The Green Life

The Great Electric-Vehicle Race

A friendly electric-vehicle race has developed between Portland Mayor Sam Adams and San Francisco Mayor (and California gubernatorial candidate) Gavin Newsom. It might not be as exciting as a race to the moon, but it might prove more environmentally significant. The prize at stake? The title of “EV capital of the world.”

Via posts on Gas 2.0, Mayor Newsom and Mayor Adams have recently outlined their plans to roll out the world's first plug-in charging grid in their respective cities. They’ve promised huge investments in technology and corporate partnerships so that their municipalities will be wired and ready to go when electric cars finally start flying off assembly lines.  Who'll get there first?

-- Mario Aguilar

Green Your Travel: Getting There

We're well into spring and summer's coming, so if you're feeling bitten by the travel bug and find yourself getting into vacation mode, please remember to protect the planet you're so intent on seeing. This week we're presenting tips about how to make your travels more earth-friendly.

Tip #1: Consider Your Means

No form of motorized transport is really green, but if you must use it, consider offsetting. Other ways to cut your carbon footprint from driving or flying include: packing lighter so as to save on the fuel it'll take to transport you and your stuff, taking the train or bus instead of driving a personal vehicle, and deciding to explore places closer to home.

Tip #2: Where to Stay

Tip #3: While You're There

Tip #4: Spot Greenwashing

Weigh in: How do you travel green?

Bonus: Check out our editor's opinions about eco-travel books in Budget Travel magazine.

The Coal Reality, Coen Brothers Style

A few weeks ago, we blogged about some of the ridiculous marketing techniques that the coal industry has used to try to promote "clean coal."  This week, the folks at the Reality Campaign (of which the Sierra Club is a partner), teamed up with all-star directors Joel and Ethan Coen (of Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men) to make a hilarious ad called "Air Freshener" that pokes some good fun at the oxymoronic "clean coal" concept. Check out the ad above, and if you're feeling bold, make your own "clean coal" ad and submit it to the Reality Campaign. If they like it, they'll post it on their site and give you $500!

--Michael Fox

Daily Roundup: February 23, 2009

Mercury Rising: Led by the U.N. in Nairobi, Kenya, more than 140 countries, including the U.S., agreed to forge a treaty toward reducing worldwide mercury emissions. TreeHugger

But Not For Long: The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to consider overturning a Bush-era rule that went easy on mercury emissions from power plants. Scientific American

Heat’s Back On: Wildfires returned to Australia just two weeks after firefighters quieted blazes that killed 200. National Geographic

Underlying Threat: As Arctic permafrost thaws, it’ll release huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Los Angeles Times

MTVegan: MTV is running slightly shocking nationwide ads for five weeks that demonize factory farms; the ads end by encouraging viewers to go to TryVeg.com. Ecorazzi

--Avital Binshtock

Daily Roundup: February 3, 2009

Good News: U.S. oil demand has fallen to its 2003 level – a drop low enough to offset the increasing demand in developing countries. TreeHugger

Environmental Factors: China is admitting that pollution, especially from its coal-producing regions, is responsible for the nation’s recent surge in birth defects. L.A. Times

Everything’s Bigger: Texas has approved a $5 billion plan to build lines to transport wind power from the West. SustainableBusiness.com

Cash In: Those who buy a 2010 Ford hybrid by Mar. 31 will qualify for a $3,400 tax credit. Environmental Leader

Close Tabs: Experts are predicting that everyone in the United Kingdom will have their own carbon budget by 2020. The Guardian

--Avital Binshtock

O.J. Guilty Of Emitting Carbon Dioxide

Have you ever wondered how much your glass of orange juice contributes to global warming? Well, so did PepsiCo, the maker of Tropicana, the New York Times reported yesterday. Adding up the emissions from the growing, juicing, and shipping of Tropicana O.J., PepsiCo found that "3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted… for each half-gallon carton of orange juice."

Though there is some controversy about the implications of displaying carbon-footprint numbers on products, the act of determining those numbers can help clarify where emissions can be reduced: Now that PepsiCo has figured out Tropicana’s carbon emissions, the company is working to lessen that output. As the project’s manager said, “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

--Cara Longpre

Recycling Plastic Bottle Caps

As in many places around the country, waste managers in New York City ask residents to chuck plastic bottle caps in the trash and take only bottles out to the curb for recycling. Green Life editor Josie Garthwaite explained why on NPR's Bryant Park Project this morning. (Hint: It has to do with markets and melting points.) If you're curious and have four minutes to spare, listen here.

Things To Do This Weekend

Thursday: Enjoy your organic turkey, tofurkey, or other ecofriendly holiday meal while watching the carbon-neutral Lions-Packers game.

Friday: Avoid the hordes--stay home and buy nothing.

Saturday: Tune in to Sierra Club Radio for interviews with columnist Paul Krugman, global-warming leader Fran Pavley, and Cindy Kang of Green Corps, plus a political update from Carl Pope and some tips for heating water efficiently.

Sunday: Veg out. It's good for the environment!

Monday: Check back here for a gander at Sierra's green-gift guide. Yep, it's that time of year again.

Fuel for the Fire

As Halloween approaches, people in nippier parts of the country might be thinking about curling up in front of the fireplace. On this week's Sierra Club Radio show, we discuss greener ways to light your fire, including:

• looking for artificial fireplace logs made of wood only and avoiding those that contain paraffin, a petroleum-based byproduct with dubious emissions quality (an easier task now that Duraflame has switched to non-petroleum waxes); and
• checking out cool ecofriendly alternatives like logs made of recycled cardboard boxes, recycled-paper briquettes, or logs made from used coffee grounds.

Although they're cleaner than they were 20 years ago, wood stoves can cause dangerous microparticulate pollution too. Before burning wood, check to see if the particulate level is high in your area by visiting airnow.gov.

Insulating Made Easy

We've got a nice sunny weekend predicted for San Francisco, but in many parts of the country, people are starting to think about getting ready for winter. If you listened to Sierra Club Radio today, you know that adding insulation and improving the air sealing in your home are two key ways to improve energy efficiency year-round and minimize heating costs in the winter.

Not sure where to start? Cruise over to the Department of Energy's website for some good DIY ways to detect air leaks in your home and tips for hiring a pro to do a more thorough energy audit. (The agency's guides to caulking and weather-stripping are heck of useful too.)

Once you know what some of the problem areas are, check out Sierra's July/August 2007 article "Remodeling Right" for simple, sophisticated, and "whole hog" ways to get your home in tip-top shape.