The Green Life

The Buzz

I highly recommend sharing a bath, hitting yourself on the head with a ladle if you need to boil the kettle twice, and turning your heating down by 2 degrees."
-- Rock star KT Tunstall on the little things music fans can do for the planet

Grapevine

China's new ban on plastic bags goes into effect on June 1. The law could save 37 million barrels of crude oil each year. * A power system planned for Sweden's Stockholm Central Station will capture body heat generated by the traveling masses and use it to heat water that warms a nearby 13-story building. * Walking has new power, thanks to a high-tech knee brace that produces enough electricity to juice ten cell phones. --Lea Hartog

The Buzz

"I changed all the lightbulbs to energy-safe lightbulbs, and I'm buying a hybrid car right now. Little things that people can do every day make a huge difference."
--Paris Hilton

Grapevine

*  Peter Garrett, the former lead singer of rock group Midnight Oil, was named Australia's environmental minister in late 2007. 

*  Kettle Foods opened a LEED-certified potato-chip factory with 18 rooftop wind turbines in Beloit, Wisconsin, while Frito-Lay announced that its chip plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, will run on recycled water and renewable fuels by 2010.

*  Target will phase out all products containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a potentially harmful chemical compound. 

*  Automaker Daimler AG unveiled the first U.S. version of its compact, fuel-efficient Smart car in January. 

*  Transit planners at the University of California, Davis, have teamed up with the AAA auto club to give plug-in hybrids to 100 Northern California households for an eight-week trial period. 

*  Mayors from five of Texas's biggest cities have called for a new "state lightbulb"--a compact fluorescent. 

*  Ten dollars from each online DVD sale of Out of Balance, a new documentary about global warming (worldoutofbalance.org), will go to victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

--Lea Hartog, Sierra

Arctic Blogs

Ever wondered what it's like to live and work in Antarctica? Save yourself lots of time and money traveling that far south by getting the scoop on the following Arctic blogs (As seen on Kottke.org):

Antarctic Journal
Big Dead Place
British Antarctic Survey
John Bean's Antarctica blog
U of Delaware blog
Nathan Duke
elisfanclub
Concordia Base
Base Dumont d'Urville
Mr Rose Géophy CZT45

Grapevine

Former Talking Heads front man David Byrne is writing a book, Bicycle Diaries, about urban cycling. * Nissan is installing real-time mpg displays in all its new cars. The company predicts they will cut gas use by 10 percent. * UPS is bolstering its delivery fleet with 300 new vehicles that run on cleaner-burning propane or compressed natural gas. * Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand are racing to be the first airline to test-fly a biofueled jet. * Tully's Coffee has started an in-store collection program for cups and other compostable waste. * The Israeli embassy in the United States is switching its fleet to hybrid-electric vehicles. * California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company gave away a million CFLs last fall.

The Buzz

"When it comes to rock-star do-gooderism, greenhouse emissions are the new poverty."

--Blender, "The Hot Report 2007"

* * *

"I was asked at a lecture by a young woman about what she could do and I told her stop admiring young men in Ferraris. What I was saying is you have got to admire people who are conserving energy and not those willfully using it."

--Sir David King, chief scientific advisor to the British government

Long May It Run

When a man writes a love song for his 1948 Buick, you know he's got a thing for old cars. But Neil Young's latest automotive exploit is no exercise in nostalgia--he's had his 1959 Lincoln Continental converted to a biodiesel-electric hybrid engine, and will be directing a film about the car as he drives it across the country to raise awareness about alternative fuels. My my, hey hey, hope that's an idea that's here to stay.

The Buzz

"Some things are important for the world to know . . . like how long I shower. Seriously. I take a three-minute shower. It's three minutes, or as short as possible, for a good reason."

--actress Jennifer Aniston in The Green Book (Three Rivers Press)

* * *

If we'd listened to Jimmy Carter, we'd have some great electric cars right now."

--actor Mark Wahlberg

* * *

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like to see things in skips [British for dumpsters]. I go past a skip and I'll say, 'I could use that. That's a cupboard; that's a nice bit of wood.'"

