Help the earth and get paid to do it. TerraCycle Inc takes your average home trash and turns it into cleaners, accessories, office supplys and much more. So how do you get paid to recycle? Visit TerraCycle’s website and see how! There are several products they accept and in return you get money! How easy is that? - excerpt from TerraCycle Inc
Many buildings constructed within the last decade have already experienced major failures due to water damage and air leakage across the building envelope that caused condensation and mold growth. Now, building scientists are emphasizing the benefits of using effective air barriers for homeowners and trades. Air barriers significantly reduce random air leakage, conserving up to 40 percent of a building’s energy loss and improving indoor air quality, when combined with mechanical ventilation. Air barriers also extend the life of a building by minimizing the flow of airborne moisture that can breed condensation, mold growth and decay.Icynene delivers high-performance solutions for efficient building envelopes, thermal comfort and a healthy living environment – all of which are integral components of green building and design. Icynene can also contribute points/credits to LEED for Homes + the NAHB National Green Building Standard. - excerpt from Icynene.com
“A new publication provides a thorough yet easy-to-read overview of the issue of climate change in our state. “Climate Change in South Carolina” describes the impact of climate change on South Carolina’s environment, public health, and economy. It goes on to detail solutions both individual and collective: efficiency and conservation, renewable energy innovation, and political leadership. The 24-page booklet is the product of former Upstate Forever intern Colin Hagan’s yearlong Compton Mentor Fellowship and was co-sponsored by Upstate Forever, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Abell Muiltimedia”. - Excerpt from Upstate Update monthly bulletin.
Click on the link below to view the guide.
SC Guide to Climate Change
“The Sustainability Institute is embarking on a new project to make green building a little easier. The institute has launched the S.C. Green Building Directory, on online resource that lets users search for products and services that further green building efforts. Companies register on the site at no charge, and the institute approves each company before adding it to the directory. Users can search by company, product, service, LEED credit or construction topic. “Overall, the goal is that it (the directory) really promotes green commerce in South Carolina,” said institute Executive Director Bryan Cordell. “We hope it turns into a green building exchange.”
About 120 companies have registered, and Cordell said he hopes to quadruple that number.
The project is funded through grants from the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, Department of Commerce and Energy Office”. - Excerpt from SC BIZ Magazine
Click on the link below for more information on the SC. Green Building Directory.
“We’ve all heard often enough that it’s time to start thinking and acting green. We’re depleting the Earth’s resources in record amounts, and it’s becoming more and more clear that we need to start thinking in terms of protecting and preserving the Earth and her resources when we build. Despite all the public knowledge about the importance of sustainable and renewable building practices, there’s still a lot of resistance to the idea of “going green”. One of the biggest reasons – the notion that it’s more expensive to use sustainable materials and consider environmental issues.
Obviously, it’s not financially feasible for most of us to completely gut our homes and replace them with totally green and environmentally responsible buildings, but that’s not the only way to accomplish the goal of living a greener life. There are a lot of things that you can do on a shoestring budget that don’t require any major investment of either time or energy. You can take bigger steps toward living a greener life when you’re ready to make major renovations to your home. While there’s a general belief that choosing greener products and alternatives will cost you more money, that’s not always true. In many cases, the greener alternative costs no more than or even less than the traditional option. In nearly all cases, you’ll make up any additional cost over the course of a few years.
No matter what renovations you’re doing, you’ll find that there are green alternatives that aren’t much more expensive than the traditional alternatives, and many that cost even less. When you factor in the ongoing savings and the added value to your home, green is the best way to go”. - Excerpt from greenbuildingarticles.com.
Click on the link below to read some valuable suggestions.
I was looking around our website to make sure everything was up-to-date and noticed that we didn’t have a post on last summer’s movie Surf’s Up. So here it is! Surf’s Up was what we call an EcoFriendly event. This particular event was modeled after DisneyWorld’s popular KidCot program. It is a fun interactive way for children of all ages to learn about conservation.
An EcoFriendly event can occur at a movie opening, a WalMart, or even a school. This movie didn’t have the conservation theme of a Happy Feet but that didn’t matter. We partnered with the Sound of Light thru the greenLIFEproject to set up a booth where kids could learn about sustainability. The kids learned to carpool, recycle and use CFL light bulbs.
