Green Daily

For you rebel-types out there, hell-bent on sticking to the man by adding your tag to pieces of public property, here's a greener way to take down the establishment: green graffiti. Created by street artist Edina Tokodi, these guerrilla moss installations have apparently been popping up all over Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Says Tokodi:

"I think that our distance from nature is already a cliché. City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery. As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life. As a cultivator of eco-urban sensitivity, I usually go back to the sites to visit my "plants" or "moss", sometimes to repair them a bit, but nothing more generally as they tend to get enough water from the air, condensation, and rain - especially in certain seasons. I also like to let them live by themselves."

Sure, it's a little pretentious -- but then again, so is Williamsburg. The point is, Tokodi is drawing attention to the environment in the most unexpected places, hoping that if "everyone had a garden of their own to cultivate, we would have a much more balanced relation to our territories." And, pretentious or not, balance is what it's all about.

When faced with different apples to try, it's nice to have a little insider information.

It's also a lot of fun to get some different varieties and just try 'em.

Personally, I learned this -- well, re-learned this -- when my local source for Honey Crisp apples didn't have any at the farmer's market yesterday. For the last month and a half, I've been pretty much addicted to these sweet, juicy, fairly thin-skinned apples. You think addiction's a strong word -- I have been averaging two a day to keep doctor and dentist away.

But then I bit into a Macoun. Ah! Delight!

And of course, this whole experience (I got a bunch of different varieties yesterday) reminded me that it can be fun to try new things.

You can find yourself being offered a green idea just about anywhere, anyplace, at any time. Witness the fortune my husband brought home from the Chinese restaurant:

"You need to recharge. Spend time alone in nature."

The poets know this, educators increasingly recognize this, and medical research shows that gardening is good for your health. Before you dive into a poetry tome -- a great idea, incidentally -- lace on your walking shoes or ditch your shoes to feel the grass between your toes. In other words, just do it. It's pretty easy; walk outside. Head to a park, your backyard, a patch of woods nearby, a university campus. The air -- cool, hot, moist, dry-- will feel like air, not air-conditioning, and not forced heat. You will remember, even if you're in a city, that you can find a little nature, at a park, in your backyard, or at the nearby nature preserve.

Don't wait for a full day of hiking or the perfect view from a mountaintop. Nab a little piece of nature, a little moment of peace. It's good for your soul. And recharge.

This Saturday the Tour de Fat rolled through Austin -- encouraging local cycling enthusiasts to come dressed in their strangest outfits, ride their weirdest bikes, and have a few beers for a good cause. Sponsored by New Belgium Brewery, one of the greenest breweries in the country (and makers of Fat Tire ale), the event was determined to bring attention to an important issue, but without taking itself too seriously.

After the oddball bike parade that toured downtown Austin, the revelers set-up camp in a city park, rocked out to some exceptional local musicians (whose sound systems were run off solar power), and drank. A lot.

As an added bonus, all beer proceeds went to support the Yellow Bike Project -- an organization dedicated to providing human-powered transportation to the people of Austin. Awesome!

Visit the Tour de Fat website to see when it's rolling through your town -- I highly recommend checking it out.

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse -- when climate change was already sucking every penny from your bank account -- the planet delivers a low blow, and forces beer manufacturers to raise the price of pilsner.

Ouch.

At least, that's the sorry state of affairs in Australia, where continuing droughts mean staples like meat, bread and beer will now be more expensive -- by up to 10%. Wheat and barley "are among those crops hardest hit," said the country's Primary Industries Minister, meaning you can expect to pay up to 20 cents more for a glass of your favorite lager.

Sounds like it's about time they started home brewing.

[via grist]

To begin with, this is really cool! A group of engineers and scientists united to create a sustainable farm on a barge in New York City. The Science Barge grows food, demonstrating how urbanites can transform their concrete cities and still remain urbanites.

