Try Some of these Green Ideas!

That's a retail value of $200 people! How could I not enter? And you should, too!

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Half of 6- to-8-year-olds encourage their parents to buy
green products--with Hispanic children leading other demographics by a wide
margin. The Hispanic kids' environmentalism, in turn, may be the reason why the
Pacific region--with its large Hispanic population--leads all other areas in
numbers of kids pushing their parent to go green.

[/caption]

With fuel prices on the rise and the effects of global warming becoming more apparent each day, many commuters are turning to greener ways of transportation.  In New York, cab sharing is becoming a popular and cost-effective way to get from place to place.  Websites such as RideAmigos.com allows New Yorkers to search for fellow riders with common destinations and arrange to share a ride.  In Washington D.C., a program called SmartBike DC allows commuters to rent bicycles by the hour to efficiently get around the Capitol.  In Paris, a similar bike rental program, called Velib, allows Parisians (and tourists) access to public bicycles, creating an effective alternative for reaching destination points between Metro stations.  Danish home furnishings giant IKEA takes the concept of rental bicycles one step further by providing “trailer bikes,” bicycles equipped with carts, as an eco-friendly way for shoppers to transport their flat-packed goods back home. These innovative methods of alternative transportation are gradually beginning to take off in many major cities.

In New York, a crowded city where traffic congestion and delayed subway trains are a daily nuisance, it would be refreshing to find other (greener) means of transportation. However, a recurring problem is that most urban roads were not designed with cyclists in mind.  The lack of separate bicycle lanes in many cities heightens the risk of accidents for cyclists, and also deters many from considering biking as an alternate form of commute.  This trend for sustainability is still relatively new, and many people are only slowly beginning to adapt to the mindset of a sustainable lifestyle.   Thus, predictably, it will take a while before cities such as New York are able to fully embrace change for a more sustainable society. WU

FRONTLINE GLOBAL INVESTIGATION REPORTS:

WHAT BIG BUSINESS IS DOING TO ADDRESS CLIMATE PROBLEM

FRONTLINE Presents  

HEAT

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS  

(check local listings)

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Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, fires, floods and droughts. On the eve of a historic election, award-winning producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the world's largest corporations and governments are responding to Earth's looming environmental disaster. HEAT , part of "PBS Vote 2008" election coverage, confronts the defining story of our time in a two-hour FRONTLINE investigation airing Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings).

"I have reported on the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the rise of Al Qaeda, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," says Smith. "But nothing matches climate change in scope and severity."

The world needs to dramatically cut the carbon emissions responsible for wreaking havoc on the planet's climate, according to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, whose organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize. "If we don't take action immediately, we face a crisis," Pachauri tells Smith. "Climate change is caused by human actions, and we need to do something about it. The sooner we realize that, the better."

With that sense of urgency in mind, Smith traveled to 12 countries on four continents to investigate whether major corporations and governments are up to the challenge. HEAT features in-depth interviews with top policy-makers and with leading executives from many of the largest carbon emitters from around the world, including Chinese coal companies, Indian SUV makers and American oil giants. The report paints an ominous portrait. Despite increasing talk about "going green," across the planet, environmental concerns are still taking a back seat to shorter-term economic interests.

Smith's journey begins at the epicenter of new industrial development: China. In the midst of unprecedented growth, the Chinese are clearly moving in the wrong direction. He visits Shenhua Energy, one of the largest and fastest-growing power companies in the world--a coal conglomerate with a huge carbon footprint. But its CEO, Ling Wen, tells Smith that he answers not to the public but to his shareholders. "We must create money, not lose the money," Ling says. "It's my responsibility as a CEO of this company." And when pressed whether he should make climate change a higher priority, Ling says that he would if his shareholders asked him. But, he says, "I'm afraid maybe all the shareholders, they cannot accept that concept." In the meantime, China continues to build two new coal-fired power plants every week.