See this LINK for cost info on doing EcoFriendly events in your community.
“Washington, DC—The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has just published a monograph on the field’s hottest topic: building green. Sustainable Design II examines important new developments, tools, and techniques in sustainable design that have occurred since the publication of NCARB’s Sustainable Design in 2001.
Increasing concern about global climate change has raised public awareness about sustainable design and now requires architects to address these critical issues. “Sustainable design has entered the mainstream as a significant environmental and economic force in building design, construction, and development,” according to authors Muscoe Martin, AIA, LEED and Gregory Franta, FAIA. Sustainable Design II takes an in-depth look at the emergence of green building rating systems, most notably the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification. It also examines the costs and benefits of green buildings and integrated design strategies.
Successful completion of the Sustainable Design II quiz earns 12 professional development units (PDUs) and/or AIA learning units in health, safety, and welfare. The monograph’s price includes the monograph, the web-based quiz, the score reporting process, and one free retest if needed. Online, fax, or mail orders are accepted for all NCARB monographs.
Order online or visit the publication section of NCARB’s web site at
http://www.ncarb.org/publications/index.html to see other available titles.
Sustainable Design II
By Muscoe Martin, AIA, LEED, and Gregory Franta, FAIA
138 Pages
Regular Price: $275
NCARB Record holders: $175
NCARB’s monograph series provides a convenient, low-cost way for architects and other design professionals to learn about new developments in the industry and meet continuing education requirements. Current NCARB Record holders may earn multiple PDUs in health, safety, and welfare for less than $16 per unit— one of the lowest continuing education unit costs available today. All passing scores are reported to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) at no extra cost.” - Copied from www.NCARB.org.
Click on the link below to find out more about this series.
Don’t you just hate all those styrofoam peanuts that you get in packages! Or those styrofoam blocks around electronics and the like.
Well, I received an email about recycling styrofoam and some tips on how to do just that. Some of the tips I had not heard of before but were good ones.
I had heard that you can take the peanuts to places that ship packages and they will take them. Just bag them up and take the bag to them. I think the smaller shipping places would appreciate them more than the “big named” ones.
Click on the link below to read the article.
On Friday, April 18th, Rock Port, Mo., became “the first city in the country capable of meeting 100 percent of its electricity demand from wind power, according to Wind Capital Group, the developer of the wind power facility in Rock Port.
St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group’s Loess Hills wind power facility, located in Rock Port, produces up to 16 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, which exceeds the 13 million kilowatt hours Rock Port uses each year.
“By generating enough clean, renewable electricity to meet all of Rock Port’s energy needs while also generating additional revenue for their tax base, the Loess Hills facility is a shining example of the benefits of wind energy development,” Tom Carnahan, president of Wind Capital Group, said in a statement.
Electricity generated from Loess Hills not used by homes and businesses in Rock Port will be purchased by the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission (MJMEUC) for use in other communities across Missouri. As part of this arrangement, MJMEUC will supply Rock Port’s power needs when the wind turbines are not generating at capacity.
Rock Port and 31 other city-owned utilities across Missouri receive their electric supply as part of the Missouri Public Energy Pool (MoPEP). MJMEUC coordinates the joint action of Missouri’s publicly-owned utilities, including aggregated power purchases for MoPEP cities.
To celebrate being America’s first wind-powered community, Rock Port, which is located in the far northwest corner of Missouri, will host a “Green Switch” celebration on Friday.
Wind Capital Group, a wind energy developer, was founded by Carnahan in 2005. Carnahan’s brother is U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan and his sister is Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan”. - Excerpt from Baltimore’s bizjournals.com.
After the tornado.
Artist rendering of the new Greensburg.
Last May, the small Kansas town of Greensburg was almost demolished by an EF-5 tornado. Twelve of their residents died and 95% of the community’s structures were lost.
This May we see that the small town is “rebuilding as a model green community, focusing on energy self-sufficiency and other principles of sustainability, with the aim to become the greenest community in America”. - Excerpt from www.GreensburgGreenTown.org.
Click on the links below to read more about the rebuilding of this community.
