Category: green

environment, green, guest blogger

Beginning: Starting a Green Life – Guest Post by Amanda Kidd

Christa Avampato

Please put your hands together for Amanda Kidd, a green maven and wonderful reader of this blog. Amanda reached out to me asking if she could write a post about her passion: green living. Given my own lifestyle and personal belief that taking care of our environment is not an option but a mission-critical effort for our own survival, I am thrilled that Amanda wanted to write about this subject. Here are 10 simple ways to get started living a green life in your home.

Going green does not have to be a daunting task that means sweeping life changes. Simple things can make a difference. Saving Energy is the need of the hour. Saving Power at home is the least we can do, but it will in the bigger picture save the energy consumption of the world by a huge figure. If every one of us does our bit, the earth will be definitely left with energy to see and feel. Here is a list of ten ways of saving energy while at home:

1.     Do not pre-heat the oven
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don’t pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

2.     Hang dry
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you’ll save money. Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

3.     Change the light
Replace every regular light bulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road. If you don’t want to put these bulbs everywhere use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

4.     Don’t rinse
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and you can save some gallons of water with each of your effort. Plus, you’re saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

5.     Greener lawn care
If you must water your lawn, do it early in the morning before any moisture is lost to evaporation. Have a few weeds and spot treat them with vinegar. If you want to rake, do it by hand it’s excellent exercise.

6.     Turn off lights
Always turn off lights when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You’ll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room.

7.     Adjust your thermostat
Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. It can save about 10% on your energy use. In addition, invest in a programmable thermostat which allows you to regulate temperature based on the times you are at home or away.

8.     Buy local
Consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table. Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmers’ markets, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.

9.     Keep your fireplace dampers closed
Keeping the damper open (when you’re not using your fireplace) is like keeping a 48-inch window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney. This can add up to hundreds of dollars each winter in energy loss. So, keep it close.

10.  Drive Smart
Driving like a drag racer may be fun, but it has a substantial environmental cost. Simple changes in existing driving habits can improve fuel efficiency. Drive at or near the speed limit, keep your tires inflated, make sure oil and air filters are clean, and step on the gas and the brakes carefully.

You too can create an impact which would be noticeable in environment by making your home green and adopting the above mention things in your daily life. The change is worth noticing.

Amanda is a writer who is an ardent follower of environment friendly existence. She found an answer of green living in her eco friendly home to which she takes an utmost care and prefers to take all the measures which would create an eco friendly ambiance in and around her abode.

entrepreneurship, environment, Examiner, green, New York City

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Interview with Gennaro Brooks-Church, Founder of Eco Brooklyn

Christa Avampato

As I was searching online for interesting Green entrepreneurs, I stumbled upon the site for Eco Brooklyn, a company devoted to educating and helping the New York community build greener co-ops and Brownstones. Eco Brooklyn is a social enterprise not just for its Green philosophy; they also make Green building education courses part of their core value proposition.

I had the opportunity to interview Gennaro Brooks-Church, founder of Eco Brooklyn. His inspirational story is one that illustrates that many times entrepreneurship chooses the entrepreneur rather than the other way around! In addition to the interview, there is also a slide show attached that shows Eco Brooklyn‘s work.

To read the full interview, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d30-Interview-with-Gennaro-BrooksChurch-Founder-of-Eco-Brooklyn

art, environment, green, photographs, pictures

Picture of the Year

Christa Avampato


The Today Show recently ran a contest to determine the “picture of the year”. There were images of Obama, Michael Phelps, moving photos of conflicts around the world. But the theme that ultimately won out was nature. 3 of the top 5 photos chosen by viewers depicted acts of nature around the world, the top one being of a lightning storm over a volcano in Southern Chile. The photo is dramatic – so much so that you’d think it was doctored up or contrived. Rest assured, it is real and awe-inspiring. It was taken by photographer Carlos Gutierrez for the Patagonia Press. 


I think about the environment a lot, its beauty and power. I used to work for an environmental nonprofit and it is one of the main causes I donate to. I read extensively on the topic and am constantly working to lower my carbon footprint. I am certainly a green consumer and firmly believe that there are enormous public health implications if we do not do everything we can to protect our natural world. I am so pleased that Mr. Gutierrez’s photo won – it shows that I am not alone in being inspired by nature, not by a long-shot. Of all the photos that were taken in this historic year, nature reigned supreme in inspiring people around the world.
  
I hope 2009 will be the year when green energy and environmental conservation takes center stage – in this country as well as in other countries around the world. I hope we put policies and regulations in place that halt the rapid disappearance of species and habitat. I hope that more people will be willing to pay a bit more now for green products rather than pay dearly for the consequences of not protecting the environment in years to come. As a society, I’d like to see us protect and treasure life.

