An Easy Green Fix . . . OPT OUT!

Here's a great way to halt an antiquated practice . . . the delivery of felled, pulped, bleached and printed trees to your door every year . . . click here to opt out.

OPT OUT

You have to register and receive an email, log in, and then choose NONE from the available list of crap they automatically deliver to your home.  It's a pain, but takes about 8 minutes, and has been vetted by treehugger.com  http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/yellow-pages-industry-unveils-national-opt-out-site-neg-norton-interview.php

Seven Green Things your Grandparents Did

This list of seven easy life adjustments we could learn from the "greatest" generation compiled by the often excellent Mother Nature Network:  after le leap . . .

Ancient Italian towns pull ahead of the US in race to modernize

This is shameful and inspiring. While we putz around trying to make our citizens like GM enough to buy a new car, and promise thrilling 0-60s in electric roadsters, and encourage people to buy FEWER plastic bottles of water and use FEWER plastic bags, entire rural villages in Italy are simply taking the steps necessary to bring themselves online with the future . . . (more)

Detroit -- musings on metropolitan makeover

It's losing its symphony?  It's flirting with Hollywood.  It's burning, it's shrinking, it's artistic, it's stinking . . . what is to be expected from the next decade in Detroit?

the Spirit of Detroit

pizzicato on the heartstrings
I want so much to be that rotting giant's Jane Jacobs . . .
move myself, a garden, and the power of theater and music
out of the hall
and into the husk of fled industry,
sing folk songs on the twisted steel and
light the toppling bricks with amber-gelled hope for renaissance . . .
and teach the kids to love to listen
to move around and
cluster all the left-behinds to become
strong villages, and the in-betweens to become
fields of strong corn.
and the singing and the working meet the
hammers that forge huge windmills
sending the Spirit of Detroit back
to the Pantheon of Industry
but this time,
cloaked in green.


And now from some hastily jotted poetry, to a hastily assembled gallery after the JUMP:

PARK(ing) DAY in NYC!!!

So here's an idea that sounds fun and just anti-establishment enough.  On Friday Sept. 17, 2010, reclaim a parking space for a day and use it for something more people-oriented and not so car-friendly.  Okay, so it also seems hot and noisy, but that's what protesting feels like.  Or, at least that's what it has to feel like since we can't pass congestion pricing because of one or two whores.  I'm talking to you SHELDON SILVER.  HERE is the site, and here's a VIDEO from this day in 2007.

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Greening the Cube

Wouldn't it be great if all our privacy needs at work were this relaxing and fresh?  Jebus, I'm coveting this right now!  The oxygen alone would boost productivity.  Props to Julio Radesca de Carvalhom, a recent graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven for the design.

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Starbucks litters art all over public space to encourage itself.

I was biking through Madison Square Park yesterday, minding the business of enjoying a brilliant sunny day in NYC, when i was stopped in my happy tracks by an unwieldy crowd which had collected itself on the [triangular bit of] square.  I saw this:  Thousands of cups (and more to come) filled with varying hues of coffee and milk (wasted) forming the silhouette of a huge redwood tree.  I was immediately intrigued and irritated.  As it turns out, it is a messy, soggy, ill-conceived eco-art nightmare that -- through it's wastefulness -- seeks to remind us to use FEWER cups.  Ok, so I got a free refillable mug out of the deal, but meanwhile can I have my public space back?  When did city parks become billboards for wealthy corporations and their fake good green deeds? I'm holding my breath for the Pampers version.

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Get your Green Goo OUT.

Find out what this sludge is . . .

New Yorkers! Dump your electronics the green way this Saturday.

If you're in the NYC area, and you have any of this:

  . . . bring them to TekServe (teamed with the Lower East Side Ecology Center) for free collection and recycling.  Like this:

They do it every year, and it protects air, soil and water from insane levels of toxins

"The components in many electronics can be incredibly hazardous to the environment - contributing up to 70% of the toxins found in landfills - so it's important that they are properly recycled. Find out more through our links to articles on computer recycling. Sponsored collection events, like this one, are one of the easiest ways to properly dispose of your old gadgets in NYC. Due to funding constraints, the city's electronics recycling events and the Build It Green electronics drop-off program have been suspended."

