ such as malnutrition and malaria, and that 99% of these deaths are occurring in developing countries that, ironically, aren’t a part of the problem because they barely contribute to overall global-warming emissions.

The report is meant to help spur action at December’s climate conference in Copenhagen, which will decide what measures should replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

Virtual Energy Forum

2009-05-27T12:57:00.001-04:00

If you’ve been wanting to green up your office but have been overwhelmed by all the info available, there’s an event next month that may be just what you’ve been waiting for.

The second annual Virtual Energy Forum, running June 24-25, is a free, online, open-access event aimed at empowering companies and their employees to make their workplaces more efficient and sustainable.

Just register at the forum and you’ll have access to presentations, case studies, and more that will help you work smarter and healthier. You’ll even get to chat with exhibitors and experts.

Scheduled speakers include Rocky Mountain Institute’s Amory Lovins, Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp and the Department of Energy’s Mark Ginsberg. Companies of varying ‘greeness’ will be represented, including Hess, Dow Chemical, Procter and Gamble, IBM, Raytheon and Whirlpool, as will the EPA, International Energy Agency and Harvard University.

You’ll learn about ways to conserve energy, how to get refunds and subsidies to help pay for retrofits and upgrades, and other best-practice techniques.

I’ll be checking in at least one of the days and posting about it, perhaps tweeting too. Let Captivate know if you plan to attend by commenting below or emailing kscribner@captivate.com.

Should You Always Bet ACES?

2009-05-22T11:13:00.002-04:00

One of the most important pieces of legislation of my lifetime is progressing through the House right now.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) passed the Energy and Commerce Committee last night on its way to a full House vote, probably by July. The bill is important on a couple different levels: for its goal of reducing U.S. emissions of global-warming gases by more than 80% over the next 40 years, and for the profound effect working to achieve this goal will have on American business. We’re talking about potentially the biggest ecological and economic impacts ever triggered by the government.

The legislation’s lynchpin – what Republicans have been trying to pull from the bill – is a cap-and-trade system, whereby overall U.S. emissions and individual companies’ emissions are capped, with an allowance for those companies that exceed their cap to buy overages from those companies that are under their cap.

This bill is Obama’s baby. It was a key rallying call during his campaign, and he responded to the latest news with, “We are now one step closer to delivering on the promise of a new clean energy economy that will make America less dependent on foreign oil, crack down on polluters, and create millions of new jobs all across America."

So we know where Obama stands. And many green organizations, including the Nature Conservancy, the National Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, stand with him.

However, also in line with supporting the bill are some not-so-green groups like Shell, ConocoPhillips, Duke Energy and DuPont, which makes one wonder: How is it that suddenly these groups with long histories of conflicting interests are banding together? And are we really OK with backing an environmental policy backed by companies with such sullied pasts?

Greenpeace is among those answering with a resounding no. They say the targets “are far weaker than science says is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change … and far less ambitious than what is achievable with already existing technology.”

So what’s going on? It appears it may be as simple as both sides of the issue making compromises – on the one hand, you have a bunch of green groups who understand how difficult it is to get environmental policy passed and see the promise of this one, despite it’s shortcomings, and are hitching their wagons to it as the best realistic solution, while on the other hand, Big Biz sees Obama, his followers and their inexorable green groundswell that is going to affect change sooner or later so they may as well embrace this now before something comes along they’re really not going to like.

Unfortunately in cases like this, you can end up with watered down mush of a law that sacrifices viability in the name of pandering. The Washington Post has a column that nicely sums up the problem.

So, gamblers of the Captivate universe, what do you think? Play the ACES or wait for a better hand?

Green Roundup

2009-05-13T12:40:00.005-04:00

Here’s the environmental-related news you should be paying attention to this week:

Dr. James Hansen’s latest missive
It’s statements like, “Perhaps if politicians and businesses paint each other green, it will not seem so bad when our forests burn” that have brought James Hansen notoriety, as well as legions of fans in the environmental movement. It steels the resolve of little guys (this little guy, at least) to see a federal employee (Hansen heads up NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies) not be a government crony.
Anyway, Dr. Hansen sends out periodic letters to world leaders, challenging them to be realistic about global warming. These letters, while containing some informal, somewhat derogatory language (he dismissively refers to politicians and lobbyists as ‘those in alligator shoes,’) give some of the best arguments I’ve ever read for strong action now on climate change. His latest is to Dr. Martin Parkinson, secretary of Australia’s Department of Climate Change, in which Hansen repeats his call to end cap-and-trade approaches in favor of a tax-and-dividend.
Not sure why he’s against cap-and-trade when so many pro-environment folks, including Obama, are in favor of it? Wondering what this ‘tax-and-dividend’ stuff is?
You’ll have to read Dr. Hansen’s letters.

Ending our reliance on carbon
Speaking of cap-and-trade and tax-and-dividend and all that fun “is carbon necessary, evil, or necessary evil” talk, the University of Virginia is hosting a discussion that asks participants, “Should the U.S. end its dependency on carbon-based fuels?”
Ever wonder what becomes of government bigwigs after they serve their country? Why, they end up as high-priced consultants of course. And they show up in roundtable discussions like this. Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, ex-CIA director James Woolsey and 2001-03 EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman will participate in this dialogue about why it is or isn’t a good idea to kiss carbon goodbye. The talk, moderated by Fox News Channel’s Jim Angle, will be Webcast live tomorrow starting at 7 p.m. ET.

Forbes’ Best Cities For The Outdoors
San Francisco adds to its “City With Most Appearances on Top Cities Lists” title by topping yet another Best list: Forbes’ “Best Cities For The Outdoors.”
The magazine used Trust for Public Land, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and EPA figures to determine which of the 40 largest cities are best for the outdoors, based on criteria including parks spending, percentage of park land, recreation facilities, air quality, sunshine, snowfall and temperature.
And here’s a fact that may be an indicator of something, but what exactly I don’t know: Captivate broadcasts in each of the top 3 on the Best Outdoors Cities list but none of the bottom 3.

Amphibians in trouble
Amphibians are in trouble. A fungus that researchers say has wiped out 122 species in the last 30 years is showing no signs of slowing, threatening an ever-expanding number of the more than 5,700 known (with many more as-yet unknown) amphibian species. Up to 40% are now considered threatened, a far greater percentage than any other vertebrate.
So the Smithsonian is heading up the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, a coalition of eight zoos trying to stop the chytrid fungus, which has spread all across the globe, including the U.S. The group is focusing on a small region of Panama that has an extraordinary concentration of frogs and has yet to see widespread chytrid infections.
Project manager Brian Gratwicke says, “Time is of the essence, and we need to save these important creatures for their direct cultural, biomedical and ecological impact on human lives.”
The “biomedical” part he refers to is that secretions from amphibians’ skin have shown medicinal promise. Saving a frog today could save our own skins in 20 years, via a medical breakthrough.
The “ecological” is that amphibians eat tons of insects, helping control the population of bugs that pester us and cause disease.

But the most important reason, to me, is the “cultural.” Frogs, toads and salamanders are some of the most accessible wild creatures. They’ve stoked generations of children’s interest in the environment. How many naturalists got their start by catching frogs at the local pond, by flipping logs for salamanders? In this sense, the loss of amphibians would mean a loss of human wonder.

Walkable Cities

2009-05-06T09:34:00.002-04:00

Prevention magazine has released its latest rankings of America’s best cities in which to take a stroll. This is the seventh straight year for the list, compiled in conjunction with the American Podiatric Medical Association and Sperling’s Best Places.

APMA and Prevention came up with about 20 criteria to judge how walk-friendly each of the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. is. They also asked “nationally-recognized experts in the field of walkable communities” (you mean there’s more than one?) to rate the cities on 1-5 scale based on their own expertise.

