July 23rd, 2008

Summer Child's Play the Green Way

by Cassie Walker

Ah, the dog days of summer. For kids, it’s a time of shoeless-ness, lemonade drinking, and fishing down at the pond. What’s that you say? You don’t have a fishin’ hole, and your kids prefer video games anyway?

If you’re like most parents – who aren’t raising Tom and Huck – you might need some new ideas for keeping kids busy and entertained, while maybe educating them a bit. With a green twist, of course.

Use your outside voices, for a change

Summer is the perfect time to get outside with your kids to do some exploring. Try taking them for a hike (for the uninitiated, hiking is actually just walking, with really nice scenery). No matter where you live, there is bound to be somewhere near you that would serve as a lesson in nature for your kids.

For example, there are national parks in nearly every state – try the National Park Service  site to find one near you – as well as state parks and nature centers. Some parks have Junior Ranger programs, encouraging kids to explore, complete activities, and answer questions to achieve the status of Junior Ranger. Along the same lines, some nature centers, like the Santa Catalina Island Interpretive Center in California, offer activities and even day camps designed for kids.

Of course, you don’t need structured activities to have fun on a hike. Try a twist on some old car games, like you used to play in the back of your parents’ stationwagon. Have your kids make Bingo cards with things that you might see on a hike, like a creek, a giant rock, a Mockingbird, or an oak tree, and play as you walk along. Or, try a version of “I Spy” using the colors around you. Create games that teach kids to identify trees or birds.

Another great way to help kids understand how nature works can be found in your own backyard – a garden.  Kids love to watch the vegetables that they planted grow (and let’s face it, so do adults). Whether it’s a full organic vegetable garden, or just a few peppers and tomatoes in containers, gardening educates children as to where their food comes from. If they don’t seem into it at first, try some ideas from A Child’s Garden: 60 Ways to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children by Molly Dannenmaier.

As veggies ripen, decide together on some fun, healthy treats to make, and fill in the gaps in ingredients with a trip to the local farmers’ market or a “u-pick” – a farm that lets you pick food yourself. Involve kids in cooking and you’ve completed the journey from farm to plate. A few side benefits for parents include lower bills at the grocery store, and the chance that your child will actually be willing to eat (or at least try) a few vegetables.

If you need some activities for the average summer afternoon, think about all of the things that would be too messy for indoors, and do them in the yard. Use old newspapers to create paper mache masterpieces. If you have scrap lumber lying around, work with your kids to build a simple pair of stilts (two 2×4s with blocks nailed to them will do) and let your kids paint them before touring the back yard like giants. Use the lumber or other discarded materials to build sculptures for indoors or out. Or just blow bubbles - with biodegradable soap, of course.

If your kids are old enough to play outside alone, teach them some of the games that you used to play. We recently heard a somewhat disturbing story about a group of bored 10-year-olds who had never heard of tag! Seriously. King of the hill, freeze tag, and red rover don’t take any equipment, batteries, or electricity…you can’t have a lower environmental impact than that.

Another way to get older children up and moving, while simultaneously educating them about nature and the importance of philanthropic work, is through volunteering. Whether it’s cleaning a beach or planting a tree, it’s satisfying for people of all ages to feel that they can make a difference. Check out Volunteer Match for local organizations that fit your needs.

But, it’s too hot to go outside

Sometimes, parents need indoor activities to keep kids entertained. For a lazy summer afternoon, check out a few green-themed books, like the award-winning Gaia Girls, by Lee Welles (for ages 9 and up). Described as “Harry Potter meets the Sierra Club”, it’s the first in a series that follows four average girls teaming up with Mother Earth to fight environmental destruction. Green girl power? We love it!

From a completely different vein come Katsumi Komagata’s three-dimensional story books. From the life cycle of a salmon to what clouds are made of, these tactile, ethereal creations involve readers with texture, color, cut-out shapes and windows. Meant to be shared between parent and child, the books are available only in Japanese (with a separate English translation). Somehow, this adds to their unique universality. 