Smith finds a similar situation in India, where rapidly rising income levels have prompted an explosion in the demand for new cars. Automakers are thriving, pushing out new models, including the Nano, a small car aimed at helping even the poorest citizens get behind the wheel--no small thing, as India stands to overtake China as the world's most populous country by mid-century. With several hundred million new drivers taking to the streets, India's carbon emissions will soar.

And with new cars, of course, come new roads, linking crowded cities and fueling a construction boom across the developing world that drives emissions ever higher. The manufacture of cement is the third-largest industrial contributor of greenhouse gases in the world. Supplying more cement for buildings, roads and bridges makes big emission reductions impossible. This presents a core dilemma for all large emerging nations, from China to India, Indonesia, Russia, Mexico and Brazil: how to grow without inflicting more damage on the environment.

"I think the difficulty we have is that countries that have developed and have done the polluting part are now asking the countries that are developing, 'OK, you can't pollute,'" says Hameed Bhombal, of Aditya Birla Group, an Indian megaconglomerate. "It has to be done in a way that's fair."

According to Dr. Pachauri of the IPCC, the onus is on the developed world to lead the way. Now, with gas prices spiking, there is an additional incentive for American car companies to offer smaller, more efficient vehicles. But will they respond? Their record is discouraging. Smith asks Beth Lowery, head of environmental affairs at General Motors, why Toyota beat GM to the Prius. Lowery replies that GM looked at hybrids from a "business case" and asked, "Can this vehicle make money?" GM banked instead on trucks and SUVs and is now suffering its worst performance in 50 years. GM is now playing catch-up and investing billions in a new hybrid, the Chevy Volt, which is scheduled to be released sometime this year.

There is also the problem that while hybrid cars may emit less CO2 than their gas-guzzling cousins, they still require electricity to run. So, making cars like the Volt part of a campaign to seriously reduce emissions will mean finding a new, cleaner power source. Currently, more than half of American power comes from coal. Coal is cheap and reliable, but dirty.

The answer, the industry says, will be "clean coal"--a complex process by which the burnt-off carbon will be captured and buried in the earth's crust. But as Smith investigates, he finds there are serious doubts about whether "clean coal" will ever work. When pressed, utility CEO David Ratcliffe of Southern Company, one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, concedes that "we haven't even come close to defining what are the legal liabilities and what are the permitting requirements" for removing carbon from coal and burying it underground. Recently, several "clean coal" projects in the U.S. have stalled over these and other uncertainties.

As Jeffrey Ball, environmental news editor at The Wall Street Journal, tells Smith, "There was huge, rosy optimism about it. What's wrong is that reality is intruding."

On the campaign trail, both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have announced their plans for a new energy policy that will cut carbon emissions. Optimistically, they suggest that the "greening" of American business heralds a new era of sleek technologies and opportunities for innovation. What they tend not to emphasize is cost and, on the part of every consumer, sacrifice.

In his interview with FRONTLINE, California's attorney general, Jerry Brown, reminds Smith that it won't be easy. "Our wealth, our society, our being is driven by oil and carbon. It's intellectually dishonest to somehow say we can get some light bulbs or get a Prius, and then we're all done. No, this is going to take massive technological innovation. It's going to take changes in the way we live and work. And it's going to take cooperation of unprecedented degrees among business and government and among countries. That's where we are, and that's why there's no other word except 'daunting.' I'm hopeful. I'm cautiously optimistic. But I would have to say one has to approach this with great humility."

Author and journalist Jeff Goodell adds, "We seem incapable of grasping what's at stake here, perhaps because so much is at stake. Addressing this really means reinventing the engine of our lives--which is fossil fuels."

HEAT is a FRONTLINE co-production with RAINMedia, Inc.