--Sir Paul McCartney on his dumpster-diving habit

* * *

Women say they like my sense of responsibility. The fact that I'm an activist--that's been attractive."

--eligible environmentalist Aaron Rourke, one of People magazine's six "Lean, Green, Sexy Machines"

Seeing the Light

A little darkness can be eye-opening. At this weekend's Lights Out SF event, San Franciscans turned off lights at City Hall, local bars, and in their own homes for one hour to raise awareness about energy conservation. A similar event in Sydney, Australia, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 24.86 tons. (An added benefit, as one commenter on local blog SFist.com put it: "Your fellow partygoers are much cuter by candlelight.")

Organizers are already working on a nationwide follow-up for Saturday, March 29, 2008. Also carrying the energy-conservation idea forward are members of the Sierra Club-sponsored S.F. Climate Challenge, in which teams of households compete (for some pretty nice prizes) to reduce their utility bills over the next month. Tomorrow, October 24, is the final day to sign up. Not the competitive type? You can still celebrate the remaining week of Energy Awareness Month by taking some simple actions. According to the EPA, "If every U.S. household changed a single light bulb to an Energy Star bulb, it would save enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes."

Heard Around the Web

With almost 20,000 bloggers getting their two cents in, Blog Action Day tackled environmental issues from almost every conceivable angle, including:

• 29 ways for designers and other freelancers to make their work greener;
• expressing individuality without overconsuming;
• how administrators of data centers can reduce energy consumption from servers;
• changing expectations about Christmas;
• how to tread lightly as a photographer;
• what guitar companies are doing to help the environment;
• how recycling works in Germany;
• the ins and outs of home composting;
• ecofriendly ways to renovate an old home; and
• creative refashioning of clothes.

Read an interesting post on Blog Action Day? Tell us about it in the comments section.

The Global Green Life

As if the pollution and litter caused by plastic bags weren't bad enough, soggy piles of the discarded sacks can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, posing a serious problem in malaria-stricken areas. In Uganda, this concern has prompted another ban on plastic bags, and more interestingly--to me, anyway--a campaign to get people to return to traditional methods of carrying goods instead. And whereas in Japan, that meant wrapping cloths, in Uganda, it means banana leaves.

This fascinating tidbit came my way via the fall issue of Earth Island Journal, which also notes that end-of-life customs are going green in India, where cremation is the traditional Hindu practice. A mechanical engineer has apparently developed an ultra-efficient funeral pyre that cuts the amount of wood used by 95 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by over half. It's great to read about innovative solutions popping up all over.

Grapevine

Moscow has introduced a label to identify foods free of genetically modified ingredients. * The largest solar photovoltaic facility in North America is being built outside Las Vegas to provide energy for Nellis Air Force Base. Meanwhile, the Vatican is installing solar panels on the Paul VI Hall, a 6,300-seat venue used for concerts and papal addresses. * Hertz and Avis are boosting the number of hybrid vehicles in their rental-car fleets by 3,400 and 1,500, respectively. * Google pledged to cut or offset all of its greenhouse-gas emissions by the end of the year, invested $10 million to develop plug-in hybrid cars, and joined Intel and other tech companies to halve computers' energy use in half by 2010. climatesaverscomputing.org

Read All About It

A roundup of news worth noting from the past month or so:

BUSINESS/MONEY
* GE jumped on the green-credit-card bandwagon with its GE Money Earth Rewards Platinum MasterCard, which must be applied for online or by phone (to save paper, don'cha know). Boosters and doubters weighed in.

* A Portland startup has developed software to reduce paper waste while printing.

GRAPEVINE
* Actress/activist Daryl Hannah is working to green this weekend's Virgin Festival (sponsored by the media company, silly) in Baltimore. Music-lovers coming to see the Police, the Smashing Pumpkins, and dozens of other acts will also find plates made of sugarcane, biodiesel-run generators, and "green angels" monitoring waste disposal. Don't miss Explosions in the Sky, y'all. They totally rock.

* Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro has joined the campaign to preserve the island's Northeast Ecological Corridor. (Yeah, the article is in Spanish and from April, but even old news is worth reporting when it comes to Benicio.)