With back-to-school fast approaching, it may also be time to consider some new duds. But first, see if you can make the old ones new again through embellishments like patches or stitching. We’re not advocating a bedazzling revival here, but involving your kids in repurposing worn-out clothes or popping into a thrift store for some vintage additions might make for a fun rainy afternoon of dress up.

Toys, the old standby

After the recent scares about lead-tainted toys, it’s understandable that as parents you want to make sure that your child’s playthings are as safe as possible. Fortunately, several companies are providing new alternatives to disposable plastic toys.

For one, Fat Brain Toys offers a large selection available for purchase online, including toys made with bamboo, renewable wood, vegetable dyes, and recycled materials. Their tagline, “Smarter toys = smarter kids” speaks to their philosophy in regards to toys and the creativity that they inspire. From “Grow Your Own Plants” (a Venus Flytrap? Cool!) to Earth-opoly and a model fuel-cell car (even cooler!), they seem to have something for everyone.

Another company, Green Toys, Inc., has taken a different tack, making old-school toys from recycled milk jugs – think tea sets and beach toys. With no BPA or phtalates, they are a healthier alternative to traditional plastic wares. Plus, as the Green Toys folks put it, the toys are “way good” for the environment, and are made in the good old US of A.

Whatever you choose to do with your children this summer, there are ways to green it up. 

Related features:

Green Kids Are Healthy, Happy Kids
Eco-Friendly Toys & Games
A Green Nursery for Your Baby

July 22nd, 2008

Clean Tech Intro: The Solar Family

by GreenOptions.com

Written by Michelle Bennett, courtesy of CleanTechnica.com

Solar power means more than solar panels. These days it can also mean collectors, towers, dyes, oh my! Here’s a guide to (most of) the different kinds of solar technologies that are out there today.

First, the basics: Anything that uses solar energy as a source of power is solar-powered. Simple, right? Well let’s not forget that the sun gives us more than a whole spectrum of light, it also gives us heat. Both are used for a wide variety of applications, not just electricity.

1. Solar Thermal

Solar thermal technologies use heat. Cleantechnica has already introduced solar thermal. The cheapest, easiest, and most financially sound solar investment you can make for a house is to install a solar thermal collector. It collects solar energy to provide warm water or warm air for your house, even in the far north. On a larger scale, mirrors can be used to focus heat from the sun to boil water and turn a turbine. Generating electricity with this method is called Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). Large scale CSP projects are already underway in deserts around the globe, and in some places they are invigorating the economy.

The cool thing about CSP is that it overcomes one of the major problems with renewable energy. It used to be true that solar farms stopped producing energy as soon as the sun went down. No longer. Heat is much easier and cheaper to store than electricity, so you can save it for the hours or days when the sun doesn’t shine. Power towers and molten salt are just two methods of producing solar power whenever we need it.

2. Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics are solar technologies that transform light into electricity. Certain elements and chemicals, called solar cells, can lose electrons when exposed to photons (light). Under the right conditions, these electrons are harnessed as electricity. For a more technical explanation, check out Wikipedia. To learn more about the use of solar photovoltaics on homes for energy-production, click here.

3. Silicon

This is the most widely used and recognizable material used to make solar panels. Paired with solar cells, silicon can produce high efficiency solar panels. However, silicon panels tend to be more expensive to make, transport, and install because they’re heavy, rigid, and require plenty of high-quality materials. Thin-film silicon panels attempt to overcome these obstacles. The downside: silicon panels work best on cloudless days when the sun is directly overhead. That’s why silicon panels are often positioned on racks to face the sun. The cost of these racks, and loading the panels on them, often consume 50% of the cost of silicon panel installation.

Another strategy to reduce the cost of silicon panels is to use less of them, but still generate plenty of energy. This is possible by concentrating sunlight onto the panel. More intense light means more energy… if you don’t melt your panel in the process. This technology is called Extreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV).

