Archive for May, 2008
May 26th, 2008
Seven Tips for Greening Your Barbecue This Summer
Written by Sharon Troy, courtesy of Eat.Drink.Better.
With Memorial Day Weekend just passed and the 4th of July just around the corner, millions of people will be firing up their grills to celebrate our American past times. Here are some quick tips to keeping your barbecue safe, waste-free, and fun!
1. What’s the greenest grilling option? Electric and propane grills are definitely better than charcoal. If that’s your only option though, try using cleaner burning, natural charcoals. A great list can be found here at GreenYour.com. If you’ve got your heart set on the flavor that comes from grilling over wood, Woodflame grills were the most eco-friendly option I could find.
2. Skip the meat. As if you didn’t need another reason to lower your meat intake, I also recently came across this health-related article on the 5 Worst Foods to Barbecue. (Hint, none of them are tofu.) You can replace the burgers and hot dogs with some vegetarian knock-offs (respectively, I recommend Amy’s burgers which come in a variety of flavors, and Lightlife Tofu Pups.) Or you could even try making your own ahead of time. I have to admit, I’ve never tried grilling my black bean or white bean burgers, but it’s worth a shot!
3. Go even simpler, with locally grown veggies. Really, what doesn’t taste better in kabob form? Load up some skewers with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, pepper, red onion, eggplant… even fruit like pineapple works great. For something a little different, check out Jennie’s recipe for Grilled Baby Bok Choy.
4. What barbecue is complete without some cold ones? Get your drinking in now before the beer shortage hits! Seriously though, go for locally brewed beers, even organic if possible. Check out this guide to greening your beer selection.
5. I’m told that at some barbecues there are those who don’t drink beer. While I wrap my mind around that one, here are some nonalcoholic alternatives. Santa Cruz makes organic fruit juices and sodas and is a Green-E certified business. Blue Sky also makes natural sodas as well as energy drinks. Both are nationally distributed (you can likely find them at Whole Foods).
6. Ditch the disposables for plates and utensils that can be re-used. Bonus points if they’re made from recycled materials, like my favorite brand: Preserve Tableware. These come in fun, festive colors and are dishwasher safe. You can also read about a non-reusable, but definitely pretty option: leaf plates.
7. While keeping it local in your backyard is ideal, urban-dwellers like myself are left to seek out public parks. Scope out the area ahead of time to see if they offer recycling and composting options. If not, be sure to bring your own bags or containers for cleaning up waste. BioBags are 100% biodegradeable and compostable. Leave your green spaces as pristine as they were before you got there.
Most importantly, just get outside and enjoy yourself! The best thing about barbecuing is the chance to spend time outdoors with friends and family, celebrating this beautiful planet. I hope you all have a safe, and wonderful weekend!
May 24th, 2008
WaterSense: The New Symbol of Water Conservation
Written by Joel Bittle, courtesy of GreenBuildingElements.com
Get to know this symbol because chances are it’s going to be as ubiquitous as the blue star of EPA’s other conservation program, ENERGY STAR. Launched in 2006 the EPA’s WaterSense program seeks “to enhance the market for water-efficient products and services by building a national brand for water efficiency.” Viewed mainly as a program for water-only products like toilets, faucets, and irrigation systems, WaterSense does not include appliances, like dishwashers or clothes washers, that use both water and energy - those remain under the ENERGY STAR program. In 2007, the EPA released WaterSense specifications for high efficiency toilets and high efficiency bathroom sink faucets. They also offer certification programs for several irrigation professionals, include golf course irrigation auditors. Specifications for showerheads are in the works.
WaterSense is about to become very popular in the green building community. In their proposed changes to the LEED programs, the US Green Building Council removed some specifications for water saving credits, replacing them with, “WaterSense-certified fixtures and fixture fittings should be used where available.” It’s much easier to check for the WaterSense label than it is to gather the specifications for every fixture.
WaterSense labeled bathroom faucets, at a maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute, reduce water consumption by at least 30%. WaterSense labeled high efficiency toilets, with a maximum of 1.28 gallons per flush, use at least 20% less water than standard 1.6 gallons per flush toilets. The EPA has claimed that if every home in the US switched to WaterSense labeled fixtures, we would save 60 billion gallons of water a year.
Though some companies were already offering fixtures compliant with the WaterSense standards, they are only recently getting literature out to the public about their WaterSense labeled fixtures. Expect to see it popping up everywhere.
