It’s Earth Day!

There’s a great article about the origins of Earth Day by Senator Gaylord Nelson (the man who came up with the idea) over at EnviroLink.

I’m going to be doing some various projects around the house, including making a bunch of reusable grocery bags out of some old plastic shopping bags (I saw this project on Etsy, and have been gathering plastic grocery bags ever since - I plan to make some for myself and some for my inlaws). I just have to walk down to the grocery store to get some parchment paper (I’m wondering if waxed paper would work?), and figure out what to do with my dog while I’m gone (she has a tendency to eat furniture - and she’s an 80lb. German Shepherd, so she can eat a LOT of furniture in 15 minutes).

I’m also going to prune my lilac bush. I haven’t pruned it in a few years and there’s a lot of dead branches. Then I’ll put the clippings either in my compost pile or walk them down to the yard waste drop off down the street (which is basically just a gigantic compost pile that they keep pushing over the bank with a bulldozer every few weeks - not the greenest method, but better than a lot of other options).

I’ve also got a website to build for a local green builder. Once it’s done and approved, I’ll post a link.

We’ve heard time and time again that climate change is likely going to increase the severity and frequency of storms and especially hurricanes.

One reason is that climate change seems to be widening the jet stream (moving it closer to the poles). In the Northern Hemisphere the jet stream is moving closer to the poles by about 12 miles per decade. Since winds slow down storm formation, this movement away from the sub-tropical zone where hurricanes form could mean that storms form more often and become more severe.

Via Bloomberg.

A 160 square mile chunk of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica has collapsed, and the rest of the almost 5,600 square mile ice shelf is barely hanging on. Scientists are hoping that the rest of the ice shelf will hold on at least until next year, since the Antarctic summer is just about over and winter is on it’s way. But, there is a definite chance that the rest might go this year.
There isn’t any concern about rising sea levels after this collapse, but if the rest of the shelf goes, I’m pretty sure there will be a noticeable rise. I have no clue exactly how much rise, but it’s worrying either way.

Scientists are attributing the collapse to increasing climate change. This type of event is only likely to become more common.

For more, read the original article from the International Herald Tribune.

Many of us agree that the fewer petroleum-based plastics in the world, the better. But we have to face facts, and there are too many things where plastic is absolutely vital (medical and safety devices come to mind). So, we need to use plastics wisely, and FULLY take advantage of plastics recycling programs.

Raw Polymers, Ltd. is a recycled HDPE scrap sourcing and supply company. HDPE stands for High Density Polyethylene. It’s used in many packaging products, mostly because of it’s resistance to chemicals. Raw Polymers, Ltd. sources both post-consumer and pre-consumer HDPE scrap for companies of all sizes. These guys have been in business for 20+ years and offer consulting services in addition to sourcing.

HDPE is used in a variety of packaging, including milk jugs, soda bottles, and other packaging that doesn’t require an air-tight seal. Some companies are even taking the recycled HDPE material and creating plastic lumber for building (the finished lumber is very strong, with a density similar to oak). Other recycled HDPE is turned back into packaging.

Recycled plastic has a two-fold environmental benefit. The first is that it limits the amount of new materials being processed. Fewer new petroleum products means that demand stays lower which helps to keep prices down, and therefore there’s less money in it (although with current prices and profit margins, this is a bit hard to believe). But the lower demand does help keep profits lower for the big petroleum companies, which means that there’s more room for other companies to develop more renewable sources. The second, and probably more important benefit at this point, is that it keeps these plastics out of the waste cycle. Plastics take thousands of years to fully biodegrade, so recycling them is even more important. Keeping plastics out of landfills is extremely important, even as we work toward reducing our dependence on plastic.

Fill out a simple questionnaire and become more energy efficient. Sounds too good to be true. But that’s just what Virtual Forest claims. Fill out their questionnaire and you’ll save 48Kg of CO2 each year, the equivalent of half the CO2 absorbed by a mature tree in a year!

For each questionnaire completely, Union Fenosa, the company behind Virtual Forest, will donate 1 Euro to Accionatura, a Spanish NGO that works to protect, improve and restore natural ecosystems. When I filled out the questionnaire, it said that they would be donating 1 Euro towards the reforestation of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. They’ll donate up to 100,000 Euros (they’ve currently had almost 24,000 people fill out the questionnaire, an estimated 1,136,160 Kg of CO2 has not been emitted and 11,835 virtual trees have been planted).

After you’ve completed your questionnaire, you can team up with another person and plant a virtual tree in the Virtual Forest in Second Life.

I think this is a great project, and excellent for raising awareness. The questionnaire is long, so make sure you set aside 10 or 15 minutes to go through it, but is well worth the time.

The reforestation of land in Brazil is a noble goal, and will provide valuable animal habitat in addition to helping clean CO2 from the air. The Atlantic Forest is considered to be one of the greatest biodiversity treasures on Earth, with over half of the animals threatened with extinction in Brazil calling it home.

If you haven’t already checked out Etsy, you should really do so. Etsy is a collection of online shops (60,000 of them) for artisans from all over the world who sell handcrafted things.

I was browsing through the shops today and came across Gaia Conceptions Organic. They have a complete line of organic clothing that’s really awesome. They carry pants, dresses, shirts and more, and it’s all custom made when you order. They use organic cotton, organic cotton/hemp blends and raw silk, and all of the items are hand dyed with natural or fiber reactive dyes. Most items are priced between $50 and $200.