4. Thin Film

 Thin film solar panels are very thin and flexible; the solar cells can be placed on sheets of plastic or aluminum. They should not be confused with silicon thin-films, which use a different manufacturing method. Thin film solar panels tend to be easier to make, use fewer and cheaper materials, and are easier to transport and install. Some thin films absorb different wavelengths of light, which can make them more practical in cloudy regions. The downside: they’re still less efficient than silicon panels, so they don’t produce as much energy. Their efficiency can sometimes degrade over time, depending on the materials and environment. To learn about thin-film installations on homes, click here.

5. Solar Dyes

Here is another promising technology that is still being developed. Invented by the Swiss in the 1990s, the idea is to produce solar cells in cheap, easy, attractive dyes that can be painted or sprayed onto almost any surface. The benefit is both cost and application: the dyes are only one tenth of the cost of silicon panels and you can boldly take them where solar has never gone before. Imagine painting your house with solar cells and reaping just enough energy to power your microwave. That is the downside: solar dyes are not yet as efficient as thin film solar, and many dyes only last several years instead of decades.

6. Radical Solar Technologies

Some tech exists that push the definition of “solar power”. For example, algae can be used to produce biodiesel and ethanol. If you fill your car with this fuel, is your car solar powered? What about passive solar technology, which controls how and when sunlight affects buildings? Since the sun is a major engine driving our planet, the possibilities for harnessing its energy are infinite.

Have we missed a solar technology in this post? Let us know in a comment below.

To find a solar power installer near you, click here. 

Images via Flickr Creative Commons License: Solar Tower by afloresm, Silicon Solar by laurenatclemson, CIGS by Elsie esq., Algae by Rosa y Dani.   Solar Dyes via MetaEfficient.com

July 21st, 2008

E-Waste: Embracing Electronics Recycling

by Jessica Jensen

Does your home include a not-so-small cache of old cell phones, used-up computers, and maybe even an extra TV?  You are not alone.  The dark side of our digital age is our growing mountain of used electronics.

According to the EPA, used or unwanted electronics amounted to approximately 1.9 to 2.2 million tons of waste in 2005.  Of that, about 1.5 to 1.9 million tons were primarily discarded in landfills, and only 345,000 to 379,000 tons were recycled.

But not only is this a huge amount of trash, but electronics contain many hazardous chemicals that need to be disposed of properly. Computer monitors and older TV picture tubes contain an average of four pounds of lead and require special handling at the end of their lives.  Even newer tubes can contain two pounds of lead.  Mercury is used in small amount in bulbs to light flat panel computer monitors and notebooks.  Cadmium was widely used in ni-cad rechargeable batteries for laptops and other portables. Older electronics contain brominated flame retardants, which were widely used in plastic cases and cables.  Simply tossing these items into the trash creates a major hazardous waste problem.  To learn more about the magnitue and danger of our electronics waste problem, watch this great video from Good Magazine on e-Waste.

What can you do with your e-waste?

Re-use is the most sustainable option.  If your electronics are in working order, or can be fixed, please consider donating them so they can be re-used.  Donating used electronics for re-use extends the lives of valuable products and keeps them out of the waste stream for a longer period of time.  When you donate your used electronics, you allow schools, nonprofit organizations, and lower-income families to obtain equipment that they otherwise could not afford.

There are a number of organizations you can explore for donating your electronics, including:

Computer for Schools: The Computers for Schools Program welcomes contribution of quality computer equipment and support dollars to accomplish their refurbishing work from donors across the nation.
The National Christina Foundation: A not-for-profit foundation dedicated to the support of training through donated technology. For more than two decades we have encouraged companies and individuals to donate computers and other technology, which is then matched to charities, schools and public agencies in all 50 states.
Collective Good: A mobile devices recycling resource. If you have spare mobile phones, pagers or PDAs sitting on a shelf or in a drawer, you can recycle them here in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Click here to learn about more electronics donation resources, from Earth911.org.

