A rubbish life

Dave Chameides has spent almost an entire year living a life full of utter garbage and hoping he can inspire other Americans to do the same.

The Los Angeles-based cameraman has lived in his comfortable Hollywood home without throwing away a single piece of trash, from wine bottles to chewing gum and pizza boxes.

Instead the 39-year-old Chameides - nicknamed ‘Sustainable Dave’ - recycles his garbage or else stores it in his basement. He says he wants to show that it is possible to dramatically reduce his family’s consumption habits.

And he can show astounding results. Rather than the 1,600 pounds of trash the average American family produces each year, Chameides, his wife and two daughters have amassed only 32 pounds over the last 12 months.

‘If I were the average American, this entire basement would be filled with plastic water bottles,’ said Chameides, who chronicles his campaign with an Internet blog (http: 365daysoftrash.blogspot.com).

Chameides has shunned bottled water in favor of filtered tap water - except when on holiday in Mexico, but even those water bottles were brought back to his home, compacted and stored with other trash.

His war on packaging also extends to the family groceries. Rice and pulses are bought by the kilo and placed in containers, while fresh fruit and vegetables are purchased at a weekly neighborhood farmers’ market.

In fact, groceries was one of the easiest areas to eliminate packaging, Chameides said.

‘The food is not so bad, but with DVDs, kids’ toys and so on, it’s packaging you don’t want, and it’s frustrating,’ he told AFP. ‘What you don’t realize is that you’re paying for it, and pay for it again to dispose of it.’ ‘So I buy rice and beans in bulk, there’s no packaging. I pay less, it just makes sense. People need to wake up and say, this is not OK.’ Ironically, even Chameides’s rubbish will not go to waste. In January, his refuse will be sent to the Trash Museum of Connecticut to be exhibited.

Meanwhile, organic waste such as banana skins and egg shells is minced up by worms and used as compost.

‘Any kind of organic food and paper, except meat and fish. It’s a really amazingly efficient system,’ Chameides enthuses.

His southern California home is fitted with solar panels while his car runs on used cooking oil. However, he insists that even if you don’t follow his example to the letter, ’sustainable living’ can be achieved without huge sacrifices to your quality of life.

‘I’m eating fresher food, I’m saving money, helping the local economy, supporting farmers instead of corporations. For me that’s worth it. It’s just thinking about doing the right thing,’ he says.

‘It’s just little steps. I’m not living in a cave. People think that the US quality of life should be living in a house with lights on all the time. We live a pretty decent life, by many people’s standards we live a phenomenal life.’ Even wrapping paper for Christmas gifts presents an opportunity to recycle.

‘If we wrap something, it would be either in comics or something useful, reusable,’ he says.

AFP, Straights Times

Kids Speak Out About Environmental Issues and Going Green

The Kids’ Environmental Report Card is part of the Science Explorations program, a collaboration of Scholastic’s classroom magazines, SuperScience® (grades 3–6) and Science World®(grades 6–10), and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). In addition to sharing their views through the poll, kids can pose questions about the environment to be answered by scientists at AMNH each month. Each of the questions will be supplemented by multimedia content from Scholastic and AMNH, including interviews with the Museum’s scientists and curators, photographs, artifacts, and much more. Students and teachers can explore a range of topics such as ecotourism, preserving biodiversity, and reducing pollution.

“Kids have a lot to say about the job we’re doing as stewards of the environment, and the Kids’ Environmental Report Card gives them a chance to express themselves about these important topics,” said David Goddy, Vice President of Education at e-Scholastic. “With AMNH, we can provide students and educators with a hands-on way to investigate ecological issues, learn about careers in science, and expand their knowledge of the world around them.”

This marks the fourth year that Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, and the American Museum of Natural History, one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions, have joined together to promote science literacy among students in grades 3 through 10.

