Eco Green Environmental News

I think one of the hardest parts of “being green” or being just environmentally friendly / aware is that you start to notice what a small percentage of the populace is the same way. I was on a business trip this weekend and I was in a “fat city”, which is just a city that has an overweight and bloated populace. Minneapolis, MN. The average person there was around 20-30lbs heavier at least than what I am used to in Southern California. I watched the habits of these people and I noticed that they tended to be very wasteful. From using too many napkins at dinner, to ordering too much food and not eating nearly enough of it, to even using way too many paper towels in the bathrooms. These are some small and short examples but you get my drift. The average person in any state and any area are not on our side - you’re pretty much alone.

That’s the way it has been for years. Yes, it is slowly changing but change is gradual and the average person won’t become friendly to the environment or go green for 10-15 years. It will happen when somethng drastic changes in the world.

So when you’re making choices, don’t make them to change the world for 10 people or 100 people. Do your part, reduce what you can and be happy knowing you’ve just saved the Earth and X amount of waste/carbon waste and so forth. Trying to compare and gauge yourself against the next guy who has never recycled a day in his life can be depressing and counter productive.

If we do our small parts and others slowly catch on, we can make an impact. Don’t take on the world at once on your own and you will enjoy doing your part a whole lot more.

Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. “The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

[Read more...] Source: NY Times

A clean air initiative by Environment Canada, check it out:

“Veteran’s Affairs Minister Greg Thompson and New Brunswick Health Minister Michael Murphy today announced that the world’s first Air Quality Health Indexis now available to residents of Saint John, New Brunswick.

“Canadians are entitled to clean air, to know the quality of the air they breathe and what they can do to reduce the harmful impacts of air pollution,” said Minister Thompson. “A year ago our Government announced $30 million to establish an alert system across the country to provide Canadians with the help they need to protect their families. This investment, combined with our Turning the Corner plan to cut air pollution from industry by 50 per cent, shows how serious we are about cleaning up the air we breathe and improving the health of Canadians.”

Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, found at www.airhealth.ca, provides real time information to Canadians about the quality of the air they’re breathing. It is an effective tool to help individuals understand the health risks posed by air pollution, and help Canadians take action to protect their families. The project is supported jointly by the Governments of Canada and New Brunswick.”

You can read the rest of the story here. Good on you guys!
Source: Clean Air Canada Initiative

“Yea, so what if I am accelerating way too slow? Don’t bother me, I am hypermiling.”

This is my tone recently, as I begin to notice the gas crunch on myself. My father always said “Fuel and food is part of life, I just put it in and deal with it.” but even he is frustrated with prices not matching inflation.

As a result of the recent spikes in everything in life, I find myself on a diet and hypermiling. This is simply a fuel economy maximizing behavior that people have been doing for years, but only recently has it hit the mainstream media. So what exactly is it?

Using inertia as your ally. Slowly reach optimum cruising speed by shifting at the low end of your gear spectrum and not braking. Braking causes you to need more energy (fuel) to bring you back up to speed. At cruising speed you maximize MPG. This means you need to be more aware of your surroundings. Don’t tailgate. Don’t accelerate too fast. Don’t stop and go.

This behavior leads to better gas milage and in my opinion a better driving experience. Anyone with common sense knows racing to the next light doesn’t get you anywhere any faster and is stressful. For one tank, try hypermiling and ignore the angry drivers around you. See how many more miles you can stretch that tank. You probably will never want to brake again.

One thing that I have discussed a lot with friends and family is the cost of going green. Many people have a problem with making a full switchover because the cost of organic goods is much too high (not enough supply  and demand) or because it is not easy enough to purchase items or services to maintain the lifestyle.

I do want to put out a warning out there: Watch out - going green can be expensive.

Now I know what everyone is thinking which is “Why on Earth would an Eco-fan warn people against being good to the environment?” when in fact this really isn’t what I am saying at all.

