Greening Your Nonprofit's IT - Virtual Conference

On February 10th I'll be speaking as part of the panel on Sustainable Design & Printing that's included in the online conference "Greening Your Nonprofit's IT – How to Save Environment and Money. presented by NTEN & the Green IT Consortium. Here's the full schedule:

Keynote Address (10:00 am Pacific / 1:00 pm Eastern) 
Joseph Khunaysir, Founder, CIO & CTO of Jolera Inc., will talk about how non-profit organizations are going green and the role that IT plays in that transition to sustainable operations.  Joseph authored a chapter on Green IT in the recently-released book, Nonprofit Guide to Going Green.

Breakout Track I (11:10 am Pacific / 2:10 pm Eastern)

Introduction to Green IT: What is it, what your organization needs to know
Presented by: Hank Dearden, Virsant

Creating a Green IT Strategy: What is the right strategy for your organization, how to start, what to plan for
Presented by: Jennifer Woofter, Strategic Sustainability Consulting and Jim Lynch, TechSoup

Overview of Green IT Software and Hardware: Types of software and hardware you’ll want to know about to green your IT
Presented by: Anna Jaeger, TechSoup 

Breakout Track II (12:20 pm Pacific / 3:30 pm Eastern)

Virtualization: What is it, what it can do for your organization, green benefits
Presented by: Peter Campbell, Earth Justice and Matt Eshleman, CITI DC

Case Studies: How Non-Profits and Foundations are Greening Their IT
Presented by: Michael Sola, National Wildlife Federation and Bill Schaefer, Care2.com

Sustainable Design & Printing: What is sustainable design, what you should know about printing
Presented by: Noah Scalin, Another Limited Rebellion, Amy Hartzler, Free Range Studios and Dave Michaels, Ecoprint

For more information and to sign-up go HERE. If you select 'GreenIT' in the "How did you hear?" field after registering you'll receive the member rate of $60!

Urban Farming : Hydroponics in NYC

New York City has thousands of empty rooftops; flat, unused, full sun, vacant land. It’s enough space to feed 15 million people. Check out this video about state of the art urban farming techniques.



"Keeping agriculture sustainable increasingly means keeping it local. Besides the environmental benefit of reducing reliance on fossil-fuel guzzling transportation, eating local food is a more seasonal and often healthier experience. With concern about food security growing, it might turn out to be safer, too. The folks in charge of the Science Barge, a new urban farming experiment in New York, are bringing local food production closer than ever. In this video Vanessa Rae learns about the floating greenhouse facility, which is designed as a demonstration of how urban space, especially rooftop space in big cities like New York, can be used to efficiently produce food. Self-powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and a biodiesel generator, the Science Barge uses state of the art computer technology and an agricultural technique called hydroponics to grow fruits and veggies using much less water and space than field farming. Watch out, city slickers. Farm country is coming to your neighborhood."

via River Wired.

H2Oil - Alberta Oil Sands Industry

The Canadian animation company La Moustache has created these 3 animated sequences for the new documentary H2oil. The documentary, produced by Loaded pictures exposes the Alberta Oil sands industry was made entirely under AfterEffects. Art Direction and animation by Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouvé. Illustrations by James Braithwaite. Narrated by Catherine Kidd.

Extracting bitumen from tar sands (Oil sands) is a very high energy intensive process, requiring industrial scale heating (using natural gas) and 4 barrels of fresh water to produce one barrel of oil. So clean water resources shrink very quickly, along with the burning of natural gas to create another carbon emitting fuel, and it goes on. For more details about this environmental disaster, check out the animation.

For a fairly neutral overview of tar-sand mining check this link.

The Big Book of Green Design

I recently found out that several of my recent pieces are included in the new book from Crescent Hill Books: The Big Book of Green Design. This is the latest in a terrific run of environmental/socially conscious themed books coming out for graphic designers in the past two years*, which is a welcome relief after the long drought that preceded it. The Big Book of Green Design is definitely more of a coffee table book than a reference manual, but with an intro by Re-Nourish founder Eric Benson, hundreds of visual examples, and several detailed case studies it should be a fairly inspiring resource for anyone interested in the environmental direction businesses big and small are taking. The book is scheduled for release later this month, ask for it at your local independent bookstore.

*See also my reviews of: Green Graphic Design, SustainAble, and Do Good Design.

Waterlife

This is the Story of the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth : Waterlife. A documentary about the Great Lakes that has won the National Film Board Award.

Jam3 has created an interactive companion for this documentary and used all the major themes from the documentary to create this amazing online experience about the distress the Great Lakes are in.

Full credits and a Q&A with Jam3 on the site are here.

Linkage: From Kafka Pest Kontrol to B'eau Pal Water

Yikes, where does the time go?! After heading down to Austin to talk at the How Design Conference and then opening After Life my art show at Quirk Gallery and finally a business trip to NYC, I've finally caught up with things enough in the office to return to my non-skull related blogging. First up, a bunch of links that have been sitting on my shelf that haven't quite hit their expiration date yet...


