The greenest way to get from here to there? That’s with your feet. Hit the trails this summer in support of both your health and the environment. Need some inspiration on where to start? The National Scenic Trails are a great place to start.
Infographic courtesy of REI.com
New green technologies are invented all the time, making life as we know it a little more eco-friendly. Think solar panels, hybrid cars, water-powered clocks, and post-consumer recycled toner cartridges (of which Dolphin Blue has a wide array).
But some inventions are a little more offbeat. Here are three that take something old and make it new again — in totally unexpected ways.
1. Trash-powered street lamps. Webster’s first definition of trash is “something worth relatively little or nothing,” but designer Haneum Lee has a different idea. His Gaon Street Light includes a trash can at its base made for food scraps. The methane from the discarded waste then powers the lamp, and compost is created that can be used to green nearby parks and other areas. With this concept, it is true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
2. Washing machine beads. Washing your clothes with hardly any water? A company in England says it’s possible. Xeros has developed plastic beads that fight stains while using 90 percent less water than a typical laundry cycle. The nylon beads can be reused hundreds of times, then recycled into things like dashboards for cars.
3. Pig urine brick? 2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition winner, architect Ginger Krieg Dosier, has blended sand, clay, soil, and bacteria together to create bricks with a smaller carbon footprint than traditional cement ones. (Brick production currently creates about 800 million tons of CO2 a year.) Dosier says pig urine may become part of her process in the future.
Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is just one great place to go by bike in Walk Score’s third most bike-friendly city.
For a sustainable — and just plain enjoyable — way to get around, look no further than a bicycle. You can cover a lot of miles with just two wheels, but you won’t be making the carbon footprint you would be on four wheels. Here are the top three U.S. cities for biking, according to WalkScore.com.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Bike Score: 79
Perhaps it’s the frigid winters that bond the bike couriers, road racers, BMXers, and recreational cyclists in Minneapolis, Walk Score’s winner for bikeability in the United States. If you’re visiting, the Grand Rounds trail nearly circles the entire city, while the Mississippi River Trail follows both sides of the river, to name just two big routes. Learn more about the bike scene in Minneapolis here.
Portland, Oregon
Bike Score: 70
Often considered the cycling capital of the U.S., Portland is a leader thanks to bike lanes, low-traffic bike boulevards, off-street paths, bike parking corrals, and a very lively bike culture. While you’re there, combine two of Portland’s loves — beers and bikes — with a Brewcycle tour (a 15-seater bike contraption that goes from brewery to brewery) or a Pub Peddler Brewery Tour from Portland Bicycle Tours.
San Francisco, California
Bike Score: 70
One of the must-do activities while in the City by the Bay is to rent a bike along the waterfront and pedal across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. The views both approaching the bridge and from among its orange-hued towers are spectacular on a clear day (and the good news is that the wind cooperates with you on the way back, so it’ll be comparatively easier pedaling). Try San Francisco Bicycle Rentals or another of the many shops around town for a good cruising bike.
Wildlife rescuer Carly Wilson has pledged not to buy any stuff for 90 days. Photo by Jonathan Mao.
Starting in January, Queensland, Australia–based wildlife rescuer Carly Wilson committed to a 90-day pledge not to buy anymore stuff, on the heels of trying out month-long no-buying stints last year. As she writes on her blog: “As I’ve talked about a million times, an excess of stuff does more harm than good. It clutters up your home and (for me at least) your headspace. It also costs you financially (more than you realise) and worst of all, it is so damaging to the planet.”
We caught up with Wilson to see what exactly a consumer detox entails, how she’s faring, and what lessons she’s learned along the way.
Dolphin Blue: What inspired you to try a consumer detox?
Carly Wilson: About two years ago, I started reading through personal finance blogs as a way to learn about money and pay off some debt. The personal finance blogosphere ended up leading me to the frugal living and minimalism blogospheres, including The Everyday Minimalist and Dave Bruno’s The 100 Thing Challenge. I became inspired to cut down on my consumption of things as a way to save money and also conserve planetary resources. I work with wild animals for a living and understand that all the crap we buy has to come from somewhere — and that “somewhere” is usually at the expense of our world’s habitats. I think it’s really important that we start learning to live with less.
DB: What rules have you set for yourself?