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The producer, writer and reporter is Martin Smith. The co-producer is Chris Durrance. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation. Major funding for HEAT is provided by the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with a grant from Hannelore and Jeremy Grantham and the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, and additional support from Scott Nathan and Laura DeBonis. Additional funding for HEAT is provided by the Nathan Cummings Foundation. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described, for people who are blind or visually impaired, by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.

PBS goes behind the headlines throughout the summer and fall with the "PBS Vote 2008" election lineup, offering Americans a unique opportunity to explore the presidential election. PBS' trusted news brands and personalities bring viewers in-depth information and insight into the issues and candidates. PBS' election coverage will be led by The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill & National Journal, NOW on PBS, Bill Moyers Journal and Tavis Smiley, and enhanced by programming from other trusted PBS sources, including American Experience, FRONTLINE, Nightly Business Report and P.O.V. PBS.org's election hub page, pbs.org/vote2008, will provide further perspectives. The site will aggregate video from PBS, feature syndicatable content from across public media, and highlight innovative Web-only projects from PBS producers and stations.

pbs.org/pressroom
Promotional photography can be downloaded from the PBS pressroom.

Press contacts
Diane Buxton
(617) 300-5375
diane_buxton@wgbh.org

Alissa Rooney
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alissa_rooney@wgbh.org

privacy policy . journalistic guidelines . FRONTLINE series home . wgbh . pbs

posted june 20, 2008

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Get out of the box - get an EarthShip!!!

Related Environmental Articles:

Pacific Trash Tsunami

Coal and the Mountains of Appalachia

Ecological Footprint - how do you score?

Dimming the Sun

Depression & Anxiety: the cost "STUFF" is having on us and the world

Bio-test Plots and Mycorrhizal fungi

Plug-in, Spray, Liquid or Gel Air Fresheners - an Environmental Health Hazard in your Home

Growing up Green with Young Living Essential Oils

Hurricanes, Earthquakes & Essential Oils

Chemicals: your Body Burden

Image of Compost Machine sold at Composters.com

Now that your house looks nice from the inside from all that brand new furniture, your landscape should be just as nice from the outside. Having some money left in your remodeling budget for landscaping is important, and a compost bin can help greatly help you in that department.

What's Goes On In A Compost Bin?

Composting is the process of breaking down waste matter that one would throw in the trash, and turn it into nutrient-rich fertilizer for the home garden. When your kitchen waste combines with water, sun, heat, and worms the ending process in called compost. Compost is another word for fertilizer. A tiny bag of fertilizer at your local home improvement store can cost you anywhere from $7-$10 a bag. With a compost bin you will never have to buy enriched fertilizer for your lawn and garden anymore. The other benefit of composting is that you are reducing the amount of waste being thrown into our landfill. Cool deal huh?

The Different Types Of Compost Bins

There are many different kinds of compost bins on the market. The standard ones are the compost bins placed outside in your yard. There are other compost bins that you can have inside your house and it still wont produce any odor and you can see all the different varieties at www.composters.com. I prefer the outdoor compost bin because they tend to hold more waste and is more convenient because the compost would be used outside anyways, unless they're used for house plants. Compost is suppose to smell like fresh soil and shouldn't stink. If your compost starts to smell like a stink bomb, then you've thrown something in there that shouldn't be there. You can read a free in-depth manual on composting at www.compostmanual.com.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

Kiss My Face has a handy Travel Action Pack for travelers. The Travel Action Pack is a clear airline friendly travel bag filled with shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, deodorant, shaving cream, shower gel, and moisturizer as well. This Action Travel Pack can not only come in handy for people who are traveling but also for people who are spending a weekend at a friend's or a relative's perhaps.

First West Elm and now CB2...I clearly spent this past weekend flipping through catalogs by the pool! I've always been a sucker for CB2 -Crate and Barrel's younger, hipper, more modern cousin- but I was thrilled to see that they are beginning to carry some eco-friendly products. For those of you with children, nothing is cuter, yet still orGLAMic, than the mosaic recycled placemats pictured above. These would also be great under Fido's food bowls. The 100% recycled mats are actually juice boxes shredded, compressed, re-freshed, and are one of a kind. They are water- and moisture-resistant, and won't crack, splinter or chip. To purchase click here.