Literary reference trucks deliver books and a message about reading. (image shown, more HERE) via

SpecWatch keeps you updated on the insidious world of design competitions/crowdsourcing. Thanks @PrixMadonna

Captcha graffiti to tell if you're human or not. (image shown) via

A public bicycle counter shows that you are not the only one on two-wheels in Copenhagen.

Get a free brochure on how not to greenwash from Roughstock Studios.

You know you want a USB-powered chainsaw! via

Traitor Joe's gives you the dirt on a well-known (and similarly named) grocery chain's seafood sources. via

Bizarre attempt for a multi-national corporation to "localwash" (the local movement's equivalent of greenwashing). via

Boring flyers get free makeovers from Cardon Copy! (image shown) via

Reincarnated McMansion is going to take 1 wasteful house and turn it into 2 green homes! Thanks Stephanie!

The 3/50 Project wants to save local brick & mortar stores with your help. Thanks Mim!

Eco-Mag, a magazine about art, design & sustainability, is available as a free downloadable PDF via

B'eau Pal Water is the Yes Men's response to Dow Chemical's toxic waste in Bhopal. via

What happens when you put pianos on the street for anyone to use?

No Longer Empty turns vacant storefronts into art venues. via

Artist Favianna Rodriguez explains why is graffiti a good thing.

Eco-friendly cardboard coffins, come with the image of your choice printed directly on them. Thanks Amy!

Jamba Juice rips off Get Your War On! Thanks Kate!

Grand is turning their junk mail into self promotion. (image shown)

A newspaper in China goes from printing press to recyling bin with no stops in between.

SafeLink provides free cellphones and airtime for lower income Americans.

Linkage: Art Crimes and Clothing Punishment

The Onion Network is looking for socially conscious design and marketing partners.

Does the gay flag need a makeover?

Getting the word out with mud stencils (image shown).

What to do with reusable bags, when they're used up. Thanks Mim!

A hand-cranked eco-vibrator for the ultimate environmentalist. Thanks Leah!

Would you wear the same dress every day for a year if it was for a good cause? via

Making a barrel monster will get you arrested in North Carolina (image shown) Thanks Carlos!

Who doesn't like free books?

Linkage: From Green Guitars to Green Weddings

Students help Break The Jam and encourage people to Give Way in DC. (images shown)

Jobs for Change wants to help you work for nonprofits.

Patching cracks with Legos. (image shown) via

The greening of guitars.

The greening of weddings.

Free books for London commuters.

Mapping the NYC advertising takeover. via

Starbucks Twitter campaign hijacked by documentary of their anti-union practices. via

Book Review: Green Graphic Design

Green Graphic Design, by Brian Dougherty of Celery Design Collaborative, is the second new eco-graphics handbook I’ve read in the past year. This is a pretty big deal, considering I’ve spent the previous six years using out-of-date (and often out-of-print) books to introduce the subject to my socially conscious design students. It’s a nice problem to actually have some resources to choose between and while I may have a bit of bias towards Aaris Sherin’s SustainAble, since my own work appears in it, I like to believe that I came at Green Graphic Design with an open mind. However, it is impossible for me to read and review it without comparing the books.
Two of the major advantages of Dougherty’s book are clear from the outset: it’s a smaller-sized paperback, which makes it less of a coffee table book and more useful as a day-to-day manual and it costs nearly half as much.
After a strong introduction, which speaks to the broader idea of socially conscious design, even though it sticks with the term “green design”, the book settles into a fairly solid overview of the issues and techniques of environmental graphic design. In terms of technical information covered, both Green Graphic Design and SustainAble are on fairly equal ground.
Where Green Graphic Design falters, however, is in the question of audience. The text more often than not seems geared towards people who have little or no professional experience. This would be ideal for a student audience, except that the practical examples, the majority of which involve projects for Celery’s large corporate clients, will be most useful to people who are already able make choices about custom pocket folders and mass-produced consumer packaging. Package design seems like something that is better covered in a book on green industrial design (a topic which has many more books already associated with it) and most graphic design students I know won’t be dealing with work at the scale that Celery handles for a long time (if ever).
In the end, Green Graphic Design reads more like an elaborate self-promotion for Celery that is supplemented with some useful information on working environmentally rather than the other way around. The diversity of the projects and voices in SustainAble still make it my primary recommendation, but Green Graphic Design is an acceptable choice for those who are new to the topic, especially if portability and cost are your primary concerns.

Green Graphic Design
by Brian Dougherty
Allworth Press
$24.95

Reef Art

An artist who creates underwater art installations that become an artificial reef...



Thanks Leah!

Polar Bears in the U.K.

On January the 26th, 2009, people in London witnessed a rather interesting event : The sculpture of a polar bear on a iceberg floating on the Thames river. This very realistic looking bear was made by 15 different artists who spent 2 months constructing this 6 by 6 meters (20 by 20 ft) structure to raise awareness of melting ice caps but also of the already beginning extinction of Polar bears, one of the first victims of the global warming.

