Green Printing

Loggers Try to Adapt to Greener Economy

2009-03-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Published: March 28, 2009

LOWELL, Ore. — Booming timber towns with three-shift lumber mills are a distant memory in the densely forested Northwest. Now, with the housing market and the economy in crisis, some rural areas have never been more raw. Mills keep closing. People keep leaving. Unemployment in some counties is near 20 percent.

Yet in parts of the region, the decline is being met by an unlikely optimism. Some people who have long fought to clear-cut the region’s verdant slopes are trying to reposition themselves for a more environmentally friendly economy, motivated by changing political interests, the federal stimulus package and sheer desperation.

Read the rest of the article at the New York Times

Global Warming Called Security Threat

2008-07-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

By ANDREW C. REVKIN and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

For the second time in a month, private consultants to the government are warning that human-driven warming of the climate poses risks to the national security of the United States.

A report, scheduled to be published on Monday but distributed to some reporters yesterday, said issues usually associated with the environment — like rising ocean levels, droughts and violent weather caused by global warming — were also national security concerns...

Read the rest at the New York Times

Friendly Skies? With Oil Above $100, Aviation Sees Green Appeal

2008-04-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

April 22, 2008, 11:19 am

Posted by Keith Johnson

This Earth Day, a high-flying reminder from the Green Continent that what’s environmental is ultimately about what’s economic.

The world’s aviation industry says it’s taking climate change seriously, though it’s probably the bottom line that caught its attention. Either way, at the Third annual Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva, airlines, airports, and aircraft makers all pledged for the first time to cut emissions.

Looking for gas money in the couch. (Associated Press)

Aviation accounts for about 2% of global emissions of greenhouse gases, although some scientists say the effect could be magnified because the emissions are high-altitude. Granted, that’s less than half as much as the cement industry—but aviation’s sheer visibility and relentless growth has made it a popular target for climate campaigners.

Now, the industry says it’s listening. Companies like Boeing and Airbus, and international aviation trade groups and airports, all signed off on a four-step plan to curb emissions from aviation. The four “pillars”: New technologies, including cleaner fuels; better fuel efficiency in fleets; more efficient air routes and air-traffic management; and “positive economic instruments” to cut GHG wherever it’s “cost-effective.”

What’s the common denominator there? Hint: Jet kerosene now costs $145 a barrel. And there’s no easy way to “hedge” against higher fuel prices when crude is $118 a barrel.

Higher fuel prices hammer airlines. Fuel has overtaken labor costs as airlines’ No. 1 expense, and that takes some doing. U.S. airlines, already fretful that a slumping economy will stint air travel, got drygulched this earnings season by higher fuel prices. Cost savings, even from fuel, is one of the factors behind the Delta-Northwest merger.

Airlines got the green bug a few years ago when fuel prices started rising. That explains the appeal of newer aircrafts, like Boeing’s Dreamliner, which uses lighter materials and new-generation engines to cut fuel consumption. Airbus’ big answer, the superjumbo 380, is to pack more passengers into a plane—which means lower unit costs for fuel, among other things.

The other pillars in Geneva address the same concerns. Airlines hate zig-zag air traffic routes that make them burn fuel dodging military no-fly zones. Airlines hate antiquated air traffic rules that make them stagger-step down for landing, or circle endlessly, burning extra fuel. And airlines are scared to death that Europe will see them as an easy target as it seeks to revamp economy-wide limits on greenhouse-gas emissions.

So what’s the answer? Bail us out, please. The summit’s declaration calls for governments to help finance research into new technology, revamp air traffic, and to make sure that any global climate change accord is “equitable.” In other words, a new meaning for the term “flag carrier.”

Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/04/22/friendly-skies-with-oil-above-100-aviation-sees-green-appeal/?

Yahoo! Free is Good - Earth Day '08

2008-04-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's not a charity or a business: It's an idea that perfectly good used stuff deserves a home other than the landfill. Instead of throwing out things like furniture, dishes, bikes, and electronics, people in a reuse group give these items away for free to other people in their community who can use them. Find a local reuse group.

Also check out their Yahoo! Green website.

Earth Day, April 22, 2008

2008-04-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

Americans produce enough trash every year to fill a line of garbage trucks that would stretch from the Earth half-way to the moon. That’s 4.6 pounds of trash per person, per day. All of that waste doesn’t have to go to waste, though. With Earth Day approaching Carbonfund.org is asking for your help to turn rubbish into a local, renewable fuel source.

Methane landfill biodigesters like the ones that Carbonfund.org supports in New Bedford, Massachusetts typically produce enough electricity to power 850 households and remove 162,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year – the equivalent of planting 49,000 acres of trees. So instead of just wasting trash, we’re urging you to use this Earth Day to put our trash to work for the environment.

Parks Printing takes our commitment to the environment seriously. That is why we are reducing our carbon footprint with Carbonfund.org and why we asking you to do the same. An alternative energy future awaits us - all it needs is you. With your help we can make renewable energy the norm instead of the alternative, while helping kick our dirty, fossil fuel habit. Reach for the green and support Carbonfund.org’s Earth Day Challenge today!

Paper and Packaging Products Are The Right Choice

2008-04-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - When people buy paper products, they are doing the earth a favor. That's because paper products are manufactured with wood fiber - the one natural resource in the world that can regenerate itself in harmony with the environment. The best news is we are growing more wood fiber than we use. The forests are growing - not disappearing. There are 12 million more acres of forests in the U.S. today than 20 years ago. Since 1965, the number of trees growing in U.S. forests has increased 39 percent, considering that in the same period of time our population has nearly doubled.

Unlike other raw material, the rapidly growing trees we use to produce wood fiber are perpetually grown and re-grown in forests managed for that purpose. As long as there is sunlight and well-managed forestland, we will have a limitless supply of wood fiber. And, the more renewable wood fiber we use, the less we'll need of alternative resources that will eventually run out.

Only wood fiber can guarantee that a world soon to hold 10 billion people will have the material we need to allow us to build our homes, safely package our food and communicate with each other - all without using alternatives that deplete our natural resources or damage the environment.

So "saving trees" is not the environmental answer - using more paper and packaging products with wood fiber is.

Jay James
Division Manager
xpedx / Dallas

EPA toughens requirements for cutting smog

2008-03-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - The air in hundreds of U.S. counties is simply too dirty to breathe, the government said Wednesday, ordering a multibillion-dollar expansion of efforts to clean up smog in cities and towns nationwide.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it was tightening the amount of ozone, a key component of smog, that will be allowed in the air. But the lower standard still falls short of what most health experts say is needed to significantly reduce heart and asthma attacks from breathing smog-clogged air.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new limits "the most stringent standards ever," and he said they will require 345 counties — out of more than 700 that are monitored — to make air quality improvements because they now have dirtier air than is healthy to breathe.

Johnson said that state and local officials have considerable time to meet the requirements — as much as 20 years for some that have the most serious pollution problems. The EPA estimates that by 2020 the number of counties failing to meet the new health standard will drop to about 28.

About 85 counties still fall short of the old standard enacted a decade ago.

Large areas would fail
Some of those chronic polluters are far above the old limit — Los Angeles County and a large swatch of southern California, for example, and a long stretch from Washington up to New England on the East Coast. Some areas that would be newly included under the stricter standard include Indianapolis and Cleveland's Cuyahoga County in the Midwest; Mobile, Ala., and Jacksonville, Fla., in the South and El Paso, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla., out West.

All of Florida and Oklahoma currently comply with the smog standard. Nine counties in each state don't meet the tougher requirement.

Johnson's decision was met with sharp criticism from health experts and some members of Congress accused the EPA chief of ignoring the science. The new standard goes counter to the recommendations of two of the agency's scientific advisory panels — one on air quality and the other on protection of children.

The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old standard of 80.

New limits assailed
The science boards had told the agency that limits of 60 to 70 parts per billion are needed to protect the nation's most vulnerable citizens, especially children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

"Today's decision means millions of Americans will not get the protection that the law requires," said Bernadette Toomey, president of the American Lung Association, which had strongly urged the EPA to follow the advice of the science boards.

Johnson said he took those recommendations into account, but disagreed with the scientists. "In the end it is a judgment. I followed my obligation. I followed the law. I adhered to the science," Johnson said in a conference call with reporters.

Johnson said he did not consider the cost of meeting the new air standard. States and counties would have to require emission reductions from factories, power plants and cars to meet the tougher health rules.

Beijing says water a "severe test" it can pass

2008-03-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's capital has been "severely tested" in ensuring there will be enough safe water for the 2008 Olympics but is sure that recycling run-off and tapping additional sources will avoid shortages, a city official said.

Beijing lies in the country's arid north, a region where urban growth, industrialization and pollution have strained supplies, forcing the city of 16 million to draw increasingly on declining underground sources.

With the Olympic Games opening in August set to lift demand, Beijing has turned to neighboring Hebei province, enduring a long drought, to supply 300 million cubic meters of "back-up" water through a network of canals.

Northern China has had very little rain or snow throughout the winter, adding to worries. But Zhang Shouquan, a deputy chief of the Beijing water bureau, said athletes and visitors could expect clean, full supplies for pools, taps and a big scenic lake.

"How to ensure water supplies for the Olympic Games period has been a severe test for us," Zhang told the Chinese-language Sohu news Web site (news.sohu.com) in an on-line interview.

"Now our water quality is fine and we can absolutely guarantee supplies for the competitions ... We can certainly ensure the water-quality security for athletes."

Zhang gave apparently contradictory numbers for supply and demand, saying that Beijing planned to supply 3 billion cubic meters of water in 2008, which he said was "much higher than the past year." But he also said that in recent years Beijing had consumed up to 3.5 billion cubic meters of water a year.

"The problem we have now is that, as well as shortfalls in water sources, there is also severe pollution of the aquatic environment," Zhang said. "Our task in cleaning up water is extremely arduous."

But a combination of increased water-saving and recycling, the planned extra supplies from Hebei and tapping underground sources would ensure that the spike in demand could be met, Zhang said.

Critics including Dai Qing, a prominent Beijing environmental advocate, have said that the Olympic Games projects are badly straining aquifers, which have already fallen sharply in recent years.

But Zhang appeared to suggest that pumping underground supplies could be safely increased -- for a while.

"We still have abundant underground water," he said. "Although there may be some situations of shortages, we can absolutely guarantee providing water sources under safe transfer conditions for a period of time."

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Homebuilders Reach for High Performance Green Standards

2008-02-21T10:21:00.001-08:00

ORLANDO, Florida, February 20, 2008 (ENS) - All homebuilders are invited to participate in the U.S. Energy Department's Builders Challenge, a voluntary national energy savings effort to build 220,000 high performance, energy efficient homes by 2012.

Energy Department Secretary Samuel Bodman announced the Challenge Thursday at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida where 92,000 building industry professionals from around the world convened to see the latest in building products, services and technologies.

A high performance home would use at least 30 percent less energy than a typical new home built to meet criteria of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, Bodman explained.

Thirty-eight homebuilders have already pledged to build an estimated total of 6,000 high performance homes.

The goal, Bodman said, is to build 1.3 million homes of this high standard by 2030, allowing Americans to save $1.7 billion in energy costs, or the carbon equivalent of taking 606,000 cars off the road annually.