Aún no está totalmente operativo ya que las obras aún siguen; supongo que las primeras plantas ya acogen clientes como he podido comprobar. La entrada es un poco rudimentaria, pero su objetivo es otro.

El Barcelona Urbany Hostel, ubicado entre la calle Consell de Cent y la avenida Meridiana, tiene trece plantas y 84 habitaciones con capacidad de albergar alrededor de 400 personas. Las tarifas oscilan entre 21 y 26 euros en habitación compartida y los 39 que cuesta dormir sin oír los ronquidos de nadie.

El equipamiento dispone de cocina comunitaria y lavandería, así como de piscina y gimnasio.

A nivel de entorno, no está muy integrado ya que es el edificio más alto a varias manzanas (si exceptuamos la Torre Agbar) y desentona bastante.

Ya he visto mucho turista de edades que rondan los 20-25 años y principalmente de países nórdicos. Espero que ellos sepan apreciar el "eco-friendly"..... en su web destacan algunos puntos.

Relacionado: Hostal Eco-friendly en Barcelona

Fotos: Fotos

Estudantes fazem corrida de carros ecológicos em Interlagos

Maratona da Eficiência reúne 29 protótipos que não emitem poluentes.
Carro consegue rodar mais de 400 km com um litro de combustível.

.

link (contém vídeo): http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Carros/0,,MUL690360-9658,00.html

Wetsand.com is great because it's a one stop shop for surfing and other water sports. Click the link at the end of this post, and check it out... On one page you have access to surfing news, surf reports, a great on line store, and some fascinating articles and photo galleries to boot. The surf store has a strong eco-friendly slant, and sells everything from recycled leashes to bio-foam surfboards, which replace many of the toxic materials found in normal boards with plant based, bio-degradable versions.

The surf reports there are great as well, and frankly, I find them a lot easier to read than other sites. I usually have a pretty good idea what the water will be like after checking them out, and when I get to the beach, the waves usually fit my expectations. So at least I know ahead of time how bad a pounding I'm going to get!

I don't work for wetsand, nor am I part of an affiliate program or anything. I just really like their site, and want to pass along the info to anyone who may be interested. If you like it, come back here and let me know!

If you have been keeping up with the progress of my beautiful handcrafted camphor laurel chopping, cheese boards and Mezzaluna Boards. My official site is finally finished and live so to see my full collection please click here.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon peanut oil
800g Chicken breasts or tenders, chopped into pieces (If you serve this as is without the rice I would up the chicken to 1kg-1.1kg for 4.)
2 Brown onions, sliced thinly
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
50ml Water
1 Teaspoon chicken stock
150ml Satay Sauce
1 Teaspoon chili flakes
250ml Coconut milk
200ml coconut cream
2 Green onions, sliced

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, stir fry chicken in batches, until browned all over and cooked. Remove and set to one side.

2. Cook onion and garlic in same wok, stir-until onion softens.

3. Return chicken to pan, add remaining ingredients except green onion, stir-fry until everything is hot and sauce has thickened slightly.

To serve: Spoon chicken over rice and sprinkle with green onions.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Our country needs a change of direction. We're doing all kinds of horrible things. I mean, just look at the War in Iraq. People are getting blown up and it's like, because of us. I mean, if we hadn't gone in there in the first place, people would be a lot happier and nobody would get blown up by, like, IEDs and stuff. So I like it a lot when Obama says we should bring the troops home.

I like it when he talks about the environment too. Because I mean we're in this absolute crisis that isn't going to go away unless we do something. And gas prices? What is the Republican guy gonna do to lower the gas prices? Drill for more oil? Doesn't he see that we are running out of oil? There is nowhere to drill man! And have you noticed that gas prices have been going up since the Republicans announced they would have a candidate to run against Barack? Seriously, just give it up already. Everybody knows Barack is going to win.

