Photo Credit: Trent Hodges

Hey sliders, climbers, lovers, and nature conscience peoples,

It has been a while since I have checked in from down south in Guatemala.  I now have nearly spent eight months in the country supported by the Peace Corps.  My activities here have been varied, sea turtle conservation, environmental education, lifeguard training and management, and most recently, beginning the process of building a school room out of trash.  Though these varied activities may put one to think how busy, active, progressive, and inspiring this experience is, the truth is, my original optimism has been gradually replaced with understanding and humility.  The most fundamental aspect in creating change is creating new patterns of thought, new ways of seeing the world, and reinforcing this consciousness.

I would say the area I live is a near paradise, lush mangrove forests and black volcanic beaches with towering and formidable volcanoes looming in the background.  However, plastic and its introduction into these cultures has put a scar on the near flawless landscape.  Not only does it affect the aesthetic beauty, but poses serious threats to marine turtles and other sea life.

In a culture that is accustomed since birth to immediately toss all garbage into the air and let nature take its course, instigating trash consciousness and teaching the value of trash management is a formidable obstacle.  The question becomes how can you use the collection of trash to visibly benefit the community while at the same time educating the local people?  In come the idea of the Bottle School.

The bottle school project consists of packing plastic bottles with inorganic trash such as plastic bags.  Once the bottles are packed with the trash, they become Eco-Bricks.  These bricks are placed together inside metal caging to make the walls of the building.  After this process, the entire building can be covered with cement so that none of the bottles show, or can be left open in areas to prove that this building is indeed constructed of trash.

New schoolroom, less trash, more consciousness.  The project has many benefits, but the most important is to focus on having the whole community involved.  If the local people can see trash in a new way and learn the benefits of management, only then will change come.

So far, we have been collecting and packing bottles in three different schools to prepare for construction during the dry season.  The process is not easy and the results are unknown, but every bottle collected, every piece of trashed stuffed by a child is an opportunity to change customs and bring a higher awareness of the impact of plastics.

Photo Credit: Konrad Summers

A long commute to work isn’t just time consuming (not to mention frustrating!), it’s bad for the environment, but a new Superbus being created by Dutch developers at the Delft University of Technology aims to cut down your commute. An added bonus? The prototype looks like a cross between the Batmobile and a stretch limo.

Featuring gull-wing doors and 50-feet chassis, the Superbus boasts a top speed of 155 mph and is capable of carrying 23 passengers. The goal of the six-wheel Superbus is to merge the flexibility and convenience of traveling by car with the comfort and speed of traveling by rail.

“The strength to the concept is that the Superbus can drive everywhere where a normal bus can drive. It has adjustable height, rear-wheel steering and a turning circle of roughly 10 meters,” says general manager of the ambitious project Wubbo Ockels. Ockels adds that he and his co-developers are imagining a network of “super tracks” (basically dedicated two-line highways connecting cities) running alongside traditional road networks, so the Superbus could switch between the two according to the passengers’ destination.

“At the moment we have a prototype,” Ockels says, referring to the electric vehicle which was recently on display at the 2011 World Exhibition of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) in Dubai. “The next phase is an industrial prototype and the third level is the actual implementation.”

Ockels and his team began the project—which uses technology developed in Formula One racing and the aerospace industry—in 2004 and it has cost a whopping $19 million to date. Ockels is hopeful that Dubai’s “visions of sustainability” will result in a pilot project and says a production model would be significantly less expensive ($2.9 million). If the Superbus becomes a reality you can bet it will make green news headlines.

Read more at CNN.com.

Photo Credit: Andrew Spurgin

Cooks Confab is a group of innovative chefs who come together to promote local, sustainable meals in hopes of bringing people together to support a great cause.Cooks Confab’s latest event School Lunch creates a local Farm-to-School connection in San Diego.

Cooks Confab teamed with Slow Food Urban San Diego and the San Diego Unified School District to make School Lunch a success. The event was centered around creating healthy, sustainable, delicious school lunches and promoted awareness on the importance of serving farm fresh food to kids. The event included a screening of the documentary “Lunch Line”, a panel discussion about how to improve school lunch programs, and of course a whole lot of food! Kids were able to come early to harvest vegetables from the garden and learn about the fresh ingredients that were going into the meals they were eagerly waiting to eat. These meals incorporated healthy twists on some favorites like wheat macaroni ‘n cheese, vegetable lasagna, strawberry “milkshakes”, and baked vegetable chips.

