If Grand Central Terminal can do it...

Fluorescent Twist to a Light-Bulb Joke

How many people does it take to change every light bulb in Grand Central Terminal?

Six, it turns out. And it’s a full-time job.

On Tuesday, those wiremen — their official title — unscrewed the last remaining incandescent bulbs in the building, replacing them with compact fluorescent bulbs and completing the greening of the lighting system at the bustling station.

Replacing the roughly 4,000 bulbs in the public areas of the terminal — which doesn’t include the platforms, the train yards, or office space — will save an estimated $200,000 a year...

It won't take a crew to change all the bulbs in your house - at least I hope your house is not that big. But the savings you will realize and the positive impact you will be making will be big.

If GCT can do it so can you.

Pesticides and disease

Together, two common pesticides may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease

The risk of Parkinson's disease increases in people who live near farm fields sprayed with a combination of pesticides.

A recent study conducted in California’s Central Valley found that people who lived near fields sprayed with a combination of pesticides used on crops such as potatoes, dry beans and tomatoes had an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease.

The scientists found that people who live within 500 meters of a field sprayed with the pesticides maneb and paraquat in combination, but not individually, had a 75 percent higher risk of Parkinson’s disease relative to controls. Being exposed to the mixture at a younger age resulted in an even higher risk. Individuals potentially exposed to these pesticides when they were 60 years old or younger were 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

In combination? Let's avoid them separately as well.

Maneb, used to control blight,...

...is moderately toxic to humans (29). Occasional signs of local irritation or inflammation of the skin, eyes, or respiratory tract have been experienced upon contact with maneb. Acute inhalation of large amounts of maneb dust or spray may cause irritation of the mucous membranes, resulting in a scratchy throat, sneezing, cough, and inflammation of the linings of the nose and upper respiratory tract. Signs of poisoning from large amounts of maneb may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, headache, confusion, drowsiness, coma, slowed reflexes, respiratory paralysis and death

Paraquat, an herbicide, ...

causes skin and eye irritation in rabbits (severe for some of the formulated products) and also has caused skin sensitization in guinea pigs in some formulations [87]. Effects due to high acute exposure to paraquat may include excitability and lung congestion, which in some cases leads to convulsions, incoordination, and death by respiratory failure [87]. If swallowed, burning of the mouth and throat often occurs, followed by gastrointestinal tract irritation, resulting in abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea [8]. Other toxic effects include thirst, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, kidney failure, lung sores, and liver injury [32]. Some symptoms may not occur until days after exposure. Persons with lung problems may be at increased risk from exposure. Many cases of illness and/or death have been reported in humans.

Time to rethink how we grow our foods, what we put on our lawns, how we grow flowers...

Give them hell Al

Wonder if Joe's past job with Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Company has anything to do with his views? Pension anyone?

Gorilla in the Greenhouse

Kijani reminds me of Quinn's Ishmael. Though I never pictured Ishmael as green in color.

R. Crumb's America

Thanks to CityKin we also have access to three sequels...

Disaster...

 

Futurama...

  

Ecotopia...

 

I had first seen the sequels in an issue of Mother Earth News. I had always thought Exotopia was the way. Now I realize that we will never be without technology - unless there is a major catastrophe similar to James Howard Kunstler's World Made By Hand. So we can hope that the future is a melding of Futurama and Ecotopia. Let's just hope Ecotopia is more dominant.

Deepak Chopra

His Earth Day Message

I'm calling all my friends on Earth Day to just remind them that the earth is recycling in our bodies. Through our rivers and waters are our circulation, its atmosphere is our breath, its trees are our lungs. We call it the environment, but that's the wrong word. It's our extended body.


We have a personal body and we have a universal body, and they're both equally ours. When we have that experience and knowledge, it will become impossible for us to hurt the earth and for us in turn to be hurt by it. So my friends, don't choose the word 'environment"; look at the earth as your mother from where you were born, and also remember that all its beautiful forests, its flowers and gardens, its trees, its atmosphere, its rivers -- they're all a part of our own biological organism.


Love it and love your body, and you will feel exhilarated just by that emotion.

Ideas that must be considered this day and every day.

Talking toilet paper

Marcal it seems recently had a display in Times Square touting their history of using 100% recycled fibers since 1950. Marcal - a product to look at.

