Preparing for the Green Man

There probably won’t be any posts for about a week or so since I will be preparing and heading off to Burning Man for a week. I will be sure to bring back some cool pictures and coverage of all the fun green stuff happening there. Here is a list of some of the programs that are being promoted in the efforts of the Green theme this year:

• Ridesharing at rideshare.burningman.com. A recent email update from the organizers called for “No empty passenger seats in 2007!”
• Biobus Shuttle transport from Reno to Black Rock City and back in return for a $50 to Biofuels4Schools Campaign. If you haven’t secured your transport yet, email connect@burncleanproject.org. Seats are almost sold out so hurry!
• Burning Man sponsored a CFL project in Gerlach (the closest town to the festival, population 500) updating all town light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescents.
• Burning Man also sponsored the design and installation of a 120 kW solar array in Gerlach, Nevada and a 60 kW solar array in Lovelock, Nevada. A 30 kW solar array will be used to help power the festival and will be gifted to Gerlach after the event. This project will generate $3 million of electricity over the next 20 years at no cost to Gerlach/Lovelock residents.
• 87% of the main festival generators will be run on B100 biodiesel (11,000 gallons) and the remaining generators (not including festival participants) will run on B10.
• Over 50 theme camps are using biodiesel because Burning Man negotiated with local vendors to lower entry barriers for biodiesel use.
• A festival-wide composting program will manage food waste from the Café, Commissary and 50-100 theme camps. The organizers have also instituted composing in the San Francisco Burning Man office. All plastic utensils are also being replaced by corn-based products.
• Comprehensive recycling program including drive-thru recycling in neighboring cities for burners to dispose of recyclables on the ride home. Proceeds raised from the recyclables will be donated to support environmental initiatives and education through the Gerlach High School.
• 1000 shared yellow bikes (funded by a generous burner) painted green with red flames. This gift will help create the highest per capita municipal bike use in the United States (1 bike per 35 people).
• Numerous media and information events will take place during Burning Man including 3 concurrent film festivals, lecture series plus more workshops, classes, clinics and demonstrations. If you want to learn about sustainable technologies and how you can green your own life, the playa is the place for you. In fact, there are so many informational events going on during the event, that the organizers couldn’t even fit all the information on the flyer! Be sure to check out Green Man Speaks: Conversations Inspired by the Green Man Theme Symposium (Occurring over a 4 day period with 2 one hour lectures per day, this will bring together global thinkers to discuss creative, sustainable futures.) and the Green Man Film Festival including a screening of The 11th Hour.

via WorldChanging

Add comment August 27th, 2007 Alex

Save the date: October 15th is Blog Action Day!

October 15th is officially Blog Action Day. Many popular blogs such as Lifehacker, Copyblogger, Web Worker Daily, ChrisG, Problogger, ZenHabits, GigaOM and 2,466 other blogs and website will be participating. Every blog will have a post about the environment. It is an event organized by a team of bloggers and supported by Eden Creative Communities.  Lighter Footstep is also promoting people to start their own green blog in a program called the Green Blog Incubator. Since my blog is a green blog, I blog about the environment every day so every day is a blog action day for me. This is a pretty neat idea though and the impact will definitely be seen by people who visit the many different types of blogs that exist on the world wide web.

Add comment August 23rd, 2007 Alex

Genzyme’s Platinum LEED certified Green Building

Genzyme is a biotech company and the headquarter office is a Platinum LEED Certified Green Building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The building is a 4 year old structure but CNET went inside to take a look. A video from CNET can be found here. Fresh air is brought into the building using a circulation system and daylight is beamed inside to the entire office space using a complicated system of mirror reflectors and seven moving heliostats. The building has waterless urinals, a green roof and a 20-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array for electricity. Waste steam from a next-door power plant is used to power the entire building. 75% of the materials used in the building came from local providers. The building costs 140 million to build but is a great healthy and pleasant working space for employees. Employees in this building have called in sick less than 1 percent of the time and studies have shown that well-lit spaces with access to fresh air allow for a more productive environment. Obviously not every company is willing to spend this much money on a building but it is a great example of a green building and definitely attracts people to work there. Picture Gallery from CNet can be found here.

Add comment August 22nd, 2007 Alex

Bush Administration breaks law

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Bush Administration violated a 2004 congressional deadline for presenting the latest scientific research about global warming. Federal officials have unlawfully withheld action that they needed to take from a 1990 federal law requires the government to produce a scientific report every four years on climate changes and its effects on the environment. The Clinton administration issued the first report in October 2000 while the Bush administration has not issued any reports and has even tried to buy the Clinton report. The lawsuit was filed by environmental groups last November. The Supreme Court also ruled in April that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from vehicle tailpipes were pollutants subject to federal regulation and that the measures promoted by the Bush administration were an inadequate substitute for regulation. President Bush claims that mandatory emission limits would hurt the U.S. economy and in 2001, he pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol. The economy was sucking ass the whole time he has been in presidency anyways. Would it have hurt to do something positive to help the environment? I can’t wait to have another President who will hopefully do more for the environment. Ideally I would like to see a Democrat be in office and possibly even be a woman. Governor Schwarzenegger being a Republican however, has also made efforts in making California a very green and environmentally friendly state.

via SFGate

Add comment August 22nd, 2007 Alex

Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle for a Profit

Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle for a Profit. That is the message that this blog promotes as it covers how people and companies make money from recycled and reused items. The blog has articles about how others have made money as well as ideas that you can do to make some money from recycling items. The site also provides helpful resources and downloads that can get you started on doing more. Many people may not be aware that recycling or reusing products can actually save you money as well as even make money. For example, bringing your own bags to the grocery store may seem like it is a hassle but do you know that a lot of grocery stores such as Safeway and Mollie Stones will give you 5 cents of credit for each bag you bring in to reuse? So not only are you saving money, you are also helping the environment!

LivePath

Add comment August 21st, 2007 Alex