These criteria include:

-- Number of walking/hiking trails in a metro area’s county and within a 20-mile radius of the city center
-- Number/area of national forests and parks within a 60-mile radius, and number/area of local and state parks within a 30-mile radius
-- Percent of population that walks in general and that walks to work
-- Average miles driven vs. mass transit miles
-- Pedestrian fatalities
-- Crime rate
-- Air pollution
-- Availability of schools, museums, zoos and botanical gardens and arboretums
-- Sprawl index
-- Number of off-leash dog parks

And, as it seems with so many of these “quality of life”-type surveys, San Francisco came out on top. (SF would surely be No. 1 on the “Cities With Most Appearances on Top Cities Lists.”)

Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago round out the Top 5.

Though some lists like this are transparently marketing-driven (Top Ten Hot Dog Eating Cities, anyone?), I really like covering this Walkability one because of the sincerely good message it spreads. Walking is such a no-brainer: you don’t pollute and you make yourself healthier.

The rankings also include subcategories, like Safest Walks (topped by Rochester, NY) and Amazing Nature Walks (San Fran again).

With Captivate markets dominating the list, we’d like to hear how Captivate viewers are taking advantage of their cities' “walk-friendliness.” What routes are your faves? Let us know by commenting below or e-mailing kscribner@captivate.com

Turkey At The Office

2009-04-29T09:22:00.006-04:00

UPDATE MAY 4:
New York City Captivate viewer Victoria Kimball checks in with this in-the-city nature experience (in Baltimore):

I was standing outside of Penn Station Baltimore on a brisk spring evening waiting in the taxi line sniffing exhaust fumes and generally hating nature at that particular moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement above and it was big! Hundreds, nee thousands of sparrows were migrating home, spiraling through the air en masse, never missing a beat—no collisions or mishaps, collecting and depositing smaller groups on its way and all the while singing madly as they celebrated flight. It was dizzying, exhilarating, mesmerizing, and immediately put a huge smile on my face. I felt a strong temptation to tell everyone around me to stop and enjoy the thrill with me. But, this was my private treat and I savored every moment until the whistle blew and I was on my way—it was extremely difficult to tear myself away!

ORIGINAL POST

So I’m just sitting there at my desk, compiling the latest news for all you loyal Captivaters, when Larry a few cubes over goes, “Kyle, check it out – turkey!” I thought he was spoiling for a fight (as is Larry’s wont) before quickly realizing he was pointing out the window.

There, indeed, was a turkey. She (I’m guessing from what I read about differences in turkey sexes) was just chillin’, preening away. I watched her for a while as she pecked around for kibbles, intermittently burying her smooth head in her feathers, or just standing still in the shade. At one point she meandered beyond the trees' shadows and shook herself, raising a billow of dust that sparkled for a moment in the sharp sunlight. The beauty of rare experiences is that they are automatically profound, no matter how mundane one person’s may seem to another’s. It was one of those surprisingly life-affirming moments that tend to happen when you get close to nature.

And get close I did, scooting outside after a bit to snap the above pic. Which brings me to your mission, good readers: We want to know about your run-ins with wildlife. Send your encounter-with-nature stories and photos to kscribner@captivate.com.

You may get national recognition via play on Captivate Network. Special bonus consideration to pics of encounters at your workplace.

FOIA Follow-up

2009-04-24T05:22:00.001-04:00

I posted in January about Greenwire’s attempt, through the Freedom of Information Act, to access the EPA’s sealed endangerment finding on greenhouse gases’ health effects, and about how Greenwire was stymied by an administration that – for whatever reason (cough, Big 3, cough) – didn’t want the truth known.

You can probably see where this is going, so I’d like to state for the record that I don’t like to politicize the environmental debate. Doing so often distracts from getting at the essence of the issue, e.g., is it more important to ensure our citizens’ health or more important to ensure the US auto industry continues to operate as it always has? But how do you discuss that without also getting into capitalism and politics? I’d love to keep the form free from the function, but it just doesn’t work that way.

That’s my way of trying to mitigate what will be this post’s apparent pro-Obama feel. I’m not necessarily pro-Obama; I’m just pro-knowledge (unfortunately I’m also pro-lazy, which sometimes supersedes that knowledge thing, but I won’t get into all that now).

It’s Obama that recently sent a memo telling government agencies they should presume openness when considering FOIA requests. In other words, if a citizen wants to know about something we’re up to, tell them! Obama seems to be saying government secrecy should be the exception, not the rule that it had become under the previous administration.

The classic counterargument to transparency in government – that it’s dangerous – is a bit ridiculous. The benefit of an informed society outweighs most risks. Obama and his team are not stupid – there are sometimes issues of national security, and secrets must sometimes be kept. But is one such secret the fact (which we could pretty much figure out on our own anyway) that chemicals in the air are harmful?

The issue is perhaps best summed up with this, from the Office of Information Policy’s guidance release:

“While recognizing that the ‘disclosure obligation under the FOIA is not absolute,’ and that the FOIA contains exemptions to protect, for example, national security, personal privacy, privileged records, and law enforcement interests, the Guidelines stress that the President has directed agencies not to withhold information merely to prevent embarrassment, or because ‘errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.’"

We have a right to know. And it’s nice knowing our president knows that.

Greening Your Kids

2009-04-21T13:40:00.003-04:00

Now that I’ve got a couple little ones, that old chestnut about children being the future feels a lot less laughably cliché. (Though the smooth stylings of Randy Watson are still wholly laughable. Sexual Chocolate!)

So when a cool press release/flower seed note arrived about how Curious George is debuting new episodes on Earth Day as part of “PBS KIDS Share the Earth Day,” it made me think about raising my 3-year-old’s awareness. Not like I’m going to have her organizing a recycling drive or anything, but just a way to give ‘green’ some visibility in her tiny-yet-ever-expanding universe – a universe that is, by the way, already dominated by aforementioned monkey.

Come to find out, there are many green campaigns aimed at kids – some probably more noble than others. I’ll list a few I found, and leave it up to you to determine each’s value-instilling value.

PBS is devoting their kids’ programming to Earth Day-related topics. They’ve got new, green-themed Curious George, Arthur and Cyberchase episodes, plus plenty of “eco-focused Web content.” I’ve already broken my promise about limiting my kids’ time in front of the TV (made in that blissfully ignorant time when my wife was still expecting), but my guilt is assuaged a bit knowing that I limit them to PBS. It’s boob-tube, but it’s smart boob-tube.

Disney’s new green venture, Disneynature, is releasing its first film, EARTH. I’ve seen the ads, as we probably all have, and it looks awesome. The press release says the film, opening on Earth Day, “tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journeys across the planet we call home.” It’s from the guys behind award-winning doc Planet Earth, so expectations are high. Disney doesn’t always get it right, but this seems like a can’t-miss, from a “teaching while entertaining” perspective. Also, they’re planting a tree for every ticket sold. A few days ago, they were already up to 500,000.

Illinois-based plumbing-fixture supplier Gerber, which seems to put a pretty strong emphasis on the EPA’s Water Sense program, has a coloring book detailing the wonderfully wet adventures of Greg Gerber. The story tells kids how they can help save water. The book is supposed to be downloadable at their site, but I couldn’t find it, so I’m not sure how great it is. I’ll leave it at this: I hope the lamely pedestrian name for their protagonist (Greg Gerber sounds like a dentist or a math teacher) isn’t a clue to how engaging the story is.

If they’re not going outdoors anyway, you may as well get the kids into faux-outdoors activities, right? How about through the world’s first gardening video game, Gardening Mama? The New York Times explains how the Nintendo DS release captures the vibrancy of planting by letting youngsters grow 37 varieties of fruits, flowers and vegetables. By the way, this was brought to my attention via Mother Nature Network, which has a nice section of kids-related green news.

Optimism Abounds

2009-04-17T08:56:00.002-04:00

I’ve noticed something lately.

But I don’t want to jinx it, so I considered not writing about it.

