Archive for the 'Green Trends' Category
A lot of people are changing their daily habits and adopting more eco-friendly practices - and holiday gift giving is no exception. Unbeknownst to the average consumer, many of the seemingly normal gifts are starting to look a little green.
‘E- The Environmental Magazine’ gives some holiday hints to going green.
Brita Beli from TODAY at msnbc.com highlights the magazine’s most helpful hints. Here’s her two cents:
Putting more green into your holidays means more than leaving less impact on the planet. It’s about choosing gifts that are made with durable, quality, non-toxic materials. Luckily, this often leads to quirky, one-of-a-kind items that say as much about your creative leanings as your Earth-friendliness. Giving green can mean everything from reusing gift wrap and gift bags (or do-it-yourself stenciled paper bags or comics pages), to putting all-natural lotions and beeswax candles in stockings and solar-powered electronics and vintage jewelry under the tree. Of course, if you choose to actually give green — as in plants! — that’s OK, too. (In that case, we recommend philodendron, Boston fern, peace lily and English ivy, all of which are known for their air-cleaning qualities.)
-For the gadget geek: The eco hard drive
-For children: Non-toxic toys and games
-For the outdoors enthusiast: Sustainable skis and snowboards
-For the chief household officer: Creative kitchenware
-For the hipster/fashionista: Reclaimed bags and accessories
-For the eco-economic (under $25): The waterproof wallet
December 07 2007 | Green Trends and Green Technology and Green Lifestyle and Green Fashion | No Comments »
City officials say Chicago is the alley capital of the world with the paved equivalent of five midsize airports. And with that title, come endless possibilities - to help the environment? Might seem a little weird, but according to a New York Times article featuring Chicago…it’s true.
The Windy City announced plans to green its 2,000 miles of alleyways by installing permeable ground coverings that will allow rainwater to seep back into the ground and replenish groundwater supplies.
The plan is called the Green Alley Initiative and could possibly be the most ambitious street makeover in U.S. history.
Susan Saulny summarizes the new system:
In a green alley, water is allowed to penetrate the soil through the pavement itself, which consists of the relatively new but little-used technology of permeable concrete or porous asphalt. Then the water, filtered through stone beds under the permeable surface layer, recharges the underground water table instead of ending up as polluted runoff in rivers and streams.
Revamping the way the city paves could help preserve one of Chicago’s most valued natural resources - Lake Michigan. But some people are skeptical of the refurbished alleyways in a city where people hardly recycle.
City officials say the city will have completed 46 green alleys by the end of the year.
Read the New York Times article for more coverage on the confident and skeptical people affected by the alleyway makeover.
November 27 2007 | Green Trends | No Comments »
People hear a lot of hype about saving energy by switching to CFL light bulbs. Does this small step really help? It’s seems easy enough.
Rebecca Smith answers this question and several others in a Wall Street Journal article. Her answers somehow makes going green seem less daunting.
Take a peek.
• I’D LIKE TO START SMALL. HOW MUCH ENERGY CAN YOU REALLY SAVE WITH LIGHT BULBS?
A lot. A 25-watt compact fluorescent produces about as much light as a 100-watt conventional bulb but uses only one-quarter of the electricity. Because of that, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average 25-watt compact fluorescent will save the equivalent of 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. That’s about as much as a car generates driving 93 miles, assuming it gets a typical 23.9 miles per gallon.
And compact fluorescents won’t cost you an arm and a leg. In California, for instance, utility rebates and volume discounts have driven down the cost of a four-pack of 25-watt compact fluorescents to about $2 — versus $40 or more for the 100-watt equivalents in 1999. Prices have gotten so low that some compact fluorescents pay for themselves in energy savings the first month.
• IT SEEMS LIKE MY REFRIGERATOR IS A BIG ENERGY HOG, BUT IT’S SUCH A COSTLY ITEM TO REPLACE. WHEN DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO BUY A NEW ONE, AND SHOULD I PAY EXTRA FOR AN ENERGY STAR MODEL?