The sculpture is now in Birmingham since February the 6th. They plan on sending it to Glasgow and other cities.

This event was organized by the natural history tv channel : Eden for the launch of their new Fragile Earth Series, presented by Sir David Attenborough.

On the same subject, Polar Bears from Alaska have been added on the endangered species list in the USA (Endangered Species Act (ESA)) because of the destruction of their ecosystem, the ice cap. A half victory for ecologist as this decision is not followed by any other initiatives to fight the global warming. According to scientists, by 2050, 2/3 of the polar bears will disappear if not protected. As others (Sarah Palin) say that the polar bears are not in danger.

Watermarks Project

"Watermarks is a public art project that will use a series of large-scale projections at sites across the centre of the city of Bristol, U.K. to explore these questions.

Flood level marks will be projected on to the sides of buildings, showing how high water levels could potentially rise as the sea inundates the central, low lying areas of Bristol. By displaying these levels in real space, the project aims to help us to imagine the depth and extent of this potential future flooding - allowing us to measure them against ourselves in familiar environments.

Although the message is stark, the flood levels shown are as if the city is undefended and adaption measures have not been put in place. As the waters gradually rise over the coming century, there is much we can do to adapt and defend!

This project contends that the future of our cities and landscapes and our responses to rising sea levels are not just left to scientists, politicians, engineers and the built environment professions but emerge from as wide a base as possible with participation and involvement from all sections of the wider community. Ultimately the mitigation and adaptation measures will be social and cultural as much as scientific and technical."

Linkage: From Green Screams to Green Goodbyes.

How strong are your state's gun laws? Virginia, where I live only got 18 out of 100 points!

Artist Linda Hesh helps you make a statement with where you put your butt (image shown) via

The Yes Men Fix The World in a new documentary.

House your computer in recycled cardboard...maybe one day. Thanks Leah!

Raising Awareness vs. Direct Action a guide for donors. Thanks Mim!

Green frights on a pedal powered roller coaster (image shown) Thanks Justin!

Edible diapers are the greener choice (and happily not real). via

Dust to human powder Dust: The greenest form of burial? Thanks Robert!

Green Christmas

MC Lars wishes you a Green Christmas...



Thanks Mica!

Green Earth

One year after the 2007 "Love Your Earth" competition, Designboom.com along with TOBU department store and the Design Associaton Japan (DA) launched a new competition last summer : "Green Earth". This is an international design competition open to everyone created to raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting the planet.

There are two categories, the first one being "Green" and the second one being "Earth".
Green: Create a graphic artwork that illustrates the environmental protection and how human beings and nature could coexist in a greener world.
Earth: Give the gift of a greener world at Christmas. Create a graphic artwork that will make this festive time of the year a moment to consider what we can do to help our planet’s survival.

The designers of the 5 winning entries were granted with cash prize awards

Also, TOBU department store printed a selection of the shortlisted entries on their "eco-bags" and other promotional material, which have been shown during the Tokyo Designer’s Week 2008 (30 October - 03 November, 2008).

3966 designers from 91 different countries participated and the winners are :

1st Prize : "greening" design by : ji yoon yang from korea.

2nd Prize : "recycle at xmas" design by : benjamyn cox + lloyd moffat from uk.























3rd Prize : "plain cloud" design by : glen baghurst + matthew cullin from australia























santa's readjustment ' design by : camila gimeno from chile

See the results.

source.

Designing for Forever

Public Radio International's excellent series Studio 360 had a recent segment on folks trying to design signage for radioactive waste storage areas that need to last (and be understood) for millennia...

CheatNeutral

CheatNeutral allows you to offset your infidelities by funding others to be faithful. Sounds ridiculous? That's the point. The creators of the site want to point up the problems with the idea of carbon offsets by parodying it with an analogue that easier for most people to understand:

Jealousy and heartbreak are a natural part of modern life. And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it's just not possible to be faithful.

At Cheatneutral, we believe that we should all try to reduce the amount we cheat on our partners, but we also realise that fidelity isn't always possible.

That's why we help you neutralise your cheating. Your actions are offset by a global network of fidelity, developed by us. By paying Cheatneutral, you're funding monogamy-boosting offset projects - we simply invest the money you give us in monogamous, faithful or just plain single people, to encourage them to stay that way.

This video tells more of their story and response to their business idea...


What's your take on carbon offset/carbon credits: An effective tool for environmental change or a way to feel less guilty about business as usual?

News Roundup

From the Christian Science Monitor:

First bicyclist union in Canada.

"Borrow a Muslim" from a living library.

Environmentally conscious reason to "Just Say No".

From the Gaurdian:

Genetically modified crops will not solve food crisis.

From Ode Magazine:

Former nun takes on Ecuadorian gang and wins.

Carbon farming fights global warming.

From Mother Jones:

Can greed be green?