"The Department of Energy's Builders Challenge aims to redefine the way homes across this nation produce and use energy," he said.

This energy efficient home in Westminster, Colorado features south face glazing, solar panels on roof, self-powered solar air heater, and a computer to turn lights on and off, raise and lower shades by the weather. (Photo by John Avenson courtesy NREL)

Homes account for 21 percent of the energy used in the United States every year, with an average annual utility bill of $1,767. Homebuyers are increasingly concerned about rising energy costs, and the impact of fossil fuels as a major source of greenhouse gases.

In order to meet Builders Challenge requirements, a high-performance home must score a 70 or lower on DOE's EnergySmart Home Scale, also called the E-Scale, which rates a home's energy performance, enabling homebuyers to make smart energy decisions when purchasing a home.

An E-Scale label would be placed on a home's electrical panel to identify it as a Department of Energy Builders Challenge home and to provide an understanding of the home's energy efficiency.

Typical homes built today average a score of 100 on this scale. The Builders Challenge aims for a rating of 70 or lower, making these homes 30 percent more energy efficient than a typical new home.

The ultimate goal, said Bodman, is to have all new homes rate a zero on this scale. Also called zero-energy homes, these homes produce at least as much energy as they consume.

The Energy Department is making "builder option packages," available for the Builders Challenge, which provide guidance for building high-performance homes specific to different climate zones. Meeting particular criteria outlined in these packages can also allow homeowners to qualify for a $2,000 federal tax credit enacted in section 1332 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

In order to qualify for this credit, each home must have a level of annual heating and cooling energy consumption at least 50 percent below the annual level of heating and cooling energy consumption of a comparable home.

The Builders Challenge will be easier to meet once the new National Green Building Standard is in place early this spring.

The National Association of Home Builders, NAHB, which held a Green Day at the show in Orlando, says the national standard will maintain the flexibility of green building practices while providing a common national benchmark for builders, remodelers and developers.

The National Green Building Standard is based on the three year old NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, but enhanced to include residential remodeling, multifamily building, lot and site development - the first such standards in the country.

The standard is expected to be approved by the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, and published this spring, a panel of builders and those involved in the standards process told reporters in Orlando.

Miles Haber, a multifamily developer in Rockville, Maryland, said, "The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green. Having this information available in an ANSI standard means that it's in the language that builders don't need a special consultant to understand."

The National Green Building Standard requires builders to include features in seven categories - energy, water and resource efficiency, lot and site development, indoor environmental quality, and homeowner education.

The Economy and The Environment

2008-02-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Volunteers at the South Plains Food Bank in Lubbock, Texas are doing their part.

In addition to helping the local economy like many food banks do these people are going the extra mile and helping the environment as well.

Exerpt from latest GRUB newsletter:

This week on the farm we are thinking green. How can we be more ecology-minded and how can we teach the GRUB (GROWING RECRUITS FOR URBAN BUSINESS) kids this important lesson? BY EXAMPLE! I must say that one of my biggest lessons was learned from one of our shareholders, Sara Hanna. Last year following a work day at the farm she asked me where to put plastic waterbottles for recycling. I was embarrassed and ashamed to tell her that we didn't recycle anything but aluminum cans at the farm (and that is only to get $). Sara quietly gathered up all of the plastic bottles and took them with her. This scene has haunted me since. I made a new year's resolution to begin a recycling program at home, and I have stuck to it. I even recycled glass bottles from the farm after kids all had sodas out of glass bottles one week. But how do we truly incorporate this into our lifestyle? Good question. I am starting a "Green Corner" section of the newsletter beginning this week. I welcome input, advice, tips, suggestions, etc. from all of you. Since I have begun my recycling efforts at home I have more questions concerning what is and what isn't recycled in Lubbock (and why). Here's to learning together.

Debbie Cline

Read More about GRUB at hungershope.org

Biofuel Crops Increase Carbon Emissions

2008-02-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

From: , Organic Consumers Association, More from this Affiliate
Published February 12, 2008 11:25 AM

The conversion of forests and grasslands into fields for the plants offsets the benefit of using the fuel, researchers find. Greenhouse-gas output overall would rise instead of fall

The rush to grow biofuel crops -- widely embraced as part of the solution to global warming -- is actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions rather than reducing them, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Science.

One analysis found that clearing forests and grasslands to grow the crops releases vast amounts of carbon into the air -- far more than the carbon spared from the atmosphere by burning biofuels instead of gasoline.

"We're rushing into biofuels, and we need to be very careful," said Jason Hill, an economist and ecologist at the University of Minnesota who co-authored the study. "It's a little frightening to think that something this well intentioned might be very damaging."

Even converting existing farmland from food to biofuel crops increases greenhouse gas emissions as food production is shifted to other parts of the world, resulting in the destruction of more forests and grasslands to make way for farmland, the second study found.

The analysis calculated that a U.S. cornfield devoted to producing ethanol would have to be farmed for 167 years before it would begin to achieve a net reduction in emissions.

"Any biofuel that uses productive land is going to create more greenhouse gas emissions than it saves," said Timothy Searchinger, a researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the study's lead author.

The studies prompted 10 prominent ecologists and environmental biologists to write to President Bush and congressional leaders Thursday, urging new policy "that ensures biofuels are not produced on productive forests, grassland or cropland."

Since 2000, annual U.S. production of corn-based ethanol has jumped from 1.6 billion gallons to 6.5 billion gallons -- supplying about 5% of the nation's fuel for transportation, according to the Renewable Fuels Assn., an industry lobbying group.

Full Story: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci...
8feb08,1,7253036.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

Erosion Takes a Toxic Toll in Alaska

2008-02-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

It has been widely reported that global warming threatens to sweep scores of coastal Alaskan towns into the sea.

Now, the Anchorage Daily News reports that severe erosion is also threatening the ocean by dumping toxins from landfills and garbage dumps into the water.

"A (dump) is kind of like a Pandora's box of surprises," said Tamar Stephens of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, the Daily News reported.

Among the materials of concern are heavy metals and biological contaminants.

The U.S. military has spent millions of dollars to try to halt the erosion at Cold War-era landfills, but funding is in short supply for many small town dumps and some former military bases.

At least five military bases threated by tidal erosion have no cleanup scheduled, the paper reported.

The Baltimore Sun reported on the quest of Stanley Tom, a resident of Newtok, Alaska, to try to raise funds to relocate his entire village.

The mostly Native American town is in such a precarious situation that the next big storm could wipe it out, activist Deborah L. Williams told the Sun.

"The situation is very urgent," she told the newspaper. The area's permafrost is "melting like chocolate ice cream in the sun."

Newtok is just one of 180 Alaskan towns that are threatened with extinction as increasingly rapid erosion sweeps them into the ocean.

Historically, sea ice has protected the land from the brunt of winter storms, but scientists say that global warming has reduced the amount of sea ice, causing erosion to accelerate.

--Will Crain/Newsdesk.org

Sources:

"Fierce erosion sweeps wastes into Alaska waters"
Anchorage Daily News, Jan. 18, 2008

"Warming menaces Alaska villages"
Baltimore Sun, Jan 13, 2008

Environmental Dilemma

2008-02-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

Over the last several years a new trend is developing in the big-box retailers across the country: floor-ready garments shipped directly from the manufacturer to the clothing retailer stores. These garments are pre-hung and pre-ticketed before shipping so that all the individual store has to do is to open the box and hang up the garment.

But this convenience comes at a huge cost. With this new supply trend municipal landfills are receiving millions more hangers than in years past.1 Add on top of that the expected lifespan of most hangers on display: sometimes 2-3 months, often just weeks or days. The result is an environmental catastrophe.

Plastic and wire hangers have become so commonplace in the retail environment that they have become virtually invisible. That is until it’s time to dispose of them. Municipal recyclers won’t and can’t take them. Made of 7 different types of low-grade plastic (if marked at all), they are extremely difficult to identify and segregate on a rapidly moving recycling line. Made from multiple materials (plastic, wire, non-slip vinyl pads, etc.) the components are costly to separate. Most of all wire hooks are notorious for jamming the lofting cams in expense recycling machinery, bringing entire recycling lines to a grinding halt.

So where do all these plastic hangers go? Every year an estimated 8-10 billion unrecyclable plastic/wire hangers end up clogging our municipal landfills, requiring over 1,000 years to break down. That's 4.6 Empire State Buildings full of plastic hangers--every year. An estimated 3.5 million wire hangers end up in landfills and can take over 100 years to decompose.

And once in landfills these billions of hangers leach dangerous chemicals into our ground water, chemicals such as Benzene ([6] PS-Polystyrene) a known carcinogen and hormone disruptor Biphenyl-A ([7] PS-Polycarbonate) into our ground water.

Groundbreaking Ditto Hangers solve these industry-wide problems by designing hangers made from the most widely recycled materials in the world: Recycled Paper and PET Plastic. By choosing these two vastly different materials we provide an alternative for both the short-term “floor-ready” system and the longer requirements of floor reused hangers.

Either way, once the product’s lifespan is at an end, it continues to become a valuable, recyclable material for many other product generations.

From dittohanger.com

How green printing can make a good impression

2008-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

By Joel Makower

03 Jan 2006

Look around your workplace, and you'll likely find plenty of printed material, from business cards to brochures to books. Printing words and images on paper may seem like one of the more environmentally benign things your company does, but that isn't necessarily the case. If you examine the life cycle of printed matter -- from turning trees into paper through the witch's brew of chemicals involved -- professional printing takes on a decidedly non-green hue.

The explosion of web and digital technology doesn't seem to have changed things -- as one pundit put it, the paperless office has turned out to be about as practical as the paperless bathroom. But if you still have to print, go green.

Green printing is on a roll, moving beyond small, do-good companies and activist groups to larger corporations and government agencies that have mandates to purchase greener goods and services. As demand for green printing has grown, so too has the number of printers offering such services -- or, at least, claiming to.

It's about time. The mechanics of most types of printing haven't changed much over the past half-century. Lithography and gravure -- the methods typically used to print books, magazines, and catalogs -- employ plates, which are used to apply ink to paper. Typically, the process involves a variety of inks, solvents, acids, resins, lacquers, dyes, driers, extenders, modifiers, varnishes, shellacs, and other solutions. Only a few of these ingredients end up directly on the printed page. The balance are used to produce films, printing plates, gravure cylinders, or proofs, or to clean printing plates or presses.

Tap vs. Bottled–What Should You Drink?

2008-01-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

Glug, glug, glug--that’s the sound a ginormous number of us make as we sip bottled water in our cars, at the gym, behind our desks.

The sound you DON’T hear is the thwack of 60 million bottles a day being tossed into U.S. landfills, where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

If that’s not enough to turn your conscience a brighter shade of green, add this: Producing those bottles burns through 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually--enough fuel to keep 100,000 cars running for a year. Recycling helps but reusing is even better. Invest in a couple of portable, dishwasher-safe, stainless steel bottles like Klean Kanteens that won’t leach nasty chemicals into your water. (Don’t get into the habit of refilling the water bottle you just emptied; the polyethylene terephthalate it’s made of breaks down with multiple usings.)

