I wrote a while back of the Plant a Row for the Hungry program and felt like I could really contribute, so part of the planning for the company garden was specifically designated for donation. As I called around to the local food banks I found that several of them would not take fresh garden produce, after a few calls I found one not far from my office that would be happy to take the garden excess. Well this week we hit paydirt on the zucchini front, after those in the company took what they wanted for the week, I boxed up the rest of our harvest and took it to the food bank, they were happy to receive the donation and I assured them that I would be back with more soon.
Our company vegetable garden is approximately 1500 square feet and it doesn’t take to much effort by any one individual to maintain and harvest and all are able to benefit from the fresh food. It has been a great way to work together and provide for a portion of our needs. Read more »
Just a quick post to send you over to Wild Onion to learn yourself how to make a reusable bag out of your old t-shirts. Very cool way to reuse old shirts. You can even throw them right in the laundry if need be.
There are so many great DIY ideas out there on blogs. Seen any thing else that Groovy readers might like? Send it my way at steve [at] groovygreen {dot} com
After screwing in “globe” shaped CFL’s into my new dining room light fixture, it occurred to me, “Why aren’t CFL manufactures required to seal their bulbs in a protective shield of plastic?”
The bulbs that I chose for my dining room were 60 W equivalent - but the typical spiral florescent bulb was shrouded in a plastic cover that makes for a more aesthetically pleasing shape. Why not all compact florescent lightbulbs? That way if one were to drop and break it, the mercury could be contained within the cover - and not disbursed in a fine gas throughout your room.
If one were worried about the light shining through, the cover could be clear plastic. Waste heat given off by the bulbs is many times less than a incandescent bulb, and these “designer” CFLs prove that the plastic cover will not melt.
The cost would be minimal. Injection molded plastic, while not the most eco-friendly material on the planet, is cheap and could be made with recyclable (or recycled) materials.
While a national safety law might require all manufacturers to contain mercury from broken bulbs, I have to ask the question, “why aren’t there any companies out there now, manufacturing and touting the increased safety of such a bulb?” It seems like a great angle to me.
Somebody should get on that right now. (Royalty payments can be made to steve@groovygreen.com)
With no access to television on the homefront, I’ve missed out on Samsung’s latest commercials for their new E200 Eco Cell phone. The company took advantage of the spotlight to introduce the cell, part of their new environmentally-friendly line that includes several earth-friendly devices.
In the case of the E200, instead of plastics, the unit is made from bio-plastics created from corn. Even the box has been made of non-coated, recycled paper. Another green phone from Samsung — the W510 — does not contain any heavy metals like lead, mercury or cadmium in the handset.
Granted, these phones are something of an oddity in a market filled with different styles and models; 99% of which offer nothing for the environment and will be tossed in a couple years. There are serious issues to address in the cell phone industry still over the rising waste from always wanting “that next great phone”.
Hopefully, we’ll see more products like Samsung’s in the coming years…
Two very interesting developments to report concerning food. The first has gotten reasonable coverage in the newz. Apparently the multinational corporations selling us our dessert are offering us less for the same price.
There’s a reason why the tub of ice cream you bought last week looks a tad smaller than ones you bought last summer. It is. Many major ice cream makers, hit by higher dairy costs, have shrunk their standard containers to 1.5 quarts from 1.75 quarts, about 1 cup less.
Check your freezer. I did and found what this article suggests, that what I thought were half gallon containers of ice cream were really 48oz of chocolate and 54oz of vanilla, neither of them 64oz which would equal one half gallon. And it’s not just ice cream.
General Mills began downsizing cereals last June. Some boxes of Cheerios and Wheaties shrank as much as 1.5 ounces. “Prior to the change, our package sizes were larger, in many cases, than competitors’,” spokeswoman Heidi Geller says.
Apparently they think you should pay the same amount for less because their competitors sell you less. I love the logic. And companies are being sneaky about it. Here’s another example.