“There’s No Place Like a Green Demo Home”
Matt Cheney is trying to make it easy and cheap to go green. His firm, MMA Renewable Ventures (MMA), helps companies build solar energy systems, cut their electricity bills, and lock in rates for decades-all with no money down. The San Francisco company has erected some $300 million worth of solar panels for clients ranging from Denver International Airport to Gap (GPS).
MMA’s approach brings together evergy users, builders, and financiers. Essentially, MMA is the middleman. It contracts with companies to install the solar panels, which it owns and operates. Customers then pay MMA for the power the panels generate-like a traditional utility but with cheaper rates.” - Excerpt from www.newsweek.com.
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
- Bill McKibben, Author of The End of Nature and Deep EconomyThe following story was written by Jim Hinch for Guideposts -
“For the past year I have been thinking about the future. A lot. That’s because in November 2006 my wife, Kate, and I had a baby, our first. Her name is Frances, and to our delight, she is a happy child who, when I come to wake her in the morning, is often already up, grinning in her crib, batting at a wooden mobile above.
Sometimes I try to picture Frances as an adult. What will she be like? Where will she live? Who will she marry? Will she, one day, come in to greet her own child in the morning? These should be happy thoughts. But lately a shadow has hung about them. The shadow of something I read about more and more often, with more and more alarm. Just this month yet another magazine arrived in our mailbox with a cover story about global warming. The Big Thaw, announced the headline. It wasn’t that long ago that I mostly ignored climate change as some hotly debated, distant future possibility. Now scientists agree it’s already happening. Today.
Siberian permafrost is thawing five times faster than predicted and summer Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by 20 percent. What kind of world have we brought Frances into? I find myself wondering. The summer after Kate and I married, we went hiking in Montana’s Glacier National Park. “Won’t it be fun when we take our own kids backpacking?” we said. But scientists predict that by the time Frances graduates from college, Glacier Park’s remaining 27 glaciers—down from 150 a century ago—will be gone.
All of this was on my mind when I agreed to write about a man named Bill McKibben for GUIDEPOSTS. McKibben is an environmental writer—his 1989 book, The End of Nature, was the first for a general audience about global warming. He is also a lifelong Methodist and a Sunday school teacher, making him a natural for the magazine. But I wanted to meet him for another reason. Almost alone among experts on global warming, McKibben is a man of hope and faith. Faith in God and faith that people, if they choose, can dig themselves out of the environmental mess they have made. His most recent book, Deep Economy, is a hopeful world tour through communities reclaiming the small-scale, family-oriented lifestyles that McKibben sees as key to defeating the materialism and glorification of growth, which he believes fuel climate change”. - Excerpt from Guideposts Magazine.
Click on the links below read the rest of the article.
More and more people are starting to care about how we are treating our planet. Some people think we are crazy to even care about something like this. This earth is the home that God gave to us. He wanted us to enjoy the beauty and wonders of His hands. He didn’t have to do this but He chose to because He loves us. We can all do something to help save the earth.
Listed below are 10 things from the EcoMall website that you can do. Step up and do your part!
“1. Plant a tree in your yard or start a garden. Plants and trees help clean the air, are visual expressions of nature’s beauty, and uplift us. Even something as simple as growing herbs in a garden can provide nourishment and delicious meals for the family.
2. Simply stop using pesticides on your lawn. Pesticides contribute to the pollution of the Earth and poison our water supply, endanger human health, and sicken wildlife. There are many effective, natural alternatives available, or even simpler, allow nature to take over the growing of your lawn, creating food for bees, birds and animals.
3. Support a local, organic farmer or CSA. Some farmers require your active participation, some deliver to urban areas. The food is nutritious and delicious, and uses less of our non-renewable resources.
4. Buy organic. Look for – and ask for - organic produce wherever you buy your groceries, or even better, shop at your local health food store which carries only organic produce. Buying organic reduces pesticide exposure to the land, farmers, harvesters, and your family.
5. Spend time in nature. Taking a walk, having a picnic, or simply sitting outdoors and watching the sky, deepens our connection to the natural world , thereby motivating us to be better stewards of the Earth.
6. Buy energy-saving, compact-fluorescent light bulbs and other energy efficient products. When your next bulb goes out, replace it with a compact fluorescent light bulb. They last 10 times as long, and over their lifetime, use 1/4 the energy of an incandescent bulb, saving you $30-$40 on your electric bill. When replacing major appliances purchase energy efficient ones - look for the government’s EnergyStar label.
