Going Green Most Popular Stories

Grand Canyon On The Cheap

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Judging from this summer's big crowds, Grand Canyon National Park is clearly a destination of choice for vacationers in tough economic times. Some visitors might be Americans trying to save a buck, but others are coming from far away. [via http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1025 @ July 3, 2008 @ 5:00pm]

Green Ideas We’d Like To See: Gas-Conservation Signs At Railway Crossings

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:27:15 +0000

This may not affect all people — but where I live, to get from one end of town to the other, one must cross some train tracks. Generally, you’re not going to be inconvenienced by this — but several times a day, we do have trains pass through and halt traffic in town. Sometimes, these trains [...] [via http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/ @ July 1, 2008 @ 5:27pm]

Eco Friendly Printing

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:15:01 +0000

[via http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/ @ June 17, 2008 @ 4:15pm]

Managing High Gas Prices: Launch your own Green Business and Deduct Business Miles

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:21:49 +0000

Like the rest of nature that evolves remarkably to stresses in the environment, people will be able to adapt to high gas prices. Really. In many parts of Europe, people are paying upwards of $7 - $8/gallon of gas.

Things will change here in the USA. These changes will sometimes more difficult for some than others. More of us are already using public transportation, riding bikes — even moving closer to where we work or pressuring employers to offer flextime (to avoid rush hours) or telecommuting from home. In part thanks to the mushrooming energy costs, how much of business was done in the period of relatively inexpensive oil and other fossil fuels will morph into a new model of business model where energy costs are front and center.

Another trend: the explosion of people starting their own green business as an ecopreneur, operating their business without destroying the planet or exploiting people. Energy conservation and efficiency are often the very DNA of these enterprises. Eventually, the politicians in Washington DC might realize that opening up ANWR merely delays the reality that we need to cut our addiction to oil, for climate’s sake. We need to get back to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide to maintain some degree of climate stability. Burning more oil, coal or natural gas is not the way.

There are many financial benefits of becoming a business, depending on how you structure it. Not only are businesses taxed after their expenses have been deducted, but many legitimate deductions are available to a small business that reduce its reported earnings — like the use of your personal car for business-related and documented use.

Owners of vehicles that are used for business purposes can deduct those miles associated with business use and be reimbursed for mileage by the business. For example, when we drive to speak at a Green Festival, MREA Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair, or to visit a client, we reimburse ourselves at the IRS specified rate. Make sure to maintain a vehicle travel mileage log for each vehicle used for business purposes.

Making Money from your FUEL EFFICIENT Vehicle

One of our discoveries we write about in ECOpreneuring is the tax benefit of using our fuel-efficient vehicle for business purposes. Every year, the IRS sets the reimbursable rate for the business use of your vehicle, based on national fleet repair and maintenance averages and fuel costs, both of which are rising. We get the same rate whether we drive a super-fuel-efficient Toyota Prius or Volkswagen Jetta TDI (diesel) versus a low-mileage Hummer. It turns out we’ve managed to make money off each business mile we put on our Volkswagen Jetta TDI because the cost of operating and fueling it is less than for other new and less fuel-efficient vehicles.

How? First, we only buy used vehicles because as soon as most new vehicles are driven off the dealer’s lot, they lose about 25 percent of their value. Second, by the time we might sell our used vehicle with years of reimbursed business miles paid to us as owners, the cost of the vehicle would have broken even. For example, one year we might have 7,193 business related miles put on our VW Jetta, multiplied by the IRS designated rate (2007) of $.445/mile, resulting in the business reimbursing us for the business use of the car to the tune of $3,200. Keep in mind that this expense item reduces the reported earnings of the business by $3,200 as well.

So if you have to drive, why not create a green business where you can at least deduct your miles related to business use of your vehicle? By the way, when we can, we put B100 (100 percent biodiesel) or B10 (locally secured from a Smart Station) in our Jetta. Our other vehicle exclusively used for business is an all-electric CitiCar. We also work from our home office, completely powered by the wind and sun.

Photo Credit: scotech at Flickr (under a Creative Commons license)

[via http://sustainablog.com @ July 3, 2008 @ 1:21am]

Climate Diet book - the Latest Dieting Fad?