4 REASONS TO TURN ON THE TAP

1. Tap water is tested daily
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, water suppliers are required to provide an annual report on the quality of your local water and to test tap water daily. By comparison, the FDA examines bottled water only weekly, and consumers can’t get the agency’s results. You can easily get the lowdown on your state’s drinking water quality at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

2. Tap water is a bargain
Bottled water costs about 500 times more than tap. If you’re into really fancy labels, up to 1,000 times more.

3. Tap water is a tooth saver
It has more fluoride than bottled water, which helps prevent tooth decay. (Yes, you never outgrow your need for fluoride.)

4. Tap water is often tasty
Some places (New York City for one) have delicious water, but if you don’t love the flavor of yours, the solution is simple: Run your tap water through a Brita or Pur filter to remove most tastes and odors. The average home filter goes for $8.99 and produces the equivalent of 300 large (16.9 ounce) bottles of water. That’s about $0.03 cents a bottle, versus the $1.25 or so you’d pay in a market.

One last thing: Don't just think about making this switch; actually do it. Today. It does the world and you good. Plus, allowing nagging, unfinished tasks (known as NUTs) to go undone can make your RealAge 8 years older!

How to Buy Sustainable Products

2008-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

By WorldWise.com

Here's a handy list of questions that give general clues as to the environmental sustainability of a product. While a scientific product lifecycle analysis is much more complex than this, reading labels with these questions in mind will be helpful when choosing products.

1. Do I really want the product?
Ask this question first. When you take a good look at what you are buying, you may find that you are buying a lot of things you don't really need or even want (even if they are "green"). When appropriate, buy an already existing second-hand product over a new one (such as antique furniture and used books).

2. Is this product made from renewable or recycled resources, and taken in a sustainable way?

Are the ingredients/materials listed?

What are the ingredients/ materials used that are not listed?

Any warning labels or environmental claims?

In looking at the lifecycle of the product itself, are the raw materials renewable (plant, animal, earth) or nonrenewable (metals and petrochemicals).

If a product is made from paper, plastic, glass, metal or rubber, does it contain recycled content?

Does the label indicate the materials used are organically grown, sustainably harvested, or have other explanations that describe sustainability?

3. Is this product safe for me and the environment?
There are now many safe, healthy, nontoxic alternatives available.

4. Is this product practical and durable, well made, of good quality, with a timeless design?
Considering environmental costs, there is less impact from quality products that last. Superior goods more than pay for themselves in long-term durability and satisfaction.

5. Is there any information about the manufacturing practices that tells of environmental improvements?
This is the area where there is the greatest environmental impact and the least information given. If no information is available, we can make assumptions based on our general knowledge such as recycled paper using less water and energy in the manufacturing process than virgin paper.

6. How will the product be disposed of and what will be the environmental impact?
Is it biodegradable? If it cannot be used up, cannot be added to your compost pile or be safely run down the drain, take it to local recyclers for safe disposability.

7. What kind of packaging does the product have?
Purchasing in bulk using recyclable containers is best. Glass, metal, paper, and some plastic packaging is also readily recyclable.

Some choices are fairly obvious, such as choosing between a toxic drain cleaner with lye that eats through skin, or one that’s nontoxic. Other choices are more difficult because of the complex web of both our needs and environmental concerns.

Each choice we make affects the world around us and being wiser about them makes our world a better place for all of us.

For more information read the wiseguide at worldwise.com

Use Community: Smaller Footprints, Cooler Stuff and More Cash

2008-01-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

By Alex Steffen

If we want to build a society which is both prosperous and sustainable, we're going to need to innovate ways of delivering the material goods which underpin that prosperity at a small fraction of the ecological cost they exact today. We must learn to live large while leaving tiny ecological footprints.

We have extremely huge footprints today. If every person lived as the average wealthy American does today, we'd need almost ten planets worth of resources to sustain ourselves, while the gap between our consumption and the capacities of the planet's natural systems has already crossed into overshoot, threatening mass-extinctions and catastrophic climate change.

If we're going to have a bright green future -- if we want to avoid living out the rest of our lives in one long emergency, a kind of constant Katrina -- we need to reinvent our lives now, immediately, on a radical scale. British researchers found that in order to reach sustainable prosperity, Londoners would have to shrink their ecological impacts 80% in the next four decades. For affluent Americans, the number may be more like 90%. And the more we learn about the extent of the damage we're causing the planet, the shorter our timeframes for change become. I suspect that we need to be thinking more along the lines of cutting our impact in half in the next ten years.

Impossible, you say? I think not.

I believe that three main barriers present themselves...

To read the rest go to WorldChanging.com

Cadillac out to beat Lexus to zero-emission luxury

2008-01-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

By Kevin Krolicki

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - General Motors Corp, looking to regain momentum against Toyota Motor Corp, sees a chance to beat the Japanese automaker to market with the first zero-emission luxury car.

GM seized the spotlight at a technology conference this week to show off a hydrogen- and battery-powered Cadillac concept car designed to run up to 100 miles per hour while emitting only water vapor.

Executives said the Cadillac Provoq fuel-cell concept vehicle showed GM is serious about challenging Toyota and its Lexus luxury brand for sales to the growing number of wealthy buyers looking to make an environmental statement on the road.

"We think we'll be able to take back some of the ground that Toyota owns today," said Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor, part of a team of GM executives who unveiled the Provoq concept outside of the established circuit of auto trade shows.

Taylor said Cadillac had suffered in competition with Lexus in California and other markets because of Toyota's lead in developing fuel-saving hybrid variants and in becoming recognized as the environmentally sensitive choice.

"We've got a misperception -- particularly on the West Coast -- that we're not working on this, that we're not interested in this," Taylor said of GM.

GM's hope is that the fuel-cell powered Cadillac Provoq (pronounced "provoke") will challenge that view and build on the positive reception for the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid GM is rushing to market in another effort to beat Toyota.

The Volt and the Provoq are intended to run on GM's "E-Flex" architecture, a system the automaker is developing for a range of upcoming electrically driven vehicles.

For now, GM is sticking with an aggressive goal of selling the Volt by 2010, while also conceding that launch date could be delayed because of the challenge of developing a new generation of powerful lithium-ion batteries.

GM, like other major automakers, typically declines to specify whether concept cars like the Provoq will be turned into showroom models, a process that can take three to four years.

ROAD READY?

But GM executives in Las Vegas this week for the Consumer Electronics Show said the largest U.S. automaker was already developing the fifth-generation fuel-cell stack needed to power the Provoq and expected to take that version into production.

GM, which believes it has a lead in fuel-cell technology, said the fuel-cell stack shown in the Provoq was half the size of its current version with more power.

GM's fourth-generation fuel-cell technology, which combines stored hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, is being used in a test group of 100 vehicles that the automaker calls the largest experimental fleet of its kind.

Cadillac's Taylor also said GM's luxury brand represented the logical choice for the automaker's first widely available fuel-cell vehicle first because its wealthier customers were willing -- and in some cases eager -- to pay more for cutting-edge technology.

"That's been our mission as part of the GM family," Taylor said.

Historically, GM has used Cadillac to roll out a range of technologies that found wide application -- like its OnStar communications service -- and some that fizzled like night-vision, he said.

GM is not alone in pushing for a wider roll-out of fuel-cell technology that had been confined to test labs until recently. Honda Motor Co Ltd will begin leasing a small number of its FCX Clarity fuel-cell sedans to drivers in Southern California later this year for $600 per month as part of a three-year program.

"There's been a lot of process in fuel cells since we've been working on them, more than some skeptics thought," GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner told reporters.

But Wagoner cautioned that the success of fuel-cell vehicles depended on bringing down their cost and increasing the number of hydrogen refueling stations from the current handful in markets such as Los Angeles.

"Putting in a hydrogen infrastructure is going to be challenging and it's going to require some vision and leadership at the government level. Will that happen here? Maybe. Will it happen in China? Maybe," Wagoner said.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Guide to Buying “Green” Paper

2008-01-08T06:37:00.000-08:00

28 Nov 2007
Brussels, Belgium – From packaging paper to office paper and tissues, the WWF Guide to Buying Paper makes it easy for any organization to understand the most important environmental impacts of paper-making and to source responsibly-produced paper products, thus reducing their environmental footprint.

The new guide — launched today at the European paper industry’s annual Paper Week — includes a scorecard that enables buyers to evaluate the environmental performance of current and future suppliers on recycling, responsible forest management, pollution and climate change.

The guide also provides recommendations on how to work with suppliers towards improvements.

Taking responsibility
Paper has been an integral part of our cultural development and is essential for modern life. But the world´s paper consumption has quadrupled in the last 40 years and is growing further.

This tremendous expansion threatens the last remaining natural forests, and the people and wildlife who depend on them, in many regions around the world. Pulp and paper processing also releases vast amounts of greenhouse gases and a wide range of polluting compounds into the environment.

"Paper buyers and producers need to take responsibility for their activities," said Duncan Pollard, WWF International's Conservation Practice and Policy Director.

"We will now intensify the work with organizations buying large amounts of paper to implement the recommendations outlined in the new guide. It is important that paper buyers influence their suppliers to minimize their environmental impacts on biodiversity loss, climate change and water and air pollution.”

Responsible buying
The need for a buyers' guide to responsible paper purchasing and use emerged from discussions WWF had with a number of major paper buyers: Canon, IKEA, Lafarge, McDonald’s and Unilever. Other buyers have also expressed interest in the new WWF tools.

"We welcome these new WWF initiatives in enhancing the environmental performance of the paper industry," said Bob Latham from the Paper Merchant Robert Horne.

"They help to improve transparency and data access. It is vital that paper producers and suppliers provide sufficient and verifiable information to buyers so that they can make informed choices. The WWF Paper Guide can certainly help here."

Tetra Pak sees the WWF Guide for Buying Paper as an important tool for understanding the environmental performance of the forest and paper industries.

"The guide provides comparable data for buyers and decision-makers," said Lena Dahl, Forest Policy Officer at Tetra Pak International.

"Tetra Pak has been assessing its global paper board suppliers' performance for a number of years, evaluating nearly the same parameters. We are now investigating whether we can take some lessons from the WWF Paper Scorecard and incorporate these into our supplier evaluation."

"The Scorecard captures a selection of important environmental parameters and presents them in a way that is easy to understand," added Björn Lyngfelt, Vice President of Communications at SCA Forest Products.

"We have applied the scoring system on its products and will make the results available to its customers. As for all market instruments, at the end of the day it is the paper customers that will decide the usefulness of the Scorecard.”

WWF will credit transparency and responsibility of paper buyers and producers by offering its new Paper Toolbox as a web-based “meeting place” and resource centrr on environmental issues.

Read the guide and get more information at Panda.org

Official: Organic Really is Better

2008-01-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

By Jon Ungoed-Thomas

THE biggest study into organic food has found that it is more nutritious than ordinary produce and may help to lengthen people's lives.

The evidence from the £12m four-year project will end years of debate and is likely to overturn government advice that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice.

The study found that organic fruit and vegetables contained as much as 40% more antioxidants, which scientists believe can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease, Britain’s biggest killers. They also had higher levels of beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.

Professor Carlo Leifert, the co-ordinator of the European Union-funded project, said the differences were so marked that organic produce would help to increase the nutrient intake of people not eating the recommended five portions a day of fruit and vegetables. “If you have just 20% more antioxidants and you can’t get your kids to do five a day, then you might just be okay with four a day,” he said.