It’s encouraging to see members of our community donating their time, money, and talent to educate people on important issues. I am looking forward to seeing what other great projects Cooks Confab puts on, and am hopeful that what was learned from the School Lunch event will be incorporated into the community and stimulate positive changes!

To learn more click here

Photo Credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery

Bad things come in threes, the proverb goes, and it has certainly been the case in Japan. First, there was the powerful earthquake. Second, a desolating tsunami. Third, an explosion at a nuclear power plant.

On March 11, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off the automatic shut-down systems in 10 of the country’s 55 nuclear power plants—which give Japan a third of its electricity. As a result, the cooling systems in numerous reactors at the Fukushima plant malfunctioned and as the temperatures mounted, so did the pressure inside two reactors. On March 12, radioactive vapor was released into the air to ease the pressure, as the control room reported radiation levels 1,000 times above normal.

Following reported tremors, the Fukushima Dai-ichi (number one) building exploded at 3:36pm. Citing the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the government’s chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said that the reactor’s nuclear containment vessel didn’t suffer a meltdown or explode. Edano claimed the explosion was caused by hydrogen buildup in the steam piping that mingled with oxygen, adding that there was no damage to the container with the nuclear fuel.

The explosion injured four workers and one person was reported dead. The hourly radiation subsequent to the blast was 1,015 microsieverts (an acceptable yearly level of exposure per person) and at the time TEPCO reported that it was falling steadily, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming green news, and for good reason. People within a 20km radius of Fukushima Dai-ichi and a 10km radius of a second reactor nearby were ordered to evacuate.

On Wednesday (March 16), authorities were forced to withdraw workers from the site of Japan’s swelling nuclear catastrophe after the radiation levels surrounding the reactors at the Dai-ichi nuclear power plant at Fukushima experienced a surge. The number of workers dropped from 750 to a skeleton crew of 50 left to shut down the still-operating reactors (before their cores submit to deterioration).

Some part or parts of the plant were emitting 10 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation per hour – which means any given worker would have exceeded the yearly maximum American workers are allowed to be exposed to at nuclear plants (no more than 50mSv in a year) within a single shift. Somewhat mysteriously, the level decreased dramatically by 11:30am to about 6mSv per hour and workers returned.

The threat of a meltdown at Fukushima may be at the forefront of green news across the globe, but it is heightened for the thousands (perhaps even millions) living in Honshu island’s northern extent, Tohoku. Communities in the north are stranded without access to food due to disruptions to Japan’s petrol supplies and no one is feeling the effects more than those in Fukushima’s “exclusion zone.” According to today’s official estimates, the effects of the initial catastrophic day (March 11) claimed at least 3,771 lives and left another 7,843 people missing.

Read more from The Economist here and here.

Photo Credit: Nic McPhee

Who doesn’t love a good trip to the theatre?  I recently came across a document that outlined a different kind of educational form of theatre called “Green Drama”.  The program is a training course that is intended to educate people about how to make positive environmental choices.  Their concept is fairly simple:

Environmental Education + Drama = Green Drama

The goal of environmental education is to use drama skills in order to educate and change a person’s behavior.  Green Drama is focused on hitting 5 main areas of the environment: Awareness, Attitudes, Sensitivity, Skills, and Participation.  One of the most appealing qualities of Green Drama is that it is not a stereotypical theatre/audience relationship.  All of the games and activities are completely interactive, improvisational, creative, and are based on experience, so everyone is involved and having fun!  The group works to build environmental skills of the younger generation, working on topics such as good sustainability, shopping habits, waste management, and many more.  The groups range from 8 to 25 people and the program runs continuously for 1.5 to 2 hours.