7. Recycle. The old adage “reduce, reuse, recycle” still works very well today. Many large waste disposal companies have an at-your-curb recycling program. Check your own local disposal company.
8. Shop Green. Be a consumer that uses your dollars to support companies and products that are better for the Earth. By simply clicking to EcoMall.com (http://www.ecomall.com) you will find a directory that features hundreds of companies that offer everything from organic and hemp clothing to non-toxic cleaners and solar energy products.
9. Join or make a donation to any organization that supports the environment. There are numerous worthy organizations that work hard for the Earth and are in need of our support. If the aforementioned tasks seem to require too much effort or time, simply write a check to those who have integrity regarding the Earth and make a meaningful contribution to the Earth’s health.
10. Create good thoughts. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” By creating the awareness that we can heal the Earth - that it is not too late, we combat the paralysis that fear often produces. So if all you can do on this Earth Day is think one good thought about the Earth, you will have contributed to a changing of the fear-based mentality”.
Click on the link below to learn more about EcoMall.
“Earth Day falls every year on April 22, in celebration of the importance of the environment and to encourage action. It was initiated in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started a “teach-in” to protest the government’s environmental ignorance. This eventually led to legislation including the Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1977) and fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways for people to take action on behalf of the environment, a way to make Every Day Earth Day. Recycling reduces the amount of waste in landfills, and prevents hazardous materials from leaking into our soil and water systems.
Earth day is a day to stop and think about your affect on the environment and what you can do to help protect it. One of the best ways to do that is by properly disposing of the products in your life”.
Click on the link below to read more about how you can take part on this day and every day.
“Algae biodiesel isn’t practical yet, but startups and giants are enthusiastically exploring the possibilities
In a world spooked by global warming and thirsty for nonpolluting fuel, lowly algae hold a potent appeal. The plants sop up large quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and produce tiny globules of fat that can be collected and turned into biodiesel fuel for trucks, cars, and trains. The oils might even be processed into aircraft fuel.
One of algae’s great virtues is that the plant has so little in common with other sources of fuel. Unlike cornfields that are harvested to produce ethanol, algae farms don’t require huge volumes of freshwater, nor do they tie up land that could be used for food crops. Algae flourish in saltwater or even wastewater and grow up to 40 times faster than other plants. Compared with current energy crops, algae have “the potential to deliver 10 or 100 times more energy per acre,” says Ron C. Pate, a technical expert at Sandia National Labs. That’s why industrial giants ranging from Chevron (CVX ) to Honeywell (HON ) to Boeing (BA ) are starting up algae business units. “In the past two years, we have changed from algae skeptics to proponents,” says Dave Daggett, Boeing’s technology leader for energy and emissions”. Excerpt from www.businessweek.com.
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
“When it comes to spewing out carbon dioxide and other agents of global warming, some of the biggest offenders are mundane construction products like drywall. Serious Materials in Sunnyvale, Calif., says that manufacturing it accounts for 1% of all the energy used by U.S. industry, and thus a comparable percentage of all industrial emissions. The company will soon market a product called EcoRock that could drastically shrink drywall’s carbon footprint.
In the traditional production process, gypsom and other raw materials are combined in watery slurry that must be rolled flat and dried, guzzling energy. Serious Materials’ new recipe combines chemicals that, when mixed, react to create much of their own drying heat. The company was voted the top prospect at a recent green investment forum, and in November, it snared $50 million in venture capital. CEO Kevin Surace argues that industry must find a way to improve on traditional building products.” - Excerpt from www.businessweek.com.
—By John Carey. Edited by Adam Aston
By Annie B. Bond, executive producer of Care2’s Green Living
“A little dab of this and that from your kitchen cupboard will provide you with the best window cleaner!
THE BEST WINDOW CLEANER
Make a great all-purpose window cleaner by combining 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent, and 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Combine in a spray bottle. Shake to blend”. - Excerpt from http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-best-window-cleaner.html
“To see Germany’s latest cash crop, take a train across the flat plains between Hannover and Berlin or cruise the waters off the gusty North Sea coast. In both places, you can’t miss the rows of windmills marching to the horizon, quietly generating some 7% of the nation’s electricity needs- and powering an important new industry.