SustainAble Book + Interview

SustainAble is an invaluable new practical handbook on environmentally conscious graphic design from Rockport Books. Author Aaris Sherin, has done a fantastic job of compliling the latest information on materials and techniques for designers interested in working with the environment in mind [full disclosure, my company is featured prominenetly, but I really would recommend it regardless]. Not only is the content on point, but the book itself was printed using a range of sustainable methods (a rarity in publishing). Going beyond standard recycled papers, they actually used make-ready sheets for the covers and end papers. The last real handbook on these issues (The Complete Guide To Eco-Friendly Design by Poppy Evans) came out in 1997 and has been out of print for years, so this type of book has been long overdue. Considering the massive increase in interest in going "green" by corporate America, the need for designers knowledgeable about these issues will only continue to grow as well. Kudos to Rockport being the first to fill the void.

Aaris kindly agreed to a mini-interview about the book, so I sent her a few minimalist questions to answer however she interpreted them...

ALR: Why now?
Aaris Sherin: Graphic Designers tend to be concerned about social and environmental issues, and yet many have not idea how to apply this ideology to their professional practice. Increasingly clients are asking for eco-friendly design solutions and many practitioners are tasked with having to learn the relevant problem-solving and technical specifications for environmentally preferable production. To date there really hasn't been a comprehensive resource to go to for this information. My idea was to make a sort of one-stop reference for
those interested in the topic. The book covers topics that include sustainable forestry, basic history and theory, as well as practical information about eco-friendly production materials and techniques. The second half of the book is devoted to case studies that trace how designers approached specific projects with the environment and social systems in mind.

ALR: How?
Aaris Sherin: The book is filled with tips for how to approach design problem solving and production with sustainability in mind. Here are a few of the most basic. 1. Using proper sizes or asking for custom sheets is an easy way to reduce waste 2. Every designer should be able to identify and understand the value of FSC and other third part certifications 3. Eco-friendly paper doesn't always cost more. 4. Creating customized environmental checklists is a great way to bring consistent value to clients

ALR: So what?
Aaris Sherin: I really believe that design has a crucial role to play as we move toward the cultural shift that will need to happen in order to become more sustainable. Graphic design is so often the conduit between manufacturing/services and customers/audiences; as such we can bring value to clients who working with environmental and social consciousness in mind. By making simple changes in the way we work and offering our services to like-minded organizations there is an opportunity to make fantastic, visually arresting work that doesn't have to cost the earth.

ALR: What's next?
Aaris Sherin: There are so many people (many of whom were early adopters) who have created their own resources, libraries, and community groups for teaching and practicing sustainable design. As I talked to people I realized that a lot of them are duplicating each other's work. We really need more resources and more sharing of information so that the next generation isn't tasked with replicating our work.


SustainAble is in stores now and of course available via Powells and Amazon.com.

The State of Green Business

The folks at the environmental business news site GreenBiz.com have created State of Green Business 2008 a free downloadable report on what US companies have done in recent years to reduce their environmental impact. To that end they have tracked progress with a 20 point index including items like: Building Energy Efficiency, Employee Commuting, E-Waste, Paper Use and Recycling, and Toxic Emissions. Get your copy HERE.

What Izzit?

IzzitGreen is a new community review site that allows visitors to rate their local businesses not only on the usual factors of service, quality, etc., but also on their environmental aspects as well (i.e. Is it green?). The site is currently only beta testing for the Boston area.

Heal Your Home

Co-op America, has created a great primer for making healthy environmental choices in your home. The section called "Heal Your Home" is broken down into Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Exterior, and Overall Health Homes and includes a glossary and additional related articles. You can browse the articles online HERE or download the entire thing as a PDF.

News Roundup

A bunch of recent-ish stories I've been meaning to post for a while...

Ode Magazine:

The ins and outs of Eco-Tourism

An overview of the friendlier, funnier "New Activism"

Earth-Friendly Fast-Food?

Christian Science Monitor:

Using bikes instead of trucks for transport.

Why organic farming is good for Africa

"Just how 'green' is that shirt?"

F*&@# Planet Earth!

A funny take on the truly lovely Planet Earth series (warning: contains NSFW language!)...


Thanks Leah! Via Current

ReThinking The Environment In The Carolinas

The Raleigh AIGA recently asked me to be one of the judges for a poster competition promoting environmentalism in North and South Carolina called: re|THINK. The 20 winning posters, selected by myself and 2 other judges, will be on display (and for sale) at the Designbox gallery in Raleigh, NC for the month of April, with an opening reception on April 4th. Even if you're not in the area you can preview all of the winning designs online now HERE.

The Sins of Greenwashing

If you're not familiar with the term Greenwashing, the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice has a great primer on this dastardly practice just for you: The Six Sins of Greenwashing.


Thanks Kara!

News Roundup

Some more recent articles worth reading in the Christian Science Monitor:

New Alternative Fuel: Chocolate!

Is Bioplastic a Viable Alternative to "Paper or Plastic"?

