Tuesday, September 30, 2008

This is very egg-citing!!

Thanks to a great neighborly recommendation, I have recently been checking out a website called The Eat Well Guide. They compile great information so that you can be an informed food consumer. It is difficult to know what the real deal is with all of these labels that we see in our local grocery. It seems that everything now is labeled "sustainable" or "environmentally- friendly" or "organic" or a million other things. What do these labels mean? Is there any truth to them? and will we be healthier for adhering to them?

Well, the truth is there are a lot of labels so use this guide to help become educate yourself. There are certain labels that are regulated and certain that aren't: know which are and aren't so you can make the right choices for you and your family. I have spoken to many nutritionists on the subject of organic and every one of them tells me that eating foods labeled organic is essential to healthy living. Get those chemicals out of our bodies!!

Here is a blurb about what the Eat Well Guide is all about:

The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of thousands of family farms, restaurants, markets and other outlets of fresh, locally-grown food throughout the United States and Canada. Visitors simply enter a zip or postal code to find good food and create free printable booklets. Originally a database of sustainably-raised meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, Eat Well Guide listings have expanded over the years to include farmers' markets, CSA programs, local advocacy organizations, and vegetarian/vegan restaurants. Many listings are also accompanied by water conscious ratings.



Here are some great things to look for when buying Eggs...now you can chuckle a little because of my hilarious, clever title:

Cage Free:

Cage Free simply means that egg-laying hens are not confined to battery cages (67 square inches of space) where they are denied their natural behaviors such as perching, spreading their wings and nesting. However, birds can also be called cage-free without ever being outdoors or “on pasture”. The USDA does not regulate this label. “Cage Free” must be differentiated from “Free Range”, a term that is defined by the USDA and used for poultry (chickens raised for consumption rather than egg-laying).

All Natural:

The “all natural” label, although quite popular, is not regulated by the US government or verified by third party inspectors. The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA states that “natural” is defined by a product “containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product)” and it must explain the use of the term by stating on its label phrases such as “no added colorings or artificial ingredients”, etc.

No Antibiotics or Hormones Administered:

These labels are defined by the USDA, but only for poultry, pork, beef and red meat, not eggs. Consequently there are no controlled guidelines or verification by third party inspectors.

Omega-3 of 225mg in Each Egg:

With the increasing awareness of the nutrient value of Omega-3 fatty acids, an increasing number of egg cartons contain this label. Most often it means that the hens were given a diet rich in flax seed – a good source of this fat. DHA, a type of Omega-3 fatty acid is also labeled similarly.

Vegetarian Fed/Organic Vegetarian Feed:

Again, this label is not defined by the USDA. Vegetarian fed simply means that the hens were given a diet containing no animal by-products. Grains (e.g. corn, wheat), silage, hay and similar vegetarian feed is common. Vegetarian fed does not guarantee that antibiotics or pesticides were not used in the production of the feed or that the feed was not genetically modified. Organic vegetarian feed, on the contrary, does.

75 mcg of Folic Acid:

Folate, a vital B vitamin, especially necessary for a healthy pregnancy, is present in eggs (mainly in the yolk). However, similar to the development of Omega-3 eggs, egg producers have opted to enrich eggs with folic acid by supplementing feed. Therefore, instead of the 24 mcg or so of folic acid you may receive from a standard egg, enriched eggs contain three times as much

Go out and get egg-static about buying eggs! (ok, I'll stop.)

Monday, September 29, 2008

Algae into Fuel

The more I read about being green and green related things, the more I become fascinated by alternative fuels. It is incredible what can substitute for traditional oil now and also what technologies are being developed to get us closer to oil independence.

I came across an article on algae and how it is being harvested and the oil is being used as a biofuel. They are saying it is much more efficient that corn, because you don't have to grow it as you would traditional crops. Also, it has been said that growing corn is very harsh on the soil and takes out all nutrients so afterwards, to grow anything on that soil is impossible.