I think that Green Drama training course would be a fantastic thing to start incorporating into the American school systems.  As children, I’m sure we have all experienced school assemblies that were not very memorable.  However, I think there is a huge possibility that if this program is done correctly, then the participants will learn a lot and have a lot of fun doing it.  If kids can have fun experiencing environmental education in a very enjoyable way, then our younger generations will have the lessons of environmental awareness engrained into their head for years to come.  Be on your lookout for Green Drama!  It may be making its way to a community near you!

To download the PDF, I simply Googled “Green Drama”

Green Drama: Influencing Choices and European Youth Work Training Course

Hyvärilä Youth Centre, Nurmes

Metsäkartano Youth Centre, Rautavaara

Finland

Photo Credit: Paula

Obviously climate change has detrimental effects on the environment, but who knew it could be the cause to an increase in human health problems?

Scientist had already predicted that global warming could contribute to many deaths in animals that live in habitats that are being destroyed, but new studies are showing that humans are at risk as well. Diseases like malaria are showing up in places that it never has before. The change in climate is allowing mosquitoes that carry the disease to thrive in new environments. The expansion of this tropical disease is devastating to populations that do not have the proper vaccinations to handle it. Illness is also being spread through the consumption of seafood that is exposed to the effects of global warming. An algal bloom called “red tide” algae produces poison that accumulates in seafood. When humans eat the poisoned seafood, they have the potential of getting extremely sick and in some cases may even die. In addition, it has been found that bacteria are now able to thrive in different parts of the ocean. This rapidly growing bacteria also accumulates in seafood which is then consumed by humans.

I had never really thought about the health implications that global warming could bring. Maybe people will start realizing that not only the Earth’s wellbeing is at risk, but that their own lives are as well.

Photo Credit: Evadb

Are you against whaling?  If so, then you will be happy to hear that anti-whaling activists are putting up a real fight over in Japan.  Recently, the Japanese ended its whaling season early, bringing all of the ships back to port due to “harassment” from environmental activists, such as Sea Shepherd.  Since Japan fisheries could no longer ensure the safety of the whalers, they were forced to end the season early.  Although the whaling has only ended for the season, this is a huge step in whale protection because it shows that activists are making whaling very difficult for places like Japan.

The Japanese whaling fleet consists of 180 people spread out among four ships.  If allowed to continue whaling during the southern winter season, the fleet was expected to kill around 945 whales.  Commercial whaling was banned in 1986, but Japan is allowed to continue whaling because it receives permits to hunt whales for scientific research.  Although most people in Japan have tried whale meat at one point, most do not eat whale meat on a regular basis.  The Japanese who do eat whale meet regularly argue that international powers have no right interfering with their cultural traditions.  Australia and New Zealand are very strong opponents to whaling and Australia is even in the process of going through the International Court of Justice to fight Tokyo over whaling.

Upon doing research on this topic, I discovered an interesting article from 2007 highlighting a bowhead whale thought to have lived to about 130 years old!  The whale had been hunted off the coast of Alaska and a 130-year-old spearhead had been found stuck in its side.  This implies that the whale was hunted once before as a calf, but since traditional whale hunters did not capture calves, the whale escaped.  Biologists claim that this evidence helps support the idea that the bowhead whale is the oldest living mammal on earth.  Keep an eye out for more anti-whaling news to help preserve this awesome mammal!

Click here to read about Japan calling off whaling ships.

Click here to read about 130-year-old whale.

Wireside Chat #6: Getting Outside

Getting outside can mean everything. From childhood development to fighting depression and loneliness, nature is just as important to us as it is to our children. And as a society, we need to think of our time in nature not only as fun time, but as an investment in our health. Find out more in this week’s Wireside Chat.

Wireside Chat #5: Nuclear Energy

The Nuclear Dilemma. Controversy and non-information flock to the subject. Here’s a common misconception, nuclear energy is a carbon-zero industry. And it’s true, during it’s operation, nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases. But what about uranium mining, plant construction and reactor core decommissioning? That’s right… all processes being fueled by dirty coal.

The intent behind this week’s chat is to help clear up some of the myths surrounding Nuclear Energy while also examining some of the inherent problems within the system.

