Just last night me and me woman put up our Christmas tree. As I was hanging up the millionth ornament, I started thinking about Christmas in terms of environmental impact. Just think of all the packaging thrown away every year. All the trees cut down, screaming their silent tree screams that only Captain Planet and other eco-heroes can hear. As I started to silently weep, I clenched my fist with the determination that I would find a way to “greenify” this savage winter holiday.
Eco-Friendly Christmas Tree
Most natural Christmas trees come from tree farms, so there is only temporary deforestation from their harvest. Plus, recent studies from my alma mater have shown that if Christmas tree farmers choose their pesticides wisely (or use organic methods), they can have a negligible environmental impact. Of course, once Christmas is done, most trees are just thrown out on the curb to be taken to the landfill.
Plastic Christmas trees have a higher embodied energy; basically all of them are made from polyvinyl chloride. But they do last forever, so they can be reused all the way until the Earth finally blows up.
I’d recommend looking around the inside of your house for a tree (real or fake) that you already have, and just decorating that.
Green Christmas Presents
Skimp on the packaging. If you must wrap a present, do so by reusing some magazine or newspaper pages. ‘Tis the present that counts, not the packaging.
Give non-material presents. Perhaps coupons for a massage, yard work, or the gift of friendship, if you’re really cheap.
Make some food for them. “Wrap” it in tupperware or a metal tin that they can reuse.
Give a green present. Perchance a low-flow shower head, a solar roll, or a nice compost bin.
Green Traveling During Christmas
Carpool if you’re going long distances. This will cut your gas price, and give you some company on that long holiday drive.
Ride a bike. Throw on your coat and hop on your bike if you’re just going a short distance.
Sled or ski. If there is snow on the ground and you only have to go downhill, this is the tip for you.
Ride a moped. Save money, use less gas, and spread holiday cheer as people laugh at with you.
Hitchhike. Maybe Santa Claus will pick you up in his sleigh. What a story that’d be!
After thinking up these ideas, my eco-tears finally stopped, and I was able to resume hanging ornaments on our tree. Merry Christmas to everybody, and please give a hoot, don’t pollute.
Arsenic in water is a big problem in the developing world. It can cause death within 30 minutes. Worse, it is usually odorless and flavorless, so it’s hard for people to detect. Luckily, Dr. Vicki Colvin, a professor of chemistry and chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice University, has invented a very easy way to produce a “pollution magnet” that will pull arsenic out of water.
How to Make an Arsenic Magnet
Colvin’s process to make an arsenic magnet is very simple and cheap, which is great for developing countries. Here’s how to make an arsenic magnet:
Fry a teaspoon of rust in a mixture of oil and lye. This breaks the rust down into nano-sized pieces.
Use a magnet to pick up the rust dust.
Put rust-covered pollution magnet in water with arsenic.
Pull out arsenic.
The system is up to a hundred times more efficient than existing methods, and the simplicity (and cheapness) of its production means that even dirt-poor people can make these arsenic magnets.
Dr. Colvin’s arsenic magnet system could go global as soon as the next five years (if it passes governmental regulations). If her arsenic magnet is mass-produced, it could ease water (and arsenic) worries for millions of people in the developing world. For her invention, I have decided to award her the prestigious EcoJoes Eco-Hero award. Hear hear.
Wow, this seems like such a great way to reuse plastic bottles. Risha Sowa, an Englishman (and official EcoJoes Eco Hero), moved to Mexico back in the ’90s and built his own private island using around 250,000 plastic bottles and sand from local beaches. He had his own solar cooker, composting toilet, and lots of pets running around. Unfortunately, Spiral Island was beached during a hurricane, but Sowa is now building a new and improved version. Here’s a video of the original Spiral Island:
Bonus Fun Fact: The host of that video is none other than good ol’ Dave Lister (Craig Charles) from Red Dwarf, a great show if I do say so myself.For more information on Rishi’s past and present islands, I heartily suggest you check out his website: Spiral Islanders.
Americans throw out tons o’ tires each year. In 2003, we threw out approximately 290 million scrap tires. But the good news is, more and more are being recycled. In 1990, only about 17% of our discarded tires were reused or recycled; by 2003, about 80.4% were being recycled. Scrap tires can be used for many things, but until now, I did not know that they could be used for rubber sidewalks.
How Many Tires in Rubber Sidewalk?
It takes one tire to make about one square foot of rubber sidewalk. That means that for every 400 square feet of rubber sidewalk made, two tons of scrap tires are kept out of the landfill! Very good.