Algae is made up of up to 70% oil, is completely renewable and photo-synthesizes a lot of Carbon. Could Algae be the savior to our dependence on foreign oil and cleaning up our atmosphere? Let's hope they discover something soon!!

Here are some excerpts from this great article:

Algae is the slimy stuff that clouds your home aquarium and gets tangled in your feet in a lake or ocean. It can grow almost everywhere there is water and sunlight, and under the right conditions it can double its volume within hours. Scientists and industrialists agree that the potential is huge.

"This is the ultimate fast-growing organism," says Peter van den Dorpel, chief operating officer of AlgaeLink, which makes bioreactors for speeding reproduction. "Algae is lazy. It eats carbon dioxide and produces oxygen." It has no roots, no leaves, no shoots. "It grows so fast because it has nothing else to do. It just swims in the water."

Farming algae doesn't require much space or good cropland, so it avoids the fuel-for-food dilemma that has plagued first and second generation biofuels like corn, rapeseed and palm oil.

It can grow in fresh water, polluted water, sea water or farm runoff. It can purify a city's sewage while feeding on the nitrogen and phosphates in human waste.

And it is rich in oil. The most common types farmed today have an oil content of 30 percent, and it can go up to 70 percent or more.

It also consumes nearly twice its weight in carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas that is discharged by vehicles, power plants and many heavy industries and which scientists say is causing climate change.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Science is So Cool: Plastic-Eating-Bacteria Edition

So we all know by now, plastic sucks. It leaches causing all sorts of weird diseases including obesity, is taking over the Pacific Ocean, is thrown away more than 60 million times a day filling up our landfills....need I go on? ( I can, on this subject. Possibly for days!)

So, what's a brilliant, problem-solving scientist to do? Figure out how a bacteria, who's preferred snack of choice is already plastic, to gobble it up faster while producing a bi product that can be used to make recycled plastics. I mean serioulsy! How cool is THAT?!?!

Here's the real info:

...scientists around the world are working on ways to enlist bacterial help in
green technology. A crew from University College Dublin in Ireland has devised a
way to put bacteria to use in recycling plastic into better quality versions
than the lowly PET we're used to.

...Using a different approach, New Zealander Matthew Darby made the mother of all toasty machines to recycle previously-unrecyclable plastic.

One of the big problems with plastic recycling is that the end result is polyethylene terephthalate--a fairly low-grade plastic that isn't as desired as polyhydroxyalkanoate or PHA...But PHA is expensive to make. Microbiologist Kevin O’Connor and his team came up with a process...that heated PET to break it down into a gas, a liquid, and a solid. From there, they grabbed some Pseudomonas putida (the bacteria) which were partial to the plastic at a local bottling plant in Dublin. Sure enough, the bacteria took a liking to O'Connor's snack and turned the solid--terephthalic acid--into PHA. The other byproducts will be burned as a heat source to make more of the stuff. While it won't outright solve our plastic problems, this
process should encourage more recycling and open up new markets.
Some people are just geniuses...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cow Power

This isn't the first time I have heard of converting cow manure to electricity but since it was in the New York Times yesterday, I am pleased to see it must be catching on. What sort of genius came up with this idea? Seriously, turning cow poop in to electricity has so many positive environmental effects:

  1. Reduces the amount of methane (cow's 'gas') in the air (top contributor to ozone layer depletion)
  2. Provides sustainable energy to homes while generating another source of revenue for farms
  3. When the poop is separated, the solid matter serves as bedding for the cows (RECYCLING!)
This is seriously thinking outside the box! If we can power houses on cow poop, the possibilities are endless!!

While this has not caught on to the dairy farm masses, this practice has been around since 2005. Here are some of the best excerpts from the New York Times article:
The Rowells’ cows live in a barn where a mechanical scraper sweeps the animals’ waste into a large drain. The waste is then pumped into a huge sealed concrete tank known as a digester, which holds 21 days’ worth of waste and is kept at a temperature of 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Anaerobic bacteria break down the organic matter in the waste, producing a mix of methane and other gases, known as bio-gas. The gas is burned in an engine that runs an electrical generator.

