The Fun Green Roundup #1

Life Goggles regularly does a green news round up, but here I thought we’d link to the cooler, funnier or weirder green stories we’ve come across in the last week or so. Let us know if you find any by adding a comment in the box below.

Will Ferrell gets gas
Treehugger reports on how comedian and film star Will Ferrell has been given one of BMW’s first Hydrogen 7 cars. “The Hydrogen 7 doesn’t use a fuel cell, but a normal ICE engine which can run on either hydrogen or gasoline. When running on Hydrogen the only emissions are water vapour. However, there is a long tail-pipe problem as with electric cars, in that producing the hydrogen uses a large amount of energy. In truth, these cars will do little to reduce the emissions of daily transport, but will at least create cleaner air for cyclists and pedestrians.”

Twenty-five of the initial 100 cars produced are being given to celebrities to promote the car.

Mighty mouse
I saw this in a few different places but as I like Groovy Green they can have the credit. A solar powered mouse is in development. How it works a) when your hand is on it, or b) at night, remains to be seen.

Black screen
Usually a black screen on your computer means the screen saver’s on or you’ve switched the plug off. But it turns out that your screen uses less energy when it’s showing black that other colours. Check out Life Goggles’ report on how Google could help reduce energy use.

Good vibrations
According to excellent UK magazine,New Consumer, you can now get that vibrator you’ve had lying about for ages recycled. Maybe one for the adult industry who must get through a fair amount, as I’m not sure how long they last but I can’t imagine vast numbers are thrown away. But I suppose they do wear out and break so this is a better option than adding them to the landfill mountain.

A battery breeze
Once again Groovy Green reports that mobile telcom company Orange have developed a wind powered solar charger for mobile (cell) phones. Ideal for that festival or camping trip - especially as you know as soon as that tent is put up the sun will hide away. Obviously you need wind, but that’s no problem in the UK where it’s being launched.

Women love a green guy
Well according to Nuts magazine they do. And not just this Green Guy where the article was reported.

And finally…
With a slim link to the environment as the product has two uses, comes a table which can be taken apart to become a bat and a shield to fight off home intruders. The pictures have to be seen to be believed and are available over at Spulch. What’s next, a footstool that’s also a riot helmet?

Where To Find Biodegradable Plastic Bags

I recently had the good fortune to chat with Gavin Hudson from Green Options regarding a post he had written about getting rid of junk. In it he talks about using biodegradable plastic bags in your efforts to clean up where you live and get rid of junk, and I asked him where they’re available from in the UK, and whether not using plastic bags at all is better?

His very interesting answer is below.

“WAIT! BEFORE WE BEGIN, if you’re really looking for a short and sweet answer, I’ll summarize briefly: (1) yes, excitingly enough, biodegradable plastics are available in the UK; (2) for a one-person clean up, plastic bags are light-weight and easy to carry, but biodegradable plastic bags are a greener option; (3) if you’re doing a group clean-up with friends or co-workers, you can sidestep the entire issue of plastics and ‘bioplastics’ by simply bringing large buckets or any other large receptacles with you to the site of the clean-up, filling these with the garbage you find, and then emptying them into the dumpster or trash bin at home.

And now for a more detailed look at our options let’s get on with the show:

Perhaps the most interesting way to procure biodegradable bags in the UK arrived in September of 2006 when retail giant, Tesco, decided to make all of its carrier bags biodegradable. Therefore, if you shop at Tesco, you can get biodegradable bags for free. If you have a way of composting or own a ‘vermiculture’ worm composting bin, biodegradable bags are especially useful in your kitchen for storing compostable food scraps in before taking them to your compost. They also make great bags for picking up litter, as described in the article above.

If you do not shop at Tesco and the local grocery markets in your area don’t sell biodegradable plastic bags, you can also buy biodegradable plastic bags of all sorts online. BioBags is one of the larger retail producers of biodegradable plastic bags for the home. In the UK, you can buy BioBags online at http://www.biobags.co.uk.

You also ask an important question: is it better to use biodegradable plastic bags, or to avoid using bags all together?