If your electronics are non-functional, then look to recycle them. This form of electronics recycling actually has its own name: e-cycling.  You will need to take your electronics to a special place where they can be handled properly. 

Here at Low Impact Living we have developed a deep, nationwide database of electronics recycling outlets: please click here to find an electronics recycling location near you.  

If you do not find one near you in our database, you might also try searching on the site hosted by the Electronics Industries Alliance. Click here to visit the EIA e-cycling resources map.

Related posts:

Recycle to the Max in Your City 
How to Recycle Your Used Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Recycling Saves a Ton of Energy, Too
Recycling? Starbucks? Hello?

July 20th, 2008

How to Choose Sustainable Coffee

by Jessica Jensen

Today we are joined by guest writer by Julie Craves, who is the force behind Coffee & Conservation.  Coffee and Conservation is a wonderful site devoted to educating all of us about the connection between coffee and the environment. Julie Craves is a University of Michigan bird ecologist and coffee lover. Her research focuses on migratory birds in North America, and she has traveled to several coffee-producing countries and visited a number of coffee farms. Thank you for sharing your insights, Julie!

Coffee is grown in over 60 tropical countries, with most of it still produced on small family farms, but adding up to tens of millions of acres. In the last decade, a huge worldwide surge in demand for coffee has had two profound consequences.  It caused a rapid worldwide expansion in production, largely of cheap beans that flooded the market and contributed to plummeting wholesale prices. And in the rush to increase production, it caused a shift from traditional, sustainable coffee growing methods (with coffee plants grown in the shade of diverse native trees) to intense monocultures that require large inputs of fertilizer and pesticides which bring about a loss in biodiversity and quickly deplete the land.

Coffee is the second largest U.S. import after oil. Coffee drinkers have the potential to make a huge impact on the environment and economies of coffee growing nations. If we understand the stakes, we can make a significant difference, and enjoy our favorite beverage at the same time!

The Top 5 Indicators for Finding Sustainable Coffee

1. Certification. Because of the costs of certification — to the farmer and/or the roaster — not all sustainable coffees necessarily carry a seal. And if they do, it could be one of several.

BIRD-FRIENDLY is certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and it is grown under the most stringent environmental standards of any certification system. It is also required to be certified organic.

ORGANIC certification is an important indication that many (but not necessarily all) chemical inputs have been eliminated or reduced.

RAINFOREST ALLIANCE also has environmental criteria, although organic certification is not required, and a coffee may carry the seal and only contain 30% certified beans. Beware that some of the large commodity coffee providers (such as Kraft, which markets Yuban coffee) use the Rainforest Alliance seal, but only purchase a tiny fraction of their supply from sustainable sources.

2. Country of origin. Some countries still grow much of their coffee under shade, preserving native forest and biodiversity and using few if any chemicals. Other countries have removed shade trees or cut down areas of native forest and planted sun-tolerant coffee varieties. Countries most likely to grow under shade are El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Papua New Guinea. These countries are more likely to grow coffee in deforested, full sun farms, so use a lot of caution: Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam.

3. Botanical variety. There are two species of coffee used commercially: Coffea arabica or arabica coffee, and Coffea canephora, or robusta coffee. Arabica is high quality. Robusta coffee is nearly always low quality, mass produced in deforested sun coffee monocultures with lots of chemicals, and is used in most supermarket coffees. You won’t see “robusta” on the label, so look for “100% arabica.”

4. Roaster. Buy coffee from a small, specialty roaster. A good roaster develops a relationship with the farms and co-ops that grow their coffee — it’s in everybody’s best interest for the coffee to be grown sustainably. The farmer gains by having a reliable buyer and a safe, healthy environment, and the roaster gains by having a reliable source of quality coffee. A conscientious roaster will have very specific information on the precise origin of each coffee it sells, and you can determine how the coffee was grown to guide your purchase. You can find a list of recommended roasters both in the page footer of Coffee & Conservation, or at the Coffee & Conservation Interactive Roaster Map.