The cow waste produces 250 to 300 kilowatts of electricity daily, enough to power 300 to 350 homes, according to the utility.

“We’re making a resource out of a waste stream,” said Bill Rowell, who is running for the State Senate

“We’re saving money by not using sawdust, reducing original waste by recycling and generating revenue by selling electricity into the grid,” Ms. Audet said.

This is seriously innovative and extremely cool. If dairy farmers can figure out ways of turning poop to gold and do their part for the environment in the process, we can all reevaluate our lives to make the small changes. A local shop owner, who gets her electricity from the cow poop said it best:

“It’s worth it to us to spend that money to help the producers and use power that helps sustain the environment,” Ms. Hatch said. “When you live in a place like we do, which is a beautiful part of the country, you’re really aware of the environment and want to keep it that way."
Here's a great link to a photo slide show of this process that I found on Flickr:



Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Solar Power For All!

MIT engineers have come up with an unbelievable invention. This is one that could revolutionize solar power and make it affordable and accessible to all. What it is, is a transparent dye that coats windows, absorbs the energy emitted from sunlight and somehow magically powers your house. The official explanation is much more detailed than mine:

The scientists coated glass sheets in organic dyes to concentrate the sunlight that hit the panels. The dyes collected the sunlight and carried the light to the edges of the panel much like fiber-optic cable.

Solar cells located on the edges of the panels then transforms the sunlight into electricity.

"It consists of just a piece of glass with a layer of paint on top of it," said Marc Baldo, MIT electrical engineering professor and lead researcher on the solar panels.

"The idea is the light comes in and hits the paint. The paint then bounces the light out to the edges of the glass. All you need is the solar cells on the edges. So we think we can use this to reduce the cost of solar electricity," he added

Here's the graphical depiction of the process:

Friday, September 19, 2008

Eco-Friendly To Go!

Our little local Latin Bistro is awesome. It is called Pan Latin and the food that they sell is organic and fair trade. Everything is always extremely fresh and they are always trying to find ways to be more green. Their coffee cups and plastic cups are all made from recycled materials and they discovered how to be even greener:

What happens is you order a delivery, they deliver it in these handy metal containers and then you leave it downstairs with your doorman for them to pick up when you are done. E-Z!!!

Nice thinking outside of the box Pan Latin! You will always be my go to for anything yummy and green!


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Eco-Libris Update: Children's Contest for Green Writing

I just got an email from Eco-Libris announcing a fantastic way to get your kid's involved in being green. Check it out:


I'm happy to update you on a new collaboration of Eco-Libris with Simon and
Schuster Children's Publishing.

In a celebration of their new line of eco-friendly children’s books, Little
Green Books, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has partnered with
Eco-Libris in an educational contest - I CAN SAVE THE EARTH!, which provides
children an opportunity to share their personal green stories and ideas.

Beginning today (Sept 16), Children between the ages of 5-10 are invited to
write about their own experiences and ideas in helping to save planet Earth.
Stories can be submitted via a downloadable entry form at
SimonSaysKids.com/LittleGreenBooks until December 1, 2008. Any story goes and
the greener the better! Prizes include free copies of the new Little Green Books
and trees that will be planted in developing countries by Eco-Libris on the
winning children’s behalf.

The contest celebrates the Fall 2008 launch of Little Green Books,
published by Little Simon, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s
Publishing. It is the first eco-friendly line of children’s novelty and
storybooks, aimed at parents and children looking to learn more about the
environment. All the Little Green Books are made out of recycled materials.

Click here for the contest web page



Thanks for the update Eco Libris!! Keep 'em coming!!




Tuesday, September 16, 2008

BPA Update!