Who Invented Rubber Sidewalks?
I’m glad you asked. Richard Valeriano, the Public Works Inspector for the city of Santa Monica, California, invented these. His thinking was that they would be able to bend around growing tree roots, thus cutting down on the maintenance needed to keep the sidewalks up to snuff. After testing the rubber sidewalks in Santa Monica for three years, they are now on the market.
Rubber Sidewalks Save Money
Yes, that is true. When concrete sidewalks crack, they have to be entirely demolished and rebuilt. So much money and time (and resources). But with rubber sidewalks, they can be lifted for periodic tree root trimming and replaced at a fraction of the cost of concrete sidewalks.
Health Benefits of Rubber Sidewalks
With rubber sidewalks, there are no cracks where people can trip and get hurt. Also, it is easier on the ol’ knees than walking/jogging on concrete sidewalks.
I’d like to get a chance to check them out in person. If anyone has tried them out, please let me know how rubber sidewalks made from recycled tires compare to old-school concrete sidewalks.
Next time you’re thinking about hopping in your car and driving somewhere, por favor consider riding a bike or taking the bus (if possible). Not only will you save money (it costs approximately 40 cents a mile to operate a car), but you’ll be polluting less AND helping to clear up congested roads. Plus, if you ride a bike, you’ll be getting swole at the same time from the exercise.
Here’s another example to make you think twice about skipping the bus and driving in yo’ car.
Everyone should know how many miles per gallon their car gets, but many people do not. I didn’t even know my car’s MPG, until today when I calculated it out.
How to Find Your Official Gas Mileage
If you want the quickly know your approximate mpg, the good ol’ U.S. government has set up this website where you can look up your car’s gas mileage or compare miles per gallon for different cars. And just recently, the EPA has changed how it calculates MPG to more accurately depict real world driving conditions.
According to their site, my car gets 24 miles per gallon (highway and city gas mileage combined). Based on an average gas cost of $3.01 per gallon and average annual driving of 15,000 miles, that works out to a whopping $1883 each year just spent on gas! That’s not even counting car repair costs, rotating tires, or oil cost.
How to Find Out Your Own MPG
To find out your car’s actual gas mileage, you just need to do some simple mathematics.
Fill up your car with gas, and reset your odometer to zero.
Drive like normal.
Next time you need gas, pull up to the gas station and write down how many miles you’ve driven since you last filled up.
Fill up your car, and write down how many gallons o’ gasoline it took.
To find your car’s MPG, divide your miles driven by gallons of gas. Voila!
Using this method, I divided my miles driven by gallons of gas (426.8 / 14.454) to get my actual gas mileage ( 29.5 mpg! ). Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. How many miles per gallon does YOUR car get?
As far as I know, I’ve never had organic green tea. But that is all about to change, because Garden of Life is giving away free samples of their organic green tea. 4-6 weeks from now, I will be testing out the difference between “normal” green tea and organic green tea. The anticipation of that moment is killing me, I tell you.
Click here to get yourself a free sample of organic green tea. 4-6 weeks from now, you can have yourself a taste test of organic green tea versus non-organic green tea.
Just last night me and me woman put up our Christmas tree. As I was hanging up the millionth ornament, I started thinking about Christmas in terms of environmental impact. Just think of all the packaging thrown away every year. All the trees cut down, screaming their silent tree screams that only Captain Planet and other eco-heroes can hear. As I started to silently weep, I clenched my fist with the determination that I would find a way to “greenify” this savage winter holiday.
Arsenic in water is a big problem in the developing world. It can cause death within 30 minutes. Worse, it is usually odorless and flavorless, so it’s hard for people to detect. Luckily, 
Dr. Colvin’s arsenic magnet system could go global as soon as the next five years (if it passes governmental regulations). If her arsenic magnet is mass-produced, it could ease water (and arsenic) worries for millions of people in the developing world. For her invention, I have decided to award her the prestigious EcoJoes 
Americans throw out tons o’ tires each year. In 2003, we threw out 
Everyone should know how many miles per gallon their car gets, but many people do not. I didn’t even know my car’s MPG, until today when I calculated it out.
As far as I know, I’ve never had organic green tea. But that is all about to change, because Garden of Life is giving away free samples of their organic green tea. 4-6 weeks from now, I will be testing out the difference between “normal” green tea and organic green tea. The anticipation of that moment is killing me, I tell you.