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:57:56 +0000

Image from HealthyLivingNYC. While there are books aplenty today about going green, greening your lifestyle and green for dummies, The Climate Diet is the first to offer you greening solutions in terms of a weight watchers diet. The book also shows how you can not only cut emissions but also save money by cutting out the excess in your life. The Climate Diet: How You Can Cut Carbon, Cut Costs, And Save the Planet, by Jonathan Harrington, offers readers tips on how to reduce their carbon footprint in areas of their life, such as, heating, transportation, community and home. While it’s a good ‘how to go green’ book, it doesn’t necessa...

[via http://www.treehugger.com/ @ July 6, 2008 @ 4:57pm]

The Difference of Environmentally Friendly Printing

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:09:59 +0000

[via http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/ @ June 26, 2008 @ 4:09am]

My Latest on Peak Oil Preparation

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:05:36 +0000

From baloghblog - a snippet: As I sit here, taking a break from life, far, far away from home… The beer tastes cold and crisp, the warm sun being replaced by a cool breeze from off shore, and the birds are circling lazily on the updrafts. All feels well for the time being. But, like a distant [...] [via http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/ @ July 6, 2008 @ 5:05am]

The Gettysburg Of US Climate Action: Clean Air Act Could/Could Not Be Used To Cost-Effectively Regulate Green House Gases?

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:56:39 +0000

Here's a glimpse at what went on behind closed doors in Washington DC, prior to the G8 summit being held in Japan. The door opens with this citation from two battle-embedded reporters for Dow Jones Newswire:

The White House is fighting an intense private battle with officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to prevent the publication of a document that could become the legal road map for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. economy, according to people close to the matter. Senior White House officials are eager to prevent the original document from being published because it is in opposition to their belief that r...

[via http://www.treehugger.com/ @ July 6, 2008 @ 3:56pm]

Green Jobs Act

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:19:00 +0000

[via http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/ @ June 19, 2008 @ 8:19pm]

Source for Environmental Media Online

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:03:44 +0000

[via http://earthandeconomy.com/ @ July 5, 2008 @ 3:03am]

Compassion in Action 2: The Careful Gardener

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:00:52 +0000

Having discussed one way to be compassionate in your home by safely catching a fly, I feel compelled to be of even more assistance in helping you to be a kind, friendly presence outside of your own abode as well. So now that you are well practiced in the fine art of catching and caring for critters of all makes and models, I hope you are ready, willing, able, and eager to go out and practice some more random acts of kindness.

And as someone who loves gardening, from the toil of clearing a plot and weeding the rows to the belly-filling delight come harvest time, I thought I would share some tips on how you can be a compassionate, caring, careful gardener.

This is particularly important, too, since even small family gardens can become places of profound natural tragedy, places of mass murder and intensive pollution, places of blood, sweat, and tears. Ironically, gardens can often be the least “green” when the plants in them are shining with the deepest, richest shades of green.

And the main reason for these instances of terror and destruction and death? One word: VARMINTS.

Yessir, critters, pests, thieves…call them what you will. They come in many forms, and they seem to come at every moment, nibbling and draining and infesting and infecting and basically ruining everything that you plan to enjoy. Yes’m, the varmints launch a perpetual (seemingly organized and strategic) assault on your goodly little garden…and so appropriate countermeasures surely seem justified.

But, alas, most of these countermeasures employed on any scale are far from careful, far from compassionate, and extremely far from sustainable or natural or eco-friendly. Just go into any garden center or hardware store and look at the panoply of pesticides, sitting there as an ingredient in a witches’ brew with other chemical fertilizers and enhancers. You may start to feel dizzy even before opening one and inhaling the fumes!

So, then, how can you make your garden green in the healthiest, most sustainable and ecologically friendly ways? How can you be a careful gardener and a small-scale steward on your own little plot? How can you save lives even as you nourish your and your family’s (and maybe even your whole neighborhood’s!) lives? Here are just a few ways you can garden green to get a green garden.