Person-To-Person Lending: Internet Based Microloans Helping Internationally.

Spotted In Hawaii part II: Protect The Cute Fish

I've seen warnings about dumping spray painted over sewer drains in several cities, but I've never seen one etched in stone! Kudos to the folks in Honolulu's Chinatown for going the extra mile to protect the ocean.

No More Paper Catalogs!

Catalog Choice is a free service that helps you get rid of unwanted catalogs in your mail. By utilizing customer codes that are printed on catalogs you can even get rid of ones that come in someone else's name to your address! Find out more and sign up HERE.

Free Wayfinding Graphics

I recently discovered that the classic wayfinding graphics, seen in most American airports and other transportation hubs, are available as free vector art from the AIGA.

The icons were developed by the AIGA in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation and were originally released in 1974 and added to in 1979. The entire set of symbols are Copyright Free(!) and can be downloaded HERE.

News Roundup

Sorry for the long quiet from me, I've got a bunch to post and hope to be updating more frequently in the coming weeks. First off some news clippings I've been collecting...

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Ethiopians tradmarking coffee to ensure Fair Trade.

Eating "green" at environmentally friendly restaurants.

Study finds White House manipulated climate science.

Africa begins banning plastic bags.

e-waste documentary

eDump is a documentary by Michael Zhao about the problem with electronic waste. It follows America's 2.6 million tons of annual e-waste as it travels to foreign countries for recycling and the pollution and health problems it causes along the way. This powerful short film can be watched in its entirety on Zhao's site HERE. Find out more about e-waste HERE.






Thanks Anne!

Compact Fluorescent Recycling

You now have another way to recycle your dead compact fluorescent light bulbs, you can take them with you to Ikea. The store's new program allows you to bring in any brand of CFLs thus preventing the toxic mercury within from ending up in landfills.

via EcoGeek

News Roundup

Several great articles have appeared in recent issues of the Christian Science Monitor:

Ugandan women improve their lives making paper beads.

Green roofs appearing on New York houses.

Trash ovens in Kenya save trees.

Reducing the racist disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing.

And from Mother Jones:

Chinese toy imports and the lack of U.S. safety regulations.
Which is followed by a short list of stories about the problems with a self-regulating industry including this gem:

HASBRO EASY-BAKE OVENS In 2006, Hasbro overhauled its iconic oven with a new design and heating system. By the following February, the company had to recall nearly 1 million ovens because children had suffered burns after getting their hands caught in them. Rather than taking the ovens back, Hasbro got the cpsc [consumer product safety commission] to sign off on an easier fix: It would send a repair kit to any consumer who requested it. The ovens were recalled again this July, after 77 kids had gotten burned; one five-year-old had to have a finger amputated. This time, consumers got to return their ovens—for a voucher, good only for another Hasbro product.

News Roundup

Getting caught up here from a very busy spell, I have lots to post, plus it's Blog Action Day so definitely want to get some environmental links out there. Here's a smattering to start you off...

From the Christian Science Monitor:
Amazon Farmers work with Corporations to Save the Forest
New Yorkers Using Biodiesel for Heating

From Ode Magazine:
Sesame Street working for Middle East Peace
Organic Agriculture CAN Feed The World
How Hospitals Make You Sick

From Mother Jones:
The Problem with Plastics (including a handy chart for your fridge)

Guerrilla Bag Activism

Morsbags is a UK based group that asks regular folks to form subversive activist "pods" to make and distribute...shopping bags! They provide a basic how-to for making a standard cloth bag, which you are then encouraged to distribute for free to shoppers at local stores as an alternative to using disposable grocery bags.

Thanks Mim!

Planting Peace

Planting Peace is a handy new resource from the folks at the Organic Consumers Association. It collects news stories about the intersection of the anti-war, environmental, and organic activist communities in an attempt to forge a better alliance between the groups.

Blog Action Day: October 15th

There a lot of talk about the power that bloggers wield, so the folks behind Blog Action Day decided to test it out. Their simple plan: to have as many bloggers as possible post about environmental issues on October 15th. Will it make a difference? Wait and see or participate and see. More info here.

Carbon Conscious Consumer

New American Dream wants you to become a Carbon Conscious Consumer. Their site posts monthly challenges (last month's was to eat one pound a week of local food) and lists the carbon emissions saved by the folks who pledge to participate. They're even offering eco-friendly prizes to folks who get the most people involved in the campaign. Find out more here.

Light Bulb Recycling

While more geared towards industrial users, LampRecycle.org is a good resource for information on recycling mercury-containing light bulbs (called "lamps" in the industry). This will be a growing concern as more folks use (and discard) compact florescent bulbs.
They recommend consumers use Earth911 to find local recycling facilities by zip code.

A billboard I don't hate?

This billboard for South African Nedbank actually has solar panels on it that generate electricity for the kitchens of a neighboring elementary school.

Full details and more pix at Houtlust.