But then I thought about Green Among Gray’s viewer stats, and it occurred to me that my blog postings amount to a mere whisper among the Web cacophony. And everyone knows the amount of jinx you bring upon something is directly proportional to how loudly you proclaim it, so I think we’re safe. So here goes:

The EPA cares.

The Environmental Protection Agency, though it’s accomplished many good things, has a history of being too friendly to big biz. But evidence of late appears to show something refreshing: The agency – and perhaps more importantly, the government entities that give its findings regulatory teeth – is bucking the trend and actually focusing on applying science to help us be conscientious members of our ecosystem.

-- It’s rejigging how it estimates factories’ emissions, a system generally acknowledged to always have underestimated the dangerous chemicals released into the atmosphere.

-- It’s set to establish rules and regs based on the health threats posed by greenhouse gas emissions.

-- It’s begun a new air-monitoring program around schools (thanks, USA Today!)

-- It’s aiming to get all ships that dock in the US to adhere to US emission standards, regardless of their country of origin’s emission standards.

-- It’s getting stricter on testing of chemicals in pesticides.

-- It’s ramping up cleanup efforts at 50 of the nation’s worst Superfund sites – you know, places where lack of oversight in the first place led to toxic-dumplike conditions.

So it would appear the new team in town is indeed a new team, not just the same old, same old. The future looks bright.

Just keep it quiet, alright?

Green Roundup

2009-04-15T09:49:00.002-04:00

The latest environmental news from around the Web:

The EPA’s endangerment finding on what health risks greenhouse gases may pose passed a White House review, Greenwire reports (via NY Times). This is a biggie. It opens the door to tighter regulation of anything that emits greenhouse gases, from cars to power plants. As I posted in Jan., one possible result of the endangerment finding is allowing states to tell automakers how fuel efficient their cars need to be.

Old friend Sarah Palin has resurfaced, apparently with a new outlook on global warming. At an Anchorage hearing with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar – he’s traveling the U.S. as part of the administration’s research into offshore oil and gas leases – the one-time skeptic said, according to the LA Times, that “The dramatic decreases in the extent of summer sea ice, increased coastal erosion, melting of permafrost, decrease in alpine glaciers and overall ecosystem changes are very real to [Alaskans].” But before you go thinking she’s completely changed, understand that Palin is saying this as an argument FOR drilling.

The Automotive X Prize announced 111 teams have been registered for a shot at the $10 million purse, which will be split among the best energy-efficient vehicle designs. This ongoing contest won’t be settled until next year, with firm start and end dates coming this summer. Some of the more interesting details about the registered teams, whose cars will have to get at least the equivalent of 100 mpg: Singer Neil Young has a group; no major automakers are involved, other than India’s biggest, Tata Motors; and all-electric go-getter Tesla is shooting for a piece of the action.

Solar energy has huge upsides, but one big drawback: you need the sun. Cloudy days and nighttime tend to get in the way. So if you can eliminate that sticking point, it’s all plusses. Or so figures Calif. utility PG&E, which signed a deal with Solaren to get 200 megawatts of energy straight from space, where solar power surges round the clock. The CNet report says Solaren’s satellites capture energy and beam it back to Earth as radio frequency, which is then converted to electricity. Apparently all this space-agey stuff will take a while, because PG&E isn’t planning on getting it until 2016.

Venice Hopes To Turn Curse Into Blessing

2009-04-10T09:06:00.006-04:00

Venice’s storied canals for years have been vexed by blooms of algae, which, beyond coloring the water green, can wreak havoc on boat propellers and stink the place up at certain times of the year (or so I’ve heard; never been, myself).

So does the city, which has been kicking around some 1,600 years, just throw up its manos? Hell, no! They take their lemons and make lemonade – or, in this case, their algae and make oil. They’re turning a negative into a major positiv-o by building a power plant that uses the algae to produce electricity.

Reuters reports the $273 million plant will be just the third of its kind in Europe. It will be producing 40 megawatts of electricity in about two years, Venice's port authority says, enough to power thousands of homes.

The science behind using algae for electricity-producing biomass is complex, but it basically boils down to algae synthesizing sunlight efficiently and having very high oil content. (Full disclosure: I put a call into an expert too late to get his insight for this initial post; watch for update soon.)

Seems on the surface to make a ton of sense. Why can’t the U.S. try the same thing? Plenty of land for algae ponds, plenty of need for electricity.

Let us know if you think algae is a feasible power option by commenting below.

Empire State Building Going Green

2009-04-08T09:07:00.003-04:00

New York’s Empire State Building, that quintessential downtown skyscraper (and Captivate partner since Feb. 2005), is going green.

Lots of buildings are, but this one is particularly newsworthy. The Empire State Building is a National Historic Landmark with a fabled history, it’s recognized worldwide, and, of course, it’s survived an attack from a giant ape (several, unfortunately). But what really gives the effort extra importance is that it’s a test case that will be used as a model to retrofit buildings for environmental sustainability.

“Commercial and residential buildings account for the majority of the total carbon footprint of cities around the world – over 70% in New York City,” says Anthony E. Malkin, Empire State Building Company. “Beginning in February 2008, the Empire State Building has been used as a test bench to create a replicable process to reduce energy consumption and environmental impacts.”

So how exactly is this greening taking place? Lots of groups are involved. The Clinton Climate Initiative, Jones Lang LaSalle, Johnson Controls and the Rocky Mountain Institute have teamed for the $20 million, five-year project, which is expected to reduce the building’s energy consumption by up to 38%. Among the initiatives, which when implemented will save $4.4 million in annual energy costs, are:

A web-based system that allows tenants to efficiently manage power usage.
Improved lighting designs, daylighting controls, and plug load occupancy sensors in common areas and tenant spaces to reduce electricity costs and cooling loads.
Added insulation behind radiators to reduce heat loss and more efficiently heat the building perimeter.
Retrofitting about 6,500 windows to create triple-glazed insulated panels with new components that dramatically reduce both summer heat load and winter heat loss.

Another newsy aspect of the project? Bill Clinton is involved! That’s always fun. The Clinton Climate Initiative “played a central role in convening a unique set of partners that are working to make the Empire State Building retrofit project possible. It is this kind of innovative collaboration that is crucial to protecting our planet and getting our economy up and running again,” the former president said.

Seems like a fantastic initiative, which will help limit the environmental impact of not just this historic building, but, if everything goes according to plan, thousands of other old-time high-rises. So how can Captivate viewers – who utilize these buildings and their energy every day – contribute to the cause?

“Like with many other large-scale environmental projects – such as community recycling – success depends on broad participation,” Mr. Malkin says. “We expect tenants to share our deep commitment to this project, which will ultimately result in energy cost savings for them as well.”

Scroll through the videos below to "CCI Helps Retrofit Empire State Building" to get more details on the project.

Gore A Revelation

2009-04-01T13:28:00.002-04:00

Indulge me for a moment as I get to Al Gore by way of Kirsten Dunst.

This post was moved to the Captivate 'Out and About' blog -- click here to read the review in its entirety, and to follow Captivate's other ventures out of the elevator!

Earth Hour

2009-03-26T20:40:00.003-04:00

You like trivia questions, right? Here’s one for ya: What do Coldplay, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Edward Norton, Wynonna Judd, Cate Blanchett, and Captivate-enabled buildings all have in common?

I’ll give you a hint: March 28.

Still don’t have it? OK, I’ll end your anguish (for those of you who might've missed the headline or the movie above, anyway): They’re all participating in Earth Hour, the World Wildlife Fund’s annual lights-out event that aims “to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.”

And you too can join in the rarefied celebrity/news-monitor-equipped building ranks by signing up at the Earth Hour website. It’s simple to live up to the commitment: You just turn off your lights – all nonessential electricity, actually – for one little hour, from 8:30-9:30p (local times). So join the likes of the Acropolis in Athens; the Sphinx and Great Pyramids of Giza; and Broadway, and live without those lights for one hour.

