Dream House!

Casa OS is GREEN. It features reduced energy and intelligent use of water. My favorite part is the sod roof -- similar to the new California Academy of Sciences building. The best part? The architects at Nolaster weren't even aiming to create an especially green home. It just kinda happened.

Read more about Casa OS at gliving.tv.

Re-Shirt.

Austria-based Re-Shirt sells used and cleaned t-shirts with a story behind them -- on their website, a photo of each tee is posted along with a great memory that the former owner had with it (ex: made out with my hot crush, big job promotion, got accepted to med school, etc). Re-Shirt provides a way for the new owner to carry on the memory and create their own with it, continuing to post their experiences on the site using the shirt's ID number and give it back when or if they choose to.

Essentially: Like vintage, but interactive! From an environmental standpoint, the company also does a great job by supporting reuse rather than buying new clothing.

From their site:

"'Re-Shirts clearly represent a whole new way of managing resources. With the comparatively low amount of energy needed to wash, print and deliver the Re-Shirts it is possible to keep existing cotton resources in circulation. The fact that the stories of the previous owners are of central importance for the Re-Shirts can also be seen as a “social upgrade”. Re-Shirts are a concrete example of how we can come to understand circular flow economy. A model that we should most certainly also consider for other resources and products.'

Facts and Figures about Conventional T-Shirt Production:

Cotton production and processing is organized globally : Each year more than 20 million tons of cotton are produced.
Extremely large amounts of water are used in the cotton production process. On average, 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kilogram of raw cotton.
The extreme amounts of water needed for growing cotton have resulted among other things in the drying up of the Aral Sea, one of the biggest environmental catastrophes of our time.
On top of that are the use of pesticides and the high energy consumption: approximately 10% of the pesticides produced world-wide are used in cotton growing.
Environmentally safe cotton growing is a viable alternative. Intelligent watering can reduce the amount of water needed by two thirds. That is of course only possible if the total production amounts do not continue to increase.
Approx. 30 megajoule (or 8.3 kWh) are needed to produce 1 kilogram of raw cotton fibers. In Germany alone, the average cotton consumption per person and year is 11 kilograms."

Link: Re-Shirt Story Store.
To donate: Re-Shirt Donations.

More about "greenness" and culture

First of all, "greenness" is probably the strangest looking word I've come across recently. Just take a look at it.

Anyway, here's a Wespeak in response to Andrew's Wespeak from Tuesday.

Bottled Water Film Contest

From an email sent to the listserve:
Food & Water Watch recently launched a student video contest, where college students are invited to make and submit videos about the bottled water issue. The winning film maker will be awarded $1,500, and their video will be posted on the FWW website for all to see. The contest should be a fun way to build some buzz around the issue and hopefully generate some cool new videos, plus we've got some great judges deciding the winner, including Alec Baldwin (actor), and Joseph Bastianich (food and wine guru). More info here.

Campus Sustainability Jobs

Hmmm...interesting article about sustainability coordinator positions in universities and businesses. Some quotes:

"There's been a real blossoming of these types of programs," said Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. "It's really great seeing college campuses take the lead on this kind of stuff. It's an important role for them to play."

"You wouldn't think of not having accountants in the accounting office, right?" said Christopher Wells, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Macalester. "This is the same thing."

"It's important to have an advocate [on campus] for this kind of change," Goodnough said. "This position is a seat around the table. Someone to ask the questions, do the homework and find ways we can do things better."

As of now at Wes we have a Sustainability Committee but no position devoted solely to issues of sustainability on campus.

Could green destroy culture? Maybe...but maybe not.

On the subject of Abu Dhabi's new green city (also see the Dot Earth blog post about sustainable cities), here is a link to one of yesterday's Wespeaks, entitled "Could green destroy culture?"

I thought this was a really interesting opinion. The author notes "While the environmental advantages of promoting and constructing green cities are clear, such planning may also accelerate the homogenization of, and even destruction of, cultures around the world." He points to the dominance of Western economic and cultural practices as a major culprit in a worldwide decline in cultural diversity.