There is a song that John Denver sings on the Muppet Christmas album that is one of my favorites. It’s about a little tree named Alfie. At the end of the song, John communicates one small request from Alfie, and whenever I hear it I get a little bit choked up. It bears repeating. “You see life is a very special kind of thing. And not just for a chosen few, but for every living, breathing thing, not just me and you. So in your Christmas prayers this year, Alfie asked me if I’d ask you to say a prayer for the wind, and the water, and the wood, and those who live there, too.” That’s a request I’m very happy to fill. 

animals, creativity, environment, green, Josh Klein, sustainability, TED

Crows: Man’s Best Friend? Possibly

Christa Avampato

Joshua Klein is a Principle at frogDesign, an incredible design and idea house based in New York City. I read their blog, frogBlog, religiously and everyday find new ideas and POV that give me new perspective. Klein recently spoke at TED about crow and corvid behavior, his unusual passion for the last 10 years. 


Klein explains that we seem intent on a handful of things when it comes to wildlife. We are very concerned with endangered species, particularly those that are endangered because of human destruction of habitat and hunting of the animals. On the flip side, we show disdain for those animals who have learned how to thrive in spite of a human desire to crush their species – rats and cockroaches are examples.


The most remarkable specimen of a species that seems to thrive on human existence are crows. They always live within a 5km of humans, on every continent except Antarctica. Like chimpanzees, crows use tools, reason, and logic, and then teach these skills to their young and flock. They have memories, particularly of physical human descriptions, better than most humans. They have trained themselves o understand human systems like traffic lights, and then use these systems to their own benefit. They adapt to challenges quickly and can even be taught to use vending machines. Unbelievable you say? Watch the video. You’ll be blown away. 


Great observations, Josh Klein. So what? Who cares if crows are smarter than we give them credit for? What can crows do for us? Klein is asking these profound questions and he’s wondering how crows and humans can form symbiotic, mutually-beneficial relationships. It turns out that crows could be trained to do a lot for us, if only we apply a snippet of creativity. Collect trash? Participate in search and rescue? Salvage valuable items from a landfill? After all, crows have proven one thing to us that we cannot refute – they thrive on human interaction and they aren’t going away from us any time soon. And as long as they’re here and willing to be a part of human society, then we might as well make them as useful as possible. 


The photo above can be found here. 


Take a peek at Josh’s website: http://www.wireless.is/

environment, green, travel

Life dream: Rwanda

Christa Avampato

Real Simple Magazine recently asked their readers to write in with the top 3 things on their life’s “must-do” list. I needed to think long and hard about this and I came up with the following short list, though there are many more things I’d love to do:
1.) Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef 
2.) Learn to play the piano
3.) See the mountain gorillas in Rwanda

Runners-up:
4.) Speak another language fluently
5.) Visit Sicily with someone I love
6.) Buy a home

Taking the Rwanda “must-do”, I did a bit of research after hearing the tail end of a story about mountain gorillas on NPR. Many scientists have traveled to Rwanda to study the animals, and many conservation groups are working round the clock to save them and their habitat, in the face of poachers and a never-ending stream of wars in that nation. The gorillas grew used to seeing people, though once the genocide grew rampant throughout Rwanda, scientists withdrew from their work with the gorillas. The populations of the animals has been falling ever since, until now. 

It appears that the gorillas could sense the stress of the wars going on in their area, and their birthrates declined as a result. Another well-supported theory suggests that once the scientists withdrew, the gorillas missed them, became depressed, and stopped having as many young. Now that peace has been restored, even though tenuous, to Rwanda, the gorillas population is growing and birthrates are up for the first time in 24 years. 

The natural world often goes overlooked in war-torn areas. The human casualties of conflict are heart-wrenching, and there are other species that are also harmed in the wake of war. They suffer in silence. All the more reason to do whatever we must do to keep the peace – there i more at stake than our own existence.
environment, green, media

Vanity Fair’s misstep on the 2008 Green issue

Christa Avampato

While Miley Cyrus’s photoshoot maybe the talk of the hallways over at Vanity Fair, I think they have bigger problems – that of leadership. This month every magazine had their version of a Green issue. Finally, it seems that the wake-up call to protect the environment and reverse some of the damage we’ve done is reaching the mainstream. Last year I was so impressed withVanity Fair’s Green issue that I subscribed to the magazine. When this year’s Green issue arrived in my mailbox, I couldn’t wait to read through it. And now I’m completely confused.


In spite of all of the incredible innovation and creativity happening in the world of sustainability, this year’s VF Green issue simply rehashed the same old topics and players that have been kicking around for years. I didn’t see anything about entrepreneurs with green-collar jobs, young companies that are making a big difference (i.e., Method), the growing popularity of CSA’s, or the locavore trend. All of these are timely, trendy topics in Green. Rather than the fine reporting I’ve come to admire in VF, this issue’s features are pretty much the same as those found in nearly every mass media source. 