And find out if your Captivate-enabled building is participating by checking out the Earth Hour map.

Phoenix Aims For Carbon Neutrality

2009-03-20T05:36:00.004-04:00

Phoenix is looking to arise anew – as the nation’s first carbon-neutral city.

Other cities around the world, such as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar, have been leading the charge, so it’s nice to see a major metro area in the U.S. taking a role. But is it feasible? Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon says indeed it is.

Mayor Gordon’s $1 billion, 17-point plan, "Green Phoenix," includes:

Enlisting residents in a pilot program that installs solar panels on their homes for free
Added usage of Phoenix’s new light-rail system
Building the city’s first solar power plant
Making city buildings LEED compliant
Painting rooftops white to reflect the sun and reduce “heat-island” effect
Using high-efficiency lighting in public places
Expanding recycling programs
Developing the city’s canal system for green-friendly transport
Cleaning up brownfield sites

The specific numbers being talked about -- such as adding as many as 6,000 green jobs and reducing annual CO2 emissions from 25.5 million metric tons to 430,000 -- are impressive, though not exactly “carbon neutral” – Green Phoenix is in partnership with Arizona State, so I asked Dr. Rob Melnick, Executive Dean, Global Institute of Sustainability and Presidential Professor of Practice, School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, for more details. Dr. Melnick says,

Green Phoenix is a comprehensive program to make Phoenix and potentially its neighboring cities especially sustainable. It will create a "lighthouse effect" and act as a model for other cities around the nation and the world that seek to improve their sustainability, reduce their carbon footprint, and improve the quality of life for the people who live and work there.

Collectively, the programs described in Green Phoenix would put the city of Phoenix on a sharp trajectory toward carbon neutrality.

One of the most important features of Green Phoenix is the partnership between Arizona State University and the city of Phoenix. The university's knowledge and innovation, coupled with the city's knowledge and excellent reputation in management, make the ingredients for a highly successful program.

What that sounds like to me is that while strict carbon neutrality may not be in the cards, at least within immediate plans, the steps being taken will get Phoenix pretty darn close.

It’s an amazing initiative – we can only hope it unfolds as planned. We’ll keep an eye on it, and on whether it influences some of our other Captivate markets to follow suit.

Vernal Pool Time Again

2009-03-18T07:54:00.008-04:00

UPDATE 3/20/09:
Albert Burchsted, a field biologist recently retired from the College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York, was kind enough to relay some wonderful information for New Yorkers who may be interested in visiting vernal pools.

Anyone who can make their way to Staten Island apparently has a bounty of possible pools to investigate. Dr. Burchsted explains:

This post was moved to the Captivate 'Out and About' blog -- click here to read the review in its entirety, and to follow Captivate's other ventures out of the elevator!

Green Roundup

2009-03-11T13:22:00.002-04:00

A few tidbits from across the environmental news realm:

Head to Mother Nature Network to get the goods on the new environment czar, author/activist Van Jones.

If you’re one of the millions (note: no corroborating evidence to back up this number; could actually be just a handful) who missed something by an hour this past Sunday and were left cursing the 2005 decision to move Daylight Saving Time up a few weeks, check out the Dept. of Energy’s 2008 report (pdf). It should make you feel better to know, the seemingly arbitrary shift has actually resulted in some energy savings.

With the EPA’s recent news that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.4% in 2007, its even more recent news that it plans to make greenhouse gas reporting mandatory (this is where you say, “why the hell isn’t it already?”) is that much more welcome.

The Los Angeles Times reveals the sticker price of Honda’s latest hybrid, the Insight, and it’s a shock of another kind: It’s affordable! So the question now becomes, do we buy it as soon as it comes out March 24, or do we wait for the new Prius, due out June-ish?

Stimulating Energy Efficiency

2009-03-06T07:34:00.001-05:00

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the stimulus talk? Have the vague, too-big-to-comprehend “$787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” stories got you feeling a little, well, overstimulated (in a decidedly understimulating way)?

Then it’s about time for some stimulus news you can use: there is up to $2.3 billion in tax credits waiting for those who make their home or business more energy efficient.

The 10% tax credit for energy efficiency improvements has been boosted to 30%, with a max of $1,500. The old rule where you could only claim certain amounts for certain improvements, like new windows, is out the proverbial window, so that $1,500 cap is aggregate – doors, windows, furnaces, you name it. Americans have this year and next to take advantage – the credits end after 2010.

With the economy listing and layoffs on the rise, now may not seem like the best time to lay out big bucks for, say, a new furnace. But auto and building supplier Johnson Controls claims the money you save in rebates combined with heating efficiency allows you to pay back the cost for a new furnace in as little as two years.

And if you’ve been thinking about getting really bold and going solar, geothermal, wind or fuel cell, now’s the time: There is now no dollar cap on tax credits for residential renewable energy systems. You get 30%, whatever the cost.

The Department of Energy has some great info on how to identify the energy-sapping trouble spots in your home. So evaluate, weigh your cost/reward, and take advantage of what they’re giving us.

After all, it’s our own little slice of the stimulus.

Captivate Cities’ Energy Star Ratings

2009-03-04T09:56:00.002-05:00

We always knew the buildings where Captivate plays were cutting edge – after all, they’re equipped with the world’s most innovative news-and-entertainment delivery system (can I get an ‘amen’?).

And now there’s another reason to salute their cutting edginess: they’re green!

So says no less an authority than the EPA, whose list of cities with the most Energy Star qualified buildings for 2008 (pdf) is dominated by Captivate markets.

Captivate Network broadcasts in 17 of Energy Star’s top 25 cities, including all of the top 13. At No. 1 is Los Angeles, whose 262 Energy Star qualified buildings put it well ahead of the pack and enabled the city to save $87.2 million in energy costs last year.

For a good illustration of how effective the Energy Star program can be, check out USA Today’s story explaining how JC Penney has saved up to 30% in some buildings.

Rounding out the top 10 are San Francisco, Houston, Washington, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta and Seattle. (Boston, Captivate’s home city, finished at No. 11).

Check out Energy Star’s list to find out if your Captivate-enabled building made it.

If you work in an Energy Star standout, let us know by commenting below.

Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide

2009-02-25T12:09:00.002-05:00

Ha! A guide for toilet paper. Funny stuff, you think.

Until you realize more than 400,000 trees would be saved if every family in America bought even just one roll of recycled toilet paper.

So says Greenpeace, which has released a Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide that shows which companies use recycled content in their paper products. It’s the latest salvo in Greenpeace’s ongoing feud with Kimberly-Clark – maker of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle and other tissue, napkin and toilet paper products – which Greenpeace claims is destroying ancient forests by using pulp from unsustainable sources and not using enough recycled content.

Greenpeace says Kimberly-Clark used 3.3 million tons of virgin (tree) fiber in 2004 produced from clearcut logging in ancient forests like the Canadian Boreal Forest.

Kimberly-Clark counters with its latest sustainability report, in which it claims 31% of the content in its products is recycled.

But with all the resources a multibillion dollar company like K-C must have, it feels like they should be doing more.

In its guide, Greenpeace highlights companies that ARE doing more, like Green Forest, which uses 90% post-consumer recycled content (and 100% recycled overall) in its toilet paper, paper towels and tissue; and others like Natural Value and Seventh Generation.

Do you make it a habit to buy recycle paper products? Let us know by commenting below.

Cacao Pearl Update

2009-02-16T08:39:00.002-05:00

I recently wrote about an exciting concept: the environmentally friendly, nonprofit luxury resort.

Joël Céré, the CEO of Barefoot Resorts and the Cacao Pearl poobah, sheds more insight on what exactly they’re doing and how they’re doing it:

Can you give specifics on what types of renewable energy will power the resort?
100% renewable and sustainable: Solar, micro-hydro, wind and bio-fuels.

