The other day I saw a nifty little energy efficient Smart Car leaving a parking garage on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with a sticker on the back that read, “Mint, Cars on Demand.” I’m familiar with ZipCar, that almost decade-old car sharing service that changed the way people think about owning and renting cars, but Mint was completely new to me. I decided to investigate.   (more…)

Mount Vernon, Washington based scientist Jackie Heinricer and her biotech company, Booshoot, are perfectly poised to change the agricultural landscape in the U.S. and meet the skyrocketing demand for bamboo.  Exciting stuff.

As you may already know, bamboo is fast-growing, and primarily grown in Asia and India.  It can be used to create energy, textiles, furniture, clothing, flooring and paper — but few realize that bamboo is being dramatically over-harvested, and the world’s supply is disappearing at an alarming rate. According to a UN report, as many as half the world’s woody bamboos may be on their way to extinction.

Bamboo is very hard to propagate and grow from seed.  Yet, Booshoot’s patented tissue culture technology makes it possible, for the first time ever, to produce the types and quantities of plants needed to replenish the world’s dwindling bamboo supply.  The company has the unique ability to clone true species, without genetic modification, in vast numbers.

Most of Booshoots’ inventory is currently sold wholesale to large nurseries in the U.S. for resale to the public. (more…)

• Fast-Growing Western U.S. Cities Face Water Crisis – reuters
• At least one guy got a job…Green Jobs Adviser Named to White House – msnbc
• I once caught the smallest living largemouth bass…Whale Shark Saved in Philippines, May Be Smallest – yahoo! news
• Wiring Issue Blamed for Collapse of GE-Made Wind Turbine – dailygazette.com
• To log, or not to log…Canada’s Carbon Sink Has Sprung a Leak – cs monitor
• “Mel, could you check that packing slip?”…Pet Store Expects Fish Shipment, But Gets Corpse – myway

1. Leave the car at home.  Instead, take a walk or ride a bike to work, the store or across town.  You’ll save on gas and reduce your circumference; and besides, biking is so European.  Also, use public transportation.  Don’t be afraid to join the rest of your community on the bus or train.  Being a gas guzzling loner is so overrated.
2. Re-use or repurpose.  Put down the paper towels and use a cloth dishrag or re-usable cleaning wipe, (ie Eco-cloth). Stop throwing away money on single-use stuff.
3. Turn off the TV and do something constructive.  You’ll save on electricity and you may actually accomplish something.
4. Try air drying those clothes on a clothes line instead of in that energy-gulping electric dryer.  Save your threads, the planet and money.
5. Get off the beef and dairy products for at least a few days a week.  Cattle, and the cattle industry, are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.  Eating fresh fruits and veggies instead of that t-bone will also help you live a little longer, so you can spend the money you save.

Solar power has come a long way in the last half century.  When the first silicon solar cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Laboratories (presently known as AT&T and Labs), scientists anticipated that eventually the sun would provide for the world’s energy needs.  Today, new solar power innovations are making this a reality.  Here are recent innovations that are taking us one step closer:

Covalent Solar (above)
Formed by MIT engineers, Covalent Solar is revolutionizing the solar panel industry.  Unlike conventional concentrators, their dye-based solar concentrator does not require any tracking or cooling systems so overall costs are greatly minimized.  This is how it works: a special mixture of dyes is coated on large glass panel; sunlight is absorbed and transported within the glass to the solar cells at the edge.  Because there is very little energy loss with the dye, power obtained from the solar cells increases 10-fold.  And, when added onto existing panels, efficiency increases by 50%.  Production is expected in the next three years.  So, keep your eyes out.  For more information, visit their website at covalentsolar.com.  (more…)

If you’ve ever watched someone sell cubic zirconium baubles on QVC you know pricing is everything. Maybe that’s why the all-new 2010 Honda Insight goes on sale March 24 with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $19,800 for the Insight LX, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today.  The new Insight would be the lowest priced hybrid in the U.S.. via: prnewswire

• Locking in on global warming…EU Finance Ministers Locked in by Green Protesters – reuters
• Another idea. Go digital.  Indian Police Enroll Rat Recruits – bbc
• They like to gamble, they can’t find the cat or…they’re just plain dumb…Why People Don’t Heed Tornado Warnings – livescience
• Ouch! Cellphone Bills Average $3.02 Per Minute, Study Says – cs monitor
• Climate Change Skeptics Gather in NYC – npr
• Call me on my coat… Ultra-Thin Chip Embedding for Wearable Electronics – sciencedaily

With an abundance of raw food restaurants, festivals, retreats, and meet-up groups springing up across the world, it’s become apparent that people are waking up to the lifestyle’s ability to clean up both their inner physical world, as well as the environment of their outer world. Having already briefly discussed individual health benefits in part one, let’s now concentrate on its environmental benefits.

First off, it’s a vegetarian lifestyle- thereby eliminating the incredible amount of pollution and waste created by meat and diary industries. Secondly, if you’re someone who brings their bags to the market and utilizes a compost bin, you can almost completely halt your production of food related trash (packaging), which comprises a large percentage of modern landfills. In the words of David Wolfe, “if we pollute the planet with food packaging after we eat, then we truly are not living in harmony with the Earth.”

We are also not at peace with the Earth when we destroy 85% of the food’s life-giving nutrients upon cooking. By wasting these nutrients, David Wolfe points out that we are in effect also wasting “85% of the time, (more…)

A Tried and True, Green Product Review:

Sure, DIY concoctions (distilled vinegar, baking soda, table salt and lemon) can work wonders, but sometimes, due to time constraints, it’s more convenient to grab an off the shelf green spray to fight household grime.

I recently had the good fortune to try Eco Mist, a line developed and manufactured in Canada using colloidal chemistry.  Founder Ted Fagan decided to utilize this scientific approach whereby plant-based, renewable ingredients (in this case — corn, tree sap, processed coconut extract, sugarcane, grass, grains and potatoes) are heated up at various temps to create billions of tiny cleaning agents.  These tiny agents clean grease and grime at a molecular depth — unsurpassed by petro-based cleaning agents found in traditional cleaners.

Extra eco perks:  all of the products are unscented, non-toxic non-carcinogenic, non-allergenic, biodegradable and Eco Options approved. With Household and Professional lines available, we tried the Kitchen Plus household spray and put it to the test on our daily spills and mess. (more…)