CW: For three months, I can only buy the essential items like food and toiletries — no clothing, no music, no books. Basically, no non-essential things. I’m still allowed to go to movies and out to dinner and things like that, though, because those things don’t involve “stuff.”
DB: You’re in it for 90 days this time. How’s it going so far?
CW: It’s going pretty well. I did end up having to buy a few pieces of clothing for work because I just started a new job with a mandatory uniform that they don’t provide. I felt pretty bad about that, but aside from that, I haven’t broken any rules! I’m two months into my challenge now and the crazy thing I’m finding is that the further along I get with it, the less I am interested in buying stuff. In fact, I’ve donated a lot of what I do have. It feels great to live lightly, and I actually have saved quite a lot of money too!
DB: Why do you think not buying things is so challenging?
CW: I think that our culture is addicted to the thrill of the next purchase. It can be exciting to covet something, and our culture surrounds us with subtle advertising to make us believe that owning certain things will make us feel a certain way — but at the end of the day, chasing that lifestyle drains our bank accounts, clutters our homes, distracts us from what’s important in life, and pollutes our planet.
DB: What have you learned from your efforts to not accumulate more stuff?
CW: I’ve learned that it is really freaking amazing to have a clutter-free wardrobe and that you actually dress better if you have exactly what you need instead of piles and piles of mediocre [clothes]. This experiment has been a very liberating one, and I feel much lighter as a result. I don’t have the burden of clutter or the burden of debt and that’s an awesome feeling. As a wildlife advocate, I also feel great knowing that I am doing my part to lessen my impact on the planet.
DB: Would you recommend a consumer detox to others?
CW: Definitely! It’s amazing to step outside of our society’s consumerism culture for a short while and realize how little you actually need to be happy.
To learn more about Wilson, visit her blog at www.carlywilson.com/blog, where she writes about wildlife and non-consumerism, and follow her on Twitter @carlycreature.
This year marks the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, and although much progress has been made since those early days, the earth is still in need of our appreciation, support, and protection. (To learn more about how Earth Day started, check out our post on Denis Hayes, the coordinator of the first Earth Day.)
If you’re looking for a good way to celebrate this year, consider these ideas:
Get outside. Participating in an outdoor activity is a great way to enjoy nature’s bounties. Earth Day walks are held in cities of all sizes, but you don’t have to be part of an organized event to enjoy the fresh air — go for a stroll, or make your workout for the day alfresco. Health and fitness expert Stephanie Mansour recommends skipping those plugged-in treadmills and ellipticals and instead hitting the great outdoors. “Nature has a calming effect on us and helps bring us back to our center — the sun, plants, and even bodies of water and land help us refocus and regroup without the distractions of other people on man-made workout machines next to us or music over a loudspeaker,” she says.
Turn trash into treasure. You’re probably in the habit of recycling paper, plastic, and cardboard at your home and office, but think outside of the box on Earth Day. Nonprofit Second Chance Toys is holding an Earth Week drive to collect unwanted plastic toys and distribute them to children in need.
And, remember, recycling only truly works when we “complete the loop,” meaning, when we purchase products made from the materials we’ve placed in the recycling bin. Check out www.dolphinblue.com, where all our products are made from post-consumer recycled materials and in the USA.
Educate yourself. The Earth Day Network recommends organizing a screening of an environmentally themed documentary, such as King Corn, Blue Vinyl, Who Killed the Electric Car?, Earth Days, The Blue Planet, or The 11th Hour.
Food is a part of everyone’s lives — and it affects many different things, including your individual health, the health of the environment, and the health of animals. If you want to see how your diet scores on these three factors, click here. The considerations that go into each score include:
Health: saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, calcium, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, correlations of foods with cancer, and heart disease
Environment: air and water pollution from manure, cattle belching, production and overuse of fertilizer, depletion of groundwater, unnecessary use of land to produce feed grains and soil erosion, and over-grazing
Animal welfare: castration, hot-iron branding, debeaking, detailing, cramped cages and feedlots, cattle feed high in grain, and inhumane shipping and slaughterhouse practices
Also on the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s site is the Eating Green Calculator, which is a more simplified look at what you eat each week. It gives you stats on what it takes to fuel your diet — like how many acres of grain and grass are needed for animal feed, the pounds of pesticides and fertilizer used, and the amount of manure created by animals you eat.
