1. Store your info and important documents on a small digital hard drive or flash memory drive.  You’ll save a bunch of storage space and organizing time.  You’ll also be backing up your important info.  Eliminate the need for storage media like CD’s and DVD’s that take up space and require plastic in their manufacture.
2. Downsize the amount of paper you get in the mail.  Get electronic statements whenever possible.  You’ll save a bunch of trees and eliminate the fossil fuel burned up by the mailman delivering your mail.
3. Get a smaller ride.  You’ll reduce your carbon footprint, and save on gas, parking and car insurance by transitioning to a smaller vehicle.
4. Downsize your living quarters.  Do we really need all these giant homes?  You’ll lower your heating, electric and water bills by going small.  Pursue a more efficient and manageable lifestyle.
5. Get rid of, or downsize, that mega-lawn of yours.  Every year lawnmowers produce millions of pounds of toxic emissions.  The EPA estimates that 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled filling lawnmowers each year.  Fertilizer is very energy intensive to manufacture and pollutes countless waterways nationwide.  Lawns also create mono-cultures that create a desert for bees and hummingbirds.  Get out there and build some native plant rock gardens, go au natural, or get creative in moving away from that high maintenance status symbol you call your lawn.
6. Reduce your caloric intake.  Eat more veggies and less meat.  A smaller, healthier you, will make a stunning environmental statement, plus you can reduce the CO2 emissions associated with cattle and dairy farming.  You’ll also be able to fit into all those clothes in your closet that you thought you had “outgrown.”

Tired of drab tableware?  With timeless designs and rich, saturated colors, eco conscious Terra Keramik will enhance any table setting.  Perfect for special occasions — whether you’re looking to treat Mom (or yourself) to something useful and special this Mother’s Day, or searching for a cool wedding gift.

With a strong commitment to environmentally and socially sustainable production they use: glazes that contain zero lead and cadmium to produce an absolutely food-safe finish, clays that can be (more…)

Is precycling the latest eco-word?  Home soda maker, Sodastream is bringing its line of home soda makers to the mass market at Kohl’s stores nationwide in what must be the 4 billionth Earth Day marketing tie-in.  Sodastream’s soda maker makes nicely carbonated soda right in your home (we’ve tried it) without the disposable packaging associated with bottled sodas and beverages.  A nice way to keep all those cans and bottles out of the landfill.  Now about that word, precycling….

via: prnewswire.com

Related:  previously on altCon
Sodastream – let it pump you up (12.9.08)

Clarian Technologies, a small research and development company (probably just Chad Maglaque), has been working on its Jellyfish wind appliance concept for a while now.  The Jellyfish is designed to plug into a conventional wall outlet and provide renewable wind power directly to your home without special wiring or a complicated inverter box.  The 36″ vertical axis wind turbine, which is purported to produce up to 40kWh of electricity per month, is designed to be pole, roof or tower mounted.  The unit, which has only one moving part, is claimed to be exceptionally quiet and operates at wind speeds as low as 5mph.  At an estimated cost of $400 per unit you’d think this baby would be on a fast-track to the consumer market.  No word on roll-out plans.  Maybe it’s just an interesting concept.

more @ clariantechnologies.com

Related:  more wind power posts from altCon

After being inundated for the past three weeks by press releases related to the fast approaching Earth Day,  I have to admit I’ve begun to just scroll by them in my inbox.  I’ve seen the articles bemoaning the fact that Earth Day isn’t “everyday” and there’s no doubt that it does bring awareness of our critical relationship to Mother Earth to any Somalian pirates, English soccer fans or former members of the Bush administration who may have become distracted and disassociated from the planet, but we don’t all have to jump over the proverbial wall into the polar bear enclosure like some crazed woman at a German zoo.

It seems like I’ve just turned the lights back on from Earth Hour, and now I have to get out there and plant some trees for Earth Day.  Well, I’ve already planted dozens of trees, recycled til my hands bled and coasted down countless hills in my Subaru to save on gas and emissions.  I’m tired, and suffering from Earth Day Fatigue and it’s not even Friday.  Let’s not let Earth Day join the pantheon of over-marketed, over-hyped events that just drone on until only the converted are listening.  I’ve watched “An Inconvenient Truth” until my eyes went blurry and Al Gore started looking like Elton John, so maybe it’s just time to let the newbies get out there and do their thing for the planet.  Please save your energy – hold off on sending me that press release for your compelling article on “Five Ways to Green Your Earth Day Barbecue;” I’ve already been there.

Here’s a home design that will get you living “smaller” and in affordable style.  Stillwater Dwellings designs modular homes that strive to provide the perfect combination of style, cost and sustainability.  The Seattle based firm’s one story, “mini” line (sd-m) comes in two models, the miniONE (370 sq. ft.) and the larger, miniTWO (585 sq. ft. – see floorplan, below).  Designed as a first home, cabin or mother-in-law abode, these pre-built units (more…)

• We could save more by switching to CFLs…U.S. Power Plants to Burn 2.6% Less Coal in 2009 – reuters
• They’ve tried this with garbage and sludge…Study: Idea of Burying CO2 at Sea Has Leaks – msnbc.com
• Secrets to Longer Battery Life – cs monitor
• Dirty Energy Threat to Green Brazil – bbc
• Ya think?  Sex Talk at Work Hurts Bottom Line – livescience

Ladies, want to kick things up a notch but remain cool and comfy?  Check out Tanga, the latest sustainably stylish panties from Sophie Young’s French-based, eco lingerie brand, g=9.8.  Designed to fit all body types by featuring adjustable sides, and made from sustainably managed wood — the soft, Lenpur fiber has amazing properties whereby it regulates temps so that you won’t feel too hot or too cold; never loses its shape; washes well and dries quickly; and it’s both anti-bacterial and biodegradable.

“Only certain parts of the trees are chosen and selected while harvesting coincides with normal pruning. The water consumption is limited, and g= 9.8 uses eco-friendly and non-toxic dyes certified by Oekotex.”

In Stormy Blue, Grenadine and Blackcurrant (£14.95) via favorite UK-based, (organic, Fair Trade and ethical retailer) byNature.co.uk.

Related:  previously on altCon,
(2.4.09) g=9.8 intimately eco undies

Designer Jaime Salm has fashioned the seats of his comfy Rubber Stool from 100% post-consumer, locally sourced, recycled tires.  The frame is powder-coated steel.

The design utilizes the properties of the recycled tires, instead of fasteners, to attach the seat to the frame.  Stools come ready to assemble and adjustable for use and size of posterior.

$210 @ mioculture.com

Related: capsule lights (2.17.07)