One of the best ways to do repel insects without resorting to death-in-a-bottle is by using plants that have insect-repellent compounds or properties. Marigolds are a classic, effective anti-bug device; not only that, but they are also some lovely little flowers to plant liberally in your garden…and flowerbeds and indoor planters, too! Other good choices are strongly aromatic herbs, such as the mints and rosemary, and lavender. Just plant them in between your other plants and on the perimeter of your plot.
Another time-honored method to keep bugs at bay is through companion planting. By arranging your plants strategically, you can utilize the benefits that come from having specific species coexisting close together. These benefits include more than just pest control but also higher yields and richer soil. Some of the most successful garden plant pairs are tomatoes with carrots, corn with squashes, and cabbages (broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kale, etc.) with onions. On the flip side, though, are plants whose marriage will surely end in a bitter divorce–such as beans and onions or corn and tomatoes. Try alternating one plant with the other in a row and also arrange rows in planned patterns.
Much as you now can catch and save the flies in your house, you can also deal similarly with insects and weeds in your garden: Go out pickin’ with a slow, gentle hand. Just get a jar or some other container and give yourself ample time to do the grooming. You can avoid using (toxic) chemical insecticides by removing the bugs by hand. And it is usually pretty easy to do. But be warned: You will need to do it a lot, and you will be doing a lot of it. You will learn a lot, too. Squash bugs are fairly easy to pick off, though once they find your plants you are simply delaying the inevitable. You will be getting up close and personal with caterpillars and Japanese beetles and ants and grasshoppers. And unless you have a taste for exotic cuisine, you will want to take these many, copious harvests of bugs far away from your garden and release them somewhere else. (Hopefully you will not release them near someone else’s garden…unless you bear a grudge against a competitor for the title of neighborhood garden champ!) This pickin’ may seem tedious, but it can also become kind of fun, like a game of hide and go seek. Plus, by saving creaturely lives while you save your plants and your food supply, you are practicing some serious compassion in action. Of course, weeding by hand is ancient, effective, and sustainable by avoiding the need for herbicides. It is also fairly satisfying for the vengeful elements of your nature as you pluck up one little intruder after another by the head.
What about non-insect varmints–bunnies and deer and groundhogs and so forth? Fencing is the most obvious method–even if it often seems ineffectual or downright pointless. Another thing you can do is to take hair clippings, tie them up in pantyhose or some other material, and then hang the little human-scented bundles around your garden. This will help to keep your dreadful human presence present in the garden even when you are not present and so hopefully keep would-be intruders out. Equally useful, though less attractive for sure, is to “mark your territory” like the animals do–with urine. Yessir, it seems strange, but the scent is strong and unmistakable and distinctly yours. With these ways, you can make the scarecrows and other anthropomorphic devices even more human, which in turn will make the critters less inclined to sneak in for a late-night snack.
Fight fire with fire by reaping the benefits of “predator pests.” In this case, you are sort of using traitors to the insect kind who prey upon their fellows. Ladybugs and praying mantises are just two of the good, effective predator pests to have in your garden. Birds are another great natural predator; they do wonders for reducing the bug population. Attract a winged garden patrol with bird feeders, houses, and baths, as well as with birdie food plants like sunflowers. (Unfortunately, the patrollers can also become straight-up pests if they happen to start enjoying your garden’s goodies, too. But, try to take it in stride and see it as feeding your own forces.)
Build your soil naturally, so that it is strong and nutrient-rich. You can prevent weeds, insects, diseases, and other problems by giving your plants a good foundation to grow from. Using compost and other natural fertilizers throughout the year, not just when the veggies are in season, keeps soaking the soil in nutrients that the plants will later drink up. Mulch also protects the soil, not to mention helping reduce weed growth; grass clippings, pine straw and sustainably harvested wood mulches are great choices. Another out-of season method is to use leguminous cover crops that lock nitrogen in the soil: alfalfa, soy, clover, etc. Also practice crop rotation so that you do not keep planting the same things in the same places; traditional rotations include wheat, corn, soy, and then a cover crop. Finally, make your garden like the produce section in a grocery store: a place of variety and wide selection. A diverse garden is itself a natural pest repellent, since pests thrive in, monoculture environments. Monocultures are seedbeds for pests because they allow for one-stop buffets. Diverse planting forces the insects to work harder to find the goodies they want most and “confuses” them by mixing up scents and food sources. So keep your garden healthy and diverse, since it gives you a wide variety of tasty produce and reduces the need for insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other unsustainable countermeasures.
Keep your garden clean.If you have lots of sickly plants, encroaching vegetation, and weeds, then you are inviting all of the pests you would otherwise want to repel: the weaker the plant, the more susceptible it is to attack. So always weed out sick plants or sick parts of plants. Do not let weeds or other vegetal litter get out of hand. Not only will your garden look nice, making you the envy of your neighbors, but it will also be more resistant to pests and easier to manage…along with being more productive.
Plant enough for everyone. No matter what you do, whether you are an eco-steward or an eco-terror, you are going to lose some of your crops to the varmints. Rather than grind your teeth and lose sleep over this inevitable fact of gardening, plan ahead by planting more than you would normally. This way, you will come closer to guaranteeing yourself a plentiful harvest, and you may well reduce the sorrow and stress you go through over the losses you incur. And, after all, everyone and everything needs to eat to live. So be generous.