This weekend the Food Standards Agency confirmed that it was reviewing the evidence before deciding whether to change its advice. Ministers and the agency have said there are no significant differences between organic and ordinary produce.

Researchers grew fruit and vegetables and reared cattle on adjacent organic and nonorganic sites on a 725-acre farm attached to Newcastle University, and at other sites in Europe. They found that levels of antioxidants in milk from organic herds were up to 90% higher than in milk from conventional herds.

As well as finding up to 40% more antioxidants in organic vegetables, they also found that organic tomatoes from Greece had significantly higher levels of antioxidants, including flavo-noids thought to reduce coronary heart disease.

Leifert said the government was wrong about there being no difference between organic and conventional produce. “There is enough evidence now that the level of good things is higher in organics,” he said.

Reprinted from the London Times
Read more about organic food and living at DrGreene.com

China's Pollution Problem Goes Global

2008-01-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Can the world survive China's headlong rush to emulate the American way of life?

By Jacques Leslie

WESTBOUND ON THE EASTBOUND BEIJING EXPRESSWAY

Long before Mr. Zhang's crowning highway maneuver, I'd realized that his flamboyant unpredictability was an asset. I'd hired him as driver and guide for a three-day trip from Beijing to Inner Mongolia on the recommendation of a Chinese environmentalist who'd enumerated all of Mr. Zhang's virtues except the most important—his suppleness under pressure, which would enable us to overcome the obstacles that are a constant feature of travel in China.

Of course, Mr. Zhang's chief qualification was that he was an environmentalist, or, more precisely, a fellow environmental-disaster tracker. Now, having toured choked rivers, depleted forests, and grasslands that had ceded to encroaching deserts, we were near the end of our trip, with nothing in front of us but a two-hour jaunt down the broad, brutish Beijing Badaling Expressway to the capital. Ms. Lei, my delicate translator, had announced her wish to get back to Beijing before her four-year-old boy went to bed, and we were running late. Mr. Zhang's swashbuckling solution was a "shortcut": Instead of fighting his way along the paved, but circuitous, road to the highway, he sped down a narrow dirt path that held the promise of providing a more direct route. Within minutes he was doubling back on himself, loudly grinding gears as he cut through dust-shrouded cornfields and drought-stricken cherry orchards while peasants leaped out of our way and into the foliage. By the time Mr. Zhang found the expressway, the shortcut had cost us an hour.

I already knew that China's roads are some of the world's most dangerous. A quarter of a million people die on them each year—6 times as many as in the United States, even though Americans possess 18 times as many cars—and the entire system is plagued with soul-withering traffic jams prompted by police inspectors who extract "fees" from coal-truck drivers. Lines of trucks often extend behind inspection stations for miles; truckers have waited in them for as long as two weeks.000 And now we couldn't get on the expressway because traffic was at a standstill behind a toll station. An abhorrer of inertia, Mr. Zhang cut across six lanes to the only booth with a short line and cockily paid the toll. For a moment we basked in his NASCARish dexterity. Then he slammed on the brakes. In front of us, the road was clogged with coal trucks lined up behind an inspection station far down the road. We'd been funneled into a classic Chinese bottleneck.

Unfazed, Mr. Zhang made a 180-degree turn and headed west on the eastbound expressway. I braced for the inevitable crash. Then, just before we regained the toll station, he swung right and headed for the center divider, past a gigantic, disabled semi stuck perpendicularly to the flow of cars. The half-dozen policemen who stood around the truck gave no sign of noticing us. Through a gap in the divider, Mr. Zhang found an eastbound lane reserved for passenger cars and turned into it; as we sped toward Beijing, we saw that the line of motionless coal trucks extended for miles. Drivers dozed or ate dinner on top of their cargo. On this tottering foundation, the world's most dynamic economy has been erected. What globalization offers, it also takes away.

To read the rest of the article go to MotherJones.com

New Years Resolutions Go Green

2007-12-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

Start the New Year with Steps toward Helping the Environment!
By Linda McDonnell

When you're making your New Years resolutions, try adding a few environment-friendly practices you can follow all year to help save the planet.

This New Year why not make a few resolutions to help keep the environment healthy. Simple changes in daily routines followed throughout the year can make a difference. Below are some suggestions that are easy to do and can set you on the road to sustainable living. Some may even save money as well as helping the environment.

Reuse shopping bags, or better yet, get a durable bag to carry with you to the grocery store and on all your shopping trips.
Buy locally made and grown products. They usually require less packaging and eliminate the environmental costs of long-distance transport. The added bonus is that local fruits and vegetables are often fresher, and locally produced goods help support your own community.
Buy fewer disposable items. Look for long-lasting goods that won’t have to be replaced as often. You’ll reduce waste and save landfill space.
Compost leaves and garden trimmings. The compost will improve your garden soil while reducing waste.
While you’re shopping with your reusable shopping bag, look for products with recycled content. Buying recycled closes the cycle by putting resources back into use.
If possible, find a carpool partner to share your daily commute. Carpooling helps reduce air pollution and traffic congestion. It could mean room for more trees if less land is needed for highways!
If one of your resolutions is to get more exercise, try doing your shopping and errands on foot as part of your exercise program. Walking will help keep automobile pollution down and, like carpooling, help ease traffic congestion.
If you have a ceiling fan that’s reversible, don't forget about it when summer ends. In winter, set it to rotate clockwise at low speed. As heated air rises, the fan will distribute it downward to keep you warmer without turning up the thermostat.
Switch to environmentally friendly commercial laundry soaps.
More exercise! In sunny weather, dry your laundry the old fashioned way: outdoors on a clothesline. You'll save energy by not using the dryer.
Try using natural, home-made cleansers instead of chemical ones. Here are a few simple recipes: For an all-purpose cleanser, mix ½ cup vinegar in one quart of water (reduce water for hard jobs). Use it in a spray bottle. Instead of commercial fabric softener, add ¼ cup (or less) borax to the laundry wash cycle. To deodorize and soften laundry, add one cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Starting the New Year with a few environmental resolutions can offer the satisfaction of knowing you’re doing something positive toward ecological sustainability.

From GreenLiving.com

Carbon Free Book

2007-12-20T10:38:00.001-08:00

An Interview With Author And Offsetter Larry Nocella

Did you ever consider the greenhouse gas costs of publishing a novel? Author Larry Nocella did. His new book Where Did This Come From? is the world’s first CarbonFree™ novel.

Read on for our complete interview with award-winning author Larry Nocella about his novel Where Did This Come From? and his decision to offset with Carbonfund.org.

Larry Nocella is Carbonfund.org’s first author to offset the emissions from a book publication, placing him on the cutting edge of writers and artists who seek ways to reduce their greenhouse gas output.

Based in the fictional South American nation of Palagua, Where Did This Come From? follows the Huapi tribe’s desperate struggle for survival. When a leading U.S. toy manufacturer discovers a rare and beautiful crystal on the Huapi’s sacred land, mining operations begin immediately. Christmas shopping season is coming, and Crystal Clay is by far the top seller. Soon the Huapi find themselves and the jungle that supports them on the brink of annihilation. Can they hope to resist the desire of consumers who never bother to ask, Where Did This Come From?

Carbonfund.org recently chatted with Larry Nocella about the novel and his decision to offset the carbon emissions associated with publishing it.

Carbonfund.org: Where did the inspiration for this novel come from?

Larry Nocella: It all began as I learned about what happens to animals as they are changed from living beings into what we call food. After watching a few documentaries on factory-farming, my stomach (and my conscience) turned and I decided to pursue being a vegetarian.

That journey led me to question more than just food. I wondered about the origin of all things we purchase and the unknown impact we cause. Whether it’s food, sneakers, diamonds, oil, or chocolate, everything we consume has a mysterious and, sadly, often tragic story behind it. Demand drives the world.

At first encounter, that realization can make you feel powerless, but then you realize your decisions matter, and therefore you can make a positive difference, so with the right attitude, coming through that ignorance, striving against it, is empowering.

CF: When did you get the idea to offset the carbon generated by publishing the book?

LN: They were born together. The title of the novel, Where Did This Come From?, paired with the physical book itself, is a summary of the unanswerable question that forms the core of the plot.

I also prefer to lead by example. It didn’t make sense for me to raise all these questions and not even try to make a difference. I don’t believe that’s helpful. A lot of writing raises questions, but the writer doesn’t take a shot at a solution. I like to lead the charge toward brainstorming a solution.

CF: How did Carbonfund.org come to be your choice for a carbon offsetter?

LN: In short, simplicity. I looked at a few different carbon offsetters, and they wanted me to do a large amount of research. My thought was: but that’s what you’re for; I’m busy writing. Carbonfund.org made it simple: I got quick answers on what I had to do to become CarbonFree. It also adds one more aspect of the book to think about and discuss.

Where Did This Come From? is available from Amazon.com. Also, be sure to take a look at Larry Nocella’s website.

Toy firms under fire over toxic Christmas

2007-12-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

As you finish your Christmas shopping, you might think twice before grabbing just any toy off the shelf for your little ones. Many toys have harmful chemicals in them that consumers are unaware of. But don't fret - there is a new website that has information on the most popular toys and whether they contain harmful chemicals or not. So before you run to the store for those last minute gifts, take a few minutes to browse the list first.

New web site allows consumers to check if their kids' Christmas presents contain toxic nasties

With toy firms looking to cash in on the Christmas shopping boom, pressure on them to remove hazardous chemicals from their products stepped up a notch today with the launch of a web site designed to allow consumers to easily check if their products contain harmful chemicals.

The Healthy Toys site is based on research from US environmental group The Ecology Center that assessed 1,200 popular children's toys for toxic chemicals capable of harming human health or the environment, including lead, PVC, cadmium, arsenic, bromine and tin. It allows consumers to search by product name and gain information on its chemical content.

Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset

2007-12-14T11:03:00.001-08:00

Iqua Sun is the worlds first solar powered Bluetooth headset

Green Products

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

If you thought Bluetooth headsets couldn't get any better, think again. The Iqua Sun is the worlds first solar powered Bluetooth headset. Light and compact the Iqua Sun Bluetooth headset looks simple and modern in design, but delivers on performance.

The Iqua Sun combines first-rate technology with elegance and innovation, drawing its power directly from the sun giving you complete freedom, for the first time, from any charging devices.

Amazingly, the Iqua Sun weighs just 14 grams and fits directly into the ear, worn in complete comfort without the need for an uncomfortable ear hook. The headset boasts an impressive 200 hours standby time, and 9 hours talk time in complete darkness.

Get Free Stuff and Help the Environment too!

2007-12-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

Do you have a pile of old clothes sitting around? Do you have a surplus of tools you don't use stacked up in the garage? Do you have lots of stuff that is still in good condition but you just don't use it anymore?

Why not try www.freecycle.org - its a networking website that allows you to give your stuff away to someone who wants it. That means it won't end up in the trash or a landfill and you'll help someone out! You can also request items and look for the things you need too. Everything from puppies to event tickets can be given away to those who want or need them, so take a look and start giving (and getting!) today.