Read more »
Expected to debut at the Paris Motor Show in October, the production version of the 2010 Chevy Volt is now showing off some bits and pieces courtesy of General Motors. Needless to say, GM has a lot riding on the Volt as a symbol of American auto innovation and efficiency. We’ve no idea yet on exact range, price, or looks — but based on these shots, we’re going to speculate that a wider range of consumers will be pleased with this version over the wilder initial concept.
For higher-res, jump on over to Autobloggreen
In my city our local waste management group picks up big plastic containers (which I call a Yardy) of yard waste material. This can be branches, leaves, grass clippings, etc. (Unbeknownst to my neighbors, I also pick up yard materials from their yardies, but that’s a different story…) Participation in this program is great, and it keeps all this material out of the land fill. The city mixes all this material together and turns it into compost which they then sell in 40 lb bags, or give away for free for personal use, if you have a truck to load it in. Paper products and kitchen waste can be recycled in our yardies, although almost no one knows that and it never seems to be highlighted.
San Francisco does a similar thing, although this Time article just mentions kitchen waste so I’m not sure about yard waste. I’m sure there are plenty of other cities that also do similar things.
My question is: why? I understand it’s cheaper and better for the world than dumping it in the landfill. But, I would think the cost of maintaining this huge operation could be dramatically lowered by setting up some local neighborhood groups who could manage the waste and then equipping them with composters that they could use. It would seem to me that after the initial cost of set up (which would probably still be way, way less than what I would expect the one large shredding machine costs) that the cost of operation would essentially go to zero. Perhaps you employ a couple of inspectors to make sure that people are doing it, but I wouldn’t expect much ongoing cost.
So why don’t we try it that way? Maybe not enough people are willing to do this work in their neighborhood groups? Or maybe it’s better financially to go through all this effort and then sell the compost? Maybe the waste management group wants to get bigger and grow for their owners? This system should be able to go on forever right? We’ll always be able to drive these trucks around picking up yard waste and processing it with huge diesel powered machines. Right?
I could see this becoming a hot button issue in the future. As our public systems continue to teeter under the stress of their obligations, and the cost of operating large machinery continues to increase, the cost to operate these programs will go up year after year. At some point, this will lead to a cost raise to the consumer and then people will start asking just how valuable a service like this is. I contend that by flipping this composting program on it’s side you can achieve the same result with less cost, less environmental burden, and even provide better service. What do you think? I think I’m going to contact my city council right now to begin discussions on alternatives.
Picture courtesy of NatureMill.
Cottage Living has a slideshow of 14 different things you can do to your house that will save you money, and help you be more green.
Check them out here.
The first item up is a solar powered attic fan. I have to tell you, I’m quite interested in that.
Picture courtesy of Cottage Living
In an effort to integrate a solar panel into the roof line of a smart fortwo clone, an EV firm out of Boston has created what looks to be one of the ugliest electric vehicles ever to grace our eyes. As Autoblog mentioned, “It looks like a Scion swallowed a canoe.”
Still, we’re intrigued by any electric vehicle and the Sunmotor is certainly unique in its execution of green technology. From Autoblog,
“The company believes it can get 160 miles per charge, though only with a top speed of 25 miles per hour. Plus, with 10 horsepower pushing around 2,600 pounds of mass, the supposed acceleration of 0-25 in 5 seconds sounds rather optimistic.”
Eh, only 25 mph? This thing might only be good for the golf course or small gated community. You might be better off saving for the upcoming electric Mini.
Even though gas prices have come down a little recently we can all use a little extra cash in our pockets right? Thinking along those lines The Sierra Club recently published a few tips to help you increase the mileage of your car. Simple things that can go a long way.
The website Save-Gas-Increase-Mileage has 20 tips to help you save gas.
Online University Lowdown published 50 Simple Driving Tips That Will Increase Your Gas Mileage.
And don’t forget about our real life example where Steve takes some simple steps to improve his mileage, and tracks his results.
Image courtesy of automobile-gasoline-savings.com.
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