My reasoning is that even if you purchase non-biodegradable plastic bags to pick up trash, you will still be doing a good deed. In the past, I have used spare plastic shopping bags to pick up trash from river areas, which protects an unspoiled ecological area by moving garbage to an already heavily impacted landfill. I’ve also used bags that I found along the way; or, on runs, I will sometimes pick up a glass bottle or aluminum can and jog with it to the nearest recycling bin.

As you suggest, it is always good to avoid plastics at any opportunity. I whole-heartedly encourage you to use whatever option is easiest for you when it comes to picking up trash in your area. Buckets and baskets are less convenient to bring on morning jogs, but work very well for an organized trash pick-up day with your friends. (By the way, please forgive my U.S. spellings; we have Daniel Webster to thank for that, but that’s another story.) As mentioned above, you can also use biodegradable plastic bags. Like all things under the sun, these two have positive and negative aspects.

In my opinion, the plus side to using a biodegradable plastic bag is threefold: firstly, if you buy biodegradable plastics, you will be supporting a growing industry with good intentions for the environment; secondly, bags are light and small enough that you can take them with you on any run or walk and use them only if you encounter trash to pick up; lastly, the bag itself is not made with petroleum and, unlike traditional plastics, will biodegrade quickly once it is disposed.

This said, I should give the disclaimer that there are always drawbacks to be found, even with such a wonderful improvement as biodegradable plastics. One of the main issues that comes to mind is that when we put anything biodegradable ”from orange peels to biodegradable plastic bags” in the trash, that item travels to a landfill. It decomposes, which is fantastic, but as it decomposes, it releases small amounts of greenhouse gases. This problem with biodegradable bags (or any biodegradable food item) can be overcome entirely by composting the item. If your city doesn’t have a compost/yard waste collection program in place, you can build a home compost bin or build a worm composting bin. I myself have done the latter, and it’s actually quite a fun little project. A good resource I can recommend personally for learning how to build home composters is Seattle Tilth, which offers information at their website.

I hope that this has been useful.”

Yes it has, thanks Gavin!

The Champions Of Recycling In England

Having not even realised a league table of recycling was available, I nearly missed this story. Apparently Sleaford in North Kesteven in England recycles 51.5% of its household waste, which on it’s own deserves to be applauded. However just four years ago its recycling rate was only 3.4%.

They have done this is a number of ways. A controversial move is reducing rubbish collections to fortnightly (or “alternate weekly” is the new jargon), as some fear that instead of encouring recycling it encourages illegal dumping. Another move is to have a huge number of muli-coloured bins, one for garden waste, one for paper, plastic and glass, and one for “normal” waste.

Keeping it simple, is the message and in one town it works. How is the recycling where you live? Simple or overly complicated? Easy to do or too much hassle?

[Via: BBC]

How To Be A Green Student

It’s almost time to go back to school, college or university and it’s a great time to start environmentally practices which will last a life time. There are many things a student can do to be green, just check out our 100 Ways To Save The Planet, but here are some specific ways that you can do to be green:

Dorm Room
There are many little things you can do in your room to be green. Check the lightbulbs are energy saving, switch off computers and unplug chargers. But you can also be environmentally friendly in the bed linen you buy - organic sheets and pillow cases, as well as silk filled duvets can be found at So Organic for the UK and Gaiam in the US. A quick Goggle search will help. They’re not cheap but should last a long time.

Washing and Ironing
Don’t do it. Well okay you’re far removed from the typical image of unwashed, dishevelled student, but you can cut down on washing and ironing. Group together to do a joint wash and use eco-friendly washing powder and fabric condition like from Ecover or Seventh Generation.

Drinking
Water: don’t keep buying those plastic bottles. Get yourself a stainless steel water bottle that will last a lifetime and you can still fill it up with filtered water - why not use the water fountains on campus?
Alcohol: it’s tough to be green while drinking. But there are many organic beers out there, try the micro breweries or in the UK the Sam Smith chain of pubs does a range of organic drinks.

Writing
There’s one thing that studying involves, and that’s a lot of writing. You can now get pencils using wood from sustainable forests, notepads made from juice cartons, pens from plastic cups and car parts, pencil cases and mousemats from tyres (tires). They’re everywhere now, try So Organic again in the UK or Goodkind Pen in the US. Even if you pen isn’t recycled, get one that can be refilled, Staples sells refillable pens and Pilot make a range too.

