fredcarle's story links

What better way to celebrate Earth Hour with your kids than with a little Dr. Seuss. Including an earth friendly bedtime story in your monthly earth hour ritual is a great way to get kids on the green page. And no, I’m not talking about serving green eggs and ham for a bedtime snack. This Saturday, my family will be delving into The Lorax, a seventies classic which was once denounced by the American logging industry.

Designed by an American couple who dreamed of opening a guesthouse far far away, the opening of Peacock Pavilions this coming November is a fairytale come true. Thousands of readers already know more than they could ever ask about these fantasy suites, via the award winning blog, My Marrakesh which has been documenting the family’s journey since 2006.

As the environment continues to show its wear and tear, “eco-community” will likely become a household name. Yesterday CNN featured a sneak peak at some of the up and coming regions racing to become the world’s first zero emissions zone. At the front of the race is Dockside Green in Canada’s own Victoria, BC, which has already opened its first phase of residential suites. A quick look at the plans and one will see that the builders of Dockside Green are going much further than energy efficient light bulbs and energy saver washers.

Those of us who read and write on talkgreen want to think we’re fairly environmentally savvy. That as the years go by, we’ll keep trying to find ways to live that are easy on Mother Earth? And we’ll continue those habits right up until the day we die, right? Well what about after that?

I read an article online today claiming that researchers in the UK had discovered a way to wash clothes using only approximately 1 cup of water! They claim that the clothes not only get just as clean, with lipstick and coffee stains removed, but also come out of the washer practically dry, eliminating the need for dryers. If this is true, this technology should catch on like wildfire. The savings of not having to use much water, not having to heat much water, and not having to dry clothes by gas or electric would be environmentally and financially huge.

The following news release from the Pacific Institute is regarding a case study conducted as a response to one carried out by environmentalist Chris Goodall in his book for his book How to Live a Low-Carbon Life. Goodall examines the emissions of driving versus walking for a 1.5 mile roundtrip and discovers that for a meat intensive diet, emissions from driving this short distance are similar or less than those created from the consumption of beef and dairy to replace calories burned in walking.

A high school teacher I know showed “The Story of Stuff” to a group of students the other day. It’s nothing they probably didn’t already know (except maybe some scary statistics that are worse than most people realize), but the way it is presented really makes you want to stop shopping for anything that is not a necessity. My favorite part was about how women were once valued for how thrifty they were…

In April we talked about how airlines were trying to lose weight to cut down on their largest expense which is fuel. Now, these airlines are trying something new. They are taking a step back and are now buying turboprop airplanes instead of jet powered planes. A ride in a jet is probably smoother and faster but it’s a lot more inefficient regarding fuel compared to turboprop planes.

More news about the Th!nk City have been coming in since we last talked about it in April. The EV that really drives like a car will be sold for a rumored sub-$25 000 price point in showrooms across North-America in 2009. They plan to be selling 50,000 vehicles a year.

We just returned from a trip to Ontario, where I’m proud to report that recycling is in much fuller swing than it is here in the Okanagan. With a house full of B.C. guests, my father was constantly pointing to various containers for this and that type of garbage. One for paper products, one for food waste, one for plastics and one for regular garbage. I was impressed how little “garbage” there actually was (and also that it only gets picked up every other week).

Like any major news event calling for action in society, the issue of climate change has seen ferocious debating about its validity. One of the best parts of the timing of the issue’s growth (and reasons for it!) is the internet. The internet and ever-emerging web tools out there have allowed for interest and action in the green movement to quickly reach an individual level.

A group of radiation-poisoned Torontonians stricken and dying on the sidewalk. Rescue teams with Geiger counters, stretchers and gas masks. This was the scene at several locations in downtown Toronto today where Greenpeace activists staged the aftermath of an accident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

Greenpeace managed to stop illegal fishing in the Mediterranean sea. They caught an Italian fishing vessel 25 km from their legal limit and they were able to save a baby turtle that was stuck in the driftnets which again is illegal.

This came from Reuters and if you ask me, I say that the researcher from the University of Exeter in Britain who said this is full of Sh%$#. Oh yes!!! This research was a waste of money. Let’s keep polluting the air so that the forest stay alive. Ya right. The way I see it we got to stop polluting, and that includes stopping deforestation, to keep our green lands alive.

Ecommoder came out with a list of 104 eco driving tips.