First, let’s clear up a misperception. Compared with other household systems, refrigerators don’t use that much electricity. In fact, they account for only 8% of an average household’s annual electricity use, behind items such as water heating (13%). And they’re dwarfed by real hogs like climate-control systems (45%).
With that in mind, here’s a rough guide to replacing your fridge: If your unit was manufactured before 1993, it’s probably time to make the move. Today’s Energy Star models are twice as efficient as the average older unit, according to the EPA, and will make up for their higher initial cost within five years. In places where energy costs are high, they may completely pay for themselves in energy savings within 10 years. On average, you’ll likely save $40 to $90 annually in electricity bills.
Plus, a new unit that uses half the power of an older unit is responsible for about half the greenhouse-gas emissions. Of course, the actual environmental impact depends on where you live. States with a lot of coal-fired power plants have higher carbon-dioxide emissions per kilowatt-hour of power consumed than states that rely more heavily on nuclear power, hydroelectricity or natural-gas-fired plants.
• HOW MUCH ENERGY CAN I SAVE BY TURNING DOWN MY THERMOSTAT ON WINTER NIGHTS?
A rule of thumb is that a two-degree reduction in the temperature setting on your furnace cuts energy use by 1%, the EPA says. Moreover, houses that are well sealed and insulated, including heat ducts, use less energy because the furnace doesn’t have to run as hard.
You might also consider replacing an old furnace. Replacing a 1980s furnace with an Energy Star model costing $4,000 could produce $3,269 in net savings for a New England family, according to an EPA calculator at energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=furnaces.pr_furnaces. The move would also cut lifetime carbon dioxide emissions by 96,450 pounds — equivalent to the output of a car for 10 years.
November 14 2007 | Green Trends and Green Lifestyle | No Comments »
People across the nation are steadily becoming more interested in finding ways to buy local and organic produce. This week Chicago’s first permanent, year-round urban farm could make supporting local farmers a little easier.
Who: Growing Home, Alderman Toni Foulkes and Teamwork Englewood
What: Groundbreaking for Chicago’s First Permanent, Year-Round Urban Farm
When: Wednesday, November 14, 9:00 am
Where: Wood Street Urban Farm, 5814 S. Wood St., Chicago
Growing Home is a six-year old certified organic agricultural business with a social mission of providing transitional employment for homeless and low-income adults. Program participants are difficult-to-employ people, most of whom have criminal backgrounds.
The Wood Street Urban Farm is the third site for Growing Home, which also operates a 10-acre farm 75 miles southwest of Chicago at Marseilles, Illinois and a half-acre urban farm on the south side.
The new farm is a part of the larger Quality of Life Plan for the Englewood community, which calls for developing an Urban Agriculture District in Englewood that will lead to healthy and sustainable living among neighborhood residents.
According to the Growing Home website, the U.S. organic sector is expected to grow from $13 billion in 2003 to over $25 billion in 2007. However, less than 3 percent of organic produce available in Chicago is grown locally.
November 13 2007 | Green Trends and Green Lifestyle and Green Food and Green Farming and Green Events | No Comments »
Walmart hasn’t always been on everyone’s good side, but the conglomerate might be moving in the right direction by shifting toward sustainability. Eventhough there aren’t any stores in the city, Chicagoans might have noticed that the company has already changed its brand from “Everyday Low Prices” to “Save Money, Live Better.”
Its new five key initiatives include: sustainability, health and wellness, community, economic opportunity and value.
One blogger, Robert Johnson, writes the following:
Health and wellness kicked off with $4 prescriptions. In conjunction with its huge sustainability initiative, Wal-Mart recently held a conference in which it brought together CEOs from all over the country and announced that it was going to green its supply chain. That means if your company is a Wal-Mart vendor, or if you want to be one, first you must meet the company’s sustainability objectives.