5. Price. This is nearly a given: cheap coffee is not sustainable. Not for the farmer, not for the environment. People who are used to paying less than $5 a pound for grocery store coffee shudder at the idea of paying $10 or more for a pound of coffee from a specialty roaster. Ounce for ounce, it’s still cheaper than a good bottle of wine or scotch or many other beverages. You can calculate how much a cup of coffee costs from any given bag you purchase in this worksheet.

Learn more!

What is shade grown coffee?

There is no legal definition of “shade grown” and some companies play fast and loose with this designation.

Problems with “sun” coffee

Coffee naturally occurs in forests, but there has been a recent trend to “modernize” production by planting it in deforested monocultures.

Why birds need shade coffee farms

What’s so important about growing coffee in the shade, anyway?

More background on sustainable coffee

Here are more links to help you understand the basics of sustainable coffee.

July 18th, 2008

What Is Sustainable Cuisine?

by GreenOptions.com

Written by Stuart Stein, courtesy of Eat.Drink.Better.

What Has Food Become?

“Food in America is cheap and abundant, yet the vast majority of it is diminished in terms of flavor and nutrition, anonymous and mysterious after being shipped thousands of miles and passing through inscrutable supply chains, and controlled by multinational corporations. In our system of globalized food commodities, convenience replaces quality and a connection to the source of our food. Most of us know almost nothing about how our food is grown or produced, where it comes from, and what health value it really has. It is food as pure corporate commodity. We all deserve much better than that.”

- Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements

So, what is sustainable cuisine?

It encourages a regional food supply and a strong local economy, maintains a sense of community, encourages earth stewardship, and protects the future of small to medium-size family farms. It is approaching the farm, the ranch, the ocean, the vineyard and the dairy as an ecosystem that thrives through careful management of natural resources. It boils down to three parts: environmental, economic an social sustainability.

Ecological / Environmental

• Organic/Biodynamic agriculture & viticulture
• More Nutritious Food
• Improve Soil Quality
• Improve Water Quality
• Promote Biodiversity
• Energy Conservation

Economic

• Support Local / True Economy

Social / Political

• Better Tasting Food / Variety
• Help Small Farmers
• Reduce your Bodies Chemical Burden
• Protect Farm Worker’s Health
• Food Safety through traceability
• Homeland Security

Principles of Sustainability

• Celebrate the joys of local, seasonal and artisanal ingredients.Hydroponic vegetables and pen-raised fish will NEVER substitute for the flavor and quality of the ingredients that are in increasing jeopardy today.
• Understand the source of the ingredients - the way they have been grown, raised or caught. Reconnect with the source of your meal. It’s not just about “food miles“. It’s also about knowing the source of your food, and community building.
• Support sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, humane animal husbandry practices and well-managed fisheries.
• Purchase from purveyors whose conservation practices lessen our impact on the environment. We vote with our $.
• Choosing sustainable food products is about more than helping the environment. It’s about sustaining the heritage and the economy of whole communities.
• Respect local economies, traditions and habitats are important parts of participating in a sustainable food system.
• Reduce the amount of garbage and packaging by purchasing products with minimal packaging to begin with and Look for products packaged in recycled or recyclable material.

Sustainable and seasonal cuisine, has many benefits, not the least of which is great taste. It is also great fun to know that you are cooking and eating great food grown or harvested by local artisans. Let the flavors of seasonal produce and raw ingredients speak for themselves and inspire your cooking, the flavor will always be outstanding.

Robert Weir of the Grateful Dead said that music and cooking are very similar: they’re all about blending and taste. For us, great cooking is akin to a cappella music. The blending of voices or ingredients is more than the sum of their parts. Good cooking is not about how tall you can make the plate, but about what tastes best and what flavors complement and marry well with each other. Of course, you also have a wonderful time in the process of discovering and inventing these partnerships and blending their voices.

View Part One of this two-part post, “What is Sustainable Cuisine?”

