Devastating effects of ocean plastic debris seen up close

As someone once said, when you throw something away, “away” doesn’t mean it’s gone.

Like the plastic that so many toss without thinking. about it. The consequence of this produces a devastating effect to marine and wildlife that we simply don’t see. And what we don’t see is hard to imagine.

Photographer Chris Jordan has chronicled the impact of plastic in the Pacific Garbage Patch on marine birds on Midway Island, out in the Pacific where no humans are. Check out the video to see the reality of what we are doing and perhaps the next time you think (or don’t really think) about tossing something, stop and consider where it will end up.  Next time, perhaps you’ll make a different choice.

Upcycling the Plastic Gyres to create fuel

The Upcycle the Gyres Society wants to collect and convert ocean plastic into usable fuel

Over the past three years, I’ve written about the plastic debris or plastic gyres, in our world’s oceans.   The latest news is that the gyres are growing larger, making the need to find solutions to clean them up even more critical.

The Upcycle the Gyres Society is a new, not-for-profit that plans to upcycle floating ocean plastic debris into diesel, gasoline, and kerosene.

New efficiency Standards – good for consumers and the environment

The Dept. of Energy announced new federal energy efficiency standards for washers and dishwashers

The drive for greater energy efficiency has become part of our culture. So to is the growing awareness that water is a precious commodity we can no longer take for granted.

Manufacturers recognize that consumers are demanding better performing and less wasteful products. This resulted in 2010 in a gathering of oddfellows that under other circumstances wouldn’t have occurred.

Corporate sharing of green patents can benefit the environment

Many large corporations hold the patents to green innovations – be it new technology or useful green products. And because these patents / products are often at the core of those companies business, they don’t like to share their “goodies”.

Enter the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, WBCSD, a global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development that’s led by CEO’s. WBCSD created Green Patent Commons (aka Eco-Patent Commons) in order to foster efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Ditch those paper towels for Bambooee!

Bambooee is a versatile, durable alternative to paper towels that can save you money

Americans use more than 580 pounds of paper per person every year – enough to build a 12-foot high wall from San Francisco to New York!

Every day, 3,000 tons of paper towels are sent to American landfills.

The folks who created Bambooee hope to help change our paper addiction.

Concord, Mass. could lead the country in banning bottled water

Americans toss over 71 percent of the plastic water bottles we use

According to a 2010 report by the National Association for PET Container Resources in Sonoma, California, the total plastic bottle recycling rate was 28.8 percent, up from 27.8 percent in 2009. That means Americans are tossing over 71 percent of the plastic bottles we use.

One town in Massachusetts wants to take on the issue by banning bottled water altogether.

A stove that saves lives and slows global warming

The Tank cookstove is used by villagers in Kenya. Photo courtesy of Elsen Karstad, Burn Design Lab

It is no exaggeration to say that stoves save lives.

2.5 billion people around the world use open fires fueled by coal, wood, and charcoal to cook their meals. Each year, 1.6 million women and children die from upper respiratory disease related to indoor cooking smoke. That is over 4,000 people per day, and over half of them (approximately 2,500) are women in poor rural communities.

To learn more about an organization that’s making a difference – for women and children in Africa – and is doing its part to help slow global warming one fuel-efficient cookstove at a time, go to http://bit.ly/LA81Gd.

Fun and Guilty Pleasures for Mother’s Day

Any Mom would love colorful Joolz Hayworth bracelets!

Amazingly, Mother’s Day is almost here. I’ve come up with some gift suggestions that will definitely say “I celebrate you” this year.

Ford sees more green in its future

Old money (paper money, that is) gets turned into the Federal Reserve to be shredded. And a great deal of it used to end up in landfills. But since the 1990′s, it’s gone to better, more recycled uses.

Ford Motor Company recently announced it would be expanding its use of “green” and alternative materials. That means that shredded old money, as well as dandelions, trees, grass, corn, sugar cane and coconuts could soon be used to make auto parts for the Dearborn, Michigan auto giant.

The GreenPan – a healthier way to cook!

Besides scratching, there's a dark side to using regular non-stick cookware

Non-stick cookware has been around since 1938. Since the 1960′s, the technology behind it has pretty much remained the same.

But there’s a dark side to non-stick cookware. Unbeknownst to consumers, it contains two seriously toxic chemicals: PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). Classified by the EPA as a “likely human carcinogen,” manufacturers must eliminate their use by 2015.

GreenPan is a non-toxic, healthy, non-stick cookware line that offers a simple, safe alternative.