For the locals here in Lubbock, the website is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LubbockFreecycle/

For everyone else, check out the main page at www.freecycle.org

Have yourself a 'green' little Christmas

2007-12-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

More household waste is produced during the holidays than any other time of year. Sanitation departments estimate that between Thanksgiving and New Year's alone, about six million tons of extra waste is generated nationwide. The 2.6 billion holiday cards sold each year in the United States could fill a football field 10 stories high. And then there are the Christmas trees, the gift wrap, the Styrofoam peanuts….Gwen Shaffer files this report on how to have an extravagant, yet "green," Christmas....

Green Christmas
Americans generate millions of additional trash over the holidays. But there are alternatives to wrapping paper and Styrofoam peanuts.
December 21, 2001

More household waste is produced between Thanksgiving and New Years than any other time of the year - as much as six million additional tons. The 2.6 billion holiday cards sold each year in the United States could fill a football field 10 stories high. And then there are the mountains of gift-wrap, Styrofoam peanuts, Christmas trees and candy boxes that generally end up in the landfill. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are alternatives to highly packaged gifts and prepared food trays.

Fran Pieri, director of education for the Pennsylvania Resources Council, says most cities will pick up Christmas trees for recycling. "Also, if you have woods behind you, you can put peanut butter on the pine cones and seeds and it can actually be a refuge for birds in the winter time," she adds.

The biggest trash generator is gifts, Pieri says.
"Some of the things people can do would be minimize on 'stuff' purchases - like big packages with extra packaging. Things like theater tickets and gift certificates do not require a lot of packaging. They are usable but don't create that environment of trash," she says.

There are also plenty of environmentally friendly gifts available. One idea would be to give friends items that save energy - such as low-flowing shower heads and fluorescent light bulbs that use much less energy than candescent bulbs. Rechargeable batteries are an especially thoughtful gift for kids whose toys require batteries that are otherwise thrown away on a regular basis.

If you have your heart set on wrapping gifts, though, look to see if the paper you do buy is made from recycled paper. You can also purchase beautifully decorated gift boxes and bags (the dollar stores sell them).

"You just have to put ribbons on them and don't have to use all that wrapping paper," Pieri points out. The ribbon and box are both reusable. "And for children who want to wrap presents for parents, they can glitz up an already used brown paper bag."

As people upgrade new computers and electronics this year, look into donating your old equipment to a non-profit that will refurbish it and donate it to a school or needy family, Pieri says. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection runs an e-cycling program, as well.

Since packaging is among the biggest contributors to holiday trash, Pieri recommends avoiding gifts with "excess packaging."

"Rather than using new tissue paper to wrap ornaments and things you don't want to break, reuse that same bubble wrap and peanuts," she says. "Also, plastic bags that you buy at the supermarket are great for wrapping ornaments or things that are breakable."

It is certainly quicker and easier to serve prepared foods, but the containers they come in will be here forever if they aren't recycled. When you are entertaining this year, Pieri says, try to make dishes from scratch or ask people to bring just one dish that's homemade.

Rather than toss out your holiday cards in January, Pieri suggests donating them to a nursery school or day care.

"Kids cut out the pictures and glue them into a scene or a collage," she says. "I've used wrapping paper to make bowties on figures like a reindeer, so I'm not throwing it away but rather reusing it for an arts and craft project."

And in order to save energy, consider writing out a shopping list, Pieri says.

"Plan your shopping trip. Head towards where you need to go and purchase as many products as possible the first time - instead of going back and forth to the store and wasting the gas because you forgot one thing."

Hereford hosts first ethanol plant to run in Texas

2007-12-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

The New Brew

ELLIOTT BLACKBURN
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

HEREFORD - Jeffrey See looked over his shoulder and swept his arm toward the vats and pipes lining the dusty, concrete hallway.

"I know it's hard to believe now, but it is going to look like a hospital," See said.

It wasn't hard to believe. The building already felt sterile, despite the dirt on the floor, and only the rows of windowed cisterns, instead of gurneys, and the hard hats that crowned See and everyone around him ruined the effect. Pipes twisted their way around the large metal box of a building, ready to push, first, ground corn, then mash, then fermented slurry toward tall, outdoor columns. High-proof mush would drip down the metal tubes, leaving vaporized alcohol to float into a condenser, be ruined for human consumption to fit federal health requirements, and then pushed out to huge storage tanks to wait for the next train.

Jim Watkins / Staff

White Energy V.P. of Construction and Development, Jeff See describes the flow at the Hereford, Texas ethonal plant they are building.

Order a print

The yeast needed the cleanliness, explained See, White Energy's vice president of construction and development and a veteran builder of ethanol plants. The vats will be scrubbed again and again to ensure no bacteria interfered with the tiny organisms that would ferment millions of bushels of corn into an initial, 30-proof brew.

"Super-strong beer," See said.

Texas's first ethanol facility should begin grinding bushels for fuel late this month. White Energy's 100 million gallon facility in Hereford comes online as its industry struggles with low prices, large supplies and bad press. It also opens a much smaller field than excited announcements with datelines from smaller Texas towns promised - the refinery is the first of four nearing completion and nine originally permitted in the state.

Residents who will live and work not far from the newest addition to the smalltown skyline did not know what to make of the facility. None of the fuel distilled in the tall, steel columns

constructed over the past year will be sold in the surrounding region, and the majority of the corn will come from far away. New jobs will help but are far fewer than the 350 workers that built the complex and lived and ate in the city for now.

"What's going to happen when they leave and they're up and running?" Terri Sursa asked.

Gallons for gallons

White capitalized on 50-year-old grain and rail infrastructure in Hereford. All of the corn used for the process will come by rail from the Midwest, through a contract with ADM Cargill. Local sorghum may play a part in the ethanol mix, though price and quality would dictate that, and the mix would not likely reach higher than 20 percent, chief executive Gary Kuykendall said.

Jim Watkins / Staff

The White Energy ethonal plant under construction in Hereford, Texas.

Order a print

Each Deaf Smith County ethanol plant will use roughly 400 million gallons of water a year, or more than a third of what Hereford pumped from its well fields in 2006.

Because both sites import their corn from the Midwest, the operations drain less of the region's water than other projects. A bushel of corn, which in Nebraska took 2,100 gallons of irrigation in a 2003 study, produces 2.7 gallons of ethanol, according to a recent report by the National Research Council. Using those numbers, a 100 million gallon ethanol plant would need more than 77 billion gallons of water a year for its corn alone - close to eight times what the city of Lubbock used in 2006.

The Panhandle couldn't handle that for long. Cash crops, dairies, feedlots and cities rely on the Ogallala aquifer, a massive underground formation stretching from West Texas to Nebraska, to quench the arid reason. The aquifer has declined steadily over the past 50 years, and as surface water resources like Lake Meredith struggle, bigger cities like Amarillo and Lubbock will compete with traditional agricultural users for the water.

Long term water usage estimates projected a Deaf Smith County shortage for irrigated agriculture before the plants began construction.

Hereford Mayor Bob Josserand doesn't believe water issues would turn away the dairies or other businesses that have moved to his area any time soon, but he regrets not investing in a more expensive city wastewater treatment center that could have recycled gray water and expects to make a costly investment in brackish groundwater tucked far below the Ogallala to supply the city in the future.

"There are several solutions, none of them very appealing to the average citizen," Josserand said.

The ethanol plants would be pushed to increase water recycling, too, he said. White Energy is designing a gray water system that would allow the plant to move off of the city's treated water supply and recycle waste, though the company has not made enough progress to set a date for when it could begin using such a system, Kuykendall said.

"We are working with several water organizations today to try to figure that out, not only for this plant, but for all of our plants," Kuykendall said.

A lonely spot

This Panhandle town is a lonely southern dot in the galaxy of ethanol plants marked in See's wind-blasted office trailer.

It's as far south as he has traveled to build a facility, he said, though he'll soon move a little further to work on another White Energy plant under construction in Plainview.

White is not likely to have much more company in the current market. Panda Energy worked toward opening its 100 million gallon facility outside Hereford, fueled by burning cow manure, in the first quarter of 2008. A smaller, Levelland ethanol plant fueled mostly by local grain also expects to open early next year.

But other proposed Panhandle projects remain, at best, on the drawing board - a 200 million gallon plant in Pampa has not moved toward construction, and smaller sites in Friona and Sunray remain in the planning or finance stages, according to representatives from the projects. Other plants announced years ago in central and southern Texas do not have permits from the state's environmental regulatory agency.

Kuykendall faulted a wave of reports tying ethanol to rising food prices, reports that ignored the increases in transportation costs and tight global supplies for grain, he said, for the industry slow down. State leaders chose not to fund ethanol incentives this year, which led White Energy to reconsider its position in Texas, he said.

It's become tougher to find private financing, too. Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Institute for Energy at Southern Methodist University, pointed to the fuel's dependence on government mandate to create a market and an estimated 80 percent increase in domestic ethanol production over the past two years. Global production is up 30 percent over the last year, he said.

Investment interest dried up as potential ethanol production climbed.

"Needless to say, as a result of that, ethanol prices have come down," Bullock said.

Kuykendall considered the national supply numbers overblown. Refiners were perking up at low ethanol prices, and the smaller supply could find a wider market than government mandates.

"We're not nearly that bullish," Kuykendall said. "I don't think you're going to see as much capacity come online as people thought five months ago."

No easy street

Stores, hotels and rental properties have enjoyed the construction. Sales tax revenue jumped 30 percent as crews raised the refinery, and occupancy rates at city hotels and motels are three times better than normal, city manager Rick Hanna said.

In ten years, after city tax abatements on the facility phase out, Hereford anticipates $400,000 a year in straight revenue - a new fire engine, Hanna said.

"It'll be significant, but it won't put us on easy street," Hanna said.

Antonio Saucedo Baldo, manager of Baldo's restaurant down the road from the ethanol plant, believed the project would help his city grow. Wanda Cepeda, a hairstylist sitting in her empty salon off of Main Street, hoped the same. Her friend was already interested in trucking jobs related to the distillery.

"I'm certain that it will bring a lot of work in and help some businesses that are slow," Cepeda said, looking around her shop. "We need some business around here."

Crystal Velasco, manager of JJ's Diner, wondered about a brewery smell once the plant cranked up, and worried about the safety of the facility sitting so close to town. But at least it offered some variety to the standard trade for the area, she said.

"There's a lot of dairies, a lot of things to do with cows," Velasco said. "It's something different."

Terri Sursa, manager of the Sun Loan company and Tax Service on Main Street, figured those nearby dairies and feedlots meant Hereford residents could handle any smell the refinery might throw at them. She rifled through the local paper to one lonely rental property advertised in the classifieds. Prices improved and the number of available rental homes plummeted with the arrival of the construction crews, she said.

But the flood of contract workers had not meant much to her business, she said, and she wondered about what the plant would contribute to the community once it began producing fuel. The whole operation could be monitored at night by four employees monitoring work stations and a fifth rover to watch the machinery. The site will employ 40.

"In the long run, I don't know what it will do," Sursa said.

Mushy anchor

Josserand thinks he does. The town may not boast the acres of grain the northern states populated with ethanol refineries do, but Hereford is no stranger to a corn-fed economy. Idle cattle and mountains of dry feed covered with tarps and tires blanket the landscape rolling toward the city of 14,000. Feedlots have long been big business in the county, and dairies fleeing higher land costs elsewhere have begun to join them.