I find myself agreeing that there is a danger of cultural homogenization that accompanies the rise of super cities...and that "industrialization, global capitalism and technological innovations that facilitate communication and transportation" are "all features of a modernization process and mindset that has accelerated the homogenization of cultures around the world." I definitely see that the dominance of a Western model isn't helping the "climate crisis"--particularly in regards to consumption patterns elsewhere in the world(there's that whole mindset of "why should we cut our emissions when you won't do anything about your own? if you can live that way, why not us?" which to me is pretty understandable).

However, I want to point out that there is another sector of the "green" movement that is not about large, potentially homogenizing technological advances. Maybe I'm exaggerating this, because I don't know how big it actually is, but there definitely exists a movement championing all things local. Recently there has been a push to grow and eat food locally, to encourage biking and other forms of alternative transportation, and to make communities more conducive for walking (New Urbanism). The key to this movement is diversity--diversity of transportation, of food, of options. I believe cultural diversity fits in here, too. To me, to advocate for the local is also to advocate for multiple and varied ways of living--for different patterns of living.

Personally, I've been grappling with the huge question "how much do we give up to be green?" (I'm pretty sure I've alluded to this crisis in other posts, somewhere in this blog). Becoming a greener person means giving up or modifying significantly certain elements of our existence. My example is paper. I love the feel of paper, especially books...and in particular owning my own books. Paper products hold meaning to me beyond just their functional use--they are imbued with some sort of romantic quality I have a hard time defining. Great...but one of the things you do as an environmentally conscious person is to cut down on your paper usage. And while I'm definitely not going paperless any time soon, the eco-part of me is constantly nagging and pushing for the rest of me to give it up and read my course pack or whatever online. The point I'm trying to make is that yes, the green movement does have the potential to destroy or cut down culture (whether on the grand, global scale of cities or in the minutiae of my life and maybe yours), but the local aspect of the movement has the potential to do the opposite.

Okay, props to you if you actually read that. I just went on a major rant instead of rewriting an art history paper that I really need to fix. Hahaha...(in case you can't tell that was one of those "I'm laughing because I'm really screwed and actually I'm crying" laughs). Anyway, what do you think?

Climate Counts

Emilie sent me an email about this website called Climate Counts (yay Emilie!). It's basically a rating service that assesses "how serious companies are about stopping climate change."

Climate Counts use a 0-to-100 point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have:

• MEASURED their climate "footprint"
• REDUCED their impact on global warming
• SUPPORTED (or suggest intent to block) progressive climate legislation
• Publicly DISCLOSED their climate actions clearly and comprehensively

Seems cool. They have info for 60 companies at this point. I was confused at first because this seems like a relatively small number--but once you take into account the fact that most of the companies listed are mega-corporations and that therefore lots of well-known products fall under them...it's a pretty decent list. Each company's info page features a list of "representative brands" (for example, Odwalla is owned by Coca-Cola so it's listed there). I also found this interesting list of what media companies own (like General Electric owns Universal Pictures...?). Actually, now that I'm getting on a tangent, if you're interested in corporate issues i've been reading a book called No Logo by Naomi Klein for like, a year (I think I actually left it at home this semester because I really just don't have time to read it). But from what I've read I would recommend the book. Aaaanyway, back to Climate Counts: they have a nice pocket-sized shopping guide, if you're into that.

EON appears in Wikipedia!

Sarah just informed us (the listserve) that we're on Wikipedia. Hell to the yeah.

"There are a wide variety of other clubs and organizations, including departmental organizations and other interest groups. A prominent one of recent years has been the Environmental Organizers' Network (EON), which has helped to bring discussions about climate change and environmental sustainability to the forefront of campus dialogue."

Read more here.

The United Arab Emirates Plans Sustainable City

Check out this link, but don't be fooled by the movie trailer production. Stay critical!

Will you green my valentine?