Click here to find water-saving fixtures and technologies for your home.
May 23rd, 2008
Oh Please: Chrysler Offering $2.99 Gas for 3 Years
Chrysler has recently launched its “Let’s Refuel America” campaign in which it claims to offer Americans protection from rising gas prices. Anyone buying a Chrysler in the month of May will get the deal. Here’s how it works: each qualifying buyer will get a ‘gas card’ that has been linked to their own credit card, but when they gas-up they will only pay $2.99 a gallon with Chrysler charged the difference. You can read more about it here.
This is a really lame-brained scheme. It reminds me of the McCain-Clinton proposal to cut federal gas taxes during the summer– it’s the wrong solution for our economic woes. Yes, we’re all hurting from gas prices and we need relief (what are the oil companies offering consumers in terms of help, hmmmm? anyone? hello?). But what Chrysler is offering is an incentive for consumers to ignore gas prices and drive, drive, drive– producing more green house gases and increasing global warming.
Why doesn’t Chrysler just give buyers a rebate? It’s hard to estimate the potential cost to Chrysler of their offer over the three year period, but it could be huge. Let’s say that gas stays at $4 per gallon for the rest of this year and then goes to $4.25/gallon in 2009 (probably too conservative), and then to $4.50/gallon in 2010. The average American drives 12,000 miles per year and gets 25 MPG… so that’s over $1800 that Chrysler would have to pay to cover the gas price differential. How about just offering buyers a $1000 rebate? That would 1) help Americans NOW; 2) save Chrysler money over time and 3) reduce the incentive to burn fuel and pollute our skies.
We understand Chrysler is desperate to sell cars– but they’d probably be doing a whole lot better if they’d developed more fuel-efficient cars years ago. Hey, it’s Friday afternoon so I think I’ll jump in my Prius and get 43 MPG on the way home….
Have a great holiday weekend everyone!
May 23rd, 2008
Tokyoites Least Eco-Minded Wealthy City Dwellers
It often seems that the US is alone among wealthy countries in our reluctance to drive smaller cars, use public transportation, or generally make the changes necessary to combat global environmental ills. According to a study recently released by a Japanese ad firm, however, that’s not completely true - our friends in Tokyo easily give us a run for our money!
More than four in 10 Tokyo residents — 41.6 percent — said they “don’t want to sacrifice a convenient lifestyle to prevent global warming,” according to the poll results published recently by Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo. This despite the fact that 90% of Tokyo residents feel threatened by global warming and that Tokyo dwellers also came out on top when asked whether environmental protection is more important than economic growth.
Residents of two European cities scored best in the study–apparently Parisians and Milanese were the most willing to change their lifestyles to save the planet, it said.
If you’d like to read the entire study and see where the US representative on the list ranks (New York), click here.
May 22nd, 2008
Ecobunga: Green Deals & Give-aways
The other day I received an email from Karen Schiff, one of the co-founders of Ecobunga.com. I had not heard of the site, which is fairly new, and boy am I glad to know of it now! Ecobunga.com offers a wonderful compilation of green bargains, contests, and give-aways across the U.S.
Here are some examples of what you’ll find at Ecobunga:
+ Silk Soy Milk if offering a sweepstakes to give away a $20,000 green home make-over
+ AT&T is offering a $10,000 cash prize in their “Go Green For Green” sweeps
+ $100 off eco-friendly flooring from Shaw Floors
+ 20% off Horizon organic milk
Check it out!
May 22nd, 2008
Dwell on Design– A Must-Go + IT’S FREE
If you do not already have it marked on your calendar, please plan to attend the 3rd annual Dwell on Design event in LA June 5-8. The event is a multi-faceted gem– it includes a loaded conference, exhibition hall and even home tours. The entire offering focuses on the fusion of good design and a very healthy serving of sustainability.
The Conference is designed and manged by the editors of Dwell, and includes talks by Eric Garcetti (LA City Council President), Andy Lipkis (Tree People founder), Fritz Haeg (Edible Estates and Gardenlab founder). Many of our favorite companies will be exhibiting there– pieceHomes, Kirei, EcoShack– as well as many more we’re eager to check out.
AND, courtesy of our friends at Dwell, YOU can get in for free! When you register here, use the code BDODEC to get free addmission.
We’ll see you there!