“Interest in the natural world and passion for conserving it is key to the mission of AMNH,” said Rosamond Kinzler, Senior Director of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology at AMNH. “Partnering with Scholastic is a powerful way for us to share this mission with kids across the country, in classrooms and on the Web.”

To learn more about the Kids’ Environmental Report Card or Science Explorations, go to www.scholastic.com/scienceexplorations.

For more information about the American Museum of Natural History, please visit www.amnh.org.

First Electric Vehicle Network announced in US

Bay Area leaders are hoping that a combo of public and private investments can turn the region into The Electric Vehicle Capital of the U.S., by building out a $1-billion electric vehicle infrastructure. The group involves Silicon Valley’s Better Place and a group of wide-eyed politicians: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.

The group defined a vision for encouraging investment in green infrastructure as a means for boosting the state’s competitive advantage while reducing its dependence on oil for transportation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The group believes that the move to a sustainable mobility model of electric vehicles fueled by renewable energy, beginning in the Bay area, will serve as an economic and environmental stimulus blueprint for the entire country, particularly the nation’s lagging automotive sector.

“California is already a world leader in fighting global warming and promoting renewable energy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This type of public-private partnership is exactly what I envisioned when we created the first ever low carbon fuel standard and when the state enacted the zero emissions vehicle program. This partnership is proof that by working together, we can achieve our goals of creating a healthier planet while boosting our economy at the same time.”

How it Works - watch the video

“Creating an energy-independent economy is our generation’s moon-shot,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Venture Partner and Senior Advisor, VantagePoint Venture Partners. “For too long we’ve believed that economy and environment stood at odds with each other. By coming together in this time of turmoil to build a clean transportation infrastructure, this generation will fuel the economic and environmental prosperity of generations to come.”

“Transportation accounts for about 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and is globally forecast to consume over half of all oil in the coming decades,” said Dan Kammen, Director, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, University of California, Berkeley. “This kind of public-private partnership is exactly what we need to create new jobs building a clean energy infrastructure, and contribute to economic and environmental recovery locally and globally. This initiative will help to put the Bay Area in the forefront of developing the science, engineering, and public policy innovations that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lead us to the next economic boom – the clean energy century. With the approach of the COP15 climate summit next year, this initiative can have truly global impact.”

The Bay Area will serve as the first region of California to make the switch from carbon-based transportation to sustainable mobility.

In conjunction with the news, Better Place, the world’s leading sustainability mobility operator, announced that it would enter the US market with California as its first state, beginning in the Bay Area. Better Place will work a similar infrastructure investment model as it has in Israel, Denmark and Australia. Network planning and permitting will begin in January 2009 with infrastructure deployment beginning in 2010.

Honda unveils fuel cell sports car of the future

Honda today revealed the Honda FC Sport design study model, a hydrogen-powered, three-seat sports car concept, at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The FC Sport emphasizes the design flexibility and potential of Honda’s V Flow fuel cell technology - already deployed in the Honda FCX Clarity sedan - and reconfigures it into a lightweight sports car design with an ultra-low center of gravity, powerful electric motor performance and zero-emissions. The design study concept is inspired by supercar levels of performance through low weight and a high-performance, electrically driven fuel cell powertrain.

“The Honda FC Sport explores how to satisfy automotive performance enthusiasts in a world beyond petroleum,” said Dan Bonawitz, vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “People who love sports cars will still have a reason to love in a hydrogen-powered future.”

The high-output Honda fuel cell powertrain and a sleek, aerodynamic body contribute to the vehicle’s performance potential. A modular approach to fuel cell component packaging and the electric drivetrain contribute to the FC Sport’s low center of gravity with the majority of vehicle mass distributed between the axles, creating the balanced weight distribution sought after in sports cars.

The ideal placement of the Honda V-Flow fuel cell stack and related components demonstrates the benefits of a platform-specific, hydrogen-powered fuel cell powertrain. The FC Sport is configured to accommodate a custom-formed high-power fuel cell stack, located between the rear seats, and a battery pack placed low in the middle of the vehicle. The electric motor resides just forward of the rear axle. Two fuel storage tanks, visible from above, are located above the rear axle.