(image from inhabitat)

I just got an email from Live Earth directing me to a nice blog post about organic chocolate and flowers. There are some interesting bits of information (like "A 2 lb. shipment of flowers can end up emitting 3 times that measure of greenhouse gas emissions"), so that post might be worth a read. My favorite part of the email, though, was a tip on recycling valentines:

CLIMATE CRISIS TIP: Recycle your Valentines!
Don't throw away that candy box! Decorate those heart-shaped boxes left over when the chocolate's gone and use as picture frames, earring holders, or backpacks for dolls. Use Valentine's wrapping paper, ribbon, and leftover lace as decorations.

I'm sorry, but backpacks for dolls? What? If you make a doll backpack out of your recycled valentines, please let me know--I would love to see that. No, I need to see that.

"Reducing your carbon footprint just got a whole lot tastier!"

Climate Change Chocolate wrapper (with tips)

Over winter break I spent a decent amount of time at Borders (it's my very not-guilty pleasure to peruse the art history section there and pretend I know what I'm looking at). Anyway, you know how they always have a bunch of crap at the front, designed to seduce really impulsive shoppers (basically, me)? Well, they really got me with Climate Change Chocolate. When you buy a chocolate bar, made by Bloomsberry & Co, terrapass purchases 133 lbs of carbon offsets (which is equivalent to an average person's CO2 output per day). At first I was like hey, okay, fine...but chocolate is imported, and that eats up a bunch of fossil fuels blah blah blah...except that the website says "the carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of the chocolate bar has been balanced out." Hmm! Perhaps this is an example of a way we can maintain certain aspects of our lifestyle while still being eco-friendly. As much as I'm a huge proponent of eating locally, I realize that most people (including myself) would be more than a little reluctant to give up chocolate (btw, Climate Change Chocolate really is tasty). But then again, it doesn't seem like this product is a big seller (it was 50% off when I bought it, which makes me feel like Borders wanted to get rid of them). I'm pretty sure you can get it at Whole Foods, just FYI.

I put my new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

Via Nau:


Non-Stop Shoes (NSS) from Camper and Emil Padòs harness the energy you use daily just by walking around. After a day of wear, your steps have charged a battery which can power small appliances such as iPods. Exciting! Too bad I'm not really into the mustard/ketchup color combo.

Wespeak: Obama's for the Environment

Check out Bekka's Wespeak endorsing Obama.

SIGG water bottles

Just a heads up that Broad Street sells SIGG water bottles. They have the design pictured in blue and red, a blue yin-yang design, and a camouflage bottle.

Siggs are touted as better for your health (due to leaching that happens with Nalgenes and other plastic bottles). According to the My Sigg website, "Due to SIGG's special, proprietary internal coating, these high-tech bottles are resistant to fruit juice acids, energy drinks, alcohol and virtually any consumable beverage. Because the liners are taste and scent neutral, you can enjoy any beverage you'd like – without any lingering smell or taste of the last beverage you drank. The composition of the liner also reduces the chances of bacteria build-up. And because the liner is virtually baked into the inner walls of the bottle, it will not flake or chip even if dented on the outside.
Recently, there has been a lot of press concerning Lexan plastic water bottles (Polycarbonate #7) leaching harmful chemicals into the container's ingredients[maybe they meant contents]. It's extremely important to note that SIGG bottles exceed FDA requirements and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching – so they are 100% safe."

Anyway. I promise I'm not working for Sigg...I just really don't want to do my reading right now.

Political Environment

Nate sent the listserv this NYT opinion article on Bush's (in)actions regarding global warming with the exhortation that we contemplate the topic as we head to the polls tomorrow. Speaking of which, in case you missed it, here's a link to Grist's candidate chart and my attempt to make sense of what the hell "cap and trade" actually means.

Focus the Nation

We did iiiiiiit!!!! Thanks to everyone who participated this past week. It was a really fantastic event (er...events). Thursday was great and the party was a success--we made tons and tons of money for some awesome charities. Have a look at this Argus article for a recap.