The Green Life

You Think Saving the Planet Is Funny?

Finger-Lickin' Good Exhaust

Doug Fine grew up on Domino’s Pizza in New York City’s suburbs, traveled the world as a journalist, and at age 36 plopped down on a ragged New Mexico ranch to live more environmentally. That meant raising much of his own food, cutting back on electricity, and ditching his beloved Subaru for a truck that runs on vegetable oil. This excerpt from his new book, Farewell, My Subaru, follows his efforts to find sources of alternative fuel.

I never imagined waste oil would be such a scarce commodity--not when you consider that the default ingredient in the "diabetes capital of the world" is essentially grease. Traditional New Mexican food is delicious specifically because it is 39 variations of fried corn. This is a cuisine so greasy that the primary protein source for generations has been refried beans.

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

Not Yanking Your Chain

We raise a leather-gloved hand in salute to Black & Decker. The company  has rolled out a battery-operated chainsaw and a line of electric tools, joining other manufacturers trying to trim pollution from yard work.

Perhaps one day the quieter electric saw will topple the gas-powered chainsaw, that ripsnorting icon so familiar to gardeners, lumberjacks, and fans of horror movies. The gas version has been filling the air with gray smoke--not to mention curses at failed pull chains--since it was invented in 1927.

Schmooze or Lose

Green-business networking events are multiplying like investors chasing a hot stock. Among the eco-entrepreneur magnets: EcoTuesday, with four new branches from Seattle to Atlanta, and Green Drinks, which since early 2007 has tripled in size to more than 355 chapters worldwide. Good ideas flow along with organic merlot at these get-togethers. One Green Drinks event in Nashville, Tennessee, sparked a partnership between a garden center and Vanderbilt University. Now the leaves of Vanderbilt's more than 7,500 trees, formerly landfilled, are enjoying a second life as compost. ecotuesday.com, greendrinks.org

Illustration by Mark Matcho; used with permission.

Foiled Again

Energy bars are convenient, sure, but what about the 800 million wrappers discarded each year? Now they and other selected junk can be sent to a company that's making big business out of household garbage. The plastic/foil composite wrappers, along with empty juice pouches, will be reincarnated as bags and backpacks on the shelves of Target. Next, old plastic yogurt containers will reappear at Home Depot as planter pots. The formula belongs to TerraCycle, which entices schools and others to collect castoffs in return for a charity donation, then refashions the items for sale in big-box stores. terracycle.net

Leap Year

Lions and sharks get all the crowds at animal parks--the ornate horned frog, not so much. That might change this year as zoos and aquariums open amphibian exhibits to aid in the creatures' very survival. Disappearing forests, rising temperatures, and a nasty fungus have precipitated a population crash among amphibians, prompting the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to fashion itself a Noah's ark and declare 2008 the "Year of the Frog." To find an exhibit near you, visit aza.org/yearofthefrog.

Photo by Newport Aquarium; used with permission.

Trendsetter

Jeff Robinson: Product coordinator, Free Geek

Every year about 500 tons of old and broken computers wind up at Free Geek, a recycling cooperative in Portland, Oregon. Hundreds of volunteers, from nerds to the needy, help reassemble the parts into working machines, and no wonder, since 24 hours of labor earns volunteers a free PC. Jeff Robinson, 33, is one of 14 members of the collective that runs Free Geek. Begun in 2000 in a living room, the enterprise now occupies a warehouse and has spawned nine other Free Geeks, from Arkansas to Vancouver, British Columbia. freegeek.org

Q: What's it like to work at Free Geek?

A: It's a crazy atmosphere. We have retirees who have had great jobs standing next to someone who's never used a computer before, helping each other out.

Q: What happens to the computers that come through your door?

A:Roughly 20 percent are immediately reusable, ready to rebuild or resell. The other 80 percent need to be recycled.

Q:Does an operation like this really make a difference?

A:Rather than have computers go to a landfill, last month we gave away 100 and sold 100, and they're going back into the community. The difference is environmental, economic, and educational.

Media Lounge

Discuss this selection with your friends and neighbors. Learn how at sierraclub.org/sierra/letstalk.

EDIBLE ESTATES
a book by Fritz Haeg
Starting in 2005, architect and designer Fritz Haeg commissioned families in California, New Jersey, and Kansas to rip out their lawns and grow vegetables in their front yards. Edible Estates is a treatise against grass, which at 30 million acres is the United States' largest irrigated crop. It also follows the suburban dissidents who dug under the inquisitive gaze of neighbors and found joy in curbside tomatoes.

LIVING WITH ED
an HGTV DVD set
Ed Begley Jr., a TV star and environmentalist, pits himself against Hollywood's glitz in this man-versus-modern-times reality show. His luxury-loving wife, Rachelle Carson, plays devil's advocate by challenging his angelic intentions (such as collecting rainwater in an "ugly" container). Begley also tours Tinseltown and the Sundance Film Festival to green-gut-check his fellow celebs. A visit to Jay Leno's car haven is particularly electrifying. --Della Watson

THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE SCARLET MACAW
a book by Bruce Barcott
This suspenseful tale of the recent, impassioned fight against Belize's Chalillo Dam draws eerie parallels to John Muir's struggle against the Hetch Hetchy Dam in California's Sierra Nevada. A spectacular river valley teeming with wildlife is at stake, and an eccentric zookeeper--aided by Sierra Club members--tilts against corrupt officials and secret deals in a jungle-state where the animals have as much personality as the people. --Heather Conn

WALKING THE WRACK LINE
a book by Barbara Hurd
"I was in my mid-forties," Barbara Hurd writes, "before I understood that you don't always have to see where you're going in order to get there." A seasoned observer of hidden places, she looks to tidal debris--a moon snail, sea glass, driftwood--to create a lyrical melody of history, travel, and observation. Walking the Wrack Line becomes her metaphor for loss, transformation, and embrace of the natural world. --Thomas Curwen

WILLIAM IS GOING GREEN
a book by James Martin II with James Martin III
illustrated by Don Berry
After William the Garbage Truck's loud, smoky engine costs him his job, the eco-city of Jamestown offers him employment if he replaces his gas-guzzling engine with a hybrid. At first disheartened, William finds salvation when he helps a cat and earns karmic rewards. Besides adding hybrid to the vocabulary of three- to eight-year-olds, this book helps kids learn about water conservation and toy recycling. --D.W.

The Secret Garden

For a decade, Scott Bunnell has been tilling a road median in Long Beach, California, turning dirt into a paradise of aloes and agaves. It's illegal, but he just can't help himself. Recently he learned he's part of an international cadre of guerrilla gardeners--rebels with shovels who plant on neglected public and private land, sometimes in the dark of night. They strategize at guerrillagardening.org, and a related book, On Guerrilla Gardening, arrives in May. "It's like a graffiti artist seeing a blank wall or a surfer seeing a good wave," says Bunnell. "When I see an open area of land, I envision a garden."

Illustration by Mark Matcho; used with permission.