Wireside Chat #4: State of the Union FAIL

80% of American households will run on clean energy by 2035. But how does Obama define clean energy? On the list next to wind and solar, Obama explicitly lists nuclear, natural gas and clean coal as sources of CLEAN energy. This wasn’t the only State of the Union fail, find out more with this week’s Wireside Chat.

Wireside Chat #3: Greenwashing

Buy our products, they say, and you can end global warming, improve air quality, and save the world. At best, greenwashing stretches the truth; at worst, it can help conceal environmental destruction. Find out how to spot and fight Greenwashing with this week’s Wireside Chat.

Wireside Chat #2 – Eco Terrorism…The Right Solution?

Eco-terrorism is defined as a form of radical environmentalism closely related to civil disobedience AND sabotage (in the name of mother nature of course). But the line separating the three is sometimes vague at best.

Eco-terrorism. A misnomer? Yes. A solution? You decide.

Wireside Chat #1: Man’s Best Food?

This week we’ll be making a case for eating dogs. While you watch, keep in mind that owning a medium sized dog in a developed country “has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km (6,213 miles) a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.” (According to a 2009 study published by Reuters, where findings are a based on the amount of land needed to grow the food required for your pet) This is more energy than consumed by some humans in developing countries! Just something to keep in mind as you enjoy this week’s wireside chat. The views and opinions here do not directly express that of ThinkGreenLiveClean.

The views and opinions here do not directly express that of ThinkGreenLiveClean.

Photo Credit: Sven

Coupled with skyrocketing fuel charges, the levies on carbon-spouting planes to be imposed under the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) have airlines worrying about the cost of not going green. All airlines operating in the EU will be expected to cut emissions to three percent below the average annual figure for the period between 2004 and 2006 from 2012, and by an additional two percentage points in 2013.

Further emissions will require trading in additional permits, and this bit of green news has prompted airlines like Lufthansa, Ryanair and Easyjet to begin talks with Solena, an American producer of aviation biofuels. Earlier this year it was reported that Australian airline Quantas is working to build a commercial-scale aviation biofuel plant on the outskirts of Sydney with the same company. Solena is currently hard at work building a similar plant in London. The plant is slated to produce around 16m gallons of biofuel a year from 2014.

So why has Solena been at the forefront of green news lately? The company has avoided some of the problems that have plagues production of crop-based varieties by making biofuels from waste. Aviation biofuels will need to meet a laundry list of technical and commercial specifications: they must fit a lot of energy into a small volume, remain liquid at -50°, come in chemically identical form all over the globe and mix well with (and improve or at least match) the efficiency of those fuels.

Aviation biofuel technology isn’t cheap, but the industry is beginning to view biofuels as a way to get around tighter environmental regulation, bad PR and rising fuel costs.

Read more about biofuels at The Economist.

Photo: Tambako the Jaguar

Trash, garbage, rubbish, what happens to all of it?  In the developed world especially it’s usually out of sight out of mind.  As long as it ain’t stankin up my kitchen, who knows/cares where it goes?  But as humans go on repopulating exponentially, so does their garbage.  The traditional remedy has been to bury it.  This solution causes pollution, and what’s more, we can’t just keep stuffing the earth full of our trash forever, right?  So, do we launch it into orbit for some alien race in another galaxy to deal with-tempting, but costly.  What if we could just kind of vaporize it, reduced it to near nothingness, like a superhero vanquishing his filthy nemesis.

Not only is this possible, it’s rapidly becoming practical.  What’s that?  Not enough good news you say?  Well, what if I told you we could turn our useless dirty ol’ trash into energy!  O yes, belee dat.  The technology has actually existed for some time.  In the past companies have used plasma torches to zap toxic waste, such as oil sludge.  Not always previously reliable, the technology is now improved, and the process less expensive.  Organic material can be vaped to create syngas (synthetic gas) or ever fermented into ethanol for fuel.  Inorganic material can also be reduced to molten slag, and then turned into bricks to pave roads (so keep you shoes on, hippy).

This year Geoplasma, a firm based in Atlanta, hopes to make enough syngas to power 20,000 homes.  And there are other companies across the country gettin’ in the plasma torch game.  Kind of puts a whole new spin on the idea of recycling, eh?  God I love the future.

Get more in the Feb 5th-11th issue of The Economist