Cargill supplies a good amount of the dark food pellets stored under those tarps. But high corn prices have helped drive cattle out of the Panhandle and into northern states, according to Cattle Fax, a market research service for the industry.

An estimated 150,000 fewer head of cattle were fed in the southern states this year, owing in part to the lower feed costs that can be found in the corn rich north, said Kevin Good, a senior market analyst for the service.

Huge centrifuges at the ethanol plant wait to prepare 830,000 tons of wet distiller's grain, a high-energy corn mush, for the area's cattle operations.

The plant jobs, the trucking opportunities, the tax boost - all of that would be good for Hereford, Josserand said.

But the real value to the area was the high-energy wet feed White Energy and other ethanol plants will eagerly look to unload, he said in a telephone interview from the office of his feedlot, AzTx Cattle Co.

"We'd see a lot more cattle move north into the northern states where the product is available," Josserand said. "Because the product will be here, it will keep the feedlots here, keep the packing houses here - it will be very beneficial to the area overall."

How Green is Your Christmas Tree?

2007-12-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Artificial Christmas trees are from China and over the years, have affected the sale of real live trees in the United States. Nearly all of these fake trees contain lead, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and insects and are not environmentally friendly.

However, real trees are making a comeback. Formed by two of the largest Christmas tree growers in the U.S. - Holiday Tree Farms and Yule Tree Farms - the Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers(TM), a not-for-profit 501 (C)(6), is an organization dedicated to environmentally-sound farming practices and consumer education.

The Coalition has recently developed hang tags to mark trees that have been certified as having been grown under stringent environmental criteria. The intent of the certification process is to ensure that growers are utilizing sustainable growing practices in the production of Christmas trees. Over 200,000 trees will bear the tag this year.

Certification Process

Growers will be evaluated by Freer Consulting Company based in Seattle, an independent auditor using the program elements outlined in this document. To meet the requirements for certification under the Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers criteria, each of the program elements must result in Level Two or higher ratings in six or more elements.

Scoring

Scoring of program elements will be on a three level system.

Level One: Farm management shows little or no knowledge of the required element or does not practice management techniques that fulfill the criteria.

Level Two: Farm management demonstrates basic knowledge of the required element and practices that meet the minimum standards that fulfill the criteria.

Level Three: Farm management demonstrates extensive knowledge of the required element and meets or exceeds the minimum standards that fulfill those criteria.

Maintaining Certification

The Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers certification is valid for three years. All participants are subject to annual site evaluations that include a performance overview focusing on any significant alterations in management practices that could affect the continued validity of certification. Satisfactory progress in meeting any deficiencies in program elements or requirements is confirmed during the annual evaluation.

Elements

Riparian/Wetland Management – The focus of this element is on the measures taken and management practices employed to protect areas adjoining streams and waterways to and their inhabitants. The prevention of adverse impacts is accomplished through the design and management of the riparian zone buffers, vegetative cover, and by minimizing stream channel disturbances.

Soil and Water Conservation – The goal must be to minimize soil losses through conservation tillage and other erosion control practices. Responsible farmland management does not rely exclusively on buffer zones. Some soil loss is unavoidable, creating the need for sediment traps and diversions to control run-off water flows through and off the farm.

Nutrient Management – Proper nutrition is critical the producing a healthy, viable crop. Care needs to be taken to use the proper fertilizers and amendments to provide for the needs of the trees while not applying in excess so that it ends up in waterways.

Site Selection – Careful consideration of the growing site is important for a successful Christmas tree crop. Soil type, organic content, slope, drainage, climate, and altitude are some of the key factors in considering a new field.

Pest Management – Misuse of chemicals can lead to waterway and soil contamination making it important for growers to carefully look at how they manage pests. Implementation of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is criteria step in environmental protection. While such a program does not exclude the use of chemicals, it includes careful pest monitoring and identification, determining acceptable pest thresholds, and treatment with the least toxic products.

Worker Safety and Protection – A key part to a raising quality Christmas trees is a healthy, productive staff. Employee safety and well-being is always a priority.

Biodiversity – Sustainable farming also include practices that support and enhance biodiversity throughout the farm. Soil micro fauna, such as bacteria and fungi, break down soil organic matter and help maintain soil quality while recycling nutrients. Many insects are beneficial and prey on agricultural pests. Increasing biodiversity on the farm not only benefits wildlife but also the farm itself.

Consumer Education – Most of the general population does not understand farming practices, especially that of Christmas trees and how they are good for the environment. The public needs to be informed of sustainable practices that promote the best care of the land, water, air, and nature in general and understand that renewable, recyclable crops are the key to the future.

http://www.christmastreeoregon.com/cecg.html

Online Bill Pay Saves More Than Just Trees

2007-10-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Scientific American points out that the benefits of online banking and billing reach beyond saving trees. Reducing paper use also reduces the resources needed to make, ship and discard the paper.

Imagine every US household opting to receive no paper bills or bank statements. The fuel saved (26 million BTUs) in this scenario would power San Francisco for a year, and 16.5 fewer trees would be cut down annually. 20,000 swimming pools full of water would be saved and 56,000 garbage trucks of solid waste would be eliminated. Air pollutants and particulates would be cut, contributing to increased air quality. And the cost? Just displacing a few electrons to receive your bills and statements online.

53% of households do their banking online already. If you're ready to go paperless, ask your bank, utility, phone and cable companies, etc. how to stop paper mailings on your account.

From: , Triple Pundit
Published August 20, 2007 09:41 AM

Green Farming and the Government

2007-10-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Calls Grow to Subsidize Green Farming

by Dan Charles

Dan Charles, NPR

Art Thicke (right) says the current farm subsidy system encourages farmers to grow crops that damage the environment. Also pictured: Tex Hawkins (left), of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Chad Crowley (center), who works on Thicke's farm.

Farm Subsidies: Key Facts

Under the current federal farm-subsidy system, cotton and rice farmers can get up to hundreds of dollars per acre in production subsidies. These farmers would be unlikely to get as much money if the U.S. switched to a system that subsidized them for improving the environment instead.

-- The federal government expects to pay farmers just over $24 billion in 2005, a new record.

-- The subsidies are distributed through a variety of programs. Some payments kick in when crops fail, or when prices for key commodities, such as corn, fall below a target level. Others are based solely on how much a farm produced in the past.

-- Five crops -- corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans and rice -- account for two-thirds of all subsidies. Vegetable growers and ranchers get very little government money.

-- Large commercial farms, which account for 9 percent of all farms, get more than half of all subsidies.

Farm Subsidy Distribution

Enlarge

Source: USDA

The chart above looks at direct government payments to farmers. Agricultural areas that rely heavily on subsidies include:

• the Corn Belt, where corn and soybeans dominate
• the southeastern Coastal Plain, source of cotton and peanuts
• the lower Mississippi River, where cotton and rice are grown
• west Texas and southern Arizona, where cotton is important
• California, where rice and cotton are important

'Green' Walmart in Texas

2007-10-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

A 'Green' Wal-Mart in Texas

by Bill Zeeble

All Things Considered, August 4, 2005 · A new Wal-Mart store in McKinney, Tex., was designed as a test-ground for various energy conservation technologies and practices, and has thus been dubbed Wal-Mart's "green store." Wal-Mart officials say the store will help them design buildings in the future. Bill Zeeble of member station KERA reports.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4785891

INKETC.: Inks Go Green for Graph Expo

2007-09-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Look toward Graph Expo for these eco-friendly inks, low on VOCs and high on marketability.

By Tim Avery -- Graphis Arts Online, 9/1/2007

The bustling exhibits at this month's Graph Expo leave little room for smog-spouting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Ink manufacturers are exhibiting in full force their eco-friendly products, either free of, or low in, VOCs.

Flint Group (Booth 2226) is showing its recently introduced vegetable-based Novavit F918 Supreme Bio sheetfed ink line. Sold under the K+E premium brand (acquired in Flint's 2005 merger with XSYS), Novavit's vegetable oils emit fewer VOCs, reports the company. Although low-VOC sheetfed inks are generally thought to set more slowly, Flint says its Novavit dries quickly enough to run without set-off, even through a perfector. The company also reports sharp dots, good ink/water balance and high color intensity from the ink, which is said to be especially well suited for glossy-coated papers and boards.

UV ink cures emissions

INX Int'l. (Booth 429) is exhibiting its new Fusion UV hybrid process ink line, which can be run immediately after conventional inks without reconfiguring presses or conditioning rollers. UV ink means reduced VOC emissions, along with drying in only a matter of seconds. Also on display will be the new Ecopure HPJ soy-based sheetfed ink. INX says Ecopure HPJ provides faster set times than its predecessor, Ecopure HP, and its soy base releases fewer VOCs than oil-based counterparts. Early users report lower water settings, with better gray balance and improved trapping. Both Fusion UV hybrid and Ecopure HPJ accept aqueous and UV coatings, as well as overprint varnishes.

Sun Chemical (Booth 2819) is launching Synergy, a package of UV ink, coating, press conditioner, wash and fountain solution chemistries. The company reports Synergy inks can run on hybrid presses when UV-approved hybrid rollers are used.

Formulations are available for sheetfed, web, high-gloss and plastic applications. According to Sun, the high-gloss series does not require UV coating, and Synergy's plastic inks let operators set up jobs on paper to simplify makeready and reduce start-up costs for plastic printing.

Also at Graph Expo is Sun's low-VOC Liberty sheetfed ink line, sold under the Kohl & Madden brand. A PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Award recipient last year, Liberty also does not contain cobalt driers, another potential environmental hazard. The ink is formulated to dry almost instantaneously once printed, yet can stay open on press without drying for days. Sun says Liberty's ability to come up to color quickly and remain stable reduces press waste.

Toyo Ink America (Booth 455) is showing its VOC-free HyPlus 100 premium sheetfed ink, formulated without petroleum-based solvents. Toyo says HyPlus 100 produces strong contrast and high density with low dot gain, and its low water pick-up accelerates makereadies with less emulsification. It reportedly also reduces chalking, gas ghosting and print mottling in folding-carton applications. Other vegetable-based inks from Toyo include HyLite—said to offer great versatility—and HyUnity.

For web presses, Toyo offers soy-based Soya-News ink, which contains a maximum of 0.08 VOC lb./gal. The company says it resists rubbing and scuffing and is formulated to dry quickly.

Van Son Holland Ink (Booth 3470) is introducing its new SonaCure UV-curable, VOC-free inks, which are available in formulations for use on coated or uncoated paper, board stock, foil and plastic substrates, and lacquered or corona-treated surfaces. Van Son says SonaCure offers high gloss and good rub resistance and, though drying quickly under UV light, stays fresh overnight on-press.

taken from www.graphicartsonline.com

Get Tax Incentives for Green Living

2007-09-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Take advantage of state and federal green living tax incentives

There has never been a better time than now to tap into a laundry list of tax rebates and other financial incentives designed to encourage individuals and businesses to go the greener mile. At the federal level in the U.S., individuals can reap the rewards of no less than eight different financial incentives ranging from tax credits and home loans for replacing windows and installing insulation around the house to tax rebates for purchasing a hybrid car or hooking up a solar hot water heater.