This urban farm is powered by solar, wind, and biofuels, and irrigated by rainwater and purified river water. The food is grown without carbon emissions, net water consumption, or waste stream. The vegetables grown on the Science Barge require seven times less land and four times less water than field crops. According to its literature: "We use a system called recirculating greenhouse hydroponics to grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and peppers. Hydroponics doesn't use soil, and we irrigate with rainwater and river water. We power the greenhouse with solar, wind, and biofuels - energy that is carbon neutral, so we're not contributing to global warming."

Given that half the world's population lives in cities, solutions like these are -- its organizers argue compellingly -- necessary. And besides all of that, my friend --and a dedicated gardener himself -- Michael reports that the tomatoes are like nothing he's ever seen before. Created to inspire city dwellers to see that sustainability isn't just for country folks, the next question: rooftop garden anyone?

The group offers private and group tours. Currently docked in Hudson Park near 44th Street until the end of October, the plan is to visit a number of parks before finding a permanent home in a couple of years.

Last year at Pacific Lutheran University, a terrific effort was launched that could inspire other places to do the same: "Can-the-can" was organized on the premise that step one and two toward less waste involved realizing just how much waste you are generating, and then being able to do something differently. Because, as we probably all know from personal experience, plenty of stuff goes into the trash that can go elsewhere, be it recycling bin or compost. As PLU spokeswoman Amy Cockerham put it, "there's really very little" that can't be recycled.

On the campus, 280 professors and staff began using smaller waste bins -- and accepting the larger challenge. Part of the commitment is to use recycling bins on campus, and participants also committed to disposing of their own trash.

For the university, which recycles about 60 percent of the more than 600 tons of waste it produces in a year, the goal is to recycle up to 85 percent over the next five years. That'll go a ways towards helping to stem the 236 percent increase in our landfills from 1960-2003, from 50.5 million tons to 130.8 million tons, according to the PLU "Can-the-can" site.

Think your state is doing what it can to help protect the environment? Now you can know for sure. Forbes just released rankings that separate the haves from the have nots when it comes to being environmentally conscious.

You'd probably expect to see some of the smaller East coast states near the top of the list -- places like Vermont and Connecticut, that have progressive environmental policies and shorter average drive times for commuters. Still others might surprise you -- like New Jersey, for instance, that may soon loose its reputation as the "armpit of America." And then there's California, a state that, despite it's tough regulations, wasn't even in the top 10.

While New York is getting busy planting 1 million real trees, Vienna is hard at work planting a decidedly different type of foliage -- Solar trees.

Positioned in front of the city's MAK Museum, these alternative energy works of art have Sharp solar panels mounted on the canopy, so they can collect the sun's energy during the day, and use it to light up the night. Conceived by designer Ross Lovegrove, the trees are intended to "bring a sense of optimism to grey urban environments and remind us of a greener future."

I'm not sure Vienna was a grey urban environment to begin with, but this gorgeous lighting would be a welcome addition to any city.

If you're in New York City this December, make sure to stop by Columbus Circle and check out the cool new shipping container -- it's more than meets the eye.

Designed by Adam Kalkin, the rusty old box becomes a fully-functional, super-swanky cafe in 90 seconds with the push of a button. Plus, it's not like this is some 40 sq foot box that you survive in thanks only to your moral resolve and dedication to a minimalist lifestyle -- the posh pad (which was originally designed to be a living space) comes complete with a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedroom, living room and library. Then, when it's time to close up shop, you just push the button again, and voila! 90 seconds later, it's a shipping container once more.

And let's not forget that, if you catch the cafe when it's open, you can get a free cup of espresso. So, um, why wouldn't you go check this out?

If you're a homeowner, or are thinking about becoming one, environmental concerns -- like landfills, abandoned manufacturing plants, etc -- are important to keep in mind, as they can dramatically affect the value of a home. To make it easier for buyers and prospective buyers to access this information, Environmental Data Resources (EDR), a company providing environmental risk assessment services, has created a list of sites that they say may be dangerous. As you might suspect, large urban areas like New York and L.A. have many neighborhoods on the list, but, surprisingly, some smaller cities -- like Baltimore, Milwaukee and Portland -- have a considerably higher number of dangerous sites per capita.

