Archive for Urban Green

Taking Earth Day a Step Further: Living an Earth Life

April 22, 2008 · Filed under Earth Day, Getting Started, Urban Green, green living

Celebrating Earth Day is a fantastic event and it gets us thinking of the environment and what more we can do. And we can do more. We can take the ideas and lessons learned on Earth Day and apply them to our everyday lives.

6 Simple Things You Can Do Everyday

  1. Give up bottled water. Did you know that in America we throw out more than 40 Million plastic bottles every year from bottled beverages, including bottled water? And only 20% of those bottles get recycled.

    What you can do:At home, put a filter on your tap and use a glass. If you’re going to the gym; take your own reusable water bottle. At the office, get a water filter or a water service.

  2. Use reusable bags at the store. With your own reusable bags you will know the answer to that annoying question of “paper or plastic?” - You will say, “Canvas, please!” If you did this one little thing, you personally would save 500 plastic bags going into the landfill every year.

    Now that is Earth Life!

  3. Eat less (red) meat.

    According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, one pound of red meat is responsible for 20 times the land use, five times the water use, and three times the greenhouse gas pollution compared with a portion of beans or pasta.

  4. Create an organic garden. Planting your own vegetables means you can ensure they are organic and healthy. And getting your food out of your own garden cuts the carbon emissions that would have been required to bring you food from the farm to the store to your table. Learn all about organic gardening at Gardenerd.com.
  5. Cut the junk mail. First, go to Do Not Mail.org and sign the petition for the “Do Not Mail” Campaign to stop junk mail. This is a campaign to create legislation similar to the “Do not call” registry. We canned spam in our email boxes and we stopped the “junk” phone calls. Now we can stop junk mail, too.

    Second, even though the Do Not Mail registry isn’t created yet there are a few paid serves you can get to stop your junk mail.

  6. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. The tried and true… But I think we are all getting the idea of reuse and recycle so I would like to focus on “reduce.” Put simply, buy less stuff. America is the largest consumer market in the world with the smallest population compared to other industrialized countries. Do we really need all that junk?

    In my neighborhood you drive down the street and even though every house has a 2 car garage, all the cars are parked on the street. Why? because that 2 car garage is full of junk that we bought and clearly don’t need.

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Earth Day: April 22nd, 2008

April 21, 2008 · Filed under Earth Day, Organic in the News, Urban Green, green living · Tagged

April 22nd marks the 38th anniversary of the modern environmental movement that began in 1970, when 20 million participants across the United States gathered at colleges, universities, primary schools and community centers in peaceful demonstration for environmental reform.

According to organizers at the Earth Day Network it is now the largest international secular holiday in the world with a half billion celebrants annually. With immanent climate change at the forefront of today’s global environmental consciousness, Earth Day’s call to attention is more important than ever.

Earth Day 2008 is expected to be the biggest yet! From Tokyo to Togo, to our flagship event on the National Mall in Washington, DC and 7 other U.S. cities, we will be galvanizing millions of people around the world behind a Call for Climate, our global warming action theme. Hundreds of events are popping up all over the globe and April 22 should be a most memorable Earth Day. We will be asking people to call their government and urge significant and equitable action on climate change.
- Earth Day Network

Join 1,000,000,000 people worldwide!
Take action now and check out the list of events near you!

d.i.y naturally ~

be the change you want to see.

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Earth Hour - Get Involved Now

March 28, 2008 · Filed under Getting Started, Urban Green, green living · Tagged

Turn off all power for 1 hour! Includes involvement of key metro areas but is spreading globally.

Let the World know you care! Add your name to the Earth Hour list.

Watch the video

On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

What will you do when the lights are off? We have lots of ideas.

Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.

One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!

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Greensburg, KA - Of All Places, Going Green

March 3, 2008 · Filed under Urban Green, green living · Tagged , ,

The people of Greensburg, KA, are leading the nation in green building, green energy use and are quiclky becomming the model community in the US for green living.


Greensburg Green Town

Last year in May, Greensburg, KA was hit with a devistating tornado, destroying most of their community. The determind Greensburgers became committed to re-building in a green, environmentaly friendly way.

“We want to re-build our community, why not do it right?” says one Greensburg citizen. “We see green as an American responsibility, one that is taken seriusly for the benefit of our children and our future.”

Most would think green living to be a “hippie,” “left-wing-environmentalist” style of living or set aside for the people who can afford it.

But not the people of Greensburg. They have come to the conclusion that Green is a blue collar, common sense, practical solution for our global future and well being.

Green Cubed

The green movement has spread quickly into the community and has the Kansas State University’s College of Architecture and Design inspired to contribute a project called “Greensburg Cubed“. Their goal is to have 4 - 6 10×10x10 cubes displayed around town. These little buildings will serve as an “education station” informing the community and public about green technology and products.

The green inspiration has also hit the high school where kids have formed the Green Club an organization of young people who want educate and inspire people to be more green. They have created a lightbulb exchange program, and have set goals that include putting recycling bins in their school and other initiatives.

The Greensburgers are not only rebuilding their communty. They are standing up and pioneering the way in one of our nations biggest challenges.