And why shouldn't he? I mean, the dude is black (NOT a Muslim...not that there's anything wrong with that). I mean, if he were a Muslim, how would that whole thing with his pastor gone down? Everybody started FREAKING OUT just because Obama's religious mentor of 20 years turned out to be an absolute off-the-wall nutjob. The thing is though, everybody knows that JOHN MCCAIN is really the religious wacko. I mean, he's a Republican! How could he NOT be an evangelical head-case?

Now, I'm white but that doesn't mean I can't respect Obama. I mean, white people have oppressed black people for centuries. Don't you think it's time that we let a black man be President? I mean, come on.

And yeah, that's pretty much about it.

The Cosmetics Database lists these as the top 10 wipes (again, I always recommend checking the database yourself and verifying the ingredients as the database is not always accurate as formulas frequently change, though maybe less often for baby wipes.) Their hazard ranking follows the name of the wipes (though please note again to check all ingredients as many contain parabens, propylene glycol and other harmful ingredients).

After looking at the ingredients, only Seventh Generation and Tushies contain all low hazard ingredients, so these are probably the only ones I will consider using in the future. I have heard good things about both. And these wipes are also whitened without the use of bleach! Yes, baby wipes as well as other paper goods, are whitened with bleach. And some of the residue may remain, so you are potentially wiping yours and your baby’s bottom with bleach. Yuck.

1. Seventh Generation Unscented Baby Wipes with Aloe Vera & Vitamin E baby wipes 1
2. Tushies Baby Wipes with Aloe Vera, Unscented baby wipes 1
3. Mother Nature Wipes Unscented Natural Formula Flushable Wipes baby wipes 2
4. Inspiration Vibration VIBEbaby herbal baby wipes baby wipes 2
5. Avalon Organics FLUSHABLE BIODEGRADABLE BABY WIPES baby wipes 2
6. Avalon Baby Flushable Biodegradable Baby Wipes baby wipes 2
7. HUGGIES Natural Care Disposable Washcloths baby wipes 3
8. Pampers Wipes Sensitive baby wipes 3
9. Pampers Sensitive Touch Wipes, Alcohol Free baby wipes 3
10. Pampers Wipes Natural Aloe Unscented baby wipes 3

Happy wiping! :)

ScienceDaily (July 24, 2008) — A University of Washington study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels.

"I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick," said Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs. "And I wanted to know, 'What's in these products that is causing these effects?'"

She analyzed the products to discover the chemicals' identity.

"I was surprised by both the number and the potential toxicity of the chemicals that were found," Steinemann said. Chemicals included acetone, the active ingredient in paint thinner and nail-polish remover; limonene, a molecule with a citrus scent; and acetaldehyde, chloromethane and 1,4-dioxane.

"Nearly 100 volatile organic compounds were emitted from these six products, and none were listed on any product label. Plus, five of the six products emitted one or more carcinogenic 'hazardous air pollutants,' which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to have no safe exposure level," Steinemann said.

Her study was published online July23 by the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Steinemann chose not to disclose the brand names of the six products she tested. In a larger study of 25 cleaners, personal care products, air fresheners and laundry products, now submitted for publication, she found that many other brands contained similar chemicals.

Because manufacturers of consumer products are not required to disclose the ingredients, Steinemann analyzed the products to discover their contents. She studied three common air fresheners (a solid deodorizer disk, a liquid spray and a plug-in oil) and three laundry products (a dryer sheet, fabric softener and a detergent), selecting a top seller in each category. She bought household items at a grocery store and asked companies for samples of industrial products.

In the laboratory, each product was placed in an isolated space at room temperature and the surrounding air was analyzed for volatile organic compounds, small molecules that evaporate from the product's surface into the air.

