Posts from — May 2007

Now in its 11th year, Starbucks Coffee Company is offering its “Grounds for Your Garden” program, where customers can pick up a free bag of used coffee grounds for their gardens at the Starbucks cafes. If this all sounds like crazy talk, read on… spent coffee grounds added to gardens provide a natural compost, making the soil richer and healthier. Coffee grounds are considered a good nitrogen source and when combined with brown material such as leaves or straw, they generate heat and speed up the compost process. This helps absorb moisture and can also aid in improving the texture and fertility of the soil.“One bag of coffee grounds is good for a small sized garden,” said Paula Strebig, marketing specialist for Starbucks. “When coffee grounds are added, most acid-loving plants really thrive and it helps plants grow. They get a rich green color.”

Sony’s flexible, full-color OLED
Sony has unveiled what is being billed as the world’s first flexible, full-color OLED display built on organic thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The 2.5-inch prototype display supports 16.8 million colors at a 120 x 160 pixel resolution, and weighs a mere 1.5 grams.
Check it out

[youtube H7QbQugXy1A nolink]

In a recently published article on AlterNet, Dara Colwell sites how Americans are working harder than ever before and are doing so at a greater cost to the environment. Even though research continues to suggest that practicing a simpler lifestyle, while using fewer resources, makes people happier.

“We now seem more determined than ever to work harder and produce more stuff, which creates a bizarre paradox: We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet,” says Conrad Schmidt, an internationally known social activist and founder of the Work Less Party, (the Vancouver-based initiative aimed at moving to a 32-hour work week — a radical departure from the in early, out late cycle we’ve grown so accustomed to. “Choosing to work less is the biggest environmental issue no one’s talking about.”
[Read more →]

According to a recent article in Newsweek, the new “it” drink is yerba mate (rhymes with latte). This South American earthy tea has more antioxidants than green tea!

Not news to many of us…I was turned on to it a few years back by a friend of mine…who after hearing about my love of caffeine, but distaste for what it did to my stomach, (not to mention my ulcer), made me my first delicious cup! With Mate, you get a great buzz, sans the coffee jitters. Containing a unique stimulant called trifecta: caffeine, theophylline (found in tea) and theobromine (found in chocolate), Yerba Mate’s got you covered.

Known for its rejuvenating powers, mate isn’t just a beverage…it’s now making a grand appearance in skin-care products from Kiehl’s.

Get your buzz on!

Last week, Madonna announced that she has released a new song written especially for the Live Earth Concert on 7/7/07. Titled Hey You, (available as an exclusive MP3 download through MSN), the song was recorded in London by Pharrell Williams and Madonna.

The best part Madonna will be performing her new hit at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the 24-hour, 7-continent Live Earth Concert Series!

According to the press release, the first million downloads of Hey You will be free as Microsoft has pledged to donate $0.25 per download to the Alliance for Climate Protection for these first million downloads.

“The one thing, on which we can all agree, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums and in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. 6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about Justice and Equality.”

–Bono

This small book, based upon the speech given by Bono at the 2006 NPB, delivers an inspiring and powerful message. Here, in Bono’s own words, is a reflection on his own faith and a challenge to people of all faiths to reach across boundaries and come together on behalf of what the Scriptures call “the least of these.”

SEE ON THE MOVE

BUY ON THE MOVE

It’s Spring, a time to stop and smell the roses.

…With it, Bloomscape has finally broken into the world and onto our doorstep!

Their company ethos is definitely one we support,…affirming that life is better when it’s simple and includes plants.

Plants reduce stress and improve air quality. And well, there’s no need to explain how simplicity adds to life!

While you’re there, be sure and check out their insightful design tips.

My favorite: Choosing Your Plant Colors.

In an appeal for action on global warming, Greenpeace activists are building a replica of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat — (the spot where the biblical vessel is said to have landed after the great flood). The ark will be revealed in a ceremony on May 31, a day after Greenpeace activists climb the mountain and call on world leaders to take action to tackle climate change.“Climate change is real, it’s happening now and unless world leaders take urgent, decisive and far-reaching action, the next decades will see human misery on a scale not experienced in modern times,” said Greenpeace activist Hilal Atici. “Those leaders have a mandate from the people … to massively cut greenhouse gas emissions and to do it now.”

As many countries struggle to address global and national standards for carbon emissions, delegates from the U.N. are meeting this week in Germany to prepare for December negotiations on a new set of international rules for controlling emissions. The new accord would succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012.

Send in your old phones and empty ink-jet cartridges so they can be reused.

Why:

• Every year over 400 million cartridges are discarded into our nation’s landfills with a combined weight of 200 million pounds.
• A laser cartridge discarded today will take over 1000 years to decompose.
• Manufacturing a new laser cartridge typically requires three and a half-quarts of oil - a non-renewable fossil fuel. In comparison, a remanufactured laser cartridge only uses a quart and a half of oil.

  DETAILS

Chances are, if you were looking for an apartment in New york’s buildings five years ago hoping to find one that was ecofriendly, you were pretty much out of luck. But with rising consumer demand and the tax credits that’s all changed. In a recent article in NY Magazine, S.Jhoanna Robledo points out that not all of these envirobuilders are as green as they’d have us believe. Having spoken with green experts, including the advocacy nonprofit GreenHomeNYC, Robledo rates (10) of New York’s enviro-built buildings.

And the winner is:

The Visionaire: A 35-story, 251-unit condo project in Battery Park City.

ECO-FEATURES
An elaborate system that filters water from bathrooms and kitchens, then pumps it back for use in toilets; green roof; will receive 35 % of its electricity from renewable sources. It’s the only residential building stateside to achieve the LEED platinum rating.