That’s huge because Wal-Mart interacts with 80 percent of the households in the U.S. Anything Wal-Mart does affects most consumer brands and most manufacturers. For example, Wal-Mart now sells a reusable shopping bag for $1 that is made from 85 percent recyclable materials, carries the same weight as a plastic bag and replaces 50 plastic bags in its lifetime.
Six months ago Wal-Mart launched the “Live Better Index” to track its efforts.
The index charts the habits of American households in five major areas, including sustainability. At the six-month mark for the index, Wal-Mart reported that Americans had already purchased 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs for a $1.5 billion savings on their electricity bills.
Why is this so important? Because Wal-Mart has already found that sustainability is not only cost effective, but it saves consumers money. And now they have decided that they are also going to save themselves and their supply chain money by extending their sustainability initiatives rather than drawing back from them.
We’ll see just how Walmart will sustain its new green approach.
November 09 2007 | Green Trends | No Comments »
With new suggestions about how to be eco-friendly popping up every day, the average person may start spinning in circles.
One expert may be encouraging people to switch to CFL light bulbs. Another environmentalist may urge everyone to buy hybrid vehicles. The next guy is suggesting solar panels.
Going green is great, but where does someone start with little time and energy?
A handful of Chicago women are providing an easy answer - stationary, wedding invitations and holiday cards all made from recycled paper. Women who are current and former participants and tenants of Deborah’s Place, Chicago’s largest provider of supportive housing exclusively for women, are employed.
Here’s the environmental impact calculated by WomanCraft:
Conserve a tree has a lot of great information and links to help you learn more. From this site we’ve borrowed a useful generalized calculation: 1 carton (10 reams) of virgin office paper = approximately .6 of the average felled tree. Based on these numbers we’ve worked out the following for WomanCraft:
1 WomanCraft Hollander beater (the machine that turns our shredded paper to pulp—ours is bigger than most) holds approximately 5 reams of shredded office paper (determined by weight of bagged shreds vs. weight of standard reams), so:
1 WomanCraft beaters-worth = approximately 1/3 of a tree
We estimate that we make about 2 beaters-worth of pulp each week, 48-50 weeks a year. Using the conservative number, we run our beater 96 times a year, so we create recycled paper equivalent to about 32 trees a year, and keep about 1000 pounds of paper from going to an incinerator or landfill!
WomanCraft, Inc. is a wholly-owned social enterprise of Deborah’s Place. Purchases help not only the environment, but also women working to create new beginnings.
November 01 2007 | Green Trends and Green Lifestyle and Green Fashion | No Comments »
Many Americans are unaware of how the food they eat is created and transported, who is behind the whole effect, and at what environmental cost. But a growing national movement is building greater awareness, along with cusumer demand for healthier, local, organic and sustainable options — strengthening economies while bringing the worlds of the farm and the metropolis closer together.
The Land Connection is a non-profit organization saving Illinois farmland and training new farmers in Evanston. Terra Brockman, food and farm writer and executive director of The Land Connection will discuss the latest trends in the local food production movement with Corby Kummer, senior food editor for “The Atlantic Monthy,” and several organic farmers on Nov. 3, 12:00-1:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple.
“There’s a whole movement here toward health and local food production,” said David Miller, the director of farmland projects for The Land Connection. “We think and hope people will continue to support the local food production movement.”
October 25 2007 | Green Trends and Green Farming and Green Events | 1 Comment »
Some people are taking the green trend to a new depth — six feet under to be exact. Going green is no longer just for the living; some burials are going green.
Families are choosing to make burials for their deceased loved ones an environmentally friendly practice. Rather than use toxic chemicals, some funeral homes are opting to refrigerate bodies and place them on dry ice before public viewings.
In addition, green cemeteries are burying bodies in biodegradble materials, such as wood boxes or cloth shrouds. Recently, Green Burial Council founder Joe Sehee discussed green burial options at Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel.
October 17 2007 | Green Trends | No Comments »