Books
Buy used. As simple as that. Look on noticeboards for students selling theres if there isn’t a secondhand bookshop around. And if you have to buy new see what sort of paper it’s printed on, if it isn’t recycled or environmentally friendly, ask your course tutor why not?

Air Fresheners
For whatever you need a fresher (or different) smell in your room, steer clear of the spray type air fresheners. Use natural oils, lavenders or light a natural beeswax candle which has a nice smell.

Dress Green
Buy organic cotton clothes or ones made from hemp. If that’s beyond your budget, buy used or vintage clothes - not only is vintage trendy at the moment, it’s better for the environment to re-use.

Look Green
Buy a plant. It will make the room look nicer and is said to lead to fresher air. And you can never have enough of that.

Live Green
Try and been green in everything you do - take a bike or walk to your class. Don’t have a car. Try and change the attitude of others and start a behavioural pattern that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Do Patio Heaters Increase Global Warming?

Previously we have written about whether the smoking ban will increase global warming, essentially because of an increase of outdoor heating areas in the UK for smokers.

Patio heaters have long been used around the world, yet their number in the UK is expected to increase from 1.2m to 2.3m this year. Heating the outdoors is never a really good idea, Chelsea Football Club spend around £30,000 a year keeping the directors seats warm at games as it is an inefficient way of keeping warm. As the Chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, Philip Sellwood said, “Why don’t people just wear a jumper?”.

The average patio heater apparently uses the same amount of energy as a gas hob uses in six months, so the effect on gloabl warming may be apparent as the average patio heater emits around 50kg of carbon dioxide per year. According to the Calor (Gas) Carbon Offsetting website, there are a few ways in which to be more responsible about your patio heating

- Turn down the thermostat in the home when you go outside
- Switch the heaters off at the end of the night
- Operate on half-power once fired up

Not only that, apparently the heat and CO2 are attracting “vast” numbers of mosquitos!

What do you think? A fuss about nothing, or a serious problem?

[Via: BBC 1 and 2]

The Green Glossary - environmental terms explained

I can see the letters c, g and e getting a workout, but Life Goggles presents its brief list of environmental terms and their meanings. In case you ever wondered. If you have any to add, then please let us know.

A

Air pollution - contaminants or substances in the air that interfere with human health or produce other harmful environmental effects. Read our “What is Air Pollution?” article for further information.

Alternative energy - usually environmentally friendly, this is energy from uncommon sources such as wind power or solar energy, not fossil fuels.

Alternative fuels - similar to above. Not petrol or diesel but different transportation fuels like natural gas, methanol, bio fuels and electricity.

B

Biodegradable - something when left alone break down and be absorbed into the eco-system. See our What Does Biodegradable Mean? article.

Blackwater - the wastewater generated by toilets.

C

Carbon dioxide - CO2 is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However the amount of it increases when we burn fossil fuels, leading to global warming.

Carbon footprint - a measure of the your impact on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. Here are 10 easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Carbon monoxide - a colourless, odourless and highly toxic gas commonly created during combustion.

Carbon neutral - a company, person or action either not producing any carbon emissions or if it does have been offsett elsewhere.

Carbon offsetting - see offsetting.

Carbon rationing - limiting the amount of carbon you use each year. Carbon rationing action groups (crags) help you reduce your carbon footprint. Find out more here.

Carbon sink - carbon dioxide is naturally absorbed by things such as oceans, forests and peat bogs. These are called carbon sinks.

Carbon tax - a charge on fossil fuels based on their carbon content. Find out more at the Carbon Tax Center.

Chlorofluorocarbons - CFCs are man-made chemical compounds containing carbon, chlorine, fluorine and sometimes hydrogen. Often used in older fridges and air conditions, the chlorine in CFCs damage the ozone layer.

Climate change - a change in temperature and weather patterns due to human activity like burning fossil fuels.

Composting - a process whereby organic wastes, including food and paper, decompose naturally, resulting in a produce rich in minerals and ideal for gardening and farming as a soil conditioner, mulch, resurfacing material, or landfill cover.

Conservation - preserving and renewing, when possible, human and natural resources.

[Read more]

Song Of The Day - Linkin Park

Bleed It Out from Linkin Park’s latest album, Minutes To Midnight. WARNING: Some bad language!

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