You Can Help Too

Show your support for green living and the community of Greensburg, KA. There is a donation button at the bottom of their web site.

~be the change

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5 Greenest Cars of 2008

February 27, 2008 · Filed under Bio-Diesel, Organic in the News, Urban Green, green living · Tagged , , , , , ,

  1. hondacivicgx.jpg
    Honda Civic GX: green score 57 - runs on natural gas with low emissions and gets 24 MPG in city and 36 on freeway
  2. toyotaprius.jpg
    Toyota Prius: green score 53 - 48 MPG in the city and 45 on the freeway
  3. hondacivichybrid.jpg
    Honda Civic Hybrid: green score 51 - 40 MPG in city and 45 highway
  4. smartcar.jpg
    Smart Car: green score 49 - 33 MPG in city and 41 highway
  5. toyotayaris.jpg

    Toyota Yaris: green score 46 - 29 MPG city and 36 highway

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Power Your Car by Mowing Your Lawn

October 16, 2007 · Filed under Alternate Fuel, Urban Green · Tagged , , , , , ,

grass.jpg

Finally! — The US Government has come to the conclusion that we need to find alternative sources of energy. It took them awhile! Even George W., the oil loving Texan himself says, “America is addicted to oil.”

Cellulose, a material extracted from plants, could be a good bet. It’s the most abundant naturally occurring molecule on the Earth. Trees, lawn clippings, fall leaves… all of it could be turned into an alternative fuel.

This is how it works:

  1. Extract the cellulose from the plant.
  2. Add enzymes to break down the cellulose molecules into sugar.
  3. Ferment the sugar into alcohol.
  4. Distill the alcohol into fuel.

Result: Cellulosic Ethanol.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it is that simple but it’s really expensive. For scientists, the challenge lies in the break down of the cellulose. Nature has found several ways to break down cellulose; termites have millions of microorganisms in their digestive system, cows and goats have special organisms in their stomachs but scientists need to do it and stay on budget. They are competing with the price at the pump.

But there is hope for those scientists now with a surge of both public and private money. Venture capitalists have invested hundreds of millions on startup companies, the DOE has pledged several hundred million dollars in demonstration plants and research centers and BP has gifted $500 million for an Energy Bioscience Institute.

Is It Worth It?

I think so.

I think we need to find a way to live with the Earth not against it. The fight over oil and other energy sources has resulted in so much war, you would think it was a religion. We’ve scared the Earth, in some place so badly, that no amount of reclamation will return it’s previous beauty. We need to find new answers, whatever it takes, we need new ideas for the future.

~ DIY Naturally

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The Futrue is Now - 4 Cities That Are Changing Their World and Going Green

February 2, 2007 · Filed under Urban Green

Talk about a grass roots effort! The citizens of Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles are on the move to change their cities. The best part is; it’s working!

Chicago

Chicago has some major problems but her citizens aren’t easily discouraged. They’re stepping up in a BIG way to reverse the damage of pollution, combustion, and over population. And they aren’t afraid to use their muscle to beat political corruption to fix their city.

Friends of the River is grass roots organization founded by the residents of Chicago in 1973. Tired of their Chicago River being treated as a legal dumping ground, they organized and recruted hundreds of people to restore 156 miles of river that traveled through 50 towns in the Chicago area. Today, with their hard work and dedication, the Chicago River is showing signs of revitalization with the return of native plants and wildlife.  

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is reviving their beautiful city and reclaiming what it once was in the first half of the 20th century. With thousands of vacant lots, empty homes and degrading industrial buildings left behind from economic change; Philly citizens have a lot of hard work ahead of them but they are determined to create a sustainable success.

The Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers were once so polluted that they couldn’t sustain aquatic life. Today, Philadelphia has built 3 award-winning water pollution control plants that remove approximately 92% of all waste-water pollutants before it is returned to these rivers. As a result, 42 species of fish now inhabit these waters. 

Seattle

One of our greenest cities, Seattle has set an example for green, sustainable living and it continues to raise the bar.  The green roots of Seattle lay in the hands of her dedicated and motivated citizens who have come together to form strong community organizations. They have worked to put green roofs on public buildings to capture rain water, provide natural cooling and other benefits. They have also planted more than 2,000 community gardens throughout the city to provide healthy food for low-income residents. 

Los Angeles

L.A. is one of our largest cities and a destination for many Americans with big dreams. With it’s sprawling population and grid-lock traffic, L.A. has brought the terms smog and pollution into our homes. It isn’t usually referred to as a city for sustainable living but everyone from innovative citizens, determined environmental groups, and strong political leaders are determined to improve their great city.

One person with a BIG dream, Andy Lipkin, founded TreePeople. He was only 15 when he first mobilized his fellow summer campers to pull up an old parking lot to plant a meadow. Today with thousands of supporters, TreePeople and Andy Lipkin are changing the L.A. landscape by creatively solving problems by incorporating nature. 


 “All our cities were built without understanding nature,” Andy said, “this is about working in partnership with nature.”

For more:
Eden Lost and Found
TreePeople

~ Be the change you want to see.

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