EcoGeek

EcoGeek is nother excellent addition to the green blogging world. They compile green technology stories from across the blogosphere and also provide original articles like "Ask the EcoGeek".

Thanks Jessica!

Extreme Green Guerrilla

What do Extreme Green Guerrillas do? Eat roadkill and kill themselves at age 40 among other things. At least that's what Royal College of Art design student Michiko Nitta proposed as part of her graduate project dealing with the future of environmentalism. Get the full details along with diagrams and photos here.

(Shown left, a Rattit: a mutant hybrid of Rat and Rabbit that EGGs will enjoy eating)

via We Make Money Not Art

Making Waves

A new BBC documentary about Hawaii and the environment, called Message in the Waves, caused a city in England to ban plastic bags after resident and filmmaker Rebecca Hosking set up a screening. From a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, which follows the continued downfall of the cheap disposable plastic bag used by grocery stores (500 billion of which are used annually worldwide):

Dumbstruck by what she'd seen off the Hawaiian coast during her year-long filmmaking trip, Hosking set up a local screening of her film and invited the town's 43 shopkeepers to come see where plastic bags end up.

All but seven of them showed up. At the end of the viewing, held in a local hall, Hosking called for a show of hands in support of a voluntary ban on plastic bags. Every single hand went up. The rest of the town's shopkeepers quickly followed suit. On May 1, Modbury won bragging rights as the first plastic-bag-free town in Europe.

Read the entire article here.

Watch the trailer clips from the Message in the Waves here.

Those Pesky Trees

Stay Free! Daily points out the latest trend in outdoor advertising: cutting down trees to increase ad visibility...

The latest rash of tree deaths is in North Carolina, where about 50 trees have been killed in the past seven months.

To make matters worse, a bill proposed to combat the practice sets fines at $2,000, even though replacing 50 trees would cost the state over $607,100—over $12,000 per tree!

Get the details from Scenic America via their downloadable factsheet(PDF).

To Carbon Offset or Not To Carbon Offset

I've been debating the merits of carbon offsets and whether they are really helping to encourage greener living, or just encouraging people to throw money at a problem rather than acting differently (especially as I have been reviewing green hosting options). So I was happy to discover an article about just this topic in the current issue of Mother Jones (May/June), "Practical Values: Paying for My Hot Air" :

Because air travel is my biggest vice, I started by plugging a year's worth of flights into various online travel calculators. The cost of redemption for 34,000 air miles: $168, according to NativeEnergy; $160.89 per MyClimate; or $64.95 on TerraPass. When I added up my total carbon footprint (air travel, auto, and home energy), the price tags ranged from $180 to $408 per year. Why would anyone spend $408 when she could choose a $180 offset instead?

"As a tendency, the cheaper the program, the more likely it is that the quality is not very good," says Wolfgang Strasdas, who recently completed a study on carbon offsets for the International Ecotourism Society. Strasdas judged carbon-offset companies on three main factors: how credible they are, how they spend your money, and how they calculate emissions. The latter accounts for the major discrepancies in price, especially regarding air travel.

Read the entire article (along with a handy carbon offset comparison chart) here.

Murdered in Mexico

My friend Nash sent me this note about a friend of hers who was murdered while helping to protect forests in Mexico. Please be sure to visit the petition she mentions at the end:

From february to the begining of may I was in charge of a project for the Greenpeace forest campaign. This project took me to the forest every weekend, I worked with several volunteers as well as with a group of indigenous people from one of the communities there, people who are aware of the importance of the forest for all of us, that have been working denouncing illegal loggers as well as developing susteinable projects to preserve their forests. We were compiling data for a scientific study on the impact of deforestation. The work was hard but it was good work and we made very close bonds with them. Last may 15th, one of our indigenous partners Aldo Zamora was killed by illegal loggers and his brother Misael who also worked with us was injured. You can imagine my shock and pain, and for all of us who worked with him. We know who the killers are but til today they´re still free.

So I ask you to get into this link and sign, so we can keep pressuring tha mexican goverment to capture the killers:

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2007/05/activist_murdered_in_mexicao.html

Image: Aldo and Misael

WiserEarth

WiserEarth is a new community-driven resource on non-profits & NGOs. It functions both as a directory of and forum for international organizations working on social and environmental issues. The site was created by the Natural Capital Institute, which is also working on a business oriented companion called WiserBusiness.

File Under Greenwashing: Shell's CO2 Flowers

Shell's new "green" campaign features an image of a flower spewing factory and claims that they're doing their part for the environment by recycling waste products (like diverting CO2 to grow flowers) under the tagline "Don't throw anything away. There is no away." But Friends of The Earth Europe, beg to differ and have filed complaints in several countries claiming the ads are misleading, noting among other things that Shell "uses less than 0.5% of it's waste CO2 to grow flowers". You can read the full complaint here (PDF).