Sustainable Swells

The rich and famous don't have to give up their caviar dreams to go green. Roe from U.S.-farmed sturgeon and trout (below) are gaining cachet as an environmentally friendly alternative to overfished beluga sturgeon. And where better to enjoy these delicacies than in a luxe living room at the Solaire, one of the energy-efficient, green-roofed highrises popping up in Lower Manhattan? As night falls, the eco-elite might don a couture coat made of recycled soda bottles and hop into an eye-catching all-electric car--perhaps a speedy Tango like the one actor George Clooney drives to the set (above). That's the beautiful people for you--always doing their part.

(George Clooney/Tango photograph by Bryan Woodbury; Sterling Caviar photograph by Kenny Morrison)

Grapevine

Paris is joining Amsterdam in making bicycles available citywide for free or a small fee. * The city of San Francisco passed a ban on plastic shopping bags at large supermarkets and chain pharmacies, the first such law in the United States. * Outdoor-apparel company Patagonia has expanded its Polartec-fleece-recycling program to include products from other manufacturers. * HGTV gardening guru Paul Tukey is leading a campaign to convert more than one million acres of lawn to organic by 2010. * A film festival celebrating the bicycle is traveling to 15 cities around the world. * Tesco, the Wal-Mart of Britain, is selling energy-efficient lightbulbs at half price, while McDonald's is serving sustainably grown coffee at its 1,200 franchises in the United Kingdom and Ireland. * Canada became the second country, after Australia, to announce a ban on incandescent lightbulbs.

The Buzz

"The greenest ballpark in the country may be Fenway Park, because only an idiot would try driving and parking there."

--Sports Illustrated, March 12

* * *

"Environmentalists were no fun. They were like prohibitionists at the fraternity party. . . . The tipping point will be occurring when the environment is no longer seen as a nag, but as a positive force in people's lives."

--California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)

What's Hot (or Not)

When it comes to "chic alternative lifestyles," gay is out and green is in, according to the latest Vanity Fair.

Ties are "out" in Italy, where the government is following Japan's lead and encouraging employers to allow casual dress in the summer to reduce air-conditioning demands. (C'mon, Italy, you're going to have to get ahead of the eco-curve if you want to keep setting the fashion agenda.)

Cheese-wedge houses are out, and good design is in, says Witold Rybczynski, whose architectural commentary accompanies a slideshow of ecofriendly, but aesthetically pleasing buildings on Slate.

Going to Bat for the Environment

The good thing about having a sports stadium in a dense downtown area is that even die-hard drivers can usually be convinced to take public transportation to the game. ($20+ parking has a way of doing that.) And even though these transit neophytes can cause chaos and confusion, it does my baseball-loving, planet-hugging heart good to see the throngs of people pouring off buses, BART, and the ferry every gameday. Also cheering is this report from Treehugger about Major League Baseball's small green steps--including giving Ichiro Suzuki, this year's All-Star MVP, a hybrid SUV instead of the regular gas-guzzling kind. Hey, I said they were small steps.

A Tip a Day...

...keeps global warming at bay. (And other environmental problems too!)

Want to start living a lower-impact, higher-quality lifestyle? Not sure where to begin? Sign up for our new Green Life newsletter and receive an easy tip every day about a small change that can make a big difference. Simple steps like replacing conventional lightbulbs with more efficient ones, keeping your car tires properly inflated, or adjusting your thermostat a degree or two can save you money, reduce waste, and help save the planet. Don't delay, sign up today!

Grapevine

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas, and Sheryl Crow are among the more than 100 artists scheduled to play Live Earth, seven continents' worth of concerts on July 7 to raise awareness of climate change. * Ikea has instituted a five-cent fee for each disposable plastic bag given out in its U.S. stores and cut the price of its reusable sacks; a similar Ikea campaign in the United Kingdom reduced consumption of single-use bags by 95 percent. * Home Depot is introducing more than 1,300 ecofriendly products, including low-flow showerheads and tankless water heaters, in its U.S. and Canadian stores. * More than 100 college and university presidents have signed a pact to eliminate or offset carbon emissions at their schools; the Los Angeles Community College District is already taking its nine campuses off the grid with solar energy.