The optimal placement of fuel cell components for performance also allows for a relatively large passenger cabin by conventional supercar standards with enough space for three seating positions. The interior layout focuses primarily on the driver with a racecar-like center driving position. The enclosed canopy opens upward from the rear to allow for entry and exit. Two rear passenger seats flank the driver’s left and right side.

The sleek, low-profile body is designed to convey a high-technology appearance with sculpting that combines angular shapes in the front of the vehicle that taper into geometric, hex forms in the rear. The rear hex forms house cooling radiators for the fuel cell. Formula 1-style barge boards behind the front wheels enhance high speed aerodynamics and convey the vehicle’s racing pedigree. The hydrogen storage tanks, visible from the rear deck, showcase the FC Sport’s fuel cell technology in much the same way that a “naked bike” motorcycle showcases its engineering technology.

The glacier white body color conveys the FC Sport’s clean environmental aspirations while the dark wheels and deeply tinted glass provide a symbolic contrast befitting of the vehicle’s unique combination of clean power and high performance. Green construction techniques further contribute to a reduced carbon footprint. An organic, bio-structure theme is carried through to the body construction where exterior panels are intended to use plant-derived bio-plastics.

The Advanced Design Studio of Honda R&D Americas, in Pasadena, California, developed the FC Sport design study with the primary objective of using existing fuel cell technology as the basis for an ultimate Honda sports car. Designer Jason Wilbur led the design efforts.

Long lost primate rediscovered in Indonesia

A team led by a Texas A&M University anthropologist has discovered a group of primates not seen alive in 85 years. These furry gremlin-looking creatures are about the size of a small mouse and weighing less than 2 ounces, have not been observed since they were last collected for a museum in 1921.

The pygmy tarsier, one of the planet’s smallest and rarest primates was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed an individual. Gursky-Doyen’s team spent two months using 276 mist nets to capture the small creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked. One other individual was spotted but eluded capture.

The collars were being attached so the tarsiers’ movements could be tracked.

Tarsiers are unusual primates — the mammalian group that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes and people. The handful of tarsier species live on various Asian islands.

The Pygmy Tarsier, also known as the Mountain Tarsier or the Lesser Spectral Tarsier, is a nocturnal primate found on central Sulawesi, Indonesia, in an area with lower vegetative species diversity than the lowland tropical forests.  They are unusual among primates in that they have claws rather than finger nails.

Reuters, Mongabay, Wikipedia

Scientists discover diesel fuel producing fungus

American scientists have discovered a fungus deep in the Patagonian rainforest that makes biodiesel as part of its natural lifecycle. The fungus is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel sources.

According to team member Prof. Gary Strobel of Montana State University, “The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment.”

Calling the fungus’ output “myco-diesel,” Gary Strobel and his collaborators describe their initial observations in the November issue of Microbiology.

The fungus proved to have another advantage, it grows on a tree’s cellulose. “When crops are used to make biofuel they have to be processed before they can be turned into useful compounds by microbes,” said Strobel. “G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper. This means if the fungus was used to make fuel, a step in the production process could be skipped.”

Cellulose is an indigestible part of a plant that binds the plant and allows it to stand. When treated with specific enzymes the cellulose turns into sugar; microbes are then used to ferment this sugar creating an ethanol that can be used as fuel.

“We were very excited to discover that the fungus can digest cellulose. Although the fungus makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield,” said Strobel. “In fact, the genes of the fungus are just as useful as the fungus itself in the development of new biofuels.  We were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost every hair on my arms stood on end!”

Patagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Located in Argentina and Chile, it comprises the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateau and low plains to the east.