Besides these federal incentives, nearly every U.S. state has additional state or local incentives available. Many require utilities to rebate consumers who save electricity. Some utilities even offer “net metering,” whereby consumers who generate some of their power through rooftop solar panels or other technologies can sell electricity back to the utility, thus reducing or zeroing out their electric bill—even earning money.

Green Living Tax Incentives for Business
Many financial incentives are in place for businesses, as well.

At the federal level, examples include an energy-efficient commercial buildings tax deduction, a business energy reduction tax credit, an energy-efficient appliance tax credit for manufacturers, and a new energy-efficient tax credit for green-savvy builders.

At the state level, many are eager to attract renewable energy companies to their region, and offer tax breaks to get them there. Washington State, for example, charges no sales tax on renewable energy equipment produced or sold there. And some forward-thinking cities are beginning to offer “density bonuses” and green building incentives to developers and builders to encourage sustainable land use.

Find Information About Green Living Tax Incentives
The best place to look for what’s available is to steer your web browser to the free online Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE), a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. DSIRE is a federally funded project of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, whose membership includes state and local government agencies, national laboratories, renewable energy companies and advocacy groups.

In Canada, the Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada offers a slate of federal grants and incentives under its ecoENERGY Retrofit program to homeowners, businesses, large industries and public institutions to help them invest in energy- and pollution-saving upgrades. The agency also administers the High Efficiency Home Heating System Cost Relief program, which will contribute up to $300 to homeowners who upgrade their old oil or gas furnace or boiler to a new high-efficiency model. And low-income households might qualify for additional federal financial assistance for energy retrofits. Another Canadian program, the Vehicle Efficiency Incentive (VEI) rewards those who buy fuel-efficient cars or trucks with rebates of up to $2,000 each. Beyond these federal programs, selected provincial and municipal entities across Canada also offer incentives to those looking to save energy and the environment.

Taken from www.environment.about.com

Paper, Plastic or Something Better?

2007-09-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Reusable Bags Are Best for Both Consumers and the Environment

The next time the clerk at your favorite grocery store asks whether you prefer “paper or plastic” for your purchases, consider giving the truly eco-friendly response and saying, “neither.”

Plastic bags end up as litter that fouls the landscape, and kill thousands of marine mammals every year that mistake the floating bags for food. Plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down, and in the process they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water. Furthermore, the production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel and heating.

Is Paper Better Than Plastic?
Paper bags, which many people consider a better alternative to plastic bags, carry their own set of environmental problems.

For example, according to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999 the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, which consumed 14 million trees.

Reusable Bags Are a Better Option
But if you decline both paper and plastic bags, then how do you get your groceries home? The answer, according to many environmentalists, is high-quality reusable shopping bags made of materials that don’t harm the environment during production and don’t need to be discarded after each use. [You can find a good selection of high-quality reusable bags online at reusablebags.com. In addition, many organic grocery stores and consumer co-operatives carry reusable shopping bags.]

Experts estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually worldwide—more than a million per minute.

Here are a few facts about plastic bags to help demonstrate the value of reusable bags—to consumers and the environment:

Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable. They actually go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminating both soil and water, and end up entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. Of those, approximately 100 billion are plastic shopping bags, which cost retailers about $4 billion annually.

According to various estimates, Taiwan consumes 20 billion plastic bags annually (900 per person), and Japan consumes 300 billion bags each year (300 per person), and Australia consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags annually (326 per person).

Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food.

Discarded plastic bags have become so common in Africa they have spawned a cottage industry. People there collect the bags and use them to weave hats, bags and other goods. According to the BBC, one such group routinely collects 30,000 bags every month.

Plastic bags as litter have even become commonplace in Antarctica and other remote areas. According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone from being rare in the late 1980s and early 1990s to being almost everywhere in Antarctica.

Some governments have recognized the severity of the problem and are taking action to help combat it.

Strategic Taxes Can Cut Plastic Bag Use
In 2001, for example, Ireland was using 1.2 billion plastic bags annually, about 316 per person. In 2002, the Irish government imposed a plastic bag consumption tax (called a PlasTax), which has reduced consumption by 90 percent. The tax of $.15 per bag is paid by consumers when they check out at the store. Besides cutting back on litter, Ireland’s tax has saved approximately 18 million liters of oil. Several other governments around the world are now considering a similar tax on plastic bags.

Governments Use the Law to Limit Plastic Bags
More recently, Japan passed a law that empowers the government to issue warnings to merchants that overuse plastic bags and don’t do enough to “reduce, reuse or recycle.” In Japanese culture, it is common for stores to wrap each item in its own bag, which the Japanese consider a matter of both good hygiene and respect or politeness.

Companies Making Tough Choices
Meanwhile, some eco-friendly companies—such as Toronto’s Mountain Equipment Co-op—are voluntarily exploring ethical alternatives to plastic bags, turning to biodegradable bags made from corn. The corn-based bags cost several times more than plastic bags, but are produced using much less energy and will break down in landfills or composters in four to 12 weeks.

Taken from www.environment.about.com

Campaign Earth - step by step conservation

2007-09-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

c a m p a i g n e a r t h ! n. a series of actions undertaken to achieve a sustainable future.

Lessen the junk mail and catalogs coming to your house!

Did you know that more than 17 billion catalogs were distributed in the United States in 2001 - that's more than sixty-four for every man, woman, and child. Not surprisingly, this requires a lot of paper, the fourth most energy-intensive of all manufacturing industries and one of the most polluting. The average American uses over 700 pounds of paper per year. The good news is we've got some simple steps for you to take to greatly reduce that number.

If we successfully reduced the number of catalogs produced in this country by 30% we would:

preserve 16.6 billion gallons of water each year = the amount of water used by 172,333 households.*
conserve over 100 barrels of oil
keep 3.5 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere = the amount of CO2 produced by 570,000 cars driven 200 miles/ week annually.*
*Figures from The Alliance for Environmental Innovation (www.environmentaldefense.org/alliance/catalogs_tips.html)

Listed below are three actions you can take to lessen the mail you receive. Take a look at the list and do what you can. Remember, every action counts.

Stop Those Unwanted Catalogs! Now, with the internet, we can do most of our mail order shopping online. Stack your unwanted catalogs in a pile and spend ten minutes a week calling to request that your name be removed from their mailing list.
Receive Less Junk Mail! Send a short letter to: DMA Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512. You can read more about this at DMAConsumers.org. You need to include $1. List your name, in all its infinite variations, and request that all of these names be removed from their national database. This removal lasts five years, so keep this address handy. For more information contact the DMA at 212-768-7277.
Keep Your Catalogs and Magazines out of the Landfill! Many municipalities don't accept catalogs as part of their recycling program so find a second home for them. Keep them out of the landfill by dropping them off at a local hospital, assisted living home, senior residence facility or school (they use them for art classes and other projects). It's the next best thing.

Duration: 30 days

Average CO2 Savings: 70 pounds a month

Taken from www.campaignearth.org

Back to School - Keep it Green!

2007-09-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Back-to-School

Students, parents, and teachers can all make a difference in reducing waste at school. By practicing the "3 Rs" of waste reduction—reduce, reuse, and recycle—we can all do our part.

Before starting a new school year, sort through your old materials. Many of last year's supplies can be reused or recycled.

Recycle unwanted papers and reuse your old folders and binders. Paper that had only one side written on it can be reused; you can cut it up and re-staple it to make a notebook.

Many schools reuse text books to save money and reduce waste. Share your used books with friends, relatives, or younger schoolchildren.

Make a list before you shop for school supplies, it will help you remember what you wanted to purchase and limit impulse buying. When you have a plan it's easier to take action.

Buy smart! Purchase and use a wide assortment of supplies made from recycled products, such as pencils made from old blue jeans; binders made from old shipping boxes. Many types of recycled paper products contain a percentage of Post-Consumer Waste (PCW). You can also reuse items like refillable pens, rechargeable batteries, and scrap paper for notes.

Buy used goods from resale shops. This is an inexpensive way to get assorted merchandise, and retro fashions are always coming back into style.

Waste from packaging accounts for more than 30 percent of all the waste generated each year. Use school supplies wrapped with minimal packaging; use compact or concentrated products; or buy products that come in bulk sizes.

Save packaging, colored paper, egg cartons, and other items for arts and crafts projects. Look for other ways you can reduce the amount of packaging you throw away and recycle!

Cover your textbooks with cut-up grocery or shopping bags helps reduce waste and keeps your books in good condition. Be creative - use markers or colored pencils to give your covers unique and fun designs. Paper grocery bags and newspaper are also great for wrapping packages.

Use nontoxic products, inks and art supplies, such as vegetable-based inks, white tape instead of whiteout, and water-based paints, and batteries with less mercury.

Use and maintain durable products, or ones with a lifetime warranty. Sturdy backpacks and notebooks can be reused for many years, which helps reduce the amount of broken items tossed away each year.

Maintain newly purchased items. Students frequently lose small items like pens and pencils. Make a conscious effort to put school supplies in a safe place every day. This will not only reduce waste but it will save you a headache if you lose something important!

If you bring your lunch to school, package it in reusable containers instead of disposable ones, and carry them in a reusable plastic or cloth bag, or lunch box. Bring drinks in a thermos or water bottle instead of disposable bottles or cartons.

If you buy lunch, take and use only what you need: one napkin, one ketchup packet, one salt packet, one pepper packet, one set of flatware. Remember to recycle your cans and bottles, and separate your waste if your school has separation bins!

Take public transportation to school. But, if you do drive, carpool with a friend (or two). Both help prevent wasted fuel, reduce air pollution, and decrease traffic in your community.

Put long-lasting, high-quality tires on your car and bicycle. Be sure to keep your tires properly inflated.

Borrow or rent your decorations and supplies for school parties, dances, and proms. If you buy these supplies, try adopting a theme that can be used from year-to-year, so that you can reuse your decorations and supplies. Your school's theater or acting class is a great place to start finding props and decorations.

Pass it on! Share the "buy smart" message with your family, friends and schoolmates.
Waste less by reducing, reusing, and recycling. Volunteer for, or start, an environmental club or recycling project in your school.

Work with your teachers and friends to find ways to encourage everyone in your community to make waste reduction a part of their everyday lives. You can also look for unique ways to make your school more waste-free, such as starting a school composting project or ask for a day in art class where you can use things that would have normally been thrown away. .

Get ready for school next year by making locker decorations out of old CDs. Decorate them with paint, stickers, rhinestones, or photos; stick magnetic tape to the back; and spruce up your locker! Another great locker decoration: pictures from old magazines that would have been thrown away.

Don't be shy; tell the managers at your favorite stores that you and your friends are interested in seeing more green items on the shelves. Tell your teachers you want to have a time dedicated to learning more about what you and your fellow classmates can do for the environment.

from www.epa.gov

Traveling Tips - Keep it Green!

2007-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Travel and Vacations

There are many opportunities to reduce waste when traveling away from home on business or on vacation. From packing and planning your trip, to hitting the road, learn how you can make a difference.

Before you leave home, adjust the air conditioning and water heater thermostats to conserve energy.

Rather than buying small, travel-sized toiletries, fill reusable containers with shampoo, soap, and other necessities.