Urban Bright

It's been a big week for urban greening. With the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, there are now 500 "Cool Cities"--home to 64 million people--in the United States, each of which have committed to reduce global warming pollution by increasing energy efficiency, transitioning to cleaner vehicles, and switching to renewable power.

Internationally, 16 cities will get a green "makeover" thanks to the Clinton Foundation, which has partnered with multinational banks and energy service companies to retrofit buildings from Mexico City to Mumbai with energy-saving technologies that will cut power consumption by up to 50 percent.

"Climate change is a global problem that requires local action," former President Clinton said, announcing the program yesterday. "The businesses, banks and cities partnering with my foundation are addressing the issue of global warming because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's good for their bottom line."

The Buzz

"Today big companies and activists are at least as apt to hammer out a partnership over a cup of sustainably grown coffee as to confront one another in court.... Why? For one thing, because there is money to be made."

--Fortune, April 2

* * *

"If 'Wall Street' were made today, Gordon Gekko might be a television executive who would shrewdly say: 'Green is good.'"

--The Los Angeles Times, April 23

Grapevine

Boulder, Colorado, voters passed the country's first carbon tax last November. Residents and businesses will be charged based on their electricity use, with the average household paying about $1.50 per month. * Google is putting more than 9,200 solar panels on its Silicon Valley office complex, the largest installation on any U.S. corporate campus. * Travelers making plans on expedia.com and travelocity.com can now buy carbon offsets for their flights, hotels, and rental cars. * The Weather Channel has a new weekly series, The Climate Code, and Web site, climate.weather.com, devoted to global warming. * Reality TV is getting into the green act too: In February, PBS's This Old House began airing a series on an ecofriendly renovation of an Austin home, while actor Leonardo DiCaprio's proposed E-topia would transform an entire town.

Boys of Summer Go Solar

Being a baseball buff, I was relieved when Mr. Green determined that my team, the San Francisco Giants, was doing a pretty good job with recycling. (And I don't just mean bringing back one of my favorite players.) This week, los Gigantes announced that they are installing solar panels at PacBell SBC AT&T Park. (Check out the computer-generated simulation of what it will look like in KGO's news report.) Now how ‘bout some organic beer, guys?

The Buzz

"When you see first-graders trying to make their classrooms carbon neutral, you know the word has become mainstream."

--Erin McKean, editor in chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary, which picked carbon neutral as its word of the year for 2006

* * *

"American politics is greening at a rapid rate."

--Economist, November 9, 2006

* * *

"I live in a very normal-looking house with a fax machine and a computer. I have everything I need to get by in the modern world--I just do it more efficiently."

--actor Ed Begley Jr., whose eco-themed reality show, Living With Ed, premiered on HGTV in January

Green Goes Glamourous

"The 10 easiest things you can do to help the planet" grace the cover of Glamour's April issue--right next to Drew Barrymore's smiling face and below "Real women confess their sex fantasies." Though it's billed as "the fantasy issue," there's nothing fantastical about the magazine's top ten tips, which include such simple and effective things as changing your light bulbs, taking transit or riding a bike instead of driving, using green household cleaners, and eating local or organic foods. Glamour's eco-coverage also includes a video tour of Hollywood activist Laurie David's green home improvements ("inspiration central!") and a round-up of green web links that you can "click to help save the planet."

The Buzz

"Our research shows that consumers are getting very concerned about environmental issues... It's a trend that we know won't go away after a season, like a poncho."

--Mike Barry, head of corporate social responsibility at British retailer Marks & Spencer, quoted in "Can Polyester Save the World?" by Elisabeth Rosenthal, The New York Times, January 25, 2007.

Pop Corner

A tree hugger with a tiara? That's Allison Rogers, the 25-year-old beauty queen who will represent Rhode Island in next week's Miss America competition. The Harvard University grad, who works as an environmental education coordinator on campus, eschewed typically uncontroversial pageant "platforms" like promoting character. Instead, Rogers chose global warming as her issue, writing, "I have a dream that one day we will live in a society that runs on renewable and nonfossil fuels, with low-impact vehicles, where 'sustainable' lifestyle choices are second nature for all of us."