What sort of eco-activities will be available for guests?
Diving with 22 shipwrecks in the vicinity; snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing, kite flying, hiking in the forest; learning traditional arts & crafts (including cooking lessons with fresh produces from our garden) or just lazing on the beach. We’ll also offer yoga, relaxation in our open-air spa, a movie theatre, a well stocked library, organic restaurants, etc…

The Cacao Pearl is also within short sailing distance to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site). This park features a large limestone karst landscape with one of the world’s longest underground rivers (5 miles). The area represents a significant habitat for biodiversity conservation. The site contains a full ‘mountain-to-sea’ ecosystem and has some of the most important forests in Asia.

Tubbataha Reef Marine Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Tubbataha Reef Marine Park covers 206 square miles, including the North and South Reefs. It is a unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species; the North Islet serving as a nesting site for birds and marine turtles. The site is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 110 yards perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands.

How do you respond to skeptics who might say it's not possible to accomplish a zero-impact resort because by its very existence it impacts its surroundings?
Put simply, if we did not set-up the Cacao Pearl there, this island would have been snapped-up by another developer who would have been less concerned about the environment. The Cacao Peal will positively impact its surrounding economically, enviromentally and socially:
• Economically: The resort will create substantial economic opportunity for the local community through employment and local products/services sourcing.
• Environmentally: Cacao Resorts will provide an economic incentive for local communities to preserve the environment but will also contribute directly to the funding and activities of local marine reserves and environmental programs. Our development accounts for less than 20% of the island.
• Socially: Cacao Resorts will set-up a local fund to sponsor local social and economical programs. This can range from micro-credits to educational bursaries to infrastructure projects.

One of Barefoot's stated goals is "to ensure long-term value for our people, projects, investors and partners." With 100% of Cacao Pearl's net operating profits used to support local environmental and social programs, how will Cacao Pearl deliver ROI to investors?
Every Cacao Pearl eco-villa owner will enjoy capital growth and a very competitive rental yield. As a company, the Cacao Pearl is a commercial endeavour that seeks to make a profit. Like all resorts, our profit comes after deducting operational expenses, taxes and capital expenses (to allow the resorts to invest in their growth – thus generating more profits). What happens to this profit is the main difference to traditional resort operators, and in this we are closer to a not-for-profit business: We commit it to an independent and non-profit foundation for distribution.

While the focus obviously is on Cacao Pearl now, does Barefoot have any other properties on the horizon?
We are in talks with the government of Belize for a project in Cayo, western Belize, close to the important Mayan site, Caracol. We are also looking at a winter resort and are scouting for suitable sites in North America. We will also launch a new island adventure in Asia during 2009.

Birds, Birds Everywhere (Especially Up North)

2009-02-11T13:06:00.005-05:00

Doesn’t matter where you call home – from the heart of the city to the farthest-out exburb – birds flock (literally, ha!) to where you are. This makes it incredibly easy to observe them, which makes it incredibly easy for anyone to participate in a scientific study. “What scientific study?” you ask? We’ll get to the “what.” But first, the “why.”

This post was moved to the Captivate 'Out and About' blog -- click here to read the review in its entirety, and to follow Captivate's other ventures out of the elevator!

Solving The Green Travel Paradox

2009-02-04T13:25:00.004-05:00

While vacationing in Mexico’s Riviera Maya a few years back, I went for a walk along the beach just to see how far I could get, sand-shuffling my way past dozens of resorts to the point – and yes, this point exists, believe it or not – where the stretch of hotels ends and forest begins (probably not a coincidence that that point comes just as the beach turns into rocky shoreline – tough to set up a beach chair on crags, you know).

The forest is dense and vibrant, filled with movement and sounds and exhaling cool air that rushes over you if you decide to take the path that cuts through just its very edge (if you’re REALLY adventurous, you could find one of the holes in the wire fence that separates the forest proper from the beach and dive in, but I wasn’t up for contracting malaria or getting mauled by a jaguarundi).

But seeing that forest also got me to thinking about the forest that USED to be there, that used to run all the way back up to my hotel and well beyond, and it got me depressed because it was me and the millions like me who want to visit these places that give the developers incentive to level the trees – and destroy the habitat – in the first place.

It was thus a simple, carefree jaunt to nowhere landed me in the middle of a troubling paradox: How do we enjoy our natural resources without contributing to their destruction?

Many developers have come along to try to answer that very question, planting green resorts in ecologically sensitive areas all around the world that allow access even while limiting footprint. Places like Kenya’s Campi ya Kanzi, which works with the local Maasai community to responsibly open the wonders of the Mt. Kilimanjaro foothills to visitors; Ecuador’s zero-waste Black Sheep Inn, which teaches tourists about the local diversity from its perch high in the Andes; and Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort, which offsets all its energy consumption through carbon credits.

Eco-friendly tours also abound, such as the one a Captivate coworker of mine recently took during a visit to Mexico. Urban Escapes NYC and Alltournative balanced the thrills of tourism, he tells me, with environmental and cultural preservation in a trip that included a jungle zip-line, a rappel and swim in a cenote (a cave lagoon), a traditional lunch prepared by women of the Maya community, a visit to Mayan archaeological ruins and an expedition through a secret river that runs through a vast cave system (photo above).

Even a cursory web search will turn up hundreds of green resorts and tours like these.

But one resort in particular caught my eye, not only for its policy of strict environmental responsibility, but because it plans to give its profits to environmental and social programs.

You read that right: a nonprofit resort. It’s called the Cacao Pearl, a planned “luxury eco-community” on a 124-acre island in the Philippines. Right next door to the Palawan Biosphere Reserve, Cacao Pearl promises pampering without the guilty conscience.

You get to enjoy the comfort of homes designed by a Hollywood art director (does that mean you can’t lean on the walls?), an infinity pool, wreck & reef diving, a spa, organic gardens & bar, restaurant, and private media rooms, all the while easing your living-the-high-life pangs of guilt with the knowledge that your barely noticeable footprint (because of the resort’s sustainable construction methods and 100% use of renewable energy) will be erased entirely since your money goes back to the local community.

I sent some questions – like how exactly will renewables be incorporated, or what programs will benefit from Cacao profits – along to the CEO of the development, Joël Céré. I’ll post an update if/when I hear back.

But if Cacao Pearl can deliver on its claims, it’s the answer to the paradox that struck me those years ago in Mexico: a place where you take part, without taking from.

Tracking Animals -- update

2009-01-29T12:03:00.006-05:00

As part of my research for the tracking post, I spoke with Del Morris from the International Society of Professional Trackers. He was extremely helpful, getting the word out to ISPT members that Captivate was looking for city-specific tracking tidbits. I’ll post the information in this space as it comes in.

Jan. 27: Adam Fox, an ISPT member from outside Portland, Ore., recommends Kim Cabrera’s CD-ROM as a fun, easy-to-follow way to quickly learn animal-track basics. Cabrera’s site has enough handy info to fill a bear’s den, plus links to other great resources.

Jan. 28: ISPT member and Girl Scout nature specialist Tina Smith checks in from outside Philadelphia, where she says, “I dig tracking in the city because you get fleeting glimpses of nature holding fast in the concrete ‘jungle.’ Besides the pigeons flying about or pecking around the ground, you can see their pudgy little prints in the dust and silt around the landscaped trees along the curb or even in the silt in the gutters. There are also other birds that hang in the city: sparrows, finches, starlings, etc. Those dirt areas are ‘track traps’ for squirrels as well. Along alleyways and park sides, or even along the edges of sidewalks, you can spot rat tracks, squirrels, opossum and raccoon. Depending on your area, you may have a large population of skunks, and there are always the feral cats. … In Philly's Fairmount Park there are also coyotes and foxes, rabbits and various reptiles and amphibians.”

Tina emphasizes that, while there is much to be learned while tracking, the main point is to have fun. She says you can use tracking as an excuse during the workday to get outside and play: “The cool part during the day is that if you are taking a lunch or break, it is recess ... go play!!! Have some fun! Tracking is fun; it slows you down and you can take it really far into the details of each track you find. Connect it to the gaits and the big story – what has happened before you got here? [Maybe make it] a little treasure hunt? A little ‘CSI’? Find a motive if you have to, but play!”