Thanks Mim!
Details via Environmental Leader

Green Hosting

For the first time in many years I need to find a new web host for one of my websites and I decided to review the socially conscious options. Happily it turns out there are a lot of green hosting services these days. I've listed a bunch of folks I found below. The hard part now is deciding whom to use (which is definitely better than having no options at all).

FYI most hosts that call themselves green have offset their energy consumption with pollution credits (also called going "carbon neutral") via businesses like green-e; AISO is the one exception I've found so far.

• Acorn Host is woman owned.
• Affordable Internet Services Online has actual solar panels (which you can watch via webcam).
• DreamHost is a hugely popular mainstream hosting service that is employee owned.
• Sustainable Websites gives you access to green marketing articles.
• ThinkHost will plant a tree for you.

I still haven't decided where to go do if you have any recommendations for any of them them or know of any others to check out please share your thoughts.

UPDATE
Thanks to scoid who pointed us to Ecologee.net, which has already done the hard work for us. The site tracks hosts that are using actual renewable energy (not credits) and is working to create an entirely "green internet"!

World Without Oil

What will the world be like when we run out of oil? Find out in real-time in the alternate reality of World Without Oil. The site records the stories of average citizens that are dealing with the 2007 oil crisis which began with a price spike on April 30th and led to current gas prices of $5.56 a gallon and a 7% shortfall. Add your own story via images, audio, video and/or text here.

On Vacation(s)

My company and I are taking a holiday starting tomorrow. For a week and a half we'll be happily away from phones and computers. My sister Mica graciously agreed to take the reins and serve as guest editor here at Another Limited Rebellion blog while I'm away, so unless you're heading out on vacation as well, definitely keep checking back with us daily!

Speaking of which here are some links to eco-vacation resources for those of you who want to plan summer getaways from an environmental perspective...

The International Ecotourism Society - Promoting environmental travel. Their global conference is happening in Oslo, Norway right now.

The National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations - Tons of well researched info.

Responsible Travel - Ecotourist holiday packages for folks in the US, UK, EU, and Australia.

Bulungula Lodge - Accredited Fair Trade tourist destination in South Aftica (shown left).

The above links were found accompanying this article on Geotourism in Ode Magazine.

Real Costs: The Plug-In

Dare you add the Real Costs plug-in to your browser (assuming it's Firefox) and discover the CO2 emissions reality of your travel plans? Right now it works with Orbitz, Delta, and United, but future versions will work with car direction, car rental and shipping sites. Download it and start cringing today.

via StayFree!

Car-Free America

Car-free zones and times are on the rise in the US (though mostly centered around existing public spaces like parks) according to a recent Christian Science Monitor article:

• New York is proposing to shut down perimeter roads of Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park all summer long.

• Atlanta plans to transform 53 acres of blighted, unused land into new bike-friendly green space.

• Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and El Paso, Texas, are planning events to promote car-free days in public parks, most in the hope that the idea will become permanent or extend for months.

"Cities across America are increasingly declaring that parks are for people, not cars, ... and closing roads within parks is one result of that," says Ben Welle with The Trust for Public Land's Center for City Park Excellence, in Washington.

Resistance can be fierce at first, he and others say, because of worries about traffic congestion, parking problems, and loss of visitors for businesses and museums. But studies are showing that traffic problems can be minimized, shops and museums get more visitors, and residents begin to cherish their where-the-action-is location.

Read the entire article here.

Ethanol Is Not Green

A recent report from Stanford University concludes that the much hyped corn based Ethanol is not only NOT a "clean-burning" eco-fuel, but that in the long run it may cause more deaths than traditional gasoline. According to Mark Z. Jacobson, the scientist that conducted the research:

"In our study, E85 increased ozone-related mortalities in the United States by about 200 deaths per year compared to gasoline, with about 120 of those deaths occurring in Los Angeles," Jacobson said. "These mortality rates represent an increase of about 4 percent in the U.S. and 9 percent in Los Angeles above the projected ozone-related death rates for gasoline-fueled vehicles in 2020."

Read more about the report's conclusions here.

Pledge to Live a One Planet Life

This Earth Day Care2 asks you to pledge to live a One Planet Life...

Hearst Gets Greener

Hearst made quite a statement last year with the opening of it's entirely green NYC headquarters.
This week they have announced a new consumer website which will be entirely focused on earth-friendly living called The Daily Green (link).

The Daily Green will be a one-stop Web destination where the fast-growing community of green consumers can find each other and everything they need to know to embrace a more energy-conscious, natural foods-oriented and environment-friendly lifestyle.

The Daily Green will feature daily eco-tips; the day’s key national and international environmental news; advice on how to enjoy a more sustainable life with smart energy and product choices; delicious recipes for meals and school lunches that are more hormone- and pesticide-free, compassionately raised and “as local-as-available”; and ideas for creating a more toxin-free home. While content will be an important element of The Daily Green, it is the community of followers of the green movement that will inform the sensibility of the site. For example, Weird Weather Watch, a user-generated photoblog of climate change snapped by backyard environmentalists and camera phone climatologists will be an important feature, as will user-submitted recipes and tips. In addition, the site will give a voice to the leaders of the country’s most important environmental organizations through blog postings and site links.