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Cruise Ships and a Sinking Feeling

Let's start with an image.  Ten swimming pools full of human poo. In one week, the average cruise ship, er . . makes and dumps that much poo LEGALLY as close as three nautical miles from US shore!!  

TEN SWIMMING POOLS OF POOP.  (210,000 gallons)

Add to that 40 swimming pools full of grey water (showers, sinks, laundry, kitchens, bars).  

IN ONE WEEK!! 

Detergents and all! (including perchloroethylene from drycleaning, photo-processing wastes, paint waste, solvents, print shop wastes, fluorescent light bulbs, and batteries) 

50 tons of garbage, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium and steel cans, and plastics. -- tossed right overboard.

35,000 gallons of oil-contaminated water -- these ships take in large quantities of ballast water, which is seawater pumped into the hulls of ships to ensure stability. This water is typically taken in at one port and then discharged at the ship's destination, which can introduce invasive species and serious diseases into U.S. waters. A typical release of ballast water amounts to 1,000 metric tons. 

Between 1993 and 1998, there were 87 confirmed illegal discharges from cruise ships in state waters (81 cases involving oil; 6 involving garbage or plastic). An additional 17 “other alleged incidents” were referred to the countries where the cruise ships were registered. The industry paid more than $30 million in fines for violations and three cruise lines were placed on five-year felony probation.

• Royal Caribbean admitted (in 2001) in court that they INSTALLED pipes that bypassed the pollution control devices!!  They paid 33.5 MILLION.
• In April 2002, Carnival Corporation pleaded guilty to falsifying records to cover up pollution by six ships over several years. They were assessed an $18 million fine
  

IN ADDITION to the water pollution, cruise ships are a hazard to the air we breathe.  They emit particulates that cause health problems like athsma, as well as more heat-trapping carbon dioxide per passenger mile than aircraft.  Most cruise ships burn bunker fuel, which is 1,000 times dirtier than the fuel burned in diesel trucks. While at port, the main engines are turned off, and diesel engines are revved to sustain refrigeration, electricity, pumps . . . demanding that on-board power come from port electric could instantly make a difference.

What to do?

DON'T GO ON A CRUISE.

or

If you must imprison yourself on one of these floating fecal vessels, investigate the cruise line to be sure their ships do not have a record of pollution. If you are on a cruise ship and observe any dumping of plastic or hazardous materials to sea, you should report it to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802. 

This is what you're protecting.

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37% and rising in Copenhagen!

Under the scrutiny of the world's greenies, Copenhagen is shining brightly as a biker's paradise.

"Tens of thousands of people from nearly every nation on earth have descended on Copenhagen this month for the UN climate summit. As the delegates try to piece together a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they're also absorbing lessons from one of the world's leading cities in sustainable transportation. In Copenhagen, fully 37 percent of commute trips are made by bike, and mode share among city residents alone is even higher."

Great video HERE. Shows some cool advances like bike counters, innovative lane updates, and the SUV's of Denmark (they're bikes). 

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COP15 begins next week! Here's hoping the results are spectatular.

Quick explanation of the conference HERE

"The earth’s temperature has risen by 0.74 degrees Celsius in the last 100 years.

An increase of increase of just 2 degrees Celsius more will lead to massive loss of species, 100 million climate refugees, and other major stresses.

We need to set strict emissions restrictions by 2012 in order to avert a worldwide climate catastrophe"

Sign the HOPENHAGEN petition, and tell the world what gives you hope. (Kind of corny, but cool map tech)

and this:

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Cate Blanchett lends her voice to billions of others for Mother Earth

... and nine rings were given to the race of men, who above all else desire power.

Obama, the Super-project Void, and Me

See that iconic bridge there? It wasn't always there. It seems like it was, but in fact it was one of our great nation's greatest public projects -- one of many Super-projects the likes of which we rarely see now. It was not built by WalMart or Microsoft (although private investors historically chipped in). Along with umpteen railroads, canals, roads, parks and monuments, the Golden Gate Bridge was an undertaking so grand we could only realize it as a nation. A step forward of such massive length, that the states had to snap together like Voltron to take it.

