-
A Guide to Greening Your Music
Tweet Share on Facebook August 18, 2008 Comment (6)Greening your music is not all about "Kumbaya" or even "Big Yellow Taxi." It's about little lifestyle changes you can make in the way you enjoy music and contribute to the industry to bring about change. Here are some tips for reducing your musical footprint.
Buy MP3s, not CDs. For some, this probably comes as a no-brainer, but if you're still buying CDs, tons of nonbiodegradable plastic, packaging, and shipping miles go into their distribution. Cut your footprint by signing up for iTunes or another online service, and you'll have the instant gratification of immediate music, along with a lighter impact.
-
Snakes on the Plains?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 15, 2008 Comment (1)If there were ever a time we needed Samuel L. Jackson, it's now. According to one U.S. Geological Survey report, climate change may cause the Burmese pythons that inhabit Florida's Everglades to spread to as many as 32 states, reported LiveScience.
The Burmese python, obviously, is not native to Florida—the population of constrictor snakes comes from former pets who were let into the wild, scientists believe. The snakes can grow up to 20 feet long and can weigh up to 250 pounds. They eat dogs, cats, and other small mammals, but can also eat animals as large as alligators. The snakes are "highly adaptable to new environments," said the report. No timeline was given for when a migration might occur.
-
Ikea to Sell Solar Panels Alongside Kitschy Housewares, Futons, Meatballs
Tweet Share on Facebook August 14, 2008 Comment (5)Updated on 08/15/08
Ikea, purveyor of cheap living room sets and futons for 20-somethings worldwide, will soon be offering another product you can pick up in a flat-pack: solar panels.
The Scandinavian company is already taking a lot of green steps—from renting out bikes with trailers for emission-free furniture delivery, to offering recycling for CFL bulbs—but their recent announcement that they will throw $77 million into research and product development of solar panels, efficiency meters, and energy-efficient lighting will have a big impact. Ikea franchises span the globe, with 283 stores in 36 countries, and 22 more locations that will be open by the end of fiscal year 2008. As a tastemaker, the company ushered out our collective affections for antiques and replaced them with a love for clean lines, white furniture, and modern, Bauhaus-inspired styles. Its influence could make solar panels cool because, as EcoGeek says, "if Ikea carries it, then it must be OK and not crunchy granola to use, right?"
The company hopes to make the products available in the next three to four years. I'll be on the lookout for information about installing the panels, which I imagine will be the toughest obstacle for the developers: how to make the installation of a solar panel, a seemingly daunting task, easy for anyone who can lug the flat-pack out of the store? And can it be done with only Ikea's signature pack of screws and miniwrench?
-
8 Ecofriendly Facebook Applications
Tweet Share on Facebook August 13, 2008 Comment (6)Corrected on 08/13/08: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Green My Vino purchased green power for wineries. The application purchases power for users, which is an incentive for wineries to purchase clean energy.
Aside from being a welcome distraction for office drones across the country, Facebook applications can do some good. These eight applications encourage greener habits among Facebook users. As much as I love the way the new Facebook hides all the profile-cluttering applications (I roll my eyes every time I have to scroll through someone's "Which Sex and the City/Harry Potter/Disney Character Are You?"), it's almost too bad that some of these will be kept under wraps with the new design.
In the spirit of Facebook, I'll be rating the sites on a scale of 1 to 10 in pokes.
• The granddaddy of green Facebook apps, Lil' Green Patch puts a patch of grass on your profile that you can fill with cute* stuff. The more people who use the application, the more money sponsors donate to the Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program. According to the application's description, it has saved 29,259,567 square feet of rainforest, or a little more than 1 square mile.
*cute in the same way 6-year-old girls think Bratz Dolls are cute.
