As Green As You Can Be

In this time of economic uncertainty, “going green” is probably the last thing on the mind of some people. Feeding ones family, protecting ones future, these are probably much more common thoughts today. But there are a few things you can do to go green and help your economic situation at the same time.

Mmmm Toasty

Ride your bike to work! Okay, the winter is a bit cold to start peddling to work, but if you look at the money you save on gas and auto repair, you can but some pretty sweet bicycling gear that will keep you nice and toasty on your new healthy commute.

You may even get a tax break if you forgo the comforts of the gas guzzler, depending on where you live. I understand that Europe is already doing some sort of tax break and the U.S. is soon to follow.

Maybe you are thinking of an entirely new line of work? One that doesn’t require a commute at all. The internet is full of “work from home” offers, yes most of them are scams, and many more are grossly overstating what you can make, but there are a few things you can do from home. I wrote another post about working from home a while ago that showed some of the environmental benefits to working from home.
Maybe you are the next Perez Hilton? Maybe you are an amateur photographer looking to go pro? Either way you’ll need a website.

Do a search and you will certainly find web hosts are a dime a dozen.  How can you choose among a hundred hosts that all have very similar prices?  Well at least one host out there is powered entirely by the wind and sun.  That is certainly as green as they can be! When you add the fact that they are the same price as any of the other big hosting companies, there isn’t really much to think about. They’ll even plant a tree for each new client!

As our economy plummets into the toilet, Ill be sure to update you as to the best ways to stay as green as you can be.

How awesome is that. There is a company called Brandimage, who has come up with a solution to the 60 Million plastic bottles that Americans throw away EVERY DAY.

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From TheDieline.com

Extremely innovative new packaging from Brandimage, who was responsible for everything including concept development, branding, prototyping, engineering, and product design. The 360 Paper Bottle is the first of its kind in the world, and a true environmentally-friendly solution to the problem of plastic water bottles:

CHALLENGE
Each day, Americans throw out 60 million plastic bottles. Only 14% actually get recycled— meaning 86% become garbage or litter. We looked at this as a radical problem requiring an equally radical solution. Could we design a container that would leverage sustainability, be easy to transport, and enhance the consumer’s drinking experience?

SOLUTION
The 360 Paper Bottle is a sustainable vision of the future. It is the first totally recyclable paper container made from 100% renewable resources. Versatile in its range of consumer applications and made from food-safe and fully recyclable materials, it decreases energy consumed throughout the product life cycle without sacrificing functionality. It is paper packaging that stands up to all liquid categories.

Nice work Brandimage!

2009 Ford Fiesta

If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor, known widely for lumbering gas hogs.

Ford’s 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here’s the catch: Despite the car’s potential to transform Ford’s image and help it compete with Toyota Motor and Honda Motor in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe. “We know it’s an awesome vehicle,” says Ford America President Mark Fields. “But there are business reasons why we can’t sell it in the U.S.” The main one: The Fiesta ECOnetic runs on diesel.

Automakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have predicted for years that a technology called “clean diesel” would overcome many Americans’ antipathy to a fuel still often thought of as the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers. Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient.

Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. “Americans see hybrids as the darling,” says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, “and diesel as old-tech.”

None of this is stopping European and Japanese automakers, which are betting they can jump-start the U.S. market with new diesel models. Mercedes-Benz by next year will have three cars it markets as “BlueTec.” Even Nissan and Honda, which long opposed building diesel cars in Europe, plan to introduce them in the U.S. in 2010. But Ford, whose Fiesta ECOnetic compares favorably with European diesels, can’t make a business case for bringing the car to the U.S.

TOO PRICEY TO IMPORT

First of all, the engines are built in Britain, so labor costs are high. Plus the pound remains stronger than the greenback. At prevailing exchange rates, the Fiesta ECOnetic would sell for about $25,700 in the U.S. By contrast, the Prius typically goes for about $24,000. A $1,300 tax deduction available to buyers of new diesel cars could bring the price of the Fiesta to around $24,400. But Ford doesn’t believe it could charge enough to make money on an imported ECOnetic.

