Posts filed under ‘conservation’
Still Too Soon to Buy Those (Green) Curtains
The election of Barack Obama was good news for environmentalists, as he is likely to diverge from the Bush Administration’s policy of rape, pillage, dump and drill. Ever since November 4th, many of us have been drooling on our shirts and letting our eyes roll off into space as we daydream about the green curtains, solar panels and organic garden that the President Elect is no doubt planning to install in the White House. We shiver with anticipation at the thought of his newly empowered EPA, and giggle with glee as we count off possible USDA and EPA heads as if we’re reciting our Christmas list.
It’s an exciting time for the greenies (and for Americans, in general), but I’m writing to warn everybody that we aren’t there yet. He’s not really our president until January 20th, and there’s a lot of havoc that the Bush administration can wreak between now and then.
For example, (more…)
Return to the Big Green Apple
Ah, New York. I’ve been away for nigh on a year, now, and it’s good to be back. Despite the cold, wet November day, despite being unemployed during an economic crisis, and despite the sad reality that I still haven’t found my own place yet (I’m crashing at my sisters’ place), I really am happy to have returned to this massive, colorful city of opportunity.
Over the past eight months I’ve visited about 40 US states and a couple of Mexican and Canadian provinces, and as much as I enjoyed the beauty and diversity of this great continent, no place I saw could compare to New York City. Including the Grand Canyon.
What is it I love about New York? There are several answers to this question:
1. It’s my home. Although I was raised in Massachusetts, I’ve been living here (on and off) since I was 19, much of my family and many of my closest friends are here, and I consider this city my “home base”.
2. It’s wicked diverse. There are people from everywhere here, and everyone lives side-by-side in peace and harmony with respect for one another. And there are about a million hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants with the best food you’ve ever had.
3. It’s easy to be green here. A lot of people think of New York as a big, dirty city with trash everywhere and millions of tons of carbon pumping into the air each day. This is basically true, however, living in the city is really a lot greener than living in the suburbs or the country. (more…)
Moving Out
Boyfriend and I have officially left our apartment in Brooklyn and have been in Massachusetts freeloading off our parents and getting ready for our big trip. Did I mention our trip? We’re heading out on the road for a couple of months to see the country and blow our savings (trip blog is coming soon). So far we’ve already done a great job blowing our savings – we bought a car that turned out to be a lemon, and now we’re buying another car so that we don’t end up stranded in rural Alabama. This trip better turn out to be fun and liberating, because so far the whole ordeal has been a bit of a pain in the arse.
But back to my point, we quit our jobs and moved out of our apartment. Anyone who’s ever moved will probably agree that moving is a great opportunity to clean out your home, sort through your things and ultimately get rid of all the garbage that you’ve accumulated. I have a lot of trouble throwing things away because it’s wasteful, so the whole moving out process was rather stressful. Plus, we had about 3o0 pounds of partially-digested compost to get rid of, and a truck to rent, and a couple of cats to pack up and relocate to their grandparents’ house in Massachusetts.
After everything I learned a few good tips for green moving: (more…)
Potentially AWESOME
One of the few things I remember from my highschool physics class is the concept of potential energy. It basically says that if you, or any object, goes up, you’re storing up potential energy, because gravity will inevitably bring you down. So if you throw a ball up in the air, you’re putting energy into sending it upwards, but you’ll also get some energy back as it falls back to the ground. Very basically: what goes up will come down, and it will come down with some force.
A scientist in virginia is putting this basic principle to work with his new invention: a gravity lamp. It’s awesome and I want one. Aside from looking like a prop from the Star Trek set, it’s totally cordless and powered only by you – the user. All you have to do is lift a weight up, and then the light truns on and stays on for 4 hours while the weights slowly fall and release their gravity-induced energy.
I’ve actually seen something like this before, but sadly I can’t find a clip to share with you. If you rent the 1986 classic Harrison Ford movie “The Mosquito Coast,” you’ll come across a scene towards the middle of the film where Mr. Ford has built a really awesome ceiling fan that runs using this falling-weight gadgetry. (more…)
Compost in the City
Most people probably don’t find compost very sexy, but I’m actually quite passionate about it. Organic waste, like food scraps, sticks, leaves, dried flowers, etc. aren’t really “waste” at all – they’re potential dirt. And dirt is good. All you really need is a bin and some worms, and you can trun your food waste and yard scraps into nutrient-rich soil for your garden. And in New York, which is plagued by soil shortage and an expensive waste disposal system, compostable garbage should be coveted.