Jan. 29: And Ms. Cabrera herself checks in now, with a description of the tracking potential of downtown L.A., where she used to work. She says you can find tracks of raccoons very often in the bed of the L.A. River, and “there is also quite a good population of urban coyotes living in L.A. Residents can see them at night, and even find their tracks. Places that are good for tracking near L.A. include Griffith Park. Also the Whittier Narrows Dam area was excellent for tracking. And, my favorite place was Turnbull Canyon. This is a huge open area that backs up to the Rose Hills Cemetery. There is a dirt road and I saw coyotes and tarantulas there. Tracks of raccoons, foxes, skunks, coyotes, and more are common in that canyon. It's a beautiful place. I found many species that visited my backyard while I lived in the suburbs of Whittier. These included raccoons, opossums, mice, coyotes, Pacific treefrogs, and a California kingsnake.”

Feb. 4: “Although a relatively recent phenomenon, coyotes have become the top carnivore in an increasing number of metropolitan areas across North America. This includes one of the largest urban centers in the Midwest — the Chicago metropolitan region.”

So says the Cook County Coyote Project, a collaboration of The Ohio State University and several agencies that seeks insight into these beautiful animals and how they intermingle with humans. This site is a perfect place to see hard data on how even the wildest of animals can be found in city propers. Thanks to Kim Cabrera, who brought this site to Green Among Gray’s attention, noting, “Coyotes live in many urban areas, including Los Angeles.”

Tracking Animals

2009-01-28T11:47:00.006-05:00

This is the point in the season where you get really sick of the snow. The holidays are past, you’ve done inordinate amounts of shoveling/snowblowing/plowing (not to mention ice-breaking, roof clearing, salting …), you’ve already gotten your skiing in, and you’ve got no use for the white stuff anymore.

But since the snow isn’t going anywhere for another month or so, rather than grouse about it, we need to find a way to deal with it. The best way to enjoy a snowstorm (absent a view of the falling snow from a supple couch near a fireplace, a smooth beer on one side and an even suppler and smoother Kate Winslet on the other)?

Tracking.

Yes, animal tracking. Tracking a wild animal is one of the most invigorating and healthy – both physically and psychically – things you can do. If you’re a walker, you’re already halfway there; the only aspect you have to add is to start paying close attention to the stuff around you. You’ll be amazed at what you see. Everything has meaning, from broken twigs and skinned saplings to scratches across the snow’s surface and ripples in the water. When you’re in a tracking mindset, these typically imperceptible things start screaming out at you, and they draw you in, revealing a story. It makes you feel connected.

And you don’t have to escape the city to do it. Your local park has all the fauna you need to experience the essence of tracking. In fact, the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation is offering a tracking class next month, and NYC Parks Dept. Deputy Director of Public Affairs Philip Abramson has passed along some tips to Green Among Gray readers:

· The best time to track animals is after a fresh snowfall or when the ground is muddy or wet.

· Look for “gait patterns” – the pattern that an animal uses to walk – such as one foot in front of another, walking parallel and how far apart their steps are spaced.

· A cat’s tracks do not show claw marks but dog tracks do show claw marks.

· Besides mammals, birds also leave tracks when they walk on the ground.

· Tracks are part of “animal sign” which also includes scat (natural term for excrement – one can ID what animal left it, what it ate, how fresh it is), scratch marks on trees, and hair/skin that is shed by the animal.

· Common animals in NYC parks that one can track include dogs, cats, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, birds and ducks.

· Tracks tell a story about animals without even seeing them. They put clues together and read the landscape.

We also had the pleasure of trading e-mails with master tracker Mark Elbroch, whose book, “Mammal Tracks & Sign,” is a must-have for any tracker. Elbroch took some time out from studying cougars in California to give some insight into exactly what tracking is all about.

How does tracking inform your everyday life, and how might it inform the life of the average person who normally doesn’t give much thought to tracking?
As a working biologist, I rely on tracking for nearly every aspect of my trade. It guides the questions I ask about wildlife and their interactions, and provides me a means of finding animals, catching them, and of course provides a rich data set in terms of recorded behaviors, presence/absence data, habitat use, etc.

On a more regular basis, tracking skills allow me to know what wildlife are around and what they are doing in whatever environment I'm in. Just this morning on the University of California campus, I encountered a carpet of cut twigs under some almond trees. This was the sign of industrious Eastern fox squirrels, harvesting the twig ends to eat the swollen buds. The folks I was with thought it like magic that I would know what had happened.

For regular folks, tracking provides an avenue to participate in their surroundings, to achieve real relations with wildlife.

What tools are required when starting out tracking – both equipment-wise and mindset-wise?
Focus (discipline) and imagination. Both are free. No equipment needed – just clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

What part of the U.S. is your favorite for tracking?
I like tracking large carnivores – bears and cougars – so that influences where I like to be. But I also love fishers and bobcats so am also happy in the Northeast. I love snow – it is easier tracking – and thus frees the mind to focus on what you are learning about wildlife behaviors and natural history. But I also love the desert earth. There's something to enjoy wherever I am.

Our audience might be surprised to learn more than just squirrels can be found in a city. What relatively uncommon birds or mammals might leave sign in/around city centers?
I lived in Boston several years and had wonderful encounters with kestrels, red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons – once watched a falcon very close up eat an entire pigeon. But while there I regularly tracked skunks, raccoons, opossums, and red foxes. The occasional coyote too would slip into town.

Any other insight on tracking in an urban environment?
Pay attention. Wildlife are surprisingly adaptive and often live invisible lives in between us.

What do you find rewarding about tracking, and what one specific experience in the field best represents this?
I think what continues to keep me tracking is that it provides me tangible relations with wild animals. As a wildlife fanatic this is like an addiction. Tracking is a way to interact with animals, without ever seeing them. To be reminded that we, too, are a part of natural systems.

Mark graciously provided an excerpt of a draft for a new guide he’s working on to be published by UC Press in their California Natural History Guide series (working title: “Animal Tracks and Sign”). “In the story,” Mark says, “I ‘dance’ with a mountain lion – and yet never see her. Only tracks betrayed the story:”

Suddenly fresh cougar tracks were beneath me. I love that part—the appearance of tracks on the landscape. Even when I expect to find them, it always seems so unexpected. It’s as if the whole world is slightly out of focus while my mind wanders and then suddenly I see just one thing in perfect clarity and my chattering mind stops—the tracks of some beast. The tracks belonged to a mature female cat and she’d been walking down the drainage heading in the direction from which I’d just come. It was there that she abandoned the soft sands of the wash and traveled northeast into the manzanita, pines and juniper. After a deep breath to focus and quiet my mind, I began to pursue. The afternoon was fast slipping away, so time was short, and I followed as quickly as possible. Yet within an hour of starting on the trail, I found myself confused. I looked down at the fresh tracks of a male cougar—had she really been a he? No, for just around the corner I found her trail again—there were two cats, one following the other. But I was wrong again, for I then noticed the trails of at least three different cougars converging among the dense manzanita bushes and winding up and over the folds of the desert canyon. I paused to reassess, kneeling down, and feeling the large pad of a cougar’s track—that which shows more clearly in difficult tracking terrain. Where was that cat at that very moment?

The mess of tracks could have been a family group. Or perhaps a kill was nearby. That’s what I hoped for— a fresh kill—something I could photograph. At the time I knew it didn’t really make sense—a mature male and female at the site of a kill, unless one were stealing from the other, but the sun was too low in the sky to give anything much thought, and the trailing demanded all of my attention. I began to jog along the cougars’ trails, circling in on myself and jumping from trail to trail, all the while peering into every shadowy bush and dense growth for the dark telltale mound of a cougar’s cache. Several times I stopped to scrutinize the large nests of woodrats, but recognition came quickly and I’d move on. As fast as I tracked, the sun moved quicker, and soon it was turning orange above the mountains to the west.