The best of all reasons to drink tap vs. bottled water was confirmed today by the Journal of the American Medical Association. They found evidence in the first ever study on humans and how the chemical bisphenol A, found in hard plastics (water bottles, liners for tin cans, baby bottles, etc) affects our health.

Adults exposed to higher amounts of the plastic compound bisphenol A are more
likely to be afflicted by cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and have
liver enzyme abnormalities...

BPA is a chemical able to mimic the female hormone estrogen that leaches from polycarbonate plastic water bottles, the lacquers inside tin cans and dental sealants.

The new health findings raise the intriguing possibility that many cases of heart disease and adult onset diabetes in recent decades may be due to inadvertent exposures to a biologically active chemical, and not to the commonly credited lifestyle
factors, such as a lack of exercise, or having a high fat, sugary diet.

Could this be one of the causes of the obesity epidemic? Researchers say it is a possility. This information was released to coincide with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientific advisory hearing Tuesday on the use of BPA in products that make contact with food. Of course the FDA concluded that the findings in this study aren't cause for alarm and aren't in large enough quantities to adversely affect someone's health...

Meanwhile, in Canada they are considering adding BPA to the countries list of toxic chemicals.

Once again, the FDA hits a homer!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Louis Palmer's Solar Taxi

Friday night I attended an unbelievable lecture by Louis Palmer, inventor and driver of the world's first Solar Taxi (www.solartaxi.com). Louis is a substitute teacher from Switzerland who loves traveling and being exposed to other cultures. When he was about 15 years old, he drew a picture of a car that could run on solar energy. As he began noticing the rapid deterioration of the world around him, he decided to build that solar car and drive around the world in it educating everyone he encounters about the power of harnessing the sun's energy. Louis has been driving for 14 months and his total trip will be 18 months long and will cover 40 different countries. Here is a photo of the Solar Taxi (he calls it a taxi because he gives anyone who wants one, a ride):

As you can see, Louis has a giant trailer that follows him wherever he goes. He uses that mostly as a tool to educate people about solar energy. When he is driving his car around Switzerland he doesn't attach the trailer and can still get 60 miles without recharging. With the trailer, he can get up to 200 miles per day and the car goes up to 55 miles per hour. Louis has met all kinds of interesting people including the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon. Be sure to check out his website and read about his experiences while traveling all over the world. His adventure is truly amazing!

Here is his mission statement:

On 3 July 2007 I set off on my first journey around the world with a solar powered vehicle. Admittedly, as a regular citizen I cannot change the world but I can demonstrate to the world just how dire the global climate situation has become and how many sophisticated solutions to lower the greenhouse gases already exist, which bring with them many other advantages. So that we can have a better world and a more secure future. The solar taxi should rekindle hope and a zest for life, set an example to counteract resignation and stimulate reflection. And show that every single one of us can take a step towards preserving our planet.

Global warming can be stopped. Solutions are available.

Here are some of his energy facts:

For billions of years, plants have processed the CO2 that comes from volcanoes, forest fires and other sources, thus making life on earth possible. These carbons lie under the earth in the form of crude oil, natural gas and coal. Right now, mankind is set on emitting most of this CO2 into the atmosphere within only a century. Here are a few figures on current worldwide production:

  • 4,874,940,000 tons of crude oil are used each year. With constant extraction, the resources will be exhausted in 41 years.
  • 2,689,000,000 m³ of natural gas are extracted each year. With constant extraction, the gas will be exhausted in 65 years.
  • About 4,000,000,000 tons coal are used for producing 40% of the worldwide power requirement. The coal ressources will be exhausted in 230 years.

Shall we wait until everything is gone and the climate has been destroyed? Or is it possible to create a world in which renewable energies make a future worth live in? 75% of the world's CO2 emission could be avoided by using solar energy.

These energy facts are astounding. It is no longer about the debate of "should we drill off the coast of the US or in ANWR" but about "this can't go on...lets figure out the alternative NOW!"

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tank Tales!