The video has some nice comments from Marcal's CEO and the concept of "green being more economical"

Wartime efficiency inspired cost- and energy-efficiency in a business model that has lasted 50 years. A great lesson.

Great video too. But why the "naked cowboy?"

I want to be in the Final Showcase

The Price Is Right: Green Edition With Ed Begley, Jr.

In observance of Earth Day, Wednesday's episode of the CBS game show will feature environmentally friendly products including cell phones made of recycled materials, solar charging equipment and a recycling cabinet.


Environmentalist and actor Ed Begley Jr. will introduce a showcase that includes an electric bike, golf cart and Toyota Prius hybrid car. Trips offered during the show will be paired with donations to offset carbon emissions.

Hope some of the prizes also include installed solar panels or wind turbines for your home. How about an installed geothermnal system. Why not 40 cares of farmland - that would be my "wished for prize."

Don't throw away that yogurt container

Reuses For Yogurt, Cream Cheese And Other Plastic Tubs

1. USE THEM AS POTS FOR PLANTS


Cut holes for drainage (and even use a second, cut-down tub as a saucer to collect said drainage).


2. USE ONE AS A CHANGE JAR


Why use a perfectly good mug or cup for this? Same goes for a pen cup or any other kind of supply cup.


3. A TOFU PRESS?


So says a commenter at How Can I Recycle This?


4. SAND CASTLE MOLDS


Beach season nears! Unleash your inner architect!

Of course you can take them to Whole Foods as the article suggests. Or use them to hold nails, screws... Use them as a pencil holder...

Any other ideas?

No matter how you reuse them or recycle them, it is far better than tossing into your trash!

Save the White House Garden

Please sign the petition at Credo Action

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) has a bone to pick with Michelle Obama.

MACA represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, and they are angry that - wait for it - Michelle Obama isn't using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House.


We are not making this up.


In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote, "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals -- or what they call "crop protection products" -- in her garden.

Sounds like a joke but it isn't. Follow the money - MACA has a lot of it to lose.

Sign this petition today to tell the board members of MACA (virtually all of them big chemical executives) that we don't appreciate their telling Michelle Obama (or any of us) to use pesticides in our gardens. We support Michelle Obama's organic garden, and we'll thank them to keep their propaganda out of it.

Green Irene in the News

Interested? Stop by and visit Green Irene.

Green Germany

Germany Bans Cultivation of GM Corn

Germany has banned the cultivation of GM corn, claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the environment. But that argument might not stand up in court and Berlin could face fines totalling millions of euros if American multinational Monsanto decides to challenge the prohibition on its seed.


The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting gentically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany.

Will Monsanto sit idly by? They say they are looking into the matter. Expect the pressure to build on the German politicos to reverse the decision before the first seeds are planted.

Front Yard Garden

My garden is also in the "front yard", though it doesn't look as neat and formal as these - especially the LA one. The entire front would be garden if I could afford deer-proof fencing for my entire yard. Until then...

I heard the question - why not plant in the backyard? The answer: woods, slope and shade. Sure I could cut down all the trees, terrace the slope... But does that really make eco-sense?

I want a PUMA

GM, Segway "PUMA" Vehicle

A solution to the world's urban transportation problems could lie in two wheels not four, according to executives for General Motors Corp. and Segway Inc.


The companies announced Tuesday that they are working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a fast, safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars and trucks for cities across the world.

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

35 m.p.h. and 35 miles on a single charge - this will work for me.

With GM on oxygen, not sure when this will be available. The cost?

The companies did not release a projected cost for the vehicle, but said ideally its total operating cost _ including purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel _ would total between one-fourth and one-third of that of the average traditional vehicle.

With that type of cost - I clearly want one. Put me on the waiting list.

Reality

Inspiration...

Homegrown Revolution (Trailer) from Path to Freedom on Vimeo.

Need more signs?

Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped.

Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence of rapid change in the region.

While the break-up will have no direct impact on sea level because the ice is floating, it heightens concerns over the impact of climate change on this part of Antarctica.

Sure I know some are out there pooh-poohing "global warming." So let's agree to call it climate change. And really, would it kill you to change a bulb, reduce your car use, buy local... Hell, these things won't hurt and most end up saving you money in the long run. The worse that happens? Come to think of it - there's no downside.

Speakerphone or wired headset

As someone who has witnessed first hand the effects of brain tumors (lost some family members), Wake Up Call caught my eye.

