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The G-20: 5 Green Things You Should Know About Pittsburgh
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2009 Comment (7)There were chuckles when Pittsburgh was announced as the site of the G-20, but no one's laughing anymore: It's been made quite clear that, though Pittsburgh is no London or Beijing, it was selected as a symbol of the American ability to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Obama has a crush on Pittsburgh because the city is a symbol of recovery, and of how a green economy can be a force of revitalization. (Full disclosure: I was born and raised there.) So why is Pittsburgh deserving of its host status? Here are some of the ways that the city is green.
1. It's not the smoggy steel town it once was. Though the steel mills that inspired the name of the city's championship football team remain an important part of its history, their decline made Pittsburgh a cleaner place to live. These days, employment in Pittsburgh is dominated by healthcare and education. Those smog and smoke-spewing factories downtown have been turned into condos and lofts with waterfront views of three clean rivers. -
Say 'Yes' to the SurvivaBall
Tweet Share on Facebook September 23, 2009 Comment (4)When the planet heats up, it will be time to slip into something more comfortable—like the SurvivaBall. A self-heating, self-cooling and self-powered pod, the SurvivaBall is designed by top scientists to weather all of the effects of climate change to keep its user alive through catastrophe. Even though it makes its occupant resemble a giant tick, it's also luxurious—"Like a gated community for one," claims the SurvivaBall's site. And only for the low price of $100 million! The folks at Halliburton love them.
But even if the cost wasn't prohibitive, you won't be seeing the SurvivaBall for sale any time soon. That's because the global warming protection device is just a twinkle in the eyes of the culture-jamming pranksters the Yes Men. An environmental and corporate ethics activism group, the Yes Men have had an active week. First, they distributed a million spoof copies of the New York Post with a climate-themed bent in time for the U.N. meeting—and even though the paper was fake, the group insists that all of the details within are fact-checked and accurate. Then, when Yes Men were demonstrating a model of the SurvivaBall in New York, leader Andy Bichlbaum was arrested for an old parking ticket charge when police were giving summons to other demonstrators for disorderly conduct.
Check out a video below. There's more at SurvivaBall's YouTube Channel—the device's defensive capabilities are particularly impressive.
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Check Out These Green Genius Grant Recipients
Tweet Share on Facebook September 22, 2009 Comment (2)Every year, the "Genius Grant" recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship span the disciplines, including scientists, poets, painters, historians, physicians, mathematicians and activists, among others. Of this year's varied group (the full list can be found here) several of the winners of the 500,000 grant, which honors individuals that have demonstrated exceptional creativity in their work, will be putting that money towards good environmental use. Check out this year's green geniuses:
Peter Huybers, Climate Scientist, Harvard University
Why he's a genius: Huybers has taken on a daunting task—his work attempts to explain global climate change throughout time, beginning with the Pleistocene era. Huybers has studied the cycle of glaciation, including its relationship to volcanic activity. He's also studied the skewing of seasons.The season skewing means that the hottest and coldest days of the year come about two days sooner than they did 50 years ago, according to a study published in the Jan. 22 edition of the journal Nature. The study also found that the difference between average winter and summer temperatures shrank in the same 50-year span, indicating winters are heating up faster than summers. The change coincides with the rise in global temperatures, which could suggest a link to human-induced global warming.
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No Impact Man: "Think Enhancement, Not Sacrifice"
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2009 Comment (2)Colin Beavan gave up lots of things during his year-long trial in urban asceticism, which resulted in the blog, book and recently-released movie "No Impact Man." And those things—like electricity, meat, carbon-based transportation and even toilet paper—are what have made the public and media continually fascinated with him, ever since his experiment in 2007. But to Beavan, it's not about what he gave up, it's about what he gained—and by that, he doesn't mean a book deal.
"What would be really great is if people don't talk about sacrifices. What we could talk about is enhancements to the quality of our life," said Beavan. "On a micro level, when we did the 'No Impact Man' project, we gave things up, but at the same time, we were your typical rush-around New York media people, stressed and anxious. We would get home, shovel take-out into our mouths while watching TV, and we'd wake up in the morning and do it all over again. When we got rid of the TV, and when we got rid of the take-out food and replaced it with local food, what happened was that we were sitting around a table, talking as a family, and before you knew it, friends started dropping by to eat with us. We ended up eating healthier food and having more friends and community."
Happiness through simpler, greener living is the aim of the No Impact Project, a new non-profit that Beavan has started as a companion to the book and film. One component, which will be making its debut later this fall, is a week-long No Impact experience for communities to try. The site will lead people through cutting back on waste, carbon-based transportation and meat, among other things, placing "a particular emphasis on monitoring how they feel," said Beavan, "so that at the end of the week they can say, 'I feel better, so I'll keep doing it.'"
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9 Green Things You Can Do on 9/9/09
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2009 Comment (1)It's a good day to get married. Or play the lottery. Or boycott the prevalence of adorable cats on the internet. But whether or not you're a numerologist, today's unusual date can be the inspiration for some green acts. Here are 9 green things you can do today, compiled from across the web.
1. Recycle your old sneakers. Running shoes are among dozens of items that aren't obvious fare for recycling, but that doesn't mean they should head to the landfill. The Daily Green lists them here.
2. Start a community garden. If your neighborhood doesn't already have one, it may seem like a daunting task—especially for a city-dweller. But the Nation makes it easier, with a step-by-step guide to getting fresh produce from your block by next year.
3. If you aren't already paying your bills online, what are you waiting for? You'll save paper, money on postage, and your transactions will be secure. While you're de-papering your life, take it a step further and get off of the various junk mail and catalogue lists that deluge you with useless paper each day. The average household recieves more than 800 pieces of junk mail a year. The Do Not Mail Registry is one of several organizations that will stop the flow of paper junk.
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5 Ways to Green Your Fall Clothes Shopping
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2009 Comment (5)Project Runway is back, Fashion Week is coming up, the weather is getting cooler, a documentary about the September issue of Vogue is in theaters, and there is an abundance of back-to school sales. All of these factors are conspiring against you to spend money, and lots of it, on clothing before the leaves even begin to turn. But the annual fall shopping spree is beginning to look as dated as an Ed Hardy t-shirt. Even the September Issue, filmed in more lucrative times, looks gauche to many critics (this year's September issue was 300 pages smaller than the 2007 issue featured in the film). Here's how to update your look, save money, and be mindful of the environment.
0. Despite being the greenest way to outfit yourself this fall, this is non-shopping advice: Consider not buying anything at all. For inspiration, look to Michelle Conlin, wife of Colin Beavan, a.k.a No Impact Man, in the upcoming movie of that name. If Prada and Marc Jacobs-wearing, commerce-obsessed Conlin can do it for a year, you can make it through one season. Here's how to get through it with a fresh look: Spend some time digging through your closet to pull out little-worn items that have gotten lost in the clutter, and vow to wear them more often. Play an adult game of dress-up with your own clothing, putting together combinations that you hadn't yet considered, to make an all-new outfit out of old stuff. Or, you could get a book from the library about how to transform old clothing into unique, new stuff, often without sewing.
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