Results showed 58 different volatile organic compounds above a concentration of 300 micrograms per cubic meter, many of which were present in more than one of the six products. For instance, a plug-in air freshener contained more than 20 different volatile organic compounds. Of these, seven are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws. The product label lists no ingredients, and information on the Material Safety Data Sheet, required for workplace handling of chemicals, lists the contents as "mixture of perfume oils."

This study does not address links between exposure to chemicals and health effects. However, two national surveys published by Steinemann and a colleague in 2004 and 2005 found that about 20 percent of the population reported adverse health effects from air fresheners, and about 10 percent complained of adverse effects from laundry products vented to the outdoors. Among asthmatics such complaints were roughly twice as common.

Manufacturers are not required to list the ingredients used in laundry products and air fresheners. Personal-care products and cleaners often contain similar fragrance chemicals, Steinemann said. And although cosmetics are required by the Food and Drug Administration to list ingredients, no law requires products of any kind to list chemicals used in fragrances.

"Fragrance chemicals are of particular interest because of the potential for involuntary exposure, or second-hand scents," Steinemann said.

"Be careful if you buy products with fragrance, because you really don't know what's in them," she added. "I'd like to see better labeling. In the meantime, I'd recommend that instead of air fresheners people use ventilation, and with laundry products, choose fragrance-free versions."

The European Union recently enacted legislation requiring products to list 26 fragrance chemicals when they are present above a certain concentration in cosmetic products and detergents. No similar laws exist in the United States.

"I hope this study will raise public awareness, and reduce exposures to potentially hazardous chemicals," said Steinemann.

If you have been keeping up with the progress of my beautiful handcrafted camphor laurel chopping, cheese boards and Mezzaluna Boards. My official site is finally finished and live so to see my full collection please click here.

Ingredients

4 beef tenderloin steaks, cut 1 inch thick (about 1 lb total)
3 tablespoons cognac or brandy (I added more cognac to steak and pour in the pan with steak and ignited.)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup sliced fresh mushroom
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup fat-free half-and-half (I used low fat cream)
2 tablespoons dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (I used cornflour)

Method

1. Trim fat from steaks. Place steaks in shallow dish. Pour 2 tablespoons of the cognac over steaks. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 15 minutes, turning once. Drain steaks, discarding cognac in dish. Sprinkle steaks with pepper.

2. Place steaks on rack of uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Grill for 11-15 minutes for medium-rare or 14-18 minutes for medium, turning once.

3. I cooked mine in a pan as I added extra cognac and ignited the steaks. Then finished under the grill.

For Sauce

1. In small saucepan, cook mushrooms, garlic and shallot in hot butter for 3 - 4 minutes or until tender.

2. Stir in beef broth and remaining cognac. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

3. In small bowl, stir together half-and-half, mustard, and flour. Stir into broth mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

To Serve: I served mine over mash, drizzled sauce over steak and then topped the steak with bacon wrapped asparagus.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Everyday drivers can do it by modifying driving behaviors-- accelerate more slowly, slow naturally before braking, and find the car's best cruising speeds.

Of course, there are handy gadgets to help you here. These two connect to the onboard computer in newer cars.

ScanGauge helps you monitor such things as your best MPG speeds in realtime. Just don't get so caught up you forget to watch the road.
ScanGauge II 3-in-1 Compact Multifunction Vehicle Computer with Customizable Display

DashDyno SPD is a more expensive and useful onboard monitor.
Auterra A-501 DashDyno SPD ProPack - Scan Tool, Performance Meter, and Data Logger

You can also change how you maintain and modify your vehicle, such as changing tires, keeping them at the right pressure and alignment, and using the proper type of fuel.

Hypermiling has also become a major recreational event, especially among hybrid car owners.