...an international team of doctors, including two of Australia's finest surgeons, have just released their latest, comprehensive research.

They say prolonged use of mobile phones could double the risk of malignant brain tumours.


The deadliest of all cancers, the kind that leaves no survivors.


With an entire generation now growing up hooked on their mobiles, that could be absolutely devastating.

Bluetooth? Some conflicting stories there. So my solution - use that speakerphone or just use an older wired headset. Even with those two modes, cut down your use.

Sustainability Pledge

Recently saw a show on the Food Channel that highlighted an eco-village in Missouri. Dancing Rabbit has as their Sustainability Guidelines the following:

Dancing Rabbit is committed to working in the following ways to make itself a sustainable system.

1. Dancing Rabbit will look holistically at the issues of sustainability to create a sustainable culture that takes into account all impacts of its actions and acts to preserve the Earth for the future.

2. Dancing Rabbit will strive to rely only upon renewable resources, and to use them at a rate less than their replacement.

3. Dancing Rabbit will try to understand and minimize its negative impact on global ecological systems.

4. Dancing Rabbit will attempt to preserve and rebuild healthy ecosystems and have a positive impact on biodiversity.

5. Dancing Rabbit will try to create a closed resource loop where byproducts are reintegrated as useful resources, thus attempting to minimize waste products, especially those toxic or radioactive.

6. Dancing Rabbit will try to avoid exploiting people and other cultures.

7. Dancing Rabbit will strive to achieve negative population growth from reproduction.

Principles and stands we all should follow. A sustainable life, a sustainable planet.

Corn based cups

Eco-products offers

An environmental alternative to conventional plastic cups, these are made from corn-based NatureWorks®. Cups are odorless, non-allergenic and completely compostable under commercial conditions.

Much better than plastic though I would rather not use food products in such a way - why not glass tumblers?

Pesky Skeeters

Natural Mosquito Repellent

2 1/2 teaspoons total of any combination of the following essential oils: basil, cedarwood, citronella, juniper, lemon, myrrh, palmarosa, pine, rose geranium and/or rosemary (available at health food stores)

1 cup 190-proof grain alcohol (available in liquor stores)

Place ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously. Transfer to small bottles for storage. To use, rub a small amount on any exposed skin (test first to be sure your skin will not be adversely affected by the repellent) or dab it on clothing.

Experiment a little to find which essential oils work best with your body chemistry. If you’re lucky, you also will like the way they smell; otherwise, add a few drops of peppermint oil to fine-tune the fragrance.

If they still bite you can always use the grain alcohol for other purposes - haha!

Words of Wisdom

Making Ends Meet in the Great Depression is a great article about how folks coped. From darning socks to gardening - do it yourself attitude. Now we are not condoning a "go back to the old days" way of life - technology, population, and more is so much different now. But there is so much that can be learned from those days and the attitudes of the past: pride in handiwork, sane and sustainable consumption, community...
Another important lesson:

They recycled everything, I tell you, everything.

Green equals cash

NBC Universal: Going Green Saved Us $2 Million

NBC Universal says it saved $2 million last year by going green.

The media giant has been promoting environmentally friendly efforts on its TV shows and in practice, looking for reduced power costs and telling its executives to lay off the bottled water.

$2 Million! A perfect example of how being green and being aware can save bucks.

Turn down the thermostat and put on that sweater. Shut off those lights. Conserve. Reduce.

When you need that beer...

After working in the garden (if only spring will hurry up) there is always that NEED for something cold and refreshing. This is one I reach for.

The scene that graces our Wolaver’s label is more than a bucolic vista—it is an embodiment of our philosophy. Our vision only just begins with brewing delicious ale of the finest quality; it also extends to the entire ecological and economic landscape. Every beer we brew is a manifestation of our commitment to the welfare of the environment, the welfare of the farming landscape, and the welfare of the consumer. And as this scene suggests, we believe these three core components should be seen not as distinct pieces, but as one integrated whole, each blending imperceptibly into the next.

Our logo depicts farmers working together, threshing barley by hand, a stone’s throw from the forest edge and the farmhouse brewery on the hill. And that, in short, is our vision—local, organic, collective, green, and handcrafted. At every stage of the beer-making process, we work toward a deeper expression of these values in the modern landscape.

After looking at that logo and reading that article, would you want to reach for any other beer - especially one that is not organic.

Three cheers Wolaver!