Related Features:

Seven Tips for Greening Your BBQ This Summer
Money Saving Tips for Eating Greener
Meat or No Meat– Is That the Question?
Sustainable Seafood Guide
Find Organic Restaurants Near You

July 17th, 2008

Green Condos in the West

by Jessica Jensen

A couple of weeks back we did a feature on the great trend of green condo developments taking off all over the country– and we covered many developments in the East and South.  Click here to learn about Green Condos in the Eastern U.S.

A green condo can be a wonderful alternative for (the vast majority of) those of us who cannot afford to build a new green single-family home.  We want sustainable design, solar panels, energy-efficient appliances and so much more, but we can’t afford to build.  Viola– the green condo!

This week we cover many of the excellent green condos available in the Western United States.  There are so many to choose from it’s tough to pick just a selection to highlight here!

In the Los Angeles Area

Evo South is an exciting development in the heart of downtown LA.  It is an urban tower of steel and glass– 23 stories with 311 residences.  They are in the process of seeking LEED certification for the building.  The units feature such eco-friendly elements as Bosch Energy Star appliances, low-flow water fixtures, Nature’s Choice carpeting and more.

If you prefer the beachy side of life, Green On 19 is a cool townhouse development in Santa Monica. These townhomes are the first of their kind in Santa Monica, and there are five units in the development.  Architect Jesse Bornstein has integrated modern style, light and sustainability into his design.  The units meet Energy Star New Home standards and feature solar power, bamboo and concrete floors, LED landscape lighting, xeriscape landscaping, and more.

In the San Francisco Bay Area

The Arterra is a relatively new development in the Mission Bay district. Arterra is also seeking LEED Certification.  The Arterra has three sections: “sky”, a 16 story tower with city and bay views; “city”, a 9-level building with city views and green roof; and “park,” a 6-level building with two-story residences that come with private outdoor spaces. Altogether there are 269 units in the Arterra, and apparently 55% of them are already sold.

The Green City Lofts in Emeryville have 62 units of Energy Star Certified living.  The steel superstructure and interior framing contains 25-90% post-consumer recycled content creating a more durable, earthquake-resistant, fire-resistant, rot-resistant, mold-resistant, and pest-resistant building.  The units have radiant heating, no-VOC paints, double-pane windows, and cool metal roofs.

In Seattle

Enso is a thrilling condo development in Seattle.  They are seeking LEED Gold certification. Units are for sale now and will be available in Spring 2009.  The building is gorgeous and the units feature such eco-elements as concrete counters, sun shades, 100% recycled content carpet, no-VOC paints, and Ecoresin panels.  The building also uses heat-pump technology, which is a very energy-efficient option for heating and cooling.

The Veer Lofts are bringing a kicky spirit to Seattle. They have three styles of lofts for sale– the “Flexi-loft” is 1 and 1/2 stories; The Full Loft is two stories and The Flat is a one-story. They are seeking LEED Certification and the units include daylighting, water-conserving fixtures, recycled building materials and drought-tolerant landscaping. Check out the funky website– it’s very fun!

In Portland

The Metropolitan in the Pearl District is a gleaming, modern tower that is a LEED Certified building.  The Metropolitan balances luxury with a commitment to sustainable design and healthy living. The LEED Silver building has high performance energy efficient mechanical systems and glazing systems, storm water retention for landscape irrigation, the incorporation of durable, low-maintenance materials and the use of healthy materials and abundant natural ventilation for improved air quality.

In Denver

Just a few blocks from Coors Field in downtown Denver, 20|20 Lawrence Street features 60 residential condos atop an exciting mix of ground-level retailers.  The development is LEED Gold (no small accomplishment!) The 50,000 watts of electrical power that will be produced from a roof-mounted photovoltaic system will represent one of the largest solar photovoltaic arrays in Colorado.  The individual units feature sustainable hardwoods and low-VOC carpets and paints.

Click here to find green real estate for sale across the U.S.
Click here to find an EcoBroker to help you with your green real estate needs.