-
Depressing Design Schemes: A Global Warming Rug
Tweet Share on Facebook August 12, 2008 CommentIf climate change doomsday scenarios sound like an appealing décor scheme for your child's playroom, design collective NEL has the rug for you. The Mexican designers have created the whimsical, albeit depressing global warming rug you see below, which will be exhibited during the upcoming Valencia International Furniture Fair. A polar bear sits adrift on an ice floe in an endless sea—of carpet. NEL hopes the rug will serve as a reminder of the plight of polar bears, who are losing their habitat to the melting polar cap. The designers, never ones to shy away from controversy, have previously made playroom rugs in the shape of a map of Iraq.
Cute seems like the wrong word to use here.
-
Critics Blast Wal-Mart for Lobbying Against Carbon-Offset Guidelines
Tweet Share on Facebook August 11, 2008 Comment (5)Wal-Mart is one of the largest consumers of electricity in the United States and presides over one of the largest truck fleets in the world. And for these reasons, even the little steps the company takes to go greener—such as selling sustainable products or local produce—make a big difference, and the company has been commended for them.
Despite this, critics from Wal-Mart Watch, a group that tracks the company's growth and influence, report that the company is lobbying against defining and standardizing carbon offsets for proposed cap-and-trade programs—a move some deem hypocritical in light of the company's public campaign to cut its footprint. In a document filed to the Federal Trade Commission, Wal-Mart says:
-
There Should Be More to Green Fashion Magazines Than Hippie Chic
Tweet Share on Facebook August 8, 2008 Comment (11)After green issues of Marie Claire, Vanity Fair and other fashion giants came out, it was only a matter of time before eco-friendly fashion got its own publication. Behold Boho, which launches nationwide August 12, and is the first green publication to be printed on entirely recycled paper, with natural soy ink and no glossy finish. The publication was founded by Gina La Morte, a celebrity stylist. You can look for it at your local Barnes & Noble or Borders.
As for the contents, paging through Boho feels like walking through an Anthropologie store or paging through a scrapbook. Almost every featured item shares the same vintage flower-child ingénue aesthetic, full of trees, butterflies, and the obligatory peace-sign regalia.
-
Three Questions About the 'Nanny Nation'
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2008 Comment (3)In today's New York Times opinion column, Timothy Egan asserts that we're headed toward a "Nanny Nation," where everything that is virtuous about environmentalism becomes mandatory by law. He points to plastic bag surcharges in Seattle and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal of fines for unsorted garbage as evidence of "forced high-mindedness."
Here on the West Coast, we sort our garbage—or else. We rummage through our food scraps, just ahead of the worms. We take our little canvas bags to the grocery store lest we get caught with the embarrassment of a dreaded paper-or-plastic denouement, and the scorn of neighbors.
-
9 Ways to Cut Down on Food Waste
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2008 Comment (16)Moldy bread. Just expired yogurt. Furry leftovers. Squishy green beans. They're festering in fridges across the country and headed for the garbage can or disposal. Nearly half of all food in America goes to waste. Setting aside for a minute the "finish your supper, there are starving children in China" implications of this, think of your grocery bill. According to this Associated Press article, the average American household wastes $500 a year on uneaten produce alone. While a lot of our wasted food comes from restaurants and grocery stores, we can easily prevent much of the food in our own homes from making it to the trash—and that way, we'll be getting our money's worth. Here are some tips.
When you're shopping:
- Make a list, and plan meals ahead of time. That way you won't be wondering, "Am I out of balsamic vinaigrette?" only to come home and find a full bottle in your fridge.
-
The Recycling Bin: A Roundup of Green News, Olympic Edition
Tweet Share on Facebook August 5, 2008 Comment (3)As we prepare to cheer on Team America beginning Friday, here's a collection of green news about the Olympic Games.
Concerned about air pollution, the U.S. cycling team wore masks upon arrival in the Beijing airport, which the medical officer for the Olympics deemed unnecessary. "The misty air is not a feature of pollution but a feature of evaporation and humidity," said Arne Ljungqvist, medical commission chief for the International Olympic Committee. A spokeswoman for the U.S. cyclists denied that they wore the masks to make a statement.
advertisement
Follow U.S. News Money
Like Us On Facebook
advertisement
Subscribe
U.S. News Weekly
An insider's guide to politics and policy, available on the iPad or as a PDF download.