My friend Maya Lilly and I have been friends since we are 15. Our birthdays are the same day, my middle name is Maya and that's her first name (duh!) and we have always had similar interests. When I found out that she drives a bad-ass truck that runs on Vegetable Oil, I just had to get more info. Below is a really cute cartoon that was drawn to depict her bad-assness/environmental love and some questions I had to get answers to. I am also going to do a follow-up post with answers for any questions you all have so please leave them in the comments section!

Also, I have a link to Maya's website under the "Excellent Links" section to the right. She's an amazing actor/writer/performer so make sure to catch her show "Mixed" if you can!



Here it goes:

1) What kind of car do you drive?


Chevy Blazer K-5 military edition truck. It was on a military base most of its life, and has a touchscreen police laptop, three long-wave and short-wave radios, a PA system on the roof, and 4-wheel drive. It also has USMC emblazoned in Army print letters on the front, over the camouflage paint job.

2) what alterations did you have to make to it to be compatible with Biodiesel? How much did the alterations cost?

You can actually do this for FREE if you have a working knowledge of engines. Just buy From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank, and Joshua Tickell talks you through it. Or, you can find an operation outfitting veggie oil vehicles. Keep in mind that running your car on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) is different than biodiesel... it's two different processes. Making biodiesel requires NO ALTERATION OF A DIESEL ENGINE. (In fact, Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut oil before he mysteriously *disappeared*) Straight veggie oil requires adding a heater in the engine (glowplugs) to warm up the veggie oil slightly when turning on the engine. I did my conversion through Lovecraft biofuels and it cost me $1000. For never paying for gasoline again, this paid for itself in a few months. *Note: Unfortunately, Lovecraft in LA is currently undergoing a massive lawsuit, as Brian Friedman's company was taken over in a completely illegal way by Tacee Webb. I can't recommend them at this time. They also refuse to take my cartoon down from their website, and are using it illegally. Boycott Lovecraft!

3) What is biodiesel and what do you have to do to get it?

Well, I can run my truck on SVO, biodiesel, or diesel... and can mix them in any quantity. I don't use biodiesel as often, as it requires a chemical conversion process to mimic the makeup of Diesel fuel, and takes a bit more time. I instead converted my engine so my truck can just run on Vegetable Oil. I use waste oil that I pick up every two weeks from a high-end Sushi restaurant in Japan Town, Los Angeles. We have an arrangement, and I've been picking up from them for about 3 years now. They have to pay to have the oil taken away, so I pick it up for free and they love it. Everybody wins. And I dispose of it in my truck. The utterly stupid controversy over using biodiesel (or ethanol, for that matter) completely neglects to mention all the WASTE oil in this country going unused. It could cover a whole fleet of trucks and tractors. It's like a man bitching about how to bail out a ship while its sinking... you just do WHATEVER YOU CAN!!!

4) How many miles to the gallon do you get?

Veggie oil is actually better for your engine than diesel, as it lubricates the parts and cleans all the gunk out (like WD-40). I get about the same mileage as I did on diesel. With my big truck, that's about 23 in town. The mileage doesn't change... the only people that worry mileage are the people spewing C02 into the atmosphere. The best part, though, is that my emissions are completely carbon neutral. To me, Hybrids have always been half-assed. I don't want to participate in global warming. At. All.

5) How often do you have to fill up? Can you go on long car rides?

I have my own veggie filter/fueling station in my backyard, and its really clean and efficient. When I go on long car rides, I usually just filter a little extra veggie to take with me, and research where the biodiesel stations are along the way. It's a teeny bit extra work, but I was never in this because of high gas prices. (I think it's GREAT that gas prices are high, by the way. It's encouraging everyone to do things differently, as well as showing the true cost of gasoline to the ecosphere!!!) I don't want to contribute to the end of the human species and life on earth at our own hands, and scientists are all confirming what we already know in our hearts. Things need to change, and it's worth a little extra effort.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Talk about recycling!