As usual, wikipedia knows a lot, and will be quite happy to tell you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling

Too green.  Bleh!

via Closet Therapy

How to Create a Peasant Top from a Funky Thrift Store Muumuu - CraftStylish

We are simply loving this resourceful idea from the book, Subversive Seamster It's a little bit funky, a little bit retro, a little eco-friendly, and a whole lot of stylish mixed into one great top. The perfect signature shirt for a modern day mom looking for ways to save a few bucks, look good at the same time, and if at all possible not damage the planet any more than it already is. Sounds like us, right? We found this project at Craft Stylish. If you've never been there, you should go (after your done here of course) and check out all their fantastic craft ideas.

Karen Kawawada

WATERLOO

Getting ordinary plastic bags to rot away like banana peels would be an environmental dream come true.

After all, we produce 500 billion a year worldwide and they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. They take up space in landfills, litter our streets and parks, pollute the oceans and kill the animals that eat them.

Now a Waterloo teenager has found a way to make plastic bags degrade faster -- in three months, he figures.

Daniel Burd's project won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa. He came back with a long list of awards, including a $10,000 prize, a $20,000 scholarship, and recognition that he has found a practical way to help the environment.

Daniel, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, got the idea for his project from everyday life.

"Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me," he said. "One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags."

The answer: not much. So he decided to do something himself.

He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature.

First, he ground plastic bags into a powder. Next, he used ordinary household chemicals, yeast and tap water to create a solution that would encourage microbe growth. To that, he added the plastic powder and dirt. Then the solution sat in a shaker at 30 degrees.

After three months of upping the concentration of plastic-eating microbes, Burd filtered out the remaining plastic powder and put his bacterial culture into three flasks with strips of plastic cut from grocery bags. As a control, he also added plastic to flasks containing boiled and therefore dead bacterial culture.

Six weeks later, he weighed the strips of plastic. The control strips were the same. But the ones that had been in the live bacterial culture weighed an average of 17 per cent less.

That wasn't good enough for Burd. To identify the bacteria in his culture, he let them grow on agar plates and found he had four types of microbes. He tested those on more plastic strips and found only the second was capable of significant plastic degradation.

Next, Burd tried mixing his most effective strain with the others. He found strains one and two together produced a 32 per cent weight loss in his plastic strips. His theory is strain one helps strain two reproduce.

Tests to identify the strains found strain two was Sphingomonas bacteria and the helper was Pseudomonas.

A researcher in Ireland has found Pseudomonas is capable of degrading polystyrene, but as far as Burd and his teacher Mark Menhennet know -- and they've looked -- Burd's research on polyethelene plastic bags is a first.

Next, Burd tested his strains' effectiveness at different temperatures, concentrations and with the addition of sodium acetate as a ready source of carbon to help bacteria grow.

At 37 degrees and optimal bacterial concentration, with a bit of sodium acetate thrown in, Burd achieved 43 per cent degradation within six weeks.

The plastic he fished out then was visibly clearer and more brittle, and Burd guesses after six more weeks, it would be gone. He hasn't tried that yet.

To see if his process would work on a larger scale, he tried it with five or six whole bags in a bucket with the bacterial culture. That worked too.

Industrial application should be easy, said Burd. "All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes and your plastic bags."

The inputs are cheap, maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide -- each microbe produces only 0.01 per cent of its own infinitesimal weight in carbon dioxide, said Burd.

"This is a huge, huge step forward . . . We're using nature to solve a man-made problem."

Burd would like to take his project further and see it be used. He plans to study science at university, but in the meantime he's busy with things such as student council, sports and music.

"Dan is definitely a talented student all around and is poised to be a leading scientist in our community," said Menhennet, who led the school's science fair team but says he only helped Burd with paperwork.

Other local students also did well at the national science fair.

Devin Howard of St. John's Kilmarnock School won a gold medal in life science and several scholarships.

Mackenzie Carter of St. John's Kilmarnock won bronze medals in the automotive and engineering categories.

Engineers Without Borders awarded Jeff Graansma of Forest Heights Collegiate a free trip to their national conference in January.