Oprah Wants You

Weight-loss success stories are regular feature on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Now the queen of all media is looking to spotlight another type of dieter: one that's cut back on carbon emissions. If you're doing your part for global warming, Oprah wants you:

"Are you worried about global warming? Have you and your family made changes around your household to save energy and cut carbon emissions? Do you recycle and set your thermostat to energy saving cycles? Do you use public transportation to help reduce your fuel consumption? Have you found a way to make a difference in your home or in your yard that you could share with our viewers? What are your specific ideas to reduce global warming in your home? Tell us what they are. The Oprah Winfrey Show is looking for families who are making a difference in reducing global warming that can share their stories and creative ideas. Please only respond if you are willing to be on television."

Good luck, and let us know if you make the cut!

Grapevine

The new World Trade Center complex is being designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. * Actress Julia Roberts, mother of two-year-old twins, is working with Earth Biofuels to promote biodiesel as a cleaner-burning fuel option for school buses; actor Morgan Freeman and singer Willie Nelson are already on the Dallas-based company's board. * The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the sport's international governing body, is leading a campaign for golf courses to switch to drought-tolerant grasses and reduce pesticide and water use. * Electronics maker Hitachi is revamping its production facilities as part of an effort to be "emissions neutral" by 2015.

The Buzz

"The most important thing to happen this past year was that living and thinking 'green'--that is, mobilizing for the environmental/energy challenge we now face--hit Main Street. For so many years the term 'green' . . . was trapped in a corner by its opponents, who defined it as 'liberal,' 'tree-hugging,' 'girly-man,' 'unpatriotic,' 'vaguely French.' No more."

--columnist Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, December 22, 2006

* * *

"The public is placing locally grown foods on the same pedestal organics once occupied, seeing them as a path to better health and environmental quality."

--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 27, 2006

Feuds, Fashion, and . . . Fighting Global Warming?

It's always fun when environmental tidbits make their way into the gossip columns. (Not least because it makes reading them legitimate "research.") Eco-celeb-about-town Leonardo DiCaprio merited a mention in the San Francisco Chronicle's "Daily Dish" for starting a popular discussion on the "Yahoo! Answers" web site about global-warming solutions.

So far, more than 9,000 readers have contributed their ideas for "smart, simple, and serious" ways that "we can all take action in our own homes and where we work"—and only a few turned it into an opportunity to dis Leo's movie choices.

Grapevine

Rapper Jay-Z has filmed a documentary about the world water crisis in collaboration with the United Nations. Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life is scheduled to air on MTV in late November. * Levi's fall line includes "Eco" jeans made with 100 percent organic cotton. * Project Runway, the Heidi Klum-hosted reality-TV hit, challenged last summer's contestants to make stylish garments out of materials from a New Jersey recycling facility. * Washington State University is offering the country's first major in organic agriculture. * Computer maker Dell recently began offering free recycling of its own products worldwide; rival Hewlett-Packard will recycle any brand of equipment for a fee.

The Buzz

"If you care about human life, you have to care about the environment."

--actress Daryl Hannah, who was arrested in June while protesting the destruction of an urban farm in Los Angeles

* * *

" Commuting to work by bike has renewed appeal right now. On top of health benefits—like offering a chance to exercise without taking extra time—it saves on the growing costs of fuel and even carries a certain cachet at the office."

--The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2006

* * *

"Since becoming a mom, I have become so green. I am making sure that all my stuff is organic, and I get rid of garbage in a green way. Actually, it is fun."