This artist named, Laura Cahill realized that recycling books is difficult due to the glue they are bound with so she started giving them a second life as pieces of art! She makes vases, lamps and furniture out of her old books. There is no end to people's creativity! Check it out:





Thanks Dezeen!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Conscious Goods Alliance

Walking down Hudson Street in the West Village last night, it was hard to miss this giant bus that runs on veggie oil:

After doing some digging, I discovered that the Conscious Goods Alliance is a non-profit organization, based out of my hometown of Miami, FL. They have a very basic, but extremely powerful message:

You have the power. It’s in your wallet. Every time you buy a product from a company that does the right thing for people and planet, you’re sending a powerful message: continue doing right, and you will profit. Every time you buy something from a company that does the wrong things for people and planet, you send a very different message: go ahead and shortchange social responsibility for the almighty dollar, we don’t care.

It’s pretty simple. You vote each day with your dollars. You send a message. You create positive change.

Their goal, as stated on their website is:

Our goal is to build an unstoppable movement of conscious consumers that, by choosing the right products, motivates more companies to adopt a triple bottom line approach; one that values the social and ecological bottom line as well as the financial bottom line.
Their message is something we touch on often here at Advocate of Green. Most companies won't make a change to the way they do business unless it affects their bottom line. Making educated, informed buying decisions is the best way to hit them where it hurts! Make sure if a company isn't behaving in the way you feel lines up with your social and ethical values to 1) tell them: email, letter, phone...anyway you can get the message out and 2) Buy the same product made by a more responsible company.

I leave you with a video news clip on the Conscious Goods Alliance:

Monday, September 8, 2008

The King Of Sushi

There was a very interesting piece on 60 Minutes last night regarding "the King of Sushi" which is what they call Blue Fin Tuna and how, since this fish can sell for up to $20,000 PER FISH, they are being over fished in every ocean they inhabit.

Fishing in the waters off of Sardinia has become much more "efficient" with huge fishing fleets catching up to 3,000 fish in one go. The effect of this is rapidly depleting waters of Blue Fin Tuna and with it will go their entire eco-system. There are laws in place to eliminate aerial fishing and quotas that they cannot exceed, but these laws are not enforced. Smaller fisheries are noticing a big difference in the Blue Fin that they are catching: they are smaller and there are less of them.

Watch the clip below:



If you want to do your part to help the Blue Fin Tuna and its ecosystem, sign this petition which will help to enforce the restrictions on overfishing.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

High Fructose Corn Syrup Commercials...

Who doesn't have a lobby group these days? Trying to poison our minds and tell us that, what we know is bad for us, is actually good for us? Sound like the tobacco industry? Well, corn has a lobby and they have released an ad campaign. Click on these 2 extremely offensive commercials below:






What this group wants you to believe is that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a synthetic, processed chemical derived from corn, found in virtually every processed food that we buy, is actually better for you than sugar. When has anything processed been better than the natural alternative? Do they think we are idiots?

I learned all about this in my Micro Economics class that I took as a requirement in my MBA program. This is actually way more complex than companies just choosing to use sugar rather than HFCS. It has to do with the simple supply-demand model.

In order to keep sugar at a certain price, the government has to control the amount that is in the market. If there it too much in the market, the cost of sugar goes down, if there is too little, the cost will go up. So rather than farmer's just growing less sugar, which I think is pretty complex and also would probably also result in farms closing, the price is set at higher than the market would dictate otherwise. Resulting in food companies substituting sugar with HFCS to cut costs. This is why, if you have ever traveled internationally and had a Coca Cola, it tastes way different. It has sugar instead of HFCS which is what American soft drinks contain.

So what's the big deal? Well HFCS has been linked to obesity, altering the body's ability to produce insulin and depending on what you read, cancer. If you are a pro athlete, and are training all day, ingesting HFCS probably isn't a big deal, but for normal people, who have normal or low levels of activity, HFCS can be very detrimental to our health.