Thanks to smart regulation, Germany has become a global powerhouse in green energy, producing more electricity from wind than any other country. While the industry owes some of its success to German expertise in fields such as aerodynamics, the biggest boost has come from the government. The nation’s energy law guarantees operators of windmills and solar generators an above-market price for power for as long as 20 years. Other countries have similar policies, but few have applied them as consistently as Germany”. - Excerpt from http://businessweek.com/.
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
“For some industries, the prospet of $3.5 billion in federal subsidies now, and double that in three years, might be a powerful incentive. But not, apparently, for the oil industry, which is seeing crude oil prices soar to record highs. Despite collecting billions for blending small amounts of ethanol with gas, oil companies seem determined to fight the spread of E85, a fuel that is 85% ethanol and 15% gas. Congress has set a target of displacing 15% of projected annual gasoline use with alternative fuels by 2017″. - Excerpt from Businessweek Magazine.
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
“Peek into any basement or garage and you’ll find them: old cans of paint left from a domestic makeover. Every year, do-it-yourselfers stash away some 66 million gallons of surplus latex. That’s not counting the tons of waste from commercial sources, including low-quality paints rejected by manufacturers, dinged cans tossed by retailers, and big barrels abandoned by contractors.
A startup hopes to shift the flow of this colorful river away from the nation’s landfills and into new plastics. Licensing technology from Rutgers University, Re-Manufacturing Technologies (RMT) has developed a process that combines waste paint with recycled plastic to produce resin pellets that companies melt and mold into various forms, from kitchen tools to electronics cases.
The RMT approach avoids landfill costs and helps meet the plastics industry’s growing demand for recycled supplies, for which prices have climbed recently. Some day, paint recyclers might even pay you a fee to return those unwanted cans in your basement”.
“Nuclear “batteries” are nothing new. Energy from a fist-size lump of plutonium has powered the Voyager spacecraft for 25 years. And tiny specks of the stuff kept pacemakers ticking for decades. Now, Hyperion Power Generation (HPG) is developing a nuclear battery capable of powering a town. The size of a hot tub, it can put out more than 25 megawatts for five years, enough to run 25,000 homes.
Building on technology developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Santa Fe (N.M.) startup’s battery runs on uranium hydride, which acts as fuel and also regulates power output, making it virtually impossible for the battery to suffer a meltdown. With no moving parts to break or corrode, HPG’s batteries can be buried in the earth for added security and safety. Their small size makes them easy to install and, later, to remove and refuel, cutting out the need to handle radioactive materials on site.
HPG plans to sell its first units to towns and industrial operations not connected to the grid. The company estimates lifetime costs for its battery will be a fraction of the price to build and run a natural gas plant with the same capacity. Backed by venture capital from Altira, HPG could have its batteries ready in six years”.
“Could a microbe from hell help slow the pace of global warming? In the simmering, corrosive muds of Hell’s Gate hot springs of Rotorua, New Zealand, researchers have discovered bacteria that devour methane, a greenhouse gas that environmentalists consider 20 times more harmful that carbon dioxide.
GNS Science, a research organization owned by the New Zealand government, says the tough new bug is the first methane-loving bacterium found to flourish in conditions as hot as 158F, with a chemical ambience similar to stomach acid. This makes it potentially easier to adapt to other hostile environments such as landfills, which leak methane as trash decomposes.
Matthew Stott, a GNS microbiologist, says the bug could also be adapted for use in other methane-venting sites, such as mines. Publishing in Nature, the researchers dubbed their superhardy discovery Methylokorus infernorum, a mix of the Latinized names for methane and the infernal place the bug was found”.
“Started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour encourages people and businesses to avoid using electricity and conserve energy for one hour. In its first year, over two million Australians participated. The campaign is going international this year.
Earth Hour is being held on Saturday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. local time around the world. So far, over 20 international cities have pledged their support and are encouraging residents to switch off lights and non-essential household appliances. The campaign has also gained the support of almost 12,000 businesses and 200,000 individuals.” - Excerpt from Earth911.org.
Click on the link above to visit their website.