Green is now a trend. The last 2 years have seen a massive boom in the industry and as such there are people out there trying to capitalize on this trend as with everything else on the planet. When you are making purchases, ensure what you are buying is

1. Needed. Don’t just buy a handbag because it is made of hemp. Part of going green is only using what you need and even if it’s an eco-friendly purchase if you don’t need it don’t buy it.
2. Going to a Real-Green company. Many companies have an arm or branch division that makes friendly products. But if you look at the rest of their product line you find 99% of what they manufacture is bad for the environment.
3. Will actually help in some way. For example a great purchase is switching from a Hummer to a Moped for you 8 mile commute. Buying 12 individual bottled water because the new packaging uses 30% less plastic, instead of using a tap filter… not so smart.

These are just some common sense tips and it’s sort of difficult to expand too much without sounding exceptionally boring. Just consider what you are buying and using and ensure you aren’t overspending just for the sake of being trendy and green. Having to eat ramen for a year because you just installed solar panels on your roof is a noble thing to do, albeit stupid because sure you saved the Earth a small headache but you’re now killing yourself.

Any more thoughts on this? I’d love to hear them!

The hobby makers of biofuel and the industry members alike are noticing the hard economy along with the gas drivers. Gone are the days of $1 per gallon b100 biodiesel.

What is biodiesel? It’s the biproduct of taking WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) or SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) or any other combination of oils and breaking it down to a useable form in a diesel engine. That is the very very skinny of it. If you’re interested in biodiesel I would suggest visiting the BioDiesel and SVO Forums which has an endless number of topics discussing alternative fuel and biodiesel.

The cost of the supplies needed to produce the diesel for the homemakers is becoming insane and they can’t easy aquire the oil needed to make the diesel. Large companies are coming in and buying up the oil from restaurants before they can get to the free sources - or people are stealing the oil.

When a company buys SVO/WVO and produces biofuel, the costs involved force them to raise prices beyond what a home hobbyist would rate the final cost at (between $1.50 - $2 per gallon right now). After searching prices I found a popular bio fuel seller with rates at $5.69 + a required $75 membership to buy the fuel at that rate. Good Guys Biodiesel which to me is out of this world crazy. Sure there are more benefits to using this alternate fuel source such as reducing carbon footprint and smog, but frankly at almost $6 per gallon this sort of defeats the entire purpose of the biodiesel experiment.

Many home makers are now assuming biodisel is now a trend and thus will rise as with other commodities such as gas and diesel. It’s unfortunate that is has come to this point.

Don’t be discouraged though. As a hobby biofuel maker, you can still secure great sources of Waste and Straight vegetable oil and make your own at home. The hardest part is finding a steady source that will allow you to make enough to use on a regular basis. With diesel now at $5+ per gallon, making your own for $2 is NOT a bad thing, it’s just twice as expensive as it was 2 years ago.

This blog was started as a way to help vent how easy it is to make a small difference. Many green or eco websites these days are trying to make you feel too guilty. Some of the people who run the sites are vegans, don’t walk on grass and have 0 carbon footprint.

That’s nice and all, but for the average person who just wants to do a small part and feel good about helping reduce our impact on the world - where do they turn? I am hoping that GoEasyEco.com will be your website of choice and you will enjoy reading a daily RSS feed from it.

Since I was a kid, my mom was always about recycling. She insisted on turning off power drains whenever we were not using them. We never had lights on in the house in rooms we were not in. We never used heat or AC if we didn’t need it. I didn’t really think anything of it and neither did she. She did these things because they benefitted US. Turning off idle power sources and lights meant 20-50% in power savings. Being from the great white north of Canada, that could be the difference between a $80 bill and a $150 bill which is a major difference. Little did she know she was actually helping the environment at the same time.

I kept this attitude as I grew up and moved to the USA. It was here in California that I noticed why our world is being abused and decided to help do my part to change that. The sheer amount of waste that is produced on a daily basis is staggering. It’s not only staggering but depressing at the same time.

As I researched ways to conserve, save and help do my part I ran into biodiesel, composting and many other topics that I hope I can share my passion for with you. I will scour the net finding news worthy of posting and I hope you find it as interesting as I do.

Enjoy, and remember that going green can be easy and in some cases fun!