The annoying thing about these commercials is that they are implying that being concerned about putting chemicals into your body is ridiculous. While it is true that HFCS is derived from corn, it is an unhealthy bi-product much like heroin is the unhealthy bi-product of poppies and that's ILLEGAL!

Read ALL labels: HFCS is found in bread, ice cream, juices, pickles and many, many other things. It is true, if you just have one thing with HFCS in a day or a week, it wouldn't hurt you. But the problem is that this lobby has become so strong, that this chemical is in so many things that we eat.

GROSS!

Friday, September 5, 2008

How Photography Connects Us With The World


The above is a video that will take you to David Griffin's lecture at TED, an annual convention which brings together "the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes."

David Griffin is the Senior Editor of Photography, Illustrations at National Geographic Magazine. His lecture highlights the best photo journalism that tells a story about wildlife and human interests over the world. His point is that we can make stories out of these fantastic photos to understand, in depth, what is happening in the world around us.

The video is about 14 minutes long but it is well worth it! Some of the photos are absolutely unbelievable and the stories that they tell are often heartbreaking...but some end up hopeful!

After all, how can we feel that there is anything to save, if we haven't seen it? Thanks to dedicated photographers, we can see the world, and respond to its calls to help in the healing process, from over fished oceans to wildlife poachers, and recognize that there are so many things that we can be working towards preserving for generations to come.

Enjoy!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Mad As Cheese...or, uh, Water!

This is insane. Pretty much the coolest thing I have heard of...ever. So there is a scientist named Denny Klein who discovered that you can produce electricity from H2O which he converts to HHO...yes, WATER!! CONVERTED! He is currently in the process of working with a major car company to make a car run on regular tap water and working with the government to create a Hummer for the US Army. On a 100 mile trip, he uses 4 ounces of water. I SWEAR! Here's a link to a news story that was done on him and his ground breaking discovery. Stick it out until 1:30 minutes because that is when he starts discussing how his discovery can be applied to cars:



Here is a link to his website where he will take you through the steps of converting your car. So, why isn't the general public being informed about this technique? Well, I know in NY, the government gets their money to upkeep and repair the roads from gasoline tax. I am thinking it is similar everywhere else. Until they find a substitute method for getting that money, they are unlikely to publicize this process. SCANDALOUS!!

That won't stop us from learning about it though, thanks to You Tube. Really incredible discovery!! Science rules!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Joe Biden loves the environment too!

I am going to begin pointing out prominent people who are lovers of the environment. These people can serve to inspire, educate and help us reach our goals to begin healing the Earth. When I read this article on a website called Grist, I thought Joe Biden would be the perfect first person to recognize for his leadership and forward thinking with regard to environmental issues:

"Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate, has earned an 83 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters during his 35 years representing Delaware in the U.S. Senate, voting fairly consistently with environmentalists and the mainstream of his party. In 2007, while running for president, he said "energy security" was his top priority, and argued that he was well-suited to deal with the challenge thanks to years of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he now chairs. Biden is also a big booster of biofuels."

If you want to learn more, click here for an interview . My favorite quote (which falls right in line with the Advocate of Green motto) is his answer to what his family is doing, personally, to help the environment:

"A little thing we've begun to do is replace all the traditional light bulbs in our house with fluorescent light bulbs. I introduced a bill to promote compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every family in America changed just one bulb, we could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 7 million tons per year. There are a lot of little things we can do to make a gigantic change."

Go ahead Joe! Watch Joe Biden discuss moving towards renewable energy (the sound isn't great but if you turn up your volume you will be able to hear him.)


WOOHOOO FOR BLOGGING!

Hello!

I have taken a few days off from blogging in order to get some admin-y things done and VOILA! I have a logo. I know it isn't centered but I should be figuring that out very soon and when I do, VOILA AGAIN!! My blog will look fancy.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I'll be back to blogging properly this afternoon.