Hopefully, Spring is just around the corner and we need to get ready for it. You might not live out in the country but with the help of the booklet Backyard Conservation you can bring the country to you! It tells you how to protect the environment and how to add beauty and interest to your backyard.
You can get a printed copy of the 28-page booklet free by calling 1-888-LANDCARE or you can download the booklet by clicking on the links below.
Backyard Conservation, pages 1-14
Backyard Conservation, pages 15-28
“This campaign is a cooperative project of the National Association of Conservation Districts, the Wildlife Habitat Council, and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.”
“In a major shift, a group of Southern Baptist leaders said their denomination has been “too timid” on environmental issues and has a biblical duty to stop global warming.The declaration, signed by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention among others and released today, shows a growing urgency about climate change even within groups that once dismissed claims of an overheating planet as a liberal ruse.
The conservative denomination has 16.3 million members and is the largest Protestant group in the U.S.
The signers of “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change” acknowledged that not all Christians accept the science behind global warming. They said they do not expect fellow believers to back any proposed solutions that would violate Scripture, such as advocating population control through abortion.
However, the leaders said that evidence of global warming is “substantial,” and that the threat is too grave to wait for perfect knowledge about whether, or how much, people contribute to the trend.
“We believe our current denominational resolutions and engagement with these issues have often been too timid,” according to the statement. “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better.”‘ - Excerpt from a report from Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
“Caring for all the green and growing things in your yard can have a big effect on how much waste your household creates. From grass clippings and leaves to pesticides and water, the eco-impact of your lawn and farden can be significant.”
Click on the link below to read the entire article. Once you get to the webpage, click on In The Yard on the left side of the page.
“A low odor, low VOC, 100% acrylic latex flat that provides high hiding, excellent touch up, and a uniform flat finish. Eco Spec Interior Latex Flat (219) is ideally suited for commercial, facility management, and residential applications. Eco Spec Interior Latex Flat (219) does not have the odor of conventional paints that contain ingredients known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)”.
Recommended For: New or previously painted interior wallboard, plaster, ceilings and masonry, as well as primed or previously painted wood and metal; use Eco Spec Interior Latex Primer (231) as a first coat when a low odor, solvent free Primer / Finish system is desired. - Copied from www.benjaminmoore.com.
Click on the link below for more details.
By Catherine Zandonella, M.P.H
“When my husband and I exchanged two decades of urban existence for suburban life, I didn’t know a rhododendron from a Rototiller. We did know that we wanted to forgo the “weed ‘n’ feed” approach to lawn care and build a safe yard where our kids could poke around in the dirt without us worrying about their health. To our pleasant surprise, organic yard care is simple once you go through the steps of disconnecting your lawn from its chemical life-support system.
Curing this chemical dependency has its environmental benefits. One 40-pound bag of synthetic fertilizer contains the fossil-fuel equivalent of approximately 2.5 gallons of gasoline, and mowing for one hour with a gasoline-powered mower generates the same amount of pollution as driving a car for 20 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To keep lawns green, we apply about 10,000 gallons of water, which leads to fungal diseases and weeds that attract pests, so we douse our coveted green patches with approximately 67 million pounds a year of synthetic pesticides.
It’s getting easier to avoid these harmful chemicals, thanks to increasing resources and the availability of least-toxic products. “The shift to organic lawn care reflects a broader awareness of the dangers of pesticides to both the environment and our health,” says Eileen Gunn, project director for the advocacy group Beyond Pesticides”. - Excerpt from National Geographic’s TheGreenGuide
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
“For the fifth consecutive year, Honda’s natural gas-powered Civic GX took top honors as the greenest vehicle, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid claim spots two and three, while the Nissan Altima Hybrid and Toyota Camry Hybrid also make the list of the ten greenest vehicles. “Hybrids stand out, even after being taken down a notch by the new fuel economy calculations,” said ACEEE vehicle analyst Shruti Vaidyanathan. The Smart Fortwo and the Toyota Yaris fall right behind the greenest hybrids, showcasing the environmental benefits of smaller passenger vehicles.” - Excerpt from www.hybridcars.com
Click on the link below to read the entire article.
The world’s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors.
The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine’s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles. - Excerpt from Yahoo!Green
Click on the link below to read the entire article.