I popped out on the wash again, up drainage from where my adventure had begun. I’d followed numerous trails, looped in on myself countless times and had turned up nothing. I’d not even revealed where any of the cougars had departed the confusion of converging trails. But with sunlight at a premium, I decided to backtrack the female up the wash to see if a piece of the larger story lie behind her. It did. A male lion had been following her and had cut into the bush up drainage, where I hadn’t initially seen his tracks. Eventually their trails veered south and left the wash on the other side of the canyon.

As the sun moved below the mountain range to the west and the entire canyon was bathed in rosy shadows, I jogged on, reluctant to leave such a beautiful trail; the tracks were like food, and I was starving and couldn’t stop eating. Higher and higher I climbed but the light faded with increasing speed. Eventually the light was so low, I found myself moving at a crawl, losing the trail more often, and walking in a bent crouch so that my eyes were closer to the ground. I stood on a steep slope and appraised the areas that I had covered in the valley below and to the north where the cats had spiraled in on themselves. Temperatures were dropping quickly as I began my trip back to camp.

By the time I reached the wash, it was full dark and the brilliant stars were twinkling overhead. The simple notes of poorwills sounded in the distance, but otherwise the night was eerily quiet, and my footsteps in the sandy, gravelly wash seemed abrasive and loud. Niggling nervousness began to work its way into my mind, but I threw it off as the usual fears associated with being alone in the wilderness surrounded in fresh cougar sign. I walked on.

“Crunch, crunch, crunch,” my foot falls echoed along the wash and out into the scrub. I moved quickly to fight off the dropping temperatures and to stop from shivering. The nervousness in the back of my mind hadn’t resolved itself completely, and furrowed my brow. Then real fear seized me like a slap in the face, my gut twisted and I froze. The moon had just crested the canyon’s ridges, and its ghostly light filtered through the bushes and trees creating shadows and shapes that suddenly appeared menacing and dark. “A cougar could be sitting trail side and you’d never see it,” I thought to myself. I picked up a few good throwing rocks and began to massage my right arm to prepare for action in the cold.

“Stop it!” I told myself. “Get control of yourself. Its just the willies. Just irrational fear associated with a still, silent night spiced by fresh signs of cougars. Nothing to worry about. Another mile and a half and I’ll be safely back at camp.” And as the mind seemed to be playing tricks on me, I decided to play one back. I told myself, “You have permission to be afraid if you see her tracks atop your own.” Not likely, I thought.I walked perhaps fifty yards further down the wash before the moon rose high enough to bathe its floor. “No, it can’t be,” I thought. I knelt to get closer to my tracks from just hours before. Yet there was no denying it: there were the fresh tracks of a female cougar atop my own, and she was tracking me. I stood quickly and looked behind me. Suddenly that fear didn’t seem so irrational after all. I studied each shadow intently, willing my eyes to penetrate their black depths to discover the form of the cougar which no doubt was watching me at that very moment. I worked my throwing shoulder and rolled my first rock in my hand. Finally, I broke the spell and began to move quickly down drainage. I stopped with regularity to listen for footsteps behind me, and to look for a cougar’s form in pursuit. I avoided any area where she could attack from above, winding my way down the shadowy wash which seemed to stretch on for eternity. But I arrived safely back to camp, more tense than I’d have liked, and decided to sleep in the bed of my truck. With great relief, I slipped into my sleeping bag, and with the comfort of steel beneath me and the twinkling stars overhead, I soon asleep, thrilled to have shared an evening with another predator.

I awoke during the night with the certainty that I was being watched. The moon was straight overhead and bright. I sat up and peered into the contrasting landscape of dark shadows and reflecting moonlight. Nothing but trees, shrubs, shadows and crisp cool air. The canyon was utterly silent. I coaxed myself back to sleep, but in what seemed an instant, I was wide awake yet again. I gazed out over the edge of my truck bed and beyond the open tailgate at the pines and canyon slopes. I was starting to wonder if I should have closed the tailgate for additional protection. Still nothing. Eventually I fell back asleep and then awoke with the first hints of light, when the air seemed thick and somehow more tangible.

It was still cold, but I was eager to head up drainage to discover where the cat had been when we encountered each other in the wash the night before—which I was certain was the moment when my gut screamed be afraid. I layered up and grabbed a water bottle to fill at the spring. But I was stopped at the perimeter of my camp, perhaps 10 meters from my truck where I’d slept. There were her tracks, and she was accompanied by two large kittens, perhaps 10-12 months of age. No doubt the first time I awoke in the middle of the night corresponded with this initial visit. I followed her as she circled my camp, where at intervals she approached where I slept to have another look. She appeared curious. The kittens too, but they never approached as closely as she did. Then she led her kittens down to Nettle Springs for a drink. I continued to follow her as she circled up hill behind the springs and back to where I had slept. She had peered down at me from above—likely the second time I’d woken and sat up.

It took the remainder of the day to piece the entire story together, having followed her tracks in every direction to relay this story: She’d followed my tracks for a half mile up drainage to where we’d met in the dark. No doubt she heard me coming. She moved off to the north side of the drainage, lay sphinx-like in the shadows of a manzanita bush, and watched me as I passed by, massaging my throwing shoulder and trying to look every direction at once. Less than twenty yards from the wash where I’d walked, she’d remained invisible to me. From there, she worked her way up the hillside, cutting east as she climbed, paralleling the wash below. Soon, she began a more vertical ascent to the north, before dropping into a tiny hidden canyon. It was there she’d left her kittens.

Together the three cougars dropped back into the wash and followed my tracks towards my camp for well over a mile. She came into my camp, circling, investigating and then eventually took her kittens to drink. Likely they’d been at an old kill site, for cats often move to water after a heavy feeding. After circling above my camp for another look, they climbed to the mesa above and headed towards Pine Mountain , several miles to the east. It was the direction from which she’d come when followed by the male, so perhaps somewhere near the mountain she’d cached another deer to feed her growing kittens.

One more tracking definition before we start: Tracking provides us the opportunity to participate in genuine relationships with real animals in a real world. I tracked the cougar, the cougar tracked me. Tracking also allows us the opportunity to recognize our participation in natural systems. If I’d been unaware of the tracks about me, I’d only have hiked in a beautiful canyon. Perhaps I’d have experienced an instinctual alarm of fear, but I’d never have been able to substantiate its cause. I’d have departed Nettle Springs, never having seen a cougar, and therefore completely oblivious to the dance we shared in the moonlight. Some might argue that I’d have been a poorer man indeed.

Thanks to Mark for the eloquent, feels-like-you-were-there account. Admittedly, it’s probably not going to be a cougar you’ll be “dancing” with. But if you’re just starting out tracking, the experience of gaining insight into an animal and its behaviors – even if it’s just a plain ol’ gray squirrel – is incredibly rewarding.

If you try it out, let us know your impressions by posting a comment below.

Pushing 'Planet Forward'

2009-01-23T09:20:00.003-05:00

So you’re excited about the promise of a new power for good in Washington, about Obama and his new team of environmental stewards, and want to get involved somehow. You want to initiate some action yourself (you know, beyond your recent switch to mostly CFLs, except for that one lamp by the couch because that’s where you do all your reading and you’re getting a little older now and the damn little type they use in books these days just doesn’t pop the same as under a good ol’ incandescent). But you don’t know where to start. One suggestion: Planet Forward.

This “hybrid media initiative,” to be launched in March, will combine an online presence and PBS specials to showcase opinions on what we should do about the environment. Of course, there’ll be the usual scientists and policymakers chiming in, but the focus is on the ordinary public and how they may (or may not) be able to shape the climate crisis debate, as well as its solutions.