The beta version will launch on Earth Day, April 22 2007. Check back here for further investigation at that time!

Until then you can go read
more about the Hearst Tower (Link)

Environmentalism for Girls

The new website The Big Green Purse, created by writer and socially conscious marketer Diane MacEachern, is attempting to make the world a better place by focusing on women's shopping habits noting that "women spend $.85 of every dollar in the marketplace."

National Day of Climate Action: April 14, 2007

Just a few more days to prepare for the Step It Up 2007 National Day of Climate Action, which is this Saturday, April 14th.

To find out how to get involved in actions happening near you go here.

41 dollars = 41 Pounds

The group 41 Pounds wants to help the environment by helping you eliminate junk mail from your life. For $41 dollars the group, which donates 1/3 of the amount to environmental charities, estimates the average American gets 41 pounds of junk mail a year and that their service can eliminate about 90% of it for at least 5 years. Find out more here.

via idUnited, thanks Nev!

Solar Powered Bible

I'm at a bit of a loss on this solar powered item:

If you have ever wanted to read the Bible from cover to cover but found yourself without the time necessary to sit and read, your prayers have been answered. Our Talking Bible allows you to simply push a button and listen to a pleasant human voice read the complete Bible both Old and New Testaments, or to go to a specific book and chapter to hear a specific verse.

Imagine listening to the Bible as you meditate, sew, garden, relax...and it's a God send for the vision impaired. Powering this Bible is easy as well as all you need to do is place it near a light source and it recharges.

I guess I'm glad that they've recognizing the need to shift away from the old global warming inducing fossil fuel powered bibles.

Happy yet?

The (Un)Happy Planet Index shows how efficiently countries turn environmental resources into human happiness. For the record the US is #150 out of 178 countries. And the top of the pile? Vanuatu, followed by Columbia and Costa Rica in that order. Get the details here.

Socially Conscious Design Grants

Sappi is once again accepting applications for its Ideas That Matter program.
Winning designers get a piece of a million dollars to create social/environmental related projects (the only catch is that you can't use the money to pay yourself). Entry deadline is May 21st. More information and applications can be found here.

Regulated Green

The book It's Easy Being Green includes this handy list of "green" terms to help consumers parse real environmental benefit from mere greenwashing on product lables:

Defined and Regulated
Green Seal
Animal Care Certified (eggs)**
Dolphin-safe
Free Farmed (dairy products, eggs, poultry, meat)
Organic --- Certified
NutriClean
Transitional (farm)
Green-e (re: energy/power)
Totally Chlorine-Free-Certified
Sustainable Forestry-Certified
Energy Star Rated
Wildcrafted or Wildharvested-Certified

Defined and Unregulated
Biodegradeable
Recyclable
Recycled
Cage Free
GMO Free or GE Free
No Antibiotics Used or Raised Without Antibiotics
Natural (meat and poultry)
CFC Free
Ozone Safe or Ozone Friendly
Recycled
CFC Free (personal-care products)
Low Emissions Vehicles

Undefined and Unregulated
Green
Natural
No Hormones Administered
Pesticide Free, No Pesticide Residue
rBGH Free or rBST Free (dairy)
Clean (re: energy/power)
Green ((re: energy/power)
Renewable (re: energy/power)
Chemical Free
Chlorine Free
No or Low VOCs
Nontoxic
Phosphate Free
Tree Free
Energy Efficient
Refurbished or Remanufactured
Recyclable
Fluoride Free
Recycled
Wildcrafted or Wildharvested -Uncertified
Fuel Efficient
Composite

Attribute
Reclaimed or recovered
Reusable
Used
Solar Powered
Biodiesel
Electric
Fuel Cell Powered
Hybrid
Reclaimed, Recovered or Salvaged

Pending
Free Range, Free Roaming or Pasture Raised (beef, pork)
Grass Fed
No Hormones Administered (beef)
LCD (Appliances, Home Electronics and Lighting)

Alert:
**Beware of "Animal Care Certified." This label is sponsored by the United Egg Producers, who allow hens to be caged in an area smaller than a sheet of copy paper for their entire lives.

via Care2, thanks Melinda!

Earth Friendly Banners

Just in time for this year's Earth Day events, the activist Beehive Design Collective is now offering extremely affordable banner printing on recycled plastic material (with no toxic PVC content). Get details and pricing on their site.

Polar Bear TV ad S.O.S.

The style is a bit over the top for me, but the cause is good, so if you want to help the NRDC get this commercial about saving the polar bears (and the environment) on TV, you can donate here.

Random Acts of Designess

Brandboggler has decided to do some Random Acts of Designess, giving free design services to needy folks he has found online. Rather than offer his services, he just takes on a job and hands over the results. The first completed project is a sticker for paper towel dispensers for the These Come From Trees project.

via Social Design Notes