Ford plans to make a gas-powered version of the Fiesta in Mexico for the U.S. So why not manufacture diesel engines there, too? Building a plant would cost at least $350 million at a time when Ford has been burning through more than $1 billion a month in cash reserves. Besides, the automaker would have to produce at least 350,000 engines a year to make such a venture profitable. “We just don’t think North and South America would buy that many diesel cars,” says Fields.

The question, of course, is whether the U.S. ever will embrace diesel fuel and allow automakers to achieve sufficient scale to make money on such vehicles. California certified VW and Mercedes diesel cars earlier this year, after a four-year ban. James N. Hall, of auto researcher 293 Analysts, says that bellwether state and the Northeast remain “hostile to diesel.” But the risk to Ford is that the fuel takes off, and the carmaker finds itself playing catch-up—despite having a serious diesel contender in its arsenal.

by David Kiley of BusinessWeek

Sarah Palin questions global warming science and favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She also opposed a state initiative that would have banned metal mines in her state from discharging pollution into salmon streams, and dropped a lawsuit intended to prevent polar bears from being listed as a threatened species. Not that any of these things are surprising considering that she’s a Republican, but the party’s questionable pick for VP is governor of Alaska, where the ANWR is located, and the state that has already seen the most dramatic effects of global warming.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Alaska Governor has said that she has tried to persuade McCain to agree with her on drilling in the wildlife refuge. She also has said that she was happy that he changed his position over the summer and now supports offshore oil drilling.

Palin’s environmental views could get more of an airing now that she has landed on the national stage.

Last month, the state of Alaska under Palin’s guidance sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in an attempt to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. Palin said that scientists’ predictions that global warming would eliminate the ice where the bears live in summer were unreliable.

As we noted in an article posted yesterday, ‘7 Places Global Warming is Smacking the Crap Out of the Earth Right Now’, Alaska is the only U.S. state currently experiencing global warming effects on par with other areas of the world.  In some areas of the remote state, villages are being relocated because global warming has battered them with severe storms and melting ice has caused erosion and floods.

Besides, how does McCain aim to protect the environment when his #2 would be fighting him all the way?

Link [Sydney Morning Herald]
Photo credit: AP/Sydney Morning Herald
From Earth First

More and more clothing manufacturers are recognizing the need for a more sustainable farming practice.  The “new” farming practice uses up to 73 percent fewer chemical inputs than conventional cotton and that directly benefits the local environment.

Sustainable Cotton encompasses biologically-based, IPM, and organic farming practices in the production, manufacturing and use of cotton. The Sustainable Cotton Project’s grower programs help move farmers through the changeover from chemically-dependent to more biological sound approaches. Composted manures and cover crops replace synthetic fertilizers; innovative weeding strategies are used instead of herbicides; beneficial insects and trap crops control insect pests; and alternatives to toxic defoliants prepare plants for harvest.

The ultimate goal of “sustainable cotton” is to move sustainable production, manufacturing and use practices throughout the cotton value chain in order to create a healthy and profitable industry for growers, their communities, manufacturers, retailers and users of all cotton products.

Another good thing about the organic clothing, unlike organic foods, is that the price isn’t much different than non-organic clothing.  Here are a few examples of shirts that I found online.  A $10 t-shirt is a pretty good deal where I come from, and if it helps me be as green as I can be, all the better!

Organic Arthur T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 12.98	Organic Horizon T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 11.98	Organic Logo T-Shirt, Long Sleeve, Men’s Price: 12.98
Organic Ice Axe T-Shirt, Long Sleeve, Men’s Price: 12.98	Organic Stance T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 9.98	Organic Boot T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 9.98
Organic Vision T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 9.98	Organic Moose T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 12.98	Hawksbill Turtle 2 Organic T-Shirt, Women’s Price: 14.98
Pra Piping Plover Organic T-Shirt, Women’s Price: 14.98	Henslow Sparrow Organic T-Shirt, Women’s Price: 14.98	Organic Acadia T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 12.98
Organic Joshua Tree T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 12.98	Organic Yellowstone T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 12.98	Organic Long Trail T-Shirt, Men’s Price: 11.98