Unfortunately, most New Yorkers send these nuggets of nutrients to the dump rather than keeping them around. And I really can’t blame them. There isn’t much space in the city for composting – even if you have the cahones to set up an indoor worm bin, most New Yorkers don’t have enough space inside their apartments to squeeze one into. The city should really set up a more effective system for collecting yard and food waste (right now all we’ve got is a yard waste collection program). But that’s not the point of my writing today – I’m here to discuss a more urgent and somewhat personal matter.
My apartment, as you may know, has an outdoor deck area with plenty of space for composting. As you may not know, however, is that Boyfriend and I are leaving the city at the end of this month and heading out on a road trip (more on that later). This means that I have to somehow get rid of my compost before the next tenants arrive to take over our (beautiful) home and garden. And I can imagine that they’re not going to want to deal with this: (more…)
People Power in the New York Times
It turns out that I’m not the only one thinking about how to convert human energy into electricity these days. The New York Times reports today that Canadian researchers have developed a gadget that harvests energy from the knee joint as people walk, using a knee-brace with a mechanical device that can collect about 5 watts or electricity (enough to power a few cell-phones or other small electronics). Plus, it doesn’t take any extra effort to generate power using it – all you have to do is walk, and the juice starts flowing. It’s unlikely that these things will be on the market any time soon, but its really good to know that there are guys in white coats in labs out there making these things. Maybe one of them is working on a hand-crank cuisinart battery at this very moment…
Super Repentance
Yesterday was perhaps the most American of days (excluding Xmas, 4th of July, and this coming Thursday, which I’m sure I don’t have to remind you is the first day of Chinese New Year). My friends and I gathered around the TV and put on the game, and treated ourselves to a feast fit for about 300 sumo wrestlers. There were ten of us.
Now, it’s not like I eat this way every day. The Superbowl is a special day, where we’re all given a free pass to binge on salty, fatty, orange-colored foods. It’s part of what makes America great. Right?
No, not right. Aside from the crippling stomach situation that resulted from my 8-course meal (consisting mainly of chips, cream, cheese, cream cheese, salt and beer), the feast left me with a soul-ache. This had a lot to do with the fact that most of the food I procured for the event wasn’t seasonal or organic (except for the salsa and some of the chips). And it had a whole lot to do with the sheer amount of food that my cohorts and I stuffed so willingly into our faces. (more…)
People Power
Isn’t this a sweet new alarm clock? I bought it for myself the other day, after the cheap plastic one I’d been using for three years self-destructed. I didn’t want to get another cheap one, because I need an alarm clock that will be with me for the long-haul, so I looked for a sturdy, metal model that could put up with my morning crankiness, as well as being repeatedly knocked off my night stand by my cats.
So this is the clock I found. I bought it at a small local appliance store and it’s nice and sturdy, which is great, but it has one more feature that I think is totally cool: it’s people-powered.
Now, many of us may look at the back of this alarm clock in confusion and perhaps mild disdain, because it’s quite old-fashioned. I, however, see it as a symbol of the future. (more…)
Story of Stuff
I highly recommend checking out this video and passing it along. It’s about 20 mins long, so you should set a little time aside to watch it, but it’s highly worthwhile and very informative.
Obsolescence vs Reuse
This is a 2003 iPod. Maybe I got it in 2004 – I honestly can’t remember. Regardless, I know when it stopped working: approximately 2 years ago. And it’s still in my desk drawer. Yup, still there. Why? Because I have no idea what to do with it. Apple has completely shirked the responsibility of disposing of these gadgets which it has successfully managed to distribute worldwide. The company has also successfully managed to design these music machines so that they pretty much self-destruct after about two years, and then are essentially unrepairable.
This is why I no longer own an iPod, and why I also use a PC (hear that, Steve Jobs? Of course you do). (more…)