The Planet Forward website is asking for submissions – anything from videos to poems – and will include the “most persuasive, most informative, most creative” arguments as part of the PBS specials, which begin airing April 15 (just ahead of Earth Day).

Planet Forward is largely the brainchild of George Washington University Public Affairs Project Director and former CNN veteran Frank Sesno. We spoke with Frank via email for more insight into Planet Forward’s goals.

How did you get involved in Planet Forward?
I wanted to create a space for innovation, thought and genuine citizen engagement in public affairs media. I felt there were new ways to connect web and television, citizens and decision-makers. I wanted to try all this in an environment that would foster creativity and fresh thinking. The university setting is ideal for that and a wonderfully compatible partner for public broadcasting since both share a mission of inquiry and creativity. I chose energy, climate and sustainability as the focus of Planet Forward because they are issues that touch everyone, are dynamic and will profoundly affect the way we live.

What are the expectations for involvement level?
We hope to hear from students and workers, civic and business leaders, recognized experts and entrepreneurs. They will make their case and show us what it looks like. We will use their contributions to generate a conversation that is bottom up, rather than top down. The web community will help shape the television show. We have established relationships with partner schools and organizations, businesses and interest groups to cast a wide net for ideas, expertise and experience. We anticipate dozens of submissions on the startup website on a wide range of topics reflecting a highly diverse set of viewpoints. It is our expectation -- and hope -- that the conversation will reveal the complexity of the discussion, the challenge of the moment, and the prospects that technolgy and time hold. Planet Forward comes at an ideal time, as a new president makes energy a top priority and is asking Americans to weigh in, be heard and use technology to become part of the process.

There are so many outlets now for the online community and its many causes; how will Planet Forward stand out and really make an impression?
This one culminates in a television show and then moves back online, so there's movement and a high profile conversation that will generate and promote participation. The process will reward the best submissions -- most informative, creative, persuasive -- with a potential appearance on the television show, where contributors will come face to face with decision-makers. So the community meets the power brokers. It's an opportunity to shape the debate. And it starts online.

How exactly do you see this sort of "bottom-up, citizens-leading" initiative resulting in real-world change?
We're introducing Planet Forward at a time when the new president is inviting citizens to get involved, have a voice and shape the decisions the country will be making. Planet Forward will give citizens not just a voice, but a camera and a platform -- and it will connect citizens with decision-makers in the public and the private sector. They will discuss and debate and influence the process from the ground up.

So there it is. If we want to make change, our excuse of “I would do something about it if I could” is flimsier than ever. Who knows if Planet Forward will end up amounting to real change? Not me, not Frank Sesno, not anyone.

But it could – and you or I could be the one to make it happen.

Hyundai’s Green Push

2009-01-21T10:28:00.002-05:00

Hyundai recently announced one of the biggest green initiatives ever by an auto company: the Genesis Forest carbon-offset project.

The world’s fifth-largest automaker is working with Carbonfund.org to offset the first year of emissions from all Hyundai Genesis sedans through the conservation and reforestation of tropical forest in Brazil.

They work it this way: Estimate the number of Genesis vehicles they’ll sell in the model’s first year (they debuted in June), then figure the amount of carbon dioxide those cars will emit, then calculate how much forest it takes to chew through that much carbon dioxide. Working with Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards, Hyundai came up with 93,170 metric tons of CO2, to be offset by 3,000 acres of forest.

Let’s take the math a little further. Suppose we’re going to buy a Genesis. We want to know just how much tropical forest we’ll be “saving” with our purchase, right? The Hyundai/Carbonfund calculator can help.

It tells us that if we drive a Hyundai Genesis (3.8 L) 12,000 miles, it emits 5.069 tons of CO2. So simply by puttering back-and-forth to work everyday, picking up the groceries, and doing other assorted driverly tasks, we’re saving .16 acres. A tenth of an acre might not seem like much, but consider there are 200-400 trees per acre in the Amazonian rainforest.

Theoretically, this all means that if you buy a Hyundai Genesis this year, you’re saving about 50 trees in the Brazilian rainforest. Pretty cool.

Hyundai is also awarding three $35,000 grants to whoever can come up with new ways to help forests, following CCB standards.

This is all part of the “Hyundai Blue Drive” strategy. Keep an eye on this space for more details and insight from Hyundai executives.

FOIA To The Rescue?

2009-01-16T10:33:00.004-05:00

FOIA. In this day of ubiquitous acronyms, there may be no more important yet little-known term than this.

It’s short for the Freedom Of Information Act. I won’t pretend to be an expert, as I’ve never utilized it, and in fact only in the past year started to really pay attention to it and how it gives us behind-the-scenes glimpses of that forever-running passion play in DC.

But for a journalist doing an in-depth story on anything related to the government, it’s their bread and butter, their ticket to the truth. And so it is all ours, because FOIA ensures access to federal agencies’ records is open to anyone – all you have to do is ask, in writing.

There is, of course, a catch: FOIA requests can be turned down, based on nine exemptions and three exclusions, including that old chestnut “national security,” as well as “Records or Information that Could Reasonably be Expected to Interfere with Enforcement Proceedings.”
It’s this exemption that is of particular interest to us now, as it’s the one (apparently) that the Bush administration is using to deny a FOIA request made by online newsletter Greenwire.

As Greenwire’s Darren Samuelsohn explains, The White House Office of Management and Budget has rejected attempts to uncover the EPA’s sealed "endangerment finding" documents, which reportedly reveal greenhouse gas emissions do in fact pose a health threat, making them fair game for regulation. The EPA has maintained they don’t have the right to regulate such emissions, as famously demonstrated when it denied California a waiver to regulate vehicle emissions.

The more jaded among us have read this as EPA putting money (the influence of the U.S. auto industry) ahead of Americans’ health, a supposition pretty much substantiated with incoming EPA chief Lisa Jackson’s recent comments: “Science will be the backbone of what EPA does.”

Jackson’s implication, of course, is that science has NOT been the backbone of what the EPA does (at least for, say, the past 8 years).

Greenwire plans to sue for release of the full endangerment finding document, though it may not come to that with Jackson and company soon taking the stage. So this particular secretive drama should all be out in the open soon. But there will be others, despite the “fully open” promise of Obama.

And FOIA will be there to help – most of the time.

Obama’s Green Team

2008-12-17T13:40:00.003-05:00

After years of suffering through an administration that at its best saw the stewardship of our natural world as a burden and at its worst actually appeared to seek to destroy it, (also see here, and there are plenty of other instances to be found if you care to poke around) a new green team in D.C. can be nothing but an improvement. Nowhere to go but up, as they say.

So just what heights can we expect Obama’s environmental watchdogs to reach? Looking at the appointees, there would seem to be reason for optimism:

Steven Chu, energy secretary
The 60-year-old director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab is a longtime advocate for alternative energy. He won the physics Nobel in 1997 while a professor at Stanford University. His experience reveals him to be a scientist through and through, compelled not by partisanship but by a search for truth.
Compare that to outgoing Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who hadn’t been active in science for 30-plus years when he was surprisingly appointed in 2005. He’s more a big biz guy, said by some to be there simply as a White House (read: Cheney) puppet.

Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator

The former head of New Jersey's environmental department was behind the state’s stricter chemical-safety regulations, and is said to have been a driving force in the state’s aggressive energy plan. She has taken some flak for being seen as not strict enough on hazardous cleanups.

Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
In the unprecedented role everyone’s calling "energy czar," Browner may end up serving as sort of a political yin to Chu’s scientific yang. She knows how to be a bureaucrat, having spent more time as EPA chief than anyone else, and is tight with Al Gore. She shapes up to be the Yoda of the group – someone the others will look to for guidance. Among her accomplishments: She kick-started the Everglades cleanup, helped enact pesticide regulations and fought soot and smog.

Perhaps the surest sign we’re headed in the right direction? Check out the reaction of Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe (he of the No. 1 status on the League of Conservation Voters’ “Dirty Dozen” list).