Actually, the US Post Office I'm seeing out the window in front of me (the historic James Farley Building) is the product of just such government bravery. Here's a pic I just took:

Cool, right? It boasts the longest giant order Corinthian colonnade in the WORLD. Of course it now faces the craptastic Madison Square Garden (great job aces), but nevertheless, the Post Office stands as an anchor in a struggling neighborhood.

Ok, back to the Super-project Void. Louis Uchitelle writes in this ARTICLE in the NY Times,

"So what are we missing, exactly? Huge public works — or more precisely, their historic absence — didn’t cause the recession any more than their renewal would quickly draw the country out of it. But their effect on the economy is almost always noticeable if not easily measured. Some economists argue that the continual construction of new megaprojects adds a quarter of a percentage point or more, on average, to the gross domestic product over the long term. Again, cause and effect aren’t clear, but the strongest periods of economic growth in America have generally coincided with big outlays for new public works and the transformations they bring once completed.

If their absence creates a void, particularly in a recession, what can fill it? "

The article is a quick read, and it again opens debate about Obama's commitment to lifting us out of this recession with down-payments (and jobs) on similar projects. Here's

MY GREAT IDEA:

• High-speed rail lines link Detroit with Pittsburgh, Philly, and Chicago.
  
  
• The Detroit auto industry is encouraged (read: forced) to transform itself into the national center of manufacturing and R&D for wind turbine technology and photo-voltaic innovation.
  
  
• Automobile production in Detroit ceases.
  
  
• China, India, Canada, Mexico and Russia begin ordering our super-fantastic green energy products like mad.
  
  
• The idea of the Super-project is re-imagined as Detroit becomes the first Super-Urban-Project, and Obama leads us merrily into the 21st Century with Detroit the shining green flourishing city.

You listening, Mr. O?

Dallas' future looks green (?)

Way to go Dallas! Check out the renderings HERE.

RE-BURBIA WINNERS. Yes! [fist pump]

The winners of RE-BURBIA have been announced. I honestly don't know when it happened, but HERE they are and they are awesome!

"After a dizzying week of heated debate and lively discussion, Reburbia is very pleased to announce the winners of our month-long competition to redesign the suburbs! The competition called for design solutions that would address the problems that plague present-day suburbia by envisioning different scenarios for the future. Proposals tackled McMansions, big box stores, strip malls, parking lots and more with design fixes ranging from community agriculture and algae-based biofuels to transplanted tract developments and zeppelin-based transit."

I can see why the people's choice winner was so popular, and I love the one that's really just a zoning change.

CitiChix or UrbHen, I suppose.

Taking "buy local" to it's limit, some urban locavores are keeping coops in their city co-ops. HERE are the proud chickens from good.is

Buffett buys BNSF, passenger trains soon?

Very rich man Warren Buffett has bought the second largest North American trans-continental railroad, and admits that it's a gamble on the future success of American business. Is it possible he plans to use some tracks for passenger trains? That would be awesome. Trains are very green. And fun. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad went for 44 BILLION.

"The deal, which including Berkshire's previous investment and the assumption of $10 billion in Burlington Northern debt brings the total value to $44 billion, represents what Mr. Buffett said was a big bet on the United States."

HERE is the story in the NY Times.

Fun with emissions.

Visit this keen map and roll over the keys for the different renderings of clustered emission data.

"Emissions Map from the Global Climate Change Lobby"

Of particular interest: Check out how small Canada's overall emissions are, and then switch to per capita! China's overall emissions are the highest – scary until you switch again to per capita and see how insanely much EACH AMERICAN must be using. Now check out BRAZIL under each scenario! Unplug! Well, share this post and then unplug and then go for a bike ride :)

Librarian not wanted

What started as a community lending library -- a bunch of beer crates and used books -- became a fully stocked and self-sufficient outdoor public library. The facade of an old warehouse, and plenty of greenspace carve out a block of quiet community in the former East Germany.

Full gallery HERE

I love these projects that serve the community in a still, calm, democratic way.