The biodiesel generating fungus grows in the Ulmo tree, a species of tree in the Cunoniaceae family. It is found in Chile and Argentina. It is threatened by logging and habitat loss. The natural habitat is along the Andes Range from 38 to 43° lat.S, and up to 700 meters (2300 ft) above sea level.

Mongabay, Gas2.0, Image from Patagonia Photo Library

Beijing cuts 800,000 cars from road per day

A new traffic law will cut the number of cars on Beijing roads by 800,000 per day, reports Chinese state media. 

The restriction, which goes into effect today, affects 70 percent of vehicles, including government, private and corporate cars. Cars will be restricted one day per week based on their license plate number.

“Cars whose number plates end with 1 or 6 will be taken off roads on Monday, while those ending with 2 or 7 will be banned on Tuesday, 3 or 8 on Wednesday, 4 or 9 on Thursday and 5 or 0 on Friday,” reported Xinhua.

The ban — which is enforced with a 100-yuan ($14.70) fine — does not apply on weekends.  The law follows a similar trial two-month ban that was implemented to reduce pullution during the recent Olympics and Paralympics. According to officials, the measure took 2 million cars of the roads, increased traffic speed by 20 percent, and “helped reduce” vehicle emissions by almost 120,000 metric tons.

Google offers $10M for ideas that can ‘change the world’

If you could suggest a unique idea that would help as many people as possible, what would it be?

Google has unveiled a bold $10M effort to implement ideas that can “change the world.”  Project 10^100 (that’s “ten to the hundredth”) marks the 10th anniversary of the company and is meant to “celebrate the spirit of Google users and the web.”  All ideas need to be submitted by October 20, 2008.

“We’re launching  a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life,” says Andy Berndt, Managing Director, Google Creative Lab. “CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world.  For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.”

Google noted that the ideas can be big or small, technology-driven or not. But they do have to have a potential positive impact on the world.  As part of the announcement Google provided some examples of projects that fall in line with the spirit of Project 10^100.

What are some examples of ideas we think are cool? A team of just two people are implementing a solution to help the millions of people who laboriously carry on their heads 5-gallon buckets of water for long distances by designing and distributing The Hippo Water Roller (www.hipporoller.org), a relatively inexpensive 24-gallon container that can be easily wheeled on the ground. First Mile Solutions (www.firstmilesolutions.com) is implementing simple but effective ideas for connecting isolated communities in developing countries to the Internet. One plan has communities tacking on Wi-Fi devices to public buses so they can detect and send stored emails and messages as the buses travel through unconnected areas. Google is excited to fund projects that similarly have a big impact.

Google provided the following categories for which it will be considering ideas:

• Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
• Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
• Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
• Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
• Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
• Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
• Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
• Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

Ten-Year-Old Boy makes compelling environment video

When you were 10-years-old, what were you doing? I know it may be harder for some of us to remember than others, but let me ask you another question. Did you consider yourself an organizer?  For many us, our work as organizers did not begin until much later in life, but for Nikos Spiridakis it is already in full swing.

During a family road trip from Denver to Los Angeles when Nikos was 8 in the summer of 2007, Nikos experienced countless forest fires along the way–helping to open his eyes to the severity of global warming and the need for urgent action to tackle this climate crisis. Like many of us who care about this issue, the nagging question of “what can I do to stop global warming” lingered in his mind throughout the trip.

While sitting in the car at a gas station more recently, watching the digits on the gas pump escalate, Nikos was inspired to make a powerful global warming video. His film is currently one of the sample videos for the 1Sky and Brighter Planet national video contest: Climate Matters–Inspire Your Next President!

The metronomic beeping of the pump reminded him of a heart rate monitor–metaphorically monitoring the health of our planet. With each beep, images of forest fires, crumbling ice caps, crowded freeways, pollution, and unsustainable drilling practices flashed through his mind. With the help of his family, Nikos wrote and directed a chillingly powerful climate PSA–overcoming his extreme dyslexia and turning his idea into a powerful message.

Source: CSR Wire