And then to add insult to injury, there’s a double-sided, heavy stock coupon for cigarettes right in the middle of the magazine! I guess I’m supposed to feel better that at least the tobacco is “additive-free”, the coupon is printed on recycled paper, and the executives at the tobacco company are “passionate about the environment” and have organic growing programs. Gross – the ad was an exercise in how many environmental buzzword the company could haphazardly throw together on one sheet of paper.  Their product still causes illness, and is not part of a healthy lifestyle. Healthy living is exactly what Green is all about! What was the VF advertising department thinking when they accepted and prominently featured that ad? Clearly, they weren’t thinking at all. 


Here’s to hoping that VF makes better choices in the 2009 Green issue and that the rest of us take-away the power of being genuine. The damage being anything less than genuine can cause is not something any company can afford.

Earth Day, environment, green, scruppies

Scruppies unite!

Christa Avampato

We couldn’t let Earth Day go by without another new vocabulary word in the lexicon of sustainability. This one is actually fun to say! Scruppies is defined as “socially conscious upwardly mobile persons.” Me (God-willing on the upwardly mobile part), for example.

I grew up in a rural area where being Green was just the way we lived. We’d never pollute the land we had to live on because, well, we had to live there. We bought food at the farmer’s markets because we were friends with the farmers. We shut off lights and rarely had air conditioning because it was just too expensive. We used items until they wore out, and then had them repaired rather than tossing them because that makes economic sense.

So now that I’m college educated twice-over and have a good job, I want to be financially independent and successful while also hanging onto my roots of only using the resources I absolutely need and doing my part to make the planet a cleaner, healthier place. Simple enough. Apparently, I’m not alone. There are so many of us who fit this category that we have numbers large enough to justify our own demographic segment: scruppies.

Persistence pays. Happy Earth Day to all!

The photo above can be found at http://www.newworldbiomass.com/images/earthdate.gif

environment, Google, green

Google-Powered Search Engine Goes Green with Blackle.com

Christa Avampato

“Green is the new black” is all over NYC lately – t-shirts, bags, TV commercials, street posters. Saving the environment is coolest hobby these days. Now Heap Media has partnered with Google to take a creative bent on search making “Black the new Green” with Blackle.com.

Instead of Google’s traditional white search window, Blackle.com’s window is black with white type, saving about 15 watts per search. I learned about Blackle.com through the Centerfor Biodiversity’s weekly newsletter that I receive each Friday. One blogger has estimated that if Blackle.com is widely adopted, it could save the world 750 megawatts / year. (This amount of energy would power 500 US homes for about 2 years!) In additional to savings energy, and ultimately money, the search engine is also a powerful reminder that protecting the environment is important. It keeps the cause top-of-mind.

Check it out at http://www.blackle.com/
To subscribe to the Center for Biodiversity’s weekly newsletter, visit http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

design, environment, green, New York

Biomimicry – creative inspiration for designers

Christa Avampato

If we, a designers, truly inspect and respect what nature has to teach us, then the creative inspiration around us is limitless. Business Week’s Green Design blog has recently published an enormous amount of new information, largely through pictures, to its site. No doubt that the contents are getting increased attention due to the U.N. General Assembly discussions this week around climate change.

The most fasincating posts to me are those relating to biomimicry, a new discipline that studies intently studies nature and then mimics nature’s designs and processes to solve human problems. How much time do we spend trying to reinvent the wheel, and then in the process chase our own tails? We need look no further than out our own windows to be inspired by new and innovative thinking.

Finally, these sets of articles and the principles of biomimicry have provided me with the vocabularly to articulate why the environment is such a precious resource and why I am so passionate about its protection. To lose any part of it, be in flora or fauna, is to lose hundreds of thousands of years of design study. The wisdom encapsulated in a snail shell or the leaf pattern of a maple is irreplaceable. To lose that wisdom, in my eyes, is an awful as book burning or the banishing of the freedom of expression. As Mayor Bloomberg intimated this week, to not protect the environment is tantamount to terrorism.

Have a look at the Green Design site at http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/di_special/20080211sustainable.htm

environment, green

The Everyday Environmentalist

Christa Avampato

I have been a supporter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Sierra Club and at one time worked for Conservation International (CI) because I am passionate about the planet and helping to protect it. TNC has launched a site called “Everyday Environmentalist” in an effort to create a central platform for people to share their green tips on-line. The tips range from the practical like taking the stairs rather than an elevator to the creative such as 101 uses for a bike trailer.

Have a look at what’s posted, and then post your own eco-tips at http://www.nature.org/activities/everydayenv.html