Reuse plastic or paper shopping bags to pack items for your trip and recycle them afterwards. Plastic shopping bags are perfect for keeping dirty shoes and wet bathing suits separate from other items in your suitcase, while paper bags are great for packing snacks for the car.

Book flights with airlines that offer electronic tickets to reduce paper waste.

On the Road

If staying in a hotel, check the bedding and linen policy with housekeeping. Some hotels ask that the customer request the bedding or linen be laundered by putting a specific note card on the bed and leaving the towels on the floor. This practice conserves water resources. If your hotel does not follow this practice, use a comment card to ask them to adopt it.

When you leave your hotel room, switch off the air conditioning, lights, and TV to reduce energy use.

While on your trip, remember to take only the amount of products that you need from restaurants or lodgings. Take only napkins, condiment packets, free brochures, maps, or coupons that you will actually use.

Take along a plastic bag to collect your used beverage containers for recycling at rest stops.

When traveling by car or RV, make sure the vehicle is well maintained—this improves fuel economy which prevents pollution and saves you money!

When making reservations at campgrounds, ask about their recycling facilities.

If you change your own motor oil, recycle it at a "quick lube" shop, gas station, or auto store that accepts used motor oil for recycling.

Enjoying the Outdoors

Summer is a popular time for barbecues and other outdoor festivities. At your next party, set the picnic table with reusable dinnerware or ask people to bring their own reusable plates and containers. And remember to recycle all bottles and cans after the party!

Hot summer days require gallons of thirst quenchers. Be sure to recycle the used beverage containers. Instead of buying many small drink bottles, buy drinks or drink mixes in bulk and fill reusable bottles.

At the beach, use old buckets and other items in your house to build sand castles instead of buying new products at the store.

When visiting beaches and parks, be sure to take out everything you bring in, so that you leave places unlittered and undisturbed.

from www.epa.gov

Keep America Beautiful - Lady Bird Johnson

2007-09-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

STAMFORD, Conn. - July 12, 2007 - Keep America Beautiful, Inc. was saddened yesterday by news of the passing of former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson.

While Keep America Beautiful, Inc. was originally founded in 1953, Lady Bird's tireless advocacy for the organization throughout the 1960s brought national attention to the organization's mission to bring natural beauty to America's public spaces. As first lady, she was instrumental in convening the White House Conference on Natural Beauty in 1965, and afterward championed the findings through her public support of the Keep America Beautiful organization.

"Lady Bird Johnson always believed that natural beauty was much more than cosmetics," said Keep America Beautiful President G. Raymond Empson. "She understood, and helped others to understand, that beautification efforts have a larger ripple effect throughout all of society."

Indeed, recent studies at the University of Illinois and the Wharton School of Business have proven that beautification efforts - planting trees and flowers in public spaces and removing signs of blight such as litter and graffiti - increase property values, decrease crime, improve public health, and even improve student performance. Lady Bird Johnson understood this important dynamic of "greening" a community well before her time.

In 1969, Keep America Beautiful unveiled the Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award, the organization's highest honor bestowed annually to a female individual for outstanding contribution to the environment and community improvement. Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty won the award in 2006, and the 2007 winner will be announced at the KAB National Conference in Washington, D.C., this December.

For years, the Johnson family has been actively involved in Keep Texas Beautiful and the Keep Austin Beautiful affiliate of the national organization.

"Our organization owes much of our success to Lady Bird Johnson's enthusiasm and visionary approach to improving communities through the power of natural beauty," added Empson. "We extend our condolences to the entire family, knowing that they too are celebrating this blessed life of service to America and the world."

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a Network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. For additional information, visit http://www.kab.org/.

###

Taken from www.kab.org

Recycle your computer hardware

2007-09-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Don’t throw your used and outdated computer hardware in the dumpster...RECYCLE!

Bring any hardware including your hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse, or printer to the Southside Recycling Center located at 1631-84^th Street (84^th and Avenue P). Hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p. m. on Saturdays (closed between noon and 1:00 p. m. each day). If you have a large quantity of computer hardware, please call 767-3545 to make special arrangements for drop off.

In August 2006, the City of Lubbock Solid Waste Department began participating in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Computer Recovery Program. The computer hardware collected for recycling is sent to one of two TDCJ facilities for refurbishing (Huntsville and Snyder).

TDCJ inmates inspect all items and make needed repairs to insure that the computer hardware is in working order. Inmates are given the opportunity to gain skills to become certified computer technicians and gain employment after their incarceration is completed. Special care is taken to assure hard drives are completely erased prior to refurbishing activities.

The TDCJ offers the refurbished computer hardware to state agencies, counties, cities or school districts at no charge. To view commodities available for purchase from the TDCJ, or for more information on the TDCJ Computer Recovery Program, visit their website at:

http://www.tci.tdcj.state.tx.us/services/cr/default.aspx

How To Shop Green

2007-09-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Considering "going green"? You're probably not the only one.

Enter almost any grocery store and you're bound to find so-called green cleaning products next to traditional ones. Take Tide Cold Water detergent. Procter & Gamble (nyse: PG - news - people ) claims it deep cleans clothes in cold water, cutting down on your energy use, not to mention your energy bill. Car buyers have plenty of environmentally friendly models from which to choose, and energy-efficient appliances get prominent placement on showroom floors.

Even retailers are getting in on the act. Sweden-based fashion emporium H&M introduced a green line in spring 2007, offering frocks and tops made with organic cotton. And Nike (nyse: NKE - news - people ) recently announced plans to make its footwear sustainable, vowing to adopt environmentally friendly production methods where possible.

In Pictures: How To Shop Green

But while an ever-growing range of "green" consumer products are finding their way into our homes, there is very little in the way of industry standard. One manufacturer's green product may have been produced in an entirely different manner than another's. As a result, experts say it's good to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when choosing environmentally friendly products, and to rely on a select group of organizations monitoring the practices of certain industries.

Do Your Homework
Dig a bit and you'll likely come across the word "greenwashing." This, according to Julia Cosgrove, deputy editor of ReadyMade, a San Francisco-based magazine that focuses on do-it-yourself, sustainable projects, entails marketing a product as environmentally conscious without enough evidence that it really is.

"Much of what we're seeing now is just spin," she says. "When you look further, many of these companies are still making a big environmental footprint."

Translation: Even if a retailer offers clothes made with organic cotton, chances are they are being shipped via huge, gas-sucking airplanes.

Another example is vinyl. It is used in a great deal of vegan shoes, but the production of the material can create dioxin, a known carcinogen.

Clothing company Edun has experienced a case of greenwashing. Although some of its products are made of organic cotton, the company's main objective is to produce ethical (fairly traded, socially responsible)--not green--clothing. Although both concepts are positive, they certainly don't mean the same thing. Edun is an ethical clothing company, and although they take measures to protect the environment, they should not be categorized as green.

How to tell one from the other? Look to several watchdog organizations for a real education.

Digging Deeper
Netherlands-based Made-By tracks a garment's environmental footprint from the first thread on, and the International Forest Stewardship Alliance certifies wood-made products by ensuring that manufacturers collecting lumber are making the best use of forest resources, reducing damage and waste, and avoiding overconsumption and overharvesting. You can find a complete listing of their findings on www.fscus.org.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) labeling system, Design For The Environment (DfE), ensures that the chemicals in DfE-certified products--like Earth Choice's new range of household cleaners--are environmentally preferable, which means such products are created with lower volatile organic compounds. High levels of these materials can damage soil and groundwater, and emit greenhouse gasses, contributing to global warming.

Kitchen appliances now possess one of the most widely recognized labels, EnergyStar, another EPA-run unit. These labels ensure an appliance meets energy-efficient guidelines set by the EPA and the Department of Energy. Criteria for each appliance differs and can be found on www.energystar.gov under the Products tab.

"It's a fairly well-known metric that will reduce your energy use and save you money," says Ron Jones, founder of Greenbuilder, a development, media and consulting firm dedicated to sustainable development and green building, of EnergyStar. Often, buying a new, energy-saving air conditioner will save you in the end since older models not only cost more to run but often don't work as well.

Whether you're buying one piece of green clothing or remodeling your entire home with energy-efficient appliances, Jones says it's important to note how your everyday activities affect the environment.

"If you start to look at a person in terms of their individual footprint, which includes their transportation habits, eating habits, clothing and housing, it starts to get very complex," he says. "Think through everything. Determine how it will affect your everyday living conditions, and your quality of life going forward."

*from Forbes.com via KCBD Lubbock News

Lubbock Recycling Centers

2007-09-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you want to recycle and do your part for the environment, but you don't know where to take your stash. Let us help you by providing a list of locations and hours.

On the north side of Lubbock, east of I-27 is:
Lubbock City Recycling & Solid Waste
208 Municipal Dr.
806-747-2441

On the South side is:
Lubbock City Recycling & Solid Waste
1631 84th

The hours for both locations are:
M-F 8am-5:30pm
Sat 8am-2pm
Closed Sundays/Holidays

ACCEPTED ITEMS:
- clear/colored glass
- #1, #2 plastic
- aluminum
- tin food cans
- corrugated cardboard
- newspaper
- computer paper
- grass clippings, tree trimmings, yard waste
- old appliances
- used motor oil, antifreeze, filters
- large bulky items like couches, mattresses, etc.

ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS: (accepts only paper, plastic, glass and tin)

Lowes Grocery
26th and Boston

Market Street United
50th and Slide

Specialized Recycling Centers:
Community Metals Recycling
508 N. University
806-763-2267

Long Star Tire Disposal
602 Erskine
806-749-8473

CMC Recycling
212 E CR 5800
806-746-5025

REMINDERS:
Separate caps and bottles (they are different types of plastic)
Separate different types of paper (newspaper, computer paper, etc.)

Don't forget! You can take all of your plastic bags to any Walmart for quick and easy recycling!

*Thanks to CRAM magazine for the information

U.S. Paper Industry Working to Preserve Our Forests

2007-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

The U.S. paper industry is working to clean up environmental excesses of the past and is planting new trees to replace the ones harvested for paper products.

According to Domtar Paper, thare are more U.S. trees today than 70 years ago. The paper industry's forest lands are no longer shrinking. Of the 873 million acres that supply commercial paper products (that's five times the area of Texas), only 2% are harvested each year. Great news when you consider that one tree produces 260 pounds of oxygen each year-enough to support two people.

Domestic printing papers are a smart green buy because they conform to stricter environmental standards in the U.S. and support sustainability of our forests.

http://www.parkscolor.com/Products/web-content/servicecenter/letterheads.html

http://www.parkscolor.com/Products/web-content/servicecenter/brochures.html

Recycled Paper Now Standard for Postcards and Business Cards

2007-09-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's taken us some time to find a high quality recycled card stock, but we've got it now! Kromekote's C1S Recycled Plus paper contains 50% recycled fibers (10% post-consumer), and is absolutely beautiful. Plus, we now provide the option of printing a tasteful recycled paper logo on the back of every postcard or business card free of charge. It's a simple way to let your customers know you're doing your part to make responsible purchasing decisions.
http://www.parkscolor.com/Products/web-content/servicecenter/businesscards.html

http://www.parkscolor.com/Products/web-content/servicecenter/postcards.html