One great way to reduce your carbon footprint and lower the cost of your daily commute is replace your car with an e-bike. The Joe Fly e-bike (pictured above) is one of the sexier alternatives. Made by Italian bike maker Prima Power Bikes – the Joe Fly is a pedal-assist electric bike, meaning you start pedaling and the bike’s 250 watt hub-mounted electric motor will kick-in to help you reach speeds up to 15 mph.

You can travel about 20 miles on a full charge, which will get most people to their job, or the local farmers’ market.

The Joe Fly has 3 driving modes: eco (for extended distance), normal and boost (for extra speed), other features include: a regenerative braking system, an Ni-MH battery, a multi-function display, a front disk brake, front fork suspension, electronic anti-theft protection and a polymer body. Largo Scooters sells the stylish Joe Fly in the US.

Related: more electric bikes on The Alternative Consumer

Vietnam is often thought of as a war-revenged jungle. Though the Vietnam War, or the American War as it is called by the Vietnamese, is a large part of Vietnamese history, the country has much more to offer than war stories. It is a country rich in natural resources, one of the main being seafood. Vietnam, as well as many other South East Asian countries, depends on seafood to be the largest contributor of protein to their diets. However, the rich biodiversity of the coastal region is constantly being threatened by the deforestation of mangroves. (more…)