These are just some of the many ways that you can be a successful gardener by being a careful, compassionate gardener. As you feed yourself and your loved ones, you can also nourish the Earth itself. Instead of filling your belly with the fruits of suffering and getting high from continued “substance abuse,” you can practice stewardship on the small scale with an eco-friendly, sustainable garden plot.

Image credit: HelgeReider at Wikimedia Commons.

What other methods of sustainable, careful, compassionate gardening do you know and practice? Please share with your fellow green-thumbs!

[via http://sustainablog.com @ July 6, 2008 @ 12:00pm]

A Perilous Walk in a Plastic World

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:00:15 +0000

Out once again for my daily constitutional and communion–another long morning walk–I blow slowly down this country road like the breeze in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, like so many other wisps of Earth’s breath from time immemorial, like a ghost haunting some sacred ground.

With my every organ of sensory input wide open and on full alert, it is pretty much impossible for my eyes to miss the decidedly unnatural clutter of colorlessness that, like the natural things surrounding and hiding it (as if with embarrassment, perhaps), glistens with early morning dew in the roadside ditch: a plastic bag.

And within and scattered around that bag, like a litter of critters not completely born quite yet, a plastic soda bottle, a few empty plastic food wrappers, a Styrofoam cup with plastic lid and straw, a plastic spork….

Did some mad biochemist create and sow seeds of plastic that have finally sprouted? Pondering this, my eyes sort of glaze over as my mind’s eye starts to ramble off and my body rambles on via autopilot. And I hear in my mind’s ear, drowning out the birdsong and the breeze, a voice intoning ominously that America (and so by default the world) is addicted to oil.

And suddenly, as the country road loses its hard, firm reality, a vast plain of plastic stretches out before me…like terra firma comprised of solidified oil instead of soil, rocks, and stones. And like Dante stepping on the faces of the submerged dead in Hell, I tread upon countless plastic items that go along with daily human existence. Not just plastic soda bottles and sporks. Not just plastic bags and Saran Wrap.

Quote of the Day: Henry David Thoreau

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:47:36 +0000

Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond- Stephen Erat at TalkingTree "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without." -via Megan Prusynski, who lists seven things one should think about before making a purchase at ::PlanetSave More cute little cabins on TreeHugger Clara Cabin by Bryan Meyer and Anne Ryan

[via http://www.treehugger.com/ @ August 24, 2008 @ 2:47pm]

Planting Trees to Kill Bad Odors and Reduce Emissions

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Image from the George W. Malone You already know them as nature's lungs. But its deodorant, too? That is the conclusion of new research done by George Malone, a poultry specialist at the University of Delaware, who found that planting trees around poultry farms helped to significantly cut their emissions and odors. Three rows of trees were enough to reduce emissions of dust and ammonia by 56% and 53%, respectively; they also helped kill 18% of the odors. These benefits also translated into lower energy bills for the farms, Malone said, by increas...

[via http://www.treehugger.com/ @ August 23, 2008 @ 9:40pm]

Earth2Tech Week in Review

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:30:01 +0000

Many of the great personae of the clean energy world gathered in Las Vegas earlier this week to pitch ideas and call for proposals. In case the VP race or Olympic races had you distracted, we’ve got our coverage of the Vegas summit and the other cleantech highlights from the week all gathered for you [...] [via http://earth2tech.com/ @ August 23, 2008 @ 7:30pm]

Track Environmental Protection Bills

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:02:35 +0000

[via http://earthandeconomy.com/ @ August 23, 2008 @ 7:02pm]