The question is: how do you find out if your town is toxic? One way, of course, is just to purchase a report from EDR that covers your area. However, there are also a number of free services you can check out:

I circled at least a half dozen times to find parking near the Washington Convention Center on Sunday in order to attend the Green Festival. Since I live about 35 miles from D.C., Metro was not an option. Once inside, I learned from Ralph Nader that 65,000 people die each year from air pollution. So, I wondered, whose life did I endanger in order to attend an event about preserving the environment? The good news: exhibitors offered some earth-friendly solutions for getting where we need to go.

Before setting out through the maze, I spotted some tasty looking GMO-free cupcakes. I had already picked up two of them before realizing it would cost me $5 for the pair. Served in a plastic container. Puhleez. I soldiered on.

One couldn't help but notice the monstrous yellow Hummer in the room. It certainly seemed misplaced, until passersby were told it's filled with vegetable oil instead of gas. It got a lot of people talking to exhibitor Massa Green Enterprises (MGE), a Fairfax, Virginia company that converts diesel engines to burn recycled vegetable oil. "We get a lot of angry people coming over," one of the reps told me. "Then we tell them this is more efficient than their hybrid." Yeah, but it would take a whole lot of water to wash the thing, I was thinking. Turns out the average driveway car wash uses up to 100 gallons of water, according to literature from another exhibitor. Well, they offered a solution for that, too: waterless car polish.

And if you were interested in ditching your four-wheeled environmental enemy altogether, there was an electric bike display on hand. I decided I wasn't in good enough shape to trek 35 miles on two wheels. And, unfortunately, my Subaru doesn't run on diesel. But that car polish was pretty cool.

When I recently visited Arizona I was impressed with how the homes reflected the environment. Terracotta roofs were everywhere and I saw that several hosted solar panels. What better place than the desert to utilize the power of the sun?

This must be what the founders of Scottsdale's Green Building Expo considered ten years ago when planning their first event. 600 people came that first weekend. Attendance has been growing every year since and this year it could reach 12,000 participants. The exposition focuses on sustainable living with over 100 vendors hawking the newest advances in building materials. Expos such as this are popping up all over the country as people take an interest in cutting energy costs and lessening their impact on the environment.

Mono Lake in California is making a comeback, leading to the return of many animals and birds, thanks to water conservation efforts. It had been on schedule to disappear.

Geoffrey McQuilkin, the executive director of the Mono Lake Committee, said that the success in saving the lake can be attributed to the water conservation habits of Los Angeles citizens. Before 1994, L.A. was allowed to take 90,000 acre-feet of water per year from the lake, now they are only allowed to take 16,000.

Los Angeles residents adapted with more efficient toilets, taps and washing machines, as well as recycling water used for lawns. McQuilkin said that although L.A. is "on the cutting edge" of water conservation inside the home, more can still be done to conserve outside water use, as more than half of the city's water use is used to keep up the city's gardens and lawns.

As winter will soon be here many of us will find that our produce selection will come from further and further away. Think about grapefruit from South America in February and how many miles, the amount of gasoline, and the processes used to preserve the color and freshness of that piece of fruit. The cost, both monetarily and environmentally, is too much. By changing your ways to eat like a locavore you can lessen the impact your groceries have on the earth.

Join hundreds of people around the world in the 100 Mile Diet challenge -- eating foods primarily from within a 100 mile radius of your home. Using the 100 Mile Diet website you have access to a range of resources: how to join the movement; tips to get you started; tools to map your own 100 mile radius; the founders' book on their initial locavore experiment.

With Thanksgiving around the corner it is a great time to be thinking about our consumption habits and their impact. Look for your local farmer's market or start your own garden today! Whether you embrace the movement entirely or partially your food choices really can make a difference.