Easter is upon us, and all that fake grass, toxic egg dye, and plastic packaging can really add up. We’ve rounded up a few good articles to spark some eco-friendly Easter ideas in you. So try making a candy holder from a toilet paper tube (it’s cute; we promise!), serving hard-boiled eggs dyed magenta with beets, or using an old silk tie to create an Easter egg design that’s to dye for.
>> 7 Creative Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs
(via Inhabitots)
>> A Simple, Organic Easter Menu
(via Prevention)
>> The Eco-Friendly Easter Basket
(via Crafting a Green World)
Last month, Dolphin Blue sent a film crew to the Forward on Climate rally in Washington, D.C. in a bus from Texas that we co-sponsored with The Sierra Club. The crew is hard at work on the film, which should be ready next month. For now, get a sneak peek with the trailer for “Cry Heard ‘Round the World: The Journey to D.C. to Take a Stand for Mother Earth.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jD4wRTvKo&feature=youtu.be]
Have you heard the news? DolphinBlue.com has gone through a complete overhaul to make it even easier for you to browse the products, get your questions answered, and buy when you’re ready. As part of the redesign, we’re now offering new product categories, including children’s toys, pet supplies, and home and garden goods. And, of course, we still have all the same great office products that we’ve built the business on since 1994.
To celebrate our website redesign, we’re offering 10 percent off each item you order with the code launchsale10. It’s good until tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:59 p.m., so make sure to check out the website today!
Plastic toys are just one category from which we purchase in abundance in the U.S.
When it comes to our ecological impact on the earth, there are three major factors involved: the population (which we talked about a couple of weeks ago), how much each person is consuming, and how efficiently each unit of consumption is produced.
Let’s focus on the second factor, how much each person is consuming, particularly in this nation. Although the U.S. has a lower birth rate than many other countries, we consume much, much more than most of the rest of the world. Compared with someone from China, an American consumes about 53 times more goods and services. Each of us uses as much energy as 370 Ethiopians. While collectively there are fewer Americans than people of other nationalities, each one of us has a huge impact on the world.
For example, Americans use:
– 2.5 gallons of oil a day
– 100 gallons of water a day
– 200 pounds of meat a year
– 500 plastic bags a year
We’re not alone — other industrialized countries use plenty of resources, too. Since 1950, the world’s people have consumed more goods and services than the combined total of all humans who ever walked the planet before us, according to The Sierra Club.
At our current rate of consumption, at some point, there won’t be enough left to consume. The earth’s resources are finite, and no matter how much technology advances, it can only find more creative ways to produce things, but it cannot recover resources once they’re destroyed.
Even with this knowledge, we continue to make poor environmental choices. Take the Tar Sands Keystone XL Pipeline (which Dolphin Blue is producing a documentary on). We’re piping oil mined in Canada and then transporting this oil in a major pipeline that will destroy huge areas of habitat for several thousand miles through Canada and the U.S., to a port near Houston. From there, the oil will be shipped to China and used in the manufacturing of cheap, throwaway goods that will come back stateside for sale — where they’ll quickly be disposed of. It’s inefficient, irresponsible, and environmentally destructive, not to mention unnecessary.
Borrow instead of buy whenever you can.
How can we change? We’re entrenched in a culture that values material goods, so it isn’t easy to adjust these patterns of consuming. They won’t go away overnight, but here are some small steps you can take as a start:
>> Fight against the urge to “keep up with the Joneses” and have all the latest gadgets and gizmos. Make splurging on something an occasional thing and not an everyday occurrence.
>> When you do need to buy something, look for the most eco-responsible options, including items that are made in the USA. Also, ask yourself if it’s something you could borrow instead.
>> If you’re working on a big project like sprucing up your home, don’t just rush out and buy new things. For example, in remodeling his house, Dolphin Blue founder Tom Kemper is reusing materials taken out of the existing structure; using recovered lumber and wooden floors from teardowns; installing a metal roof to facilitate rainwater collection; installing photovoltaic panels to produce and satisfy his household’s energy needs; buying old tubs, sinks, and doors; and refurbishing the old windows.
>> If there are public transportation options where you live, use them. Bikes and feet are great, too, for shorter distances.
>> Some people shop as a pick-me-up; the rush of buying something new can turn around a bad day. If this applies to you, replace that urge to buy with another behavior — going for a run in the park, giving yourself an hour to read, taking a nap, etc.