--Britney Spears, pop singer

Grapevine

Anheuser-Busch is test-marketing an organic beer dubbed Wild Hop, the first from a mega-brewer. * Wal-Mart, the biggest grocery chain in the United States, has doubled the amount of organic food it carries and promises it will soon sell only wild-caught fish from sustainable fisheries. * The city of Visalia, California, is building two police substations out of bales of straw, a natural insulating material that can cut energy costs in half. * "Eco-tourism" is the "buzzword of the year," according to the New York Times, which notes that 38 percent of U.S. travelers would pay more for a greener trip. * The California-based Ghirardelli Chocolate Company has saved $1 million a year since improving its energy efficiency and reducing packaging waste. * Every month, Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon offers up to 50 free gallons of a cleaner-burning biodiesel mix (made of waste from local restaurants and the nearby Kettle Chips factory) to its employees, who can fill up their cars right at the winery. * Historic landmarks on both U.S. coasts are going green: The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are now powered partly by wind energy, while hybrid ferries to Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, are in the works. * The University of California at Berkeley will open certified organic salad bars in its four campus dining halls by spring 2007.

The Buzz

"If you went five years ago, you'd see a lot of ponytails. Now these conferences are packed with suits."

--financier attending a renewable energy conference, BusinessWeek, August 14, 2006

* * *

"While 'doing something for the environment' once meant tossing a newspaper in a recycling bin or buying organic lettuce, now nearly every aspect of daily life--from the toilets we flush to the flowers that decorate our dinner tables--is being radically rethought."

--Washington Post, August 6

* * *

"The tech elite and the financiers who fund them are bored with Google and MySpace. Their New, New, New Thing . . . is alternative energy."

--Slate, July 22

From Ozone Man to Fashion Icon

A style bulletin from, of all places, The Nation: Designer Marc Jacobs is selling Al Gore T-shirts, tote bags, and trucker hats; all proceeds go to Gore’s Climate Project.

New Job for Mr. Jolie

Actor Brad Pitt has narrated a six-part PBS series on green architecture called design:e2. No, really. The topic should be a good match for the "carbon-neutral" movie star and longtime Gehry groupie. Check local airdates for the show, which runs through early July, and let us know if it's first-rate or fluff.

Grapevine

An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary about global warming starring Al Gore, opens in theaters in May. * Jewelry retailers Zales, Tiffany, and Cartier have joined a campaign to clean up gold mining, pledging to get more of the precious metal from environmentally responsible sources. Visit nodirtygold.org. * Whole Foods Market has purchased enough wind-energy credits to offset the power used by its 180-store operation. * The NFL planted some 2,500 trees near Ford Field in Detroit to help make up for emissions created by powering lights, heating, and equipment during February's Super Bowl. * Elle magazine's May issue is printed on recycled paper and features articles on green topics--including one by actress Cameron Diaz.

The Buzz

"These cars are just as good, they're just as fast, and they use less gas, so I don't understand why everyone isn't driving one."

--actor Matt Damon on hybrids

* * *

"Any flashy car turns me off. It's just so not environmentally conscious."

--actress Kirsten Dunst, quoted in In Touch Weekly magazine

* * *

"Soccer moms, taco shops, even real estate developers--mainstream America is starting to pull the plug and rely on homegrown solar energy. Call it the dawn of the hygrid age."

--Wired magazine

Grapevine

Only 31,042 franchises to go: McDonald's is testing out fair-trade-certified organic coffee at 658 locations in New England and New York. * The Clinton Presidential Center in Arkansas offers weekly tours highlighting its green features, including recycled-aluminum ceilings, 336 solar panels, and recharging stations for electric cars. * Prius-owning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has filmed a commercial in Japan for the Toyota hybrid. * Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David is giving away his Prius to one lucky college student to raise awareness about global warming. Enter the contest at mtvu.com/partners/stopglobalwarming before March 3. * Last year, the nonprofit Wisconsin Environmental Initiative certified more than 850 new homes in the state as "green built" based on their land use, materials, and efficiency-- up from only 30 six years ago. * Sunset magazine's green-built "idea house" in Menlo Park, California, is the first in a planned subdivision of 47 units that produce as much energy as they use. * Down the coast in Carmel, director Clint Eastwood's new luxury-housing development features solar and wind generators, a water- reclamation system, and landscaping from an on-site native-plants nursery.

Grapevine

Whole Foods Market branched out to whole-life retailing last fall, adding a shop