Zach Elgood of Courtland Avenue Public School got honourable mention in earth and environmental science.

The Record original article

Details of Burd's project/Awards won (check out the biography!)

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2.     they support farmers in making their plants more eco friendly

3.     they pay their farmers over the odds, so that their kids can go to school

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The “greenest” cars on the market don’t just burn less fuel, they also produce less pollution and emit fewer greenhouse gases.

But who’s got time to spreadsheet all the competing mileage/emissions/greenhouse claims for the 300-odd nameplates for sale in Canada?

Smelling a market niche, J.D. Power and Associates has done the comparisons for you. The marketing information firm is now in its third year of ranking vehicles according to an Automotive Environmental Index.

Of the 30 most environmentally friendly vehicles, Toyota has contributed seven to the list, General Motors six, Hyundai four, Ford three, Honda, MINI, Smart and Nissan two each, and Chrysler none.
Eight of the vehicles are hybrids: Ford Escape Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Lexus RX 400h, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Mercury Mariner Hybrid and Toyota Prius.
The other 22 are not hybrids, and therefore mostly cheaper than the above list: Chevrolet aveo, Chevrolet Aveo5, Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford focus, Honda Civic, Honda Fit, Hyundai accent, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Rio, Kia Spectra, Mini Cooper, MINI Cooper S, Nissan sentra, Nissan Versa, Pontiac G5, Pontiac Vibe, Saturn Astra, Smart Fortwo Convertible, Smart Fortwo Coupe, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix and Toyota Yaris.

Americans might not have noticed this, but the second group almost mirrors the list of bestselling cars in Canada, where 42.5 per cent of vehicle purchases this year have been compact and subcompact cars, Chrysler Canada said this week.

ACCEPTANCE OF HYBRIDS UP, BUT ETHANOL TAKES DIP

Along with the above list, J.D. Power also produces something it calls its Alternative Powertrain Study, in which it tries to gauge public views on non-traditional propulsion systems such as hybrids and diesels and E-85 ethanol.

This year’s study found that acceptance of hybrids has jumped sharply in the United States as people become more comfortable with the concept and see more of them on the streets.
Of 4,000 people polled last month, 62 per cent said they are willing to consider purchasing a hybrid-electric vehicle, up from 50 per cent last year.

But willingness to buy E-85 ethanol-powered vehicles is starting to drop slightly, mainly due to the widespread impression that ethanol production is helping to drive up the cost of food. (In fact, only one per cent of corn is consumed by humans as cereal, as Patrick Bedard points out in his column in Car & Driver magazine this month.)

In 2007, about 47 per cent of those polled said they would consider buying a flexible-fuel vehicle than runs on E-85.

This year only 43 per cent said they were willing.

Diesel is also falling out of favour, which should mean alarm bells for the all the manufacturers bringing diesels to market this year and next: only 16 per cent of consumers said diesels are on their list this year, down from 23 per cent a year ago.

The sharp rise in diesel prices over the past year is the reason, J.D. Power believes.

MAGNESIUM ADVANTAGES INCLUDE STRENGTH, NO RUST

University of Windsor physicist Mordechay Schlesinger has been chosen to help General Motors find a way to use magnesium to reduce vehicle weight.

A professor emeritus, Schlesinger has been given $360,000 in grants and in-kind contributions by GM and the Ontario Centres of Excellence to research magnesium coatings.

Magnesium is very strong, exceptionally light and it doesn’t rust. But it’s also reactive, which means it misbehaves when it comes into contact with other metals.

Schlesinger’s team will try to find a way to calm the metal down with zinc or aluminum coatings so it can used for automotive components.

GM, along with Ford and some other major automakers, is on a company-wide mission to reduce vehicle weight to boost fuel economy.

Schlesinger, who was already a General Motors Research Fellow, says he expects his work with a team of graduate students will take several years.

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