Posts from — September 2009

Marese: don’t be a sheep! I volunteered to work on a farm because there was no chance of a job in my part of America after I graduated.  In the 1950s, 20-somethings went on a European tour. In the  1960s we dropped out.  In the 1970s we protested, and in the 1980s we got a job. The 1980s then stayed with us right up until the credit crunch. Now the age of greed and  individualism is over at last, what’s the next step?

For about $25 each, we can buy  two-year memberships in Workaway.info, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), and Help Exchange (HelpX), all Web-based directories of hosts seeking helping hands in exchange for room and board. (more…)

Close your eyes Gordon

British prime minister Gordon Brown made an eco-promise when he first got the job – he would create 5 eco-towns.  Then it was ten eco-towns. Now it looks like we will be lucky to get two eco-towns – whatever they are.

So his claim in today’s speech to Labour Party conference that he would create a quarter million green jobs is likely to be just as much of a pathetic fallacy. (more…)

Its childishly simple Dishwashers help the environment and your pocket book compared to washing dishes by hand. Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany found that using a dishwasher cleaned the dishes better and saved energy, time and water.

Washing dishes by hand can cost a household more than $431 in additional energy and water bills over the estimated nine-year lifetime of an Energy-Star certified dishwasher. Energy Star dishwashers use less than half as much energy as washing dishes by hand and save nearly 5,000 gallons of water a year. They can also save you more than 230 hours of personal time over the course of a year.

According to Energy Star, hand rinsing your dishes before placing them in the dishwasher can waste up to 20 gallons of water per load. (more…)

A while back, I had some trouble with the government about buying cigarettes from outside the country (USA), it is perfectly legal to order cigarettes for import into the USA for personal use. I assure you that the cigarettes I ordered WERE for personal use, I did not trade, sell, barter or in any other way distribute these cigarettes. After receiving a threatening letter from the Dept of Homeland Security, a very scary thing to find in your mailbox, especially for a law abiding citizen! I decided that I needed to find a better way to get smokes without having to pay an arm and a leg, or having the threat of the government over my head. I found an alternative way, it’s legal and it should be doable by nearly anyone. (more…)

Alanis - green goddess

They drive expensive hybrid cars and donate their time (and big wads of cash) to help “save the planet.”

But are celebs merely preening their own image when the espouse green causes? And do they inspire us mere mortals to be a bit greener too? Or are we all so cynical that we merely look on their green antics as the latest piece of gossip? (more…)

Utilities freedom to pollute restricted

The freedom of big power companies to pollute was curtailed this week when a New York court ruled that they can be sued to make them cut their carbon emissions.

The trail-blazing judgement by the New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that five giant utility firms can be sued in federal courts because their carbon dioxide emissions are a public nuisance that contribute to global warming and other environmental problems including heat waves, smog, drought and forest fires. (more…)

Sticking to his guns – Richardson After a  25 year battle, a couple is being allowed to stay in their cosy earth-sheltered and grass-roofed single room in the ritzy Gloucestershire countryside.

Not far from the country retreats of Rock stars and Hedge fund billionaires, the Richardson’s wooden, 12-sided circular house is half-buried beneath trees on a hillside near the remote Saltbox in Camp.

Lovingly developed over more than two decades by carpenter Richard Richardson, The Retreat is an antidote to the modern rat race.

Mr Richardson, 58, his wife Grit, 36, and their sons Robin, four, and John, three, live without TV or PC. (more…)

Ayodele – pushing for people power Nigerian States, and local governments are close to agreement on a way  to operate  a series of independent grids in order to solve long-standing energy shortages. Its unintended consequence could be the eventual break-up of the Nigerian State.
When implemented, power generated in the individual States will no longer have to go through the nation’s distribution network, the national grid. It will also mean that power distribution will no longer be managed by the Federal Government only. (more…)

Why do we care that Leonardo di Caprio drives a Prius?  What is it about humans (especially men) that makes us want to flaunt our compassionate side in public?

Social psychologist   Mark van Vugt has the answer. (more…)